UNIV 111 and 112

Today I presented my final oral presentation for the school year. Completing it and hearing what everyone had to say made me want to write about it in my blog. Hearing about what everyone had to say was very good but also a little sad. The people in my UNIV class were all very kind and nobody treated anybody in a bad way. I am going to miss this class a lot moving forward.

From the beginning of the school year to now, I have grown so much. I have grown as a person and in my reading and writing skills. At the start of the year, I was very sheltered and did not want to get out of my shell. Throughout the year, I challenged myself to speak more in class and to meet other people. I was able to do this mostly with the people I sat with and through peer review. Everyone in my UNIV class was comfortable with each other which made it easier to speak and get out of my shell. All of the readings, blogs, conversation logs have allowed me to grow in my reading and writing skills. They were a small part that led to such big improvements in my papers and essays. Another thing in the school year that allowed me to improve in my reading and writing skills was the novel ‘The City & The City.’ This novel and all of the work and paper we did really had me think and read critically. The novel itself was already difficult for me to understand. Reflecting back, I know that UNIV has allowed me to understand it by reading it critically, this meant re reading, taking notes, and looking up words I did not know. Also, the multimodal project and source play allowed me to be critical in my work. I have never written a play before or written a paper about a creative piece that I created. I had to analyze my sources critically and use everything I have learned.

Throughout the school year, there were also things that I struggle with. The number 1 thing I struggled with throughout the entire year would be my sources. This included finding and citing my sources. I found it difficult with sources because I just could not identify what made sources good or if they were good for what I am working on. I know I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to sources. Also, something I struggled with throughout the year was procrastination. I was used to saving assignments and papers last minute but UNIV made me understand to get things done in a timely manner. I still procrastinate a lot but not as much as I used to.

The semester is quickly coming to end, which I am extremely excited for. After the last few classes, tests, exams, means only one thing. Summer vacation!! I am beyond excited for my first year of college to be over with. Not because I hated it or I want to leave Richmond or VCU, but there is just no time better than Summer time.

Summer vacation is always undefeated. It is time that all students need. After a long school year whether it is high school or college, everyone needs the Summer. There is so much to do during the Summer time. People go out of town for vacation, go home, work, and so much more. This is my first Summer as a college student though and it will be a lot different than when I was in high school. Usually during Summer vacation when I was in high school, I would just stay home in Virginia Beach, work, and go out of town for a couple of weeks with family or friends. Another reason why I love Summer time is the weather. It is always warm which means I can always be outdoors and dress in light clothes. Since I live in Virginia Beach, there is so much to do. I always hang out with friends and go to the beach or just find something else to do.

As for this Summer, I plan on working a lot. My last final exam is on May 7, and I plan on moving out of GRC right after and going back home to Virginia Beach. To start the Summer off, I am going to the Outer Banks with my friends. After this, I most likely will not see a lot of my VCU friends until August. When I get back home from OBX, I plan on working a lot. I will be working two jobs over the Summer. Usually I would not work myself this hard, but due to college being so expensive and having to pay for rent next school year, I need all of the money I can get. When I am not working, I will be using that time to be with my friends and family. Whether we are just spending time in the house or we go out and do things, I can never hate spending time with these people.

In conclusion, Summer time will always be amazing. It is a time for relaxation, being stress free, working, and however else you would describe it. This semester can not end fast enough because I can not wait for Summer time. How do you feel about the Summer and what do you plan on doing?

As we all know, this semester is coming to an end. It is currently April 10th and we have under a month until the semester ends. I honestly do not know how this year went by so fast. It is unbelievable. It seems like just yesterday, I was moving into my dorm. This year was very fun and enjoyable. I have no regrets or problems with my first year of college.

I have learned many valuable things in my freshman year of college here at VCU. You have to always be productive and use your time wisely. As a freshman, we are all mostly taking our gen ed classes, which are generally easier than the classes we will be taking in the future. With this being said, we have to make sure we are still keeping up with everything and not pushing our studies to the side for other things. I have learned that life in college will be a lot easier if you keep a tight group with you. You have to have those close friends that you can talk to and do things with because it will make things a lot easier. I have great friends by my side that I have gone through this entire year with, and I couldn’t be more happy with them by my side. Another things about my freshman year is that it was an absolute blast. I was very involved this year and had so much fun. I was always out with friends, going to the gym, playing sports, and many other things, all while keeping up with my schoolwork. I can honestly say that I have no complaints about my first year of college.

