My first semester at Baruch isn’t what I really expected it to be, but it was alright. I met a lot of new people, and got closer to the people I already knew in high school that followed me to college. To be honest, being a first-semester freshman sucks because you’re not really orientated to the way things work at a new school, and it can be pretty confusing. But along the way you pick things up and understand how everything works. Like the express elevators and how escalators only come up to the 5^th floor, or how it’s really really crowded on the 2^nd floor after the 345 classes are let out (didn’t know these on the first day). Then there are things like picking out a schedule for the next semester or actually knowing how to register for classes that you need to learn how to do that are really frustrating

You would think that if you don’t have homework that often you will be less likely to procrastinate, right? Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Procrastination hit hardest this first semester, even though I promised myself I wouldn’t do it for college. I’ve been doing my homework the night before, and at times the day of during breaks. The list wasn’t/isn’t limited to homework, though. I’ve studied for tests/midterms on the nights before, too.

So basically, I picked this picture because although I’ve lost countless hours of sleep and spent hours on the train commuting to and from school, my first semester whizzed by. It was kind of a jumble, and I don’t really know how to describe it. It feels like it started yesterday (okay, overstatement) and it’s going to end in like six days. It makes me think that if high school passed by quickly, college will pass by much quicker. Hopefully the next 3 and a half years are good.

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^This gif is my Baruch experience in a nutshell.  College is actually happening.  Leaving high school, it didn’t seem like college would be very different, but its radically different, at least for me.  I was so accustomed to my high school crew, seeing at least 5 of my close friends in the short time period we had to navigate from class to class.  I miss that, but its only giving me the drive to meet new people and make new friends.  Im making sure not to forget about my high school friends because they are still my boys.  Other than that the workload is pretty annoying.  I was used to Stuyvesant High Schools obviously tasking workload.  In college, for me at least, the workload seems small but its the same, which usually leads to last minute scrambling to finish work (like this).  It often has me feeling tired most of the time.  At this point im writing to fulfill the 500 words requirement but its okay, i still have alot to talk about.   When I left high school it didn’t really hit me that I was actually going to college.  I knew i was going to college, I kinda knew what i wanted to do with my life, but at the same time i had no idea what i was in for.  I’m really digging the size of Baruch, as in how many students it has.  It’s not so massive that you never see people you want to see, but at the same time you can meet a few new people every single day.  It’s also comforting that a bunch of stuy kids are going to Baruch, every now and then i get to see some of those kids i slightly knew in stuy and its good to know that i always have people to go to.

Yes. This is an accurate portrayal of my first semester at Baruch. You may laugh.

For those who don’t know where this is from, this is a scene from the movie Iron Man. Tony Stark, portrayed by the absolutely wonderful Robert Downey Jr., is on his way to becoming (my personal favorite) superhero.

At first glance, I suppose this seems like a rather depressing representation of my first semester at Baruch, but there is actually more to this gif. It looks like my entire first semester is nothing but a giant facepalm which, might I add, looks rather painful. It is accurate in a sense (maybe not the physical pain part), but there is a more reasonable explanation for it. Besides, no pain no gain, right?

In this scene, Tony Stark (Iron Man) is building and testing his Iron Man suit. This is only a Mark II so it is still relatively new. This meaning that it probably isn’t going to work out immediately. So needless to say, there are many kinks in the designs (hence the face pancake happening here). Here, he is testing out the equipment that will allow him to fly as he wishes. Perhaps he was a bit overzealous, but I don’t think there is a lot of flying going on. Of course we all know how it will turn out eventually. Tony Stark is a genius, but he is also human so of course he will make mistakes. In this sense, it is an accurate portrayal of the first semester of college. College is a very different environment for me. I will stumble, fall, or run into walls (literally), but that is because it is part of the process of getting used to college. Just like how Tony needed to test this to make sure he won’t die while using the suit, making blunders during my first semester can give me the experience to make sure that I don’t continue blundering throughout the rest of my college life.

