Classes Begin

I am definitely starting to feel the pressure from school now. Since it is my last quarter, I am obligated to take an internship class, valued at five credits, which is one more credit than most other classes. A reason for this is the fact that students have to work, at least, part time for a company within their area of study.

I already had an internship so for me it is not much of a change. However, I work full-time and the internship class itself will, most likely, be very busy. I am taking the class online and students usually have to correspond weekly online by posting, at least, three significant comments every week.

For this class, students are expected to correspond with at least five students a week, while keeping a weekly diary that describes daily activities and challenges encountered on the internship. Assignments and quizzes will also be included in the class. In other words, it will get busy.

I will have my first class tomorrow. The class is political science and I am definitely looking forward to it. I hope that it does not include too much lecture and instead allows students to discuss and have lively debates. I feel that would be the best way to teach a class like that.

On Thursdays, I have a humanities class called world civilization. I have no idea what to expect from this class to be honest so it will be interesting to see what it has to offer. The reason I chose to take it was much because I had to take a humanities course.

I have operations management on Monday’s so the first day for that class will be taking place next week. I noticed that statistics was a prerequisite for the class and that bothered me a little as I hoped to learn more about management and less about statistics. It still remains to see what the class has to offer though. There is still hope in other words.

Happy Fourth of July!

This break went over very quickly. I honestly did not do much during this short vacation with the reason being my recent trip to Las Vegas and the fact that I worked for the whole week.

The break only lasted for a week but was extended thanks to the Independence Day holiday on the Fourth of July. I did not do much during this day but I did spend time thinking about the brave overseas.

I did travel to Coney Island to watch the annual hot dog eating contest. It is always a joy to watch Joey Chestnut beat the competition. This time, he only ate 54 hot dogs in ten minutes, which were fourteen dogs less than last year.

However, he was still able to bring home the first price. The momentum that is built by the introducer is magnificent. People are not ashamed to show their pride and I really enjoy being part of it.

People cheered after statements such as, “No one eats more than an American” and chants of “USA USA USA,” was common. It was great being part of this especially on the fourth.

I was planning to barbeque in Prospect Park that day but I ended up grilling at home instead. I bought some Nathan’s hot dogs and turkey burgers and it turned out great. Luckily, there are several super markets close by that are open 24/7, which I greatly appreciate.

The biggest reason to why I never went to Prospect Park was the weather. It was probably around 100 degrees that day so staying inside with the air conditioner seemed like a good idea. Happy Independence Day to everyone!

Good Quarter

The end of the quarter was celebrated with the hottest and most humid weather in New York. It is about 100 degrees today and exceedingly humid. I really do not like it, as it is hard to sleep at night and aggravating to travel in the subway.

On the good side, all my grades were posted today and I scored another 4.0 this semester. It would be delightful if I could maintain this throughout my next quarter, as that will be my last one before graduating in September.

In this year’s graduation ceremony, only four people graduated with a GPA of 4.0. For those people who do not understand the grade point average, a 4.0 means the student got the highest grade in all his or her classes. I knew three of those people and they were all very good friends of mine.

An interesting point about last year’s graduation ceremony was that a person with less than 4.0 received Berkeley College’s greatest award for excellent performance. Apparently, she had volunteered a great deal and worked very hard to do well in school. I am still trying to figure out how I can qualify for this award.

I do feel that I should get a shot at it since I am involved with a lot of work at the moment. My 4.0 friends were questioning the system, as they expected to receive similar awards although a person would have to do something outstanding in order to earn it. I want to congratulate the student for doing well though.

MTA

The MTA is making a bunch of changes that will take effect at the end of the month. Basically, they are experiencing heavy financial troubles because of carelessness and an inability to reach efficiency. This is upsetting for a lot of people.

It does not affect me significantly. However, I am taking the N line on a regular basis. This train normally runs express in Manhattan but that will soon be history. The train will still operate express in Brooklyn, which is good because otherwise it would take me thirty minutes more to get to Manhattan.

What makes me displeased about the whole situation is the MTA’s attitude to continue ignoring inefficiencies and other issues. For example, now that they are changing the traffic in the subway, they are making unnecessary changes that will affect many other trains.

