Personal Challenge

My personal challenge was to never skip class. My friends and floor mates were shocked to hear that I only skipped class the few days I had a 104 degree temperature because of the flu. This continues to be a personal challenge for me because with everyone around me skipping classes, it is often tempting to do the same. Sticking to this goal with help to succeed in the class and not fall behind, along with getting the most out of my parents money.

Overall Impressions

At the beginning I didn't really see a point to the class, but after a while I started to enjoy the people and the class discussions. I'm overall glad I took this class even if the rest of my work load was crazy. I enjoy blogging because it did help me to reflect on my first semester because I've never owned a journal or diary so I don't get a lot of opportunities to write my thoughts down. I'm not sure the blogging helped me with the course content because a lot of it was just talking about our experiences in college and mentoring, rather than the world is flat or other specific educational topics.

Thanksgiving

My thanksgivings are very quiet and never the same as the time before. I have a small family so it tends to be just my parents, my sister, and myself. I'm really looking forward to going home over the break to spend the time with my family and friends. My favorite tradition is the food, naturally. I love corn pudding, it is my favorite dish in the entire world and a lot of people don't even know what it is. Recently my sister and I discovered that we both actually hate turkey, so my family switched to having honey baked ham for thanksgiving instead, which is definitely the way to go. A good tradition that I love is that my dad and I do the napkins in a cool design together. We have a book of napkin folding and pick a different one to do every year together.

Strengths and Weaknesses

I'm not afraid to take charge in a situation and I think I'm pretty good at making the right decision with all parties in mind. I don't really like to be the leader though and first look to see if anyone else will take the role before I offer myself. I don't really make a good leader in the classroom either. Whenever there are group projects I just end up doing everything myself. To be honest, I don't really aspire to make a difference at the University. I don't plan on forming my own club or getting into any leadership role at the University. Unless a person makes it their goal to make difference at the University and really works towards that, they won't. I don't think it;s a bad thing that this is not one of my goals, I just want to work hard to make good grades and get a job that I love outside of college. I want to get involved in the University but I doubt I'll change it in anyway. Wow, this is a pessimistic blog. I don't mean it to be that way. There are just followers and leaders. Without followers there would be no such thing as leaders, and if everyone tried to be a leader chaos would occur. I like to think of myself as a very good follower. I know when to disagree with the leader and when to step up and state my own opinions, but I also know when to step back and follow someone elses ideas.

Mentee, end of the semester

The conversation about academic success and involvement went well with my mentee. I would like to talk about it more next week and really talk about her strengths and weaknesses. She seems really on top of everything and I'm having trouble finding things to help her with. I don't know what I'm going to do with the few weeks we have left. I sort of want to find time next semester to keep doing it, but as it is I had trouble finding means to get to Hands and I don't know how i will next semester when it is pretty much just me. It will be sad to say goodbye to my mentee, she's really cool and It's sad that I only got to meet with her a few times. If it's allowed, i would like to give her my cell phone number so that whenever she has a problem and needs someone to talk to, she can talk to me about it and I can try to help her.

Spirituality

My beliefs, religion, faith, and spirituality are the same as they were at home. However, at home, the catholic religion was thrown at me everyday. I prayed with the school twice a day, went to religion class every other day, where I wrote papers on how "God" affects me everyday, and went to mass with the school at least once a month. Going to a public university? You don't hear a lot of people going around talking about their faith and I don't see a lot of college church goers on a sunday morning. The culture of the South seems very religious and firm on their beliefs, while many students on USC campus seem to have it low on their priorities.

Relationships

I have formed a lot of new bonds and relationships with people here at USC. I know some of them will last a long time and I've really enjoyed my semester. I've especially bonded with the people on my floor. These are the people I see everyday and who are like my family here. My suite mates and roommate will always have my back and I get along with them really well. My suite mates are also my soon to be sisters which is a new kind of relationship I haven't had (not counting my own sister, which is nothing like a sorority sister). While some of these relationships are going to help me grow and change who I am for the better, I'm not going to lie, some aren't. A lot of the people I've met here are a lot different from myself. This can be both a good and bad thing. The college atmosphere is partying every night, not going to class, and overall making some poor decisions. I'm trying to steer clear of this and always make sure my school work comes first. However, I can't help but feel that their slowly wearing me down and if I give in, this would not advocate my success at all.