College – Page 5 – Living off Leesh

Rant time

Published on November 23, 2015May 27, 2018 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hi all, so, at my university, I am taking a class called Africa Studies 200. It’s like a writing and rhetoric studies class but the thing we focus on in our writings are Africana studies. I am a very liberal human being, and if you were friends with me on Facebook you would certainly know that due to the many things I share on Facebook on a daily basis. That and my love for dogs and Christmas. I only post about those 3 things… or so I was told. So, prior to taking this class, I wouldn’t say I had a poor knowledge on the world but I have come to realize after being in this class for 13 weeks, is that white people suck. I’m white, I can say that honestly, we suck. The Paris attack occurred about a week ago, and the other day on campus a white male student, attacked a Muslim student. He pushed a girl and pulled her by her head scarf all the while making hateful remarks and threats to this woman solely based on her ethnicity. She wasn’t physically harmed, but emotionally I can only imagine what she is dealing with right now. The man got away and now, students, police, and faculty all over campus are trying to catch this man so that he doesn’t do anymore damage.
There is this app, called YikYak, that is mainly used for college students. It’s like twitter but anonymous. Someone posted on this app the sketch of the suspect for the crime, and that there was to be a rally the next day to show out support for this girl and every other Muslim student on campus and someone commented with “One guy does this small thing and you guys are freaking out over this? It’s nothing. Get over yourselves.” How can we live in such a world today where women getting hit and threatened based on merely their ethnicity is a thing, and there are some people who don’t see the bad in that? I can’t comprehend with how this is a thing. This is not one small and stupid occurrence. Something like this could happen again and again and we will keep blowing this off.
Back to the Paris attacks (Sorry this is all over the place but I’m ranting and in doing so I am just letting my mind flow free) or not even to the Paris attacks but back to everything that occurred on that horrible Friday the 13th. People are only discussing the Paris attacks because it occurred by Muslims. That is the only reason that it is so hyped. By no means am I trying to play off what happened in Paris as something minor. All I’m trying to say is that there were so many other events that occurred on that day, The Lebanon Attacks, the Mexico Earthquake, just to name a few. But there are so many people who don’t/didn’t know about the other events on this day is because the victims were white Europeans/white European descendants. People in this day and age, and the media especially, are only focusing on white Anglo-Saxon individuals because for some reason people still believe that they are more important than others. This concept boggles my mind. On the day of the France v Germany soccer game (I’m from America so football is soccer and American football is football), an individual tried taking a bomb into the arena, with what I’m assuming, hope of detonating it in there in hopes of killing many more people than were killed on the 13th. A man spotted this bomber and was able to ensure that he wasn’t allowed to enter. The bomb was taken and detonated outside of the arena (hence the explosion that alarmed those in the arena that night). I’m going to assume that many of you didn’t know that. Want to know why? Because the man who saved the entire arena from dying was a Muslim man. And, a Muslim man can’t be a hero.
It baffles my mind how people are not able to compare every Christian individual with the KKK yet we are able to identify every Muslim individual with ISIS and being a terrorist. This world we live in is not a good one, and there are so many things wrong with the world. Innocent people are being killed, innocent people are being ‘randomly selected’ in airports (yay racial profiling) and innocent people are being blamed for one small group of their religious groups for being absolutely insane, when 99% of them are innocent and only want peace. The world we live in needs work, and the way to not get that done is by being racist homophobic misogynistic assholes. We need to work together to get to world where we can all coexist peacefully and not blame an entire religion for a small sect’s doings.
Talk to you all soon, and hank you for listening to my rant
Alicia

What’s your position

Published on November 22, 2015October 14, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hey guys, so for my sociology class, we had to write a Position paper. What this entails is taking a position on a sociological topic, and writing 5 pages about it. I wrote mine on school lunches because this topic of food is very important to me and I thought I would share my findings.

