Job fair

Yesterday was the St. John’s University Career Center job fair. I work at the Career Center, so I’ve seen a lot of the things that went on to organize the fair. Unfortuantly, I was forced to do a lot of the work to get ready for this fair as well. Yesterday I was stuck in Carnesseca Arena for four hours swiping people in. Ugh, talk about being bored. It amazed me to see how many older people (Alumni) showed up for the fair. In a way, it kind of scared me.

I really hope that by the time I am 25, I will have a career…one that I love and one will that last. At the fair, a lot of alumni showed up with Resumes and ready to talk to the employers. In fact, one lady even had her child with her. I’m not in the career field quite yet, but does that look bad to an employer? Not the fact that she had a child, but the fact that she was 30 and still didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. Last week, a man came into the Career Center because he was alumni who had an appt. because he didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life. This man is married and has a few children. He was 47 years old and still did not have a career. I just don’t quite understand this. He graduated from St. Johns quite a while ago, so what happened after that? I know that maybe because of some circumstances he could not get a job, but why for so long? The Career Center has a lot of older people calling and saying they just don’t know what to do with themselves, and they are 40 and 50 years old. I just hope this isn’t me after graduation.

Pretty stumped

As we sit here in English class preparing to show our research, I find myself somewhat lost and unprepared. One guy in my group has really cool articles about the way St. John’s University use to be. He found news articles from the 90’s when St. John’s first decided they wanted to build dorms. His articles and information were actually interesting. The girl in my group was doing her report on woman and how they’ve changed over the years. Fashion played a major role in that and so she found pictures to show this change.

I, on the other hand, only had surveys and a few facts from books. My research pretty much stunk compared to there’s. I am seriously stumped with doing research. I don’t know where to find information for my paper. Online research didn’t help. Library research didn’t help. My surveys were a flop. Where to now? I just have no idea where to go from here. I wrote my paper, but it’s missing quite a bit. HELP :(

My birthday!

Do you remember when you were 9 years old and your birthday was only a week away? You would remind everyone how many days were left until your birthday at least three times a day. Then, when your birthday finally arrived, you were up super early and expected everyone to cater to you all day. It was as everyone you encountered was expected to know that it was your birthday. Hello, it was your birthday. You only deserved the best.

Well, ten years later and I haven’t changed a bit. I won’t lie, when my birthday comes around, I become even more selfish than I already am. I can’t help myself. A birthday is a very special day, no matter how old you are turning…even if it 19. Some people don’t appreciate their own special day and that’s their own fault. I, on the other hand, like to take advantage. I have a count down of my birthday going right now, and as I would like you all to know, it’s in 5 days! Wahoo, I am so excited. Considering it’s a Friday night, I have big plans for myself. I have already warned my friends of my behaviors on my birthday and how they are expected to support me. Hehe. I’m just kidding (kind of). My birthday weekend should be fun because Friday (the day of my birthday) is the Carnival on the Great Lawn. I love rides and free food; so obviously, this should be a good day. Friday night, I plan on going out to dinner and partying. I mean, it is Friday. That’s only expected of me! Saturday, although it will no longer be my birthday, are the concerts. Yay for Katie’s Birthday weekend!

Just a thought

As I was walking out of Marillac, I heard some kid tell his friend to write his paper on what kind of thinker he was. When I heard this, it got me thinking (funny how that works out). I asked myself what kind of thinker I was. As my parents would say, sometimes I don’t think (hehe). But really, I had never thought about that question before…I’m not sure too many do. Is it even a real question?! I think my thinking varies depending on what I am doing…See, nope, that doesn’t make sense. No matter what, I am thinking. So ah, I think that’s my answer. Sometimes I think rationally and sometimes I don’t use ration to decided things. That is when I make bad choices. This is an extremely difficult answer, and I don’t know what to say. Ok, what kind of a thinker am I? I would like to think of myself as a coherent thinker, and someone who makes the right decision about things. Does this describe what kind of thinker I am though? Is anyone else becoming thoroughly confused? I am beginning to wonder if maybe that kid in Marillac was joking with his friend…maybe that’s why I shouldn’t listen to other people’s conversations…

Now if you didn’t notice, I used the word ‘think’ in every other sentence. That right their just proves that everything takes thinking. As Descartes (or however you spell it) once said, “I think therefore I am.” Hmm, that is who said that, right? Well in any case, it’s obviously natural for us to think because that’s what makes us differ from animals, our ability to rationalize (by thinking that is). Boy I feel really philosophical right now.