Though my first year was very fun, there were some downsides to it. There were points of the year where I missed home. During stressful times of the semester, such as finals, you really start missing home and just not want to do the whole thing college thing for a while. Also, college is even more expensive than I thought. I struggle to enjoy myself sometimes because of the lack of money in my bank account. It is ok though because the semester is ending and I can work a lot during the Summer. Another downside to freshman year is the end of it. As for me, I will be living somewhere off campus with my friends and finding  a place is very difficult. We’ve found a lot of places, but it is very difficult to get a place because so many other people are interested in the places as well. Though, I faced these downsides, freshman year was still super fun and memorable.

My time is something that is very precious to me. Time is something we can never get back. With that being said, I hate it when people waste my time. Unlike some people, I really like to be productive. A lot of people out there love just sitting inside and watching Netflix or whatever and do not really do anything productive. I am the complete opposite of that. When I am not in classes, or doing any school work, I am always doing something productive. You can usually see me at Cary St gym working out, playing basketball, or playing in an intramural game. Being active is something very important to me. I try to be as healthy as possible. Another thing I like to do with my time is to hang out with friends. Outside of school, stress, exams, and all of that, everyone has to make time for a social life. Usually my friends and I, just hang out in Monroe Park, the rooftop of The Square, or lounge in one of their apartments. Hanging out with my friends is very important to me because with all the stress college can bring, I know my friends can always make me laugh and smile through it all.

When you are in college, there is always something to do with your time. There are so many student organizations you can join or just attend their events. For example, the beginning of Fall semester, I wanted to get involved and I just attended one of the FACT events even though I did not know anyone in it at the time. When in college, I think it is very important to put yourself out there and make connections. This will allow you to make new friends, get invited to events, and just be more productive with your time.

Something I stated earlier was that I do not like it when people waste my time. There are several ways a person can waste my time. Usually if I am not enjoying myself or having a good time, then I look at that situation as time being wasted. Also, there are times when you talk to certain people and they end up wasting your time. For me, the best way I allow myself to not bring people into my life that will waste my time is to keep my circle small. I have a good amount of friends, but little people I truly trust and I know they will not waste my time for anything. In conclusion, there is so much to do in college. Be active, productive, make friends, join things, and do not allow people to waste your time.

Today, I feel like talking about how different it is from living in Virginia to back when I live in the Philippines.  I was born in the Philippines and did not move to Virginia until I was four. I have only been back to the Philippines twice since moving and have not been back since 2010. Virginia and the Philippines are very different from each other.

The culture of the two places are nothing alike. The cultures were so different that when I moved to Virginia and began going to school here, I completely forgot the Tagalog language from when I was little. English was not my first language and being away from the culture of the Philippines made me completely forget how to speak the language though I can understand some of it when my parents speak it to me. There are many other cultural differences between the two places. The weather is very different in the Philippines. The Philippines is always warm and has what we call typhoon season. Many islands in the Philippines during this time get completely destroyed. Most of us know the weather in Virginia is really bipolar, but it is nothing like the Philippines. The foods, music, and just entire way of life in the Philippines is much different than here in Virginia. The Philippines has a lot of street foods. For example, I would eat things such as Balot, which is goat egg, or Puto which is a dessert type treat that is very common in the Philippines. The way I dressed in the Philippines was way different than how I dress now. Though I was just little, even the times I went back I would always wear shorts and sandals, I hardly ever wear shoes in the Philippines because not a lot of people wear shoes there. A significant piece of clothing in the Philippines is the Barong. This is a usually used for men for weddings are more formal events. In America, there isn’t really anything special like this for clothing. We can pretty much wear whatever we please.

Though I really miss the Philippines and would love to go back, I would prefer Virginia over it any day. My dad’s side of the family lives mostly in the United States, while my mom’s family is mostly all in the Philippines. I feel like I have grown more American since living here and just would not fit in as well as I would have in the Philippines since I did not grow up there. I would not be able to handle the heat or the drastic cultural changes. I will always have love for the Philippines no matter what. The Philippines and Virginia will always be my homes.

