How I have grown, What I have learned

I have grown a lot since I moved up here to Iowa State University.  I have met so many people from different places that have so many different views on issues than I do.  It has opened my eyes to other types of people in the world.  I come from a small town that has the same type of people living there for as long as they have lived.  We are all used to each other and, for the most part, we have the same views and values because we were all raised together.  Coming to Iowa State, I have met people from states far away from Iowa that have different views than I do.  It has been interesting getting to know people that have different ideas on issues than me.  I have learned how different people’s cultures and languages are in just the United States.  Even though most of the people I have met speak English, we all still have a language barrier sometimes due to the fact that we have different way of saying things.  It has opened my eyes to how different Americans can be by where they live.

 

I believe I have grown as a more open person.  I don’t think that I am more social or that I hang out with people more than I did back in high school.  I feel that I can just talk to people easier.  It is easier for me to strike up a conversation with someone that I just met than I would have been able to in high school.  I still have a small little group of friends like I did back in high school and I get along with a lot of people that I already know but I can talk to people that I just met.  It has made me more of an open person that I am able to talk to people that I have never meet before but still able to strike up a conversation.

 

I have become a better student during this first semester.  I learned the proper way to study and how to not procrastinate.  I have never had to study in high school so studying here in college was a new concept.  I have been able to develop the skills to study for my classes.  I learned that reading is extremely important.  I learned that reading the chapter when it is assigned is extremely important because you can get really behind in the class.  It also helps you understand the lecture.

 

The most important thing I have learned is how to be responsible.  Because I am in college, I can spend my money or time as how I see fit.  That is until it runs out.  But I have had to learn to be responsible and use my money and time wisely.  As a college student, our money and time is limited and we need to know how to manage them wisely.  This has made us all responsible as we learn to manage time and money.

 

Being in college just for a semester has changed me more into the person that I hope I will be when I graduate from Iowa State University.

Hixson Award Means to Me

The Hixson award means a lot to me.  I come from a semi-poor family and because of that, I have to pay for college by myself.  Without the Hixson scholarship, I don’t think that I would be able to afford to go to college without taking out a lot of student loans.  It has taken a large part of the financial burden of college off of my shoulders which has stopped me from worrying about how I am going to pay for my next UBill.  This, in turn, has helped me be able to focus more on my studies and do better in my classes than I would be able to do with that stress on me.  I am so thankful that I am able to do that and it is because of the Hixson scholarship.

 

I am also thankful for the Hixson award because it has made me work with and meet some amazing people.  I have made some friends in my Hixson classes and I really enjoy hanging out with them inside and outside of the classroom.  I enjoy meeting people and this has just been another way for me to meet and become good friends with others that I may not have become friends with.  I have also met several people that are pre-business majors which will become useful in the future when any of us need help in a class.  We will most likely be in those classes together and we can have study groups if we want!

 

Having the award also means I can use the Hixson building when I want and I can have free printing.  This has become extremely useful to me as I work on homework or study for classes.  Some of my classes require a lot of printing and that would mean I would be using up a lot of my ink from my printer in my room.  I am able to save some money by going over to the Hixson building and printing from there for free.  I am also able to go into a quiet environment to study for tests that I have coming up.  It is a relaxing environment that I can actually get things done unlike I would in places like my room.

 

I have also enjoyed all of the other benefits the Hixson program has offered.  I love being able to get pizza in class or free tickets to things like Pride and Prejudice.  I would never have been able to afford to go see one of my favorite movies/books performed live here at Iowa State if the Hixson program did not offer to buy my ticket for me.  I also enjoyed playing broomball as an intermural sport for free this fall as well.  I don’t think I would have played otherwise because it cost a fee to play.  Hixson let me enjoy the sport without having to play the fee.  It was so much fun!  It has let me enjoy many things for free that I would not have been able to do otherwise.

 

I am extremely thankful for all that the Hixson award has offered me.  It has brought me a peace of mind as well as a good time with my newly made friends.  I hope that the fun continues!

The Real Dirt of Farmer John

I went tonight to see the lecture over The Real Dirt of Farmer John given by John Peterson.  For the most part, we watched a video over the life of Mr. Peterson that lasted an hour and a half long.  Afterwards, Peterson lead a discussion over the movie where he talked more in depth on what he had experienced.  The movie was an in depth video on how Peterson had bought his family farm and the trials that he had to go through.  Those trials consisted of losing his mentors, his grandfather and father, as well as going so far into depth that he had to sell most of his land and all of his farming equipment.