Do I have to?

Have you ever been in the mood to just sit around do nothing on certain days? I’m sure being in college, you’ve all had that experience. I think a natural laziness comes over teens when they enter college. Anyway, have you ever had one of those lazy days on a weekend? For some reason, this seems so not ok when you’re in college. I don’t know how anyone else feels, but sometimes I feel pressured to be active on a Friday and Saturday night. It’s like when you enter college, you must be teenage college mode, which means going out on the weekend. I feel like if I don’t go out, I’ll be a loser. But sometimes, I just want to hang out and watch a movie.

Then I have another problem I think about. When I sit back at the dorm on a Friday or Saturday night, I sense that I’m missing something with my friends. It’s always just my luck that something really exciting goes on at a party when I’m not there and that just makes me feel guilty. Is it weird to feel this way? I don’t want to be known as the loser who doesn’t go out and party! I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love going out and partying or just going out, but sometimes I just don’t want to.

Another random blog—Because I’m MAD

Right now I am extremely upset at the stupid blogger website, at the stupid internet, and at my stupid self. Remember when the professor told us to write our entries in Microsoft Word, and then copy and paste so we don’t lose then? Well, um, yeah, it’s a spectacular idea. I thought I would be totally fine by just writing it in the blog area and posting it because I’ve never had a problem before. Usually when I am doing something totally unimportant, like writing on someone’s Facebook wall, my internet connection is all happy and never fails on me. When I decided to write a really nice blog entry, it decided to be evil and disconnect. The worst part is, I was completely done writing and I already pressed publish. Right when I entered it, the internet disconnects and a “web page not found” message pops up. You just have no idea how angry I am right now. First of all, I am mad at myself because it was my fault for not listening to the professor and doing what I should have, and second, I am mad at the internet. I am in Marillac right now and I am supposed to have a wireless connection. Why is it telling me right now that I am have no connection? Technically, that is not possible! Argg

Marillac experience

I'm trying out this whole "go to a place and write your experiences" thing. I chose Marillac because it is pouring outside and I thought it would be pointless to go from work (at the UC), back to the Resident Village, and back up to St. John's Hall. No way, that was not working for me considering my new umbrella is a piece of crap and already broke. Anyway, I'm sure you have all been to the Marillac food court and knows what goes on. To be honest, it isn't all that interesting. People are here. People are eating. People are talking. That's pretty much the breakdown of what I am seeing. If only I was closer to people and I could overhear their convos. Now that would make for an interesting blog.

Okay, okay, I'll put in a little more effort. I like Marillac because it isn't like Montgoris. No, I am no referring to food, but to the atmosphere. Montgoris is a place where students go (well a majority of students) and eat. You never usually see students go in and stay for more than an hour. They don't really have a reason to. What I am saying is that Montgoris is not the best hang out place. Marillac, on the other hand, is a much better play to sit and chill. Take me for example. I didn't want to travel back and forth from building to building so I stopped here to hang out. When I came in, I saw groups of students just hanging out at table and only 2 out of the 5 were eating. It's pretty cool that if students want to take a break, and maybe even have a snack, they can come here. It's also a great place to come if someone wants to eat alone. Last week none of friends wanted to go to lunch, so I came here and ate. For some strange reason, I felt more comfortable eating alone here than I would at Montgoris. On that note, I am off to grab a cup of tea :)

