kgonzalez1510-blog

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Freshman Year Reflection

My freshman year of college had many ups and downs, but overall I would say I had a pretty great year. I remember at one point last semester I was looking at all of my classes I had to take for my major and almost had a mental breakdown because I was so overwhelmed with all of the science classes I would have to take. It was overwhelming because I was looking at a four year schedule plan all at once, when I should have just looked at one semester at a time. I remember calling my mom freaking out because I didn’t think I could do it. Now I know that I can do it, I found out this semester that I actually enjoy chemistry. This was a big surprise to me because I struggled with it in high school and hated it. I am proud that I was able to maintain all A’s and B’s throughout my freshman year of college. Especially with transitioning from high school work to college schoolwork, it is a huge challenge. I have never studied so much in my life compared to the amount that I do right now. I am excited for next semester because I will be taking classes I am more interested in, such as anatomy, two nutrition courses, and Spanish. Those classes will be my next steps to becoming an Applied Nutrition major. This English course has helped me with my time management skills because I don’t procrastinate much with our assignments. I also enjoyed the workshop days because I got to not only help my peers, but myself as well. I’m taking a lot of my prerequisite classes right now, like English and Math so I am not very interested in them but you gotta do what you gotta do. Overall I have loved being at Ohio University and I am not ready to go home for four months. 

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Why I Write

When I was younger I kept a diary or journal that kept all of my best memories and feelings into words. There is something about writing in a journal or to do lists that make you feel better. Writing your thoughts in journals can make you feel better because you are letting those emotions out. If you want to talk about something but not directly at someone, you can just write about it to feel better about yourself. I would consider my writing to be more on a personal and private level, I don’t really like reading what I write to other people. Another reason I write a lot is in my agenda everyday. My agenda is my everything, and if I don’t have it with me I feel like a hot mess. It organizes all of my school work and social life all onto pieces of paper. I plan my week in my journal so it helps me stay organized academically and socially. I also make to do lists very frequently to help with time management in college. For example I will write everything I have to do in that day, such as the dishes, take out the trash, make my bed, etc. We all write for many different reasons. In the text Orwell states, “All writers are vain, selfish, and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery.” I interpret this meaning that every writer writes for a different purpose that we may never know nor understand. 

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Ohio University

It honestly did not take me that long to decide on Ohio University when choosing a college in high school. I looked at a few schools including Bowling Green, University of Cincinnati, Miami University, and Ohio University. I didn’t really like BG because I felt like there was nothing to do on campus, and I did not really like the location. UC was my first school I visited and I thought I loved it, but in reality I think I just thought I loved it because it was the first school I saw. My top two schools was Ohio University and Miami. I loved both campuses because they were so similar, both were beautiful campuses with bricks everywhere. I felt right at home on these campuses, like I could see myself at either schools. I liked Miami a little more because it was closer to home though. Later in my senior year I found out I got deferred from Miami and I was really upset. After I found out I got deferred, I started to think about Ohio University and Cincinnati. It was weird that I liked both campuses because they are very opposite, one being in the city and the other being in a rural area. I then visited OU one more time and I realized I wanted to be here for the next four years. I am the first to go to college in my family so this was all my own decision. I am so glad I chose OU because I feel right at home, I love Court street and college green. I love the bricks and all of the friends it has given to me. First semester I was somewhat homesick but not near as much as I thought I would be. Now we only have three weeks left and I am sad I have to go back home. My freshman year of college went by so fast, but I am so grateful I chose this amazing school. 

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Procrastinator vs Planner

I have always been a huge planner when it comes to my schoolwork and academics. Whenever I think of something I have to do, it won’t leave my mind until I get that certain thing done. This is a curse and a blessing at the same time because sometimes I get overwhelmed with everything I have to do and I stress out really bad. I have learned that I have to take one thing at a time, and not look at the long overwhelming to do list. I would consider my brain to be more dominated by the rational thinker because I always plan out what I have to do for the day. I write out all of my assignments and extracurriculars into my agenda, and this keeps all of my thoughts organized for the week. There are some days where I have so much to do (academic wise) but I also still want to have time to go workout. I try to workout at least four times a week, but sometimes I honestly just do not have the time to. For example this week I have two big exams and I know I won’t have time to workout all four days like I want to. It is hard to find a certain balance, but I always say that balance is key. I do not procrastinate as bad as others do, I always try to plan out when I am going to do what and I usually finish the assignments early. For example every Wednesday night I have chemistry homework online due and I always finish it every Tuesday. Im not saying Im a perfect planner by any means, but I think I get my assignments submitted on the appropriate time. 

