Reflections on Fieldnotes and Feelings

 As I observed my group of subjects at the U outside Overlook South, I made a discovery. I witnessed not one, but two females who sat down and vaped! This shatters my previous question of "Is vaping male-exclusive," and also proves that females can and will vape, just much more rarer. The main group of vapers mostly sat around and conversed about various topics, same as usual, except including the amount of "lit parties" they would be going to and how it is now two months into the semester. Time really does fly when you are at college, engrossed in schoolwork and social activities. The amount of people passing by was increased by a slightly larger amount, seeing as it was Halloween night. I saw many costumes, and even some of my vaping group were dressed up. I asked via several informal interviews to some members as to why they vaped and I got a plethora of responses, the most common either being,”I like the many different flavors they have for juices,” to ,”I put nicotine in mine so it gives me a head buzz,” to ,”After I put nicotine in my vape I became addicted,” which poses the question of ,”Why would you want to add nicotine to your vape, even though nicotine is highly addictive?” I could understand going from a certain amount of nicotine and slowly weaning yourself off, as is the actually reasoning behind vaping, but to add nicotine and make yourself addicted to it is mindboggling! Granted, vaping is still healthier than cigarettes, but depending on if you have nicotine in your vape, you are still getting addicted to it, and will most likely continue to vape, which just defeats the purpose of why people primarily vape. Not for the social aspects, but to get off of cigarettes! As a whole, vaping is still a male-dominated activity, but it is not exclusively male, due to my witnessing of two females vaping. This just shifts my data and forces me to re-look at all my data to see any kind of pattern. I have already ascertained that everyone in the group that vapes hangs out with one another at some point and are very approachable for conversation. Potentially, they could have classes with one another. Or, could vaping have brought them all together to create a clique of vapers? People of different social and economic backgrounds, united by one common activity? This gives me another question of, ”Does vaping bring people together?” Same as with the females however, vaping appears to be a Caucasian male-dominated activity. I do see a few African-Americans sit down and vape with the rest of the group, but like the females, there are very few that will go vape. Does vaping not appeal to African-Americans? I hope to make a few more observations before I can truly pass judgement on it.
-Jorrel K.

Reflection on Gym Observations

This week’s observations were again very interesting. While trying to figure out if skinny people are actually intimidated by the big lifters, I feel as if I came to the conclusion that they are. I am yet to figure out what makes the lifters so intimidating. Is it because they pick up heavy weight and slam it on the ground? Or is it because of the way a big person appears and would present themselves?

When I first got to the gym to work out before my shift, I noticed that there were skinny people working out with lots of confidence in the free weight area.  Before I even started my workout I observed them some more, just so I wouldn't scare them away when I did workout with my heavy ass weight.  After watching them for a couple minutes I decided to start my workout and noticed that they started to become self-conscious.

Since it was just shoulder day I didn’t do any really heavy weight and I was also pretty far away from them.  I like to check myself out in the mirrors after sets every so often and they would look at me with a look of admiration. It’s flattering that there are people admiring you but can also be really weird and uncomfortable after a while of them consistently staring at you.  Once I started shoulder press which went up to decently heavy weight, they began to feel uncomfortable on being in the free weight section.  As soon as another big person showed up and started working on chest, the scrawny people left.  More and more big people started showing up and soon enough there were no more scrawny people left.

Once I was done with my work out and started my shift, I noticed that the only scrawny people who had any confidence in going to the free weight section where the ones being trained by a big person.  Soon enough I will also begin personal training myself and hopefully I will have a client that I can interview to figure out if it the big people’s look that intimidates them or is it the fact that they lift heavy weight, scream, and slam the weights.  So far from what my coworkers have told me when I asked them, they said that from what they’ve noticed it is the screaming and weight slamming that scares the scrawny people away.

-junior v

New Corner

This week I was observing in corner three and I was also able to observe people that were in the couch area. And to me those people seemed a little weirder, as if they were literally just trying to kill time before their next class.

This one girl, was literally just staring into blank space. She wasn’t even staring at the wall or anything. She was just staring directly in front of her and she was doing so for a good 5-7 minutes. It sort of freaked me out so I wonder if the people around her were wondering the same thing.

