The enrichment workshop has been a pleasant experience for me. I enjoyed being a part of a learning community. I’m happy to have met everyone in my blog. It’s been a fun semester. I enjoyed volunteering and exploring The New York Cares organization. I also enjoyed going to the Ruben Museum. I love the Rueben. I think it was a great choice for a field trip. I also enjoyed other activities and this workshop was helpful during my first semester at Baruch.

The enrichment workshop (going to the Rubin Museum) was an interesting experience, but I didn’t really feel inspired. The art itself looked well-done and interesting, though. It amazed me how ancient the art looked, yet still in good condition. I did learn a bit about Tibetan and Buddhist customs at the museum, which was fascinating. It is always good to look at new art, and amazing how art from different cultures gets created. Overall, the enrichment experience was a great experience.

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..Just kidding, here’s the real image:

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It’s amazing how much different college is compared to high school, due to how much is expected of you. My experience has been pretty great, besides a few classes. I love being able to take breaks between classes, meeting new people, and just overall enjoy the atmosphere, which is a huge difference from high school. The workload is a lot greater, but there is also a lot more free time than HS. I do need to step up my game in a few classes, and I will definitely try a lot harder next semester. I am learning to become a lot more independent than I ever was before, and I am learning to create my own path for my future. Overall, I enjoy Baruch, and like the people I have met so far.

The enrichment workshop/activity is when we were required to read certain nytimes articles and discuss about them during Freshmen Seminar. This activity was not particulary fun, but the articles were interesting and learn new things. One article example was the use of technology and how it was taking over human kind. After reading and watching the video for that article, I realized that I could use it to relate to my every day life; I see people using their cellphones when they are eating dinner. Another article that we talked about is Dartmouth and their drinking issue and I see how we can relate it to our school’s drinking policy. As a class, we try to see if drinking should be regulated or not, some said yes, while some disagree. It was a great experience to just sit down and to listen and talk about current issues that might affect our lives.

I think the enrichment workshop was a successful in helping us realize what resources we had available. The sessions with the academic adviser, and our mid-semester check-ins were useful in keeping us on the right track. Additionally, the activities brought us all back to basics because they were simple. The NY Times articles were also beneficial, as annoying as they seemed at the time, because it kept us up to date with worldly current events. Discussing serious topics let us understand the importance of sharing our own personal ideas in an organized and appropriate fashion. Our serious discussions helped us get to know each other better and respect or listen to other perspectives besides our own. I liked the fact that it was an encouraging environment where we could all share our opinions without fear of being judged.  We truly built a solid bond as an LC, and it was because we realized that although we are very different, we have a lot in common. This just inspired me to step more out of my comfort zone, to try to get to know people who are very different from me because there are high chances of learning more in different aspects of my life.

~3 months in Baruch College can not sum into one picture, so I pick two. Overall, my Baruch experience has been great; there are many ups and downs. The downs are having to give up my precious sleep to do homework or study for a test, having to wake up early and having to kill time during my breaks. However, the upside of my Baruch experience is the people (yes, you) and how convenient it is to grab coffee every morning. The first image describes how I feel 60% of the time. Sometimes my schedule is too packed because of my part time jobs and school work, therefore, I sometimes do think that I should forget about what I need to do and get some rest. Hopefully at the end of this semester, I would be able to just lay on the floor (just don’t you step on me). The 2nd picture is an encouragement quote that I tell myself when I am about to give up. College is new and I expect that there will be a lot more work and I would have to put more time and effort into things I do. When things are hard, I sometimes like to tell myself that things are never easy and it will be worth it in the end so work hard now and you will be rewarded later (hopefully). Summing things up, these two pictures explains that there are times when I want to give up, but there is something telling me not too because it will pay off in the end.

We went to the Rubin Museum of Art as the enrichment workshop. It did not inspire me in any way, however I don’t mind learning about it. We went as a class, saw different paintings, and were explained by someone from the museum. Even though we didn’t have time to look at every exhibition, we learned a lot from what we saw already. Art is not something that would interest me, and I would not go to a museum of art if I don’t have to. But once I’m there, I find it very fascinating. I respect art from every culture, and it is amazing how those artists have combine their thoughts into the works. The enrichment workshop did not truly affect me, but at least I learned and enjoyed over there.

My Baruch experience so far was not bad. I got familiar with Baruch by exploring the buildings, and using available sources like the library. I also met great friends within our LC class and outside of it. But the most difficult thing for me in college is to have a good grade and involve in clubs or social areas at the same time. There were times when I wanted to participate in some events, but I ended up doing school works because I was procrastinating at first. I always do my works on the night before the due day and I was not surprised by some low grades. But I think I should stop this now, because college is not like high school, I need to put in more efforts to have a good grade. And college is a step closer to my future, I should take it more seriously. Therefore time management is the key.

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For my Enrichment Workshop I went to the Rubin Museum. Honestly, it did not inspire me in any personal way but as a person that likes to appreciate different art, I did enjoy some aspects of my visit. Firstly, I was surprised by how well the art pieces were conserved. Seeing some of the art thousands of years old helped me realize how art has no specific time span but it is a long lasting representation/form of expression.
Also, the visit to the museum helped me learn a little bit more about different cultures e.g. Tibetan culture or about the ritual aspects of the Buddhist tradition.

In general, looking at new art can be a great learning tool. Although it didn’t directly inspire me, it did encourage me to be more aware of different art expressions belonging to different time periods and cultures. Art is a form of expression that I will always respect. A great communication tool that everybody should try to use to convey important messages.