1. Joshua Bresilien- 23953639

On Saturday, to complete my academic enrichment assignment i visited the Brooklyn Museum. I have been there many times before, but theiAs i entered first thing i noticed was the oversized ice cream sundae and sink. They represented abundance, and how many of us, living in America, are blessed to have running water, and all the desserts we wish.  I also visited an art exhibit that included all the drawings, both incomplete and completed, from Pablo Picasso and other European artists. I spent most of my time in the museum in the ancient Egypt section. There were models of tombs, and mummies. There were copies of the Egyptian Book Of The Dead, written on papyrus paper with their translations to english. They showed how they buried their dead, and believe that women were not able to reach the afterlife. To help them reach it they would bury the women as a man, and recite spells using masculine pronouns. There was also a lot of Egyptian art, jewelry, and everyday items. They had rings, statues and a headrest. The headrest is used to rest your chin during sleep and after death, to protect your head from evil spirits. The last exhibit i visited was one of colored pictures. They were taken by photographer Garry Winogrand, he is more famously known for his black and white images. This exhibit was to bring notice to his colored pictures that do not draw as much attention. He grew up in the Bronx but took majority of his pictures in New Your City. He photographed everything from, Building, Amusement parks, and even everyday people. He loved the social live and the aesthetics of the city and so he would capture images although he was not able to afford the printing of these images

For my first reflective writing assignment, I chose to focus in on an academic enrichment activity. More specifically, I elected to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art- A famous, grand museum located on 5th Avenue and 82nd Street on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. I had a particular interest in the museum because of its well renowned reputation, choice of admission price, and its feature in one of 2018’s best movies- Ocean’s Eight. Although I did not get to see the fictional ‘Toussaint Necklace’, or practically any significant amount of jewelry, I had the opportunity to delve into many historical and cultural exhibitions.

Throughout my visit, I was hard-pressed in my ability to know where I was going.  As such, I spent most of my time navigating the museum aimlessly- rendering my visit to last over three hours. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity to spectate all corners and displays of the museum. Some of the more interesting sections of the museum that I visited include the panoramic view of the Palace of Versailles, the faberge egg display, and the American wing. The panoramic view of Versailles was the best feature of the museum due to the uncanny realism of the display; I felt as though I was actually visiting the garden and palace at Versailles, so much so that I spent ten entire minutes attempting to make the display tangible. The faberge egg display had three beautifully decorated eggs- all of which were produced and came from Imperial Russia. Finally, the American wing of the museum was monumental in architecture, featuring a transparent windowed ceiling and a bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana, whom was the goddess of the moon and hunting.

Overall, I enjoyed my day trip to ‘The Met’ and wish to visit it again soon. Although I was very confused and lost at particular times during my visit, I still reveled in the broad displays of human achievement and excellent; such a feeling is the reason that I would strongly consider visiting again.

 

This week has been decent so far. The only class that is a bit much is English due to the fact that I have a 5 page essay due next week. It is a bit much because english is not exactly my strong spot. Also I am still heavy on procrastination which I hope to get rid of so I can start getting my tasks done on time. Overall, this week went by pretty slow. 

For this week enrichment project I chose an academic workshop. I attended the Study Abroad fair that was held in the the auxillary gym.  I had went around and conversed with many people from a many different backgrounds and even Baruch students who have attended these study abroad courses. I have met people who had attended college in Denmark, China, Spain, Singapore, Germany, Madrid, France, Belgium, India, Thailand, and Amsterdam I heard about many different experiences from people who had attended these many different colleges from afar. It was interesting to learn how a different environment can enhance your study and broaden your perspective. Adapting and learning new cultures was also a pretty big thing too.  People who have came from places like Denmark, France, India, Madrid and Amsterdam had talked to me about how beautiful these cities were and how it was imperative that I should visit them. Amsterdam being a place filled with many wonders and experience which many of you may know what I’m talking about. France with their beautiful yet old structures. Singapore with their beautifully vibrant and rapid city, which is also a great financial capital. One of which I was considering along with Copenhagen, Denmark. However these cities may be beautiful and an amazing experience there are still many other factors that one needs to go through to be able to apply for study abroad. My reason to study abroad is to learn and explore more about different people and environments especially in the business or finance field. You never know who you will have to interact with and having this knowledge and experience can go a long way. Study abroad is of course not “cheap”, it does cost a lot of money however there are many scholarships that can help with that such as the Boren Scholarship, Shwarzman Scholars, Gillman Scholarship and many more. Going to this fair had helped me learn more about what I wanted to do in my future here at Baruch.

 

Allison Pinedo; 23727556

For my first enrichment workshop, I decided to do the student life portion. I recently went to the opening ceremony of Latin Heritage month. I was only able to go to the distribution of the food. I didn’t really get to see a lot of people there because I was there towards the beginning. However that kind of worked to my advantage since I don’t really like packed places. They served some type of sweet plantain with a colombian piece called arepa. There was not much variety to choose from but overall the food was alright. I thought it would have given a more effective vibe of culture if there was more variety. I did go with my friend so it was a nice little break between classes to just hang out. I hope to be able to participate in more interactive events later on. 