I have always loved watching and playing sports. I played sports in high school and play a lot of intramural sports at VCU. As most of you probably know, the NCAA basketball tournament starts today. I am literally watching some of the games while writing this blog. This tournament is so entertaining to watch and I love every second of it. When I was younger, I did not really have anyone to cheer for since I did not represent any college or had people that went to a school that ever made the tournament. This year VCU is an eight seed and we play UCF in the first round. I know as a VCU student I should have pride and support our school to win the entire tournament, but it is hard with all of the talent the other schools have. For example, I have VCU beating UCF in the first round but I do not see us beating the one seed Duke in the round of 32. If you keep up with college basketball, I am sure you have heard of all the talent Duke has. Duke has arguably the top three picks for the upcoming NBA draft with Zion Williamson, RJ Barret, and Cam Reddish. Another reason why I love March Madness is the entire bracket making part of it. You can make brackets for whoever teams you think will win. You can compete with your friends and create groups to see who has the best bracket. I make several brackets and are in a few groups with different people. The reason I love this part is because my friends always make a punishment to whoever has the worst bracket in the group.

Now that I am at VCU, and am surrounded by many students and a great college atmosphere, the tournament is much more special. Everyone is cheering for there schools and it is just  a great sight to see. Though I do not think VCU will pull it out to win the tournament, I still have my VCU pride and will be cheering for them no matter what I put in my bracket. Probably my favorite thing about March Madness and the NCAA tournament is just getting together with my friends and watching the games. The games are so entertaining to watch because every game is a win or go home situation. The games are fun to watch especially if the game is close. Some games will have amazing dunks, shots, and can end in game winners. I hope you all can watch some of the games and will be as entertained as I am.

As of right now, I am currently worried about midterms,  grades, exams, and just classes in general. As I am in the midpoint of my 2nd semester, we also have to start thinking about sophomore year. It’s crazy to me how fast time is moving, it seems like just yesterday I was moving all of my things in to GRC. Not only do we have to worry about our current situations now with grades and school, but we also have to start wondering about housing for the following year.

As of right now, I am planning to live with three of my friends in a house for the next school year. There is a lot that goes into finding a new place to live. You have to take in account who you will live with, where, price, and much more. I am hoping this house follows through because it will be so much fun to live with these people. You have to be really careful when deciding on housing though, it is a very important decision. You have to find a place that has a lease that everyone is fine with, and are capable of paying for. There is also a lot you should do before signing a lease. You should always make sure you talk to your parents and figure it if it is the best thing to do. As of right now, I am currently unsure where I am living, but I know I need to figure it out soon. The thing about Richmond, is that it is not an easy place to live. Places are very expensive, and it can get hectic for parking and looking for places, especially when so many other people are also looking and signing leases.

Another thing about next year is that I will have to be more independent. As a freshman, I am living in a dorm that has a place for laundry, gym, kitchen, study rooms, etc. When you are no longer a freshman, you do not have much of these luxuries. You will have to be able to take care of yourself. Also, as a freshman, I have a very large meal plan. This means I never really needed to cook for myself since I had swipes and dining dollars to feed me. Since I have to pay rent, water, gas, etc I plan to not have a meal plan or a large one since I have to pay for so much. Next year and the following years will be very fun but also expensive. I can not wait to see what lies ahead of me though.

Spring break has come to an end and I am very sad about it. I spent my Spring break back home in Virginia Beach and in the Outer Banks. My Spring break was really fun with my friends and family. I was able to reconnect with a lot of my friends back home and spend a lot of time in OBX with my friends from VCU. Now that Spring break is drawing to a close, I have to prepare myself for classes again.

I have not logged onto blackboard in a while and just being logged on already made me stressed. I know that I will have to get back to the mindset I had before Spring break. I have to start doing assignments and studying again and it will be very difficult. My sleep schedule also changes during Spring break, which will affect me once I am back to school. During the break, I am always out and awake with my friends and I would sleep in very late. During this semester, I have morning classes everyday, so I have to get back to sleeping at a decent hour and waking up on time.