Also in the couch area, there were two people passing their time by sleeping. Like seriously? How can you just sleep out in the open? I would be too paranoid that someone would try to take my bag or my wallet or something.

The rest of the people (mainly girls) were in groups chit chatting, and sitting around in a circle. I figured they were maybe juniors or seniors to have such a big group of people, because usually freshmen are lonely or with one or two buddies to kill time with. Not in a group of about 10.

My other observations were pretty much the same. I came to the same pattern that most men alone rather than the woman, and in my first weeks observation, I hinted that maybe it’s because of the same reason why women don’t use the bathroom alone. They usually drag a friend along with them.
So I see more men eating alone than women, and I also seen more men in groups then the women. Usually when there is a table of ladies, there is usually only two of them, but when you see a table of guys, there is usually about three or four of them, maybe even more.
Another interesting thing that I saw was that this one girl was going between two tables. She was originally sitting with a guy at table 6 and I guess her two friends decided to sit next to them at table 7. Instead of introducing them and merging tables, she was going from table to table. Talking to her one friend at the table she originally sat at and then going to the next table and talking to the two people there. I also wondered how her friends must have felt. I know that if I were to be one of her friends at that table I would have been annoyed. Because it’s like either you are going to sit with us or sit with him or we all sit together. All that running around was unnecessary.
-Rosie G

Common hour reflection

Student center observation

Location: Second floor in the student center

Time: During common hour

   During my last observation I have not seen anything new so I decided to go to the student center at a different time. While I got out of the elevator during common hour, I realize how many student were up there and they were not in groups. All the students that were sitting down were alone and listening to music, watching Netflix or some other stuff. There were barely any seats left. So I decided to sit with a girl. I took my laptop out and started to observe.

   After five minutes passed I started to observe the students, I saw that every time a student came up the second floor they would look for a seat. But first they would make eye contact to the person sitting in that section. If they were comfortable enough they would sit with them. That is when I realize that I have done the same, before choosing a spot to sit. When I got off the elevator I looked at every section and usually turned away from the sections in which there were guys, because they would think you are interested in them. Also because it would feel weird so I sat with a girl who was not paying attention at all and looking at her Instagram. I kept seeing this pattern until two girls and two guys came upstairs and with their opposite gender. I could not help but ask, what drove us to not sit with our opposite gender? Is there a certain type of preference?

    However on the other section there was a couple that was sitting down, they were Hispanic. They were laughing, hugging and kissing each other. They looked very happy and only stayed there for a while because a female student decided to sit in the same section they were in. Of course they felt a little uncomfortable. When they left another couple took their place. The couple this time was white, and they were kissing but mainly just talking. As I reflected on the couple before them I wanted to know why they treated each other differently. Was it because of the environment they were in?

It was pretty interesting to see all of these different things that happen during common hour, I am hoping to find a pattern that is seen every day. I am planning to come back at the same time and see if anything changes

By: Angelica Martinez

funny reactions at the gym

During this week’s observations I tried to learn more about competition but I happened to stumble upon something else that I have not noticed before.  This week I noticed that the same big/ athletic people that only lift are the only ones who scream and grunt while working out. I won’t lie, I also do the same and fall under this category but this is the first time I noticed the reactions of people around the one individual screaming or grunting. 

While I was trying to observe competition between lifters, which is what I will call the big/athletic people from now on, I happened to notice an out of place skinny person working out near the lifters.  He was minding his business doing his own weight and a competition was going on near him between two lifters.  One of them decided to put up a lot more weight than they can handle and during the set they began to grunt and scream then he slammed the dumbbells on the ground. The out of place skinny guy was startled then got up and went back to the machines sections. While I was observing this I could not help but laugh but also get annoyed because neither of them racked their weights.
   Since I was working at that moment,which is why I got annoyed, I was not able to test it out myself by lifting heavy weight and then slamming it on the ground to see if a skinny or obese person always gets up and goes back to the machines.

