Campus Safari #6 Radio Station

For this week’s Campus Safari I decided to research our school’s very own Radio Station. The stations name is WSIN Radio on 1590 AM. Besides the basic information of the radio station the website gave no other information. The websites latest post was published in June and it was about signing up for open positions on the radio station. The other “tabs” or links on the webpage hadn't been updated or no information had been uploaded. I thought that that was very unprofessional, we've been in school for about a month and yet their calendar for September was completely empty, there were was no schedule indicating when the next broadcast was going to be on, or even what shows the station had. So I started scrolling down looking through older posts and I found one with old information about the broadcast but I figured that would be better than nothing. The schedule went like this, on Mondays is “Full Frontal Radio” from 6:15 to 7:00, on Tuesdays is “WTF Are You Listening To?” from 6:15 to 7:15, on Wednesdays is “Radio Stevie” from 6:15, and finally Thursdays is “Mixdown Mixup” from 11:30 to 1:30. I tried to tune on Tuesday to “WTF Are You Listening To?”  but I wasn't successful. I think that the radio station really needs to update and keep their webpage updated so that people who are interested in listing to their station can easily access the information they need to tune into the show that they want to. 

WSIN Radio Link

I Am Out of Time Once Again !

This video project we have going on is supposed to be a sort of “test” to see how well we can manage our time and get it done by our due date. Right now I would say that I am totally failing the test. Unfortunately I have only interview a total of four people and no staff yet.  I’ve also run into a little problem because I have no idea how to use iMovie or any other video making programs and I am basically working every day until Monday so I can’t seem to schedule in enough time to get the movie making part of it in process.

Now this is basically what my week has been like, Monday I got the reminder that this project was due next week and I picked a topic, wrote out the outline of how I wanted the video structure, as well as came up with about ten questions about my topic. On Tuesday I conducted the four interviews I have done, and then went to work, and today I did nothing to advance my project.  So today I fell back into my usual habit of procrastination.

So I guess you’re all asking yourselves what I am going to do about this. Well, I have developed a very strict schedule for myself seeing as I have no time. Tomorrow without fail I have to conduct the last interviews I need and since I work at three that’s probably as much as I am going to be able to do. Friday I’ve scheduled library time to start putting the video together but again I have work from 1 to 8 so my time is limited. Saturday I work from 9 to 4 so I’ve scheduled library time from 5 until whenever I finish, and it MUST be done by Saturday.

So I guess I failed at managing my time better, but old habits die hard and I just have to keep at it until it becomes a habit to obey my schedule. Nothing great is ever achieved in a day so I just have to give myself time to change my habits and then I’ll truly be able to produce greatness.

So That's Where All My Time Goes !

After recording my day’s activity for about a week, I realized that I waste so much of my time doing useless senseless things. I am always complaining that between work, school, and homework I have absolutely no time for myself but this study proved my theory wrong.

So my schedule is basically set in stone. I know what periods of time I have free to do things on; my problem is actually doing what I’m supposed to be doing at the appropriate times I have designated for them. I know from experience that doing my “Campus Safari” blogs are the most difficult for me to do simply because it’s due on Saturday when I have already tried to forget anything school related. Even though I have all of Friday morning free, I still don’t do anything in that time period when I could be getting all of the work I have to do throughout the weekend done there and then. Then I also noticed that I have like maybe not a whole lot of time but in between work and school I have little two hour break where I could also be doing some of my homework but instead I lay down, relax and watch T.V. I leave it for when I get out of work at 10 o’clock and I have to stay up late to finish what I have to do and that’s usually when I have the sensation of being overwhelmed and short on time.

What I have taken from this study is that I am not doing such a great job on managing my time. I have enough time to do everything that I have to do and even enough time to do the things that I want to. So I have created a little to do list and I have to finish the doing everything in order. The things that need to get done are the first things on my list and the fun things that I want to do are on the bottom of my list. So if I don’t get my homework done then I can’t enjoy the fun things that I want to do. That way I can occupy my time with the essential things in life. 

