Hi everyone! My name is Vy (Vee). Some fun facts about me that probably some of you already know are I like to practice Martial Arts (Muay Thai), I am multi-lingual, I like to longboard, and my favorite Netflix show of all time is Supernatural.

However, in this blog, I am going to write about my name. I am Vietnamese, I was born in Vietnam and I moved to the U.S. when I was nine years old. The way to correctly pronounce my name in a Vietnamese accent is probably (in English), Vei, but that doesn’t sound right to me either. That’s why I decided to make it simple, a letter V, and I love the sound of it.

My first name in Vietnam is very popular, there’s Vy Vy Clothing, Vy’s Shop, etc. However, in America, it seems like or until Baruch, that I was the only Vy in school. It made me feel special, so I was very proud of my name. Furthermore, I enjoy the fact that my name is easy to remember, and I love people’s reaction when they said, “Just “V”?”, or “Like the letter V?”, or “That’s amazing.”

Even though sometimes people would mispronounce my name, I tend to let it slide and let people know how to correctly say it, because I’m Vy.

It is a tuesday, My favorite day of the week. My Tuesday schedule is the chillest schedule of the week and I like being in school unstressed. So I go to FYS in the morning and learn about studying abroad, I always wanted to do so. Learning about how possible it is and all it takes is planning really excites me because I believe it’s possible. The only boarder in my way is that $9,000. Even if my financial aid transfers over, a semester here is 3.8k, and tap may not transfer. So I’m left with 2.6k of it being paid for me, along with I believe to be a 2k scholarship for a semester? So then I still have 4.4k to go. The only way would be to successfully get the scholarship the man talked about, which I hope I can do when the time comes. I’ve lived in New York my entire life and have only been out of it for a max of 2 weeks from memory. I’d like to actually be out of New York and have an entirely new experience once, so I’ll pursue this somehow. Anyway, I also learned about the honors society which I am also interested in, but doing homework right now, I know that’s going to be a difficult task. My high school mindset isn’t gonna cut it for college, so I’ll work on adapting myself to my goals fast. Easier said than done though. So then after first year seminar I begin my BLS homework. I like that it’s actually based on a real book and the pdf has book pages instead of pages pages. It feels much more familiar and I could actually get into a book rather than just text. It’s about someone writing a letter to their nephew growing up in their hood, warning them of things and preparing them for life. I enjoyed it. So then being the 2nd person to finish the reflection on that I begin my last class. Political Science. Not much to talk about there, I went in and I went out. Before all of this I went to Alpha Kappa Psi’s event “Spread the Love” and made 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for either children in need or the homeless, or both. It was a fun event. After that I met someone and did my BLS homework. So now we’re back to 4:10pm where I leave and get home early after a long time. Yeah, getting home around 5pm is early compared to the other days when events are from 6-8pm+. I then just eat and sleep, not much to note after that. Fin.

Elyon Clyde                                                                                                                                FYS

​​​                          Event Journal

I went to many events, a lot of them being Business frat events, especially frat B. Sports days, philanthropic. The most recent one being an Alumni night with a friend, so I’ve been to formal, sporty, and philanthropic events. The events I’ll be talking about here is the Alumni Night for frat A and their service event. The day was a Thursday, and I had a pretty nice schedule. My first class was online so I didn’t really have to come to college until 4pm. My friend, let’s call him S, had plans however. He wanted to go to frat A’s event at 12pm which was service. I had nothing to do that day so I said sure, and it sounded fun. So I went with him and another friend, ST, to the event. We were to make inspirational cards to children that were hospitalized; they could be seasonal or general. This was my first event for this frat and I kind of felt like I was cheating on frat B, but it was for a good cause. I wanted to meet some of frat A’s members too, so I went and met 4 of them in total, and 2 of their rushee’s. One of the rushee’s was actually a junior and a tutor in this school, which I find pretty cool because I’m definitely going to be tutored one day. So I learned about that and some of their members, and made a Christmas card. Unfortunately my artist skills were lacking that day but I’m still pretty proud of my cover. It was “Merry Christmas” at the top and had a Christmas had shrouded in snow with a green heart design. The event ended at 2:30pm so I was with S and St until 4pm just talking then went to class. The beginning of it was interesting for the most part. My teacher ended up coming around 15 minutes late, around 4 students had left before that and right before the professor came in like 50% of the class were about to leave, me included. But then he came and class started. Fast forward, I ate with S and St afterwards and I was planning on going to the Alumni Night for an hour given it started at 6pm. I was invited to an invite only event for frat B and wanted to go, which also started at 6pm, but it ended at 8:30pm. My bro’s were foreign to events so I wanted to help them ease in. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. The Alumni Night didn’t start until 6:30pm and I went in and ate a plate of food and noticed it was already 7pm. It would be rude if I ate and dipped like that so I thought I would stay until 7:15pm. But when 7:15pm came around, the Alumni were talking and there was like 10 people standing in front of the door. I was trapped. I couldn’t just get up and leave in the middle of the Alumni talking, it would be too awkward. So unfortunately I had to give up, and I stayed for the whole event and missed frat B’s event. I was kind of sad. But, I heard the wise words of Alumni so I tried to focus on that. Afterwards, I just went home and relaxed from that long day, looking forward to my 3 day weekend.