The W train is taken out of service and to compensate for this they will make the N train local. This is exceedingly unnecessary, as the R train already runs over the W line. There is no need to alter the traffic of the N trains.

A recent article also discussed the cleanliness on trains and discovered that more than half of cars are “dirty” to some extent. The N train is actually one of the cleanest trains in the subway, which pleases me. Even with all these budget cuts there is plenty of room for more to be done.

It is still a common sight to see lazy maintenance workers not doing any work. For example, when something needs to be done, it seems like the MTA always sends twenty people to do the job while only two of them actually do some work.

In addition, it is hard to find kind and helpful staff. Many of these people who usually sit in a booth to help people with questions lack education, manners, and knowledge. The MTA is doing nothing to train or educate them. They have let off a bunch of these workers, which is a decision that I agreed with, but a machine could many times do the same job for free.

In my neighborhood, these workers never do any work. They do not clean the station, fix leaks, or stay alert. Not many people ask questions and when they do, the MTA employee usually has no answer. I asked about the service changes last week and he had no clue what would happen. I suppose the MTA does not inform employees about changes.

Other inefficiencies include unnecessary spending. A news channel reported a few months ago that the MTA headquarters bought newspapers for delivery that could be picked up for free outside the entrance. I have no idea why things like these are happening, but I do know that something needs to be done for the MTA to be able to continue to operate without a complete breakdown.

Final Week

The final week is here and there is a lot for me to do. I have six classes to prepare assignments for, although it could have been much worse than what it is. I finished everything for four of my classes already and I have one final today in my bioethics class.

I am not sure how difficult today’s final will be but it could definitely be challenging because it includes material from seven chapters of the textbook. I outlined everything from the PowerPoint slides that the professor used in class and I think I have a good study guide to follow.

I do not worry about the test because I calculated that I can get a 50% score and still get an A for the class. The reason is that I have done very well on previous assignments and tests. I have gotten 100% on all assignments except two, but I made up for these points by writing an extra-credit assignment.

I finished writing an executive summary for my entrepreneurship class. It has not been graded yet, but I thought it turned out pretty well. I planned to start a photography firm in Soho in Manhattan. This idea has been developed throughout the course by participating in the online discussion board. Both students and the professor have given input to the idea and this is really helpful when it comes to balancing the idea with risks.

The other two classes that I finished were also online courses. It feels good to be done with the placement seminar class as it was rather unorganized and included a lot of work. My human resource development class also contained a lot of tests and information but this class was much better structured.

I have my last final on Thursday for my forensic science class. I answered all the review questions but there are a bunch of them that I am unclear about. Last class was supposed to cover any questions but the professor had to cancel the class due to an emergency.

Instead, he asked students to send him an email regarding any questions about the final. I hope that he will reply to my email because it may be difficult for me to answer a few questions without his help. For example, there is one question asking, “Which is not a layer of the hair shaft?” There are only three layers but there are five options meaning two of the choices are correct. We are only supposed to pick on answer so this makes it very tricky.

Two Weeks Left

I had a test for my online entrepreneurship class last weekend. The test covered almost all chapters from the book and looking at the review sheet made me nervous. Some of these tests can be very tricky even though they practically are open book.

One of the reasons to why I got nervous was that there was a 50 minute time limit and the test would include 24 questions. Each question has to be answered separately and in order. For example, people cannot skip one question, move on to another one, and then go back again to answer it.

Therefore, if people get stuck on one question, they can have difficulties having the time to answer the other questions. I made sure to review before taking the test even though this included reading a lot of the material from the book.

I felt pretty stressed while taking it and I found it difficult to make sure that I answered each question right or not. This test accounted for 20% of the grade so a doing badly on it could significantly affect people’s grade.

After anxiously pressing the submit button, I found out that I got 22 out of 24, which actually was more than 100% since the professor counted the last four points as extra credit. This helped me to enjoy my weekend even more and I definitely felt relieved afterwards.

I have two finals next week. One is for my forensic science class, which will be pretty easy thanks to open book and notes. However, some questions are actually pretty tricky so reviewing the test is definitely necessary.

