Selling my Books...Again

Well, week 11 is officially over. You know what that means. Its book selling season again! Instead of making an entire list of books that I had, I've decided to start a Half.com account. I've sold two books on it and its been pretty good.

This time, though, I'm bringing my books to the Student Book Store on Monday December 10th because I'm in need of money right now. Its the Christmas season and I'd rather get some immediate cash for my books than to wait around for someone to buy them online. Way to go Berkeley! Thanks for the instantaneous money back for books. Sure, its gonna be a pain to carry 10 books to school on Monday but it will be well worth it.

In other news, I don't know if anyone has noticed the pretty flyers around with the picture of a tiara on it. Its a sign for the Ms. Berkeley International Pagaent! How cool is that? A pageant! The only one I've seen was the Mr. CP pageant in my old high school. Now, there's a college one. Its looks like fun actually! I wish I could at least try it out but since my schedule is so back and forth next quarter, its going to be difficult keeping track of what campus I will be in and on what day.

So, ladies, if you have any talent, take a shot! Its sounds like tons of fun. I think this is the first pagaent ever so imagine being part of that!

Chillax Day!

Its this awesome or what? I don't know about everyone else but I am definitely stressed out about Finals next week. All my classes are wrapping up and I'm already starting to studying and review my notes from the past couple of months. I just finished up writing a 5 page paper in the ASC center and figured I would take some time to update before I head over to the Student Center for some "mocktails."

This week has really been bananas though. Yesterday, I had to rush to Manhattan to finish a project due for Humanities in the Media. I kind of left that part of my project at the last minutes so that was entirely my fault. One thing that turned out to be pretty cool about it was that I got to check out the Berkeley's Manhattan campus. I wanted to go in and check it out but I had to concentrate on my project.

The weather is starting to drop pretty quickly around here. A few students have been laughing that they almost slipped on ice coming down the hill. But hey, thats what happened when you wear shoes with absolutely no grip on the bottom. Even the professors have been shocked by how cold it has gotten. Again, I'm super thankful for Berkeley's heating system. And all the soup that the cafe has been serving. :D

NOW I get it!

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to point out any professors on my blog so I'll make this very suggestive. :D

I'm finishing up my College Algebra course this quarter. This course 3 month class pretty much wrapped up and clarified all 4 years of high school math I had. Throughout high school, I kind of understood what was going on in my classes. All I had to do was remember a formula or two for a test and then forget about them once I got my grade. That method worked pretty well in high school, but this is college. College is completely different from high school. In College. you have to be sure and know what you're doing.

This is where my professor comes in. He makes sure everyone in the class understands what's going on. He offers personal tutoring before and after class if anyone needs any help. You don't even have to make an appointment. You just show up with your questions and there he is to help.

No joke, thanks to him, I understand EVERYTHING that's going on in my math class. Not only do I commit formulas to memory but I understand what the formulas mean and what they do! How great is that? Its makes me feel like a genius. :D Thanks to him, I've gotten straight A's on all my exams and midterms. I'm not even worried about my final because I know I'm going to rock it. I know what I'm doing and man, it feels great to say that.

This guy is going to one of those professor's I'm going to try to have for the rest of my math courses. I'll trail him so much that he'll be sick of me by graduation.

You're Reading a Newark Campus Student Now!

Whoo! I'm officially taking a class in Newark! A whole new campus! And only a ten minute bus ride from my house!

It was so easy registering for a class in a different campus! I did it here and it was just like signing up for a class in your regular campus. I just went up for Advisement and asked to be signed up for Accounting in Newark and BAM!, I was in! I'm really excited for this for many many reasons.

• Now I get to check out Berkeley's newest campus!
• Its only 10 minutes from my house
• New friends! (and familiar faces because most of the people I knew in high school that go to Berkeley attend the Newark campus.)
• Easy transportation = Less communiting time
• Less commuting time = more time devoted to a job!

Lately, I've been checking out the Career Services tab for a part-time job. I found a perfect one in the listings. Valley National Bank is hiring part-time tellers. I have applied before but they said they needed someone with more time during weekdays. So, I'm think since I'll be around my town on Mondays and Wednesday, the chances of me getting this job are better! When I get home, I'm going to change up my availability schedule on the application and hopefully, have a job for the winter!

If that doesn't work, I'll take a trip to the Career Services office and get some help with my resume. I've had job experience (being a waitress, hostess and customer service rep.) so I'm thinking that maybe the jobs having been dropping on my lap because my resume is all messy. I don't know. I'm thinking I should just go and get help with my resume tomorrow. The sooner, the better, right? Besides, the service is right there. And its not like I have to pay extra for resume help (unless resume services online.)

So I guess you know where I'll be tomorrow during Activity period. :)

Campus Change?

I'm considering taking a class in Newark. The Newark campus is only 10 minutes away from my house. I can practically ride my bike there. The reason why I attend school in West Paterson is because one of the scholarships I received from Berkeley was only applicable if I attended this campus. I still have this scholarship so I don't know if that'll bar my from taking a class in another campus. I'll still be taking 3 classes here in Garret but I don't know if I'll have to pay extra or something if I want to go to Newark twice a week.



Tomorrow I'm coming to school extra early so I can figure all this out with Advisement. Hopefully, I won't have to bounce back and forth between campuses just to sign up for one class. I would ask some of my friends how they managed the whole "going between campuses" deal but its different for them. They have cars. I do not. Good thing the bus to the Newark campus is only a block from my house. :-)

Thanksgiving Just Kept on Giving

I've been terribly sick since Thankgiving. I ate like a fiend and all that gluttony took a toll on my health. I've been in been since Thanksgiving night and today, I finally felt good enough to get out and get some fresh air. It kinda sucked that I had to spend my break in bed but there's only two weeks of school left! That sums up to only 4 sessions of every class.

I barely have any assignments due this week. A few essays here and there but its nothing to lose sleep over. For my Oral Comm class, we have two write two speeches. My first speech is about veganism/vegetarianism and the second is about the D.A.R.E. program and how it doesn't work. The D.A.R.E. speech is the longest speech that I've written for the class. Lately the speeches have been getting more provocative and worthy of 20 minutes full of reaction and discussion. Hopefully, mine will spark up some good discussions.

4 more classes. Man, Christmas break is so close!

Back to Normalicy

So more than one person noticed that I haven't updated in a while. Nice to know some of you guys care if I just poofed from existance. Haha. But really, I've been a little slow with updating blogger. Sorry. I'd love to give you a bag of excuses but what happened was seriously and I'd rather not plaster it on the internet. All that matters is that I'm back and I have tonnnnsss of school crazyness to tell you about.

I'll start off this stream of daily posts by telling you about my Macroeconimics class. I figured it was going to be an easy course to just fly through for requirements. It has actually turned out to be one of my favorite classes. My professor uses real life examples for our assignments so we can stay updated with what's really going on in today's economy. Sometimes, what you find out about the US economy is scary. If you take a look at the business section of the newspaper, you'd be suprised at the amount potential increase in prices in the US! We learn about how the government is supposed to figure out and fix the nation's deficient and also, we learn how to use our money to its full potential. I try not to miss Macro because every class session is a new and crazy lesson on how money works. I wonder if Micro's going to be just as eye-opening. Im taking that class next quarter.

