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Midterms

So that awful teacher that I was talking about is giving us our midterm on Monday. While she was nice of enough to give us a study guide of nearly 8 pages of open-ended questions we need to know--- I still have been so stressed out about this test.

She is now going for her 4th master degree and takes nothing less than perfect for any assignment; this test decides nearly half of my grade.

After studying for hours upon hours this weekend I still feel lost. It is wild to think that one teach can have an efffect on your future. I mean what will happen if I don't pass this test?

Wishing that I had a different teacher, I hope I can pass this test and just finish this course so I can be accepted into the education program this fall.

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Posted by Kelly on 9/30/2007 10:21:00 PM
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Teachers

I have come to find that the teachers in College differ immensely from teachers in high school.

In lecture halls with over 200 kids in some of my classes you’re teachers may not even know your name or recognize you around campus. There is no personal relationship between you and them unless you make an effort to see them. Not only does it make the classes more difficult, they can make an easy course incredibly hard.

For many teachers, English is there second language it makes learning so much more difficult. Also, they can decide how many tests you have, how hard they are and pretty much what material they want to cover.

It is so important to review your teachers before enrolling in classes. This semester especially, I have come across an AWFUL teacher where some of my friends taking the same course have 1/3 of the workload I have.

From now on I am looking at ratemyteachers.com before just signing up for any teacher because it can make a huge difference in your grades.

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Posted by Kelly on 9/30/2007 08:57:00 PM
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Creative Downtime

Lately I've been having some creative "downtime" in terms of my class projects and assignments. I have only a couple of projects throughout this year, but they are all major endeavors compared to the usual class assignments. They all require a fairly large budget, a lot of planning, and a great deal of time invested into each.

With this said, I want to know that I am investing in an idea that I feel is worthy. I've come to realize that when I'm worried most about being creative or with my idea planning, no good ideas will usually come out of me. Creativity comes when you aren't worrying yourself about being productive

. I've been trying to stay calm and not force any of my thinking and based on the results, it seems to be working much better. I'm hoping this method continues to work, seeing that brainstorming ideas and pre-planning of projects will be a major part of my career long after I graduate.

Posted by jeff on 9/28/2007 01:51:00 PM
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Internship

So I never actually blog about my internship experiences. I am in my second internship, working in the communications/media relations of a private university here in Miami, and I love it. It's much different than my first internship, which is great because I am seeing two totally different types of PR.

Our department is much smaller, and we are not integrated with the marketing department, so our role is much different within the university.

I wish I had interned during my undergraduate career. Don't get me wrong, I got some good work experience, but not the kind that paired with my education. With these internships I am working with now I feel better about starting out in the professional world in May.

All I can do is go up from here, and maybe do an agency internship in spring so I can taste another piece of the PR pie.

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Posted by Christina on 9/27/2007 10:46:00 AM
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Making Money

Being a student in college, money is usually as issue. So many college kids complain about being broke, which is very true. Now that I live in an apartment I go out to eat more, spend tons of money of the weekends and my personal bank account is decreasing very quickly. Now on top of my first midterm starting tomorrow and my trip to NYC next week, I need a job!


My roommate was just hired at Ruby Tuesdays and with 3 girls as your roommates, trips to the mall happen on a weekly basis. It's very hard turning down a shopping trip and iIam stressing out about money. With no car it is hard for me to find job, except for work studies on campus. Minimum wage is $5.00 an hour so I don't know if it will be worth it but I need to figure it out QUICK! With loads of work to do and no money now I need to worry about finding a job too, which was something I never had to worry about my freshman year.

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Posted by Kelly on 9/27/2007 12:02:00 AM
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Remember that test I've been talking about?

Recently my school has been doing pretty well in football. We're actually ranked 18th in the nation!!! So everyone goes crazy for football games. Our next game is against West Virginia and if we beat them its a pretty big deal (I guess. I actually don't know anything about football.). On Sunday night, at LEAST a thousand people, camped in front of our stadium just to get football tickets that went on sale at 6am Monday morning. There were party buses, couches and tv's, tons of food and drink :) We were up all night, it was glorious. 12,000 tickets were sold out by noon on Monday, and I got the best ones. Go me.

