FRO 14 DFA

I really liked my first semester at Baruch. I made a few friends and got to know a lot of great people. I think everyone at Baruch is so nice and outgoing. I like all my professors as well, except one. I regret not dropping the class…… Because of that class my gpa is already ruined………………………

My friend and I went around different departments to learn about our majors, requirements, and the classes they offer. All the staff members were really friendly and helpful so it was easy for me to declare my major and even persuade my friend into my major. One thing I would complain about is how they said we’re not allowed to drop classes at the beginning of the semester.  If I knew we can, I would have dropped this class I have on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 9:30.

I can’t believe we’re already near the end of first semester. High school went by so fast, but college seems even faster. I really like college and want it to last long. Well I got grad school to worry about too so I guess that won’t be a problem. Although, grad school doesn’t sound like fun..

My favorite class I would say was FRO. It didn’t feel like a class at all. I was just like a hang out. I heard the other fro classes that have a professor are really boring. I’m so glad we don’t have a professor in our fro, and that Allison is our peer mentor.

My very first time in a college classroom was not the most enjoyable experience for me.

The teacher was a sexist one who irritated all the surrounding student body.

So I went with my gut and dropped the class; I never even bothered to look back.

She spoke a different language when she twisted her tongue.

She thought it would be fun to make fun of the kid with not lungs.

Regardless, I do not even think about it anymore.

Because there is other classes to distract me.

My very first class is now in the past but it did open the gateway.

The gateway that was made an easy and much satisfying process by one person in one class.

I am forever grateful to Allison (image of her below, when we hung out after school for halloween),

she gave me all the support I needed.

She was available for me and the nicest person I have ever met!

She made my experience whole which is why I think Freshman Seminar is something that is essential to the Baruch experience.

It keeps everyone informed and enlightens them to the resources available to them.
It is, all in all, the perfect tool for transitioning from the high school environment to a college one.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

– WASS GUCCCI BRAAH BRAHHH

I don’t know what to make of the first semester, because it is such a minuscule sample size of what college has to hold. I have been through extreme highs and lows in college, nevertheless I never lost sight of my goals that I continue to strive for. I have began to discover things about myself and really penetrate the things I have taken interest in, discovering what my purpose is when I step to school every morning. At first, I felt like Baruch was the wrong decision for me, not being challenged and mentally prepared to compete with schools like NYU or Columbia, but I am beginning to feel like maybe this is where I belong. This is the place I have to start in order to finish on top. It isn’t like I was rejected from NYU, I just had the option of choosing between endless loans or cheaper education at a lesser praised institution. Through the newspaper and my creative writing I feel that I have been able to channel energy that I never grasped back in high school, and I am deviously developing the skills I need to succeed. I could have easily been in the same courses with the same crop of students at Stern, but I feel as though I will find the right people at Baruch because there are students out there just like me, oozing with brilliance and ambition, and smart enough to realize that college does not create the person, but instead it’s the person who maximizes the opportunity of any situation/institution in order to create themselves. I have made plenty of sacrifices choosing Baruch, and in due time, they will pay off. This first semester is just a teaser of my potential and I look to throttle to the remainder of my time here just like I did with this first semester.

My first semester at Baruch wasn’t as great as I hoped it would be. I only made one actual friend, I had to drop calculus and I just overall didn’t have a great 3 months. Baruch is definitely not the school for me, but I’m trying to make the best out of the resources I have. Since I started my first semester at Baruch,  I’ve pretty much had no free time to do anything fun (like go skate). Once I dropped calculus I had way more time to go do that, but by that time it was already 40 degrees outside. I’m hoping that my second semester here is a little bit more fun, but I’m keeping my expectations pretty low.

Time is far more valuable than money. It’s something we should all learn to treasure as fast as possible. My first few months of life in Baruch College have been all about time. In the mess of my personal life, both emotional and physical, I found myself wasting an incredible amount of time. I now see that the time I wasted crying over the past or stressing over unnecessary and ultimately unchanged outcomes, I will never get back. I have taken my high expectations and flushed them down the toilet. While I cannot refund my time spent on all of that nonsense, I can make sure that the time I spend from now on will be well spent, and well spent for a good cause. The most I can gather from the rubble of my wasted time throughout the first semester are several valuable lessons. The biggest of which is, “Live life in the now.” The past has already happened and while it’s good to acknowledge it, it’s unhealthy to be stuck in it. The future is something that must be kept in mind, and decisions must be made with some awareness of how the future will be impacted, but you cannot be living for the future. So I must live life in the present. And altogether, these few months weren’t wasted. I was lucky to be assigned with an amazing bloc full of people who are genuine, interesting, and whom I now consider friends. They showed me unprecedented kindness, and they were the ones who introduced that lesson to me, in their own personal ways. So I thank them all, and as much as I hate the time that I wasted, I do not regret it. I can’t sulk in the past. I must take care of myself in the present.