Man, there's one TWO weeks left of classes! This quarter breezed pretty quickly. A bunch of my professors thought it was a shortened quarter. I admit, it certainly felt that way. I mean, I just took my midterms and now I have to start preparing for finals!

I'm getting started on all my final assignments early so I won't be freaking out during finals week (which happens to start on my birthday.)

Well, Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and since I'll be home cooking up a mean Tofurky, I'll be sure to update with some note about my big project for Humanities and the scholarship meeting from last week.

Making Your Schedule is like Playing Tetris

Think about it. In Tetris, you have to plan out where you put the blocks so you can perfectly fit other blocks and make a row. Its the same concept with doing a class schedule. I have to plan the time of one class so I can fit another class within a given time. Since I depend on the shuttle bus, I HAVE to be done with my day by at least 2:10pm everyday.

I was looking over the schedule I picked out for Winter quarter and realized that what I thought was going to work was all wrong. I would end up waiting in the snow for the bus that never shows up on time every day. (AKA the 74 bus at 3:10pm)

I rechecked the online scheduled classes and noticed Managerial Accounting was open! YES!!! So tomorrow I'm getting to school bright and early so I can exchange my 3 credit class for a 4 credit online course! I've never taken a class online so this will be something new. I've spoken to a few students who have taken Accounting online and they told be to be ready for tons of reading and homework. Well, I'm totally ready for it. Since there is no lecturing in a classroom, of course Im expecting tons of reading. If I run into a problem, I'll just go to the ASC center for some tutoring.

I just hope the class is still open tomorrow morning. I know online classes fill up really quick so I'm gonna be waiting outside Advisement bright and early to nad a spot in a class.

Seriously, I didn't plan on having another 3 hour break and everything else I found wrong in my first planned schedule. Good thing I made mine early. If I would have waiting, I'm pretty sure I would have been stuck with a completely messed up schedule full of overlapping classes and late dismissals.

And then there's the whole "make sure you took the prerequisite to the class you want to take now" thing. Ugh!

My word of advice to you: Double check your schedule and make sure it works.

Scholarship Day on Thursday (Free Money and Free Pizza!)

This is up on Blackboard too but I thought I'd add it here, too.

Join us at the Garret Mountain Student Center

and learn how to

GET MONEY

for school!
Come to SCHOLARSHIP DAY

in the Student Center at Garret Mountain

Thursday, November 8th

11:00AM - NOON
Featuring special guest, Berkeley College
graduate, Natalia Novoa!

Pizza will be served, and you'll get a taste for what you can
win!

I'm definitely going. I'm always down for free money. I have no idea who Natalia is but if she can gimme tips and tricks on getting some scholarships, I'm there. Not to mention the fact that there's pizza! XD!

Man, free stuff rules. Today, there were free iced coffee drinks from Cinnabon in the Cafe today. It was soooo good. :-)

Staph is Everywhere!

Maybe not "everywhere" but its definitely all over my town. There have been rumors that schools will be closed on Wednesday for sanitation. My little sister's school was hit with Staph so I had to stay home and take care of the little one. I missed my Algebra class. I really hate missing class (because participation notes and the whole missing-an-entire-two-hours-of-math thing) but sometimes, I have no choice but to stay home.

I know Im going to be absent a lot during the winter. My little sister get sick a lot and since my mom works during the day,I would have to stay home and tend to my sister. I tried getting into an online course but almost all of them were closed by the time I printed out the availability list.

I'm going to be filling myself with Vitamin C pills this week because I feel a cold coming on. This crazy weather is taking a toll on my immune system. Last week, I was sniffling throughout my classes. Today, I'm sneezing non-stop. Man, I REALLY don't want to miss anymore classes.

Music Club Schedule

As you all know, I'm a member of the Music Club. I'm trying to get hella more people to come and check it out. Remember, its not genre-specific. Anyone with any music preference and come and show off some skills. It can range from rock guitar,to traditional gypsy baritone ukelele (which I'm try to get a hold of and learn to play) and polka accordion (not sure I spelled that right). Violins and woodwinds welcome! Seriously, I want everyone to just show up and have some fun at Music Club.

I'm actually jotting down a few words and tunes to tryout for the next meeting. The performance two weeks ago has got me amped to get up on stage and play something.

Here's a schedule of the next two weeks. They're all in the Knupple Hall Community Room. Just come right down the stairs and there we are!

• Monday November 5 from 3-5,
• Wednesday November 7 from 3-5,
• Monday November 12 from 3-5
• Wednesday November 14 from 3-5

Whoo! $62 refund!

Thursday I did my schedule. No school on Mondays and Fridays! Woot woot. In order to see my schedule on Blackboard, I had to clear my account at, where else?, student accounts. This is always kinda scary because sometimes, you can owe $700 out of pocket because you forget about financial aid things. I kept on top of my finances so luckily, I owed nothing. Not only that, Im getting a refund!

I already chose my preference on the Berkeleybluecard website but I think I'm gonna change it to direct deposit. The paper check took forever to show up last quarter and I'd like to have my money now than later.

If you haven't done your schedule yet, I suggest you get to steppin' and go do it ASAP. A lot of classes are filling up fast.

A Case of Paranoia

Ever since the gas leak in school, I've been pretty paranoid about anything that might seem out of the ordinary.

For example, when the shuttle bus was riding into the parking lot of the school, I noticed a lot of students were leaving campus. There were carpools and people walking out of classes to their cars. Usually, I would think this is no big deal. It was the end of 2nd period so people usually leave for a late breakfast or something. Instead, I started sniffing around and calling a friend making sure that we still had class.

Another thing I'm freaked out about is the outbreak of Staph in my town. Two elementary schools and the middle school were shut down for sanitation. Now, I walk around with a bottle of Purell in my bag. Im wary when it comes to passing papers out and hugging random strangers.

Im sure my super paranoia will pass soon enough. Im just not gonna be in the computer rooms touching keyboards for a little while.

What's that Smell?

Man, today was bound to be bad. There were signs everywhere telling me not to go to school. My alarm clock was disconnected, the train was super late, and the printers in school wouldn't let me print out my Student Audit. It was just a series of events saying that I shouldn't be in school.

Then, 10:15am the fire alarm blared. I was in my Oral Communications class. It seemed like it was a normal fire drill. Farrington even joked about it. It was all jovial until we got outside and were hit with a strong smell. The smell of gas was everywhere. You saw everyone's faces get serious. Some people let immediately. They jumped into their cars and jetted out of there. The rest of us stayed to see what was going on. It wa pretty bad because of the worried looks on the faces of the professors, administration and security guards. Everyone trying to get on campus was redirected. They had to turn around and leave. Almost 40 minutes later, it was official. All day classes were cancelled and everyone had to leave. I was lucky I had a buddy with a car. I didn't hear anything about transportation for shuttle people. Most of the cars had at least 3 people in them so I'm sure everyone found a ride.

Text messages were sent out by the school a few minutes ago announcing the cancellation of day classes. Hopefully, everyone who dorms is alright.

Registration for Winter Already? Wow.

We're already half way done with the quarter! Can you believe that?

Today, I saw a bunch of people lined up at the Student Accounts hall. That pretty much an indication that its time to register. I looked up my progress report and figured out a way to only have class twice a week. I kinda wanna try this out. It'll give me a chance of maybe holding down a normal part time job for the rest of the 5 days of the week.