Random blog

So after reading someone else's blog from this class, I decided that I cam totally slacking! I feel ashamed at my blogs. Tonight I reached my 60th blog and I was ecstatic about it! Some girl in our class totally busted my bubble. This made me quite upset. However, instead of complaining, I am just going to keep writing whatever comes to mind. My new goal is to write in my blog at least twice a day. I figure if I do this, I'll be up to 80 in no time. Right about now, I don't even care what my blogs say. I may even resort to writing about what I did today...well OK, they hopefully won't be that bad, but you know what I am saying. In the beginning I felt like my blogs were somewhat interesting. As time went on, I started writing about random things, and they went a bit downhill. Why is this I wonder? Perhaps random is better because I won't be thinking as much about writing intellectually, so maybe it'll just come naturally. To be honest, I don;t know what type of blogs we are supposed to be writing. Are they supposed to be formal, informal, intellectually, random, thoughtful...what?! I guess as long as we are writing right? Wrong. I heard some people talking about how the professor said their blogs weren't thoughtful enough, or something to that effect. In other words, even though we are just supposed to write about anything, we are supposed to write about something specific. Maybe I should have asked this is the beginning if the semester, but what exactly are we supposed to be writing about in these blogs?

Ratemyprofessor.com

I am not quite sure if I trust ratemyprofessor.com. Last summer, before school began, I went on this site and looked up a few of my professors. I was really excited because most of my professors had high reviews and were considered easy graders. Well, now that I look back at the first semester, I realize the reviews were so off. One professor last semester was horrible. He showed up 20 minutes late for every class, and was such a jerk to us. According to the reviews, he was an awesome teacher, really laid back, and gave an easy A. Although I did recieve and A in the class, he wasn;t my any means laid back or an easy grader. He told us up front that he was going to teach our class not as an ungraduatre class, but as a graduate class. The work load for the class was unbelievable, and it was only a DNY class. Needless to say, I am a bit upset at this website. I have a hard time believing it.

A girl I work with made a good point about the site and reviews. She didn't trust it because those students may have different learning styles than someone else who reads it, so technically, they are based on who you are and the type of learner you are.

Home sweet home

Ok, so lets disregard my previous blog because I think I might have come up with a topic to write about. Last summer when I was preparing to leave for school, I was just so excited that I couldn't contain myself. I was looking forward to getting away from home, being on my own, and being independent. I honestly think one reason I wanted to be away from home was because I wanted my parents and family to be proud of me for taking the initiative and getting out of Claremont. For some strange reason, when I tell people I go to school in Queens, they just get wide eyes. It amazed people that I go to school five hours away from home, and on top of that, I live in NYC. This may sound silly, but I like when people gloat about how cool it is that I live in the city. Don't ask me why I feel this way, but it makes me feel confident and good about myself, and reassures me that I am doing the right thing.

When I first told my parents that my decision was St. Johns, they were bit upset. They wanted me to be closer to home, only because they would miss me. Of course they were happy for me, but on the other hand, they couldn't just get in their car and drive to see me whenever they wanted. To me, this was good thing. Part of going to college is to get away from everything that is "normal" to me. This may sound as though I don;t love my parents, because obviously I do, it;s just that I didn't want to see them every weekend. Wouldn't it be more fun to go without seeing them for 3 months and then see them again? This is my idea of college anyway.

However, these days, I;m starting to see things differently. I still love being at St. Johns and i am not homesick by any means, but I am just starting to miss Claremont. About a week before Easter break, I was itching to go home. I just could not wait until Wednesday when i could hop on the plane and go home to my family and friends. I never thought I would feel this way about being home. I am beginning to realize that it's OK to miss home. It doesn't mean I am any less independent or anything. It simply means I miss my family and I need a break from school. When May 8th comes and it';s time for me to part from NYC, I might cry a little because this city has grown on me. Before long, it will be like my home away from home. However, I am looking forward to this summer, so I can be with my family and friends, and prepare for another 9 months away from home.