As processed foods increasingly become a part of the everyday diet for most Americans and many people across the world, we need to stop and think. What is actually in processed foods? Well, the answer to that question is nothing good. The reason the childhood obesity rate in the United States has risen 11% in the past 22 years (CDC) is because of these processed foods. Children are being given these processed foods in schools because they are cheaper, quicker, and just easier for the school and parents to provide. Processed foods have taken over America and have become a staple in almost every American child’s diet, hence the alarming obesity rate here. We as a Nation need to remove processed foods from children’s diets. While no one can assure that children don’t eat processed foods in the comfort of their homes, we can ensure that schools do not feed the children processed foods and for the schools that have vending machines, do not permit processed foods in these machines. While this is a stretch in happening, the health of our youth and every citizen in general needs to be a top priority so that not everyone in America ends up with Diabetes by the age of 30. As far back as I can remember, the idea of a food pyramid and eating healthy has been shoved down the throats of students across the country in order to promote healthy eating and to decrease the rate of obesity and overweight children across the country. There is one problem with this. How are we supposed to be eating healthy when our school lunches are not healthy?
Both of my parents work and it was a struggle to remember or have time to pack me a lunch everyday because of how early they had to leave so nearly every day I had a hot lunch (lunch provided by the school). These lunches ranged from corn dogs and peas which an orange slice to a pizza slice with extra cheese and fruit cup. No one (at least no one I knew) ate the peas because no one liked them. The orange slice and fruit cups were always soggy or too ripe to eat so everyone discarded the healthy options merely because they didn’t look or seem as appetizing as the pizza or corn dogs. According to livestrong.com, in 2012, the US government update the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs (NSLP) which says, “Changes included counting fruits and vegetables as separate meal groups, offering fruit every day, making half of grain choices whole grains, giving different grades different meal sizes and reducing sodium and trans fat in meals.” However, even after implementing these changes, not all schools follow this rule which means that not every school gives students the healthy options the deserve and need, and not every student is able to eat a balanced diet. This rule is supposed to ensure that students across the Nation are being fed what they need to live a healthy life, not ignored by schools everywhere. I’m not one hundred percent sure whether or not my school followed/follows this rule, however I’m well aware that even though a fruit cup, or serving of peas or carrots is served to students on a daily basis, that does not guarantee that these students will be eating them. Our nation needs to not only focus on how to get all schools to give their students the recommended amount of healthy foods needed to function, but also to ensure that we focus on getting students to want to eat healthy as well. Eating healthy is a two-way street. Schools will only feed their students healthy food if they know the students will eat them and the only way for the students to be able to eat the healthy food is for the schools to provide it for them.
Another issue with the school lunch debate is that lunches have become another quarrel with numbers. The caloric limit for a school lunch, the max amount of money spent on each school lunch per student per day, etc. With the debate on numbers, it is almost as if the student does not matter in this equation. According to the culinary Arts department of the Art Institute, schools receive $2.68 per student per meal per day. While many would assume that this $2.68 is solely for the food itself, we are incorrect. “That $2.68 must cover payment not just for the food, but also any labor, facility, and structural costs a school incurs. Additionally, schools are mandated to use part of that money for milk purchases (Art Institute).” Do we not see the issue here? How is it possible to give a healthy lunch to students (31.2 million students participate in the school lunch program across the country (Art Institute)) when they must get a meal, get people to serve this food, and do so many other things with $2.68 per student? It’s not feasible. We as a nation need to get our priorities straight. People across the country are always complaining that we spend so much money on Healthcare, yet how can we reduce the costs on Healthcare when more and more people are getting diabetes from poor eating habits, which most of the time start in schools? According to Forbes, In February of 2014, the annual Healthcare spending in the United States reach a chocking high of $3.8 trillion. Not nearly is all of this money spent on overweight/obese children, however overweight and obese children lead to overweight and obese adults. When you are overweight and obese as an adult you have a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, abnormal blood fats, metabolic syndrome, cancer, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, gallstones and so many more diseases (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) , which the United States does spend millions of dollars on per year. While the Health Care spending would not plummet by a Trillion dollars, by spending more money on providing healthier food for our children, the effect would be that we would be spending less on Health Care later in life because these children would not need as much care as they would have needed if they were obese. We need to start working sooner rather than alter on addressing this issue until all 38% of people ages 619 who are obese end up with some of the above mentioned diseases and our health care spending has to continue increasing to cope with everything that healthier food could easily fix.
While there are many people who believe that school lunches need to be fixed and fixed quickly, there are also some people who believe that school lunches are fine the way that they are. These who believe that schools that make lunches more healthy are unnecessary for a variety of reasons. According to Livescience, children will throw away their fruits and vegetables no matter how many they are given, simple because they do not want them. If they do that then the whole process of getting fruits and vegetables into lunches would have been a waste. However, a study conducted by Live Science, shows that students would be eating their fruits and vegetables had they had more time to eat. They eat their favorite part of the meal first and the fruits and vegetables last, but only if they have time. With some schools giving their students only 20 minutes (and in some cases less) to eat their lunch and socialize with friends can only be assumed that not everyone will finish their lunch. The answer to this problem is easy: Rearrange the schedule so that kids have more time to eat. The more time they have to eat, the more likely they are that they will eat their vegetables. Michelle Obama, who is notorious for trying to make school lunches and children’s lives more healthy in general, has received white a hatred for this. Students across the country have created a hashtag for twitter (#ThanksMichelleObama) because they do not like the lunches they are being given. Despite all of this hate, and people thinking that children aren’t eating their fruits and vegetables, there are those students fighting back. Students are discussing that they will be eating their fruits and vegetables and telling the students using the #ThanksMichelleObama that they will thank her in 20 years when they don’t have diabetes. Michelle Obama is moving us in the right direction of getting students to believe in eating healthier, we just have to get the rest of the Nation on board as well.
As the era of processed foods become more and more prevalent, it is necessary that we stop and tell ourselves that while processed food is quick, cheap, and all around easier, it is not necessarily better for us. Students across the country are struggling with obesity due to the processed and unhealthy food they are being given at school on a daily basis. Schools need to implement more fruits and vegetables, and healthier food in general into the diet of all students because the obesity rate of children and adolescents in the United States is on the rise and needs to start going down soon before everyone in America is overweight or obese and has diabetes. There are many rules in place to try to ensure healthy eating in schools but these rules are not always followed. We all need to work together to promote healthy eating, lengthen the time of lunch for students, and show the government that healthy eating will benefit us all in the long run.
Well, hope you all enjoyed that and that you learned something
Talk to you all soon
Alicia