I'm not too sure what'll go on with this but I'm gonna try it out. Hopefully, it'll pan out alright. My credit card bill needs paying and I have to start making some kind of money for a car! So far, the 4 days a week/getting out at 2 schedule setup has made it impossible for me to get back in my town before 5. Maybe with this two day thing, I'll have a better chance at a steady job.

Anyone else out there do the carless two-days a week thing?

The Music Club concert was Great!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to the show on Thursday! I thought I made enough cupcakes for the audience but we got a pretty big turnout! So, if you got a cupcake, you were lucky!

The Jazz band was amazing. Its was so much fun because the show was totally interactive. You could sing and clap and dance along. If you had the guts, you could have even gone up and duet to any song! There was a sing guitar and bass battle.

Hopefully, this got the music club enough exposure so the whole school knows we're here. Its open to anyone who wants to join. We do all and any kinds of music. If you're interested, look around for the club president, Travis, or the vice-prez, Brian.

Here's the facebook link for more info. You can check out announcements and some photos from our practices. There's even one of me trying to remember how to play a Weezer song on bass.

Tomorrow is Super Busy Thursday

Even though its only Wednesday morning, I'm already prepping for what will be one of the busiest Thursdays ever.

Tonight, I have to finalize my oral communications speech. Usually, that'd be an easy process but I decided to completely change the focus of my subject. Then, I have to write 3 two-pages essays for humanities in the media, based on the movies we watched in class. I was absent during one of those days so I didn't get to finish watching "Wag the Dog". Thank goodness for IMDB.com. After I'm done with that, I have to start baking cupcakes. Yeah. Baking. I'll explain that one in a minute.

Tomorrow morning, I get to present my oral comm speech. Right after that class is activity period. I have to head over to the Student Center for the "What Not to Wear" presentation that the Fashion Club is having. There's also a raffle going on in the presentation. The winner of the raffle gets to have a complete makeover. I bought my ticket last week. :-D Who wouldn't want a makeover? Okay, after that, I have to hand in my essays and start studying for midterms. After class, I have to run home and finished up decorating my cupcakes.

The cupcakes are for the Music Club presentation being held in the Community Room at 7pm on Thursday. I didn't get to make it to a couple of the practices and since I didn't think I was stage-ready yet, I opted for making cupcakes for the audience.

Busy busy Thursday! So, in case you didn't catch all the activities going on, here's a rundown.

• What Not to Wear at the Student Center (Activity Period 11am)
• Don Carter Jazz Trio and Berkeley Music Club concert at the Community Room (7pm -9pm)

Please please come to the concert on Thursday night. C'mon. Cupcakes! You'll also get to check out Berkeley's talented students do their thing on stage. And its free!

Great Feedback from Readers

I'd like to thank everyone who's been commenting and emailing me through this blogger. Its good to know someone out there is reading this thing. :-)

Remember, all my info is on the right side of the page so if you have an questions concerning Berkeley (anything from admissions to which bathroom is the cleanest), just click on my email link and send me a note!

I'm updating right now because my Macro class was cancelled early. My professor had a meeting so its a perfectly valid excuse. Usually, I'd run to catch my seat on the 2:10pm shuttle, but today I'm sticking around campus for a Music Club meeting. (By the way,if you're reading this and you're still on campus, Music Club meeting in Community room today from 3-5. My bad for the late posting.)

Since the last shuttle leaves at 3:20pm, I'll be left to walk around Garret Mountain. Its cool. Im actually kinda looking forward to it. I have my sneakers on and the weather is nice. I haven't really wandered around over here so today, I'm planning on walking through the Garret Mountain Reservation and catching my bus on the other side of the mountain (the Montclair side). Maybe I'll spot a deer.

Dracula Was Postponed :-(

Bram Stoker's Dracula was to be performed today at 2pm in Garret Mountain. According to Blackboard, ALL the performances are being postponed.

I'm still planning on going to see the play. Its free with your Berkeley ID and $10 for everyone else. Its being performed in almost all the Berkeley campuses so that's pretty spiffy. Hopefully, the show will be back soon.

Shuttle Bus Cram at 2:10pm

If you're on the 2:10pm shuttle bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you know exactly what I'm taking about.

Since there was a surge in enrollment this quarter, of course you expect large class counts and overbooked dorm rooms. One thing that someone forgot to think of was the packed shuttle bus!

The shuttles only run during 1:10, 2:10, and 3:20 (I don't know when they changed that one but I think I was one of the last to know.) Almost every Tuesday and Thursday, the bus is packed with no room to spare. Sometimes the driver says there's room in the back but he tends to forget that the students need room from books and, I don't know, breathing? Usually, the 2:10pm leaves early to drop off the first students who got there. Once the bus is emptied out, it comes back and picks up the rest.

This is all fine and dandy if it wasn't for the fact that I have to miss my 2:30 train every time I don't catch the first bus. I end up having to take a two one-hour buses home because if I wait for the 3:20 shuttle, I'll miss the 3:30 train and I'll be stuck wandering around downtown Paterson until 4:30. I would leave class earlier to be one of the first on the 2:10 bus, but I'll end up missing 20 minutes of class.

I think I might start walking down to Paterson from campus. Maybe then I'll be able to catch my train.

College Veg Pledge 2007

Okay, so this isn't directly related with Berkeley College itself, but it is a college thing and its something I'm really passionate about.

I signed a pledge on CollegeVeg.org that says the following:

"As a university student, I realize that I am a leader for my generation
and an example for society. I am concerned about the inherent cruelty of
consuming animals for food and the impact meat has on global warming, the
environment, and my health. By signing my name, I pledge to abstain from
consuming meat on November 13th, 2007, and commit myself to exploring a more
ethical diet in the future.”

If you're interesting in joining in and leaving out the ham in your sandwich for a day, feel free to sign.

I'm not planning on shoving all this vegetarian-vegan stuff into anyone's face. I'm just doing my normal college activist thing and letting people know about the things I care about.

By the way,
Did everyone remember to register to vote in '08?

Double Presentation Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow I have two presentations for two different classes.

The first of the day will my "first draft" speech about Andy Warhol in Oral Communications. I wrote about the downfalls of 3 of this "superstars" and how the events could have be linked to the artist himself. I know its not that good of a description, but its only a rough draft so in reality, I'm not even sure what my speech is about.

:-P


My second presentation was in Humanities in the Media. My class was broken up into groups. Each group was in charge of outlining and presenting certain chapters from the textbook. Our mindterm, which is the first week of November, will be based on each group's presentation. Needless to say, these presentations have to be pretty good since everyone is going to be studying them for midterms. Talk about pressure!

Crazy Movies in Humanities in the Media Class

We finished watching a movie called "The Name of the Rose" in my Humanities class. What a crazy movie. It deals with censorship back during the Inquisition days. After this movie, we're watching two more. We have to write essays about each movie and hand them in at the end of the third one. Im starting to write my essay on The Name of the Rose today. I have terrible memory so I might as well get all this written down before I completely forget the film.


Tomorrow is the first music club meeting! If you didn't sign up on last Thursday, show up anyway. Im taking my little sister to this one because I got stuck with babysitting duties at the last minute. I already asked the head of the club and he's cool with it. The first meeting is like a "Hello. My name is _______" kinda thing. I think we're also trying out some instruments. Lets hope I still have a drop of guitar skills left from high school. If I completely reek at it, I'm cool with playing the triangle or kazoo.

