The College Life

Wow, we are getting ready to receive our midterms in about a week. Can you believe that we have been in college that long? I still remember getting here August 20^th and calling my new roommate to tell her that I was pulling into campus. She moved in the day before me. Then since all the other people from my high school also moved in the day before me…I called all of them to tell them I was pulling into the Slusher parking lot. Three of my best friends, my new roommate, and my mentor all met me by the car and helped me carry all of my stuff in. I loved how everyone made fun of how much stuff I brought in and now they are starting to use all of it. For example, I brought folding chairs and everyone was like why would we need those and they are up almost every day for visitors. That night I went off with my friends to see the hypnotist. That was a great show…my roommate and I did everything together the first weekend…we went to all the Hokie Hi activities from Star Trek to the Beach Bash. Ever since then we have been doing everything together and have not been apart since. I am so grateful that we get along so well and do not fight. It still amazes me to this day how they matched us up because we think just alike and have so much in common. We did not even plan it but our room matches perfectly. It probably helped that we both shopped at Target for our college stuff. When we were buying the college accessories we did not know each other nor did we know both of us were shopping at Target.

When we first found out who our roommate is I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland (my mom and I go there every year, I have been going since I was four years old). I did not have my computer so I had to wait until that Friday to talk to my new roommate. That night getting on Facebook, I checked and had a friend request from her. We talked that night and again the next day. The first question I asked her was “do you like pink?” To my luck she said “yes” and all the stuff she bought for the dorm room was pink too. That was so nice because all I bought was pink. I mean our room matches perfectly. One of my biggest fears after buying all the dorm accessories was that she hates pink with a passion. I am so happy that that was false and everything worked out.

During the first week of getting to know each other and not having a lot of homework in my classes, I made a lot of friends and joined a lot of clubs. The extracurricular activities helped me to make new friends. As I said last week, even though I went to college with my best friends, I still view college as a new adventure, a nice comfortable facility to learn who you are, and a place where you can learn what you want to do for the rest of your life. Because of this reason, I am not hanging out with my friends from high school all the time. I do hang out with my best friends that live down the hall but we also hang out with some of my friends I met from swing dancing and various activities.

Hanging out with all my new friends a lot is fun. The phrase, however, is so true, college/ engineering students get two out of three…sleep, homework, or social life. Trying to balance all three is really hard for me. I think time management is probably one of the biggest problems I am having. The first couple weeks of college I defiantly chose homework and social life. Not sleeping did not end well so I tried to switch to homework and sleep. It really stinks because I want to hang out with my friends too. There are people in my room right now (my roommate and I have the same friends) because my roommate does not have homework for tomorrow, so I said I would leave and go to a study room to do mine. It is really crazy because we are both in Hypatia (the girl engineering living community) so you would think we would have the same work load but we do not. She had a lot of AP credits from high school and I did not take my AP credits from high school thinking it will help me adjust to college easier. So she has some electives and core classes where I have the basic freshman load. I do not know how it happened but I tend to have more homework than she does. She is an amazing roommate though because when I have homework and she does not she will just sit on her side of the room and is quiet. I really do appreciate that.

Another problem I have with time management is saying no to activities that are not more important than homework. For awhile now I would always tell myself that it is not due tomorrow so I can go out now and do the assignment tomorrow or the day before it is do. That is a bad idea and a horrible mind set to get into. After I learned from my mistakes, I try to do my assignments at least a day before it is due and not wait until the last minute. The good thing is that I found I work better at night than during the day; the only problem is my friends work better during the day than the night. That makes it hard, but I am still figuring it out. It is still the first semester.

Living on my own without my mom, not time management, is what I thought would be the hardest thing adjusting to college because my mom did everything for me. I am adjusting a lot better than I thought because I like the freedom and living on my own. Do not get me wrong I still miss her a lot but I can always call/skype/email her and that helps.

I know the first five weeks I have learned a lot, not just school work, but all the other things my mom did that I did not realize she did. I think I miss most her dragging me out of bed every morning. Just remember to have fun in college, do not lock yourself up in a room because half the college experience is the social aspect. When you find the perfect solution to balancing all three homework, sleep, and social life, please let me know.