During my entire shift I witnessed two other similar situations.  Do they get away from the lifter because they are scared of a dumbbell hitting their foot or because they are just intimidated of the lifter? If I get a chance and happen to find a skinny or obese person by the free weights, I will try to answer my question by lifting heavy weight and screaming but when I finish my set I will not slam the weights on the ground to hard. This way if the person gets up and leaves it means he is intimidated by the lifter but if he stays it just means that they were just scared of a dumbbell falling on their foot.  Whatever the answer to my question may be, it is still funny. From now on every time I see a skinny/obese person near me during my sets I might just have to slam the weights even harder on the ground so they could get up and leave and I could have a good laugh.  Just kidding, I can’t be that mean. I might just do it if they are using a bench or dumbbell that I want to use too, but that’s about it.

-Junior V

New Habits

When I first began this project I was expecting to see the same patterns everyday. I mean how much do I expect to observe in a food court besides students eating, wasting time and socializing. I didn't expect to make new observations, so everyday  I would visit the food court and write down the same things I seen previously. I had already noted students habits such as what they ate, who they sat with, the technology they used and how much time they spent there. This wasn't helping much I was on the rode to having a very vague ethnography paper. So I decided to change my patterns. Instead of sitting where I usually sat I sat near the window. Initial all I seemed to notice was the obvious, such as students socializing, their eating habits and there social grouping. So I decided to focus on the people who sat exactly where I sat. People who sat near the window were mostly people from foreign countries. Blacks and whites barely sat alone near the window. I also noticed that everyone who sits at a two seated table near the window are not eating with friends but in fact sitting there studying alone. These students are very focused, completely engaged in there work. I observed  three students at once. None of which stopped studying to look at there phone, socialize, eat or do anything else. This was strange to me because majority of college students always check there phone repeatedly. Once they were completely done with there work they then looked at there phone and went to get food. I didn't understand why did these students choose to sit by the window alone? Why did these students chose not to multitask? Students who did eat and socialize sat in the middle of the food court in the mix of everyone else. These students were studying too but they were multitasking. These students were mainly white and black. This is when I came up with  the question, is multitasking not normal for people from other countries? or do they rather get their work done before doing anything else?
I never expected to notice something like that when I initially started my research. I now know that I need to change my habits and pay attention to the little details and patterns. I decided that every time I visit the food court I will change one of my habits. For example next week I am going to try new foods and observe the people who tried those foods. After I examine everything about the food court I will then start my interviews, prepared with a lot of meaningful questions other then why are you here ? and what are you eating?
-Ayinah S

The site I chose was the food court in the student center at William Patterson University. I chose this site because  majority of the student body spend their free time in the student center including me. Students also seem to feel more comfortable there which means I will be able to conduct more successful interviews.Majority of theses students are commuters. The minority of these students are residential students. Residential students come to the food court to order food and take it to go, commuters choose to sit and eat with other commuters. I came to the conclusion that the student center food court is used for students to socialize, eat and study. I noticed that students would spend more time than necessary in the student center, even if they are no longer eating or studying they will sit there on there cell phone or there tablet. These students are usually separated into groups. For example separated by race, gender and age. They are also separated into social groups like sport teams, sororities and other clubs. I also noticed that these groups all have different food choices. Upper classman girls and girls that are in a sorority choose to eat salad, sushi and other healthy things. The boys on sport teams choose to eat unhealthy options such as pizza and cheese burgers. I then came to the conclusion that the student center is a place to socialize and spend time with your friends.
 My observations led me to a few initial questions. Why do students choose to spend there free time here? What percent of these students are commuters? How does race and social class play apart in grouping in the food court? What are these students interests? and last, Is socializing in the student center something students look forward too?
I participate in this culture on a daily basis. I eat at the food court twice a day and I also study there before classes. As a freshman I have yet to join any clubs or socialize with other students therefore I am there alone. I noticed that other friends do the same thing. So I wonder, is this a freshman thing? do freshman choose to eat alone because they have yet to make friends?
As of now I do not have a main focus, I will continue to participate in this culture to get a better understanding of socializing in the food court at the student center.

-Ayinah S

Reflection on Field notes

In the second floor of the student center there are three different sections to sit. In those three sections each of them have five chairs with an ottoman in the middle. I always choose to sit in the second section. Where I sit, I face the staircase and observe the students who use the stairs and the elevator. But I still pay attention to the other sections around me.