JDRF Walk with Berkeley College

JDRF is the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Their mission is to find a
cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. If you
have diabetes, or know someone who does, you know just how important this is

Pretty much half my family had Diabetes. This is a pretty important run for me. As soon as I can secure a ride from a friend, I'm signing up for the walk. I might even get a couple of friends to come along for it.

There's a bunch of flyers all over campus for more info on the walk. There's also a website (http://www.walk.jdrf.org/) AND there's a window full of info for the walk on the homepage of Blackboard. I know a lot of students work on Saturday mornings, but if you have nothing to do on the morning of the 21st, come to Franklin Lakes and get to steppin' for the foundation. If you can't join in the walk, sponsor a walker!

:-)

Andy Warhol: Master or Monster?

That the title of my presentation in Oral Communications. We had to come up with three subjects that we would like to present. My options were Priorities of News Media, the Straightedge Movement: 1981 and Now, or Andy Warhol: Master or Monster. The class seemed pretty split on which one to pick. I guess that's a good indication that my presentation is something to look forward too. I'm actually excited about this project because I've kinda always been interested in the dynamic relationship of Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol. Hopefully, my true passion for the subject will come across in my presentation.


Here's a parking tip for everyone who start classes a little later. Show up at the end of periods. If you show up at the end of 2nd or 3rd period, people are usually headed to their cars and out the lot. Just make a few rounds and you'll eventually find a spot. Today, I got a nice spot in Parking Lot A in less than 5 minutes. Trust me, this works.

Berkeley's Club Convention / First Activity Period.

I was actually amped for Activity period today. Everyone's back on campus so it was time for everyone to meet up and catch up. Of course, Berkeley whipped out the big speakers and played some hangout music in front of the student center. Haha. I always loved that. What other college provides a soundtrack during break?



I went around taking photos of some of the clubs on campus. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera ha low batteries so I only got to take a few photos. But, hey! The ones I did take were pretty cool.

Here's a new club. Music club! All I needed was a guitar and Circa Survive shirt to conviced me to sign up for this club. That and I'm pretty sure I went to high school with one of these guys. I'm pretttyyyyy sure.

This is the paintball club. Yeah, that's right. PAINTBALL! This was one of the most popular tables. So, if you're a glutton for pain and bruises, sign up! Haha.

Here's the soccer club table. Check out that sweet jersey. I saw the soccer girls practicing yesterday and thought they were amazing.

I feel kinda bad that I didn't get to take pictures of the other tables. They were all full! Well, before my camera died, I managed to get this picture. Now, what you are about to see next is something that completely made my day.

VEGAN BARS!!! YES!!! No more having to walk to 7-11 for some vegan goodness! For real, Berkeley really stepped up their menu. Not only did they add tons of vegan/vegetarian options, but they also expanded their menus like crazy! The cafe was pretty much packed.

It was really nice to see everyone back. Seriously, I don't know how many times I said "Hey! How you doin'?! How was your summer?!"

So, When is that new parking lot gonna be done?

For some reason, students think that I know all the answers to some of the toughest questions on campus. One of these questions is "When is the new lot gonna be done?" To be honest, I have no idea when it'll be done. All I know is that you better get to school with plenty of extra time so you can find parking and still make it to class on time.

I know some kids who have been parking in the residential streets behind the school because there are no spaces left after 9am. Others have taken the risk of parking in spots that they're not allowed to be in. If they're lucky, they won't end up with the big ugly orange "don't park here" sticker when they return to their car.

So, I'm sorry to say that I really don't know when its going to be done. I've asked around and kept getting different times and dates. For now, we're all just going to have to deal with it and show up early to get dibs on a space. Or carpool! Or do what I do. (Take the Berkeley shuttle!)

If you wanna know the shuttle times and stops, just drop me a comment or email, or you can check out the bulletin boards around school for the schedule flyer.

Serious Presentations in Oral Comm.

Today, in Oral Communications, the students had to stand in front of the class and talk about a serious incident that they've been through. There were tons of stories about family tragedies and personal shockers. It was the most tense and emotional class I've ever been in. There were tears in a lot of peoples' eyes. I was welling up a little bit when I was presenting my story. I talked about this past summer. If you've been reading my blogger for a while, you remember that I would mention my parents being in the hospital here and there. Well, I went into great detail about what happened during my presentation and found myself getting emotional. Although a few students did end up crying at the podium, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I abruptly stopped my story before I got any more emotional.

It was kinda cool because the class got to learn a little something about everyone. I just hope thats the last time we do the "serious incident" presentation. It was way intense.

My Refund Never Showed Up. / Book Selling

:-(

My Berkeley refund never showed up. Today, I just remembered that I put in the paper check preference for my refund and it still hasn't showed up. I'm not a big ton of money coming in the mail but its enough to buy my Macroeconomics book.

Today, I'm calling the company as soon as I get home and see what's the deal with my check! I would have put direct deposit if I wasn't so darn paranoid about my bank account. And you guys already know what I thought about the debit card.


Other than that, I've sold a couple of books thanks to this blogger (and you guys responding and emailing me.) I still have some books left to sell but so far, so good. :-)

There was an email sent out saying that students aren't allowed to post up flyers about selling their books. They suggested using other ways of selling/buy/trading like ebay and facebook. Facebook actually worked for me. I think I might even start a Half.com sellers account. I wanted to keep my textbooks nice and cheap for other Berkeley students, but if no one wants the books I have, I might as well offered them to other people in other parts of the country.

Everybody Chillin' at the Holiday Inn

Due to Berkeley's HUGE surge in enrollment this quarter, the dorms were unexpectedly overbooked! All the dorm rooms are full so...where did the rest of the students go? They're living at the Holiday Inn! Pretty nuts, huh? I've talked to a few kids living at the hotel and they're said its fine. There's a shuttle that takes them to and from school so transportation isn't a problem.

Imagine living in a Holiday Inn? Man, that sounds like fun.

The whole Holiday Inn situation reminds me of a song. Hmm. (Click here to find out which song.) Haha.

Hello to the new and the old!

Hello everybody! I'm on my first break of my first day of school. I just felt like writing in here really quickly and updating everyone on things.

Here's the first shocker of the day. The entire front parking lot was full by 9am! If that's not a sign of how desperately we need the new parking lot in the back, then I don't know what is! Luckily, I took the shuttle bus this morning. :-) So, if you really don't want to deal with the parking and you live pretty close to the Paterson Train Station, take the shuttle. Its free, its quick and it's ALWAYS on time.

Along with the full parking lot came a full campus. Summer semester was kind of slow around here. There were maybe 4 or 5 people in the quad during the day. This afternoon, the quad was FULL of familiar faces and freshmen trying to find their way around. Im so glad to see old friends who left for summer break. I've also met a couple of freshmen and transfer students. So far, everyone seems to be pretty cool.

There's tons more to write about but right now, I have to get ready for my Humanities class.

Hope everyone's first day went well also!

Free Bus/Train/Lightrail Week!

In case you didn't know, college students get to ride NJTransit free this week! All you have to do is print out this little coupon right there. (http://www.njtransit.com/images/student_coupon.jpg) This coupon, combined with your student ID, is your ticket to ride the bus, train and lightrail for free! I've been using this little ditty since Monday! I've gone to the city and back a few times without paying the usual $8 commute price! I'm planning to visit some friends at NJCU tomorrow and I'm pretty psyched I won't have to pay a thing to get there!

