This meme describes the moments of frustration that all of us experienced at least once during the semester. I particularly found this amusing because on our first English paper I had many inconveniences. I was writing the paper in the library and when I finished I accidentaly closed it. I was so mad! I rewrote the whole thing that night and didn’t even reread it. When I handed in the paper the English professor did not even grade it. After that she constantly kept telling me and the others that we didn’t have thesis statements.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xx8aupsqltfwxz7/PhotoGrid_1417017745029.jpg?dl=0

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This meme describes my freshman experience perfectly. Because of my English professor, I constantly was assigned papers and rewrites on those papers. Before I knew it my work load had piled up and consumed my whole weekend and by that I mean ruined my Monday because I procrastinate. it let me know I have to manage my time better.

Saying that college has changed me would be a bit of an understatement. It helped me improve my character and grow as a person. It allowed me to meet so many great people and gave me opportunities to work on my future career. But what’s even more amazing is that this is only the beginning, and I couldn’t be happier to see what’s ahead of me.

When I was little I saw college simply as the means in getting a good job. Which is true, but now that I’m here I realise that there is so much more to it. College, above all, helps you improve your mind. College students are the thinkers, the ones who lead revolutions all around the world. In the past few months I was able to learn much more than I ever anticipated. I hated learning in high school, but now I realise maybe I just hated the system.

But in a way, college broke me. A visit in a coffee shop twice a week became a daily habit. My wallet suffered, and so did my mental health. But in the end, I would not change a single thing. Even the terrible sleeping habits don’t seem so terrible after four months. In a way, I started to enjoy going to sleep late – at least when I don’t have an English essay to write.

So I conclude my last LC07 blog post with a screenshot of a glitch I’ve encountered when I first played Assassin’s Creed Unity (I had to go to the midnight release to even get the game within 48h… Thanks college!). In a sense, it reflects how I feel right now – broken but I’m still having fun. Some days I will feel a little down, but I know that the next day of classes will find a way to cheer me up.

http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2014/11/13/289650screenshots2014-11-1100007jpg-e14c24.jpg

http://giphy.com/gifs/loop-super-mario-64-vcyroBgx2nrby
The above is a link to a GIF where, mario is climbing a bunch of stairs

Source; Reddit.com

The past few months have been both amusing and difficult. There were new freedoms to explore, that we didn’t have in high school, like having your phone out, and using laptops. But, at the same time, there were many challenges I had to face. I was missing old friends, trying to adjust to a new environment, and find ways to get involved in the Baruch community, like I had in high school. Not so much in the workload, did things change for me, but a different style of learning. I felt like I was learning, and making connections that I didn’t realize before. I felt older, basically.

The reason I put the stairs, is because I have almost finished the first semester at Baruch. But, there are many more semesters to come. I look forward to these with anxiety, but also excitement. I’m exciting about taking classes like BUS 1000, but the idea of an Accounting class sometime in the future, puts me to sleep. There are a ton of people who I haven’t met, which holds a door of newly unexplored ventures and opportunities. i don’t know how things are going to turn out, but that’s okay, because the journey is half the adventure. The first couple months at Baruch, were a bit bumpy here and there, and the road will always be a little rocky, but I’m excited to walk upon it. I’ve enjoyed my first three months so far, meeting new people, seeing new things, and taking new classes. I hope that similar and even better experiences come, and I look forward to it. Because, before we know it, it’ll all be over.

http://that-college-life.tumblr.com/post/97602183234/when-i-get-home-from-class

This gif describes my life in college so far because I’m not used to waking up early and having to catch the train at 6:40 am to get to my first class. In high school, I didn’t care about attendance much so I would wake up later and not even care if I was late to class and sometimes I wouldn’t even go to my first class. In college, my first class on Tuesdays and Thursdays is at 8:15 am. Since I live pretty far from Baruch, I have to get up earlier than I did in high school and I have to be more responsible.

Since Tuesdays and Thursdays are long school days, I have to stay in school until 4:35 pm. By the time math class comes, I just want to take a nap. Then it’s a long ride home. I get home at around 6:00 pm on those days. When I get home, all I want to do is eat some food, and take a nap. I get so lazy and tired the moment I lay on my bed and sometimes fall asleep accidently when I have school work to do. Sometimes I would even go home early just to catch up on sleep. College is a lot of work and one must put a lot of effort into their work. It’s not easy and I definitely had to sacrifice some sleeping hours to go to class and get work done.

I think this picture describes most of us when we were younger. We thought that we were ready to enter the college life and we just couldn’t wait. When I look back, I said this a lot: I can’t wait to go to college. Now I’m saying the complete opposite which is I wish I can go back to high-school. It’s a major transition from lenient scheduling, not-so-tough grading, and laid back homework. I expected a different kind of experience, but not one filled with endless papers and sleep deprived nights. Even though it is a hectic transition, I like how I am adapting to it and how it is changing me. I started becoming more conscious about my work and I expect the best of what I do. Even though I miss the times where I was practically worry free, I am excited for the experiences that I will face in Baruch.

