New Journeys Awaiting

  It is finally safe to say that I am done with my first semester of college. I did not expect it to go by this fast. I honestly learned some valuable lesson and feel like I have a lot to look forward to in the near future. With that being said I will be relaxing and reflecting on more ways to improve myself as a student in 2014. I know there will be plenty of challenges in life but mentally I will be ready to endure them and come out on top. I fought hard to close out my semester on a good note and I definitely won't let myself start off on another bad one. This break is well deserved, so when it is time to finally go back I will be back with a new level of dedication to all of my crafts. 

Vocabulary Finale

 One word that is extremely powerful and crucial in society is Freedom. To have freedom- is the the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. Less then 200 years ago, there were people who were standing up for the rights of their future ancestors. Slavery was a very powerful source of income back in the days when not everyone in America had freedom. Slavery- is the keeping of slaves as a practice or institution. Black leaders like Martin Luther King made motivational speeches all over the South and acted through civil disobedience. Civil Disobedience- is the refusal to abide by all government demands with nonviolent tactics as boycotting, picketing, and nonpayment of taxes.

Moving On Up

  A wise man by the name of John Dewey once said "you do not learn from experience, you learn from reflecting on your experiences." That is very accurate because when you reflect and analyze your experiences you learn way more then you do at the moment or during a situation. Life is a nonstop cycle in which  we are able to learn and experience things everyday. Sometimes things are not clear to us at first but when we sit back and reflect there are things we start to see that can be fixed and worked on for better results in the future.

 There was a lot I learned from being a college student this semester. It was a few early steps that I had to hurdle by adjusting to the workload and putting the time and effort into all of my assignments. Every class has their own syllabus which is vital in order to stay on top of your assignments at all times. At first I overlooked my syllabus in some classes and fell behind early which really put me in a bad position. However, once I got it together and changed my mindset there was a different approach I took to my college studies as a whole. This is the last type of school before we go out into the real world and in order to make it in life you must be able to fit tough criteria regulations for good jobs in modern day society. College is more then just school, but also a little bit of training for how we will start off our career in the near future. People should look at it as practice for when they get a real job because that's how important it is, you must have a certain drive to want to work hard and be successful unless you will just  be waiting your time and money.

    In the journey of life, we all have our ups and downs along the way. Everybody has had some hard times in their life but it is how you respond to that adversity that makes you who you are. My biggest challenge this semester would definitely have to be handling and managing my free time to the best of my ability. It was the different setting and atmosphere that I was not used to at first that caused me to lose my focus in the early parts of the semester. I wasn't giving my studies enough effort and review to even expect the results I wanted. When I realized that my first ever GPA was in jeopardy of looking horrific I had no choice but to rearrange my priorities then give them the attention they required. I responded well by turning off my phone and zoning out from everyone when I needed to do my work. Also I gave myself enough time to do assignments and not cram everything at the last minute like I was doing before. During the  last half of the semester most of my time and effort without a doubt was dedicated to improving my grades in each one of my classes as much as possible before the end of the semester. Although I didn't meet a lot of my goals I set the bar for how to finish a semester and to move forward with. There is definitely a lot to improve on but now that I know what to expect I am looking forward to taking all the challenges next semester has to offer and working hard to bring my GPA up to a 3.0.
  
As you can see, this semester was definitely a learning experience for me. Now reflecting back on it, there were a lot of things that I could've did differently knowing what I know now. I can only improve on the future and let the past stay where it's at because this life waits for nobody. I may have my work cut out for me but I am determined to be successful and nothing worth having comes easy.

Final Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfAcmNEhcm4

Adjusting To The Changes

  With the winter season here, it can get really cold and easy to get sick out here in Connecticut. Since my house is a couple hours away, I had to make sure I brought enough stuff to keep me warm for the winter season so I don't have to keep traveling to get things I need. When I came back from thanksgiving break, I started bringing up some heavy winter gear from my house since I didn't previously bring a lot of warm clothes up to my dorm. I haven't been used to moving my clothes all around and keeping them in different locations since I lived in the same place since I was 5 but things are different now. I need to make sure I take good care of my body no matter if I'm at home or on campus. As time keeps passing us by, we will be fully grown and on our own before we know it. I have to take more responsibility in my health and priorities as that is an essential part of maturity.

Voluntary Vocabulary

One new word that isn't really used that much autonomy. An Autonomy- is the state or condition of having freedom. Many people in the world still don't have the privilege of living in an autonomy. There are still countries on the other side of the world that are dictatorships.

Another word that we will be introduced to this week is advocate. An Advocate- is a person who speaks for or writes in defense of a person. When people go to court they pay good money for an advocate or lawyer that will back them up in court and help support your story to the judge.

The last word for the week that we will be hearing about is Utopia. Utopia- is an ideal place or state. When people are in a Utopia that generally means they are in their own little world or zoned out from everybody else.

Propper Prepration

  With the last week of classes coming up, it is important that I go out with a bang! I have certainly taken strides forward in all of my classes and want to make sure I continue that by acing all of my final assignments. There is a way that I can achieve my goals but I must study and put the necessary amount of preparation I need in order to get a great grade in all of my classes. There is nothing else I am worried more about then finishing off the semester strong.

 To make sure that I am going to good on all of my finals, I have made the decision to stay in all weekend and work on my video and take that other extra time to study for my final exams. It is way more important that I get a good grade on a something that counts for a portion of my grade in each class.  By making flash cards and reviewing all of the notes that I have taken so far this year in all of my classes will help me a lot. Some people do not have the dedication to be able to buckle down and handle priorities but when you are dedicated, you do everything in your power to stay true to your goals. It is not an easy task to but your all into studying and finalizing projects after 15 weeks of intense work and class but it pays off in the long run.

 I have learned a lot by being in college. When people used to tell me that college is a lot of work I never knew the truth behind but now I see how intense I gets. However I do not believe the load of work is nothing that us student's cant handle it is up to our mindset. In order to be successful you have to be mentally strong, which means you must have a tough minded attitude. The weak minded don't go anywhere in life because they can't handle the hard work it takes to be and stay on the top. I can ensure my success because I am an individual with certain morals and sets of goals that I am trying to live up to. If I didn't want to make anything of my life I wouldn't have came to college but since I'm here I need to take full advantage and pave the way for future generations to follow mine.

By this time of semester nobody feels like doing the work. It is not a matter of if you feel like doing it however, the wise ones know how important it is to get ready for finals since they count for so much of your grade. There aren't many tests in college so you know the ones we do get count for a lot. Since we will be going on another break shortly after finals, you could never go wrong by going all out in preparation for finals which will put yourself into the best possible position moving forward into next semester.