With all the money I'm saving this week, I'm planning on buying my mom a nice present for her birthday. For me, one day's worth of commuting for me is about $10 dollars. So, five days times 10 bucks is enough to buy her a dress and jewlery at TJMaxx or something!

I suggest you take advantage of this.

Hey Kid! Wanna Trade?

I received an email asking me for my list of books that are for trade/sale.

These are the books I have. I am willing to trade or sell.

• ACT101 Principles of Accounting, Volume 1: Chapters 1-13
• BUS231 Anderson's Business Law 20th ed. (hardcover! Berkeley only sells the looseleaf version)
• CIS203 New Perspective on MS Access 2003 Comprehensive
• CIS120 Microsoft Office Excel 2003: Complete Coursecard Ed.
• ENG103 Shakespeare (for Prof. Costa's class)
• ENG101 A Writer's Resource 2nd ed.
• ENG101 The Prentice Hall Reader 8th ed.
• MGT345 Management of Information Systems 10th ed.

There are a couple more but they're in the trunk of my car. See? I told you I had a ton of books. If you're interested in trading or buying any of these, contact me by email (vanessa-gomez@mymail.berkeleycollege.edu) with the title "Blogger Books" or look for me around campus.

Here is the list of books I need for next quarter in case you're down to trade.

• ENG111 Public Speaking An Audience Centered Approach
• HUM341 Communication in History
• MAT211 Algebra for Berkeley College Students (Custom Berkeley Edition)
• SOC201 Macroeconomics: A Contemporary Introduction 7th ed.

Remember that in order to get first dibs on used books at the Berkeley Bookstore, get there ASAP. Early bird gets the book.

3.7 GPA Heck Yes!

I can't believe I managed to keep my GPA up during summer! I felt that I did horrible this quarter. There was a whole lot more distraction during the summer than I thought! But hey, I managed to keep up with school and do well!

I just finished checking my GPA just now. I forgot that all the final grades were in. They've been posted since last week. It just slipped my mind.

So, its the first day of my post-summer vacation and its going great. Most of my friends are in school right now so I'm spending my free time catching up on sleep. Also, the weather is great! 75 and sunny all week!

I'm actually gonna keep updating during break because even though there are no classes in session, I still do a lot of school stuff like book shopping/swapping, re-organizing my life to fit school/work/family/friends.

Hope everyone else's break is going great!

A Big Sigh of Relief

I was so caught up with finals and papers last week that I didn't get a chance to update! Well, I just got out of work so might as well update before I head out and enjoy my first Friday of break. :-)

Last week and the week before, I slept maybe 3 hours a night writing papers. I left all the major and very looooong final papers until last minute thinking I could do it easily. Well...I was wrong. I could have easily handed in mediocre papers with only the minimum amount of pages but I promised myself in the beginning of the quarter that I would bust out some great essays. So, most of my weeknights were spent writing and re-writing and re-writing and re-writing. I'm not even kidding when I say I slept 3 hours a night for two weeks. My veins were pumping 50% blood and 50% Starbucks coffee.

One thing that kinda stinks is that I didn't have time to sell my books back at the Berkeley Bookstore. Its the easiest way to get money for new books. The problem was that I have a kajillion book that are really heavy. I has planning on bringing a few one day and the rest on another day but again, no time. So, I'm planning on hanging up flyers where school starts up again. I have a lot of books from my first quarter classes so hoepfully, I can help out a few freshmen with getting the books they need to cheap. I even put up a bulletin on Facebook so I can sell my books back. Check out the list if you're in need of some books. Like a said, I have TONS of them.

Earl Grey Makes the Sleepiness Go Away

Last night I decided to pull an all-nighter so I can start wrapping up all my final papers. Most of them are due this week. Right now, I'm in the ASC Center finishing up some assignments for Management. I decided to take a break and update everyone on some stuff going down in Berkeley in the coming weeks.

Next week is Final Exam week. If you haven't checked out the schedule for Finals, I suggest checking it out and asking your professor about them. Finals are MAJOR since this quarter was short.

Also, one of my favorite activities in Berkeley is happening next week. Buy Back Time! I get to sell all my old books and buy my new ones for the next quarter. I don't know why but getting rid of old books makes me happy. Haha.

Man, I think I'm going to head over to the Caf and get something extreme caffinated. I had an Earl Grey tea this morning before class. Its starting to wear off. Hopefully, the fridge is stacked with Jolt cola. :-) Mm-hmm! Extra Caffiene!

Last Week Before Finals!

Oh man! Its already down to week 10! I have tons of papers and assignments to make up!

Throughout the summer, I had a couple of late assignments due to emergency absenses (family/hospital/floods) so I have tons to make up before finals week. Luckily, my professors are cool with handing in all the assignments for late grades.

This weekend, I plan on locking myself in my room and getting everything done. I was to hand in the best assignments I can. Sure, its the end of summer and all I want to do is have one final bash before the rest of my friends go back to school...but there's always next weekend! It'll be the weekend after everyone else starts, so they'll be just as amped to enjoy the weekend!

Now, I have to get working on these papers (and get to treating my millions of bugbites.)

If Its Free, I'm In

I just picked up one of these free Time Out New York magazine that the Berkeley library has put out for students. I scanned through it really quickly and already decided that this will be my "Fall Quarter Survival Guide." This lists a bunch of ways to save money on everything from toiletries (hair products, shower essentials, etc.) to clothes.



I admit, since I've started school, I've found myself with only $20 for transportation and food per week. I learned how to budget and mastered the art of sale-hunting. Nothing a little planning (and some walking) can't help. I found the buses with the cheapest fares (one zone crossings cost less than two zones) AND I bring my own lunch sometimes when I'm low on cash.

I suggest that everyone pick up a copy over at the library. :-) They didn't name is "Survival Guide" for nothing.

The BerkeleyBlue Card EXPLAINED!

• 
  
  
  So, I finally got an explaination on what this infamous card is all about. If you're one of the many students who still don't get that this card is all about, then read this. I'm gonna break it down for you. Go to BerkeleyBlueCard.com and follow these steps:
  
  
  
  
  BerkeleyBlueCard.com is pretty much the place where you confirm that you recieved the card in the mail.
  • In the bottom right of the site, it will ask you to type in the 16-digit number on your card, then click activate. "Activate" pretty much means "submit", meaning you're submitting the confirmation that you did recieve the card.
    
  • After you click "activate", you'll have to authenticate the card. This is how you verify that it's really you activating the account.
    
  • The next screen will ask you to make a log-in name and password. This is so you can log-in to the website at any time if you want to change some info.
  • In time, you'll get to this magic window.
  
  
  This is where you get to choose how you want your refund. You can open an account with HigherOne and use the card as a debit card, you can choose to receive your refund through direct deposit to a current bank account you have (meaning they'll send the money to an account you already have at your bank), or you can choose to receive a paper check through the mail.

This is what BerkeleyBlueCard is all about. Its suppose to be a way to choose your preference in how you will receive your refund!

The rest of the process is cakewalk.

But remember, that "activate your card" reeeeeeaaaally means "choose how you want to receive your refund."

Man, talk about misinterpretation!