A bunch of nothing

So I was thinking about skipping the journal today, but then I read my horoscope. It said "take time to write in a journal today." Wow, way to make me feel guilty. As you can see, I decided to take my horoscope's advice because it just might be on to something. To be honest, I have nothing I want to write about write now. No offense to some people in the class, but I hate reading entries that say "So today was really boring," or "today I went to class, then I took a nap. After that I ate dinner. It was a good day." I'm sorry, but I don't want to write those kinds of entries. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect anyone to read mine because they are probably just as boring, but to me, writing that stuff is equally as boring as reading it.

However, today's blog might be that uninteresting blog I was just referring to. I just cannot think of what I want to write about. Sometimes I have days where I come up an interesting topic that I can't wait to write about, then other days I have a complete writer's block and nothing good comes out. Perhaps this is because I'm still tired from this eventful weekend...I call it eventful, but I'm not sure if sitting around the house relaxing with family and friends is quite eventful. It's funny how tired you can get from doing nothing. This morning I woke up and I was debating getting out of bed. I knew it wouldn't be good for me to sleep in because then I would just feel guilty for the rest of the day. My horoscope already did that for me.

Easter day

As I am writing this, I am seriously busting at the seams, which definitely means I had a good Easter, Why is it that Easter is the one holiday that I eat NONE stop. I don’t even eat as much food at Thanksgiving as I do at Easter. When I think about it now, it kind of makes me ill to think how much I indulge. When I think of Easter, the first thing that comes to mind is chocolate. This is probably not a good thing, considering Easter has more important meaning. I just can’t help myself. For this, I blame my parents…ok, I know this isn’t true, but the more I think about it, the more I realize this whole thing started when I was little. The “Easter Bunny” comes to my house and hides lots and lots of candy for me to find and eat. Well, despite the fact that I am 18 and my sister is 22, this concept has yet to go away.

For some reason, we can not let the Easter tradition fade away. This morning, my sister and I came downstairs just like everything other Easter and searched for our baskets. Yes, my parents still hide them like when we were little. Except now, it’s even better because not only do we get candy baskets, but we get clothes and makeup..etc…I keep asking myself how long this tradition will last. I can seriously see myself at the age of 25 coming down the stairs and looking for my Easter gifts…is this a bad thing?!!

Being home again

It’s crazy how things change after only three months of not being home. I mean, I guess even when things don’t change, it just feels different. First of all, I came home and I plopped myself on our extremely comfy couch and turned on the new flat screen TV. I was excited to enjoy the couch and TV because we got it right after Christmas break and I didn’t get to enjoy it. Anyway, I grabbed the remote and changed the channel to 20. For those of you who watch TV at school, you know this channel is MTV. Well, apparently in New Hampshire, things are different. I totally forgot that MTV at our house is 58. It was so weird. It just came so naturally for me to change it to 20 for MTV.

Later that night, I went to grab a glass for a drink and I went to the wrong cupboard. Wow, I have only been away for three months and I already forgot where we keep the things in the kitchen. I felt so odd. I kind of felt like I wasn’t supposed to be home, or like this wasn’t even my house. I didn’t like this feeling at all! Of course, nothing else really changed. I got used to things again. Except, when I got in Wednesday night, I went to my room and got quite a suprise. Not only had my mom cleaned my room, but she had moved things all around and bought me a new comforter. When my sister came home, she came into my room and something about her and I switching rooms. Even though she is older, I have always had the bigger room. She is graduating from college next month and plans on living at home for a little while. For once in my life, I wasn't selfish and told her she could have my room.

Airplane experience

It’s quite ridiculous that I got on this plane only 15 minutes ago, and the captain is already telling us that we are starting our descend into Burlington, Vermont. Some people might think it’s silly that I fly home, but why not fly? It takes about 5 hours to drive home, but only 40 minutes to fly! I usually fly Delta, but we decided to try something new. My mom booked me a flight with Jet blue. I absolutely love this plane. First of all, I am so happy my flight wasn’t delayed because right now it’s pouring out and in Burlington they are having a snow storm. I just want to get home now! Anyway, my plane is so darn cool. I am typing and watching MTV. Um yeah, my seat has its very own TV. This is just amazing…I am impressed.

