Christmas Break

Christmas break is my all time favorite break there is. I don't think there is any question of why that is! Because it's Christmas! Now that I am in college it is not just two weeks off. Its a whole month off of school. And it's not the fake time off where your teachers give you homework and take time away from your break. This break is for real. No homework, just having fun and eating a lot of food. Also is winter and in winter I can go skiing. Skiing is a lot of fun. Also this break is a break where  all my friends come home from their not as great at USC colleges and we can all hangout together, It is going to be a good break and I am looking forward to it. However, it is going to be a little bit of a bummer since college is a lot of fun and home can sometimes get just a littlle bit on the boring side during breaks.

Social Life

A social life in college is something you do not have to look very hard for. Actually, it is something you would have to avoid. When you life in a dorm a social opportunity is prevalent every time you open the door. If you want to socialize than all you have to do is open your door and walker by's will stop in and see what you are up too. Also, a social life would be very easy to get through the clubs that the university provides. There are always people out at russell house advocating for a club and the club fair day (not sure thats the right name for it) shows you a bunch of clubs to join and has people there to talk to you about them. All a person has to do is show and and not be a hermit in their room. I feel like a social life is just as important as an academic life. It will provide you with the tools to interact with people and build relationships. Those skills will become important when you search for a job. They don;t want to hire a smart student that can't talk to people. A person has to learn to balance the two.

Sleep

Sleeping is probably one of my favorite things to do. It's weird because you do absolutely nothing. You just lay there, pass out, and wake up a couple hours later. Experts say that you need 8 hours of sleep a night, but I feel like that number should be higher. I know when I get ten hours of sleep I feel like I am more rested than the required 8. So if we feel more rested shouldn't the number be 10? However, I just had to be a presentation on sleep and the number one way to feel more rested is having a sleep cycle. It is already hard enough to fit in a consistent 8 hour sleep cycle. Ten might just be too much. I do not see how some people function on three or four hours of sleep a week. I feel like after a while that has to get old. Maybe you are just so used to being tired, that you don't even notice it anymore. In conclusion, I am going to sleep and I am going to sleep a lot.

University 101

University 101 was a class that I was required to take as part of the Capstone program. I went into this class thinking it was going to be a breeze and that I was going to not even have to pay much attention to it. However, it was a little more challenging than I had thought. The papers were graded tougher than I had thought they were going to be and the topics were pretty challenging to write on. Now, I am not complaining since this is a college course. My expectations were just too low, which made things seem harder than they were. On a positive note this was a great class to meet people. Unlike a 400 person lecture hall the class was small and Dallin did a great job of making us get to know one another. Now, I know 18 more people than I did before this class. In conclusion, University 101 was a pretty good class with a good bit of benefits. Now I just need to finish my final paper and I can be done for the semester!

Greek Life

Greek Life seems to be a huge thing here at the University of South Carolina.The first week was full of frat parties that were filled with people and warm beer. It was a pretty fun week and I got to meet a lot of people. After the first week comes rushing. I did not participate in any of this so this is solely second hand information. Once you rush and you hopefully get picked to join the one you want, than a person gets the incredible honor to pledge for the fraternity. Now that process does not seem any fun. They pretty much make a person's life hell for a whole semester. I had a friend that was constantly tired, constantly having to be somewhere, or constantly having to buy something for his pledging. He was always complaining about it and would never actually tell me what really goes on. It didn't seem too fun though.

Semester Recap

After one semester in college here at the University of South Carolina, I can officially say college is awesome. I did a great job of balancing school work and fun. Since I did that, school was a breeze and pretty much stress free. I was not stressed about deadlines and could enjoy my free time. This semester just flew by. I remember a semester in high school seeming like it would never end and now a semester goes by too fast! However, that does not mean I only had fun and did not learn anything. College provided me with plenty of lessons in the classroom, but also provided them outside of it too. Living on my own sure taught me a whole lot! In conclusion, this semester was a success in my books. I just have to keep on taking advantage of opportunities and enjoy these next three and a half years until I actually have to go out and face the real world.

Laundry

At the moment I am down here in the basement getting laundry done. What really bothers me is the fact that I have to pay to do my laundry. I just paid over ten thousand dollars to come to school for this semester and I can't even get my laundry done for free. I have to pay a dollar twenty five for the washer and another dollar twenty five for the dryer. I pay a lot of money to come here and it seems like I still have to pay for everything. If I have to pay for everything than what does all this money go to that I have to pay? It seems pretty high of a price tag to not get some laundry free. Now I may just be ignorant, but I think this should be all inclusive for the price my parents are paying. I feel bad having to ask them for some extra change for my clothes. I guess I should get a job, but might as well get support from my parents as long as I can. Pretty soon I'll be paying for all my stuff and ten thousand dollars a semester for my child to go to school and a dollar twenty five for his laundry.