I hope this helped everyone out! I was confused about it, too. I'm not gonna lie about that. It doesn't hurt to do asking around about this stuff. So, if you're still a little confused, feel free to email me at vanessa-gomez@mymail.berkeleycollege.edu.

Shakespeare Manga Comics

In English 103, we just started reading Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. I looked online for some e-help on the relationships of the characters when I clicked onto this little gem. Check this out. Shakespeare manga comics! (from SelfMadeHero.com) I can definitely dig this. They used the actual dialogue from the plays so that's a fun little twist on adaptation. Usually, Shakespeare's plays are modernized beyond the point of recognition! (example: 10 Things I Hate About You AKA The Taming of the Shrew)

Fever and Foot-in-Mouth disease

Today didn't go exactly as I planned. I woke up at nice and early and started to get ready for school. On my way to grab some breakfast, my mom stopped me and told me I wasn't looking too good. She felt my forehead and told me I was on fire. After a thermometer reading of 102 degrees, she refused to let me go to school. Not only I was starting to feel sick, I was also fuming that I missed class again! All day, I was in bed coughing, sniffling, going in and out of sleeping. The whole time, I was thinking...."oh, I had a make-up exam. Oh, I had this due. Oh, I had that due." Missing school absolutely stinks! I'm so behind on everything!

Tomorrow, I'll hopefully be at a normal 98.6 degrees. I only have one class early in the morning (8:00am to 9:45am) and since the Berkeley Shuttle doesn't operate until 1:10pm, I'll have plenty of time to do all my work and get cleared by financial aid so my fall schedule can be all official.

I just read what happened to Aleksandra on her blog about how she pretty much has to activate her BerkeleyBlue card to get her refund. Man, I hope that doesn't happen with me. I mean, the card is still in my drawers but as I've said before, I'm not too excited about the card at all.

Well, I'm gonna go take a nice little Tynenol Cold and rest up for tomorrow. Nighty-night, kiddos.

Mother Nature doesn't believe in Summer Semester

As of next week, there's only 4 weeks left this quarter! My Managing Informational Systems professor brought that up today. If that wasn't enough of a reminder of how short the quarter was, the classes handed in their midterm exams also. I'm guess this isn't going to impact me as much until its the week before finals. It always happened. That means most if my September will be full of cramming and feverishly going over all the notes I have written.

Last week, I was barely in any of my classes. Wednesday's giant storm (the one with the Brooklyn tornado) caused my town to be completely underwater. All the buses and trains were shut down so I couldn't make it to school. The next day, my little sister got a fever so I had to stay home and take care of her. (I live with my mom and its next to impossible for her to get off work.) This week, I swore I would make it all my classes on time. Well, today, I got to use the car so I figured "hey! i'll leave at 7:30" because it only takes 15 to get to school by car. Well, its 7:35 by the time I hit the highway. As soon as I get to route 3, I see the biggest traffic jam I've ever driven in. I swear, it was going an inch a minute. I got to Berkeley at 9:30. My class ends at 9:45. At that point, I was angry and decided to call a friend in Montclair and grab some breakfast. I came back for my 12:45 class on time but I was still angry about the traffic.

Tonight, I'm getting everything ready so I can get up, get ready and get going tomorrow. There is no way I'm missing any more classes. Noooo way. I'm already at the point where if I'm absent again in any of my classes, my grade will be affected.

:-\

This cold my sister passed on to me isn't helping either.

RIP Jalisa Watson

I just got an email about a memorial service being held for Jalisa Watson, a Berkeley College student who passed away in a car crash on Sunday. I didn't know her personally but I know a couple of kids who did. There's even a Facebook group dedicated to her. (Here's the link if you want to check it out.) It's definitely a big loss for Berkeley. It's really a sad way to kick off August.


The service will be held in the Community Room during Activity Period on Wednesday.

Perfectly Good Reason for Taking a Day Off

Today, I stayed home from school. I only have one class on Mondays but I'm not a fan of missing class. Not to mention, midterms are this week and next week so this is pretty much a bad time to be missing anything. I have a perfectly good reason for staying home today.

...

I'm sore all over and I can't move. I tried to get up this morning so I can go to class but just getting out of bed took me about an hour. My lack of speed made me miss my bus, which in turn made me miss my train.

The reason I'm sore all over is because I went to Warped Tour in Englishtown yesterday. I figured I would be fine and go to school the next day. I should have guessed again because 14 hours of mosh pits can take a toll on a 19 year old girl.

Right now, I'm reading MacBeth and doing my e-mailing my quiz. I may be home but I'm not slacking. :-) That's what I really like about Blackboard. I can still get my work done and email it to my professor from the convienience of my room. Blackboard is a lifesaver in situations like this. :-)

Tomorrow, I am definitely attending class. I'll wake up early, take an advil, and go to school. I'm really really not a fan of missing class.

Return of the Berkeley BlueCard

"The reason why you see your name on your Berkeley BlueCard is because your school has partnered with Higher One to cut school costs, provide faster refund services and offer more student choices through the new card."

So because Berkeley got some cheaper deals here and there, Higher One got to have access to some of my info (which I thought was confidential)??? I had enough of a problem dealing CapitalOne sending me stuff because I signed up to FastWeb, but this? If I sound a little irked, its because this whole "giving out student info because we got a deal on costs" bothered me. I'm sure other schools do it too. In fact, I know other school do the same, but that doesn't take away from much it bothers me. I'd rather wait a little longer for my refund than doing the Berkeley BlueCard thing. This is my opinion so...don't let it steer you away or anything. Check it out for yourself and make your own decision about it. There's tons of pamplets and posters for it all over campus. Get your info.

This is my fourth cancelled class of the summer.

Today, my one and only class of the day was cancelled. This would be cool if I had a car....but I don't. I take NJ transit bus/rail and the Berkeley College shuttle van. So, if my 9:50am class is cancelled, that means I'm stuck on campus from 9:50 to 1:10pm (when the shuttle starts drop-offs.) I was lucky that my mom was home at the time. I called her to pick me up. It was kinda disappointing because the Othello Literary Criticism paper was due today and dude...I worked all night on that thing. I had it done but I was revising it last night so I can get nothing lower than an A. It was a bittersweet cancellation. Instead of going home and crashing on my bed with the A/C on the full blast, I went for the longest run of my life in the Clifton/Nutley bike run park. I was too awake to stay put. That and its about time I drop those darn freshmen 15.


I'll probably have an easy time losing weight watching the Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain food specials. I've never been so repulsed by tofu in my entire life. He ate a 14 day old tofu that's been marinated in spoiled vegetables. Ugh.

Hey you! Wanna save 3 people's lives?

Tomorrow (Wednesday July 25th) is Berkeley's Blood Drive at the Student Center. Did you know that only one pint can help save 3 lives? Imagine how many lives can be saved if all the students at Berkeley donated! I really really wish that I could but according to RedCross.Org, I have to wait a couple of more months for eligibilty because of my piercing and tattoo. But hey, if you're eligible, go for it! It'll only take a few minutes. So, you pretty much get to lay down for a bit, get a little pinch, and later get some sugary treats!

I'll try to stop by the drive and take some pictures of Berkeley kids donating. So, if you're donating and want your picture taken, just shout me a holler and I'll snap a pic.

Hopefully, An Internship

Lately, I've been thinking more and more about what kind of intership I should take on for school. I've always wondered about it but this weekend really made me want to figure out what I think would be a really good intership.

