Finals: Better In College?

All throughout high school I had finals after Winter Break.  Coming back to school after Thanksgiving and having to buckle down to study now seems strange to me.  I was used to having more time both to learn and to prepare for these tedious tests.  However, now, although I am still stressed, I am starting to see the upside to having finals before Winter Break.  For one thing, with such a long Winter Break ahead of us, that is a large opportunity to forget everything (or a fair amount) that we have worked so hard to learn over the course of the semester.  With finals before, now the concepts and facts are still fresh on our minds.  Also, Winter Break is now actually a full-fledged break.  There is no guilt over "forgetting" to study over break, mainly because there is no studying.  As a hard working student who spent a semester studying and learning, it is nice to have a relaxing break with literally no schoolwork.  However, now I do feel the pressure to study over Thanksgiving.  This past Thanksgiving, I did bring some of my school books home, in hopes that I would have time to catch up on some reading and maybe even work ahead.  At times when "Family Bonding" was required, this was quite a nice excuse.  But since Thanksgiving is so short, I didn't accomplish nearly all that I had hoped.  

Did anyone else have finals after Winter Break in high school?  And if so, which system do you like more?  

Working Girl

            I worked all through high school.  I worked through the entire summer.  As I was getting ready to leave for school this past fall, my dad sat me down to have “a chat.”  He wanted to express his concern about me wanting a job for freshman year at school.  As a college student, neither he nor my mom worked, and he seemed confident that I could make it through school without a job.  Also, I have a cousin who recently dropped out of college to focus more on his part-time job, and this idea scared my dad a lot.  My warning to him was that if I wasn’t working, I’d be calling and asking for money quite a bit more.  He didn’t seem to believe that. 

            Within the first few weeks of school, I noticed that I had a lot of free time.  I loved having new friends and being in a new city, but the repercussions were costly.  A new city meant new shops, new restaurants, and a lot of time to explore all of these.  It didn’t take long before the small budget my dad gave me was gone, and he wasn’t happy to hear that from me.  However, I had a solution.  I wanted a job.  Without telling him or my mom, I went to stores close to campus with a resume and a willingness to work.  I figured that if I could find an employer that was willing to work with my schedule and prove to my parents that this would not interfere with schoolwork that it would be allowed.  I was right. 

            Now I spend two days during the week and one day each weekend working, and I love it.  My grades have stayed consistent, and I’ve found that I’m more focused when doing my homework now that I actually have a limited time to get it done.  However, I’ve noticed that the majority of students here don’t have jobs, and seem to find it strange that I want to work.  Is said drive not normal?  And did anyone else’s parents have reservations about working in this new environment?  

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Blue Highway

In the third passage of Blue Highway Miz Alice describes the calmness of life on her island.  She speaks of her ability to tune-in with nature, and appreciate the small things in life.  By living in this way, it appears as though Miz Alice is able to avoid stress, and avoid the ever prominent obsession with material possessions.  For the time being, I think this is exactly what Heat-Moon needs to hear.  After everything that happened in his life, he needed a break.  But is this realistic as a permanent lifestyle?  Could other people really live this way?  

I think yes.  Although living on a somewhat secluded island would definitely not be for me, I think those that have the "gumption" to be different and live a more individual lifestyle should do so.  While we may find this to be somewhat strange and impractical, I'm sure they can say the same for those who choose to life in the middle of a loud, dirty, always moving city.  If these people choose to stay secluded, who are we to tell them that they "need" to join the real world?  

Halloween: Costumes or Lack There Of

"I'm a mouse, duh."  Everyone that has seen the movie "Mean Girls" knows this quote well.  As Karen walks into a Halloween party wearing nothing but lingerie, someone asks what he costume is.  Pointing to her mouse ears, the only indication that she is wearing a costume, this is her response.  In a movie, a scene like this is considered comical, but recently, this seems to be a reality.  

Walking around on October 30th and 31st, I saw a wide variety of costumes.  Some people "pulled a Karen," wearing barely there clothing that has a small indication of a theme, where-as others went all out in over-covered outfits that really did conceal their identity.  And then, of course, there were those in a happy medium, as well.  For the Karens in the world, I have one question: Why?  What makes you want to leave the house in a complete lack of clothing?  And did no one warn you that it wasn't appropriate?  Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's fun to wear somewhat suggestive costumes (for example, I was in a guy's t-shirt as Tom Cruise from "Risky Business" - not the most modest of costumes but still covered).  