Friends!

This week instead of writing about a news article I think I am going to write about my new friends I have made a VT and the old ones back at home. I really do love all of my friends…I would be a loner without them because I am an only child. Just joking…I still have my family J however my best friends are like my family. At home I visited one side of the family every Saturday and my other side every Sunday. My family is very close knit.

At home, I had tons of friends (I won friendliest for senior superlatives). There was no one that I would not talk to. I liked everyone; there was no one that I did not like. My high school was not like the high school’s you see on TV that have tons of clicks and you can only be a part of one click. Nope nothing like that, it was like a web…everyone had friends in all the “clicks.” Outside of school people hung out with different people but I think by senior year we all had a certain group of people we hung out with all the time. I know for me over the summer and before the high school football season on a regular base I hung out with about fifteen people. I am not sure how the “group” came to be. We had known each other for awhile and some people in the group I had known since I was five, but I am not sure how we all started hanging out. It is funny the way groups of people just form without any thought. We always had a blast together. Our nights ranged from catchphrase, board games, crazy dance parties (dancing in the rain, dancing in the street, dancing in the house, and dancing in the back yard), high school football games, volunteering (helped we were all in the same club), study groups (only once not really successful with a lot of people), pool, movies, always eating, etc. There was NEVER a dull moment with us. We were always at someone’s house hanging out; we lived at each other’s houses and our own. People always knew when the group had arrived because we would always take off our shoes before entering the house so there would be a pile of shoes in the entrance hall. I cannot explain enough that we were always together doing something, nothing ever serious because we were not serious people, but we knew when we needed to be. Shockingly enough we all went to college to be engineers. Only one or two of us did not.

I think our parents are happy to have time to do stuff for their self, but I think deep down they really miss us. One of the moms in the group is having an “empty nester party” for all the parents of the group of friends. In the group we were either only children or the last child in their family to graduate. Some have younger siblings but they are in the minority. I guess for our parents to stay connected without us there are going to have monthly potluck dinners. The last one I was told was a lot of fun and they are going to continue it next month.

Even though about 35 to 40 people from my high school and about half the “group” went here, I have still gone out and met new people. I believe college is a new adventure and time for a new start in life. So I hang out with my roommate and a bunch of other people all the time. My roommate and I did random (within Hypatia) and we ended up being just a like it is incredible. We get along so well!!! We hang out all the time. Tech could not have done a better job matching us up. I do not know how they did it since we only answered four questions. Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you stay up late? How neat do you keep your room? Maria (my roommate) and I have the same taste in almost everything…we did not plan it but our room matches perfectly.

All the other people I have met at Virginia Tech are amazing. We all hang out so much that we have inside jokes, fun movie nights, card games, etc. I have not met anyone mean. People here are so supportive, because when I need help or I did not do as well on something as I thought I did, there is always someone there. I know that this is just the beginning of college but it is so much fun! The classes are harder than I expected but that is okay I am figuring out what I need to do differently and hopefully that will help.

I really do miss all my friends from home! The ones that go to VT I talk to and visit when I can. College is defiantly going to be hard and busy, but I hope that I will always have time to stay in touch with all my friends back at home and that when we go back for breaks and such I will always have a connection with them. I know that the first four weeks I have been bad about calling and texting them, but that is something I hope to improve upon as the year progresses. In my defense, a phone call or a text goes two ways. My friends really do mean a lot to me; I would not be the person I am today without my best friends. It is hard to see it at the time but each and every person has a small impact on others. I am one of those people that normally do not see it while it is happening but as I reflect on it later, I do.

Everyone out there, that little song we learn when we are young is still true. “Make new friends but keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.” Do not lose sight of your best friends from back at home but remember that life is changing so it is okay to go out a make tons of new friends. I guess try to call or text your friends at least once a week. I know I am. Sometimes a phone call from an old friend can make all the difference in the world.

Wow, this one got me going...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32833550/ns/world_news-terrorism/

As I said last week we are disconnected from the real world; therefore, I read some more news articles to help keep you up to date with the latest news.