My other test is for my bioethics class. It will be more difficult to study for it this time because I did not take any notes since after the midterm because the professor uploaded all PowerPoint slides online instead. I actually wished that I had taken notes because that would make reviewing easier.

I also have to write an executive summary for the final week. It will only consist of about one to two pages but the information will be very rich and contain a lot of important criteria. I will base all the information on discussions and assignments that I have had during the quarter in my entrepreneurship class.

Lucky Week

I realized yesterday that I was particularly lucky last week. I was afraid that I would miss two classes and important assignments. I explained before that one of those classes was cancelled. I therefore never missed anything for that class, not even attendance.

The second class, my computer class, was not cancelled. For that day, the professor had scheduled the last presentation to be taking place. That presentation was worth 100 points, which was approximately 15% of the total grade.

That made nervous even though the professor had told me that he was to discuss it with me when I came back. I asked my classmates yesterday about the class and how everything went. I also wanted to know how the professor handled the absence of my classmate, who also missed one presentation.

She told me that the professor would not grade the last presentation. The reason was that the first five presentations in last week’s class were so bad that the professor cancelled all presentations. The professor said that those who made their presentation that day would receive an F.

That decision made most of the five speakers very upset and arguments followed. Ultimately, the professor decided that the situation was somewhat unfair so he decided not to count that week’s presentations towards the grade. That means that I did not miss anything last week even though I went to travel to Nevada and Arizona. I, most certainly, could not have picked a better week to travel.

I expressed concern over my placement seminar class earlier this week. I have finally gotten responses from the professors involved and I seem to have everything organized and under control now. The class is ending soon and I have completed all assignments necessary to pass the course. That is definitely relieving.

I had to participate in a debate for my bioethics class yesterday. That assignment was worth 20% of the grade so it was very important to get it right. I felt that my group did a pretty good job and I definitely participated to the fullest. I do not know my grade for the debate yet but I expect it to be posted online later this week or at least before Monday next week. I do feel that my group will receive an A for the debate so I am not too worried about it.

Raising Capital for College

I wanted to talk about how international students can raise capital and how they can afford studying in the United States. There are many ways of doing this. Being from Sweden is probably one of the most fortunate situations thanks to the availability of cheap lending and favorable payment plans. However, other students also have options available to them.

The most obvious one is to find a financial institute, a bank, or sponsor to pay for the applicable education. In Sweden, people may use CSN, which is a government institution for students that provide cheap loans and generous payment plans. With institutions like these, anyone can study abroad.

However, many times, loans are not enough because of expensive living conditions that include rent, food, and school supplies. My suggestion is to be patient. I worked for three years while living with my parents to save money. This prepared me significantly for any possible financial dilemmas. It is important that people set up a budget and calculate approximately how much they will spend every month or semester. Based on these calculations, they can get an understanding of how much they will need.

I set up a spreadsheet where I insert my daily expenses. It gives me a great overview of how much I can spend, how much I have saved, and my average expenses. It helps me to determine my financial situation, which helps me regulate my spending.

International students are not allowed to work in the United States. However, students are allowed to work on campus for the school. I quickly looked for opportunities like these and I have been hired as a Blogger for Berkeley College for more than two years now.

Another suggestion is to find ways to reduce costs. By sharing apartment with someone, people can drastically reduce their monthly expenses. Imagine paying $1,000 a month for an apartment. By sharing, a person can reduce his or her rent to $500. That is $6,000 in savings annually. It can be hard to find someone to share an apartment with before arriving to the United States. However, a person can find something temporary first, expensive or not, and try to find something after arriving.

People should contact the school and ask for housing and cost saving methods. Berkeley College is more than happy to assist people with this. The school is on Facebook and many other places where students can contact each other to share ideas and contact information. In addition, do not forget to apply for scholarships at Berkeley College and from outsiders if possible. This can save people more than $1,000 per quarter.

Apart from finding personal sponsors such as family, friends, and other acquaintances, people could set up a business serving their country of residency. For example, people can write articles for travel magazines and blogs, sell pictures, or start a small import-export company. Just make sure what you are doing is legal and you may be on your way to success.