Ohhh hey, more sorority talk

Published on November 12, 2015June 25, 2016 by Alicia1 Comment

Hey all, this will probably be a quick post. So, as I’ve posted a bit, I joined a sorority, and then had to drop due to money and being poor, however, we had already picked bigs (she’s basically a mentor we mutually pick who becomes our bestie) had already made my crafts and still wanted to do a cute reveal for me.

So, me, my big, and my grandbig (my big’s big) went to lunch and I was introduced to the “AMORE Fam” (there are different families in each sorority) and they have been so kind and loving even though I’m technically not in the sorority right now. That was yesterday (Wednesday) that we got together and had my mini reveal.

Anyways, today was actual Big-Little reveal and my family took a picture together so I took the time to Photoshop my cute self into and post it on instagram. So the whole family took the picture and posted it on Facebook and instagram and commented how they were so sad I couldn’t so the sorority this semester but that they were looking forward to me being back next semester.

Honestly, it makes me so sad that people hate on sororities because these girls are so amazing and i love them all so much

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

My workspace… Not really

Published on November 11, 2015June 25, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

When you walk into college on the first day, you are presented with a desk, closet, micro-fridge,and a bed. I purposely bought a chair cushion to use for it because I knew the chair wouldn’t be comfortable. How many times have I used that cushion? I Think four times but never have they been for school work. I spend most of time in the dorm under the warm comforter I bought because out thermostat likes to tell us it is 65 degrees in the dorm even when we have it set for 90.

Nevertheless, I still use most of the objects on the desk and will give you guys the lowdown on everything on and around my desk.

Let’s start on the top and work my way down. P.S. my desk is typically this clean when I don’t have class. If I do have class it also contains my key, papers, folders, notebooks, more water bottles, and the occasional shoe.