Well Well well it’s a semester already. Surprising isn’t it. Looking back at this semester made me realize I went through some changes. The work isn’t as bad as what people make it seem(In my opinion)There are just some teachers that are difficult to deal with. No shade. I finally have a feeling of being grown up and take responsibility into my own hands. There are things I dont like. For example that we are restricted to what we can study. I cant do a certain amount of science subjects and I think it’s asinine. I am forced to do subjects I dont want. I wish the math teachers were nicer and the evaluations of our math aptitude is impaired. Nevertheless, I think i just have to deal with it. I will be strong and make it through this somehow. LOL or just transfer if I can’t deal with it anymore.
I have been given the opportunity to tour the city of Manhattan and it turned out to be more beautiful than I thought. I know I have much more to discover!
I’ve met new people some I liked and some I just don’t get along with, you know yourselves.Though I must admit that each of us have diverse backgrounds and various skills and talents which make the school all the more interesting. You learn a lot outside of the classroom.
Well that’s my experience I hope you enjoyed reading this. Much love stay strong and do your best in anything that you do.

http://www.zikhsan.net/2012/01/whirlwind-of-books.html

My first semester at Baruch has been a whirlwind of everything. From commuting to school in the morning to the vast array of after school activities that I’ve taken part in everything has been a wonderful new experience. I’ve made so many new friends and I feel like there’s no way the semester could be this close to the end. I’ve only been here for a few months and it’s almost time for winter break. I don’t know if I feel ready to be on my own in all my classes without the warm faces of all my friends from my block, it will be strange to not spend every afternoon with them complaining about how horrible calc is but I guess that’s just a part of the college life. I’m really excited for next semester, but honestly I can’t wait to put down the blur of books I’ve been surrounded with and just relax for the entire month of January.

The reality is that it has already been three months since freshman year  has started. Is it not true that this time has passed by in a flash? To put this in another perspective, our Baruch lives are nearly 1/8th completed. The question is will regret come, and if it does will it be the result actions (in the wrong place or time) or lack of action/initiative. In reality graduation is in 3.5 years, give or take, and during that time all that will be filled in the head is either irritation caused by regrets or enrichment at the thought of everything that has been accomplished in these four years. So far I feel satisfied with what I have experienced in Baruch College. The classes do really give students work for the sake of simply giving work (which was common in high school) but instead recommend students to slowly work towards a big assignment. In this, it can be seen that teachers are no longer your friend that constantly looks out for you (by telling you how to do this, when are you going to do this, etc); they are simply your professor, nothing more and nothing less. If life gave an instruction guide on how to be monetarily successful it would say do well in elementary school to get into a good middle school, do well in middle school to get into a good high school, get into a good high school to get into a good college. Well, now we’re all here, and for some this may be the final step before finally entering the cold world of full-time employment. For others, this may be yet another stepping stone before entering graduate school, where they will then enter full-time employment (unless you are going into something that requires even further education such as a doctoral program). Either way, this is the beginning of either the last or second-to-last educational degree many of us will ever have, and all that can be done now is work hard. Things will get hard for everyone, and the only answer to that is to work harder than the given task and help others through their struggles.

Picture URL: http://dailygenius.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/old-time-clock.jpg

I have heard many people say whats in the picture many times thinking I can do all three no problem. As first semester is coming to an end I realized that I actually selected sleep and good grades over a social life mainly because commuting takes away couple hours a day in which I can do something to make sure all three goals are met. Next semester, I will try to meet all three.

So far, Baruch has been an amazing experience. I always thought that transitioning from high school to college would be very difficult and something that would take more than a couple of months but I was wrong. Having the block system with freshman actually helped me to adjust to the college environment quicker and with ease since it was similar to my high school. Even though I was disappointed that I was given classes to take instead being able to select classes for myself, the block system allowed me to meet my first friends in college who are great.

I have also learned to not leave things until the last minute and to manage my time better so that I can get things done. I learned through out the semester that getting things done as soon as they are assigned is the best way to not fall behind and have a pile of essays to write or books to read. The work itself though did not overwhelm me for the most part probably because I thought college would be much harder than it actually is in reality. I expect the classes in the future will get harder and the work that I would have to do to maintain good grades would also increase.

Next semester, I hope to get involved with club activities during the club hours. Even though, I signed up and attended a few meetings for clubs when the semester first began, I lost interest and used that time to either catch up with readings for classes or do homework with friends.  I want to pick a club next semester and stick with it till the semester finishes.

Baruch has been amazing so far.

Hiking

My experience as a student at Baruch has been challenging thus far. It’s an ongoing struggle to strike the perfect balance between life at home, school, and work. My classes require me to put in an immense amount of effort to study and complete my assignments, but that was to be expected. This isn’t some easy game in which I can just toss the dice and let chance determine my fate. I have at least some power in being able to control what I can do to further my advancements to reach my goals.

Besides crawling up a small dirt mountain with a fleet of my distant cousins the one time I visited Pakistan nearly ten years ago, I have never been hiking before, but I would imagine that college life is rather similar. The terrain is steep and rugged, and it  is not very well known for its delightful pleasures. It seems that all the odds are against the hiker because the forces of nature are constantly impeding progress with topographical obstacles, inundating weather, and gravity. Yet, despite of all these deterrents, people still willingly run to these mountains and are eager to hike, no matter the difficulty, to the top. But why?

Like me, these hikers, or college students, are daring to face these hurdles because they envision the final result, conquering the highest peak. Once they embark on the journey, they will do everything in their power to continue hiking until they reach the top because they are working toward ultimate success. I might have trouble finishing a paper or completing a test or starting a long reading, but I know these supposedly trivial things are necessary for me to do well and eventually graduate from college one day. I know that if my balance falters because of a small rock, I just have to look forward and keep on hiking until I make it to the summit.