I think after a traumatic event of becoming one with the wall can deter most people, but it certainly didn’t stop Tony Stark. I, obviously, am not Iron Man (unfortunately), but it is certainly not a bad thing to try and strive to be like him. Granted, he may have his many personality flaws, but he is continuously striving to be a better person and a more fitting hero. If that is not inspiring, I don’t know what is. But most importantly, who doesn’t want to be a genius, billionaire superhero? I suppose getting the best out of my college experience and acquiring a good job is the closest I can get to it.

This picture sums up my first year at Baruch. Metaphorically I am Tom Cruise; the jet is Baruch; and the American flag behind him is my future. Tom Cruise pilots his jet to accomplish his goal, to preserve America’s freedom. Similar to Tom Cruise, Baruch is the jet I fly to reach my goal. My goal is to make a future for myself through education and hard work and Baruch is the means to accomplish this goal. Tom Cruise is giving a big thumbs up in the picture because he is satisfied with his experiences. Just like Tom Cruise I am satisfied with my experiences at Baruch and I give a big thumbs up. The similarity between myself and Tom Cruise is amazing.

Baruch has allowed me to mature as an adult. Going to Baruch has opened my mind to various fields I would have never looked into. Through Baruch I was introduced into the subject of Philosophy and it made a great impact on me. Philosophy allowed me to approach subjects through logic and reason instead of feelings and opinion.  The impact of this simple change has been tremendous. Going to Baruch has also created structure in my life. Having responsibilities like homework and managing your time effectively to complete your responsibilities is a learned skill. Learning at Baruch has grown that skill.

Baruch has introduced me to activities I would have never considered. Through a school organized event I went hiking overnight in upstate New York. Before the experience I did not know how enjoyable hiking was. Because of that experience organized by Baruch I realized the importance of physical activity as an important factor in success. I also realized how enjoyable hiking was.

Learning at Baruch has allowed me to mature as an individual and work towards a future for myself. Through the various facilities, peers, and teachers at Baruch I have gained greater knowledge on how to work towards my goals. If I were asked how I’d rate my experience at Baruch; I would tell them I give big thumbs up.

This was my  first semester at Baruch college, and one word that best describes the experience is “different”. I believed I was prepared for the transition from high school to college but when I started the semester, I was almost overwhelmed by the change of pace. In comparison to college, it seemed like high school pampered me while college thrusted me out in to reality and left me to fend for myself. The largest difference was the grading system. Basically my whole grade is comprised by test grades and this put the largest amount of stress on me. I may have made college seem dreadful and depressing so far but that is not entirely true; there are many good aspects in attending college (specifically Baruch). Some of the good aspects are being able to make many new friends and less homework. Though there was less homework, there is also a lot more studying.

The thing i cherish most about college (Baruch) is the sense of freedom that it gives me. This freedom is a double-edged sword. It allows you more time to do activities that you’d want to do since there is less class time and essentially makes you realize that you’re an adult now. If you use your time poorly though, it can hurt you. No teacher tells you what to do word for word anymore and check homework daily to make sure you did it. Everything rests upon yourself.

This picture of my four friends and me was taken in school. It is a combination of my old and new friends. Making the right friends is important while attending college. It is a good representation of my first semester at Baruch because  these are the people who shared the same classes with me and most likely had the same thoughts and troubles that I had. Together though, we were able to grow  accustomed to this new life. The smile on our faces show that we are doing well in college and that we’re not afraid of this new chapter in our life. That we’re prepared to overcome any challenges that life and Baruch has in store for us.

In our collectively created mock newspaper, The Baruch Times, each of us pitched in an article that we thought would either reflect our current or future interests. For instance, the article “Why We Make Bad Decisions” by Noreena Hertz best depicts the experience of most, if not all, college freshman. In her article, Hertz speaks about her illness, and offers insights found from visiting numerous physicians. One of the more significant aspects of her article was her knowledge of anxiety, stress, and fear, which she claims distorts our choices (“Stress makes us prone to tunnel vision, less likely to take in the information we need. Anxiety makes us more risk-averse than we would be regularly and more deferential.”) Hertz’s insight illustrates why some students may not perform to the best of their capabilities during midterms and finals.