Let me know, am I way off base?  Are my ideas of appropriate that different from others'?  

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Friends Forever?

            On August 18, my best friends and I all had a tearful last embrace before departing off to college.  We went through the “of course well talk all the time!” and “it can’t ever be the same!  No one else knows me this well!” and then we left.  Now, more than two months into it, I am surprised at how few of those girls I still talk to on a regular basis.  Everyone says that college changes your relationships, but the degree caught me off guard. 

            At first, when many of my friends were still at home, it was easy to talk to them.  Conveniently, I would call them as I walked to class or to meet some new potential friends for lunch.  Short stories were swapped with a I’ll call you later to explain more.  It became difficult, however, when everyone went off to school.  We all have our own class schedules, meal times, and not to mention, time zones.  Those short talks got converted into voice mails.  No longer were they daily, but then weekly.  Now, I’ve gotten to the point where I talk to two people on a regular basis.  Going from nine to two – wow. 

            Now that’s not to say I don’t talk to anyone else.  I love the random call when someone has time to kill.  It’s great to catch up on everything that’s been going on, but it is harder than I originally thought because the knowledge base is so different.  We hang out at different places with different people; our class schedules involve different classes on a different GE curriculum with different amounts of work.  A story that could be an easy “I was hanging out with the girls in Mac’s” needs to be “I was hanging out with my three friends, their names are . . . and I know them from . . .and Mac’s Place is . . . “ -it just takes longer. 

            In addition to that, I’ve become closer with my friends here in a much shorter time span that imagined.  People say that you bond with your college friends in a way that can’t be matched by those from previous walks of life, and I really find that true.  Through seeing people all day and night every day, you learn about them quickly.  They become a huge part of your world; they become your new support system. 

            Has anyone else felt that the contacts you keep and the new ones you make are turning out much differently than you expected?  Am I the only one that really doesn’t stay in consistent contact with all my best friends from high school?  

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Underage Drinking or Saving Lives

            It’s a Thursday night.  At around 10:30pm you decide to go for a walk.  When walking past the intramural fields, something catches your eye.  There are about five large coach busses there, with crowds of funnily dressed students surrounding them.  What are these busses doing, you may ask.  Well, they are bussing SMU students to bars. 

            On any given Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, it is basically guaranteed that there will be multiple busses lined up by the intramural fields.  These busses are supplied by the fraternity houses, and their job is to bus students back and forth from the houses to bars.  Many students love the busses.  This is a convenient way to get from the first part of the party to the second without having to worry about paying for a cab or finding someone with a car.  Also, with busses running all night getting either to the bar or back to campus is easy.  It works with your schedule, with minimal amounts of waiting.  This also helps to reduce the amount of people driving to a bar, drinking, and then driving home.  In this sense, it saves lives.

            Some people, however, see a downside to the busses.  By supplying a reliable form of transportation, more students are given the opportunity to drink.  Since worrying about a designated driver isn’t an issue, it is much easier to pick up a beer and relax.  This poses two issues: underage drinking and mass consumption.  Without having to drive, many students get the idea that hey, I’m free, I can drink as much as I want! and take it overboard. 

            I think the busses are great – they offer convenient transportation and stop kids from driving drunk.  So what would we rather?  More underage drunk kids walking around, or drunk drivers?   

Time Wasting or Time Management?

            As I sat down to write my blog tonight, I glanced at the clock.  2:30am.  Not bad.  My sense of timing has been completely warped the past few weeks. 

            Back home I had a consistent schedule – in bed by 10:30, maybe 11:30 at the latest, up every morning at 7:15.  I functioned well on those eight or nine hours each night, and in the rare event that I got less than that I made up for it on weekends. 

            Ever since I got to SMU, my sense of timing has gone out the window.  I no longer find it strange to look at the clock and see 2:30am.  True, my earliest classes all week start at 10:00am as opposed to 8:15, but with busier days sleep is needed now more than ever.  I began to wonder where all my time goes.  I wish I could say I spent it all in the library, studying, keeping my GPA at a flawless 4.0.  I can’t.  I’m not involved in sports and I really don’t work out either.  I participate in a fair number of extra curricular activities but nothing that keeps me up to all hours of the night.  So where does my time go? 