L  

My friend and I decided to do something a little bit cooler this time. We decided to go to museum of sex. There were hundreds of information that I didn’t know that it happened before in order to create this so called “pleasure”. There was an arcade inside that you have pay additional to the ticket. We so far didn’t do it because we thought that just taking in the extra information given in the museum was just enough for us that day. Obviously, this museum created twisted designs to make the public see it unique and fascinating. In my opinion, thought that it was too small for a museum and there were probably lacks of information and it could contain less arcade and more extra information because “what do I actually learn from playing games and do something productive about it?” Actually nothing but simply knowledge of how to play it. Based of information regarding sex had me thinking of how things supposed to be. I didn’t regret paying 16 dollars for a ticket and get to know my neighborhood of my college and that also gives me the chance of learning more. 

At the end of the day, we decided to take a walk outside to grab something to drink, we didn’t know how convenient it was to be able to grab something to eat right in front of the museum, and we could just walk in again by just using the bracelet given to us. Once we went in, we decided to explore the last floor which I believe it was the 4th floor. It had a very exotic design even though the documentaries were from 50-80s. We took bunch of pictures to kill the day and actually use it for future reference. Considering it was a museum of sex, I thought that it would be so awkward walking through scenes but once you get used to it, you get to think that is just nature. There was a room all the way down the aisle of the 4th floor, inside the room there were seats and screen. They(workers) explained that in the room it will show a video of 7 mins to summarize everything of the museum. It was a very interesting documentary because it talks about how it developed for ages and people used to have sex in public.

At last, we were very ok with the pleasant information we saw but in general I felt like we wasted 16 dollars on the tickets. But let me put it more positive, there is never a waste of money in learning.

I didn’t even know Baruch had a whole study abroad program and when the man from the Study Abroad office came to explain and talk about it, I was actually really interested and am highly considering studying abroad. I was also shocked at the amount of places that they offer, you can basically go wherever you want which is really cool! As the third week progresses, I’m getting really used to how Baruch works and the college life is. I’m utilizing the library more and doing my hybrid class there and have been spending my free times either at the library doing homework or down at the handball courts where I play against really high level players but have gotten better since playing there.  The only thing that sucks though is having such an early class at 7:50 am which is very hard for me to wake up for but so far I have been managing.  I’m also planning on going to the STARR center soon to look for an internship that can be helpful to my resume building.

My experience in class went as expected. We went over the different programs offered in Baruch along with how to get there. Going over these as a freshman is essential in order to know all Baruch has to offer. We also discussed the value of integrity which is key in Baruch. We went over many examples of this topic along with getting to hear my classmate’s opinions on the situations given.

Hey Guys my name is Fares and to be fair, I also didn’t know Baruch had more than two buildings! I never visited the library until today and it’s a lot bigger than I thought. I didn’t think the whole building would be just for the library and there’s so many computers that I could use. I was able to complete my BLS online class there and it was really convenient and was even able to print a resume that I started to type. I’m really interested in the STARR center as I really want to start looking for internships or jobs to further build my resume and would love assistance on that. I also really want to find out who my advisor is and how I can talk to them and where their office is as I still have lots of questions that are really stressing me out such as classes, majors, minors etc. Overall though, I’m really liking Baruch and the system it has in place and the gyms. The handball courts are really fun and I’m there everyday on my breaks and met lots of new people there.

