My life after Baruch...

I am planning to graduate from Baruch College in Summer 2010 if everything goes well.

After college I have several goals. The first is to move to California with my boyfriend. I've never been there before but he has always tried to convince me that it's the best place ever. So for him, I'll give it a try. To be frank, I am a little worried about this move because I don't know much about California. Also, moving there means I will have to drive a lot. To be honest I am scared of driving after my first accident shortly after I got my license (it wasn't my fault, but a total shock!!). And it is hard for me to leave the friends I got to know in New York.

Optimally, after the move, I want to work for 2 years or so. I think I would enjoy a sales position as this will help my future career plans. However after a couple of years of working I would like to take time off to have a baby. If for some reason I can't have a baby, I want to adopt children. I wouldn't want to work during this time because I definitely want to put family before career. Like my mom, I am very traditional in this matter--we both believe that children are the key to true happiness.

After that I will be ready to start my dream job of owning my own store. I've never liked bosses, so I figure this is the only job I could really handle. Being my own boss! My mom currently owns her own store and she is very happy with it. When I lived with my family, I used to help out my mum at her store and I love to deal with customers. So I know that running a store will come naturally for me. Since I love to use all-natural health care products and I am convinced that they are the best for people and the environment, this is what I would like to sell in my store.

Finally, if my boyfriend and I are succesful in California, I would like to bring my brother to the States to stay with us. He loves the U.S. and he dreams of going to High School here.

It's hard to put one goal ahead of any of the others because they all are very important to me. So I guess I'll just keep putting action toward my visions and hope that with dedication all of my goals can be fulfilled.

Vote for change

The results from the first midterm was quite disappointing for most of the people, myself included. Our professor gave us the chance to make changes for the next test and for the first test, but he required 100% support from all students. Thus, everyone has to agree to the new terms.

Not even a second had passed and ideas were thrown around across the classroom. Then Teddy stood up and asked if someone could write the ideas on the board since his handwriting was too bad. Gabriel volunteered right away. That was a great way to organize the ideas visually and calm the crowd down a bit. We only had 45 minutes to come to an agreement. Reaching an agreement is not an easy task for a large class of college students.
I wanted to suggest a curve for both exams, but soon I had an avoidance behavior. Many people in the class seemed to be so ambitious and some were also screaming. I thought things were already lively enough, so I decided to wait and see how things went. While observing some people, I discovered that some were fully convinced of their suggestions. At one point, one person gave up and wanted to leave the classroom instead of continuing to debate. Towards the end, in my opinion listing the ideas on the board was helpful. We could label the one we want and cross out the others. In the end, I had a compromised attitude towards the end result of the debating. In my opinion, it was not the best result, but still a very good one. Teddy and Gabriel helped us leading during the decision making process and after all everything went pretty smooth.
Another idea is to divide the class in small groups and each groups would come up with their package. After the groups had decided on their solution, everyone could vote on the ideas of the groups and the majority wins. I think this would have been a better solution because then the inefficiencies caused by a large group would be removed in the brainstorming phase. In the larger group, it is only the loudest voices which are heard. But in the smaller groups, more timid participants such as myself would be able to contribute more and thus more ideas, and perhaps better ones, would be considered.

Falling egg experiment

I found the egg activity was exciting and a lot of fun! Our professor gave us the goal and objective to build a structure to protect an egg when we drop it 10 feet into the basket. We had 25 minutes to plan our construction and to put it on paper, and another 10 minutes to actually build it.
The resources for the egg protection were already determined by our professor: It should consist out of 8 straws and 10 feet of tape. The group I was in was quite lively. Three people were leading in the discussion, but all suggestions were considered thoroughly. We named our egg " The egg that could". Then we thought about all possible alternatives. Soon it was clear that we want to have a device like a basket, so we could hold it when we drop it. It wasn't so clear how the egg should be in the basket: upside down, straight, on the side. We switched from one possibility to another with all pros and cons. Later we had a tactical plan for the egg. The basket should be upward and with cushion all over the entire half. We hoped that though the cushions on the bottom, the egg wouldn't break. In the end time was running out and we drew the construction in the last minutes. The 10 minutes for implementing our plan were very hectic. Several people worked simultaneously on the construction: One was giving out tape, the others made the cushions. Finally, the egg was done! I was chosen to drop the egg since I am the shortest in the group and before I went up my team suggested that I take off my boots. After all the planning and work, our project was a success because it didn't break. When it fell, it did land on the side, but the cushions and the strings kept it from being broken.
I really enjoyed working my team in which teamwork was fully promoted. I'm especially glad that my shortness (or, vertical challenge to be more polite) finally had a positive effect.