Campus Safari #9 The Involvement Fair

While attending the Involvement Fair, I found it surprising that I didn’t really find many clubs that I was truly interested in. In high school I was involved in the Human Relationship Club, which was basically a club that focused on current issues people are facing today and how we can help improve the world. There we volunteered for many types of different events, like the walks to cure cancer, soup kitchens, tutoring sessions in New Haven, visiting elementary schools and teaching the kids about bullying and many other things. At the University, though there are many clubs that do volunteer work, the clubs specialize in certain volunteer work. For example there is a club called the Habitat for Humanity Club and they focus on building homes for people, but that is the only thing they do. I  guess I just want a club where there is always going to be something new to do, a shortage of homes isn’t the only problem in the world and I would like to join a club that encompasses other important issues as well. All in all though the Involvement fair was a success, I feel like I know what our school has to offer and I know which clubs might be a good fit for me. I can’t wait to learn more about each one at their next meetings.  

What an A+ looks Like

Looking through the many blogs of my fellow INQ classmates, there is no doubt that a lot of effort, time and creativity is put into every single post. It is hard to pin point which one is the best or most deserving of an A+ but someone that I believe has done a very good job is Amber Serrano.

Her blogs are really well set up and it just shows that she puts in a lot of effort into every one of them. She also really takes what we learned in class and relates it to her blogs. In her most recent post about how to get the A in college she really synthesized her opinion with what we get out of class to create a really informational post. The best part of her blog is how personal she actually gets to make her post. One of my favorite posts from her was the one about her hardest difficulty in life. She talked about her uncle’s death and though this is something that I probably wouldn’t have been able to write about she was, and I think that that is pretty awesome and it lets you connect to her and her blog a lot more. I also think that she always lives up to the expectations of our blogging assignment, all the elements that are required are there, and I feel that she goes beyond just what is required, in length and in creating her own unique voice for the blog.  Besides her actual Blog her work habits are also good, she posts her blogs before the due dates or on time, so I think that the also earns her an A for her blog.

I chose Amber’s blog as the blog that was most deserving of an A, but don’t be discouraged every blog that I read was equally as good, I just felt that I was pulled into her blog a little more. If we put in that extra time and effort I know that we can all achieve an A on our blogging assignments, so good luck with all your future posts.

What To Do and What Not To Do

Over the past few weeks we have been studying ways to reach success in college. From developing good habits, to coming prepared to class, to doing the “invisible” work, to just simply putting in the effort and time, we all have tricks to come out on top. But sometimes what works for you might not work for me and so we are all on a mission to find what tips really help us and which ones don’t.

            For me I find it helpful to keep an agenda with all my due dates in it, so when I have the extra time I can get ahead. Besides school I also work so sometimes doing homework the night before isn’t an option for me because I just don’t have the time. Making a schedule with designated times for everything helps me manage my time, and now that I have been following it for a few weeks it has become something like a habit so I know when I need to do things. Another trick I use is my parents. Since I am a commuter I am still living at home and my parents can still nag me, but having them nagging me gives me the initiative to not procrastinate. I guess right now they are like my crutch while I develop the good habits that I need to have in order to be successful.

            The things that don’t work for me, mainly is dedicating time to doing assignments. Since I am currently working about 36 hours a week I have to shorten the periods of time I use for homework. Now time has nothing to do with effort, I spend less time on an assignment but put twice the effort in the time that I do have. There are a lot of techniques concerning time, the article by Malcom Gladwell suggest that if you want to become an expert in an area you have to dedicate your practice about 10,000 hours. I don’t have that kind of time so I have to figure out a way to substitute time with effort in order to get the same results.   

Campus Safari #18 New Student Convocation

This week I attended the new student Convocation. Though it was short in length I thought it was very important for us to attend to know what the university expects from us as students. There was a section where the student council went around making promises or pledges to the university, mostly about being a good member of the community, being friendly to one another, and I thought that was one of the most important things to get out of it. We all want a good experience here and if everyone is just nice and open to other people then we will. Another highlight of the Convocation was the when the President of Southern Connecticut State University, Mary A. Papazian gave her speech. She as well as us is new to Southern and basically her speech was just about how we will continue to grow as a university and continue to change things in a positive way. She also talked about how the campus is not the only things being remodeled but the reputation of Southern is also changing in a positive way and we all have to contribute to making these changes last.