Hey everyone,

For the first enrichment workshop I decided to first focus on academics and thus, decided to go to a museum. I wanted to experience something that would introduce me as to what being a unique college student would be like. Being that I wanted to not travel far, I decided to go to a close museum in the Bronx. The exhibition featured a man by the name of Alvin Baltrop. Baltrop was an ex-navy medic who photographed events while serving such as structural ruins or portraits. Featuring pictures taken by Baltrop they also revealed an interest to erotica, mainly men. Through his photos viewers can see that Baltrop was interested in men and would often take pictures of them partaking in an activity and would sometimes even take nude pictures of them. During the late 1900s, being gay was not as regular as it is today and would be treated as hostile. However, Baltrop, knowing the struggles, partook in helping out local gay communities by teaching them about STDs and health and would even help little kids in need.

Learning about Baltrop has taught me that as college student, only I know my purpose for going to college and how I can contribute to helping myself and others. Even if the challenges are discouraging because I’m either different than most or because statistics say so, being able to stand out because I’m different can make me a great student. While Baltrop was different for his sexual orientation, my reason for being different is likely my inability to express myself clearly thus resulting me in being more shy. However, being able to identify what I have and how I can improve on it can help me break out of that shell and hopefully become an outgoing Baruch student. Knowing myself and what I enjoy in life can help me in earning my degree from Baruch because learning to accept myself and use my skills to help the community can be enriching. Being a student doesn’t mean going to classes just to pass but to become involved and I think that’s what Baltrop introduced to me. While he was serving his country, he also made it his responsibility to help those that were in need. Like Baltrop who found his own community, I will also meet people who are like me, people who are motivated to work hard because they want to better themselves and others. Also it’s not just about working hard for the rest of my life or at Baruch but also learning to capture the moments that mean the most just like Baltrop did with his camera.

Week 3 of college has not been much of a difference. I have only been gettin more homework, and papers to right, and also started takin more quizzes. I still haven’t found anything I would like to to do really in the school besides play basketball.  I made a few new friends as well but  besides that its basically just another year of school.

Hi guys! My name is Bryan Hoo and I’m 18 years old. As some of you may remember, I shared how I lived abroad in Malaysia for about ten years during class introductions. I’ve only recently returned to New York this summer, and I thought the lifestyle changes I went through would be worth sharing. In Malaysia, I lived with my extended family where I was well-taken and considered to be sheltered by my relatives. Although I’ve always worked for my income, flying back to New York to live with only my father, who spends most of his day working, forced me to become even more independent and responsible. All of a sudden I had to wash my own clothes, plan and shop for my own groceries, learn how to cook for myself and navigate my own way through the city. Overall, I was very glad for the change because knowing that I can take care of myself and survive on my own as an adult gave me a sense of accomplishment. In addition to that, I was exposed to a multitude of resources that I did not have in Malaysia, the most significant one being financial markets. Since finance is treated with a greater deal of importance in America, especially in New York, I was flooded with information online about trading and investing. Since I was interested in becoming rich like most people, I took advantage of that and educated myself(and still do) to become financially literate and have a better understanding of the markets as a whole. I highly recommend every one of you to start researching and learning how to invest, since we’re so young that we have the magic power of compound interest at its best(index funds and reading books about investing is the best way to start, I also found Youtube channels that shared financial knowledge to be extremely helpful, most notably Graham Stephan and Nate O’ Brien), and how to better manage your own finances in general. Coming to Baruch has definitely added to the long list of changes that I’ve had to adapt to. I cannot stress enough how important time management is and how beneficial it can be if you know how to use it. For example, I work 4 to 5 days a week at a restaurant while keeping up with exercise, and without scheduling exactly when to work on my assignments and projects, I wouldn’t be able to stay on top of things and would fall behind. At the same time, I think my schedule, as busy as it is, is definitely beneficial to me because it forces me to be productive and do the best I can for myself.

In conclusion, I think it’s really fulfilling to be lifestyle-oriented and I hope that I can somehow inspire any one of you with my story.