My first three months at Baruch have been incredible. I have accomplished much of what I set out to do prior to entering Baruch, met some amazing people, and create lasting memories. I owe it to the Investment Management Group for my unbelievable time at Baruch thus far. This is a picture of just a few members, during a night out together. I can not even begin to explain what the group has done for me. They have trained me, developed me, and put me in contact with some very influential people in the business. But, there is much more to it than just the professional aspect. I have made many great friends with those in the group. They are such smart and hardworking people, and constantly push and better one another. The guys at IMG are were always there for me every step of the way. There isn’t a single thing that I can’t talk to them about. We’ve become a family; we constantly joke around and mess with each other. But, they are always there when I need them most. I can’t even begin to imagine how different my experience would be had I not been a part of the group. I’m so grateful for them, and will never be able to repay them for what they have done for me.

This semester has been a very exciting one. Throughout this past semester I have learned a lot of things; time management is key in one’s success, push through and things will get better, teachers don’t care if you miss class, but they do care if you’re late, etc. However, the most important thing I was reminded of was that although all of these things are important, it is also important to cherish each little moments as much as each big moment. We only get to experience these things once, so we should enjoy these moments while we are here. Of course, it’s our first semester in college, and there was a lot thrown our way, but throughout my time here, I have already created lifelong friendships that I wouldn’t trade for the world. On the left is a photo of a few friends from the dorm and me being little tourists on the Brooklyn Bridge. Although it isn’t everyone I have made friends with from the dorms, it is a select few that I hold close to my heart. And this is probably one of the most vivid memories of this year because right as we got into Brooklyn, it started pouring, and there were multiple flood warnings. We didn’t know what to do, so we just took the subway back into Manhattan, then ran to Chelsea Market a few blocks away. We were soaking wet and cold, but it was definitely one of the best days I’ve had here.

The second picture I posted is a picture of me and a few of my favorite classmates. ((: We had to go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art for our art class, and as boring as it sounded, we made it very exciting. First off, we were practically playing hide and seek in the museum because I came to the museum later and I couldn’t find them anywhere, so Sang had to walk me through the museum over the phone for a good fifteen minutes, until I finally found them about a mile away from where I thought they were. Anyways, as we traveled through the museum, we had lots of fun, especially since we had to carry our book bags on the front of us. That was fun.

College is weird. Its funny how high school isn’t so different than what we are doing now, except mainly for the freedom aspect. Five months ago we had to ask to go to the bathroom and were given detention if we acted out, for some of us if we even took our phones out. Now, we have to choose classes that will decide our entire futures and can have our laptops with us whenever we want, an teachers, or “professors”, couldn’t care less if were using them to help or to watch The Walking Dead. I guess people think we change in five months rather than in four years, you know because that makes sense.

To me, the weirdest aspect would have to be the people around me. I come from a private catholic school that holds 90% white kids that call each other slang names, and the the other 10% being black kids that act whiter than them. Now I see kids around me with turbans and burqas and yamahas and its just so new to me. I often wonder if i’m the only one, being a lot of kids may have come from diverse public or private schools, but its not like its made me racist or prejudice. I don’t expect to learn different languages talking to the new types of people I see around me, but damn drawing a blank on what to say to new kids I meet happens more often than i’d like it to.

Coming back from my first day of class. I get on the subway and I begin to think

Questions. So many questions…

Why do my classes suck?

Why can’t I understand the professor?

Why do I have so much work?

Why can’t I choose my own classes?

Why does everyone hate Math?

Why can’t my professor teach?

Why is there no social life?

Why can’t I choose my own classes?

Why does the food suck?

Why is there attendance?

Why does the elevator take so long?

Why can’t I choose my own classes?

Why are they obsessed with recycling?

Why am I taking a freshman class?

Why is everything due at the same time?

Why can’t I choose my own classes?

Why do the escalators only go up to 5?

Why does the day feel so long?

Why am I writing this the minute before it’s due?

Why can’t I choose my own classes?

I honestly couldn’t think of anything to write about for this monologue. At first I was going to talk about things I hate about Baruch but the list would be endless. Since I find most things annoying, I figured I should write about something I actually enjoy talking about.

I went to St. Francis Prep which is a catholic high school in Queens. When I tell people I went to catholic school, they assume it was strict but in reality most of us didn’t pay attention half of the time and our teachers were pretty much tired of us. Our senior trip was to Hawaii which was probably one of the greatest memories I have about my school.

The flight was ten hours long and it was torture but it was so worth the wait. I shared a room on the twenty third floor with my two best friends and some random girl who turned out to be crazy. My dean, principal and teachers were our supervisors but they were out partying just as much as we were. It was just like being on vacation alone, they didn’t care that we went out past curfew or that people left their rooms in the middle of the night.