First news article from MSNCB is about Bin Laden sending Americans another tape around the September 11^th anniversary. He is thought to be hiding in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In the tape he insulted the Americans and President Obama. Bin Laden said President Obama to be “‘powerless’ to stop the war in Afghanistan, and Americans' inability to grasp why the Sept. 11 attacks occurred has ‘cost you a lot without any result whatsoever.’” He later talks about how President Obama is not changing the way President Bush handled the war because he kept many of the military leaders such as Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Bin Laden states the reason they are staying at war with us. "We have demonstrated and stated many times, for more than two-and-a-half-decades, that the cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine," Bin Laden said. Later on he said, "Ask yourselves to determine your position: is your security, your blood, your children, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation dearer to you than the security of the Israelis, their children and their economy?"

This is a very powerful news article. I, however, do not like how the reporter can just take random quotes and report about them. By doing that, the news article can be read to say anything because it was taken out of the original context. After reading this news article, it is very clear that the war we are fighting it is still very real. It is actually scary how much they know about your news and politics when we probably do not know nearly the same amount about theirs. I do understand that we live in a republic and the government has the right to keep any information from us its wants to. As American citizens we believe that we should still know everything which can be a scary thought. I think we think like that because we always say we live in a democracy but when we say the Pledge we say “to the republic for which it stands.” Because we were required to say it every morning in grade school, I do not think many people realize what they are saying, they just say it. Students do not take the time to think about what it really stands for and means. They do not think about the millions of lives that were lost for the freedom of this country. “Freedom is not free” is a bump sticker that is seen all around town but has a deep meaning behind it. George Washington told this country to remain isolationist and even Bin Laden is hinting on that when he said "Ask yourselves to determine your position: is your security, your blood, your children, your money, your jobs, your homes, your economy, and your reputation dearer to you than the security of the Israelis, their children and their economy?" This is a very powerful message and should be strongly considered by the people in the White House. I am not against the war and I am not for the war. Even though this message is about not being in the war, it has a very powerful message behind it. In AP government we learned that every war has a declaration and it states why we are there and when it will be over. That is how and why we know the point of each war in the past. When my teacher asked the class why we were fighting the War on Terrorism everyone in the class had a different answer. This further proves the point that we do not really know why we are fighting. Throughout the war we have switched countries to fight, we heard different reasons on the news for changing countries, and we are not clear on when it is time to leave. We do not know when because we never made a declaration. That is why it was so easy for senators to say they were not for the war during the election even though the funded the war. A 4 year old girl is not going to ask her parents for a promiscuous outfit and get to wear it if her parents do not approve of it. They are not going to fund it for her to wear. That is the same thing with the congress they cannot fund the war and then all say they are against it. I understand during 9/11 everyone was for it because we were attacked on our own land but part of being in the government is planning ahead and not acting on impulse. I am not saying that is what the government did it just feels like it.

As I stated earlier I am not for this war and I am not against. Because I do not feel I know all my information on why we are over there and the reasons behind it, I cannot make an educated opinion. I know hard core liberals are generally against the war and hard core conservatives are generally for the war. Since we are already over there, as much as President Obama wants to get us out, it is going to be hard. Just because we are in the middle of a war, it is going to be hard to slowly leave. Last time we tried that was Vietnam. Everyone knows how badly that turned out.

On a side note, they make us sit through history class because we are supposed to learn from our past and not make any of those mistakes again. Well, when they took Caesar out of power there was chaos. Why did our leaders not think that, that would happen when they took out the power in the Middle East?

Wow, well I had meant to write about more news articles, but this one got me going.

Current Events and Advice

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32722511/ns/world_news-terrorism/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32690557/ns/health-swine_flu/

Living in a college town, it is true the students are disconnected from the real world. I know for me I have not heard of any current events since I have been here. Because of that I decided to use my current events Google toolbar and read some new events and I found two to be very important and worth knowing.

