Friday, April 28, 2006

Posted 2 years, 2 weeks, 12 hours, 16 minutes ago

Today is the last day of classes! Now, on to the finals! I have already taken one of my finals. So I only have six more finals to go! Two are actual papers that I am writing in Spanish, and four are in-class finals next week. Monday thru Wednesday I have 8:30 finals and on Thursday my final is the last one of the day at 3 p.m.

This week has been extremely busy for me! I turned in three papers and took a final on Thursday. (That was the worst day of the week!) But I did well on the final, so I am positive about my grade in my CIS304 class. Monday, I took a test on the subjunctive in Hermana’s SPAN302 class. Tuesday was Reading Day and we didn’t have any classes. It gave me a chance to write all of my papers! I also watched some Spanish movies I had borrowed from Hunter Library for extra credit in Hermana’s class.

Of all the classes I am taking, SPAN302 is the one I have had to try extra hard to maintain an A average in, and there is no telling what will happen until after her final (on Monday!!). That is the only reason why this weekend (the 2nd weekend this whole semester) I am staying in Cullowhee. (The first was for the awards ceremony and study abroad orientation.) This whole weekend is dedicated to my SPAN302 final.

Today was my last day tutoring at Cullowhee Valley School, and it was so sad leaving the classroom knowing that I wouldn’t be back. I will really miss those kids! and Ms. Clapp (the teacher), too! I have had fun being around younger people and remembering what it was like back in the 7th grade. I have to write a Spanish paper on my experiences this semester at CVS for my SPAN393 class. I also had to keep a journal in Spanish for each day I tutored, which will be due with my paper next week.

I also applied to graduate today. I had to pay the $30 graduation fee and meet with my advisor to go over the application form. I believe I will be over the 140 credit hour limit and will have a surcharge applied to my account if I don’t go to the Registrar’s Office to delete the excess classes. I transfered to WCU with 74 credit hours and became a Senior after one semester of 18 credit hours. Since I will be in Europe all of next school year, I have to apply to graduate now and get my affairs in order at the Registrar’s Office. I also met with my financial aid advisor to verify that I had turned in all the needed documents for my 2006-2007 school year. (Always good to double-check!)

Thursday afternoon, I attended a Co-Op Meeting for my Summer Internship. Mardy Ashe and Michael Despeaux discussed the process and the required work for the internships. All I can say is, I will be busy this summer! Dr. Grace Allen is my department head for (in-charge of) the internship, and her required work will be to keep a daily journal. I have never had to keep journals for any classes before this Spring Semester, but it seems to be a catchy thing! I am just glad that I have gotten used to the routine.

For my CIS304 class, we have to make a professional website, and if you apply extra personal links, you get extra credit. Well, I have been working on it like crazy, not because I have to, but because it is so addictive. Once you start one, you’ll keep coming up with different ideas and start changing and adding. Yesterday, I got this great idea to put music on my website. I had copied an independent artist’s song and uploaded it onto my paws account. After some troubles accessing my account, I went to the “sandbox” in Hunter Library, where Dr. Chris Snyder totally helped me out. Unfortunately, you can’t play it on Western’s computers, for some reason, but I accessed it off-campus and the song played fine. So that was a major accomplishment for my website. I can’t think of anything else to add (that I am able to add myself). There is a professional class on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. that I was thinking of going to, but it costs $75 so that is out of the question for a student like me!

My teacher, Dr. Grace Allen, is throwing a BBQ cookout for some of her students tonight, so I am on my way, and absolutely perfect weather, too!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Posted 2 years, 2 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 39 minutes ago

I am thinking I will survive, but it’s a close one to call.  I have four papers to write this week (3 in Spanish).  Last week was the week I was dreading the most, but here I am still alive! 

