Hey Freshmen!
Hi everyone! How is college treating you so far? My name is Zihao Timothy Zhu. I am a freshman in Baruch. College has not been as awesome as I expected. I thought I could have more freedom and more time to experience new things, but it turned out that “more time” is just another phrase for “more work.” I was never really a hardworking student back in high school; all I did was finishing my homework and projects on time, and possibly studying a little bit before tests. And I still maintained a 95-above average. However, I cannot procrastinate any more in college. Each class has tons of readings to do and countless assignments to finish; it is ten times the work I had to do in high school. Also, my upper-classmen has taught me a phrase, “one hour lecture, two hours of preparation.” I basically spend at least 5 hours on studying for the classes that I have the next day. On top of school work, I have two jobs outside of school, tutoring and promotional work. On Monday and Wednesday, I tutor high school students in Flushing. On the weekends, I work in various experimental marketing events. For those who do not know the term “experimental marketing,” it means marketing programs which most often are associated with consumer events. Some examples include sampling and live hands-on product demos allowing consumers to touch and use a product rather than just hear or read about it. Certainly, it is a very interesting job because I get to make connections and experience different events like concerts and Comic Con. Thankfully, on top of all these, I have managed to balance between work and school. And I am doing well so far in all of my classes.
Some of you might wonder, “How can you manage to balance between work and school? Don’t you need some time to relax and release your stress?” Of course I do have my own way of relaxing and releasing my stress. Or else I would be exhausted and cutting school by now. My favorite way to relax is eating. Yes, I love food and I eat a lot. I can go on and on about food all day if I want to. Luckily, because of my mother’s fast- metabolistic gene, I do not gain weight easily. I like to try different types of food from different culture. And I always search for those little-known restaurants in the city and try out their signature dishes. If they are good, I will take pictures of the dishes and post them on my Tumblr and Instagram. You can see many pictures of delicious food all over my Tumblr page. My friends always tell me how hungry my pictures make them feel.
I guess people can agree with me that lunch in high school cafeteria tastes really bad. One benefit of being a college student is that Baruch is an open campus. I can go out for lunch anytime I want and have any kind of food I want. Sometimes when I have a short lunch break, I just grab a Subway sandwich or chicken over rice from the Halal food cart near Baruch’s Vertical Building. But every Tuesday and Thursday, I treat myself a fancy lunch. On Tuesday, I often go to the Ramen House across from Baruch’s 23rd St Building. I think the ramen soup there is very delicious and worthy even though it is $11 each. On Thursday, I go to a place a little bit farther from Baruch, St Mark’s Place, because I usually have a three-break in between classes. St Mark’s Place is full of various Asian restaurants. And I try different ones every time I go there for lunch so their food never bores me.
Another way to relax myself is singing. I go to karaoke with friends to sing out all my stress from school once or twice a month. It really helps when we scream out the lyrics carelessly and laugh along. I suggest you guys to try it out because it feels so much better after you scream out all your pressures. Moreover, I sometimes perform in Open Mics events. I have performed in different places like Union Square, Columbus Park and Kissena Park. I enjoy singing on the stage because it clears my head from the pressures I have in school. And I also enjoy the moment when everyone cheers and gives a big round of applause after my performance. Those clapping noises always “clap” away my stress from school and work. Maybe you guys should come to watch the performance next time!