In my head I was expected to see people actually studying instead of being distracted. I soon later found out that, it was false because not all students actually study. It is very interesting to see the different things they do when they have free time. In those days that I spent my time upstairs in the student center it was noon and it was not common hour. There were barely any student in sight and there was so many empty seats.

However when I went to the student during common hour, it was crowed and no seats were available. Luckily I sat next to a girl who was constantly on her laptop and being distracted. While in common hour many students where hanging out with friends in groups. Either they went up there to meet up someone or just sit and waste time.

In another occasion I decided to go to the student center around two o’clock and again not many students around there. Some of the questions that came up was “Do the majority of the students have morning or afternoon classes?” Is common hour a time where individual students hangout? Why there are groups of students in the student center during common hour compare to the regular days? Does culture or race have to do anything with this? There were so many questions to ask but no answers, yet.

While I was observing I notice that in order to get an accurate response to these questions I would need to do some kind of interview or survey.  I want to do a survey to see if there is any specific race/culture that rather be in the student center. My answers to this questions have to be accurate and strong in order for me to find a pattern. Having some much time in between my classes makes me realize that I should go up there and record the different times students tend to be there compare to the other days.

-Angelica M.

Reflection on fieldnotes

There are many things I've noticed while observing "World Gym" that I've never actually thought about. The biggest thing I've noticed while observing the "World Gym" is that among the big/athletic people in the gym, there are competitions between all of us. When I say "All of us", I am  including myself, the reason there is competition between us is because we want to be better than the person working out near us. Since this is the case we even make it a competition among ourselves to see who can lift the most weight with the best form.

I've been doing this for years but just recently realized exactly what it was that I am doing. For example, a person would be bench pressing decently heavy weights and my next workout is to bench press too, so I do my work out in the bench right next to him. I feel as if everyone in the free weight section is so similar and intact with each other that we can make a competition on lifting the most weights with just a simple look toward any person. Since I personally have a lot of experience with this, I can honestly say that if you lose not only do you gain a lot of respect for that person but you also gain a lot of motivation to push harder and better yourself.  In the beginning when I would lose against someone else I would hate the feeling and get mad.  Now I’ve learned that it cannot be like that. I have to be able to accept it and try to better myself.

When I observed for the first time that I have competing like this for years and did not even know it, I laughed at myself.  I feel that it just became second nature for us to just look at one another and compete. While you are in the moment you block everything else and just focus on not losing, which for me is fun.  Other people seem to like the feeling too because when they are working out they seem to always be looking around for someone to out lift.

Lately no one comes next to me to challenge me which I find weird because I would always have at least two people daily. I guess it is because I have nearly beat everyone who goes around the time that I do.  Now when I work out and lift heavy weights all I get is stares from everyone and people coming up to me to give me credit and compliments. I love the feeling of having so much respect but I still do miss being able to compete and trying to out lift the person next to me. Do they not challenge me anymore because they are scared of losing? Can it be because they do not challenge people anymore? Whatever the case may be I will keep observing and ask questions to better understand why this is the case. I hope soon enough there will be someone to challenge me again so I could shit on them real quick. If by chance I ever lose again, I will have my motivation to better myself and work out harder, which I have been lacking and really been needing.

-Junior V

Reflections on Observations and Fieldnotes

My choice of site is the U shaped concrete bench that people hang out at outside Overlook South and I'm specifically studying the vape culture located there that honestly has me intrigued beyond belief. From what I have witnessed so far, it appears to me that vaping is an exclusively male dominated activity. Any females that I see approach usually ask for cigarettes, which I do not understand if vaping is supposed to be better for you than actually smoking cigarettes. Everyone who I so far have witnessed vaping turn out to be very sociable and approachable, considering I'm friends with them.

This leads me to a general question of,"Does vaping make you appear more friendly and approachable?" From what I personally have witnessed so far, yes. As I was observing the culture and tallying how many people passed through the area, I discovered that out of the 137 students that I saw pass by, 67 of them were African-American, 55 were Caucasian, and 15 were either Hispanic or Middle Eastern. This gives me the question of ," Do Hispanic-American and Middle Eastern-American students not like this school, since there's so few of them?" I am going to continue to observe the site and learn as much as I possibly can about the communities that go to this school, as well as vaping.

