In the enrichment workshop, we went to the Rubin museum of Art. This museum showcased Tibetan art and art from the Himalayas. It was a great learning experience. Although some of the works were boring, it was still a great experience. I’ve never seen anything related to Tibetans or the Himalayas so it was kind of cool to learn about the culture of Tibet. The museum inspired me to visit museums that I have never visited before, in the very distant but close future.

“If you are irritated by every rub, how can you be polished?” is a quote by Rumi, a Persian poet. This quote talks about welcoming life’s challenges and to not be irritated at every challenge that comes our way. I think this fits my experience so far at Baruch. I am welcoming the new challenges of college life, such as the workload, time management, and moving out of my comfort zone. In college, the work isn’t as much as high school but when you procrastinate and the work stacks up, then it becomes a problem, so I guess the workload and time management comes together here. Time management is a challenge for me because I want to socialize, play games, and still keep up the good grades. And finally, meeting new people was hard in high school because we were confined to our classrooms and I was reluctant to meet new people because the other high school students were reluctant to talk to me too. But, now in college, I am more open to meeting people and college students are more open too. Another challenge that I’ve encountered is being independent. Back in high school, I had a group of friends and would do everything together but now that I’m in college, I can’t depend on a group of friends to do things that I want to do, because: 1) they’re not there and 2), not everyone wants to do the things that I want to do. So to sum it up, I learned to face my challenges head on rather than leaving them aside, ignoring them or make excuses for not facing them.

My group was the orange gummy bears. As orange gummy bears, we have to protect other gummy bears from crime. Crime is also the topic that we focused on. We dealt with regional crime but also included some international, national, and local crime as well. I wrote 3 different articles, one about the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall in Kenya, one about a woman who was raped in Central Park, and one on the shooting at an US Navy armory in Tennessee.

The first article talked about an international crime that occurred. A group of terrorists staged a two-pronged attack on the busiest mall in Kenya and killed many people while also injuring hundreds of people. The second article talked about a local crime, the raping of a woman in Central Park. The man is caught and sentenced to 30 years in prison with 10 years of supervision upon release. The third article talked about a crime that occurred nationally, the shooting of a naval sergeant major and a major inside an armory in Tennessee.

I chose these articles because I wanted to show everyone that crime can occur anywhere and everywhere. Whether it is a few blocks down from one’s house or a few thousand miles away, crime can occur. I want to forewarn Baruch students of a possible impending crime that can occur.

Click Here for Michael’s awesome playlist

My name’s Michael Qiu. I made a song playlist to represent who I am so you guys can get to know my interests and personality better. The first song’s my current favorite Korean song called False Hope by Song Ji Eun. I am a big fan of K-Pop and Korean dramas. During my free time, I tend to watch Korean dramas cause they’re awesome and my mom watches them too. The second song is called Put It On The Line by CIU and the video is a mix of Kobe Bryant’s plays. He’s my idol and someone that I want to be. I love basketball and I would do anything for a chance to play on an NBA team. But I’m too short.. This song’s also a good song that I like to listen before playing basketball games. It gets me pumped up and ready. The third song’s a remix made by Mother Earth of the songs Cry by Jay-Z & Friends Forever by Vitamin C. I like this remix. But I chose this because I value friendship. Once you’re a friend, you’re always a friend. I love making new friends and keeping the relationship strong. The fourth song’s Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. This song’s about living life to the fullest and not planning everything out. Every day is a blank page that’s waiting to be filled. I have this kind of mindset, to live life to its fullest. The fifth song is Started From the Bottom by Drake. Like the song title suggests, I started from the bottom and now I’m here. I used to be very shy and I wouldn’t be joining clubs or rushing for Delta Sigma Pi. But now, I’ve gotten over shyness to some extent. I would attend these random events either for the hell of it or to meet people. The sixth song’s Wing$ by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. This song talks about Air Jordans and how they are overpriced and famed to make people believe that those shoes can enable people reach their dreams like Michael Jordan. I don’t buy Air Jordans that much but basketball shoes are very important to me and I do wish that I could reach my dreams (to play professional basketball) with some Air Jordans on.  The seventh song’s Hey Mama by Kanye West. I love my mom and I want to make her proud.  The eighth song’s Lightning’s Theme from Final Fantasy 13. This is my favorite final fantasy game and Lightning’s my favorite character. She is a great leader and I want to be a leader like her.  The ninth song’s Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. I’m proud to be a New Yorker. The Big Apple’s my home. The last song on my playlist’s a song from my favorite Korean group Girls’ Generation, Genie. This group enabled me to meet new people through the group’s concerts and fan meetings. And that’s about it! This is my story.