Goodbye Freshmen Year, Hello Sophmore year

My first year here at Stan State has been very memorable. There was good and bad times through the year, but I think I got through it. I meet a lot of new people here and had a lot of new experiences here. Some of the people I have met have even became some of my closest of friends ever. My whole experience her has just been great in general. I do not think I would have been able to go through this year without the help of others from back at home. I know that everyday spent here is going towards my education and future in what I want to do. For someone who is from Southern California the whole atmosphere was completely different than what I am used to. Not only am I miles away from home, but I lived with people I never met until now for about a year. Even the community here was different, I did not expect the area to be the way it is; but now that I have seen it I like it. I believe that high school did not really prepare me so much for college. Everything here is way different than high school, not only are the classes different but so are the assignments, tests, and professors. Stan State is something that I have never experienced until now, but I think that I have found my own home here and it's not only a new chapter in my life but also a new beginning. I am ready for another year here at Stan State and see what it has in store for me.

Finals Week Tips :)

As we all know finals are next week and as a fellow student here at Stan I know at hand that studying for finals can be very stressful so I thought I would give a couple of tips to hopefully help you through the stressful time. One tip that I basically use every time I study is instead of while listening to lyrical music while studying try to listen to instrumental; it helps you focus more on your work instead of trying to understand the lyrics to a song. The second tip for you is don't try to pull all nighters, you need your sleep and without it how you possibly going to be able to concentrate and focus on your test. My third tip that I live by is take breaks from studying, go out and do something that you enjoy doing; just remember not to take to long of breaks. I often find myself doing this also but after taking a break from studying I seem to not want to study anymore and tell myself that I'm done. A very good tip to know is try to study in a quiet environment where there are no distractions to take you around from studying. My final tip that I have for you is take care of yourself; finals can become a very stressful time ,you might become frustrated and anxiety written, just take deep breaths or do something you believe calms you down, so you can focus on your work. I am hoping these tips that I provided are some sort of help to you for finals, and finally some last motivational words from me to you, "you can do it, everyone believes in you and good luck".😊

Peace Pole

                      

Recently as of last week we our school was honored with obtaining a peace pole. A peace pole is a symbol of hopes and dreams of the entire family, as a representation of peace on earth. The pole is located in the quad in between the library and the main dining hall. It is decorate with lovely little bright flowers on both sides of the pole. On April 27 we were visited by Arun Gandhi who is the fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, he was the guest speaker at the event showcasing the peace pole; his speech was probably very moving and inspiring. Our campus is not the only place with this peace pole, they are planted all over the world to remind people about peace on earth. The pole itself is very unique up close in about sixteen  different languages it is saying " may peace prevail on earth". I think that we are very luck to have something as authentic to have at our campus. People might just walk by and see it as a regular pole, but for me and many others it is seen as a reminder of what we can have all around this world "PEACE". I believe that is the whole idea of the pole to remind people even of the worst times, that there can be peace on earth and not all of this hatred that each country feels towards one another. 

Fun Times On Campus

Our campus might not always have things going on, but we still try to make it fun. Last week was pride week he at Stan State, there were tons of things going on during that week. Moat of the events we have here at Stan always start on Wednesdays leading up to Friday. Wednesday we had pride fest in the quad where there was different activities to do, and everything you made you got to keep; different things were at each stand there was flower crown crafting, tie-dye, and many other little things. Then on Thursday we had a drag show, these are usually really fun. I have never been to one, but I have heard reviews from others and they said that they loved it, it was so much fun. On Friday was the national day of silence, where you and other warriors on campus are committed to giving a day to silence. There have been other events that Stan has thrown that were so much fun. A couple of months ago we had Stanfest where we had guests Marc. E. Bassy and TY Dolla Sign, the whole concert was sold out and was a good time. This week on Thursday we are going to have a Festival here at Stan. Many different types of activities are going to be present at the festival. I think that our school might be small, but we try to make due with it and have as much fun with it as we can.

Our Beautiful Campus

I believe that our campus is very unique and beautiful. Most cal states or university campuses are more industrial looking and do not have a lot of "nature" or greenery. Where ever you go on campus there is always some type of scenery that just amazes your eyes. My favorite part of our campus are the ponds by the gazebo. It is just so peaceful and calm, the sounds of the waterfall mixed with the animals are just soothing. I think the scenery of our campus just adds to the other reasons why our school is just great. I feel like even just taking a stroll around our campus can help clear your mind if your stressed or your just dealing with a lot of stuff. Another beautiful place o within our campus is warrior bridge. It is a great place to take pictures or to just look out at the lake and think. There are many different spots on our campus that make for good photos. Some of the other places are village cove and the reflection pond. All of the flowers and added greenery make these spots just look so beautiful. 