I didn't get home until 6:30. At which point I immediately showered and went straight to class. After class the only thing on my mind was sleep. I took a nice two hour nap, studied and went to take the test I've been talking about for a couple weeks now. That night was so much fun but I am NOT doing that again for a very, very long time. I didn't do bad on the test though. Everything was pretty fresh in my brain; I'd been studying for a while now. Thank goodness. Not cramming and studying for a little while each day really paid off.

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Posted by Jen on 9/26/2007 11:29:00 AM
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I love studying-- Just kidding.

So, I have my first exam Monday. I'm feeling overwhelmed and completely nervous. It's for my American History class and that means I've got to know my facts. Compared to the majority of college exams, it's a pretty small one. I've only got to learn four chapters-- Although, with the subject of history every page of every chapter has important information that needs to be learned.

Fortunately, I've been pacing myself. I've been studying a little bit each night for the past couple of weeks.

In high school, my middle name was procrastination and I was not about to take that name with me to college. I think that not procrastinating until the day before the exam was definitely a revelation. In the past, when procrastinating until the last possible moments, I would feel pressured and just give up studying all together. Pacing myself has allowed me to comprehend the information I've studied and has taken the feelings of pressure and claustrophobia away .

It's definitely not an option to give up in college. Failing one test could mean failing the class. Which brings me back to why I'm feeling so overwhelmed and completely nervous. Well, I'm off to the library to study some more!

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Posted by Jen on 9/23/2007 06:12:00 PM
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Managing Stress

I'm reading a book right now on managing stress. The main principle in the book is to try to look at things in perspective, and to not worry about the little things that stress us out everyday.

I personally have always gotten stressed out easily; the author calls this the "snowball effect". I might be trying to fall asleep, for example, when I remember that I have to do something the next day. Rather than being glad that I remembered, I instead think of something else that I have to do, and so on and so on, until I get completely stressed out about what I have to do.

Now of course, there's no way that I can possibly fall asleep. To try to prevent this, as soon as I think of something that I have to do, I immediately realize it and get back to focusing on sleep, rather than getting into a snowball of "things to remember".

Being aware of this throughout the day seems to be helping a great deal with preventing stress with school and work. Taking a look at the big picture, an assignment that might normally stress me out doesn't so much anymore. I think to myself, "This assignment will not have effected me at all a year from now, so why worry about it."

I only hope when I begin my career in the "real world" next year-- I can do the same.

Posted by jeff on 9/22/2007 01:25:00 PM
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Productivity

So I am very glad for my random surge of productivity in the beginning of the semester because I have somehow damaged my shoulder. In case you are wondering, there is nothing like excrutiating pain paired with physical therapy to throw you off your game.

Fortunately I completed my study guide for one of my classes, and because I have had this teacher before, I nitpicked the whole thing. As a result I am about two weeks ahead of myself so I can take it easy.

One thing my PR classes emphasize is always have a crisis plan. I guess I inadvertantly created one for myself.

Now if only I could ween myself off blogging and facebook to finish the last page of this paper...

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Posted by Christina on 9/19/2007 08:52:00 PM
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Hard Work

As I'm now approaching my mid-way mark in the semester of my sophomore year in college, I am beginning to learn the work load is far more difficult than last years. While I'm still taking only a few classes in my field of studies, the course requirements for this year seem to have gotten harder.
Spending hours each day studying and completing tedious assignments, I'm exhausted by the end of the week. With nearly 10 books that need to be read within only two classes, I'm starting to find myself getting a little stressed out. One of my roommates hasn't been able to balance her time quite as well and has fallen into academic probation, which is something I don't want to get close to.
Also, unlike last year I'm living with 3 other girls and find it hard to concentrate and study when many of them are hanging out and watching TV together. Although my living situation is definitely better this year there are some downfalls when trying to complete all my work, but that's something I'll learn to deal with. I am beginning to wonder if work will be much easier than college.

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Posted by Kelly on 9/18/2007 12:10:00 PM
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Less Homework, More Studying

I never really had to study in high school and being in college has been a big shock. I was always able to make good grades without really trying. That is definitely not the case in college. At first glance it seems as if there is less homework in college. But, studying and reading take up most of my time. Even though homework assignments were tedious in high school, they were simple. When studying you have to read, understand and remember all the important things that you've read. You even have to gauge what the important things are versus unimportant banter.