I participated in the culture via discussion about various things college students talk about (Sports, different mods for vapes, weed, classes, etc.) and when we got onto the subject of vaping, I told them about how I was doing my ethnography paper on vape culture, and they were all too happy to start explaining to me what vapes actually are, the different flavors, everything. It was mind boggling. I have not tried to vape yet, but I am willing to try anything (for those of you that know me, you know this is true) and I have high hopes that it will be a great experience for me.

I plan to go at random intervals of the day to my site because the same group of people with additions here and there are always at the U, and I really am curious if vaping is a male dominated activity. It is also so I can become friends with them and integrate myself into the community, so I may both learn from firsthand experience vaping with them and become friends with them during my four years of schooling here at William Paterson.

Fieldnotes Reflection

I decided to split the student center up into three corners. The first corner being corner number one which consist of the view of Billy Bear Grill, The Asian Cuisine, and half of the Sub Connection. Corner number two gives me full coverage of the Sub Connection and partial view of Billy Bear Grill and partial view of The Wingery. And finally corner three gives me full view of the Pioneer Pizzeria, the couch section, partial view of The Wingery, and also partial view of the Sub Connection.

This week’s observation was in corner three. I was only able to observe on Friday this week, which led me to a possible overall question, “Is the Student Center generally accessed by residents or commuters?” This question came to mind because I noticed how empty the student center was on Friday compared to how pact it usually is during the week days (Monday-Thursday). So I automatically assumed that either the student center is occupied by residents who goes home for the weekends, or it is occupied by commuters who generally does not have class on Fridays.

Knowing that this project is based off of observation rather than assumption, I plan on interviewing multiple students and asking whether they commute or reside on campus. Maybe this will also help with my observations as well because I have been seeing a lot of students eating/sitting alone. I can also ask the students what year they are in as well and then I can put my observations together and see what leads to this.

My observations leads me in so many different directions and so many questions left to be answered. During my observation in corner three, I have noticed that out of 33 people, 16 were sitting and eating alone. Out of the 16 people, 5 were girls which eventually led me to think, “Why are the guys more inclined to be alone then the girls?” But that can be anything, because just as they say that girls don’t like to go to the bathroom alone, who knows, maybe girls aren’t likely inclined to eat alone either.

I don’t want to get too deep into my observation, but I did break everything down into tables, and how diverse the tables were (race). I also wrote down if they were mixed with different genders as well as with different races. I did the same thing fort the people sitting alone. I wrote down how many were of different races, and split them up by gender.

As of now, I’m not really clear of what my main focus is just yet, but I can honestly say that the more I observe and jot down notes, the clearer the project becomes to me. I have so many questions to be answered, but as Professor Myers said, I have to weed out which ones have an obvious answer and keep the ones that are not exactly clear on the answer, and find an answer through my research and observation.

-Rosie G.

Parking

So far college has been a great experience. I've met a lot of people and everyone is very nice except when it's time to find parking on campus. Without even having to say much I know most of you already know what I mean by that. It is literally the worst part of my day by far.  Before starting college I heard about how difficult it would be to find a spot but never took it serious until my first day.

On my first day of school I got there 10 minutes before class started. I thought I was going to be able to find parking somewhere in lot 5 since it was the biggest one, but I was completely wrong. Not only was there no parking there but there were no spots in lot 4 too. By this point I was already 15 minutes late and just decided to park my car at lot 6, which was one of the worst mistakes ever. On the first day I decided, for some reason, to wear sweat pants and a black t-shirt which made it even hotter for me.  By the time I reached the class I was 25 minutes late, but what confused me was that there was no one in class except for one other person arriving at the same time as me. We were waiting in class for another 10 minutes until I checked my email and realized class was cancelled.

The next day was the same situation but worse because I had to come in even earlier. Again I circled the parking lots 50 times looking for a spot.  I must either be really bad at finding a spot with someone leaving or people just like messing with me and giving the spot to the person behind me because it happened more then 5 times that day.  In the end I ended up parking in lot 6 once again and of course I had to walk that long path just to get to class. 