Paintings– My sister made them. I didn’t. I have nary an artistic bone in my body. I forced her to paint me the cat one and she painted me the Tangles one for my birthday. She’s chill.

Calender- This was probably the best investment for school. I think I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond and it’s a 3 piece sticky calendar set. One is a month calendar, one is a week calendar, and the 3rd is a notes board. I use this thing religiously and it’s always so much better than getting my planner out. @everyone going to college next year or who’s in college now. get one. Now

Top Shelf– Contains large pack of paper my roommate and I may never fully use, a few stuffed animals from home, my Buddha, cards and letters from home, my pencil holder which I definitely need to position closer to my bed because getting up every time I lose my pen in bed is a hassle, my alarm clock (still haven’t used it. My phone definitely works just as well), deck of cards for when I’m bored, room freshener (it’s a cute one with the beads and highly necessary. We both smell and this keeps us from smelling less), my mouth guard (I grind my teeth when I sleep).

Middle shelf Assortment of notebooks, notepads, random journals I told myself I would use and never did. dictionaries (English and Spanish yay Spanish), paper clips, stapler, hole punch, tape, highlighters, sticky notes. You know the random desk necessities which you don’t need until you don’t have. Minus the hole punch and stapler. I have surprisingly uses them a substantial amount this year.

Bottom shelf– large pile of crap I got from school which I will need at some point, just not today. Also my toms bag which has stickers and things I want to put on my laptop once I get a hard case for it. More notepads and sticky notes. I also have a large roll of tape for when I have to send my textbooks back at the end of the semester and my old phone. lol my old phone

Right of my desk– an empty water bottle which shouldn’t be empty. The cup that we all got on the first day of school. I haven’t drank from it but it did hold my earrings when I cleaned them. An electric pencil sharpener is also hiding behind my water bottle. A lamp that I have only used to charge my phone when I couldn’t find the wall plug and a picture of my grandma.

Left of my desk: Well my laptop cover which has nothing in it because I’m using my laptop. I have my sunglasses, headphones, vitamins, lint roller (COMES IN SO HANDY WOW), a large thing of hand sanitizer (ALSO COMES IN SO HANDY WOW), and of course mt textbooks, a few notebooks, and folders.

That’s my desk. I also have more crap on my floor and stuff. I may make an entire room tour video thing if this posts gets a comment or a few likes that say they want me to do it.

Until next time.

Alicia

Goals upon goals

Published on November 10, 2015May 27, 2018 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hey all.

Recently I had to do a project for my Honors class where we had to create a 15 minute presentation discussing our goals and how we plan to achieve them. However, I don’t believe life is all about our long-term (5+ years) goals. I believe having short terms are necessary as well. So what better way to remember these short-term goals than by blogging about them?

Day goals:

Make my bed- making my bed gives me a false sense of having my life together- and I love it
Do homework- I hate doing it but it has to be done
Return the phone I got- Verizon sent me two iPhones and I have to trek to the post office and return it
Reach 10,000 steps- My daily fitbit step goal
Eat 100% vegan- pretty self explanatory
Drink 2 liters of water- DO THIS EVERYDAY-IT’S GOOD FOR YOU

Week goals:

Ace my Bio Exam
Meet my Sorority Big (I’m not in it anymore but she still wants me to know who she is)
Go to the Homecoming Football Game
Finish all of my homework- And don’t procrastinate on it
Make a packing list for going to Phoenix
Get my lotus tattoo and nose piercing (Friday)

Month Goals:

Begin studying for finals- I can’t procrastinate
Have a blast in Phoenix- visiting my aunt and best friends for Thanksgiving
Make a packing list for going home- I love lists and hate forgetting things
Write down everything I need to buy at home or bring from home so i don’t forget
Explore coffee shops- if you check out my instagram that’s all I do

Semester Goals:

Don’t fail any classes
Make more friends
Join clubs
get a 3.5 GPA
Be 100% vegan

Winter Break Goals:

Work as a nanny
See everyone I’ve missed while at school
Relax
Create 2nd semester schedule
Switch closets with my sister- we switched rooms once I left but I need to get everything out of my closet

Year long goals:

Decide on a major- double major in Spanish and _______
Get a job
Join clubs
Become an AM
Become an Ambassador

That’s all I have for now, but the list will grow. I think I will post weekly goals on my Monday posts. But probably not daily goals because I don’t always post the posts the same day I wrote them.