Monday, I had to turn in a paper for SPAN322 (La Inmigración).  Thursday was the worst day, too!  I had ended up tutoring at Cullowhee Valley (the best part of my day), and then I took a quiz for SPAN431 (but I feel really good about it) and afterwards ended up having to present on Juan Marsé (the class forced me to!), which didn’t go too badly.  Then, in CIS304, we had our group presentation (on the flow of communication via the campus call boxes) - glad that is finally over!  Friday was Earth Day at Cullowhee Valley but it was raining and so they had to move it indoors.  Each classroom was a workshop where you learned different ways to keep the environment clean.  Later on Friday, I had to turn in my paper for SPAN302 (La situación con la Inmigración).  The immigration bill and the demonstrations happening across the country have been the center of our discussions in most of my Spanish classes.  Coincidentally, we are at the point in our textbooks where this topic of immigration is covered.

Friday night, my boyfriend and I went to see a play by the Foothills Performing Arts at Caldwell Community College in Hudson, NC, called “Divorce Southern Style.” It was opening night, and they did an excellent job.  It runs for the next two weekends, if anyone is interested in comedy.  And Saturday, we ended up playing tennis.  But now it is time for me to study.

I have a test on the Subjunctive in SPAN302 on Monday morning.  Another recommendation:  Know your subjunctive, and know it well!  I am still learning, and it is no easy task!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Posted 2 years, 3 weeks, 5 days, 6 hours, 49 minutes ago

Happy Easter! Feliz Pascua!

Yep, the big crunch is here and it ain’t pretty! Last week was a three day week, and it still seemed like five to me! But the break sure was nice!

Last week, Cullowhee Valley School had their Spring Break, and so I didn’t tutor. It was nice to be able to sleep in until 7:30 for my 9 am MWF class! But then my Tuesday/Thursday 8 am class was cancelled, so the whole 3 days I was able to sleep later. This really gave me a boost!

On Tuesday, I turned in my Power Point presentation (on Juan Marsé) but I didn’t have to present. So that still lies before me!! (I get jittery when it comes to presentations!!) And on Wednesday, the big thing for me was registering for my summer night class, which I will take in D.C. for part of my summer internship. They offered many international business courses, but I also looked into a finance course. I am excited about taking a class from professors who also teach at Georgetown and Harvard and other impressive universities. (Not to say anything bad about Western’s professors!!!)

Next week, I have so many papers/quizzes/presentations to do! Monday: SPAN322 paper due, I am interviewing an employee at the campus police station, & then I meet with my CIS304 group at the library to finish our group presentation. Tuesday: SPAN431 quiz & go to Spanish Mesa. Thursday: CIS304 group presentation, with the slide printout and references printout, plus our journals that we have been keeping track of all semester are due and we also have to turn in a group analysis paper of our group interactions during the preparations for the presentations. And who knows when I will present my Juan Marsé presentation, but let’s just say, I won’t mind if I am last!!

Here comes another busy week!

Monday, April 10, 2006

Posted 2 years, 1 month, 2 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes ago

Alright, the weekend was total relaxation for me. And wham! I got hit with a quiz and a hard test this morning. I am still in shock. But all is well because I only have one more class before I can go home and finish up the speech part of my presentation for SPAN431 (due tomorrow!) and work on reading Vejigantes for SPAN310. I have to start working on the CIS304 group presentation (presentation date is April 20th) where we are analyzing the communication flow for the emergency call buttons located throughout campus.

Crunch time! There are so many assignments due and quizzes/tests scheduled it is so not funny! But I keep telling myself that there is only 11 more days until finals week. And then one week of killer tests and I am home free.

Some highlights from last week are that the International Festival was on Wednesday, where you could eat food from around the world, listen to Spanish/Cuban/Peruvian/etc music, watch the fashion show, get a mini passport and “travel” and just enjoy the day out on the UC Lawn. Both my Spanish classes that day visited the festival for the music. ¡¡Qué chévere!!