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Reading Games

Everyone has their own strategies when it comes to reading articles and texts we have to for classes. I have learned a few things I have to do to understand what I am reading. I always have to be in a quiet place when I have to read certain readings for a class. If I am in a noisy area, I cannot concentrate very well on what I am reading and I will start to not understand what I am reading. When I was in elementary school I had many reading comprehension problems, I could read an entire article and not understand what it was saying. I would be reading the text and my mind would be in a different world. I eventually got a tutor to help me with this issue and I am a lot better now. I still sometimes struggle with reading long academic articles because I get very bored with the text and zone off. 

Rosenburg states that you have to join the conversation of the text to understand the importance. Sometimes you have to look at the texts at a different perspective and ask what is the purpose of this article? She states good ways to notice the importance of a reading such as the context and if there are any images along with the text. Pay attention to the little things to understand the importance of the text. The introduction and conclusion are almost always the most important parts of readings, so understanding those key points will help the reader. Rosenberg says to go to the professors office hours if you still are not understanding a concept, I fully support this resource. I have gone to some of my professors office hours and they truly enjoy explaining and going over concepts with the students. That’s what they are here for, to help us succeed. Rosenburg offers many strategies to be a successful reader and these very well will help me. 

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AGD

Since both of my parents didn't go to college, I honestly did not know much about greek life. Many of my friends in high school always made fun of sorority and frat life, so I felt kind of ashamed to want to be in one. I saw a lot of posts about sororities from people who graduated my high school who went to bigger schools, they would post pictures on Instagram of them and their sororities and it made me want to be in one. I saw them looking like they were having so much fun with their sisters, and I was very interested in it. I started to look into more of Greek Life here at OU online and I wanted to go through recruitment. I signed up in the summer for recruitment and I was really excited but nervous about it too. After I moved in and met some people on campus, I noticed that a lot of the girls I talked to weren’t planning on rushing (joining a sorority). 

I went through recruitment and I only knew  two girls that were also going through it. It was a stressful but really fun experience. I think everyone should go through it because I met so many great girls. I ended up getting a bid from Alpha Gamma Delta, and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. I have met some amazing friends and I can’t wait to grow closer to them. I’m living in the sorority house my sophomore and junior year and I can’t wait. Joining a sorority has to be one of the best decisions I have made for myself so far and I cannot wait to see what opportunities and experiences I will have in the next three years. 

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College Transition

There was a huge transition from high school schoolwork, to college schoolwork. Nobody really prepares you for it either, you kind of just get thrown into it. Both of my parents didn’t go to college so I had no idea what to expect. I would have never imagined college to be so heavy loaded as it is, especially this semester more than last. I am taking most of my gen ed classes right now, so I have bigger classes. I think the biggest change from high school to college classes is the amount of studying you have to do for each class. I spend hours upon hours in the library, coffee shop, and study rooms everyday. I have to take a lot of science classes like Chemistry, Biology, and Anatomy, so I will always have many labs with my lectures as well. These science classes require hours of studying and homework, and I was not mentally prepared for that. Now as we are over halfway through the second semester, I have found my routine and I know what I need to do to be successful in my classes. A great resource Ohio University offers are the SI sessions, like study sessions. These sessions help me understand the content in lecture and helps me tremendously with my exams. Another factor I have realized that helps me be successful in college is to find your “happy place”, or your place to work/study at. I have found that for me, I like to work in coffee shops more than working at the library. The coffee shops have great coffee and it isn’t too loud or too quiet in them. I am not the biggest fan of the library and I cannot work/study in my dorm very well. College has been a big transition from high school, but I am enjoying every minute of it.

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You could call me the crazy cat lady if you'd like, this is one out of the five cats we have at my house. Her name is Pantera, which means panther in Spanish. This cat is one of the most spoiled and know it all cats out there. She is almost two years old, loves being outside, and is always so energetic. This cat is also very lovable and always wants attention from everyone, except from other cats.

The second picture is her son Moki, a very cute and cuddly cat. They both love my room and my bed so much, and they are very sweet. Moki was my favorite cat because he slept with me every night and followed me everywhere when he was a kitten. Now he is older and is kind of rude, but I still love him.