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

See you again

Published on November 9, 2015May 27, 2018 by Alicia6 Comments

Hey everyone…

A few posts ago i talked about my sorority that I’m in at my university. Well, much to my dismay, I had to drop from it the other day. It’s not because I hated it, oh gosh quite the opposite I loved the girls and everyone I’d met through it. However, after becoming a broke college kid, I can’t pay for it this semester. I will be working all winter break back home and am hoping to get a job here in San Diego next semester in order to pay for it. Until then, I have to drop from the sorority.

It’s been so weird seeing everyone and having them ask where I’ve been and being removed from our pledge class’ group message. While I’m very sad to be going I can’t ask my parents or grandparents to pay for it after I’ve made them pay for all the damages that the scammer did. I am very sad to go, but it’s not goodbye. I have made great friendships with so many of the girls that we will continue to hang out and that I will be back if not in the spring, then definitely next fall. i will miss all of my sisters and hanging out with them on the daily, but I will continue to support them all in their philanthropy and such.

Also, big little week is this week and since I was given a big, she is still going to be ‘revealed’ to me but just in person not a big reveal like the other girls in the sorority do.

Talk to you all soon.

Alicia

Why Random was the Right Choice for me

Published on November 8, 2015June 25, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

While most people spend months trying to sing the perfect roommate or trying to convince their high school bestie that living together won’t break up their friendship forever, I was still trying to convince my parents to let me go to school here in San Diego. Picking a roommate wasn’t really a top priority on my list.

All I did on the subject of a roommate was fill out a little survey of what time I go to bed, the loudness and brightness of the room when sleeping, and how clean I keep the room. Honestly, I was terrified since everyone I knew had hand-picked their roommate’s through facebook posts and messaging or through mutual friends.

Then I began to hear horror stories of bad random roommates. My aunt’s college roommate stole a lot from her, so much that she kept everything but bedding and toiletries in her car on campus.

The second we were able to see who our roommates were, I stalked her on instagram. It’s ok… she did the same to me. I saw that she was a vegan which is good I’m thinking because of my lactose allergy. She seemed like a nice girl.

Little did i know that a silly survey about bedtime and nightly regimen would turn into me finding my freshman year best friend. We both are allergic to gluten, love cartoon network, binge watching netflix, and silently judging people. She tolerates my obnoxious singing and my “rockland” phrases, and I tolerate her random noise making and terrible California terms. We’ve made it two months without killing each other and I’m sure we can survive more. If she somehow hasn’t killed me yet, I think I’m in the clear.

I’m so happy I got my roommate as my roommate because I doubt I could make fun, yell at, sing to, annoy, and piss off as much as her and somehow not have a knife in my head (she has threatened but it has yet to happen). So many people say random roommates are shitty, but personally I think I’m happier than all of my friends who picked their roommates. We didn’t have to impress each other over facebook or give each other false expectations of the super cool life we live and how great we are in order to woo each other. We literally just showed up on the first day of school and the rest is history

Did any of you guys go random? Did you have the same experience as me… or different?

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

Life Away from Home

Published on November 7, 2015June 25, 2016 by AliciaLeave a comment

Hey everyone.

So, a big question that I’m asked often if how do I do it? How do I spend months away from home. So far away from home my parents have to take a plane to get to me if they want to get to me that day or week. Do I get home sick often and how do I cope with being completely on my own? How do I miss my sister’s basketball game and dances, etc.?

