New York City vs. Boston

My sister and I both go to college in the two of the most known cities of New England. I live in Boston and she lives in New York City. I just got home from visiting her in the city. I knew I liked city life but New York City is just too much for me. While I enjoy the fast-paced city life, I value Boston for many reasons. For one, it is much cleaner than NYC. Rarely do you see garbage bags piled on the sidewalks like you do on every block in NYC. Not to mention, Northeastern is in Boston, but still has a campus. My sister's college, Pace University, is literally one building. She lives in campus housing that is a high rise hotel transformed into suites. The rooms, even being suites, are extremely small. But hey, that's life in NYC. There is not much space at all in NYC. Yes there are beautiful parks like Central Park, but in Boston I feel like there is much more open space. New York drivers are known to be especially crazy and that's another thing I can't stand. You don't go five seconds without hearing someone beeping a horn. There are many more tourists in NYC on a regular weekend than you find in Boston. My sister and I met up with some friends just past Times Square. Navigating through that mess of people was so frustrating! I give my sister a lot of credit for putting up with that congestion. Lastly, there are so many subway lines that I find them more confusing than the T. The subways have numbers and letters- I don't know the difference between them. Although my sister and I both love cities, our idea of the perfect city is much different!

Why did I take a history class?!??

Yesterday I had no classes so I made myself wake up at a reasonable time and work on a research paper for a history class I am taking. It's not due until Monday, but I plan on going to New York City to stay with my sister for the weekend so I wanted to get it over with.This sounds easy enough, but I had the worst time ever! I stayed at the library for four and a half hours writing away and realized that my writing was not supporting my thesis whatsoever. By this time, I became extremely frustrated and left the library. I returned to my dorm and watched an episode of Undercovers. I went back to the library, this time to help a friend study for a math exam I also have this week. I stayed at the library a little longer to work on my english essay, another paper I have due soon. I've realized that in college you have extremely busy weeks in which you have some large assignment for every singe class you're taking. It becomes very overwhelming but you have to focus on something positive, in my case NYC or even Thanksgiving break which is coming up in a week or so. I can't wait until my classes start winding down. My freshman seminar class ends on December 6 and my Sociology class ends on December 7. Then I only have three classes to deal with. I am going to the writing lab today and hopefully they will be able to help me with my current mess of a research paper! This is the last history class I'm taking!!!

Knitting

I am eighteen and I love knitting. I used to look at knitting as an "old person" hobby until my friend took it up. She made such beautiful things, like mittens and wrist warmers. I was jealous. I had her teach me and and ever since I've enjoyed it so much. At first it was hard to pick up and get used to. It was a bit frustrating. However, once it became a natural technique, I loved it. It's the perfect thing to do in the winter when I have free time. Not to mention, the things I make are perfect (and inexpensive) Christmas gifts that everyone loves. Plus, the fact that I made it makes it that much more special. So far I've made something for all of my cousins, my sister, and my mom. I made my mom wrist warmers and she wears them almost everyday in the winter! I love seeing my creations on my cousins. Sometimes their photos pop up on my Facebook wall and I see them with the scarf I made or wrist warmers I made and I love it!
I find myself getting so excited when my friend teaches me a new pattern that she has learned. As a matter of fact, tonight I'm going to learn how to knit mittens. I can't wait! I have a goal for this winter. I would like to knit a hat before the season is over. I don't know how to make anything that men would wear and I would really like to make something for my Dad. He always loves to see my creations when I'm done with them. He would love and wear proudly a hat that I knit for him.

Intimidation

The other day I attended a meeting for the Internal Transfer Program. It’s what you have to go through in order to switch to a major outside of the college that you’re currently a part of. It was intimidating at the least! The advisor started off by asking how many of the people attending were looking to get into the College of Business and everyone raised their hand. This was the fifth session she had. She only has a limited number of spots she is able to fill. It was not looking good for all of us who wanted to become business majors. As the presentation progressed, she went on to explain the benefits of majors. When coming across business she simply said there are none. This blew my mind because there are so many kids attending college as business majors. I know of many adults that graduated college with business majors. As she went on to explain her opinion, it became clear. She explained that if you want to eventually be in business as a career you have the ability to major in something you’re passionate about and then get a masters or MBA in business. She also explained that graduate schools will accept student into the business program even if they majored in English or Political Science. That really made me feel a lot better. I am not passionate about business but I am skilled in the areas that make it up. Now I know I have the opportunity to major in a subject I’m passionate about while still being able to eventually go into business.

Photography

When I heard that we will be taking photos as a part of our next essay assignment I was a little nervous. I never had an eye for photography. I really enjoy looking at professional photos though. As I thought about it though I began to get excited. Edward Said's States was really interesting. I liked how he incorporated meaningful photos into the essay. I definitely think it was a crucial aspect. Not to mention, it made everything he was writing about seem more real. For example, a common theme throughout the whole essay was lack of settlement. The Palestinians were constantly being moved around, having no place to call home. In all of the photos, especially the ones on page 572, in which the man is sitting in the chair but in such a way that he doesn't look relaxed at all. I wouldn't have noticed many of these characteristics of the photo if we hadn't analyzed them in class. I enjoyed Wednesday's lesson. It was very interesting to focus on the characteristics such as lighting, color, exposure and camera angle. I know that it will definitely be a challenge to incorporate photos into my writing effectively, like Said, but I am excited to experiment with the concept.

Pictures

I usually love looking a pictures because they can tell so many stories. The emotions, the setting, the people- it all provides details into that snapshot of a memory. Unfortunately, after seeing picture after picture of sloppy, crazy teenagers that pop up on my Facebook newsfeed I have lost the excitement. Pictures on Facebook tell stories, but the story is shaped by the user. He or she can upload certain photos from an event, yet leave out others. Thus your interpretation and ability to create an accurate story based on the photos is impaired. One example of this is a girl I used to know. Her Facebook photos always show her with a smile from ear to ear. Her moods always seem so light. I didn't know for sure if that's what she was like because she always kept to herself. I believed her to be a cheerful, giddy person until I found out that the reason she'd missed school for two weeks straight was because she was severely depressed. She was attending a clinic to aid her with her illness. There's no way anyone could tell she suffered from depression through the many photos that showed a smile that could light up a room. Ever since this happened I have always been weary about judging someone based on the pictures they chose to upload onto Facebook. Facebook can either be a place to break out of your shell and show your true self, or it can serve as an extension of the mask you wear in public everyday.

Blogging in China

Internet censorship in China is among the most strict in the world. The Chinese government requires that websites employ people who monitor and delete content that is questionable. Despite this, China has over three hundred million internet users. Of those users, seventy million blog. Imagine blogging while knowing that every word you type will be monitored by someone employed to do so. That alone would prevent me from blogging. I feel as though Americans would never allow the government to enact legislation that censors everything uploaded to the internet. First of all, creating a firewall as intricate as China's would be extremely hard. Americans tend to be more objective as well. There was uproar after the passing of the Patriot Act following the terrorist attacks of September 11. I don't think censorship of the internet in America would go over well at all. This is not to say it was a smooth transition in China. Google closed it's internet search service in March 2010. They would do so until it's search engine was no longer filtered. The Chinese government did not give into their demand and said that companies doing business in the country must follow the law. Google attempted to get around the law by directing Chinese users to its uncensored search engine in Hong Kong. This only further angered Chinese officials. Weeks later, Google created the option for users in China to chose whether to use an uncensored version or not. It would be interesting to see the reaction of Americans if the government were to create a firewall that censored everything put on the internet. I believe it would be a disaster!