In the second article we chose, “Possible Clues in Fatal Chase, but No Motive” by N.R. Kkeinfield and William Rashbaum, the authors tell of a woman named Miriam Carey who in a high speed car chase between Washington D.C. and Capitol Hill was shot and killed due to the assumption  that she was a threat, or potential car bomb. This brings up the question of whether or not she posed as enough of a threat to be shot, and why police shot her (most police departments discourage or prohibit opening nfire on vehicles). This is significant to us, because as Baruch students, if there are set in stone rules about the whole student body, it brings up the question whether or not it breaking the rules was right and whether or not there should be exceptions of rules.

In the third article, “After Misuse, a Push for Tutoring” by Morgan Smith, Smith speaks of the No Child Left Behind tutoring program, which takes aside some of the federal financing for economically disadvantaged students. It also speaks about how in Texas, millions of dollars in public money were shown to be going to companies who showed very little evidence of their services’ academic benefit, and at worst committed outright fraud. This brings up the question, as Baruch students, of how much of our tuition really goes to our own benefit.

In “Arrest in U.S. Shuts Down A Black Market For Narcotics” it is discusses how a seemingly small mistake can lead to the downfall of an illegal organization for the trafficking of drugs. This shows how no matter how secure you think you are, and how much you think you got away with what you did, you’ll eventually get caught.

In the fourth article, “Caribbean Nations to Seek Reparations, Putting Price on Damage of Slavery”, shows how the Caribbean nations want reparations from certain European countries. It shows how even though slavery seems like a non-existent issue, and an issue of the past, its negative effects are still affecting countries. The atrocities haven’t been forgotten.

In the last article mentioned, “Lobbyists representatives are Ready for a New Fight on U.S. Spending”, The NY Times covers the battle about to be fought between special interest groups in Washington that will be fighting to avoid having the programs they represent have funding cut as a long term U.S budget is created in the upcoming months. This article relates to Baruch in that there are many groups and organizations on campus and we need to be informed which organizations we want to support and be a part of.

The reason behind our selection of articles is quite simple: We wanted to choose interesting articles, yet could also relate to our lives today, and in the future. For example: the reason for the gaming article is to express the sadness that as college students, we no longer have the luxurious time as we do as high school students for leisure activities. Readings pile up. However, one could argue that readings can be done in school hours instead of home. We agree. The article about solar energy relates to us in a technological way where in the next twenty to thirty years (our prediction), humans no longer need to depend on fossil fuels for sustainability, not to mention the ever more dangerous build-up of toxic chemicals in our atmosphere. So in the long run, It relates to our lives in the near future. In our opinion, the gap between college and high school does not seem all that wide. It’s the exact feeling one gets transitioning from middle school to high school. However, one may argue that college life varies depending on the school as mentioned in our next article. But we feel that adjusting to college life is not difficult. We do however, agree that it changes our lifestyle. As of now, social norms and government laws do make us feel much safer compared to the ancient past, however, it does not protect us behind closed doors. In a sense, as adults, we feel the need to be responsible and put our lives, integrity, and actions in our own hands. It’s our way of saying “The world is a dangerous place”. Thus, the article we chose for this exact purpose is about the subject of rape. Our opinions on rape is simple. We do not tolerate anyone who condone such actions (obviously), and we wish the worst upon those to practice it. Ever heard of the slang “spending all that Google money”? well, now it’s legitimately a green light to say it because Google stocks just hit over one thousand dollars. Hooray Google! What it means to us is that we will see a increase in the amount of Google activity in our lives in the future. In other words, more Google tech. It isn’t a bad thing. Google makes terrific stuff. Have you seen Google glasses? It looks like something out of Star Trek. we kept saying to ourselves that this is just the beginning of sci-fi technology, and we are extremely hopeful we are on the dot. Speaking of money, the next article focuses on money and politics, or more specifically, our nation’s debt. We are democrats. Screw the republicans and their greedy intentions. Liberals for the win! Apparently, the national debt will continue to affect us in the near future since sixteen trillion dollars takes a while to pay back (we say it with the most sadness). It also affects our careers since Baruch is a business orientated school. Business translates to money. Most of our majors are orientated towards business. Therefore, what we do will affect the economy (insert dramatic music now).