To be honest, I don’t know. I ask myself how I don’t miss anyone or anything on the daily. I think it’s because I still keep contact with all my friends and family. And also because I wasn’t like inseparable with anyone in high school. My dad and I are pretty close and so are my sister and I but when I said goodbye to my sister I was half asleep and didn’t really realize I was saying goodbye for 4 months and my dad cried when I said goodbye so I cried then too. My mom and I really aren’t close and rarely talk and when we do, we yell. So, us being separated I feel has actually benefited us for the most part.

I have seen my family. My parents, sister, and grandma came to San Diego for parents weekend and then I’ll see them again at Christmas. I feel like since I know that I’ll see them I don’t have to dwell on the past of missing them when I can look forward to the next time I get to see them all.

Do any of you college peeps miss your families? Or are you cold and heartless like I am?

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

(Not so) Typical Broke College Student

Published on November 6, 2015October 14, 2016 by Alicia8 Comments

Hey all. Well a common understanding is that college kids have no money. You can see buzzfeed pictures of college kids turning pizza boxes into dust trays, and filling a gallon of milk up at the caf because we are just so resourceful at beating the system. It’s something you have to get good at. Fortunately for me, at least I thought at the time, the job I had recently gotten would ease my empty pockets. I could pay for my sorority, pay for college, and even have extra spending money for sushi nights and that newest pair of shoes.

I found this job on care.com. A website I thought to be home to nothing but sweet mothers and fathers who needed a break on date night or a nanny during the day on occasion during work hours. This is when I came across Mary. Mary traveled a lot and said she needed help with her son when her husband was at work and she was traveling. I said I would love to help her and sent her an email. All of a sudden Mary said she no longer needed a babysitter and that the position was filled, however she could use a personal assistant to help by sending her packages and paying bills and other odds and ends that she would say when they came up. Then she told me I would be paid $350 per week for only about 20 hours a month. $70 an hour is quite a lot I told myself. So, I obliged. She said I would begin working for her right away and that she would mail me checks to deposit into accounts to do all of her spending.

The next morning, she said I would meet with her when she got back from her business trip and that she needed my bank information to deposit money because she needed something done right away. I was a little hesitant but I soon obliged because she was paying me a lot. I did her first job of sending someone in South America about $1500. I didn’t know who it was but Mary said it was a family friend. Mary then deposited $2000 more dollars into my account to whom I would send to the same person. However it was unavailable at the time. She asked me for a loan of $300 for the time being and then I told her I didn’t have $300 in the account. I told her most of my money was in my savings account. She then asked for my savings account information which I promptly declines to give her. She claimed i didn’t trust her but then gave up trying.

The next morning I woke up early to go and send that money to South Africa when I received a notification from my bank’s app. There were 2: “You account balance is less than $5.00” and the other saying “You have overdrawn from your account.” I wasn’t sure what had happened. there should have been about $2210 in my account. Maybe it was a mistake or something I wondered. I logged onto my bank account and saw a number that terrified me and caused me to break into tears. A number of around -$5000 was staring me in the face. How could this happen? How? Frantically I tried calling and texting Mary with no luck. Finally, my teary eyed self called my mom. She has told me that this job seemed sketchy but i didn’t listen to her. I was in love with the money I thought I would have. There was no possible way to get my money back and no way to contact Mary. My mom and I spent several hours on the phone with out bank and Moneygram (the service used to transfer money) with no luck.

Because of this incident, I can’t open an account ever again with my bank and am a victim of fraud, all because I didn’t listen to my parents because I was obsessed with making money. Just saying to all of my fellow college nannies, always make sure you meet a person and never give out any personal information to anyone ever. I hope this never happens to anyone ever again. WE still don’t know if Mary is a real woman or where she lives. Her phone numbers were created with texting apps so we may never find out who she is.

Now, a poor college student becomes an absolutely broke college student who doesn’t get to leave campus or buy anything off of my meal plan or buy anything online for lord knows how long.

Keep this is in mind when dealing with anyone or anything online

Talk to you soon

Alicia

A Day in the Life

Published on November 5, 2015October 14, 2016 by Alicia3 Comments

As I’m procrastinating on my homework of reading 20 pages about how whites suck, I’m going to talk a little about my daily life as a college student aka me procrastinating even more and watching Netflix. Any who, it’s not too intense since I only have class 3 days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. However on these days I have classes from about 9-5 which, like I said before isn’t too bad. It gives a lot of time to watch Netflix… errr study. Right study. My day goes as such

6am gets woken by my roommate who is trying her hardest to not wake me up but she accidentally slams the door or drops something so I’m awake.