Airplanes are extremely tiny…even the big ones. I always feel bad when I am walking through the aisles because I end up hitting someone. My backpack was slightly large today because I couldn’t fit everything into my suite case. I kept turning to look at the seat numbers and when I did, I would slam my bag into some innocent person’s face. Then, when I found my seat, I had the window, but the two other people were already sitting, so they both had to unbuckle and get out of the seat area,. In the meantime, I’m holding up the entire line of people trying to get onto the plane. What I seriously hate is when people take their time putting their personal belongings into the over head compartment. Then, when we were starting to leave the gate, the captain made an announcement that if the person in the back of the plane didn’t sit down, we wouldn’t leave for another hour. Apparently, some idiot in the back was standing up doing only God knows what. After about 10 minutes, he finally realized every pair of eyes on the plane was glaring at him and he sat down. Goodness gracious, now I am being forced to put my computer away.

Just not fair

Ok, so I know as St. John's students we say this over and over, but the rules at St. Johns are just plain silly...and some of them are not fair. Right now, I don't even care about the visitor rule or any of those. I am referring to the one (if you dorm you will know) that is posted outside of our doors. It says something about if your roomates or suitemates are doing illegal things in your room, then you need to stop them because if they get caught, everyone gets in trouble....um, hello? That does not make any sense. First of all, I am not about to be a snitch and go tell my RA that my suitemates are doing illegal things. If its going to injury me in some way, then yes, I might tell her, but other than that, no. Especially considering they are my friends, why would I want to get them in trouble?

However, if they get caught doing something, shouldn't that be their problem? Lets be realistic here. If I went over to the other room and said "please don't do ---------," I highly doubt that would be effective. Following this I go tell my RA. Hm, when they get in trouble I wonder who they will blame for telling. Yeah, that would be me (speaking hypothetically). I just think it's really stupid then everyone in the suite would get a violation because ONE of the rooms isn't following the rules. How is this my problem? What ever happened to taking responsibility for yourself?

Riding the subway

The subway station is such an awesome experience every time you ride it. I can’t get over how exciting it can be, even on the slowest days when there are only 5 people (including yourself) on the train. It amazes me what you can witness from one stop to another. Just sitting and observing people from afar is my absolute favorite. The subway is so diverse and you never see the same people twice, so you can experience something new each time. When I walk onto the train I love when I catch the ending of someone else’s conversation and it leaves just a bit of mystery as to what they were saying. The Subway is also a great spot to get entertained by random people. Just tonight someone got on the train and started break dancing. Last week a band got on and sang a song from The Lion King. The best part was, they sang really well.

What I like most is when I meet someone friendly. During the rush hour you can tell when someone is coming from work and whether or not they have had a good day. Tonight the train was extremely crowded and I was standing up holding onto the pole. An old man slid over just so I could sit down. When I said thank you he had the biggest smile on his face, which made me smile. Last month I was riding the train and the one seat available had something gross all over it. Of course, I didn’t want to sit so I planned on standing. Another man was sitting in the seat beside it reading the paper. When he saw why I didn’t sit, he took out part of his paper and put it on the seat for me. I just couldn’t thank him enough. It’s the little things I experience on the subway that make me so happy.

Writing Center quote

"Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with" is a quote I found written on the wall in the Writing Center. I really like it because it's true about a writer...and it fit quite well in the Writing Center I suppose. First off, the Writing Center is place where students can go to...well, write. But, we all know it's more than that. Whether you're writing, researching, or need a quiet space to study/do homework, the writing center is the place to go. If you're serious about your writing and your work, why not go to the writing center and get support? Even if you are an author who thinks they don't need help, the writing center is still the place to be. It's "where you ought to be."

