Online Classes

As I mentioned earlier, my entrepreneurship class started off rather slow. However, it is really becoming interesting now. Students were asked to perform a cost analysis last week and this week they are to identify three businesses that they could consider starting.

I have a few ideas and I think I will be able to present them well. After identifying the potential businesses, students are to perform an opportunity analysis to identify which of the three ideas is the most promising. These exercises may be very useful for graduates, who are looking to start their own business, to use.

My only concern is that I do not want to share my business ideas with other students. This is a constant battle in college that students will have to deal with. However, in online classes, these issues become more sensitive as students are required to share their comments with others.

My online internship preparation class is also getting more interesting. Students submitted resume drafts last week and I had mine corrected a few days after that. I thought the suggested revisions were excellent and I am really happy that the professor looked at all resumes carefully.

Students will be asked to submit drafts for “Thank you letters” and “Cover letters” in the next few weeks. These are really good exercises actually, as a well structured resume can be the determining factor in landing a job.

Berkeley College will be holding the annual graduation ceremony this Friday. I will not attend since I do not graduate until in September this year. However, many of my friends are attending so I will, most likely, meet them up afterwards.

A very good friend from Switzerland is also attending the ceremony. He will fly in tomorrow and stay for a couple of days. We have not seen each other for a very long time so it will definitely be enjoyable to meet up again for a few beers.

The ceremony is taking place somewhere in New Jersey and it is not that easy to get there. A few of my friends are planning to rent a car and I guess that I will have to do the same next year. I will probably wait for them in Manhattan so that we can go out to celebrate when they come back. Berkeley College provides everyone with gowns and also prepares for photographers to take pictures of students.

Presentations

Classes are great so far, but I am definitely busy with a lot of assignments and work. Last week, I had two presentations, three assignments for my online classes, and two articles to discuss on campus.

One of my presentations was for my PowerPoint presentations class. The topic was free of choice and the presentation was supposed to be only a minute long.  Therefore, I did not prepare myself very much.

I created a PowerPoint presentation about a province in Sweden where I am from. I wanted to make it fun and somewhat ironic, which I think I succeeded with. For example, I said that there are many narrow-minded people in my city, which mean that great opportunity exist for tourists to spend time with themselves.

In any regards, I thought I did great. People enjoyed it and saw the irony in my message. My slides also looked very fashionable in a minimalistic kind of way. However, my professor only gave me 89 out of 100 because he thought I said “ehh” too much.

I actually agree with him even though I did not realize that I made that sound. However, the question is whether it was worth 11 points or not. On that issue, I definitely do not agree with him. I thought I made the presentation of my life, but I received my worst score ever for a presentation. That is what really bothers me.

I also presented an article that touch topics of bioethics. I chose to discuss gender selection and that went very well. People thought it was interesting and the audience definitely got into the subject. The professor also seemed surprised that I chose a topic that we will not discuss until later this quarter.

On this presentation, I received a 95 out of 100. I actually still wonder why I did not receive a perfect score but I guess I will have to accept it this time. I am actually always questioning imperfect grades, but it is for a simple reason. I want to know how I can do better and what is required for me to receive a perfect score. That is really the only way to learn.

I went to an event at Dave and Busters last Thursday with the international club, which I am the treasurer for. I had a great time and was able to catch up with several friends. We were a couple of hundred people and had a whole room for ourselves. Included was an all-you-can-eat buffet and $15 to play for.

The games included arcade games, casino-like games, and other typical carnival games. I was able to get enough tickets to get my girlfriend a teddy bear. I may come back because it is a fun place to hang out at. However, Atlantic City may be a little more exciting if people are looking to take some risks.

Food

My girlfriend and I have started a new tradition. We have decided to go to a new restaurant every weekend and so far it is great. We went to a Japanese Barbeque restaurant this weekend and it was one of the greatest restaurant experiences I have ever had.

The place is called Gyu-Kaku and it follows a “Do it yourself” concept. People are served prepared barbeque dishes and later cook it by themselves on a grill, which is placed in the middle of the table.

The food was absolutely amazing and the experience was exceptional. It is definitely a place that I want to come back to. However, since I am trying out new places every weekend now, I do not think I will have the time to go there for a while.

