Wednesday, January 30, 2008

A Little Rest Before a Big Week

I can't wait for Spa Day to be here! Spa Day is a special event going on tomorrow in Garret Mountain for activity period. There's going to be massages, make-up and hairstylists! This is just one of the cool activities that Berkeley has been running during activity period lately. I'm going to take full advantage of Spa Day. Next week's schedule is going to start off really busy.

Monday, I have my second accounting test. I studied really hard for my last one and received a 90. Now, I'm striving for a 95. After that, I'm going for my big job hunt. Of course, we all know that the economy hasn't been so great so companies are cutting hours left and right. My family has started feeling the effects of these cuts so its my turn to jump into what will hopefully be a successful job search. First, I'm going to check out Career Services and see if they have anything available for me. They helped me a bunch with choosing my new major (by the way, I chose Business Administration) so I'm sure they'll be a big help with my job search.

Tuesday, I have a big test in every class I have that day. Starting tonight, I'm going to be studying Hamlet in Drama, re-reading 3 chapters for my Statistics and review about 20 pages of hand-written notes for Microeconomics. I'm really determined to increase GPA from 3.7 to 3.8 . Why? Well, why not? I know I can improve my GPA by trying a little harder in my classes.

Also, I'm planning on attending one of the performances of "Waiting for Godot" being held in Knupple Hall next week. There are flyers all around campus for it. It's free with a Berkeley ID. I've heard a lot of good things about the plays at Berkeley, so I'm sure it'll be great.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Call Me Lucky

This week I had a chance to speak of advisement about changing my major. At first I was concerned because the switch from Management to Marketing could mean losing credits. Well, my advisor started checking off classes that I have already taken and passed to see if they can be transferred to a Marketing major. (Sidenote: Its easier to switch when you're a freshman, but I am half way done with getting my Bachelor's so I was thinking it may have been too late to switch.) So, he was checking things off here and there and I was wishing and crossing my fingers that no credits will be lost. Well, call me lucky! I can a choice of switching to Business Administration or Business Marketing withou losing credits! So, I'm giving myself time to think about this change. I have until January 31st. That way, I hve print out my new Degree Audit in time for daytime scheduling for spring quarter.

Aleksandra (check out her Berkeley Blog here) left me a comment telling me she was in the same position I'm in when she was a sophomore. I'm sure I'm gonna annoy her with all these questions during the one week I gave myself to decide. Haha. I'll make sure to keep the questions to a minimum.

This is the perfect time to mention SGA! The meetings are held on Tuesdays at 3:30pm in the Multimedia Room. You've probably have see the announcements on Blackboard about them. I'm planning on attending as many of those meetings as I can. They keep you involved in school events and let your voice be heard on concerns you might have as a student. Hopefully, I'll be able to find enough people to be nice enough to give me a ride to the trainstation because the meetings start at the same time that the last shuttle bus leaves the campus. I definitely gonna mention something about added shuttle times that include one more after all the afternoon classes are done and maybe one for the nighttime classes. If there isn't a shuttle bus in service for night classes around my 10th quarter, I'm going to have to find myself a gas-powered scooter or something.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Berkeley is Taking Over Your Myspace!

If you have a myspace, chances are that you have seen the new Berkeley College ads in your homepage. See anyone familiar? If you go to one of the Jersey campuses, you probably recognize the young man in the ad. Here's the picture.

The first thing I thought when I saw this was "hmm...why is Berkeley becoming the college of choice?....Because Kris goes here." I said this outloud with my brother next to me. He was suprised when he found out that the guy in the ad really was a student. I explained to him that almost all the faces in the ads are actual students. Another one of my friends, Sabrina, appeared in a Berkeley College commercial.

You know, I'm in the NJ Campus tour video along with fellow students Kris and Aleksandra. We filmed it this passed summer. Its still being editted but as soon as its up on the website, I'll have the link for you guys so you can check out Garret Mountain campus.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

There's a Big Change Coming!

Lately, I've been reading tons of "College to Career" books and almost all of them start with the same tip. "Do What You Like." I've been thinking about that tip a lot. I'm a sophomore in Berkeley and have been studying Management the whole time. But...I think I want to change it.

Of all the classes I've been taking in school, my favorites have been my economics classes. I'm good with charts and numbers. I learn pretty quickly in those classes, too. And lately, people have been telling me that I'm pretty good at changing people's minds. Its like that quote in the movie Tommy Boy, I can "sell a ketchup popsicle to a lady in white gloves." So, I'm thinking of changing my major to Marketing.

Tomorrow, after I'm done with my test in Newark, I'm going down to admissions and talking to my trusty advisors, Kaersten, to get some help on how to go about doing this. When I get all the info I need, I'm going to head over to West Paterson and change everything around. I'd rather go there because I know the advisement department a little better and most of them know how I am about details and step-by-step instuctions.

I know I'm probably gonna have to take a few more credits and pay a little more but it will definitely be worth it.

So, there's my first step in "college to career"! I'm going to major in Marketing! I'm excited!

Monday, January 14, 2008

"Stormwatch" 2008???

My town was pretty jumbled after the lack of snowstorm this morning. There were shovels and salt setup on the streets. I saw people putting them away as I walked to my bus stop. You were either angry or happy that nothing happened.

