DEAR READERS,

Dear readers,

        This blog post was supposed to be a rap but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. So I Thought I would Write a letter to you. My first semester of my freshmen year of college is over!!!! And you have no idea how happy I am. No more papers, I get to sleep in and most of all I get to come home and be with my family. Looking back at this semester I feel like I should of pushed myself a little harder. I think towards the end I started to get somewhat lazy. But overall I think this semester was okay. I made new friends and learned about myself as a student. Ive learned that I work well with others like on group projects and I sort of do well under pressure. I also learned that when I have a big project due but I have a couple weeks to do it, its best for me to start it the day I get it and then work on it as the deadline gets closer. I'm sure all freshmen run into some challenges their first semester because I know I did. My biggest challenge was PROCRASTINATION. I would put so many assignments off to the side because I would have a long time to do them. Thats why know I start it the day I get it and finish it as time goes on. Another challenge I faced was TIME MANAGEMENT. In college you have so much free time, thats its like you don't know what to do with it. I think thats what played a big role in my procrastination. The way I worked with all the free time was, I got a planner and put everything in there that I needed to do. I even put in there plans that I had with friends that way I would know to get things done. Other than that I didn't have any other big challenges this semester. One thing that I'm happy about this semester is that I was able to find a club that I enjoy so much and its called Best Buddies. I'm friends with Matt Pepe, who has a special need and its great. Another thing that I'm happy about this semester is my final grade in English. I wasn't always confident in my writing skills but I guess I proved myself wrong. I worked real hard on my essay and making sure that I take time to revise them was important and it all paid off. 

       The one most important thing that I learned this semester was that nothing is handed to you anymore. Once you go off to college your on your own and have to do things for yourself. You have to make sure that your grades are were they need to be. You have to make sure that you go to your professors office hours if you need help. Yes the resources are there for you to use but YOU have to make sure that you go and use them. But overall my first semester experience was a pretty good one. I attended school events from football games to activities in the student center. I have decent grades but I know that Next semester I'm going to push my self harder so they will be even better. And I have created an amazing bond with my roommate Ruby.  Southern has a lot of great things to offer and I'm excited to further my education in a great school.

Here are some pictures of this semester. On the left is me and my buddy Matt and on the right there is a picture of me and my friends at the Homecoming party this year. Matt is and amazing buddy and we have so much fun together. At this years Homecoming me and my friends had a blast and can't wait until next years Homecoming. 





                                               

One last thing, its has been fun blogging this semester and having people read my blog. Maybe ill continue to blog next semester or create a whole new one, who knows?

Sincerely your blogger,

    Nina

Some of my ideas.

     FINALLY!!!! This semester is almost over. That means more sleep, no work, no stress, and no worries. So for my final project in INQ I think I'm going to write the 600 word blog post because I think I'm horrible at making videos. SO far I'm trying to answer some of the questions that are posted on the class blog so that I can get a start on how I want to explain my self assessment. after I plan to put my answers together in paragraphs so it doesn't look long and boring. I want to also add pictures, maybe some pictures of some of the things I did this semester. I feel like my last two videos that I did weren't that great so I think by doing this blog post I will get a better grade. Hopefully I'll be able to make this post interesting with writing and pictures.

The Creative Habit

  Everyone thinks that to be creative you have to be some type of artist and thats not true at all. Its up to you whether or not you want to bring out your creative ability. According to Twyla Tharps, "The Creative Habit", anyone can be an artist and be creative.  In her book, Twyla uses the example of how business people are creative when they try to come up with different ways to seal a deal or when parents try to come up with different ways to show their children the world. Tharp believes that all it takes is to make creativity apart of your everyday life is to make it a habit.

  In her book, "The Creative Habit", she spoke about having a daily routine. This daily routine is a part of the creative process. She gave the example of her friend Auster who met his favorite major league baseball player but didn't have a pencil to get his autograph. Ever since that day he doesn't leave his house without something to write with. Also, she talks bout how her routine starts when she wakes up in the morning and calls for her cab and tells the driver where to go. I'm not sure how this is apart of the creative process. I don't see how a routine can make you become creative. I myself have a routine. Every Monday and Wednesday i got to history and math class with my friend Vanessa and we always take the same way to class. It never fails. The way we take is starting to get boring. Maybe this is how I can be creative. We can come up with something new to do before class and take a new way. I guess that shows how a routine can get your creativity out. Maybe I should read the book a little more open minded to fully understand what Twyla is trying to say.