I knew coming into college that I was going to be doing a lot of studying and college definitely hasn't let me down. Not only is there less of those tedious assignments but, there are less tests. I'm going to be taking my first college exams in a week and I'm extremely nervous. If I fail, I doubt there will be any redemption. This is why, I've already begun studying and have been keeping up with all my reading. I have a feeling this is going to help ease my work load, considering I have most of my tests on the same day, and help me do well on my exams. Wish me luck!

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Posted by Jen on 9/14/2007 03:05:00 PM
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Dealing with Un-enthusiasm

I understand that not all professors have to be entirely peppy and upbeat, but when a teacher's bad attitude is clearly apparent, there is something wrong. I am sure the working world is the same, that I over the course of my career-- I will have co-workers and bosses that are overworked, don't like their job-- or just aren't happy.

The difference between school and work, is as a student we are paying an unbelievable amount of money to get a worthy and unique experience from each class. So an unenthusiastic tone throughout a class, from the teacher nonetheless, is completely unacceptable in my opinion. There really isn't all that much time spent in one individual class over the course of a semester.

So, as a teacher, I would think that engaging the students in a heartfelt and exciting way is the main priority. To do otherwise will never allow students to learn the material so that it will stick with us even after college is over. Certainly not all teachers are like this. I'm very happy to have had a great deal of teachers that have gone above and beyond to make us eager to go to class. It may be a lesson in itself to deal with those teachers who we don't agree with. I'm certain that I'll have to do so throughout a professional career--but the difference is if I really don't like a boss or my co-workers, I can always change jobs......

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Posted by jeff on 9/13/2007 07:22:00 PM
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Year-Long Project

The first week of my final year of college is done.

I got very lucky with my schedule considering I have class two days a week. One of the classes that I'm taking is one that will last the entire year and focuses on one short animation. It may seem like a year is a long time for only one project, especially considering that the final length of the animation will probably be no longer than two minutes. It is almost the opposite, however.

Ten seconds of animation could very well take up to a full week to complete. So, with this class I'm sure I'll be staying very busy, which is why I'm happy that my schedule will allow me to have the time to work on it. I'm eager to start the pre-production planning and even more excited to start up on the actual animation of it. It's a good class and project to transition student work to that of the professional world.

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Posted by jeff on 9/13/2007 07:21:00 PM
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Timing

So I was laying on my couch, half-asleep, watching Scrubs yesterday. And a commercial came on, and for some reason it really struck me this time. It's the commercial for some check card, and it shows lines of people paying for their fast food with their check cards, and when someone pulls out cash, everyone sort of wilts and walks away.

That's such an interesting commentary on our culture. We cannot wait for even a few minutes to pay for something with cash.

Then I started thinking about how this commercial correlates with life. We are so busy trying to rush through classes or work, to move onto the next step that we don't pay enough attention to the experiences in front of us until they are gone.

That being said, I am planning on enjoying every last minute of these last two (stressful) semesters of mine.

Posted by Christina on 9/13/2007 02:28:00 PM
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College-Life Balance

You hear a lot about work-life balance once you start your career. I think the daily life of college, is preparing me for the workplace! Especially with scheduling conflicts and obstacles.

Between my personal life, college courses, and just day to day things-- I find myself having to juggle so much...

This year, with my boyfriend going to college in NYC --I have more than one obstacle to deal with on a daily basis. With my midterms approaching in a few weeks I wanted to make a flight to NYC to see him. It is extremely hard to have a relationship nearly 12 hours apart and with my 2 other roommates (one from CT and one from NY) having long distance relationships they can definitely relate to my situation

Luckily, I am finally stable in a new apartment with great friends to make things easier. It is hard enough studying for midterms but now I need to do it all in advance and also prepare for my departure out of North Carolina and into New York!

I think this is what they call "college-life balance"?

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Posted by Kelly on 9/10/2007 07:29:00 PM
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The Internet is Taking Over the Classroom

Everything in college is done on the computer. EVERYTHING! Assignments, notes, tests and grades are all done through a school website. In two of my classes Blogging is an actual assignment. Apparently the school wants to create a community for their students. We're required to write a blog post and respond to other peoples posts every week. There are discussion boards and teachers post power points, notes and outside reading sources on their course sites. It's amazing and so much more convenient. I absolutely love it.