ACE Coaching

So, I just made an ACe Coaching appointment, since I couldn't make a writing center one. I am glad that Dallin was lenient in our procrastination on the writing center requirement. However, I am not going to lie the ACE Coaching is kind of going to be a hassle to go to. Thursday's is my day to sleep in, since I don't have class until 2:50 and I had to make my appointment at 9 in the morning. It would not be too bad if I actually needed to go. I have no exams to study for and have a good grasp on time management. I made my appointment to talk about how to improve my time management skills, because that seemed easier to fake than have some person tutor me for an exam that I do not need to take. But, I am not going to complain too much. I am sure this will help me out someway in the future and may even actually make me more willing to use the ACE Coaching when I actually need it since I will be more familiar to it. Now I hope this blog is long enough, but I am going to finish this sentence to be sure of it.

College Vs. High School

There is no argument that college varies greatly from high school. Not just the workload, but the life style. College is more than just school. In high school, all most all of your focus was on school. There was a definite line between your school life and your off time. However, in college that line is skewed. Your school life drifts into your personal life and you have to learn how to balance the two. You can not just go to school for 8 hours and forget it until the next day. You have to constantly plan ahead and plan your schedule so you don't fall behind. The structure is in your hands, not in the hands of your parents and the school system. The freedom is great and makes time fly by, since school doesn't seem like school. It simply is just part of your everyday life and I, personally, have not gotten bored of the routine since it varies greatly. I have more time to add different things into my day and change the routine around. I have the power and I enjoy the new responsibilities and glad I am away from the norm of a high school life.

Fall Break

My last blog post for this semester is going to pertain to my fall break that I just concluded. I went home on Wednesday and the first thing my mom did for me was cook my favorite dinner, which was the best thing. The food here is good but it can't compare to ones favorite dinner. Wednesday was not very exciting due to the fact that none of my friends were back yet. On Thursday I went out to eat with one of my friends to watch the UNC game at a local restaurant. That was pretty fun. Friday was the best because all of my friends were back and we all hung out at one of their houses. Now what we did should not be written down due to a legality that would not make me be able to publically announce until I was twenty one, but it was fun. Saturday we went to the Davidson game to watch one of our friends cheer. Davidson football can not compare to football here, but it was still a good time. During the night we went to some haunted corn maze which was also a good time. On Sunday I came back to USC. It was nice going home and seeing my friends, however being at college is loads more fun. Going home just isn't the same anymore. But my mother will always be happy to see me.

This Class

For the past hour I have been sitting in the most boring class that I have ever sat through. Mrs. Xanthros's HRTM 110 class is nothing more than a monotone women reading slides that I could finish reading in twenty minutes. Of course this class is on a Thursday night from 6 to 845, during a time when I want to be doing anything than sitting in a classroom. It wouldn't be so bad if she would teach us something that we would need or simply could not get from reading the textbook she made us buy. I could have not taken this class and just read the book and I would have saved a lot of time and boredom. This class is so monotonous that I am actually enjoying writing this blog, because it gives me a break from having to listen to her talk about reservation technique and whatever else is on the slide. Oh, now she is handing us a paper to read. This will be interesting. It is about a gamification technique that you pair with a loyalty program. Very interesting stuff. This lady went to Germany last week and made us suffer with a substitute teacher! The bad part was he was way better than this professor. I feel like if she can have a substitute professor come in for her I can have a substitute student come in for me. Now that would be a business I should start. I could hire people that would get paid to go to class for students when they don't want to and take notes for them. I doubt the university would allow that though. Interesting update in the class, she has now started writing on the board. A record number of 7 people are asleep and two have already left. Tough crowd in here tonight. I have to break the news to her that I will be on a plane during her next exam. Hopefully she will be a compassionate individual and be okay with that, but I really doubt it. She is one of those you are solely responsible for your actions and whatever else she could come up with. I might be making a visit to the conduct center if she will not let me make up the exam or take it early. I wonder if Mrs. X is any fun outside of this class. I'm going to put my money on her being a buzz kill. Oh, and if by the chance she reads this I hope that it is after I'm out of this class. That would be tough to explain! On the up side the chairs in this class are extremely comfortable. They have nice form and lean back quite well. There is still an hour and a half left in this class..................I don't know if I'm going to make it. If I don't make it let her read this so maybe she will engage in a more enjoyable teaching strategy and I can save some students lives. I'm not sure if that was supposed to be lives or lifes. I'm guess I got it right because it just put a red underline under lifes. It did it again! It is definitely lives. Also, since you are the best teacher at USC you would over look that I am writing this on Thursday and not Wednesday. Well, I am going to try to save myself from boredom by playing some Papijump.