Last weekend, we went to an Indian restaurant in Brooklyn. It is actually located in Bay Ridge, which is a neighborhood that I really like. The place was pretty empty when we got there but they were very generous in terms of giving us starters and deserts.

I ordered some kind of spicy dish with lamb and spinach, which I really liked. However, the highlight of the dinner was the nan bread. Everyone who visits an Indian restaurant should try nan because it is the most delicious bread out there.

This restaurant is also a place that I want to visit again. The great thing with the restaurants my girlfriend and I pick is that they are affordable. Neither of us likes restaurants that are too fancy because we want to be able to be ourselves. Therefore, we usually go to places that serve dishes in the range of $15 to $25.

For everyone’s information, I am now monitoring comments that are posted on the blog. I appreciate everyone who wants to encourage me. Unfortunately, there have been a few instances where spammers and other people with disrespectful purposes comment unwanted links and material. If I encounter any more illegal comments, I will report this immediately.

Classes

Classes are going well so far. In general, I am happy with my professors although I wish a few classes had been different. My bioethics class is continuing in a structured fashion because of my professor’s background as a lawyer. I think I will be able to live with it because she is very acceptant in regards to opinions.

I have a presentation for next class in this course. Every student has to make one and it needs to relate to current events. Students are to find an article that relates to a bioethical topic and discuss it in front of class. I do not feel nervous about it because the professor is only expecting a short, five minute presentation.

I also have a PowerPoint class with a professor that I have known since my first quarter at Berkeley College. He is a very nice person and generous in terms of grading. This computer class will be quite different though because everyone has to make a presentation with an oral communication professor present in class.

This is not always easy because these professors thoroughly evaluate speakers based on preparation, organization, and material. They usually have acting backgrounds and are very knowledgeable within the areas of communication and presentations.

My third on-campus class is forensic science. This will definitely be an interesting course as my professor has twenty years of background at the New York Police Department. Many students are veterans and forensic science major and I think there are only two marketing students in the class including me.

My online classes are also going well. Actually, I had an argument with another student who commented on my post. She made personal evaluations based on what I wrote and inaccurately described what I said. Therefore, I replied and this upset her. I am not responding to her posts anymore as she is disrespectful and very unintelligent.

I have had two tests in my human resource management class already. We will have one every week. I got 7 out of 10 on the first test, which surprised me in a bad way. I went over the questions again and was able to track them down in the book. I found that I had answered them correctly so I contacted my professor. My professor corrected the test the same day and gave me a 10 out of 10 on the test. I got a 100% on the second test so it seems like this will not happen again fortunately.

My entrepreneurship class is off for a slow start. We have so far only had discussions on blackboard. This does not bother me at all, as I have five other classes to focus on. So far, I feel that I am keeping up with all my classes. I hope to be able to deal with all my classes for the rest of the quarter, but it may be difficult as midterms are getting closer.

Bio Ethics

I had my first class for this quarter yesterday. I have mixed feelings about the class, but I think it should turn out okay. I do have a lot of concerns though. The class in question is called bio ethics, which basically touch ethical topics in regards to medical issues such as questions about abortion and euthanasia.

First of all, my professor is a lawyer. There is understandable reasoning behind the decision of having a lawyer teach the class. The most reasonable reason is that many issues that arise within bio ethics involve legal issues. For example, someone may want to keep his wife on life support even though his wife has a document stating that she wishes the opposite. To do so, he would have to convince a judge that his wife was under psychological duress or similar when signing that document.

My professor has a lot of experience in the field and specifies within medical legal issues. She would, for example, represent a certain hospital in the case that hospital gets sued by someone. Therefore, I respect my professor greatly and I am sure that she can bring very interesting perspectives into the class.

One of my concerns is, however, the fact that she is a lawyer. Lawyers tend to surround themselves with rules and regulations. I took one ethics class before at Berkeley College and that professor was very liberal in terms of thought. I feel that this quarter will be different.

For example, my current professor said that ethical theories must be backed up by logic. I understand this. However, there are sometimes when things cannot be explained by using logic and it just feels wrong. We talked a lot about this in my previous ethics class and that there is almost always no right or wrong answer.