            I realize there are two primary ways that I spend, almost waste, my time: Mac’s Place and friends’ rooms.  I find that every time I walk into Mac’s, I sit down with my meal, and hang out as people filter in and out.  Even after I’m done, I end up staying because I know the next wave of people making their way through.  Before I know it, three hours has gone by.  In regard to my friends’ rooms, I seem to find every night basically like a sleepover.  By not living in a traditional freshman dorm, I consequently don’t spend a lot of time in my room.  I don’t have a hall where students are constantly walking around, talking, and getting to know each other.  The majority of my friends, however, live in the same hall, so I end up spending much of my free time there.  If I lived there, going to sleep would be much more convenient because my bed would be just down the hall as opposed to across campus. 

            The good news: even though I spend a lot of time just hanging out not necessarily being productive, I still get my homework done and show up to my classes.  Time management has come out of these first few months, to an extent, but I would like to assume I am not the only one that is learning these lessons . . . 

Are You An Insider?

According to Max Webber, a key to sociology is verstehen, “researchers imagining themselves in the place of their subject” (46).  Basically, sociologists need to put themselves in the subject’s shoes.  They need empathy.  This idea is closely related to the insider v. outsider debate – can a sociologist really understand a certain culture if they are not a part of it?  I think not. 

A common example used when debating whether sociologists can better study a culture if they are included in said culture versus observing as an outsider is race.  Can a white person ever truly know what it’s like to be African American?  Or Asian?  Or Latino?  No.  The observer must rely solely on their observations and the accounts of others.  As much as one may try to put him or her self in the shoes of another, a lifetime of experience as an African American person cannot completely be summed up by an interview or a survey.  The feelings associated with each small differentiation based on race can’t always be put into words. 

But if the sociologists can’t get 100% immersed in whatever culture they are studying, they do have one advantage: immersion in the culture won’t sway their views.  As an insider one could end up with much more biased results.  Although bias is an issue, I believe that it is much more beneficial to be fully immersed and a part of the culture being studied.  

Hugs, Doors, and Yes Ma'ams

            In my sociology class, we have spent some time talking about how culture is broken up into two sections: material culture and nonmaterial culture.  Material culture is fairly self-explanatory.  It includes “objects created in a given society” (Anderson & Taylor, 54), and is apparent to on-lookers.  Nonmaterial culture isn’t as visible.  The norms and values shared by each specific culture aren’t tangible – they aren’t even concrete.  Many of them are simply assumed or implied. 

            As children we learn to watch our parents and the other people around us, and we mimic them.  By doing so, we get general ideas about the nonmaterial aspects of culture.  How else other than observation and imitation would we learn things such as waiting one’s turn in line or appropriate body language or ways of speech for certain situations?  For example, my parents never explicitly told me whom to hug upon seeing, but I have learned over time that with people like friends and family that is the appropriate greeting.  However, if I were to greet a teacher or a waitress at a restaurant, a hug would not be fitting.  In coming to Dallas from Chicago, I realized that nonmaterial culture varies from location to location.  In Dallas, it is expected that boys will hold open doors for girls, but in Chicago if I were to wait for someone to open the door for me people would find it strange and somewhat pretentious.  Also, the use of the words “ma’am” and “sir” are much more prevalent in the south – in Chicago it make come across as somewhat sarcastic. 

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To Drive or Not To Drive

Every teenager goes through the same conversation with their parents as they’re about to go off to college – the ‘can I have a/take my car please’ conversation.  As I went through it with my dad, the number 978 was brought up: nine hundred and seventy eight miles from my home in the North suburbs of Chicago to Dallas, Texas.  My dad sure didn’t want to drive that far, and neither did I, though I would have if it meant I got to bring my car to school. 

            Upon arriving at SMU I was surprised at the number of freshmen that had cars, and even more surprised at how close I would have been allowed to park.  My dad reminded me that basically everything I would need was on campus, or at least in walking distance.  With restaurants in Snyder Plaza and the CVS just down the road he was confident that I would be alright. 

            As the first week went by, he was right.  I really didn’t find the need for a car because I was so wrapped up in being on campus and seeing people wherever I went.  Now, however, that I have made friends and have eaten at Umphrey Lee for three meals a day seven days a week I start to wonder how my experience would be different if I did have that car.  Times like Saturday and Sunday afternoons it would be nice to be able to drive around Dallas, do some shopping, get some food that isn’t from the cafeteria for a change.  Even something as simple as a trip to CVS would be made easier by a car – who wants to walk from the dorms to CVS carrying a big package of 24 water bottles? 

            Thinking into the future I wonder how I will be able to get around next year without a car.  I’m currently thinking about getting an off campus apartment next year, but will that be feasible without a convenient and constant mode of transportation?