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My first few months at Baruch have been quite a new experience out of all of the things about Baruch the one that stands out to me most is my three hour math class. The one word I would use to describe this class….miserable. It has to be the hardest class I have ever been in and it makes me question what my future would be like if I stayed at Baruch for four years. If I can’t even handle the introductory math class maybe the school with the hardest math classes I’ve ever taken isn’t the best fit for a person like me who dreads abstract math. Other than that I do like most of my professors however a few of them seem to treat their students with the same disrespect we all got from our disengaged high school teachers. However some of my professors are great and make me consider not transferring out of Baruch.

As a class during Freshman Seminar, we went to a lot of different workshops this year. Out of all of them, I think that the one I liked best was the Rubin Museum of Art. This particular exhibit seemed boring at first, and I was pretty reluctant to go. However, once I went, I quickly found that it was a very interesting museum. The statues and sculptures were all very intriguing and it seemed like I was being transported back in time. I especially liked the exhibit of the worship shrine in another person’s home. The candles and the statues everywhere made for a crazy image, and it was one of the most peaceful places I’ve ever seen in my entire life. From a personal perspective, the shrine or worship center resonated with me because I’ve seen places like that before due to the fact that my great grandma was a Buddhist, and I’ve visited her before in Korea. This experience to the museum inspired me to not have tunnel vision, and to explore and learn about different cultures and artifacts of the world. We are all so small, but yet we live in such an immense world and this museum inspired me to learn as much about the world at large as I can during my lifetime.

Baruch Voices V was an experience like no other, I thoroughly enjoyed the extraordinary oratory prowess of the performers, their ability to control the stage, capture and hold the attention of the audience and evoke strong emotional responses in the way they perform each line. I was fascinated by the depth and variety of the stories from other freshman like myself.
That got me thinking about my own life. I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit and gone through quite a bit also. I feel like I am growing and maturing at a pace not unlike those around me. However when I listened to some of those stories of the things students my age have had to deal with or overcome in their own lives go be exactly where I am, it astounds me. I feel both blessed to have had life be fairly easy and guilty that someone should have to go through pain and suffering and have a hard time starting off their lives.
I am proud though to be around individuals who can overcome obstacles like abusive parents, and be able to function and thrive in this university world, those people have my utmost respect. This reminds me to be thankful for where I am and that I should never allow myself to be complacent.
The writing behind those monologues being performed was at an unimaginable level as only can be with something someone is passionate about. I feel like I haven’t been passionate about anything since the semester has started, just going with the flow, but I am very excited for my classes next semester and I hope to continue growing as a student. Baruch is a place where there are many interesting and deep people, and the performance of Baruch Voices V was an example of just how interesting and deep these people are.

My first 3 months in Baruch have been an interesting experience. I’ve met new people, taken completely new classes, and experienced NYC. However, I think the biggest thing that stands out from my first 3 months here is the immense diversity of the student population at Baruch. It’s certainly been a eye-opening experience seeing all the different cultures and ethnicities, and how they can all come together to create a cohesive student body. The diversity at Baruch represents my first experiences here because that is what stands out most, and that is also something that I feel will become a valuable tool for me in the future. Being a person who is familiar with many cultures, and has friends from all different backgrounds will certainly not only make me a better person, but will help me in the real world as well. As I continue my journey through Baruch, I hope to not only become more involved in the school, but to meet all different kinds of people and learn more about where they come from, and how they live. So to conclude, diversity has definitely been the biggest thing for me in my first 3 months at Baruch, and I expect that it will continue to be a thing that stands out as I continue my years here.