One MSNBC news article is about how the swine flu deaths are climbing and how the virus could infect a third of the world’s population according to WHO estimates. That is a really scary thought. As of last week according to the World Health Organization, 625 people have been reported dead from swine flu. That figure is more than 20% of the 2,837 known deaths since the virus emerged. Scary thing is that “Spokesman Gregory Hartl says the figure far understates the actual number of cases because countries are no longer required to report each infection as the caseload so high.” “WHO said Friday that laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease have now reached 254,206.”

After reading this article I am thoroughly scared that the swine flu will just go through the college and everyone will be sick. I, however, do realize that this isn’t the first scare that has happened in awhile. First, there was the bird flu, mad cow disease, anthrax, etc then after a couple of months, the news and everyone stopped talking about it and the topic just died. This one just feels different, because the flu each year already takes the lives of millions and now there is a flu that could be worse than the one we already have. We cannot live in fear of getting the flu; we can only try to protect ourselves. If we cough, sneeze, etc. then wash our hands, if we are about to eat use hand-sanitizer or go to the restroom and wash our hands, we should try to eat healthy food at least once a meal such as an apple, salad, orange juice, etc, we should keep up with personal-hygiene, wash our clothes, use Clorox wipes or Lysol spray to clean up your dorm room every week or every two weeks, and we should try to get eight to nine hours of sleep a night. I think simple things like this will help keep this campus a healthier place.

The second MNSBC news article is about the biggest terrorist attack since Sept. 11th. “Three British Muslims were convicted Monday of plotting to murder thousands by drowning at least seven airliners bound for the United States and Canada.” The conspirators were smuggling liquid explosives as soft drinks onboard the airplanes. “British and U.S. security officials said that plan was directly linked to al-Qaida and guided be senior Islamic militants in Pakistan.” “British authorities estimate that, if successful, around 2,000 passengers would have died. If bombs were detonated over U.S. and Canadian cities, hundreds more would have been killed on the ground. “The conspirators were going to make the bombs in the restrooms.

After reading this article, I felt stunned. I just keep thinking of the thousands of soldiers fighting over there and why they are there fighting. Even I had relatives that fought over there and were blessed enough to return home, but to think of the thousands that have not made it home. It is such a sad and touchy subject. All I know is there is new power in the world so there better be change for the better!!

I know what it feels like to lose someone due to age and health problems. It has happened to me this year. But as Nickelback said it “each day is a gift and not a given right,” and as Envy on the Coast put it “I am not afraid to die, I am afraid to live and not remember why.” If we take that advice and use it every day maybe it would get rid of the ultimate fear of dyeing and losing the people that are close to us. Each person is different but if they really care about the person, when they die they don’t want the people to cry over them they want them to remember all the amazing times that you had together. Maybe invent something in honor of them, or think of them when you are living your life. No one ever dies until you forget about them. I know for me when I die I want people to celebrate the time we had together and not cry but have a party in honor of me. The book “Five People You Meet in Heaven” by Mitch Albom is not what you would think it would be. The plot is about a person’s live and the 5 different people that have affected his life. The first person he meets explains to him that each person he meets will teach him a lesson and by this he will discover his meaning and purpose in life. It is a really good book, had me crying at the end. I feel maybe the book explains why we should not be afraid of dying but maybe afraid that we did not live today, we lived tomorrow always waiting, wishing, and hoping for tomorrow but not realizing what we have today. Our purpose in life cannot be to sit around waiting, it is to take action and make a difference in the world. It can be as small as making the person next to you smile or as big as inventing the cure to the swine flu. Whatever our purpose is in the world it is big in each and every way, and more in likely by the way we affect those who we left behind. Just remember if you are like one of my best friends that lost someone close to him last weekend, or me this year. They are not dead until you completely forget about them, so always keep them close to you in your heart, thoughts, and prayers.