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Okay I am having the hardest time trying to create this blog post. But here it is. I hope the pictures are visible to you guys cause this site is not allowing me to upload pictures like all of you guys 🙁

But HELLO, I’m Angela and I was born and raised in Queens, NY.  I’m not sure what else to say about myself really. I’m just like every other girl, I like fashion, and makeup. I post a lot of OOTD(outfit of the day) pictures on my instagram so thats actually one of the pictures of me.  I’m a huge foodie, like honestly I need to stop eating my life away. I love Chipotle, so if you want to make me happy you know what to do! I have some pictures of my friends, and I love then to death. We’ve been through so much, like I hated them at one point or another but I feel 100% comfortable around them. I can completely be myself without being judged which is hard to come by. That’s why I’m usually quiet all the time, cause I’m afraid people would think I’m a b*tch or that I’m weird. *sigh* And then theres a picture of my parents and I from my high school graduation. Although we don’t have the best relationship but we love each other regardless. (I’m still trying to transfer to move away from them though haha). So theres a picture of me and my best friend Nora. I love our friendship because we don’t talk every second of the day or even everyday for that matter like most best friends do. However, I trust her with my life, and my parents do too so that says something. We help each other A LOT with our problems and keep each other from doing things we might regret. We party together cause we know we got each others back, and thats what we were doing in that picture: partyinggggg. OH, I have a picture of the store I work at: Necessary Clothing. Saturday is actually my last day of work though so I’m kind of bummed. I’ve only been there for two months but we’re all like a family and I love the environment. I just think I need to be super focused in school this year! Maybe I’ll go back later on, who knows. But if any of you guys know anywhere thats hiring that can give LESS hours let me know. I work like 5 days a week and it’s driving me crazy.

Sorry this post is a mess. But I think that’s all you really need to know about me..  Oh, and I actually don’t really HATE baruch, I just kind of want a real college experience away from home.

Hey guys,

So my name is Andreas, first off I would just like to point out that when I was uploading this post the website did not allow me to upload any more photos (that is why there are so little of them).

Anyways, now that I got that out of the way I can start talking a little more about myself. As you can see all my pictures consist of me doing some sort of sport. So I guess by now you can tell that I love all different kinds of sports. Most of the sports I’m doing here involve some kind of board. When I lived in Miami I wakeboarded, in Mexico I surf and here in New York I longboard.

Although most of my pictures do involve me and some type of board my main focus is gymnastics. I have been doing gymnastics for 8 years. I started getting really good at the sport a couple years ago when I lived in France and that allowed me to travel to many different countries in Europe and compete. Sometimes I like taking my skills out to the streets and doing parkour. Just last year I injured my knee during a competition and I had to get surgery. This put an end to my gymnastics career.

Now that I am fully recovered I just got into martial arts. I am currently doing Muay Thai and Ju Jitsu.

My name is Shafkath Ahmed and I am a proud resident of Queens, New York. I’ve spent most of my life here, learning the tools of the trade about life. I am an avid fan of the NBA but I am an even bigger fan of Steve Nash, the greatest point guard to grace the game of basketball. I love pizza, in fact, I’m eating a slice right now! Aside from basketball and pizza I am a huge fan of music. I jam to all types of music from hip-hop, to rock, jazz, soul, pop, blues and any other genre under the Sun. My favorite album is Illmatic, by Nas. Nas takes hip-hop to a whole new level with his revolutionary lyrics depicting life in Queensbridge (Queensbridge happens to be in Queens). Music helps me get along for most of my day. Breaking Bad, which is my favorite show, helps me get through the long nights of procrastination. Lastly, I have a tight knit group of friends which I always try to maintain close contact with. We do virtually everything together and love exploring new places.