Another thing that I feel extremely dissatisfied about is that many students seem to very uninterested in the class. Everyone presented themselves to the class yesterday and 90% of students probably took the class because it fit their schedule or because it was a requirement.

In addition, the professor treats students as if it was their first quarter. This is something that I really dislike. The professor advanced very slowly and explained basic rules of conduct like not using the cell phone during class. This is a 400 level course and if students do not know how to behave, prepare, or study for the class, they have themselves to blame.

I hope that we will be able to progress faster in the future. My opinion is that the class could have been finished in thirty minutes instead of two hours if the professor had only discussed the relevant material, and also if more students had paid attention in class. I simply do not want to waste my time.

Shows

Today is my last day of break. I feel prepared to get started with school and work again and I am excited about my new courses for this quarter. Although Berkeley College’s official first day of school is tomorrow on the 5th of April, one of my online classes has already started. Basically, the professor posted some assignments, but we have until the end of the week to complete them.

Today is another episode of Celebrity Apprentice. That is one of very few shows that I actually follow every week on television. I really like it since it shows some people with unique personalities trying to work together to achieve common goals.

It is very inspiring to watch business people come together to come up with innovative solutions to different problems. For example, in the last episodes, two teams had to come up with an advertisement and display for Kodak. Shows like this help me to come up with ideas and it is interesting to compare my own work with that of successful businessmen.

Another show that I find interesting to watch is Shark Tank. As a business student, it is exceedingly exiting to see how entrepreneurs succeed in convincing investors that their ideas are worth investing in. Watching some people fail help others to learn how to improve their own presentations and ideas.

It will be very interesting to see how I will coop with this quarter. Not all students are allowed to take six classes in one quarter. Students have to maintain a certain GPA score to qualify. I personally feel that I should be able to get straight As for this quarter but it will definitely be a challenge. I am taking three classes on campus and three online.

The hardest task of all will be to organize all assignments. I will have to carefully plan and keep track of assignments by using a calendar and other planning tools. As long as I know what I need to do every day, I should be fine, but I definitely have some busy weekends in front of me.

I hope to receive all my books by next week. I need some books immediately for my online classes. If I do not receive my books before Wednesday, I will have to stay in the Berkeley College library and finish the assignments from there.

Two of the sellers, which I purchased books from, still have not gotten back to me. I want them to confirm the shipping date and, if possible, provide me with a confirmation number. This worries me as this usually means the users are on vacation or have stopped using the website, which ultimately means that I will not receive my books. I will contact the website if they have not gotten back to me before the end of next week.

Books

I listed the advantages of buying books online a few blogs ago. I am still waiting for my books that I purchased a few days ago to arrive but I am worried about two of my orders. Sellers should mark their orders as shipped after shipping the item, but this does not happen as often as it should be.

For example, I usually give sellers two or three days before expecting them to mark my order as shipped. If they do not, however, I send them an email asking them to ship as soon as possible as I need my books immediately. This usually solves the problem.

However, I purchased six books online this quarter and I still have not heard from two of my sellers. Last time this happened to me, I had to wait for two months before being able to get a refund. It is a very agonizing experiencing since people never will be able to know if they will receive their book or not.

Also, the refund is not absolute, which means that each order is reviewed and the website company may decide not to give the user a refund, which makes it a difficult decision whether the buyer should purchase another copy of the book or not.

I have found that these situations do not occur often. I am usually pretty lucky when it comes to purchasing books online. However, it is important to check the sellers review page to see how many sales he or she has made and to see what other users think of him or her.

The weather is perfect right now. I took a long walk with my girlfriend in Brooklyn yesterday. We walked from Bensonhurst to Bay Ridge and I was actually surprised how beautiful it was. I have been in Bay Ridge before, of course, but I have never walked there.

We also walked a different way than where the bus route takes place so we saw some, to us, new places. I personally feel that Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst is one of the most beautiful places in Brooklyn apart from Brooklyn Heights. A lot of people will probably disagree with that statement though since people in Brooklyn are very proud of their neighborhoods.

The total walk took about two and a half hours. On our way back, we saw an arrest taking place by a bunch of civilian police officers. We guessed that the vehicle was stolen or something but the situation was handled very well and everything happened quietly. It is actually a very safe neighborhood so this event does not represent that area very well.