Jon Ciccone

Jon Ciccone, born in Manhattan, New York on July 17, 1991, is an adventurous, courageous, creative, sports fanatic, one of a kind guy. While Jon was growing up, Jon’s parents, Bruce and Liz Ciccone, had a handful. As a child, there seemed to be nothing that him and his close buds would not try. They played games in Jon’s room that ranged from Dodge Ball, where they would throw at each other whatever they could find from socks to encyclopedia books, to Room Ball, where they would use racket balls, PC pipes, and targets on the wall. Jon said, “Room Ball is similar to baseball.” Even as he got older one of his favorite memories was with his close group of friends kick boxing on the Trampoline. Jon says there were some injuries but it was well worth it. Because of Jon’s love for sports, in high school he played everything from tennis, basketball, to running cross country. Whenever he has a chance he plays any sport he can find that other people are playing and joins in. After playing tons of different sports, Jon says, “I am accident pron.” He has broken both middle fingers, had a moderate knee sprain, broken his nose three times, “has too many concussions to count, maybe around 15,” and a broken back that he didn’t know about until 3 months after it happened. It is safe to say he is very courageous and adventurous guy. Some brakes Jon is not too proud of such as getting into a fight with his younger sister, Christina now fourteen years old, and coming out with a broken nose.

Jon did a summer program at Virginia Tech called STEP, this is for Engineers to help them get adjusted between high school and college. He met one of his best friends there, Charlie Jones. Whenever each of them have any spare time, they are hanging out and playing sports such as racket ball, volleyball, and basketball. Charlie says one time both of them got all decked out in all the racket ball gear from the gloves to the goggles. Participating in that fun game together became a memory that will last a lifetime.

Not only does Jon play sports he also enjoys watching them then on television. When asked who is your favorite sports team Jon says, “I am a BIG Yankee’s fan and even gets there scores sent to me phone daily using YES, the Yankee Network.” He tries to go to as many games as he can, and watches the other ones on the television. Before the World Cup in Soccer Jon picks a team and follows that team until the end. In 2006, he picked Italy and was really happy when they actually won. For basketball he is a huge Knicks fan. Jon says, “The Knicks are terrible at basketball but they are the most fun team to pay attention to because there is never a dull moment.” Jon has been watching football since preschool and says, “That is all I watch in the fall.” Even though he likes college football better than the pros, his favorite NFL team is the Philadelphia Eagles. On that team his favorite player is Donovan McNabb and Jon says, “I was overjoyed when the Eagles got Mike Vick, big Mike Vick supporter.” His favorite team over all is Virginia Tech and that is all he watches in the fall. Some of his favorite games are Virginia Tech vs. Texas 1995 Cotton Bowl, Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia 1998, and the first game he attended in 1999 Virginia Tech @ RU and Virginia Tech won by fifty plus points.

Since, Virginia Tech is his favorite team it is no wonder why he wanted to attend Virginia Tech for college. He is actually not the first person in his family to attend Virginia Tech. Jon’s mom and her three brothers and one sister all went to Tech. That is not the only reason why Jon wants to go to Virginia Tech; he wants to be a mechanical engineer. Jon says when he was younger that he would always build crazy projects out of legos and he says that one set he used was 5,000 pieces. With this degree Jon wishes to be able to move in a big company such as GE, nothing like aerospace where it is focused in a general area.

Jon is going to Virginia Tech from out of state; he currently lives in Essex Fells, New Jersey. Back at his home in New Jersey, there are important people in his life that he truly misses. One person he misses the most is his girlfriend, Alinoel Navia. They are still dating even though they are miles apart. Jon says, “It is difficult to deal with a long distance relationship, it sucks.” She is not the only person that has supported him and influenced his life greatly. Jon’s nanny and her husband helped to teach him manners, how to talk to people, etc. Jon’s says, “My nanny influenced me, made me a better person, and really shaped who I am today.” Jon is also really close to his guidance counselor, he would go to him if he were having problems in school or outside of school. He was always there whenever Jon needed him during his high school years.

The summer before senior year, Jon went on a trip to Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand with an ambassador group. He said this was his favorite trip. In Fiji, he went to the beach, a wild life reservation, and even island hopped. He stayed in a home of a native New Zealander and was really able to experience their culture. In Australia, he toured Sydney. Right before this three week tour he was a little skeptical about it but it turned out to be the best experience of his life.

When Charlie Jones was asked to describe Jon he said it best, he said fun, outgoing, very caring, and easy to talk to guy.