This morning I woke up at 5am with the worse sore throat ever. Because I work at my own convenience I decided to not go to work because I want to rest and get rid of this sore throat. Now that I have had some extra time, I have decided to reflect back on my college career and give people some advice.
The number one thing that hit me the most is how many changes you go through not during college but after college. Throughout your education even though you are on your own you are still sheltered by the people around you. The best way for me to describe this is through different bodies of water. For example when you are in high school it’s like you are in a fish bowl. You meet different people, you still live at home, you get fed on time, people clean up your messes, look out for you, take care of you etc.
When you reach college you are now in a pond or a lake. You get to meet a larger variety of people, you have more freedom of where you can swim, you don’t have as much restrictions, more options are available to you such as clubs, organization etc but you are still pretty sheltered by the people around you. Sometimes environmentalists come in to clean up lakes and ponds to make the water better, sometimes they come in and put more fish in. Similar things happen when you are in college. You have tutors to help you, recruiters bring more students in for you to meet and there is help everywhere in case you need it.
When you finally graduate college and you are done with your education you have finally reached the ocean. Now you are free, happy, think you can do anything and then reality hits you that you are on your own. There is nobody there to hold your hand and you hit the survival of the fittest instinct. You have to learn to control your own time, be responsible on your own, take care of yourself and make things happen for yourself. You have the whole ocean available to you but where you go and what you do is up to you. You just have to be very careful where traps and dangers are lurking.
The changes that I noticed in myself after graduation are amazing. I have met a lot of great people that have rubbed off on me which helped me change my personality and perspective on life. I was never a fan of change because I like things organized but I realized in real life there is no such thing as no change. Change happens every day and you have to adjust in order to survive. I have definitely become more independent and can make my own decisions much better.
Many times your personality doesn’t fully develop until you move out of the house and you are in a totally different environment. Being around people you know and family you tend to act a certain way but being around new people you also act different. When you spend enough time with new people and don’t have to meet certain expectations of people you know, you change your perspective on things and your personality. Your priorities shift where what once was important no longer is and what once wasn’t important now is.
In a nut shell there are many changes awaiting you when you graduate college. Sometimes people don’t believe a thing until it happens to them but this is something that I have experienced firsthand. As much as I don’t like change it’s something I had to adjust to and just go with the flow. College is an adventure but life after college is an even bigger adventure! Just think, it’s like having the WHOLE ocean to explore!!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Changes
Have you had a chance to look at the new Berkeley website and see all the changes that have been going on? I haven’t been on the Berkeley website for a while because I graduated and no longer need to log into blackboard. The other day I finally made my way to the website and I was all confused where to go! EVERYTHING is different but it’s a good different. I love the new colors they used and the way they organized everything in order to make navigation easier for the students and potential students.
When I started to explore the website I realized that Berkeley used its current students to use on the website, not models! How awesome is that the school can be proud enough of its students to use them? When I realized that I started looking through all the different pages to see where my face would end up! I saw the blogging picture every time I moved from page to page and it made me laugh every time because it was me everywhere I navigated.
Another change that I noticed is that I now have different Berkeley Blackboard access. I can no longer view things that are going on at the campus such as activities announcements, classes available, advisement, financial aid etc. All that I can view now is announcements from career services, the student self service to view my past payment history and grades, e-mail and the community tab. I was a little disappointed about this because I love seeing the activities on campus that I could possibly attend. Instead I e-mailed Ms. Young and asked her for the calendar of events. This way I can stay updated and pick which events I want to attend even though I have already graduated.
When I started to explore the website I realized that Berkeley used its current students to use on the website, not models! How awesome is that the school can be proud enough of its students to use them? When I realized that I started looking through all the different pages to see where my face would end up! I saw the blogging picture every time I moved from page to page and it made me laugh every time because it was me everywhere I navigated.
Another change that I noticed is that I now have different Berkeley Blackboard access. I can no longer view things that are going on at the campus such as activities announcements, classes available, advisement, financial aid etc. All that I can view now is announcements from career services, the student self service to view my past payment history and grades, e-mail and the community tab. I was a little disappointed about this because I love seeing the activities on campus that I could possibly attend. Instead I e-mailed Ms. Young and asked her for the calendar of events. This way I can stay updated and pick which events I want to attend even though I have already graduated.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Multicultural Chillax
I have not written on my blog for a while but I have a good excuse! I was in Europe!!! I finally came back on Sunday, and I was so happy to be back. I always love vacations but I always get home sick and want to come back after a week.
I need to catch up and let you know about some of the events that we have been doing right before I graduated. As you know from previous blogs at the end of each quarter we always do a Chillax day where we have activities for students where they can relax, take a load off and have some fun before the week of finals. Well what we did this Chillax day is we combined two events together and made it into one.
