Jew, Jews, Jews

Growing up in a sheltered home

surrounded by all the same people

same classmates

same friends

nothing different than the previous years,

Then college

different people

different friends

different cultures

new years

new beginnings

BARUCH

see homeless people in the street

I see homeless hungry people on the road

I wonder if they were sold a lie

I wonder if their mothers told them to stay in school

Did they go to college?

I smell! Homeless people in the train

I smell homeless people begging for money to get clean again

They say

If I stay

In school there is absolutely

No way!

I can end up homeless

Are they liars?

Did they go to college?

I hear! Homeless people on the train

Telling me stories about how they wish

To start again

Explaining situations they’ve been in…

Did they go to college?

I work hard I hard work from elementary to high

My character has been accessed by

My grades

If I do good I am good

If I do bad I am bad

And that’s sad     so I

Eat, breathe and sleep school

That’s all I do

Met everyone I know or knew

In here

So it’s unfair

Because I don’t know what I’m doing

I don’t even know what my major is

I’m here

Because I don’t want to beg on trains

I don’t want to smell like disaster and depression

I give in to my mother’s superstition

Because I want a family

I want a big house in the middle of somewhere beautiful

I want spoiled rotten kids and a well fed puppy

So I study

Because I don’t want to smell like disaster and depression

I don’t want to be homeless on a train

And I never want some seventeen year old girl to judge me

And

If by some chance

I do end up homeless on a train

At least I can say to her

It’s okay

I’m educated

I went to college

The most important thing I can do in life’s is not take anything for granted. Life is way too precious to be taken the wrong way. We have to respect ourselves and others around us and always make sure that we do the right thing.  Although the right thing may not always be the best thing in our own self interest, we must make the decision in our best judgement and stick by it. Making decisions are very tough because the result may not always be the one that we are seeking, but you must stick to your decision and in the long run you can always correct your mistakes. In my eyes, the biggest thing of all is to be kind to others because in return you will usually always receive kindness back from others. People who are not kind to others do not recieve respect as individuals and respect from others is very important.

Sitting in the pool balcony on a gloomy Thursday afternoon, after just finishing a 4000-meter swim workout. My red Baruch spiral notebook is on my lap and a Hunter College pen is in my hand.

My body is exhausted, but my pen continues to scribble the sounds across the page. While lamenting about my misfortune in being unable to nap after such an odious practice, I try to reflect on special occasions in my life, the ones that really affected me and shaped me into the person I am today.

But there are just too many. Writing my monologue on whatever first comes to my mind would probably not be the best idea ever. They say the saddest things in life are the things that one remembers.

Memories are what keep me going. Four years together. With each year our bond grows stronger and stronger. When we first met, it was just fun and games, never really knowing how far this friendship would take us because none of us demanded much. It’s weird we are so completely different, we don’t go together like peanut butter and Nutella, but when we are together it’s just natural. Finding people who you can be you around and not be judged brings joy and comfort. Knowing that you can rely on each other when we are down in the gutters, especially when it seems like there is no one who understands our struggle, not our parents, our teachers or our counselors. This is what friends are all about. Although we have gone our separate ways all across America, we will forever be connected in spirit, mind and heart. I am truly happy for people who can find this missing piece in life. True friendship.

I am both excited and worried about college.  I am not worried about classes or even my grades, because I know I will always do my best but, like many other college students, I don’t know what I want to do in college and I am worried about the future.  I don’t want to get a degree just for the purpose of getting a job and the idea of going to a job I hate to collect a paycheck frightens me.  Life and college especially should be more than degrees and paychecks but, I worry that this is what my future holds.

However the endless possibilities also excites me.  I am excited about the opportunists that will present itself to me, the experiences I will have and the people I will meet.  I believe that at the time of graduation I will have the tools necessary to follow my dreams and achieve my goals.

I am a strong believer in that every day there is room for improvement and opportunity to learn new things. I think that in order to fully place confidence in this notion, you need to be very open to change, because let’s face it things are changing all the time, constantly, and everything is subject to change. I think that the most important thing I’ve learned in my life so far is how to think positively. I mean, if you really consider it, there is no point in moping around and feeling bad about yourself because really what does it even accomplish? If you want to see a change in something, get up off your ass and make that change yourself. And if you can’t do anything to change a given situation, ACCEPT THAT. There are some things you just have to go along with, and part of growing up is learning how to differentiate between the things you can change, and the things you cannot. Accept that there is always a possibility for things to go wrong so they cease to upset you. Appreciate everything and everyone; be grateful and you will lead a more satisfying life I can almost guarantee you. Soon you will be questioning how you’ve lived your life for so long the way you have before.

MONOLOGUE

My name is Emily and I was born 18 years ago in a small country named Ecuador, which coincidentally is part of South America too.

Learning languages has being part of my life since I was little and transition from Cantonese to Spanish in kindergarten was hard, or so I think it was.

As I grew older, English was taught to me and the more I learned, the more I enjoyed it.
Isn’t it fun to speak different languages at different times?

You know that TV and its different shows can affect us in a way, be it good or bad, k-dramas and anime have inspired me to know more about Korea and Japan.
Enjoying other cultures and its languages is entertaining to me.

Now moving on, college came in a blink of an eye, and so far it’s being pretty good.
Enjoying college life and being with friends I made here in Baruch, for that I’m grateful for the last orientation day in which one of the last schedules I got.

Leaving my close-nit high school and coming into one the most diverse campus in the America is a huge transition for me.

Will I make Friends?

Will people like me?

How do people of other cultures live?

Will they laugh at my way of life?

These were the types of questions running through my mind through out my first weeks of college.

Leaving a school that had about 400 students with most students knowing each other made us all feel like family. Walking into a building with 14 floors filled with thousands of students can be very overwhelming.

As I transition out of my highs school mode and into college mode I hope to be more open and excited to meet new and interesting people that I have never had a chance to encounter through out my high school years.

I remember when I had a cat. It was when I was around 8-9 years old and it was in summer. His name was Kevin. Kevin was a great cat. He always cuddled next to me and woke me up in the morning. Unfortunately, he got hit by a car. I was really depressed for the rest of the summer. My dad said he was going to buy me a new one, so I stopped being sad. The lesson here is that everything is replaceable.