So Baruch College is an interesting place, there are so many people who reflect on how they hate this or that about the school, so many people who describe their first and second semesters as intolerable. There are Innumerable complaints about the unnecessary math or English requirements, or the annoying back and forth when administration loses some form of paper work or other. For the first two months or so I disagreed vehemently I honestly wanted to give Baruch an unbiased go, but it becomes difficult when you feel like you have no control over your own school life.
I have also heard that the first and second semesters were brutal and that most people didn’t start loving their Baruch experience until their third or even fourth semester. This makes sense because everyone feels they need to stuff their prerequisites into their first, second and third semesters and very few people end up enjoying the courses they are taking. It is very difficult to complete a 5 subject course load when you are only doing it because you have to, also because Baruch is a commuter school, most people feel disenfranchised, like they are not connected to their peers or their school.
I have started to feel this way also, but I realize that I don’t hate Baruch, in fact I quite enjoy it, every experience is what you make it and we all chose to be here. Now the fact that I myself was feeling overwhelmed has left me jaded, however, I refuse to let that taint my college experience. I joined clubs and made friends and that has connected me to something so that my life isn’t just school, home, study, sleep, school again. The social aspect and sense of community is intrinsic to a successful college career.
I have included a picture of some of my Club Friends because they have helped me survive my college experience thus far.

http://theunexploredlandofadulthood.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/meme-college.jpg

That meme accurately depicts my first semester at college. College is alot harder than what I thought it would be, and the hardest part is keeping away from distractions (such as facebook). facebook is really so hard to ignore when a teacher wont leave a tangent and its just one click away to a time consuming bliss. Also, I think i study alot but really, i dont study enough. Im going to have to work alot harder and throw in alot more study time for the second semester… especially since I have art history, which i hear is a mind numbing class. I didnt even get alot of good teachers, most of my teachers I have no clue about. I cant beleive I was forced to register so late, after all the good times and classes had been taken up. Im mostly hoping and praying that my teachers dont turn out to be fools like some of my teachers were this semester. The picture about what society thinks I do is also very skewed, I mean, Baruch isnt a party school or anything like that, so we definately do alot less than other schools, or society would think we do. I do kind of do what the government thinks I do though, considering they are paying for a my education in full… yay for free rides and fafsa! I do alot of the just hanging out that the 1st picture says I do to, not really in huge groups but im sure ill expand my circle of friends in the coming semster. So yeah, this picture really represents how my 1st college semster was like, with all the hopes of what college is, and the reality of what college is… alot of hard work.

The Baruch library has really represented the first 3 months of my college career at Baruch. Every day after school I go to the library to get my work done. It is where I find peace and there is no one around to distract me. At the library I have everything I could need. It is equipped with computers, printers, internet and everything possible to help me out in my hard classes. The quietness of the library really helps me get my work done. Seeing all the students working so hard on their classes also makes me want to do better. The Baruch experience so far has been very plesant. I have done far better in my classes then i expected and I really enjoy my friends that I have made. Although school has been great I am really looking forward to my month and a half winter vacation.

I remember before the year started I used to think that the library was useless and I could just work at home. But as my friends started telling me how great it is I started to listen to them and started to go. After going a few times I was hooked. Going every day for the past three months. The library has became my second home and it is very nice to have such a luxury.

Upon walking into the Rubin museum of art I immediately felt the feeling of being somewhere that is not your ordinary museum. As we walked in there was a very large spiral staircase that was leading up to the top floor of the museum. As we looked up from the ground floor to the ceiling we see how grand this museum is. As the tour guide had pointed out the founder of the museum was a prominent and wealthy business man and when he first laid his eyes on the spiral staircase and looked up just as we looked up he then decided to buy the property (which was a barneys department store before hand) and make it into a museum in which he can showcase his many variations of art and history of the world. As we walked up the spiral staircase as a group I saw so many different and interesting things. As I walked pass the “Wheel of Dharma and Deer” I was suddenly taken back by its craftsmanship and symbolism. As I looked more in depth to the sculpture I knew in my mind that it looks fairly familiar to me for some reason. As I read the description of the sculpture I realized that this sculpture is the most well known symbol of Buddhism. I remember when I was learning about Buddhism in my history class the same sculpture was put up on the projector screen. After reading the description I immediately felt that I didn’t know enough about it. So when I got home I researched the sculptor and found many hidden symbolism. This sculpture grabbed my attention and made me learn something new and actually helped me later on in history class.