I'm majoring in Management so I can eventually work in the music industry. Whether its managing a venue or a band, I know I want to do something with music. I may not be able to hold on note or have the skill to rock your socks off with a sick guitar riff, but I am good at managing money, networking and tight scheduling. Last Saturday, I attended the Siren Music Festival in Coney Island and saw management at work. I saw how the Village Voice booked and scheduled bands, how they managed vendors like Boost Mobile and Snapple, and how they figured out how to have a big music festival full of top-of-the-indie-chart bands for free! There was marketing and management going on all over the place! Sure, normal people go to concerts to let loose and enjoy the music. I went and had a vision of what I wanted to do as a career! Weird, eh? But imagine...organizing something like this! (Here's a photo of the event.)

While at the concert, I kept seeing people with tags in the crowd and VIP areas. They were all part of something called "The Syn." I've known about "The Syn" (AKA The Syndicate) for a couple of years now. I have had a few friends who were involved with the company and really loved it. Five years later, some are still working with them. They're all about supporting music, which is something that I'm all for.

Tonight, I'm planning on gathering all the information I can about The Syn. I'll also be crossing my fingers and hoping that Berkeley will think the company is good enough to count for my Intership credits.

Berkeley BlueCard

So, today I was walking around campus and I kept seeing flyers saying "Free Ice Cream!" They're everywhere! Upon closer examination, it says that there will be free ice cream at the Student Center tomorrow. "Come activate your Berkeley BlueCard!" I pretty much reacted with an "ugh" and kept walking.



I received my card in the mail a few weeks ago. I was the actual card, too. It had my name printed on it and everything. (That seemed kinda fishy to me. Why would this company have my full name and address? Weird.) I haven't bothered to activate it. It's suppose to be a faster way to get your refunds but...I barely have any refunds! 57 cents is hardly a reason to activate the card. If you have maybe 20 bucks in refunds, I say go for it! Buy a shirt or something. But 57 cents? No thanks. Besides, I already have my own credit card and debit card and that's about as much money juggling as I can handle. Still, I'm definitely passing by the student center and seeing if I can still score some free ice cream. :-)





Classes have been pretty chill. Summer quarter has less weeks in it and so I figured some professors would be all about working and getting all this work done before finals. This is hardly the case. Either I got lucky with picking some laid back professors or summer professors are just plain more relaxed. The assignments seem lighter (meaning no 12 page single space assignments [yet]) and the classes are alright. For example, in English, we read and discuss two Acts of Othello a week. I remember in high school we'd "cram and exam" all in one week!



This week, I'm trying to finish all my assignments early so I can have this weekend homework-free. I'm going a little something called the Siren Music Festval in Coney Island this weekend and I want to be able to just enjoy it without the worry of unfinished assignments looming over me. This is my plan for the whole quarter. I want to get things done earlier rather than finishing everything the night before.



Handing things in on time = better grades.

the High School Kids are Freaking Out!

There have been a lot of kids (and their parents) taking tours around campus this week. Every time I see them around, I make sure to cracka a smile at them. I remember when I took my tour of the school last year and how nervous I was. A kid smiled at me and I totally chilled out. Hopefully, a smile will take away one of these kids' tension and that'll help them enjoy the tour.

Wednesday was the Club Convention outside the Student Center. The only thing I kept hearing was "Free Pizza! Guys! Free Pizza at the quad!" Haha. It was pretty funny. I had some things to take care of at home so I kinda had to leave during activity period. Its cool. The club meetings don't start next week so there's still time to join anything I want.

Thursday, both my classes were cancelled. My morning class didn't meet because my professor decided to give us the period to work on our papers due on Tuesday and to study for our quiz next Thursday. That was pretty generous of him. :-) I have no idea why my other class was cancelled but I didn't complain. Would you complain about a 4 day weekend?

I didn't think so.

Summer Quarter Starting to Heat Up!

According to http://http.weather.com/, Paterson is at 87 degrees and almost 50% humidity. It certainly doesn't feel that way! I was lucky enough to have been able to run from my air conditioned car into an air conditioned classroom this morning. When I stepped outside after the class was over, the overwhelming pang of heat almost made me drop my books! Its soooo humid! Haha. Enough about the weather.



Today in English 103, we watched 3 different film adaptations of Othello. One was a modern-day version released in 1995, one was an old film directed by one of my favorite directors/actors of all time, Orson Wells, and the other film was a much older film starring Lawrence Olivier. The class watched the first couple of scenes of each film and compared and contrasted them. Its nutty how much control movies have over the perception of movies. I mean, every movie had completely different takes on the very same dialogue!

In Managing Informational Systems, I have come to the realization that if I don't get my textbook soon, I will be taking very many notes and that my fingers will probably fall off. Haha.

Anyway, I'm taking a crazy amount of notes in every class because I'm shooting for straight A's this quarter. I pulled it off during my first quarter at Berkeley. I'm pretty sure I can do it again.

Happy Independence Day

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Yesterday was day two of my summer quarter. I started class at 8am. This is the first time I've had an early class in ages! It was obvious that not a lot of people would be crazy enough to take an 8am class in the summer since there were only about 10 cars in the parking lot. Haha.

The class I had was Organizational Behavior. We did an exercise where we had to describe a picture to another student and the other student had to draw it on the board. Sounds simple, right? Well, its easier said that done. I voluteered to be the reader for the exercise and....man oh man....I stunk! I mean, the picture came out okay (and I felt bad for the drawing student having to deal with my giggly/undescriptive directions) but the class definitely saw that I really needed to take this class. Haha. Hopefully, that'll be the only majorly embarrasing moment of my summer quarter.

After that, I had a 3 hour break so I took this opportunity do drive home and check up on my mom and my little sister. It turned out my little sister's bike accident resulted in a chipped bone on her foot. To cheer her up, I bought her some gummi bears. I stuck around until 12 before driving back for my 12:30pm class.

This class, Managing Informational Systems, sounds like a hoot. Its about digital firms and, I think, computer stuff. The class was short since not a lot of people had books yet. For the time that we were in class, my professor emphasized the importance of shopping around for books. If you're a student on tight budget, internet shopping will save your life! Haha.

Here's a tip: If you can buy a brand new textbook at the student store, go for it. There's nothing better than having your book right there. If you're on a tight budget, like me, buy your books online. I have a bunch of helpful links on the right side of this blog to help you out with that.

Again, happy 4th ,everyone! Be careful with those fireworks and enjoy the day!

Back to School : Summer Quarter

One very very cool thing that I noticed about summer quarter...is the ample parking! There were actual empty spaces in the parking lot at 9:30am! Usually, you'd have to do a couple of rounds to get a good spot but as soon as I rolled up, WHAM, a spot.

Mondays I only have one class. 2 hours of Shakespeare in the summer sounds pretty good to me. My professor seems pretty cool too. You can rate how cool the professor is by how many students come in smiling and already knowing the professor's saying, quirks and procedures. A couple did that with my Professor Costa. Haha. I do the same to Dr. Farrington.

I wish I could have stayed around a little long and say hi to some familiar faces but I had to run back home to take care of my family. My little sister go into a little bicycle accident and my mother just had surgery on her kidneys.

I can already tell this is going to be a loooooooooong first week back.