Despite this, I typically get back to sleep. On the occasions that I don’t I watch out my window at the sun rising. A very nice perk of having a dorm on the east side of campus. i enjoy being basic and doing time-lapse videos of the sunrise at time. Honestly, anything to occupy my time. When I’ve had enough basicness for one morning, I get up, shower, make my bed, put things back in their places, the usual. Now here is where it gets complicated, so listen. During my weekend, (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday) I typically hop back in bed and do homework, study, or watch Netflix. That’s pretty much all I do during those days unless I make plans with someone. I love having those days to relax because it allows my brain to cool off from nonstop classes the other three days. I highly recommend a 3 day college schedule because all day Friday i sleep, on Saturday I hang out with friends and Sunday and Monday I do homework. I am able to really get everything done and ensure I will have time left on Monday night to squeeze in a few more episodes on Grey’s Anatomy (my current and forever obsession Netflix. Need more recommendations from people because I’m almost done with the series… again..). On Tuesday and Thursdays I have class from 9:30-10:45. That’s Biology. It’s a lecture and won’t kill me if I miss it. So if I ‘forgot’ to do my Spanish homework the night before I don’t go to that class. At 11 we have Spanish. It’s Spanish 301 and since I’m only a freshman it’s terrifying. The students in that class are either native speakers or juniors and are super smart. Not sure how I received a 5 on my AP test to be enrolled in that class, but I did. And me and my few other freshman friends are making our way through the semester. When I depart from Spanish at 1215, I have a break before my 2 o’clock class. I typically go to Starbucks and get my venti shaken black tea lemonade unsweetened and then head back to the dorm. I have a class after my break that I always have a quiz so I study for that and then head to my 2 o’clock Africana studies class. That class is almost always cancelled, I actually haven’t had it in 2 weeks. But when we do have class, we take a 10 minute quiz in the beginning of class and then listen to a debate, have a discussion and then we get to leave. After that I make my way to my final class f the day: Honors. We typically discuss a reading that no one reads and there are like 5 kids who do all the talking. I typically read it but don’t pay enough attention to be able to talk about in class for 75 minutes. After that class, I finally get to return to the warmth and comfort of my bed where I do homework (maybe), eat dinner, and watch Netflix until my roommate gets frustrated that she’s going to be 3 hours after she said she would earlier that day. On Wednesdays (we wear pink lol), my load is a lot lighter with only 2 classes, however those two classes are both 2 hours and 40 minutes. Typically they never take the whole time which is nice. My first class is my Biology lab from 9-1140. It’s a pretty simple class with quizzes every other week. We have dissected sharks, a squid, and look at some very unique looking creatures; marine and terrestrial. After that class, I go to Starbucks again, and then head back to my dorm. I do homework for a while, or get lunch with a friend until my class at 4 begins. My class is Sociology and is very boring because everything he lectures is not on the test, yet he gives extra credit if you come to class so I kind of have to go. He typically releases us at 530 and then I get dinner and go to the library until 9 when I go home and finish any other homework I had and then go to sleep just to start my day over again.

Well that’s my week. I know you all were just wondering and on the edge of your seats as you read each line. But that’s my day. I have a lot of free time so I’ll be queueing blog post for a while. This post probably wasn’t posted the day I wrote it. Oops.

Talk to you all soon.

Alicia

P.S. be my friend and talk to me I need friends. I don’t bite.

Living the Srat Life

Published on November 3, 2015June 25, 2016 by Alicia6 Comments

A common misconception of sororities is that all the girls in the sorority paid to make their friends. Well, it you’re a college student, you paid for college, and you made friends in college. Doesn’t that make any friend you’ve made in school a friend you paid for? Any club or organization in school and on campus has dues, so you literally are paying to make friends. Yet, people always say to get involved on campus because it’s a great way to make friends. I got involved on campus through my sorority and made many friends. Friendships I never would have made had I not rushed and joined the Greek system. I love all of my new friends and wouldn’t trade my rush experience for the world.