Peterson had been an outcast for most of his life due to the experiences he had during college as well as the people that he had coming around his farm.  He had let anyone that wanted to come and take refuge at his farm come.  This included artists, hippies, and radicals.  This caused many members of the farming community to look down on him and create rumors that caused him to have conflicts with law enforcment.  During this time, Peterson had help film several movies on his farm as well as write his own story line, act in it, and perform in for several different groups of people.  While he could have taken his show big, it was brought to an end when an agricultural group stated that he seemed to "homosexual" to star in the show.  Afterwards, Peterson took several years off by traveling and doing some soul searching.  However, Peterson was able to turn his life around and start farming again.  By doing this, he was able to creat one of the largest Community Supported Agriculture farms.  John Peterson created AngelicOrganics.  Here, he grows organic vegetables and his mother helps him sell them.

Even though he has started his farm back up and has turned out to be very successful, many people in Peterson's community still think that he is a little strange.  Peterson is known for farming and working in different style of costumes.  A clip in the video even showed him eatting dirt and stating that it seem to be really good that day.  While many people don't understand John Peterson, we all have to admit that he has gone through several challenges and has succeeded in turning his life around for the better.

Cultural Diversity

I thought the lecture was really good.  I had never thought about some of the things that Denise had brought up.  I didn’t think about how cultural diversity isn’t just people from different cultures.  He pointed out that cultural diversity can also be people from different backgrounds and different home lives.  Everyone has a different story on why they are the way they are now and that is what makes us all culturally diverse.  It changed how I look at people now because all of us are considered culturally diverse from each other because we all come from different places and have been through different experiences to get to where we are today.  That makes this world seem even larger than it is considering how all of us are different/unique in some shape or form.

Cultural Diversity never really meant anything to me before when I was in high school. I come from a school that had 35 students in my graduating class from rural Iowa where everyone was the normal white student that has grown up with each other since kindergarten. Coming to college was a big experience. I have met so many people that come from different cultures and different backgrounds. It has changed me so much by just meeting so many different people from different places. It has made me appreciate more the difference in every person.

Diversity is important to our culture. We are able to grow as people by learning from others. Every one of us has grown as human beings by learning about others and learning to respect others. It has also helped us incorporate different types of other cultures to help our societies grow.  If the Europeans did not trade spice and other things with countries such as China, the foods and technology might not have grown at all or as fast as it did.  Our societies have improved by sharing resources and other materials with each other.  Our ideals have also grown as we share our beliefs and values with each other.  This is how religions and governmental ideas such as capitalism has spread around the world.  We have been able to educate ourselves on more ideals around the world by embracing the idea that we are all diverse.  We are able to mentally grow by realizing that it is important to acknowledge each other’s different values and ideas.  It has helped us grow as a country as well as we work towards foreign policies by knowing how different cultures and societies work.  It is important all around us to know all about other cultures.  It has really made a difference in our lives by how we interact with people and how we learn with others.  Diversity has become a major part in our lives.

Social Media

For social media week, I proceeded to make a Linkedin profile. I learned that there are a lot of different companies and professions out there on Linkedin that share their experiences and ideas with people. It was amazing how easy it was to create an account. I perfected my account to make it look professional and to make the information on it accurate and current.

I felt like it was easy to engage with the website. The website was self-explanatory on how to operate it.  That alone made me feel extremely comfortable.  I really enjoyed how it entered the data from my resume onto my profile.  It made it easier than spending hours upon hours filling all of that out.  I believe that this will help me come into contact with many businesses and business professionals in the future when I start looking for a job in my field of study.

I found all of the articles extremely interesting.  Everyone has always told us that people can find out what type of person you are on the internet and it may affect your chance of getting a job.  It surprised me how right those people are when I read the article over twitter evaluation.  I didn’t realize how much information someone could get from just looking at my twitter page.  It made me realize how careful I have to be on putting things on the internet.  However, the articles did point out that the internet services, such as twitter, are meant for us to enjoy.  We just have to be careful as we use them.  They are used to connect with people and to take our minds off of other things.

Basically, everyone has some sort of social media account.  This is great because we can find out information extremely fast.  However, that speed can cause problems as many people find themselves creating problems in their relationships because they can reply faster than they can think of what could happen.  I wasn’t surprised by this because most of us have seen people say things on Facebook or an internet site that have ruined friendships or partnerships.  It happens every day because people don’t think before they hit send.  It has really opened my eyes to what I have put on the internet.  Thankfully, I haven’t put anything embarrassing on the internet thus far.  I believe I owe that to my mom.  Having her friended on Facebook has stopped me from posting statuses or pictures because I think about if she would approve of those.  Looking back, I can see that those could have been harmful to my professional future self and I thank her for making me friend her so she could watch my activity.  As much as I hated it at the time, I am really thankful that she did that for me.