Finals = Crazyness

Yesterday, I took my Business Law final exam. It was actually kinda easy but then again, I did study for a solid three hours. I turned off my cell and cut off all communication so I can review a whole quarter's notes. I'm pretty confident that I did well.

After the exam, I headed over to Financial Aid, and thanks to my super advisor, Liz, summer quarter is paid for and I'm good to go for July 2nd. She was so helpful with explaining all the technicalities of loans and grants and all this financial lingo. She can pretty much help you out of any financial aid pickle you might be in.

This is how you know that finals = chaos.

Earlier in the day, there was an unexpected fire drill. People who dormed woke up for the blaring noise of the alarms. It was kinda funny seeing everyone in their morning best on the field, decked out in pajamas and bedhead.

Later in the day, I heard someone left their keys in the ignition of their car and, of course, the car went missing. There were squad cars on campus and everyone was stirring around trying to find out what happened. Our campus is pretty safe so I doubt it was actually stolen. It could be a prank. If its one thing this year's Berkeley students have been noticed for, its our pranks. Anyone remember parking lot A during Fall quarter 2006? There was silly string and party streamers everywhere. My guess is a pranker took a joke a bit too far.

Now, its cloudy Friday afternoon so I'm going to head to my local library and start on my final English portfolio. I want to get this done before the weekend begins. I figure it might as well start early because I have to head over to the studio in Clifton (right by Berkeley) to help a few friends record.

I don't think I can say this enough. I am so psyched for finals!

Week 11: The Home Stretch

I missed a good chunk of school with week thanks to a botched attempt at a septum piercing. :-( I missed a presentation in Management. Thankfully, my professor was kind enough to let me make it up.



Yesterday, my Business Law professor graded and gave back our assignments for the quarter. I'm psyched to say that I did pretty well! I got high B's in my tests and pulled off an A+ on my paper about Mistakes in Unilateral Law! Needless to say, I did a little dance when I recieved the grade. Haha.

This is gonna be a bit of a short entry because I have a huge Law exam to study for. Wish me luck! And good luck to everyone at Berkeley on your finals!

Week 10: the Light at the End of the Tunnel

I'm not saying that it takes forever for Berkeley quarters to be over. If anything, this quarter felt super quick. But either way, week 10 is officially over. I have my schedule done and have decided on taking 17 credits for the summer. (That's right, kiddos. 17!) I figured I might as well stay in an air conditioned classroom than sweat my brains out elsewhere doing nothing.



Scheduling was pretty easy thanks to how Berkeley reformatted the Schedules Courses list. Now, it tells you which classes are open, how many spaces are left, who the professors are and what room the class is in. I planned out my schedule in less than a half hour, when usually it takes me about an hour or trying to read the old charts. Kudos to whoever laid that out. Two thumbs up.


Now I'm off to wrap up my financial aid!

Finals coming up!

Final papers fom almost all my classes are due in less than two weeks! With all this work, I can't afford to be procrastinating. Lately, the ASC center and Berkeley Library have been full of students with their heads buried in their books and laptops. I am definitely one of those students.

I'm still working on my "Volunteer vs. Draft" paper. I finished my first draft today and did a couple of corrections. All I can say is that the Spell Checker in Microsoft Word is my best friend. Other than that, I have to say that it's definitely one of my better papers. The final draft is due Wednesday which leaves me plenty of time for revisions. The final assignment for that class is to take the first two graded essays that I wrote and revise them using everything that was learned in English 102. I took a quick peek at my old papers and saw a lot of things I could fix here and there. That pretty much goes to show that I learned a lot in only 3 months.

My Principles of Management class has been wrapping up also. Wednesday is the last chapter review. After that, class presentations begin. The assignment is to write an essay and make a presentation analyzing a company. On my rubric, it says that I get to act like an "investment research analyst helping (the) class mutual fund decided whether (they) should make a financial investment in (the) company." I'm thinking of making my report about a vegetarian/vegan food company like Tofutti or Morningstar Farms. I, along with some of my friends and family, have become vegetarian and feel like its something that people should be exposed to. They could be interested in the company and also could conjour up some thoughts of trying out so animal-friendly products. Think about it. Who wouldn't want to help out animals?

So far, I'm pretty excited about these two final assignments. I know, it sounds a little funny that I'm excited about homework but I get to do my assignments on subjects that I'm interested in. I love how these professors let us pick out our subjects for projects.

Sunny Days and Squeeky Clean Cars

Today, the weather was nice and sunny! Pretty much everyone hung out on campus during Activity Period. Those who weren't into hanging out in the heat were hanging out in the air conditioned Student Center. I don't know but a lot of students seemed to stay on campus this Activity Period. I went outside to check out the car wash and took a quick picture of all the activity that went on. There was a big line of cars that I didn't get to snap a picture of. Activity period was a perfect time to catch up on tons of work I've put off.

All my procrastinating from last week caught up with me. Since Monday, I've been running up and down doing research for my papers and typing out drafts like a fiend. Half my days are spent in the ASC center. Good thing they have awesome air conditioners. Thankfully, I got everything done and handed in on time. This is in huge thanks to the staff in our Library. Those people are lifesavers. They're pretty friendly, too...and they know everything. Any question you have, they'll answer. If you plan on attending Garret Mountain, the library will be your best friend.

In order to prevent another week of catching up, I started my English essay the day it was assigned. Its a persuasive essay on any topic you what. I chose "voluntary enlistment vs. the draft." I already have my first draft written out in my notebook. Once I started writing, I couldn't stop. I'm glad we got to choose our subjects. It makes so much sense to write about something you believe in rather than writing a persuasive essay on a subject you really don't care about.

Professor DePalma came back this week. He's my Business Law professor. Sadly, he had a death in the family than resulted in class being cancelled all last week. He seems to be doing okay. It's just pretty amazing that he's back so quickly. Now that is someone devoted to teaching. Props, DePalma.

Well, I should be getting back to homework. I have to get started on my final paper for Management...and study for my Accounting test tomorrow. See? No procrastination!

Spring Quarter Coming to a Close

For most students, week 9 means finals are coming and they're almost done with school for the quarter. For the rest of us, week 9 is like the beginning of Summer Quarter. Registration for classes have been open for a few weeks already and its about time that you get cleared in financial aid.

This is the stage I'm in right now. I renewed my FAFSA a little late so now I'm waiting for it to be verified so my student account is cleared and I can finally plan out my schedule for summer quarter. I'm not planning on slacking off so I'm taking on about 16 credits. Some of my friends call me crazy for taking summer classes but hey, I'd rather be earning credits in a nice, air-conditioned classroom than sleeping in 'til 1 in the afternoon all summer. Totally worth it. Here's an added bonus. One of my friends from high school is coming to Garret Mountain for the summer! She attended the Paramus campus but decided on trying out West Paterson this quarter. I'm super excited about being able to see an old friend around with my current friends here.

Upcoming Events:
Everything looks great for the upcoming weeks! Spring Quarter isn't over and neither are the activities. On May 30th, 105.9 La Kalle will be broadcasting LIVE from our campus. I have a feeling there's going to be a whole lot of dancing going on during Activity Period. Not only that, but May 30 is also the Dance Team's Car Wash to benefit the American Cancer Society. Its running from 11am to 2pm. I will definitely be bringing my dusty little car in for a quick little clean. Besides, it's $5 going to a good cause. And why not get your car cleaned between classes?