Journal Page
This is a collective page of all of the journals that I have written throughout the semester. I hope you enjoy seeing my growth as a writer!
Journal #1- College Expenses
With the overwhelming costs of college expenses (such as tuition, books, housing, and food), it can be difficult for many people to find the money to pay for college. It is especially difficult when so many view it as a necessity while it is priced as a luxury. I can personally attest to the frustrations that people share in regard to college expenses as I too find it challenging to support such a lifestyle. By way of grants and scholarships, I am able to fully cover my tuition expenses, and for that, I am truly grateful. However, in order to keep up my housing and living expenses, I must work and take out high-interest loans. Although I would prefer to focus solely on my education rather than have to balance school and work and practically accumulate no debt while I am in school that is not an option for me.
Journal #2- The Writing Process
Personally, I find the writing process to be often difficult. I feel this way because it is challenging for me to gather my many thoughts and organize them into a clear and concise paper. A way that I have learned to overcome this obstacle, however, is to first brainstorm topics or eliminate any unnecessary information on topics that I have been assigned to write about. I ask myself questions that will help me to form an overall theme and I structure my body paragraphs around that central idea. Each body paragraph contains a detail that will support the theme of my paper. I then revise my paper by asking myself if there are any details that are not supporting my theme and are instead taking the focus away from what my paper is truly about.
Journal #3- The Benefits of Being Multilingual
Speaking from firsthand experience, I can attest to the multitude of opportunities and many advantages that are associated with being multilingual. As the child of one immigrant parent, I was raised in a household in which Spanish was both understood and spoken. When I was younger, I did not realize the benefits that stemmed from being fluent in both Spanish and English. However, as I grew older, I began to appreciate the added provisions that were at my disposal or for my benefit, such as access to a greater amount of available and sometimes exclusive jobs, possessing the ability to process information faster and more conveniently, and the acquisition of complex interpersonal skills and potential to be more relatable to others.
Journal #4- My Current Writing Goals
My ultimate writing goal is to learn how to properly structure a natural flowing essay where all of my ideas are clear and are accompanied by fitting transitions. I typically get a lot of helpful feedback from my work and understanding that I am not the world’s best writer, I view it as constructive criticism that is meant to assist me in growing as a college writer. The most common feedback that I receive from my writing tends to be that at some point in my work my ideas become a bit disorganized and lose relevance. It has been brought to my attention that this occurs because I do not use enough transitions throughout my paper or they are just obsolete. I am working on eliminating this bad habit from my writing process by getting into a routine of preparing outlines for my paper so that all of my main ideas and thoughts are displayed in an organized and logical structure.
Journal #5- Managing my Money
Now more than ever, I am feeling the constant pressure to monitor and manage my funds continually and with a responsible attitude. Dealing with the consequences of a current global pandemic, I can offer my first-hand testimony of how it feels to be financially unprepared. I’ve recently lost my job due to the recent outbreak of the novel coronavirus and requirement to social distant, and have fallen on some hardship. I work as a server at Olive Garden, so making money isn’t a very difficult thing to do. Previously, I did not understand the need to save money because if my funds ever ran low, I knew that I could easily pick up a shift and have what I needed. Now I am realizing how important it is to have a savings and to be smart when it comes to spending because the ability to work is no longer offered to me. With that in mind, I plan to be more careful with the funds I have, making sure that I budget for what I need more than for what I want. I’ve also been trying to make more of an effort to see the importance in preparing for whatever the future may bring ahead of time, so that I can avoid the stress that comes with panicking and being unsure.
