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.