Another misconception of all sororities is that all they do is party and sleep with guys. Sororities were founded on philanthropy and community service and that’s exactly what we do. My sorority, Delta Zeta, has a philanthropy where we work with Starkey hearing and try to help people hear. We raise money through gofundme and by having nacho nights at the chapter house a few times a year. We also go on sisterhood hikes to raise awareness too. While there are parties that every frat house hosts, not everyone in the chapter participates and parties aren’t only excluded to girls in sororities. Nearly everyone in college goes out and parties at least once and you don’t have to be in a sorority to be in one.

A lot of my younger friends have asked me about the pros and cons of joining Greek Life and I guess since I’ve told literally everyone I’ll tell you guys too in case any readers are wondering whether or not Greek Life is the life for them

Pros.

You make so many lifelong friendships
There is always someone to get food or go on an adventure with
Leadership opportunities (resume booster)
Connections with alumuna and your sisters/brothers for jobs after college
Sisterhood retreats- Day trips to Disney, random pumpkin patch trips and more
Philanthropic Events- nothing is better than giving back to others, but what makes it even better is doing it with your brothers and sisters.

Cons

Costs- It’s very expensive and I’m going to have to get a job in order to pay for it
The stigma- people who aren’t in Greek Life seem to hate and give it a bad rep
It takes up a lot of time(this hasn’t been an issue for me yet but it’s what everyone says so I’ll put it up here)
Rules- You have to dress a certain way for certain days and buy this shirt for this day.
Hazing- My sorority doesn’t haze and a lot of sororities don’t have either but frats are a different story. My roommate’s brother had to get his nipples pierced prior to being initiated.

Personally, I never thought the Greek scene was for me, until i rushed and met some amazing people who convinces me that being the stereotypical sorority girl wasn’t necessary to join a sorority, And now, I have some great friendships and memories that will last me forever.

What are your opinions on Greek Life? Are you in a frat or srat? Which one?

Talk to you all soon

Alicia

College Eating

Published on October 31, 2015May 27, 2018 by AliciaLeave a comment

The Freshmen 15. A phrase many people don’t believe to be true until they come home for winter break and see the pounds rise on the scale. Fortunately for me, i have lost weight since coming to school. It’s definitely not easy eating healthy (vegan and gluten free especially) yet somehow I’ve been able to do it.

At my school, or on the meal plan I have anyway, we are given about $20 to spend during the weekdays and about $14 during the weekends. We don’t really have a major cafeteria on campus, there is one but a lot of people spend their money at the many restaurants and the markets that we have on campus. We have many restaurants on campus but I try and only go to Chipotle, Oggi’s (pizza place with gluten free crust and vegan cheese), and the market. The markets have tons of food from sushi, a shake place, rice, fruit, vegetables, granola bars, and many other things that i eat. I also go to Trader Joe’s biweekly with my roommate for bread, peanut butter, bananas, apples, and other vegan- gluten-free needs.

Eating healthy in college is definitely not as hard as people make it out to be. As long as you don’t stay out all night drinking and then making 3am taco runs, you should be good. Personally I believe becoming a vegan in college is easier than not in college because your options are limited yet at those places you can always get a salad or something with no cheese. My roommate, some friends, and I also get sushi on occasions which is definitely a nice change from the regular diet of rice, soup, and pineapple. But, I suppose if I can eat healthy in college and lose 10 pounds, then anyone can. You just have to be committed to eating healthy and not eating a bunch of garbage throughout the day.

So many of my friends keep saying that eating healthy in college is impossible and how they ate panda express 3 times in one day, and then I tell them what I eat and they say it’s still impossible to eat healthy. I’m doing it so it can’t be possible. But they all can go ahead and eat panda express 3 times a day and gain 15 or more pounds while Im over here eating my rice and pineapple and getting happy that I need a smaller belt.

Talk to you all soon

Alicia