Today was review day for the first big test in my Accounting class in Newark. I stuck my head my the textbook Sunday night so I can understand what was going on. There's a huge gap between the time I took Financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting. I had to refresh my memory on debits and credits and all these accounts. Good thing I kept my notes from the other class. There's a bit of advice! Always keep your notes from past classes! You'll never know when they'll come in handy. So the review went great and I'm completely confident that I'm going to do GREAT on Wednesday, the day of the test.

I also found something out about my Berkeley ID card. I got my card before the Newark campus opened so my card wasn't updated with the security in Newark. I was trying to figure out why the security doors wouldnt open for my card. That's why! I was starting to feel weird about waiting for someone to open the door to get to class. Now, I can get in on my own. Thanks to the security guard lady in the front desk for explaining it to me. I was starting to think that I had to replace my card!

By the way, last week was the club fair. I forgot to mention it. Last week was such a mess that I missed it. My schedule is so tight that I might have to leave Music Club for a bit. The meetings are from 3 -5pm in Garret Mountain to anyone who's interested. They're a great group of musicians with passion an talent. Unfortunately, I dont have very much time this quarter to regularly attend. This is only a hiatus though! I will definitely be back next quarter with (hopefully) a new guitar.


Also, I'm starting to whole "College to Career" thing but I'll tell you more about that in my next entry because its pretty huge and Berkeley College's Career Services Department plays a HUGE role it in. But again, I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

Right now, I have some major statistics homework to finish up.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Meanwhile, Back at Garret Mountain...

Now that I'm back at Garret Mountain, I feel like I'm back at school. Newark is great and everything but Garret is definitely my kind of campus. Its a little more like a big community of students. Most of my buddies are here and I know where I know my way around. I mean, I guess its the same feeling when you go anywhere new. I just feel comfortable where I've been the longest.

Anyway, I'm here in the library borrowing textbooks like mad because none of my books have showed up in the mail yet! That's the downside to ordering things online. The wait is really stressing me out though. All my professors have assignment homework that involve the books. I only have one hour between the time the library opens and the time my first class starts. I kind of gave up finishing my statistics just now because...well, I only have a few minutes before class and the problem I was working on would take me at least 15 or 20 minutes. I'm not saying its okay to give up, but man, some things are just impossible. But at least I did all I could.

My classes are great though. I have Drama with a professor who's PASSION is drama. He already told us that there is a field trip involved so I'm really amped for that! (I didnt have any fieldtrips in high school so I get happy when these things come up.) I also learned a lot on the first day of class. Then, I have statistics. The first hour of class already has me freaked out. I'm terrible with formulas and numbers and guessing. After that is microeconomics. Usually, I tend to lose focus and doodle during business classes. (I have a hard time focusing on something for 2 hours straight.) Luckily, I got an enthusiastic professor for this course. He gets really excited and fully explains every tidbit of information he gives out. Seriously, I took like 5 pages worth of notes on the first class session. I have a good feeling that there will be absolutely no doodles in my notebook this quarter.

Tuesdays are so busy!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

"Welcome Back to School, Everyone!"

Today was the first day of class. Yeah, I'm sure you think its kinda weird to start a college class on January 2nd but hey, that's how we do at Berkeley. I like it because if I was out of school for more than a month, I can guarentee you that my brain will erase all memory for previous classes.

Today was also my first day at the Newark campus! Its officially my favorite campus. The bus stop to get there is right down the block from my house. The trip is only 15 minutes and the bus drops me off right at the door of Berkeley! Today was freezing so I really appreciated the 4 seconds it took me to get in the building. The security is really tight also. You have to present your ID as soon as you walk it. I came to school a few minutes early so I can wander a little and check out the building. Its pretty plain and simple. Take the elevator up or down and walk up and down the hall. The first thing I did was head to the library. As soon as I walked in, I was glad that Winston was there! He's a librarian at Garret Mountain. I was so glad to see a familiar face! The first thing I did was borrow an accounting book so I can take notes before going to class. The accounting syllabus said that the classes had to read two chapters by the time classes were in session. I ordered the book online so its going to be a while before it arrives. I didn't want to come in completely unprepared so I did and quick skim and jot.

The note taking was genius. The professor got straight down to business once it was time for class. It already felt like it was the second week with the pace we were going in. Again, I liked it. It kept me awake and alert! I learned a whole bunch in that short 2 hours class. I learned the difference between managerial and financial accounting and the different types of costs and what operation in companies are catagorized under what kind of spending. All this on the first day! I took super sloppy notes but I'll re-write them once my book comes in.

So, after class, I start packing up and saw yet another familiar face. A girl from my middle school had been in my class the whole time! I was in the back so I didn't recognize the back of her head. I didn't get to say hi but I will next class. Its so weird seeing old classmates from years ago in college. And after that, I saw yet ANOTHER familiar face. Kaersten (my favorite counselor/advisor ever!) works in the Newark campus now! Seriously, she is the reason why I was into Berkeley. We had a nice little conversation in the lobby while I waited for my ride home. (The campus is so close to my house, my mother insisted on picking me up since it would only take about 10 minutes in a car.)

I was back home by 10:30am! I still had the whole day ahead of me! I'm thinking this is the perfect schedule to have if I want to look for a small part-time job. I'm going to time everything next week so I can be sure what times I'll be available for work on days I'm in Newark.

Obviously, I'm VERY happy with my experience in Newark. :D

Tomorrow, I'm back in Garret. I'm sure I'll have tons to write about.

Also,
Happy New Year, everybody!