Journal #6- My Spring Break
Before I could even begin to imagine the outbreak of COVID-19 or reality of living in a pandemic, I had planned to visit my mother and other relatives over the spring holiday — and I did just that. My mom, aunt, younger sister, older brother, sister-in-law, and nephew all live in Tampa, Florida, where I used to call home, so I flew to visit them and meet my nephew for the first time since he was born almost a year ago. Despite the fact that the coronavirus was beginning to spread to the United States at this time, I decided to continue with my trip because I, along with millions of other people, did not yet understand the severity of the situation. As soon as I landed, it was announced in the airport that one of the TSA employees had tested positive for COVID-19. From that moment on, I was very cautious with my actions for the remainder of my trip. On my second day in Tampa, I spent time with one of my friends there and we went to the beach. When we got there, however, we saw that there were signs posted encouraging people to limit their time spent at the beach and other public places, so my friend and I decided to leave. Before I could even make it to my third day in Florida, I received an email from my airline saying that they were suspending my flight because of the recent outbreak and that I would need to board an earlier flight before matters got worse. I left Tampa on what was supposed to be my third day there and boarded my flight at Orlando International Airport. While on my flight, I observed many passengers being very hostile towards one another whenever someone would cough, sneeze, or even sniffle. I realized then that our lives were beginning to change drastically and at a very fast rate.
Journal #7- My Progress in School
I am currently doing very well in all of my classes. I believe that the requirement to socially distance has made it easier for me to focus on and dedicate ample time for each of my courses. As of right now, the classes that I am performing best in are public speaking and accounting. I have not dropped any classes because I do not feel as overwhelmed since I am no longer able to work. I believe that I will receive an A or B as my final grade for all of the classes I am enrolled in. Even though I dislike the majority of them, they are all required for my major and degree.
Journal #8- Writing in Other Classes
Besides Univ150, the only other class that I have had actual writing assignments for is Information Literacy and Research. I absolutely hate that class, it seems extremely redundant to me. I’ve written more papers for this class than I have for my actual writing class. I’m not even truly sure what I was even writing about or what the topics of my papers were, but I received a good grade on each of them so I cannot complain too much.
Journal #9- My Campus Involvement
At present, I have yet to attend any on-campus events. I didn’t really anticipate doing so, though, because I don’t consider myself to be a very social person. I am not a member of a sorority, nor do I plan to pledge in the future. However, I am a member of Old Dominion’s Latino Student Alliance. I joined the LSA because being a first-generation Latina student, I thought that maybe meeting other students from a similar background would help with my first-year transition. During my free time or in between classes I usually just hang at the Webb or the library, but if I have at least two hours in between my classes I usually just go to my apartment since it is across the street from campus.
Journal #10- My ODU Experience
In spite of the many challenges and unforeseen occurrences that I have dealt with in my first year at Old Dominion, I can say that I am pretty content with my decision of attending this wonderful university. I appreciate the “city feel” of the school and dense population of both students and staff that is joined with the option for one on one interaction and involvement among everyone. Every professor, counselor, advisor, or whatever member of staff they may be, is always open and available to help and guide me along the way. I’ve never once felt “alone” while at ODU, or like I didn’t know what direction I was going in. I can not think of any major improvements that the university should make. I would certainly suggest attending Old Dominion to rising college freshmen.
Journal #11- My Goals for the Future
As I have stated many times before in my writing, my prospective career is in the field of marketing analytics. Currently, I am apart of the Strome Business College at Old Dominion. In order to become a marketing analytics specialist, I have to understand the basic concept and fundamentals of business, communications, computer technology, and statistics and data analytics. I will also have to take some marketing courses to learn how marketing works in different types of business systems. An internship in my field of study is also vital in both earning my bachelor’s degree in marketing analytics, as well as getting a job in my field of study.
Journal #12- My Semester Schedule
For the spring 2020 semester, I am enrolled in 16 credit hours. The classes that I am enrolled in include pre-calculus (3 credits), introduction to business (1 credit), introduction to literacy and research (3 credits), writing for college success (3 credits), public speaking (3 credits), and principles of financial accounting (3 credits). Since we have switched, my study schedule is as follows: on Mondays, I complete my work for pre-calculus and accounting, on Tuesdays I work on my writing assignments and public speaking, Wednesdays I focus on pre-calculus and business, and on Thursdays, I finish off the school week by completing my remaining writing assignments and research homework. I designate 2 hours for every course I study for.
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