Time Management

     Time management is a very valuable life skill that can make my life a whole lot less stressful and easier to manage. Even though the video we watched was probably one of the hardest thing to stay awake to it tied priorities and time management together. Time management does not mean much if the time you manage is not geared toward elements that will bring your life to the next level. Family, friends, education, and my physical health are all, as we discussed in class, important and urgent. Because of their importance I need to manage my time to be able to accomplish goals and tasks that will put those things first.

      If I had to give some advice on time management would be to think ahead! You have to think a couple steps ahead so you do not get a couple steps behind. If you take several small steps to get a goal accomplished than your outcome will be of greater quality and less stress than if you took one huge step in the final hours. ALso do not forget about the small things that need to get done. If you constantly worry about the large things and those large goals that you are trying to accomplish and forget about the small things that are necessary to get done than those small things will get in the way. So if you take anything from this it should be time management should be about balance and thinking ahead.

Responsibilties

The way a person handles the new responsibilities that they have been trusted with can either make or break them when it comes to life in college. We no longer have mom constantly bombarding us with demands to clean our room or do our homework. All of that has now been laid on us. A person has to adjust to setting aside time for their homework, and that does not mean an all nighter the night before the exam or paper is due. If a student manages their time well enough than college life will be a more positive experience. Managing your time does not mean that they have to be a groundhog and stay in their room the whole time, it simply means balance. Balance is the key to success. Yes, granted the scale should be leaning more heavily to the school work side, but don't let it weigh the whole scale down or you will miss out on all of the fun that college has to offer. However, having your mom out of your ear is nice to have when you are getting ready to go downtown, but when it comes to your laundry it would be nice to have here there! So, if you took anything from this blog understand the lessons your parents have taught you about responsibilty and apply them in a smart way to the challenges you will have to face during these next four years and the years of the "real world".

Life in a Dorm

      For this blog I am going to write about dorm life. Going from a house with three bathrooms, four bedrooms and just space in general and dorm can take time to adjust too. Don't get me wrong it is not all bad. Me and my roommate have gotten pretty close and the cleaning requirements are a lot smaller than that of a whole house, but sometimes you just want to have a little more space. Life would be all well if your kitchen, bedroom, study room, and living room were not all one room. Oh and one more thing, the bathroom. For some reason whenever I want to go and take a shower someone else has already beat me to that. A room with two people may be bad, but a bathroom with four people sure is not any better. If a dorm has taught me one thing it is too appreciate the house that you got to reside in for 18 years. I am most looking forward to moving into an apartment, that I will appreciate, hopefully during the next year. I may miss my first dorm and own living space, but I am sure that I will get over the sadness in my heart in ample time. However, in conclusion a dorm may not be the best experience, but I am not going to rush out of it. A dorm is part of college and an experience that can make college a lot of fun.

Intro Blog

      Hello everyone. Well this is my first blog entry of my life, so don't judge too bad! Since I am a rookie at this, I feel like my first blog should be about myself. This past few weeks there has been a lot of talking about myself. Now I'm not egocentric, but being the first couple weeks in a new place surrounded by new people you always have to answer the essentials. I have been unconciously repeating my name, where I am from, what's my major and other of the normal greeting questions. So here it goes one more time. My name is Cory Petersen and I was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. I moved to Denver, NC (just outside of Charlotte) and I am currently studying Hospitality Management. I chose hospitality management due to the fact that it will allow me to travel. I can work in all parts of the country and the world, which allows me to meet different kinds of people.
      During the summer I really enjoy going out on the lake and really dread working. When I was little I always wanted to be big and grown up, but now that I see how much work being grown up involves I wish I would have enjoyed my younger years a little more. I was a life guard this summer, which was a not so bad job besides being very boring, and the other three summers I installed carpets. Never go and install carpets! Installing carpets is why I am in school, because I never want to have to face that job again. More hobbies that I have done and enjoyed were playing baseball and football during high school. I played baseball pretty much my whole life and it is kind of sad that it is all over now.
      College life has been pretty good so far. I would have to say the best part is the freedom that I have. I get to chose what I do everyday, which is a lot of pressure, but it is something I enjoy. The least favorite part was leaving all my friends and the fact that I have to walk everywhere.
      I am not a huge fan of talking about myself so I am going to wrap it up. Thanks for reading!