There Is More To Life Than Practice Or Is There ?

One of the most interesting articles we read about this week is the Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule article. In this article he stated that to master a craft you have to put in 10,000 hours of practice in that subject area. He believes that talent, genetics, and luck have little to do with our success in our craft. In class we could not agree on whether this was true or not. Innate talent was one of the main points to oppose Gladwell’s theory. The problem with this theory is that mostly no one will train for 10,000 hours on something that they are not good at, so it can’t be proven. If you take Bill Gates for example, he dropped out of college because that was not what he was good at. He went to work with computers which is something that he is good at and I believe that the very notion of him knowing that he was just “naturally” good with computers proves the innate talent theory over the 10,000 hours theory.

Personally I do not agree with the 10,000 hours theory. To me you need to have the talent first and then practice at what you are good at to become a master. One classmate brought up singing as a subject where you needed to have the talent and it wasn’t just about the time you put in to become better. I do not possess a singing voice. My voice is somewhat deep and nasal and I feel that no matter how much I practice I could never be a great singer.  I think it’s a lot like playing to your strengths, I mean I could work on being a professional football player for 10,000 hours and I would probably never make it to the NFL, simply because I am 4’3, and I could never weigh 300 or more pounds and still be able to move. I do agree that you need to practice to become better, to become at master in your field, but it definitely takes a lot more than just you putting time in. Another example from our class discussion is a basketball player. To be a basketball player you have to have the height and if you end up being 4’2 like me there is no amount of practice that is going to help you. Unfortunately I do not think that anything is possible for everyone but who knows I’ve never put that much time into something that I wasn’t good at.  

Moving Forward

One of the hardest things I ever did was leaving my family when I came to the United States. Although I was young and I wanted to be reunited with dad, I was sure to miss the family that had taken such a big part in raising me up until that point. I was coming to a place where I had no grandparents, no aunts and uncles, no cousins, and no friends. Uprooting my life was a big change and I am sure that most of us know that change is inevitable and a part of life but knowing that doesn’t make the change any easier. My transition was definitely rough. At the beginning I had a tough time making friends partly due to the language barrier and partly due to the fact that I didn’t want to let go of my old friends, family, and life. I overcame this difficulty by taking one step at a time sort of plan that my mother devised. I was calling my family in Argentina about every day. A month later my mom cut my calls to six calls a week and every month that passed she cut one call. This forced me to open up to the people that were now close to me. Soon I realized that I still had my family with me, I had my dad, my mom, and my brother and plenty of knew people to befriend. We still keep in touch not nearly as much, everyone just decide to live the life they are leading and now I know that in life you just always keep meeting new people but you can always stay in touch with the people you’ve  met in your past.

This difficulty relates to the difficulties I’ve experienced so far in college, because college is very much like uprooting your life. It’s different from what we were used to in high school and you and your friends are going separate ways and we all need to learn how to move forward. Some of us have left our parents and after living eighteen years with them, learning how to live without them is very tricky. Through time and baby steps, we don’t forget them; we just learn how to need them less. 

Campus Safari: I Finally Get to Know You

I made an appointment with my math 102 professor and I found it to be very useful in getting to know him and his expectations as well as a way for him to get to know me. My math professor is Druker and he can be reached at (203) 392-5594. When I made the appointment with him i had plans to ask him what the curriculum was going to be like, the difficulty level, and what I can expect from his class such as workload his grading policy and so on. Somehow we got sidetracked and he started to tell me how he had come from Russia and how he had waited so long to come here. I learned that we share a lot of the same values, such as valuing education, and that we should try to do what we love. Apart from that being in his class I learned that he is very funny and always eager to help. He actually goes around the classroom asking everyone if they are okay with the material. Besides his really thick Russia accent i doubt I'll have any difficulties in his class and that is why his class is one of my favorite class this semester.