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Posted by Jen on 9/08/2007 10:48:00 AM
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Sorority life vs. jobs.

Sorority life is so much fun and I love all my sisters. There is always something to do. I'm never bored unless I want to be, it's great. It's been like practice for the real world: The recruitment process is a lot like interviewing for a job. Bid day is like finally getting that job you've been hoping for. Getting to know my sisters is synonymous with getting to know your co workers. And, working with my sisters to accomplish something is teaching me to handle group situations which I will more than likely come across in a job. I know that having a job isn't going to be as exciting and fun as being in a sorority but, it's kind of neat drawing that comparison.

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Posted by Jen on 9/08/2007 10:24:00 AM
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Productivity and Production

I'm sure that work after this year will be centered around productivity and production since i'm constantly reminding myself of the issues. First is the matter of film/video production. I’m satisfied most when on set and working in production, where there’s a creative output needed. It’s a busy environment where all people involved are necessary to the overall production. More importantly, I face the issue of producing my own work and getting it to a point where I’m pleased with it being shown to the public. Always in the back of my mind is the need to produce more and more work that exceeds itself each time. There is unbelievable competition, and for better or worse, the reality is that it’s a battle with yourself and others to produce successful work.

Secondly is the general sense of being productive. I face the continual need to avoid being unproductive. With anything, it’s always a question of “what am I getting out of doing this?” It’s very easy to let yourself fall into the trap of being lazy. So I’m constantly trying to remind myself to stay productive to avoid falling into this trap. Maybe I’m being too hard on myself, but it is nonetheless a way of staying busy.

Posted by jeff on 9/07/2007 12:45:00 PM
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odd jobs

So I am working my way through school right now, and I have a variety of jobs. I am interning, working as a grad assistant and also working in retail. And I came to a realization the other day: I am working waaaaay too much and its already affecting my productivity and my health. So I am finally dropping my retail job. A big part of this decision was made yesterday while I was at my internship, sitting in on an interview with a spanish channel. It's so exciting to see the real-world applications of what we do in the classroom, and I really don't want to be robbed of energy on my internship, on my job or in my classes because I feel as though I have to work my fingers to the bone. I want to bring energy and excitement to the table, and I like being part of that brainstorming, ideas process.
I did alot of reading on "work/life balance" this summer, and I now realize that it is just as important to keep that a constant, not just at work, but while in school as well.

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Posted by Christina on 9/06/2007 12:34:00 PM
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So, Why College?

Throughout high school, college was always the next step. Not attending college was definitely an option I never allowed myself to have. It is a necessary part of life. Well, it is a necessary part of my life anyway. One of the dreams that I hold dearest in my heart is, to eventually support a mentally and physically, happy and healthy family.

I feel that supporting a family takes a good education and financial stability. Financial stability cannot be had without a good academic foundation; which can act as a gateway to well paying, financially stable jobs. Going away to college is also a great way for a young adult to take more control of their lives and learn the decision making skills that can help in all of their future endeavors. Making these decisions are a vital part of moving into adulthood and the job community at large.

Right now, I'm undecided as to how I want to achieve that academic foundation or job stability. So, I'm taking my general education courses and hopefully, slowly narrowing down my career options. Within the two weeks I've been here, college has already proven that it's going to be the most crucial and confusing time of my life. Hopefully, soon, all the pieces of the large convoluted puzzle called my life, will start to fit.

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Posted by Jen on 9/06/2007 12:32:00 PM
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My Major

For many college students choosing a major is a very stressful decision. Many freshman begin college with a major which is undecided or they change it a number of different times throughout the next few years. However I knew exactly what I wanted to specialize in when I began college.

Since I was as young as 4, I can always remember I loved to play with kids and had so many dolls. As I grew up I would beg my mom to take me into work with her so I could help teach her students. I had always loved teaching and I think a huge part of that came from my mom being a teacher.

While she taught "special ed" I was unsure whether that was the right field for myself. My senior year in high school I took part in a internship with very low functioning special education students. I found myself getting extremely attached to all the students in there, which made it very difficult.

After finishing up my internship I realized that may not be the best suitable field to go into, so I decided that my major would be elementary education instead. So far I have taken part in some classes which I observed kindergarten and fourth grade students and absolutely love it!

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Posted by Kelly on 9/03/2007 10:51:00 PM
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