Self Realization

This past week I have been doing bad about going to my classes, and I have a class everyday. On Monday I went to all my classes, but one because I was tired from the weekend. Wednesday I only went to two of my classes, but one. Then on Friday I did not go to any of my classes. This semester I have been really bad about going to class. Last semester I was really good at going to class and paying attention. Now I keep telling myself it is okay to miss today you will just go the later on in the week or go next week. It is like a continuous cycle of me telling myself if I miss today or any other day of the week. I am also noticing because of this I am procrastinating a lot on my school work, way more than usual. School work is something that not everyone likes; personally I do not enjoy it, but I still manage to do it. I keep pushing things to the side saying I will get it done today or the next day or the day after that. All of this is just a repetitive cycle that I cannot get myself off unless I act fast and change. I think this whole semester I was distracted and not focusing on the big picture, which is to go to class pay attention and do the work that is assigned to me as best as I can. I do not want to put ,myself in this type of sticky situation that I am in right now next semester or else I am just going to screw myself over. 

                     

choosing a major

Last week of school I had to go to a really important meeting where we talked about choosing a major. choosing a major for me was really important I knew I wanted to have a decision before my freshmen year ended. Coming into college I wasn't sure what to major in, but since I have been here for a while I have came to the conclusion on what I want to do. With the major I want to pursue in, I am still not sure what I want to do with it. My major that I am considering is Sociology. I know that with this type of major you can do a lot of different types of work, but my mind is still not settled on just one yet. The first step for me was just figuring out what type of major I wanted to do and then the next step will be for me to figure out what I want to do with it. I know that I want to work in something where it helps people, but I am just not sure what. Before coming to college my mind was dead set on becoming a veterinarian or a veterinary technician. As I grew older I found out how much work is needed and how competitive the field of work can be, so I asked myself if I could see myself doing this in the future. At this time this is when I decided I want to do something different, but still with the same ordeals as being a vet; so instead of helping animals wanting to help people.

spring break or school work

This past week was my week to catch up on my schooling and I have seemed to dug myself into a hole again. I have three response papers  for my online class, a project fro communications, astronomy work, and an essay. My time was mainly spent goofing off and sleeping, when I was supposed to be focusing on school work. I had managed to get part of my project done, but that is is nothing else was looked over. So I know that this week and next week I am going to find myself stuck with doing work that I should have already done, but was to lazy to do especially during spring break. During spring break you do not want to work on or even think about school, you mainly just want to have time to relax or have fun. This is what my mentality was during the past week, I kept repeating and telling myself I have until the next day or this day; and look where that got me piled up with work. I am going to have to try to put all my effort and attention on school work this week and get as much done as I can possible. There is a feeling in the pit of my stomach that this is going to be another week where I am going to be up past one in the morning. So even though my spring break was kind of a win or lose situation, it was still very fun. 

Study Week

Last week was the first week in a long time were I had to study for a long period of time for a test. My test was not until today March 13th; but I was not going to be here during the weekend to study for my test, so I challenged myself to study the whole school week. I would study from eight at night to until about four in the morning. To study I would sit in my study room for almost the whole night and try to focus on my study guide. One type of study hack I have is I will listen to classical music. It may sound weird, but it actually works; for my anthropology final last semester I tried it out, I myself did not believe that it would work but it actually did. My test grade came out as a high 90% and I did not believe that the hack would actually work. Everyone would tell me I was crazy for staying up late at night, but I had to do what I had to do; because I was in San Francisco during the weekend. Even during some of the days when my classes did not start until eleven I would get up early, during that whole week I was exhausted. My sleeping schedule was completely messed up, I did not know how I was alive and paying attention in any of my classes while I was running on a couple hours of sleep each day. It was hard for me to go from having fun to then studying for hours. One problem that I had while studying was my roommates. I did not know how big of a problem they were going to be when it came to my studying time. They were being really loud and obnoxious while I was trying to study and focus on trying to do good on my first Astronomy exam. After taking the test I feel like I did alright that my time I spent studying really helped me.