For this assignment, I decided to attend a USG club meeting. .The meeting was an overview of how the legislative affairs would run for the year. We discussed political views, determined what future events members would be interested in attending and how we felt about certain organizations and movements. Some of the events that were offered for us to go to were climate strikes, getting students registered to vote, and going to Albany for lobbying our senators. The president for the club is Kim Kazdal. Everyone that i met, including her, was super nice and welcoming. At first, I really was skeptical to join a club. I would say it took a lot out of me to be able to place myself in an environment that was so vulnerable for students to interact and to share their thoughts with each other. Its very nerve-wrecking to be a a first year trying to find their place in this school but at least now I know there are people who are willing to open up to you, if you’re willing to be equally as open as them. This club is really about the people and building our community. What interested me about this community was the form saying that these conversations would take on the less traditional approach to politics and that you don’t have to love politics to feel like you belong. The meaning behind this club is more about learning new things, talking about prevalent issues, and helping those around you. In my opinion, I find it really important to spread awareness around certain topics such as getting students to register to vote. It really ends up making a difference because in the end everything adds up and it reflects on how hard you’ve worked to be able to try to get your message across.

For my first enrichment workshop I chose to tackle the social one. I decided to go to the study abroad fair. From the moment I heard this was an option I was immediately drawn towards it. It was very helpful that during our FYS class we were informed of what the semester abroad was as a whole. We also received information on how to apply and what to expect from it.

The Study Abroad fair was very informative, there were a broad amount of tables which represented many different Universities from a wide variety of countries. The people at this tables were very helpful and friendly, always happy to talk about their Universities and their cities. We discussed about food, accommodations, nightlife, places of interest, among other things.

After this fair I am certain that I will be going at least one semester abroad. After I graduated high school I spent over a year in Europe and it truly was one of the best experiences of my life, I learned many new things and I like to think I matured, at least a little. One of my goals in life is to get to visit as many countries as possible, Ive already been to over 25 and I believe that a semester abroad will truly be helpful towards achieving this objective. In my opinion traveling is always a great experience, one can meet many new people, learn new languages, see new cultures and even learn more about themselves.

I really look forward to visiting a new country  while advancing my college education. It is a great opportunity Baruch offers and I intent to take it as soon as I can.

My name is Allison Pinedo. I am 18 years old and from Peru. The human mind has always been a fascination to me which is why I plan to major in psychology and become a therapist. In my free time, I mostly like to spend time with friends or watch movies. My experience at Baruch has been pretty decent so far, I cannot say much because I feel like everyone , including myself, are still settling in. My only problem is getting over procrastination. 

For my last freshman/first year seminar class, I was introduced to two excellent guest speakers; one of whom was a representative from the study abroad office at Baruch, and another was a representative for the Honors program at Baruch. The former was particularly interesting because of my expressed ambitions to study in a foreign country. During his presentation, I not only paid close attention to the criteria and details of the program, but I also jotted down many cities I had interest in studying in. I was especially delighted by the financial aspect of study abroad, where I was informed that my financial aid, as well as potential scholarships, could cover all costs. Overall, study abroad is an experience that I express a strong desire to partake in, and I hope to be fortunate enough to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

For my Enrichment Workshop this week, I chose the academic option. I went to the Museum of Modern Art (The MoMa) before it was temporarily closed due to renovation. I really enjoyed the MoMa because it is such a beautiful place. It is a big building with natural light overlooking Manhattan. The MoMa is beautiful itself but it also displays some beautiful artwork. The MoMa’s collection of art carries a variety of mediums and works. The museum carries oil paintings to sculptures to technological medium work. There are multiple rooms in the MoMa but I really enjoyed the Andy Worhol exhibition. I think he was a great artist because he took simple things with not a lot of details and made it art. For example, he used a picture of Marilyn Monroe, turned it into pop art, and incorporated repetition in the piece of the same Marilyn Monroe image using ink printing. Ink printing is when the artist carves out the image they desire in a piece of linoleum. When they have their desired image in the linoleum, they cover it in ink, press a paper to it, and put it through a cranking machine to press the paper and the linoleum together so when you peel the paper off, there will be the desired image on the paper in ink. Ink printing sounds complicated and it is! I used this medium in AP art last year. It is very time consuming and frustrating because the ink won’t always turn out perfect every time. For this reason, I give Andy Worhal major credit for creating such beautiful art using ink printing. One very popular piece done by Worhal was “Campbell’s Soup Can”. This is one of Worhals most seem pieces and it is just the same picture of a soup can over and over again.  Out of the Warhol exhibition, this was the piece of work that seemed to have the most attention from people observing the exhibition. I find it very fascinating how something so straightforward like a can has the ability to grab so many people’s attention, including mine. I think it is because repetition is striking to the eye. With all of that being said, I really enjoyed my day at the MoMa and am hoping to return once the renovations are done!