Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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. :)

Monday, November 26, 2007

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. :-)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

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!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

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.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

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.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

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. :-)

Monday, November 5, 2007

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.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

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

Saturday, November 3, 2007

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.

Friday, November 2, 2007

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.