MBTI

Honestly, I wasn't surprised what I got with the MBTI. I had taken a class last year where we were required to take this. Therefore, I already knew what the result was. We had to Analysis our results then and look at how our results showed how we dealt with different situations. We didn’t look at how we learn but it is similar to how we deal with difficult situations. Therefore, I hadn’t found an aspect of my personality that I had not thought about. These results can relate to my goals by how I pursue them. By being an E, I am energized when others are also reaching my goal. I can stay that it is true. I have recently started training for a marathon because I have a friend that wants to do the same. With both of us working towards the same goal, we are more likely to reach it. Being an F, I am more likely to make goals that are based on my personal decisions and be more of what will help me grow personally. However, being a J, it could also cause some delay in reaching for my goals. That is because I like things being orderly in life and I don’t like change as much. Each of us have obstacles we have to get over so we reach our goals. Knowing our MBTI will help everyone of us know what steps we need to take to make our goals become reality.

 

I hope that by knowing what type of personality we are, each of us will be able to overcome our personal obstacles so we can each reach our goals.

 

My Life and Cyclone Bucket Lists

Everyone has a certain idea of what they would love to do before they die.  While some are crazy, wild adventures, others are more mild and calm events.  Mine are more calm.  While I would like to go sky diving sometime or climb up the Rocky Mountains, most of the items on my bucket list aren't that crazy.  I simply, like every other girl, want to get married, have kids, and live happily ever after with the love of my life. 

Sure, I want to have a good career but I honestly can't tell you what that career will be.  I feel that I am at a stage in my life that I don't really know what I want to do and so therefore, can't make a good guess on how far I want to make it in whatever professional field I choose.  I want to be able to live comfortably with whatever career path I choose.  By living comforably, I will be able to help others financially as well.  Because of my family's past experience with the Make-A-Wish foundation, I want to be able to donate money to make atleast one child's wish come true.

On a different note, I really want to run a marathon before I die.  I love running and have only ran a 10K before.  I don't want to run the Boston Marathon, just a local one like the breast cancer race that is held in Des Moines every year.  I love to exercise and it is my hope that I can stay in shape for the rest of my life.

I would love to go on a Banhama cruise.  Some friends of mine went together and had a blast!  I would love to be able to got some place like that for a while and enjoy an environment that I have never been too!

Speaking of trips, my final item on my bucket list is that I want to go backpacking through Europe.  The pictures from over there look beautiful and I would love to go see all of the countryside.  I am a huge fan of history and, of course, Europe is full of history!  I would love to be able to take in all of the amazing historical events and places that are over there.

My Cyclone bucket list is sort of similar to parts of my other bucket list.

I want to do the Iowa State version of a triathlon.  I enjoy biking, running, and swimming and it would be awesome if I was able to do all three in the same race.  I know it is not as impressive as the Iron Man but I would be so proud of myself knowing that all of the training and working out helped me reach my goal of completing the race.

I want to help out children that are sick.  I plan on doing this by sometime, joining the Dance Marathon where I would raise money for a children's hospital.  I would also get to meet and interact with sick children which is something I enjoy doing.  I love seeing their strength that they have gained during their time of being sick and I hope that before I leave college I will get to join a cause that will help them feel better.

As cheesy as this sounds, I want to kiss my boyfriend under the campanile.  I know, I know, it sounds super cheesy but it is just something I would love to do.  I don't get to see my boyfriend very much and doing something like that would be memorable and really romantic!

My final thing on my Cyclone bucket list is to learn something new.  Not just educational but a new sport or hobby.  I want to be able to broaden my mind and learn something that I would enjoy doing even after I have left college.  I believe that we should take the most out of college that we can get and I feel that if I learn something that I will take with me out of college and do it later in life, I have taken as much out of college as I could.

When I was at my best...

When most people have to talk about when they were at their best, many people pick times that they were the best at something or won a big award. For me, it isn't that for me. There were many times that I felt like I was at my best by I was not necessarily at the top. However, there is one event that sticks out the most in my mind that I did happen to be at the top. As cheesy as this sounds, the time I was at my best was graduation. I had just complete thirteen years of school where I worked as hard as I could to get sufficient grades.  I had spent countless hours during my high school years alone to make sure I got that A on a test the next day.  All of that hard work paid off as I was able to give my graduation speech as the class valedictorian.  I had managed to graduate with a 4.00 GPA.

 

My senior year had been my hardest year.  I only had school half of a day because of my intern the second half of the day.  My classes in the morning were AP and college classes.  Those classes brought so much stress to my life as I tried to balance my extra-curricular activities with my school work.  There were many times that I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep my straight A’s but after a lot of hard work I was able to keep it.  Being the first person in my family to be able to graduate with a 4.00 GPA, I felt extremely proud and happy when I stood up at the podium during graduation to give my speech.  I had completed my biggest goal I had ever had and the result of that was handed to me a few minutes later in the form of my high school diploma.  I had accomplished so much in my school years that I had gained the confidence that I need now in college to face any other difficulties that come my way. 

 

While I was at the top of my class, I didn’t have to be to feel like I was at my best that day.  I had just completed thirteen years of hard work.  I had completed my goal and it felt great making it as far as I did.  I had fought through many challenges along the way and had grown as an individual.  I had just successfully completed one stage of my life and was headed towards the next stage.  That next stage was college.