Besides having complete freedom, it was the most beautiful place I have ever seen. The water was actually blue unlike the ugly  brown green water we have in New York. I remember swimming out to the coral reefs and skinny dipping at night. On our last night we went to Top of Waikiki, a revolving restaurant in Waikiki (obviously). The food was amazing and the view was even better. We stayed for nine days and me and my friends were crying when we had to leave. We wanted to move there and I definitely would if I had the money.

After coming back to New York, I felt more annoyed than usual. Probably because I didn’t want to spend summer here after an experience like that. Eventually I got over it; I still miss it but I made life long friends and met my boyfriend there, so I definitely got a lot out of it. 

These are my favorite pictures I took while I was there 🙂

Laundry

Assort it; colors or white

The weight of the laundry sure isn’t light

I toss it into the machine

Fill in the quarters – cha-ching

Precisely measure the detergent; smells breezy

Pouring it into the compartment, sure is easy

The machine rotates my dirty clothes

Around and around it goes

Thirty minutes will be the time to wait

Patience is the part I hate

Thirty minutes walk by…

Throw the wet clothes into a drier nearby

Wait another thirty

Wow that girl folding her clothes sure is purdy

Take it out

Fold my clothes

Pack it up

Out I goes

Laundry

Something that I don’t like is the train. I have to go on it everyday to get to school, and everyday I loath the time spent in it. First it’s always crowded and I always have to push to get in. And then people decide to get into the already crowded car knowing they’ll be squishing everyone. Why can’t they go to another car? Sometimes people smell bad and there’s no escaping it in such a small space. And even when they leave it still stays in the air. Having to stand for an hour is also annoying because I’m already tired and have bad balance. The fact that I waste an hour going to school and coming home is something else  I don’t like.  I have to get up earlier and at the end of the day I just want to be home but I have to walk and wait an hour on the train just to get there. I wish there was an easier way to get to school but there isn’t.

So we had a couple of weeks to do this monologue. In the beginning, i said to myself “Hey this can’t be that hard.” Thinking that i put it off for a couple of days. In that time I thought of things I could write about. First I was thinking if skydiving. I could have talked about how I jumped from the plane as the sun blinded me and the wind pushed me around. Even though it was fun, I was afraid that my parachute wouldn’t open. As I got closer to the ground….. Bla bla bla. Too much fear and fun at the sametime. But the adrenaline rush was amazing. The next thing that came to mind was the college process. I wasn’t the only one who had the fear of not getting into a college.. Right??? When everyone kept saying don’t worry about it or calm down, I would think “oh its no big deal if i dont get into a college. I will only remain jobless for the rest of my life” Too boring and common. After sitting there for hours…. for minutes more like it, I thought, “screw this, taking mad long” I was never so wrong before. This is actually hard. I am just going to write a monologue about writing this monologue……. why didn’t I think of this earlier??????

The Up’s and Down’s of Life

You know what really grinds my gears,

And always brings me tears,

A crowded 6 train,

I end up standing between Peter Griffin and Fat Joe,

They don’t use deodorant and I’m just like “aw hell no,”

But you know what else grinds my gears,

Writing a monologue that takes me years,

And then making me present it,

But it’s not like it’s one of my greatest fears,

I just really don’t care about connecting with my peers,

I may seem like a hate everything,

But I’m a human being,

I like puppies, and shake shack, and traveling,

And I have things on my bucket list,

Like touching a stingray and skydiving,

And I’m gonna do those things otherwise I’ll be pissed,

It’s hard loving life and being a misanthrope,

Nah I’m just kidding my life is pretty dope,

But I’m not trying to be arrogant or condescending,

So before I make a fool outta myself I’m gonna go ahead and call this the ending.

By Daoud Ahmed

So this monologue’s dedicated to October. Man, I love october. October is such a good time of the year. It’s the perfect weather, not terribly cold and not terribly warm.  Finally fall, the perfect mix. I can finally stop drinking the cold drinks at Starbucks and move on to the lattes. Not claiming to be a common white girl, but ever since I got introduced to pumpkin spice lattes thats all I freaking drink. It’s really bad. Oh and it’s my birthday month! Speaking of which, I just turned 18 on the 21st. I’m honestly so happy I’m legal. But at the same time, it’s kind of weird because you’re considered an adult. Like that’s super weird to me, I don’t know. I went out for my birthday this past weekend. I went to Max Brenner’s and wow I really recommend it if you’ve never had it. It’s so good, make sure you have room for desert because their chocolate is bomb. Anyways, Halloween is so soon too. Halloween can honestly be a fun holiday but it ends up being so annoying. You have to buy a freaking overpriced costume that probably is worth like $10 but you end up paying $75 for it because party city doesn’t make money any other time of the year. It’s honestly so stupid. But halloween’s also an excuse for partying, so theres that. Anyways, this month went way too fast. I’ll miss october.