Math Class

This semester I knew that I was going to be in a higher math class, then what I was in last semester. My first semester I was put in math 103, which is like algebra one type of math. I was really good in that class I had a B, and every test I would receive would be easy for me to understand; even our final was easy, I did not even need the cheat sheet we were allowed to have. Now that I'm in this class I find it really difficult. Math has never been my best subject, I have always had a B to C average grade, especially when I got into high school and now college. The math I am learning is math 106, which is basically algebra two. I had this class my senior year in high school and I was alright, but this is way different; I am beginning to do poorly. The professor mainly bases our work off of worksheets, which are also our notes. Some of the material he expects us to know, even how to solve the confusing equations that we have never seen before. I am used to being taught were you take notes first, get a worksheet or assignment, then are tested. So when I first arrived to the class I was very confused on why our notes were worksheets. This class I feel is just another one that is going to bring me down and that I will have to retake AGAIN. We recently took an exam in the class and my score was nothing that I expected it to be, I thought I was going to get something way worse; I received an sixty-nine and a quarter grade. I told my self that the grade is not bad, but I know I can do better. So before our next exam I am trying to prepare myself and try hard to understand the problems, and how to solve them. Right now in the class I have a sixty-eight percent, which needs to be better; and I know if I try really hard and put more work into the worksheets and homework, I will achieve my goal to earn a B in the class. 

Relax Weekend

This past weekend has been very relaxing, for once this semester I did not have to worry about an essay or a project to do. I finally got to catch up on sleep and lay back and chill. Throughout this whole semester every weekend I had either a lot of homework or some sort of project to work on. so going from that to finally getting a break felt good. It has been a while since I have gotten to take a break, the last time I had a break was during vacation. My classes are starting to become stressful, taking six classes in high school was easy; I'm taking five and it is very time consuming and stressful. I'm starting to slack off a bit and it is starting to take a bit of an affect in my class work. My weeks and weekends are full of homework, homework, and more homework. So finally having some down time felt good, I was not stressed about a deadline or anything. I know though that I better enjoy it when I have down time, cause sooner or later finals are going to come up and I'm going to be busier than ever before. 

Stress

This past week has been really hectic, I have had a lot of things on my mind. Recently I have noticed that I have been slacking off a bit, which I usually do not do. I keep making an excuse saying that I am sick, which I am, but still does not mean I should slack off on important class work or homework. I am regularly really good with doing homework and classwork, but I feel myself lagging in that department. Work is beginning to pile up I have an essay for English, I have to read a lot more which I am still not used to, I also have an exam for math this week and I have still not yet started the review sheet I was given to practice and study for the test, and to top all of that I have work to do for my astronomy class and homework to do for mu online theatre class. To top all of that off I also have work from my personal stuff to do which I find hard to manage with all of this school work. When people say that second semester is always the hardest, they are not kidding, it truly is a lot of work to do. I even thought for me taking like five classes was going to be a breeze, WRONG; in college it is nothing like it was in high school, because you have more work and then other personal things that play into part. I feel that if I do not get myself together my second semester here at Stan State is going to be the most stressful thing I have ever done in my life. 

Life In The Dorms

Living in the dorms is not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. It's very convenient, I can leave to class like five minutes ahead of time and still make it to class on time. They also have fun activities on the weekends for students who do live on campus. Some of the activities were paint balling, white water rafting, exploring Chinatown in San Francisco, and many others. I honestly had no choice but to live on campus; because how far I live. I'm from southern California, so it would have been ridiculous for me to live there and come to school here. At first I was nervous on who my roommates were going to be, would I get along with them, how are they as a person. When I finally got to meet my roommates I had a feeling from the beginning that we were going to get along just fine. Turns out I was right my roommates here are like my best friends, we always have fun together doing dumb stuff we know we would get in trouble for. While living in the dorms you also meet a lot of new people. You get to know the people who live on your floor or just others who live here too. One of the downsides parts of living on campus is you are away from home. Everyone gets homesick and misses their families, because you are not seeing them everyday like we are used too. I mean at times it is really hard living on campus or really fun; but I would not trade it for anything, I love it.

Intro to Second Semester

This past school week has been crazy. I have been having trouble trying to keep up with my online theater class. Everyday I would have to map out when and for how long I would have to do work for that class. There was even a day when I had to take three quizzes, because I knew I would not have time in the rest of my schedule to work on them. Trying to manage four regular classes and then an online class is really difficult as I have found it. You have to make time in between classes and on the weekends to work on your classwork. It takes me almost a whole day just to read a chapter. Not only do I have to handle making time for school work, I also have to make time for rush events since I am rushing for a sorority. The events are usually at the times when I would usually do homework, but I find it really challenging; because I really want to do this. I have always said as soon as I enter college I am going to join a sorority, and I want to do this now before I regret it later. I do not want to look back at my college years and see that I did not get involved in anything. I want to be involved as much as I can and joining a sorority would be one of the many things I would like to do while I am here at Stan State.