Ale who is the vice president of the school really wanted to do something multicultural related because Berkeley is such a diverse school. We were running out of time because we are about to graduate and we have submitted proposals months ago. What we finally came up with is a Multicultural Chillax Day! It ended up being so much fun. We had food that we served for absolutely free, games, painting, and much more. Ms. Young was away on vacation so she was unable to help us but I think we did a pretty good job. Check out the pictures!
I need to catch up and let you know about some of the events that we have been doing right before I graduated. As you know from previous blogs at the end of each quarter we always do a Chillax day where we have activities for students where they can relax, take a load off and have some fun before the week of finals. Well what we did this Chillax day is we combined two events together and made it into one.
Ale who is the vice president of the school really wanted to do something multicultural related because Berkeley is such a diverse school. We were running out of time because we are about to graduate and we have submitted proposals months ago. What we finally came up with is a Multicultural Chillax Day! It ended up being so much fun. We had food that we served for absolutely free, games, painting, and much more. Ms. Young was away on vacation so she was unable to help us but I think we did a pretty good job. Check out the pictures!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The End
I have been so caught up with the end of the school quarter that I haven’t had a minute to sit down and write a blog. Yesterday was my last day of classes besides my online classes and it was such a nice fair well that Ms. Young made for us. As goodbye presents we got beautiful scrapbooks to make us remember Berkeley and all the events that we have done, a GREAT chocolate cake, and were still going to receive something in the mail as a thank you for all our work. It was so exciting but sad at the same time. We tried to find Dean Hughes to say our bye’s but we were unable to find him. We will still be coming on campus all the time so I’m sure we will see him again and again.
Yesterday we also had a pizza party in our class! For the last day of class which is the day of our final we decided to collect money from the class and buy pizza. At first another student was in charge of it but somehow in the process I became in charge of it! After our fair well with Student Development Ale and I went to the pizza restaurant picked up our pizzas, got some drinks, napkins, I brought plates and cups from home and we had a great party together!
Since I will be graduating I will no longer have anything to blog about regarding Berkeley activities since I’m not on campus anymore. What I will continue doing though it letting you know what life is like after Berkeley. I can blog about what have I learned at Berkeley that I am using today in life and how I can refer back to the school for help and assistance. Even though you are a college graduate, that college will always be part of your life. I am very excited to step into another part of my life and begin something new all over again!
Yesterday we also had a pizza party in our class! For the last day of class which is the day of our final we decided to collect money from the class and buy pizza. At first another student was in charge of it but somehow in the process I became in charge of it! After our fair well with Student Development Ale and I went to the pizza restaurant picked up our pizzas, got some drinks, napkins, I brought plates and cups from home and we had a great party together!
Since I will be graduating I will no longer have anything to blog about regarding Berkeley activities since I’m not on campus anymore. What I will continue doing though it letting you know what life is like after Berkeley. I can blog about what have I learned at Berkeley that I am using today in life and how I can refer back to the school for help and assistance. Even though you are a college graduate, that college will always be part of your life. I am very excited to step into another part of my life and begin something new all over again!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Almost the End
Graduation is only a few days away and I am slowly getting very excited. Sometimes I think of never going back to school and it’s just strange thinking about that. Every time I pass school supplies in the store I think that I don’t have to get a notebook anymore or go back to school shopping etc. Once I start working full time I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself without having to do extra work when I come home from work. I got so used to this lifestyle for so long that it’s just strange knowing that it will be gone.
I asked Ms. Young if it would be possible for me to stay on the mail list once I graduate. Even though I will not longer be here I will want to stay informed about what’s going on, participate in some activities when I am in town and just visit everyone I got close to. I’m curious to see as to who the next president will be and who will take my place from September to November when they elect a new president. I will definitely miss everyone here.
Today was the longest day of my life. For my new job I have to get licensed in order to work and I need to take a 20 hour class. Well come to find out this class is 10 hours a day for 2 days! I spent 11 hours in a classroom today learning about financial information with one hour break for lunch. I have to admit it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be but it was pretty long. The good thing was that everyone in the classroom was in the same boat and we all supported each other through the process. There were about 40 students in the class and it was nice to get to know different people. Next week I have to do another 10 hour session and then take a pre-test to qualify for my state test.
After I do all that I am off to Europe for a week and a half!
I asked Ms. Young if it would be possible for me to stay on the mail list once I graduate. Even though I will not longer be here I will want to stay informed about what’s going on, participate in some activities when I am in town and just visit everyone I got close to. I’m curious to see as to who the next president will be and who will take my place from September to November when they elect a new president. I will definitely miss everyone here.
