Freshman Seminar Spring 2017 DTD

Ever heard the saying, “it’s not always as it seems?” Well that was my experience when I offered to volunteer at a real estate company. I am thinking about going in the field of marketing and real estate. People often get the impression that real estate buys houses and resell them, and that it is a simple process. But that is far from the truth.

On my first couple of days at Royal Capital Group of New York I visited some houses that were in perfect condition and ready for sale. I was educated about the processes involved and the salesmanship used to win over potential candidates. On the following days I visited some houses that were in deplorable condition. Not many people are aware of the complexities behind getting these houses ready for sale. In some cases major reconstruction is done on these house that last for months. I was very surprised and i gain great knowledge that I will use going forward with my career development.

The name of the event was called ” Exploring Fields in Marketing ” which was held on March 30 2017.  There was a similar one that i went to on the mid oof Feburary which was held by Markers of Baruch. The events were similar which i actually liked. The event talked about the different fieds in marketing. To be honest, my main reason behind going there was for the food. There were guest speakers who were talking about the different types of problems they faced inordered to be in the position they at right now. The thing i liked about the event was meeting new people that were lso interested in marketing. Not everyone’s major was marketing, some people i met, their major was finance, international business, etc. Towards the end, they let us ask questions that they answered for us.

I had two essays to write, one for English (compare&constrast essay) and one for Sociology (book report on “Unequal Childhoods” by Annette Lareau). For each, it took me two days to complete it. I’m the type of person that when I have to hand in an essay or any written work, I MUST reread it several times and have others reread it several times, just to make sure that there are no mistakes and that my point is clearly getting across. The problem, in this case, was that I had no one worthy enough to reread my essay’s. And by that, I mean that my sister was on a trip for the week, my brother was staying w/ my dad for the month, and my mother isn’t from here so she might not understand everything that I’m writing. That’s when I decided to go to the writing center for the first time. Honestly, I think imma go again. They really helped me out and advised me in areas I thought I was set in. I really feel as if my entire way of writing just reached a whole new level of greatness.

            

Honestly, the food alone was enough for me, but it was nice to see/talk to people who are currently in the business of marketing. Walking in, they were telling us their stories on how they got to their positions today and talking about the obstacles they faced if any. I liked how they were straight forward and told us exactly what it was (is); no bs. Hearing their individual/unique views were kind of interesting. They just proved that there isn’t one set path to being successful in what you want. There’s so many ways, so many networks, so many outlets. They touched on a couple things that can help begin our career. One lady even offered us a paid internship if we were interested. At the end of the original questions, they let us ask a few questions of our own. The only question that came to mind was “How much money do you make?”, ” In a month? … in a year?”.

A few weeks back, my friend and I attended the G.L.A.S.S open mic night at the Brauch’s Barnes and Nobles. The club is an organization based for LGBTQ+, but all are welcome. Though it started at 6 pm, to my surprise many people showed up. Few went up on stage and performed. The performers were able to do skits, poems, songs, and address issues they have personally dealt with.  The host of the evening addressed what heterosexual, bisexual, homosexual meant and the importance of expressing one’s self and finding oneself in their unique ways. Performers further discussed the gender norms that one has to follow and the expectations from family or even society. But breaking through that should not be seen as something shameful. They also brought up the Kinsley Scale which determines what sexuality a person falls under. The unique experiences each individual have. Asides from the serious discussions, the club provided great music and food. At the end, everyone just got to sit around and talk to one another about their own experience, so even those that didn’t go own stage felt like they had a voice.

I have visited the MET. The MET is a museum of art, it was a incredible experience. The music was humongous and it wasn’t a lot to gat in; I just paid 5 dollars. My visit there was more of a class trip for my art history class. As I arrived, I was didn’t have to carry my thing all over the museum; there was a coat check to leave my coat and bag. When I got the chance to look at many pictures my mind blow. There was art pieces for Greek, Rome, Italian and many more. S

ome of the art pieces were older the 100 year, makes you think of how art was able to exist in one piece. I took many of the pictures and each painting had a different story to tell. One was the “Virgin and child”, showing the live of people’s beliefs at that period of time. I hope more people will go.

On Thursday, March 16 I chose to attend a FES, or Finance and Economics Society, informational meeting during club hours. There was a presentation that was given by their Vice President Verina Hanien and their Secretary Uzair Khalil. In the presentation they talked about some of the roles that were less prevalent and known, the orders of business were also shared, explaining where you begin, the multiple paths you could take, and where they end off. Something I thought was interesting that they also spoke about was mutual funds. I really enjoyed learning a bunch of terms and concepts that I never understood before. After attending this FES presentation, I felt really motivated to delve into the different areas of business and investments and I am extremely interested in returning to this club again.

My English 2100 paper required a more sophisticated writing style; there was no room for errors. Even with multiple rewriting and readovers, there is no guarantee I will find all the misplaced modifiers, misused of punctuation, incorrect spelling, among other mistakes. My solution was to visit the Baruch Writing Center on the 8th floor in the Vertical Building on Lexington Ave. It is amazing how quickly the appointment sheet fills up, there was no available spot so I was reduce to just do a “walk in” and hope that some delinquent who had made an appointment did not show up.

On my arrival I was greeted with a bright smile from a young lady at the front desk: “how may I help you today?” I was quick to tell her my problem and within just five minutes I was paired with writing agent, Shana, who was more than willing to assist me with the paper. We spend about 15-20 minutes reconstructing my writing piece to an essay format; next we eliminated the wrong punctuations. I am more confident about my paper now thanks to the help I got from the Writing Center.