Days after that I would repeat the same process, sometimes wondering how happy people must get when they find such a good spot right next to campus. Soon enough I was tired of parking so far so I decided to start using the garage. It's a nice feeling knowing that I'm so close to my classes and don't have to walk so far except until I come back and have to pay for it. I continued to use the garage because of my broken hand which made it a bit more difficult to even drive.

Now that I don't have a cast anymore it's a lot easier to find a spot, I guess I just had to get used to it.  Now thankfully I'm one of those people with a big smile on their face because they found such an amazing parking spot.  It's an even better feeling walking through the lot toward class and having people ask you if I'm leaving so they can take my spot.  I just tell them no and remember how it used to be me always going around the lots like that.  For those of you reading this who still experience that just use the garage.



-Junior V

Fun Times In Orchestra

Of my college experience thus far, I really enjoy the music program here at William Paterson. As a Music major (in my case, Classical Music Education), it's somewhat expected for you to get involved in music ensembles at college. Considering the fact that one of the many things William Paterson is known for is its Jazz Studies program, and that back at my high school I was in Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band, Jazz Ensemble, Marching Band, Indoor Drumline, and in Tri-M (Music Honors Society), I saw this as no challenge to me. Now, compared to most degrees, as a music major, you can get accepted from the college, but in order to get into the music program, you have to audition. I was able to get in, and during the first week of school, we had re-seating auditions (to see if anyone improved since their initial audition, this determines part placement), and besides Professor Davis (everyone calls him Doc, and he is the definition of a Southern Gentleman because he's from Alabama and is the nicest man I may have ever met) being at my re-seating audition, the orchestra director, Professor Dackow, was also there. I expressed to her my interest in joining the orchestra here at William Paterson because back at my high school, the Music Department and Strings Department never really got along, so I've always wanted to be in a legitimate orchestra.


Fast forward a few days to Concert Band where Doc was reading off the list of names for orchestra, and my name is called(signifying that I am now in Orchestra, in addition to Concert Band). After we were done playing, Doc sent out an email telling all of us to be in Room 101(same room as Concert Band) on Wednesday, at 7PM. I show up, and I recognize some friends of mine from concert band, and after some general rules from Professor Dackow, music is passed out. Now, for those that do not know, I play the trombone (THIS THING WITH THE SLIDE) and for the most part, anyone who plays low brass instruments will usually only see repertoire in the keys of Bb major ( 2 flats),  F major (1 flat), and Eb major (3 flats), for these three are the most common keys that composers write contemporary music in. I was expecting a piece with that in mind. 

I am instead treated to a piece called Nabucco, and it's in the key of A major (3 sharps). (Here's a link if you want to listen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGhd5kGM7dk). I collectively pull a WTF, as I have never been in an orchestra before, and was not expecting sharps at all. Thanks to my high school having an excellent music department and great teachers, I can play in most of the keys with relative ease, but it's not every day that you see pieces in sharp keys. I sightread through it(which is always the hardest part of playing a new piece) and at the end of rehearsal, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's something about orchestra that really gives you an appreciation for Bach, Mozart, Handel, and Beethoven that Concert Band simply cannot provide, because playing in Concert Band and playing in Orchestra are two completely different things. And I RELISH in it.




-Kimball, J.

Not so Lucky day's

It all started about two weeks ago, when I moved into a kind of shady town because living on campus is way too expensive. So I choose to live in a house and commute back and forth. My parents were not okay with the area but they made sure that I had everything I needed.

 It was hard saying bye to them because I was there only girl, unfortunately I have two brothers but they aren’t important. I was happy living on my own but it was hard because of my mom’s cooking. I was actually starting to cook for myself and I did pretty good, but when the food did not come out as I expected there was always chinse food around the corner. Did I mention the parking in my shady street? Well the parking was terrible than the parking in the school. During my first week of college I was having the worst luck. I got into a car accident, thankfully I was okay, and then I got a parking ticket, and then got locked out of my own house. Strangely enough Tuesday and Thursdays were the worst luck, on the other side Monday’s and Wednesdays were my lucky days.  During my lucky days I meet a lot of people, got invited to parties (sadly I could not attend because of how far of the drives were), While everyone snapchatted about the parties and how much they were having fun. I was in bed with a bag of chips and watching Grey’s Anatomy, just because of Mcdreamy, those night were basically 8 hours of that show. Back to my lucky days, I was able to find parking both on my street and school. Eventually I started having good days, every day. But my cooking has not gotten better and I eventually gave up and started to do take out. Which is so convenient and highly recommended.