After some technical difficulties, I finally did get my study abroad class straightened out on Monday. So I won’t have to worry about that until Nov/Dec when I register for my spring semester study abroad class from another country! That should be interesting. I also finished a study abroad scholarship application, so I will have my fingers crossed on that one! When you are studying abroad, you need all the help you can get. Tuition and fees are double, but financial aid “covers” everything, my problem is I just don’t want any loans. So far I am loan-free/debt-free and am here on scholarships and grants. I hope to be able to do the same next year, my last at Western (when I study abroad), and I am working hard to search for different scholarships to make it happen. Dr. Lois Petrovich-Mwaniki, IPS Director, Paula Coates, financial aid advisor, and Cindy Noren, scholarship coordinator, have all been extremely helpful in my financial aid quest!!

But other than that, I was just working non-stop on my power point presentation for Norris (431). I spent from 11 to 3 pm and 4 to 8 pm on Wednesday (8 hrs), and then from 11 am to 5:30 pm on Thursday (6 1/2 hrs) working on it, and I finished it up just now after another couple of hours!![Total: 16.5 hours] It takes me twice as long to make it perfect when it is all in another language. Tonight, I will be working on the speech!! Wish me luck!

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Posted 2 years, 1 month, 1 week, 3 days, 4 minutes ago

Another week down, and four more to go. I have just gotten back from the College of Business Awards Ceremony. This is where leading students in the College of Business are recognized for their outstanding work. I was honored to receive the Alumni and Friends Scholarship. But I got to see a lot of my friends who I share classes with as well as my teachers.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I attended the Study Abroad Orientation from 9 am to 3 pm. It was somewhat informative, but I am very prepared by my own research on the country I will be studying in the Fall and Spring semester of next year. I have been emailing and talking with students who have just gotten back, and also Dr. Jarrell, my new advisor, has introduced me to a student from my study abroad country. All of the students I have talked with have been extremely friendly and helpful. I want to know as much as possible before I go, since I will be there for a year!!! The most interesting part of the orientation yesterday was the panel of students who are exchange students or who have studied abroad. They had some funny things to say!

My week started out pretty rough, but gradually calmed down towards the end. First, on Monday, was Mark’s SPAN322 test. I was once again one of the last people still taking the test, but I believe I did good. Then, on Tuesday, I turned in my paper for Norris’s SPAN431 class. I still don’t know how I did, but this semester isn’t crazy just for the students, the teachers are swamped as well. I believe I will get it back on Tuesday, so I hope I did well!! I have a presentation due next Tuesday for her class, and I want to see if I need much more improvement. Also, on Tuesday, I got the wonderful news that I have passed my security clearance, so I am going to DC for sure!! So now I need to start working on my housing contracts and plane tickets and so on. Wednesday, I had a quiz for Hermana O’Connor in SPAN302 on the “If” Clauses. I did pretty good, but I know the one thing I missed: Conditional!!! I have been working extremely hard on my website for CIS304, which is so addictive! I spent 6 hours on Wednesday adding links and designing my other web pages. But at least the work is fun to do, I am really enjoying it.

On Friday, I had my Forecasting Test in Quant (MGT305), and I feel really good about it. But you never know until you get it back! Then, Hermana showed the movie, “El Romero,” which is extremely good and emotional! I was in tears after a priest got killed!! The movie (to my knowledge) is about the people in El Salvador, the corruption of the government and what position the Catholic Church is put in. I wanted to keep watching it, but we didn’t have time so I still don’t know what happens in the end.

The semester has been flying by, thank goodness! I am so excited about this summer’s internship, and my 2006-2007 year abroad! But I am first concentrating on my Spring grades. I am trying to keep my 4.0 GPA. It is hard because I am taking 7 classes and auditing my 8th. Being involved in 24 credit hours this semester has been intense, but I am hanging in there. My teachers have been very supportive and I owe a lot of my success in academics to their teaching strategies, both last semester and this semester. Achieving in my classes have a lot to do with how the teachers teach.

So that was my week here in Cullowhee. The weather is just beautiful. I am relieved, too, because I think it helps my mood and my grades!