What's Up With Blogging

Over the past few days I have been looking at many other blogs and I have to say that most of them are pretty amazing, informative, and just have a lot of things going on. I mostly looked at fashion and beauty blogs. Because of the subject they always had a lot of pictures and video’s posted along with a little summary of whatever it was they were posting about. I also found that the blogger always gave a little bit of inside on themselves as well. So if they did a review on a certain product they would discuss how they felt about it and more importantly they open the floor for discussions, asking their viewers to comment on their blog to see if they had the same or a different experience. I also found that when a blogger customized their blog and added pictures of themselves, or in general any pictures at all, it made the blog more interesting. The titles of the blogs were usually what caught my attention and geared me to read them, so now I know that if I don’t want anyone to read my blogs I should add a boring title. Some of the things that I did not like about some of the blogs that I saw were that they wrote in a way that was very text like or unprofessional. Some of the blogs also went on a little too long without enough information about the topic, it was just mostly ranting.

For my blog I want to make it very pleasing to look at. I found that for me pictures and videos just drew me in as well as catchy titles, so maybe in the future I can become a little more creative. I also liked how the blogs where easy and fun to read but still very grammatically correct and just well planned out. So it doesn’t feel like your reading a boring five page essay but you are not reading a cryptic message on a piece of ripped out paper. These bloggers make it feel like they are just talking to you, their personality and views just come out of their blogs and that is something that I wish to achieve with my blog. As far as goals for my blog, I guess I’ll go with having at least two comments every month, so that I can at least think that what I’ am blogging about it interesting. 

So here are two links to blogs that I found interesting 

http://lefashionimage.blogspot.com/

http://www.tanyaburr.co.uk/ 

Thank Goodness for Wrong Assumptions

  A year or two back if you had asked me what I thought about Southern I probably would have said that it was a slacker school. A place where anyone who did absolutely nothing went to, a place where no one could get denied, a place that I didn't want to go to. But if you ask me now I would tell you that a slacker wouldn't last one semester here, a person who never tries and has no ambition wouldn't get far in any college.  On top of everything Southern makes a higher education more accessible, and the quality of the education is as good as any other. I expect to be challenged here, to be pushed to the best of my capabilities. I expect to rise and succeed with the help of my professors and fellow classmates. After reading my classes’ entire syllabus that had been uploaded or emailed to me I felt confident that I could expect to academically succeed. I knew my classes were going to be difficult but I was excited for the first day of school to arrive.  

When I pulled into the Farnham parking lot on Wednesday at 10:00 I couldn’t believe how many people were there. The parking lot was full with only a few parking spaces in the farthest corner. I started to feel both nervous and excited. So many personalities and opinions to encounter, so many new people to meet. When I walked onto campus I met up with an old friend and we just examined everyone walking by. To me it felt like a city vibe, everyone is so busy getting to where they need to be, the only difference is no one is rude. I had to ask a couple of times where certain buildings are, especially the Davis building and not once did anyone seem aggravated with me. Most of the time everyone on campus is walking around with a smile on their face and they seem approachable. Everyone just wants to be a part of the Southern community and just have the full college experience.

My professors all seem to be very interesting people. They are all vastly different too though. My math professor has a very thick Russian accent and it is hard to try and decipher what he is saying sometimes, but he is also very willing to help you and accommodate you. For example last Wednesday he told us that if we ever feel like we are not being challenged enough he is more than willing to give that person extra and harder problems to work on. My history professor is tough but on the first day she did everything possible to try to get to know us and memorize our names, which I thought was very cool. All through high school you have your teachers saying that college is different because a professor will not take the time to get to know you personally or even care about you because they have too many kids, but I found that to be a wrong assumption. Of course they probably will not get to know me as well as my high school teachers but they make an effort to at least.

Anyway, for college my goals are to not only pass and do okay academically but to surpass in everything. I don’t want to be just good, I want to be excellent. I want to be socially more open, as some of you might know I am very quiet and reserved but I want to be able to put myself out there more. Overall my expectations for this school year are set high and I know that Southern and the southern community will help me reach those expectations of a great college year.