Another thing about this Spring break was that it feel extremely short. I guess time really does go by extremely fast when you are sleeping in and hanging out with friends the entire time. I feel like there was so much more I could have done during Spring break that would have prepared me for going back to school. There were definite lulls during break where I was not doing anything productive and I could have been doing school work or something. I did all of my assignments before I left for break so that was good. I really could have gotten way ahead of my work, but I just could not do anything over break due to how much fun I was having.

In conclusion, this Spring break was very amazing and memorable. It made me realize that time is short and you should be living life to the fullest. It made me realize that I have the greatest friends groups of all time and that they will always have my back no matter what. Do not take anything for granted, live life, but also do not procrastinate too much over break. Spring break 2019 was a movie and I can not wait for more memories throughout my life.

So after one class and an exam tomorrow, it is finally Spring Break. Spring break for me is always a great time. I have an entire week to do whatever I want. No classes, stress, Shafer and other foods I always eat, etc. Spring break allows me to gather myself for a little bit and be stress free for a short amount of time. This spring break is going to feel different than all of the other Spring Break’s I have had in the past. This is the first Spring Break for college. This will be the first time I am going home until Winter break. I am extremely excited. I will see my parents, friends, and be able to relax in my own home for a little bit. This Spring break will also be very fun for me.

My Spring break will be very eventful. I will be going back home to Virginia Beach Friday night and will completely not think about school for a bit. After relaxing, at home and reconnecting with my friends back home, I will be going to the Outer Bank with my friends at VCU. I am extremely excited for this. We will be spending four days in my friends beach house and be having a lot of fun. Hopefully not too much fun though (if you know you know 😉 ) After I get back from our Outer Banks trip, I will head back home for a little bit and relax. After I relax, I will head back to Richmond and get ready for classes to begin again.

Spring break is not always about relaxing or having fun though, there are some bad things that can come with it. During Spring break, many students use this time to go back to work back home so they can have money when they come back from Spring break. Also, some students still have assignments that are due during their break. Another down side to Spring break is getting back to your normal routine after break. I find it difficult going back to classes after a break. My sleep schedule is always messed up, I did not get caught up during break and now I am behind right after break, and many other things.

There are also many other things that students do during Spring break. I have several friends that do other things than go home, vacation, or just chill for a week. For example, some people can study abroad for a week during Spring break, which is extremely cool and very eventful. Also, I know several people that are using their Spring break to help other people . They are taking a trip to help people build houses in another State. There is so much to do with your time during Spring break. What are you doing this Spring Break?

Social media is most likely used by everyone that has access to internet. As time moves forward, social media is being used by younger and younger people. When I was a little kid, I never had social media. My free time would be used with playing outside, hanging out with friends, and just being active. In today’s society, people are glued to their phones. If someone had any spare time during the day, they would go straight to snapchat, instagram, facebook, etc.

 

How does social media affect us, the people who use it? As we are all in college, I can assume that the large majority of us use social media. It seems like we are on it religiously. Speaking for myself, I am on social media all the time. In between classes, I am scrolling through instagram, viewing people’s stories, and basically just wasting valuable time that could be used for more important things. We all procrastinate and social media just makes it way harder to not procrastinate. For example, and I am guilty of all of it, we scroll through our phones and look at memes for a long period of time when we can be doing homework or studying. Also, we keep streaks on snapchat that are basically useless but we think it’s so significant to keep and have a certain number, or keep certain people on our best friends list. As younger people, we seem to be glued to our phones because of all the things we can find with technology. There’s so much music, videos, games, etc that we can find on the internet. We lose track of time when browsing on our phones and we lose so much valuable time throughout the day due to social media.

 

Social media is not all bad or wasteful of time though. There are many pros to social media. Social media allows us to stay connected with people all around the world. We can understand what everyone is up to with their lives by seeing what they post, viewing their stories, etc. Also, social media now allows us to stay update with all new going on around the world. Every social media platform has pages or accounts that allows us to know what is going on with sports, politics, weather,etc. Lastly, many people have jobs that are based on social media. With the way the world and society is now, social media will never go away and we just need to be more aware of how and when we are using it.