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http://i.imgur.com/Cncp6Cb.gif

I chose this gif simply because it represents the way that many of us have been thrown into the real world. When I was in high school, it felt as though I was always babied into things, there was always someone there to hold my hand when I needed help. However when I got to college, I realized this was no longer the case. There’s no one there to tell you that you need to do the work, no one that tells you “remember that this is due tomorrow,” no one to help you every step of the way. Reality smacks you in the face and you realize the only person that can help you is yourself. You can’t rely on others to do things for you. And though this may seem unfair, we have no choice but to suck it up and deal with it. Only we can push  ourselves to get out there and fulfill our potentials, there’s no point in complaining about it.

http://talknerdytome123.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/nuclear-homer-simpson.png

This image summarizes in a whole my first semester experience with the unnecessarily complex side of Baruch.
College is utterly different from high school. It’s not going to remind you to do xyz, it’s just going to randomly kick you in the face with a sudden reminder that you missed a bunch of deadlines and opportunities. Woe to you if you slack off and take absolutely no initiative because the tangled mess of Cunyfirst and various offices are going to collectively leave you on the verge of a mental breakdown wondering why Bursar’s sent you to Academic Advisement and why Academic Advisement sent you back to Bursar’s. Admittedly, it’s not the office’s fault entirely: the people are very nice and just as bewildered as we are by the occasional technical snafu.

In addition I have to admit that it took me a while to realize why some people didn’t go into the elevators because they were express. Note taken: if you want to go to the 5th floor for communications, you use the escalators or you look before you enter.

Ultimately, it was definitely a growing experience that allowed me to unexpectedly bond with some of my classmates as we frantically ran around the school trying to figure out what in the world a “hold” was and how to get rid of it.

This gif basically explains my first semester at baruch:

http://giphy.com/posts/good-morning-time-for-coffee-24

I never used to drink coffee because I always had enough energy to get through the day and then some. However, the stress of trying to get certain work done and then redoing it for a better grade changed that. Instead of simple homeworks here and there, everything seemed like a big project. It became a struggle to stay focused or even awake in class and at home all I was inclined to do was to sleep. So I started drinking coffee and it has helped to keep me awake and to pay attention to what is at hand. College is something we all need to adjust to, but I think I’m starting to get the hang of it and that next semester will be a little better because I now know what to expect.

“Dancing through life
Mindless and careless
Make sure you’re where less
Trouble is rife
Woes are fleeting
Blows are glancing
When you’re dancing
Through life…”

This gif comes from the musical Wicked, during a song called “Dancing Through Life”. I choose this one because, through all the stress, I really feel like my first few months of college have been a great experience. I’ve founded new friendships, explored new attitudes, changed of my sense of fashion a bit from years prior. I’ve opened up pieces of myself that I’ve kept locked away for years and have learned to grow more and more comfortable in my own skin. And for the most part everything has ended up working out for me.
There have also been so many great opportunities and experiences that I have only been able to have due to going to this school. Like getting to see Cabaret on broadway with our Learning Community classes, being elected to be a part of Baruch Voices, meet a couple of amazing people which have become my partners in trying to start a club, and lastly (and most recently) going to meet my idol and favorite performer thanks to a new friend I’ve met here.
The biggest change that moving into this new chapter of my life as brought me is that I’ve began to adapt a more positive mindset. Where high school was all doom and gloom, college is a series of open doors to keep walking through and see where they go. While every door may not lead to the right place for me, I’ve also become less afraid of choosing the wrong thing.
In college, there is more freedom to do what we want, which is a completely new learning experience in itself. While the song preaches for a life without classes and to just live life and learn from that, I believe being at Baruch has enforced an idea in me that both are important. For someone who was always put more value in school than anything else, coming to college and only focusing on school for a while became extremely exhausting and lonesome. After a little while it became clear that I needed to be social as well. So balancing the two began to be the way to keep myself happy and well. Making time for my family, friends, shows and other things I love seemed like an impossible task at first, however it only became easier the more I learned how to work with my school schedule. Thank goodness for having Mondays off!
One part of the song that I can agree with (sometimes) is “life’s more painless for the brainless”, in the sense that learning to let go and relax every now and then has also been a huge life lesson I’ve had to learn. Becoming able to take things less seriously than I would have previously has changed my life for the better in helping deal with stress.

“Nothing matters
But knowing nothing matters
It’s just life
So keep dancing through”

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(lyrics from: http://www.metrolyrics.com/dancing-through-life-lyrics-wicked.html)