However, I don't think the quote was said just so the people at the writing center could write it on the wall. I just wanted to relate it the writing center considering that's where I found it. Anyway, I believe a writer does need his or her own space to do writing. Whether it's in your room or on the Great Lawn, if it influences you in any way, it's "your" space. We need have a place that encourages us when writing. Like the quote says, "a place to love and be irritated with." You can be influences by a place even if it isn't a positive influence. We can write about things whether they make us happy, sad, angry, frustrated, or excited. If it is a place that allows you to write about your overflow of powerful feelings (as Wordsworth said), then it's your place.

Oh the beautiful weather

So as I'm sure you all know, today was an absultely BEAUTIFUL day outside. At first, I doubted the weather man when he said it was going to be 71 degrees because I haven't felt warmth like that since spring break. However, the weather man made me a very happy girl! When I walked out of the gym at 10:00, it already felt like 70 degrees, and the day hadn't really even started (I consider the afternoon the real start of the the day). Unfornuatly, I had to work at 12 and then go to class at 3. I was sitting through a lecture in Romantic Lit and I could hear a bunch of guys outside being loud...it made me very envious because I was sitting in hot class, attempting to pay attention. After class, when I walked out of St. John's Hall, I couldn't believe what I saw! In front of the library there was about 50 kids just hanging out. On the Great Lawn tons of guys were playing football and other games. I was just so excited!

For the first time in like 5 months, the campus looked like a real college campus. My suitemate and I took a walk around campus just to check it all out, and I was seriously amazed. It looked like everyone finally came out their dorm rooms to enjoy the sun. It's crazy how the winter keeps everyone inside. The dorms are so icky, and being cooped up is quite miserable. I liked feeling like I was really at college. In movies, you always see tons of kids walking around campus, and socializing. The St. Johns Campus never looks this good. Yay for the beautiful weather! I'm in love :)

Saying goodbye...for the second time

As freshman, we come to school not really knowing anyone. Sometimes, especially if you are moving far from home, it can be a hard transition to make. Often times, we leave our friends back home, and we come to school and are forced to meet new people. Eventually, we establish what I like to call a “set group of friends.” You hang out with people outside of this group as well, but you always have that one group, just like at home. That one group of friends is the people you can always count on to make you laugh and are the “go to people” for plans on Friday nights.

If you were to transfer out of school after your first year, you have to start all over again. The transition period begins all over again. They say when you transfer you have to establish a new group of friends. Thankfully, I’m not transferring because I love St. Johns. However, I can’t say the same about my friends. I’m not even transferring but my transition period sophomore year will begin all over again.

For very silly reasons, a majority of my friends are leaving me in May when the school year is all over. I just have to say that I am really upset about this. Of course, I love my friends and that’s why I’m mad/upset, but what makes me even crazier, is the fact that I am forced to make new friends. Obviously I was planning on doing so anyway, but not this much! I have my set group of friends and my “go to” people on Friday night. I don’t want to have to find new go to people. This is just not fair :(

The type of research I prefer

As we have learned in this class, there are many different types of research. As some of us learned, the library isn't the only place to do research. Our world is filled with millions of sources of researching possibilities. I'm sure a lot of you are with me when I say I'm not that big a fan of the libarary. ok, this may sound bad, but I would rather do research outside of the library. Of course I visit quite a bit because I am forced to learn something scholarly (which isn't bad, but you'll see my point in a few). I shouldn't say I hate the libarary because I really don't. I love going randomly and just finding a new book to read. That can be quite exciting...

However, I prefer to use sources outside of the book. As I was saying before, my favorite type of research is one I can use without a scholalry source. This type of research I speak so highly of is observation. Ah yes, if you ask me, there is no better sources then your observations and experiences. When I write my papers, I like to use people as my information givers because it's like talking to the author themselves. When you read a book and get information, it's sometimes hard to understand what the person is saying, or even difficult to feel connected with the topic.

For my first paper, I took a survey of five guys and five girls. When I read their answers, I had an easy time writing my paper because I felt a connection with these people. My peers are just like me. We have a lot of the same ideas and a lot of the same believes. For my second paper, I'm taking somewhat of the same route. I want to talk to my peers so I can become more related to the topic I am writing about.