CLUBS AT SCSU

   From the moment we got this video assignment, I had no idea what to do it on. I had this huge brain fart for like a whole week. But thankfully while I was on the schools website, it hit me. When people look at Southern they see all the majors and sports that Southern has to offer, but they really don't look into the clubs and organizations that Southern has too. So that can make the school seem boring.(I know I thought the same thing.) So thats why I came up with the idea to do a video on the clubs and organizations that Southern has for students. I think all the clubs that Southern has makes it a very diverse school.

   In this video I tried to be more creative than what I was in my last video. I added more than one song and some pictures this time. I think I could of added another club to talk about so that I could of made the 5 minute mark. Working with iMovie is not one of my best qualities but I try. Hopefully you will enjoy my video and join a club.

   

I'm Not Too Satisfied

    I'm so thankful that my midterm grades right now are not my final grades for the year. So far I'm doing OKAY in my classes and I'm not satisfied with just OKAY because I know that I can do so much better. At the end of the year I want my GPA to be at least a 3.0 and right now I think I'm at a 2.5. I know that with the two classes that I'm having trouble with I need to put more time and hard work into.  These two classes are history and math. But with smart thinking I did went and got myself a math tutor and my friend is going to tutor me in history. This way I know that I wont keep falling behind.

    I'm a little upset with my mid-term grades so far. I feel like I put a lot of time and effort into all my notes and i study whenever I get the chance too. I guess having a job could be a reason why my grades are what they are right now. Maybe I should find more time for studying and fit in at least two more hours than what i usually study for. Hopefully that'll give me some improvement. I guess i also need to learn how to balance my work time with my studying time. I'm still getting used to it. I know when I had to study for mid-terms it was hard for me to keep up with some of my classwork and assignments. I'm just so happy that I still have time to bring up my grades. I know that my final grades will be way better than what they are now.

A Bite of Summer

  So while I was helping my friend Vanessa look for her advisor's office in Davis Hall, we ran into these different paintings. They came from a place called the Kennedy Center in Bridgeport,CT. The Kennedy Center helps and serves people who have a learning disability. All the paintings were done by  people who attend this Kennedy Center and I feel like each painting is unique in its own way.

  This picture on the right hand side is called the Watermelon Summer and is one of my favorites. The watermelon is painted like an actual melon and has the correct colors which are green and like a pinkish reddish color. It reminds me of a hot summer day, when all you want is a glass of iced lemonade and eat slices of watermelon. Not only that but it also reminds me of a family picnic with watermelon all over the table. I really like how this picture was a bite of summer.

  All the paintings that where in the room had great color and had very nice ideas. What made them even better was that they were made by people who had a learning disability. This goes to show that any one can do anything. You don't have to be perfect to be an artist.

Two and a half hours of being stress free.

   I've been stressing like crazy for two weeks about my midterms that I took and still have to take. So I had to do something to get my mind off of all the stress. My roommate Ruby suggested that we go to this group talk in Hickerson Hall that was about relationship. I thought it should be something interesting to listen to since we both are in a relationship right now. So we decided to check it out. 

  While at this group talk the guess speaker was making a lot of good points that I was able to connect with. Then she brought up the topic about love and asked what love actually is. Many people kept saying they didn't know what love was or love was being with someone for a long time. I disagreed with both answers. I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend since my freshmen year of high school and I can truly say that I love him. We both know everything about each other, have respect and trust for one another, and we know how to work out our problems. So to me love is having respect for your partner and being able to communicate. Also being able to over come any obstacle that can make the relationship stronger. 

  This was an interesting topic and an interesting way to get my off of midterms. I would of never thought that going to this group talk would actually be fun and for about two and a haft hours I wasn't thinking about any of my midterms. Doing something that can make you stress free doesn't always have to be something active that can get your body moving, it can just be a simple group talk.