            

             By: Angelica Martinez-Analco

Sharing Is Caring

I've been dreaming about getting away from home just about my entire life. Not for any specific reasons, but just because I wanted to explore the real world, and be out on my own for once. Obviously, that get away, would be college.

Here I am, 18 years down the line and what do you know? I’M FINALLY IN COLLEGE. This is the moment I have been waiting for my entire life: Parties, hotties with the bodies, and of course, MORE parties! Because, I mean, everyone loves college right?


What do I get instead? No friends, a room that is in comparison to a prison cell, no Wi-Fi, and PLENTY of time on my hands.

Here’s something I didn’t think of though, staying in my dorm all day, BUT, having to share a bathroom with three other human beings. I have never appreciated anything more in my life, than growing up in a household with three bathrooms. It is such a sin to have to wait an hour, yes, an HOUR, to use the bathroom. I was lying in bed watching Friday Night Lights, and had the sudden urge to use the bathroom.

So I get up to hear noise coming from inside the bathroom.
With such tragedy to my bladder, I realized my suit mates and some friends were getting dressed/ready to go out. Now, EVERYONE knows how long it takes for any girl to get dressed, especially when they are heading out for the night.


Here I am, standing on the other side of the door, doing my little potty dance, bouncing from side to side, furiously texting my best friend how bad I had to use the bathroom. She kept encouraging me to knock on the door and let them know, but I didn’t want to seem rude. When I finally heard the first sign of silence, I hastily bolted through that door. Moral of the story, I never in my life, waited an hour just to use the bathroom.

One thing I do love about my college experience thus
far, is the beautiful scenery. I love seeing the little beavers crawling around campus. With fall approaching, the campus will soon be colorful with the dying leaves, and will leave a harmonious tone to the scenery.


So I guess the next time I find myself waiting an hour for the bathroom, I can just step outside and pass the time by enjoying the view.

-Rosie G.

  

Laundry

                When most people enter college they have a list concerns. Will they be able to keep up with the work, will they make new friends, will the food be good etc. me on the other hand, my only concern was laundry. Up until college my mother had done my laundry for me. I didn’t have to worry about what should be dried and what shouldn’t. I didn’t have to worry about separating whites from colored. I didn’t have to worry about what should be folded and what should be ironed none of which was my concern. Most college students had done laundry in their day, but me on the other hand I was facing a whole new world when it came down to doing my laundry. As expected I had the worst experience with washing clothes. To my luck I ruined almost my whole wardrobe.

                The first time I went to wash my clothes I poured almost half a bottle of detergent in it. All of my clothes came out very sticky and gooey. I then attempted to dry it, big mistake, it took me almost 3 hours to get them semi-dry just to have to walk around all week smelling like I work at a laundromat with chunks of laundry detergent materializing in my pockets.

                The second time I went to do my laundry I was a little more confident. I now knew how much detergent to use so that I won’t make the same mistake twice. But this time I faced a whole new obstacle, I mixed my colors with my whites and big fluffy blue blanket now all of my white clothing are blue and fuzzy. I wanted to give up washing so bad. I was ready to pack my clothes up every weekend and take them home to my mom so that she could do them for me, but I decided to not give up yet and try one more time.

                This time before I went into the laundry room I had the exact amount of detergent needed, I had my clothes separated into two separate bags, one for white one for colored, I even had bleach to try to bring my white clothes back to life. I was ready I just knew that I will come out the laundry room victorious.

                After I finished washing all of my clothes I then put them in the dryer. Feeling great about my new accomplishment I decided to go get some snacks and watch tv until they were finish. When I returned someone decided to do me a great favor, they took my wet clothes out of the machine and laid them neatly across the table so that they can air dry but instead they now smell like mildew.

                I learned a great lesson so far in college, pay someone to do your laundry for you.

-Ayinah S.