Today was the longest day of my life. For my new job I have to get licensed in order to work and I need to take a 20 hour class. Well come to find out this class is 10 hours a day for 2 days! I spent 11 hours in a classroom today learning about financial information with one hour break for lunch. I have to admit it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be but it was pretty long. The good thing was that everyone in the classroom was in the same boat and we all supported each other through the process. There were about 40 students in the class and it was nice to get to know different people. Next week I have to do another 10 hour session and then take a pre-test to qualify for my state test.
After I do all that I am off to Europe for a week and a half!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Almost the End
Yesterday was the last SGA meeting that we had with all our members because next week Ms. Young will not be there. She is going on vacation and we are on our own next week to run the meeting and the Chillax event. This Chillax day we decided to spice things up a little make it a Multicultural Chillax! It was sad that it was the last official day of all the members together but I’m also happy that I am graduating.
For the Multicultural Chillax day we wanted to spice things up before we leave and make things more interesting to students. We will have the regular Chillax day with mocktails, crafts etc but we will also add entertainment. Ale who is the vice president was supposed to work with a new club at Berkeley called LASSO but they have not gotten back to her or come to our meetings. We are not sure what they are up to or what they want to do about the event. They were going to do Latin dancing and inform the students about the different cultures of Latin countries. Should be interesting!
In my Global and Social Change class we are planning to have pizza on the last day of class. At first someone else was in charge of it but then the guy didn’t want to do it anymore and asked me if I could be in charge because I’m more responsible. At first I was hesitant of doing it but then I figured I’m in school anyway I might as well organize it and pick up the pizzas. I’m excited that my last few days at Berkeley will be fun.
For the Multicultural Chillax day we wanted to spice things up before we leave and make things more interesting to students. We will have the regular Chillax day with mocktails, crafts etc but we will also add entertainment. Ale who is the vice president was supposed to work with a new club at Berkeley called LASSO but they have not gotten back to her or come to our meetings. We are not sure what they are up to or what they want to do about the event. They were going to do Latin dancing and inform the students about the different cultures of Latin countries. Should be interesting!
In my Global and Social Change class we are planning to have pizza on the last day of class. At first someone else was in charge of it but then the guy didn’t want to do it anymore and asked me if I could be in charge because I’m more responsible. At first I was hesitant of doing it but then I figured I’m in school anyway I might as well organize it and pick up the pizzas. I’m excited that my last few days at Berkeley will be fun.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Graduation!
Happy Labor Day! Today we had no school, no work and a lot of lounging around! This weekend was my birthday/graduation party and it was a lot of fun. I had all sort of students come from college, neighbors and friends outside of school. My party started at 4pm and it lasted until about 11pm. I really enjoyed myself and it was great to see that people cared to come and see me on my special day.
Many SGA students feel that Berkley should have 2 graduations. I am graduating in 08 but I won’t walk graduation until 09. All my graduation props will say 09 and it just won’t be the same because I graduated in 08. Because graduation costs may be high due to renting out the place etc maybe it would be a good alternative to allow students who will be likely to pass that year. For example for the past 10 quarters I have always gotten honor roll and chances are I will not fail a class before my graduation. It would be nice if we could walk the graduation in April since I will be graduating in September.
At Student Government I am slowly starting to run out of things to talk about. We have accomplished a lot of things in the past year and I hope we keep on doing a great job. I don’t want to plan too much into the future because I will not be here and I want the future president to do as he/she pleases and not have to still run off of things I planned. This week we have a meeting with other campuses and Berkeley staff to talk about the things that we think Berkeley needs from a student standpoint. We have been planning this meeting for a very long time and we are happy to see it come together for the last time before I leave.
It will be very hard to leave everyone I know and the SGA that I helped to build. I guess it’s a process of moving on and starting fresh. I hope that I can always come back and help them out whenever they need me.
Many SGA students feel that Berkley should have 2 graduations. I am graduating in 08 but I won’t walk graduation until 09. All my graduation props will say 09 and it just won’t be the same because I graduated in 08. Because graduation costs may be high due to renting out the place etc maybe it would be a good alternative to allow students who will be likely to pass that year. For example for the past 10 quarters I have always gotten honor roll and chances are I will not fail a class before my graduation. It would be nice if we could walk the graduation in April since I will be graduating in September.
At Student Government I am slowly starting to run out of things to talk about. We have accomplished a lot of things in the past year and I hope we keep on doing a great job. I don’t want to plan too much into the future because I will not be here and I want the future president to do as he/she pleases and not have to still run off of things I planned. This week we have a meeting with other campuses and Berkeley staff to talk about the things that we think Berkeley needs from a student standpoint. We have been planning this meeting for a very long time and we are happy to see it come together for the last time before I leave.
It will be very hard to leave everyone I know and the SGA that I helped to build. I guess it’s a process of moving on and starting fresh. I hope that I can always come back and help them out whenever they need me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