 You’re probably wondering how we ended up with five cats in one household, well let me tell ya. It all started out two years ago when my brother brought a stray cat home from the streets. She is a long haired orange and white cat, we named her Coco. My mom didn’t want a cat at first, but she couldn’t just put her back on the streets so we kept her. A few months later we noticed her stomach getting bigger and bigger, we soon realized she was pregnant because we let her outside all the time. Coco had three kittens, one of them was Pantera, Cinnamon, and Snickers. We kept all three of them, but Snickers ran away a few months later. So then we only had three cats at this point. Then Pantera and Cinnamon soon had kittens of their own as well. Pantera had four kittens, and we kept one of them named Moki (second picture). Now we had four cats in the Gonzalez household. Later on, the same brother as before found ANOTHER stray kitten outside just crying on a car tire on the street. He brought this cat home and we kept her as well, her name is Bella and she looks identical to Pantera (the calico cat in the picture above). We had multiple litters after this, in fact we have two litters in our house right now. We are giving away all of them because there is literally twelve cats in my house right now. Long story short I love cats and I'm not sorry about it. 

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Nutrition

Choosing my major was honestly one of the easiest things I had to do for college. It all started when I was doing my junior thesis paper in my English class junior year of high school. We had to choose any topic we wanted that was an issue today in America. I chose to do the obesity epidemic in the U.S today due to fast food. As soon as I started this paper and doing my research for it, I noticed how interested I was in this topic of eating healthy. I researched so much information about people’s eating habits leading to all types of diseases such as type two diabetes and obesity. I learned that about sixty percent of America is considered overweight and this really bothered me. I was interested in this topic the entire way through this four month long paper, while my classmates all hated their topics. This paper made me realize how much I like learning about eating healthy and wanting to help others achieve their health related goals. I want to work in a large hospital as a Registered Dietitian helping the public become healthier.  I hope to get a job in the Columbus area because I do not want to be very far from home. I am from Dayton Ohio so Columbus would be a good location for myself. If I don’t end up working in a large hospital I would want to work in a private center working one on one with patients. Becoming a Registered Dietitian is a lot of hard classes and an internship, but it is something I will be very passionate about. 

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Presentations

Nobody really likes to give presentations that I know of, including myself. I have gotten a lot better at presentations and speeches because of my speech class in high school. We had to give a speech at least once a week, and I always got so nervous. We had anywhere from five minute speeches to ten minute ones. We also had to do improv speeches a lot, we got a random topic and had to talk about it for a minute. I would always get so nervous and talk really fast when giving presentations. I think good presentations consist of speaking slowly and confidently. Not repeating yourself and actually meaning what you say shows a good presentation. I usually prepare for public speaking by going over the presentation or speech many times saying it out loud. I always say it out loud to my friends or family before the actual speech. I used to get so nervous and a lot of anxiety giving presentations, but after my speech class I feel more comfortable giving them. The speech class helped me with my presentation skills and feeling more confident in my work. It also helped me with my hand gestures and positions when giving speeches. Another great skill people should do for presentations is not waiting until the last minute to do it. The more you procrastinate, the worse your presentation will be in the end. I still get somewhat nervous before talking but once I start talking it gets a lot easier. I feel like everyone gets nervous before a speech or presentation, some just handle it better than others. 

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Memes

Memes have taken over the social media world tremendously over the past few years. Memes are all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many more. I used to think that memes were annoying and irrelevant but now I think they are really funny and make life better. Some just make your day better by smiling on the inside when scrolling through social media. Memes have many benefits to us in different ways. I would not say that they are not the most important things in life, it is just a picture with a little caption that makes us laugh or think of something. Memes have really changed the way we communicate somewhat. We can now send memes in place of words and text messages. We can just send memes to our friends and family to make the conversation more interesting and fun. We also have GIFS that we can send to people in place of text messages also, this is another way that affects our communication skills with others. I do not think memes have power because not everyone knows what a meme is. I don’t think that memes have taken over the world or anything, I believe they are just for fun regarding social media. Memes make people laugh and are very funny. People are always making new memes each and every day, no matter what it is. I personally love the cat memes because I am obsessed with cats. I also really like celebrity memes, I will show a couple examples.

#cats 

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Blog Post #4

Media literacy is the ability to find new websites and information on the internet. I do not consider myself very literate in the media or internet. I do not research very many topics or broaden my internet browsing. I only do research when I ultimately have to, for example research papers in my English classes in high school, or research for other classes. I typically do not use the internet for browsing so I would not say I am the definition of a literate person in the internet world. To me, I think it is very important to think like “fast checkers” as students in college because throughout all of our papers and such we have to research for, we need to know what to look for and what not to look for. Usually weird websites with colorful and bright backgrounds and letters will not be very trustworthy in the research department. I learned this strategy in high school and it has helped me a lot. Another strategy to look for is always to make sure there is an author behind each article and reading, it is very sketchy if there is no author. Our society today has portrayed a lot of “fake news”, and sometimes we do not know what to believe. The internet is a very beneficial and dangerous resource today; you never know what to believe. This goes for many topics across the spectrum as well. It is important to consider our emotions when determining if something is real or fake because you never know who you will hurt regarding fake or real news.

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Blog Post #3

Lamott describes how first drafts and the writing process is usually always terrible. This is normally true, first drafts are not the best. As for myself, I always have to make an outline of my main points and sub points for every paper I write. I am a very organized person in general, so when I write papers I have to have some sort of format or outline to organize my thoughts. I usually have my three main topics with examples for each one. I also organize my introduction and conclusion with facts and examples as well. I always try to gather facts and examples before I actually start to write my papers. Many students tend to procrastinate with writing papers, but I cannot do this. I will get too overwhelmed with the amount of writing I have to do and it will not end well. I normally procrastinate more on my math homework rather than papers for an English class. Writing takes a long time and if you want it to be good and thorough, you can not rush through it. I think a lot of people get anxiety when writing a paper, it is completely normal to feel this way at first. Sometimes you may not know what to write about in the first place, which can cause a lot of anxiety and stress. I usually do get some anxiety when starting out on a paper because you don’t know what to do at first. As I go through writing a paper, it gets a lot easier and just comes to you. I think if I keep using the outline format and work on a little bit of the paper each day, I will be successful writing papers for this course. 

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Blog Post #2

Malcom X is a very interesting yet inspiring story to tell. A prisoner learned English just by a dictionary. English is by far the hardest language to learn and it is very impressive that he taught himself. It is very interesting how he learned, by simply copying down random words from the dictionary. He would repeat these words and comprehend them himself. It’s amazing that he learned this while in prison as well. You do not know many prisoners who aren’t educated want to learn how to read English. Malcom found happiness by just reading by himself, learning new words about anything and everything. He was inspired by Mr Muhammed’s teachings and writings. He learned so much more about slavery in the past, which really intrigued him. Malcom never knew how bad slavery was in the past, how African Americans didn’t have any freedom at all. He wanted to learn everything about black history and Muhammed’s writings. What amazes me is that this person has so much desire for reading and learning, when he has little to no education history. I believe the intended audience is people who want to change their life for the better. That is also the purpose of these stories, MalcomX and the Alexie piece. They both have a common desire for people who just want to change their life and prove others wrong. Another message these stories tell is that you can accomplish anything you set their mind to no matter who you are or where you start out at. 

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Blog Prompt #1

Hi everyone, I am Kacey Gonzalez a freshman here at Ohio University. I really enjoy working out, listening to music, and spending time with my friends. I also love exploring coffee shops wherever I am. I am a Nutrition major so I really like staying active and eating healthy foods. I have always liked English courses throughout high school, I do pretty well with it. In high school I took a college credit speech class that I had to write many papers for and present. This class was basically an English class, it really improved my writing and helped me grow. At first I was nervous about the class because we had to give speeches about once a week, but it actually helped me grow out of my shell and not get as nervous as I did before. One weakness I have when it comes to English classes, is that I struggle with comprehension sometimes. Sometimes I can read something and not understand what the author is saying. I struggled with this more when I was younger, but it will always be a weakness of mine when it comes to English classes. One strength I have is I am an organized outliner. This meaning when we have large papers to write, I organize the paper very well into topics and subtopics. My college credit speech class in high school really helped me improve on my outlining skills. Our teacher showed us many good ways to handle writing larger papers. What I really like about English and writing classes, is that you can write whatever you want most of the time. You decide how to make your paper and it is all your own thoughts and ideas. Everyone has different ideas and such that we all get to share with each other. I really like the idea of these “blogs” so we can share our own ideas about different topics. Throughout this class this semester, I hope to become a better writer in general. One important goal of mine for this class is to stay on top of the schoolwork and maintain an A in the class.