Writing and Living

As I approach the end of the year, I enjoy looking back on the memories I made my freshman year in college. I think of the long nights I was up studying, the high test scores I got and even the low test scores I got. I think of the nights spent enjoying with friends and the early mornings waking up for classes. Whether it be taking a moment to enjoy small things such as nature or enjoying big thing such as celebrating birthdays, I have learned to have a more positive outlook on life. As a whole, this entire year has been a learning experience for me and I have learned many lessons along the way. I learned proper studying habits, the consequences of procrastinating, and the rewards of time management. I learned that there is a time and place for having fun and a time and place for being focused and studious. Whether or not I transfer out of Lewis or stay, I can truly say that I enjoyed my first year of college, and I will be using the lessons I learned to shape the rest of college

So it's almost the end of the year already. The end of my first year of college. Going to college has been a unique experience for me. From meeting new people, to experiencing a new level of freedom never exposed to me, college has been a mental roller coaster. Classe have, of course, gotten much harder since high school and the courses run at an accelerated rate. But that's no surprise. We've been told that from the beginning it will get harder from, here so enjoy it while you can. With this being said, I feel as though I am missing out on the "college life" because the social events and interactions are at a low here. Despite these things, there are multiple things I like about this university. I love the friends that I have made here and the biology program here is well acclaimed. The ups and downs of college have made me come to a decision that is very hard to come to. I cannot decide whether to transfer to a school farther from home, or toughen up for three y

The end of the school year is coming closer. With only 3 weeks left, I find myself excited but scared at the same time. Trying to pass these last few weeks are going to be difficult, especially with summer right around the corner. This is the time of the year where I just want it to be over with and can barely focus, but I will try. I don't want my first year of college to go to waste. Although it has been a good first year, along with some down sides, I am glad that I was able to experience it here. When I look back on my first year, it seems like it flew by, but at the same time, going by so slow. These next weeks are going to feel like forever, and it's going to be hard and painful to get through. The stress will kick in severely as I try to focus on school and my grades, studying for upcoming tests and quizzes, but also finals. I never actually know when to start studying for finals because I am already so occupied with my current homework and tests I have to study for th

This past Easter break was really a break that I needed, just to cool off for a bit, even though it was only a 4 day break. School has been really stressful lately, especially since it's almost coming to an end and finals are near. On Thursday, my friends and I hung out at each other's house and got to meet her new puppy! We then took a trip to Chinatown. We had rolled ice cream (which was the first time I've ever had rolled ice cream) and it was probably one of the best ice cream that has ever gone into my mouth. The next day, my roommate Meghan and I took the train to UIC for a visit. After we visited and explored the campus a bit, we kind of fell in love. Meghan and I have known each other since middle school and we've always dreamed of living in the city. Living in an apartment with your best friend, overlooking the Chicago skyline. That was always a dream of ours. Living in the suburbs of Tinley Park is nice, but being able to go on a night walk in the city and

This is definitely one of my favorite SuperBowl ads that I have seen. It catches the attention of the audience quickly because of the Amazon's Alexa and also many different celebrities involved. In this ad, you can see Gordon Ramsay, whom people love because of his comedic temper he always has. He portrays this temper in the ad as well. Another big upcoming celebrity that is seen in this is Cardi B. She is starting her rise to fame and becoming very popular. Because of this and her being a very likable person, it is not surprising that she would catch many people's attention. Another big celebrity seen in this ad is Rebel Wilson. She, as well, is a very likable person by many and known for her sense of humor. The fact that she is shown in a bathtub replacing Alexa shows her humorous side and fits perfectly with the ad. Anthony Hopkins, who played Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs was also involved in this ad. Since he portrays a creepy, disturbing cannibal in the movie,

Ever since I was young, I have always loved traveling. My family goes on annual summer vacations and it is my favorite time of the season. Getting to travel to different places and explore new areas is my favorite thing in the world. We try to go to different places every year and see different things every year.  My mom and aunt have always traveled when they were young as well, so I basically grew up with a traveling group of people, so it kind of passed onto me. Since my family is from Thailand, we traveled there when I was about five years old. Another place we went to that was one of my favorites was when we took a cruise to Mexico. I started traveling with my family since I was young so I have loved doing it ever since. I one day plan to travel all over the world, exploring every new place possible. My dream location would be to the Bahamas or Hawaii. I would also love to go to Paris one day. That has always been a dream spot for me when I was younger. I hope that in the futur

When I first watched this ad during the Superbowl, I found it to be pretty funny and have some humor to it. When the ad is first being introduced, you don't really know what kind of ad it is, or what it is for, which I'm assuming was their purpose at first. By having a well-known famous actor, David Harbour, known for his role as "Chief Hopper" in the popular Netflix series Stranger Things , they already have the audience hooked on what this ad is about. The fact that he points out at the very beginning that this could be just another Superbowl car ad or another typical beer ad has the audience guessing what the ad is really trying to portray. When he announces that this ad is in fact a Tide ad, you wonder how can it be a Tide ad? This ad uses rhetoric by simply showing throughout the video the clothes that people are wearing. Since this is a Tide ad, the clothes that every person is wearing seems to be clean and spotless. Well, this is their purpose. Even before

"If you can't stop thinking about it, don't stop working for it". This is one of my favorite quotes. Everyone has their own dream or goal that they want to achieve. Whether it's been since they were a young child or they just want to try something new. Whether it be only one goal in life or multiple. All it takes is hard work and motivation to reach your goal. The more you think about it, the more you will be motivated to achieve it. For me, all I really wanted in life was to be happy and satisfied with my life. I can't stop thinking of the day when I'm older and I'm living my life to the fullest, the way I want to, when I'm finally satisfied with where I am in life and not stressing about anything anymore. That is the dream for me. I don't exactly know what my future is or how I'm going to get there, but I feel that if I keep imagining it, it will eventually come true with all my dedication and effort that I hopefully put in, and it wi

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I visited the Art Institute of Chicago over this past spring break. Towards the beginning of the semester, our College Writing class wrote a summary and analysis paper about an art museum called Art in Island. As I was at the museum, it reminded me about this very unique museum. Art in Island is a different kind of museum. It is an interactive art museum located in Manila in the Philippines. As my friend Chloe and I were roaming around looking at the art, I thought to myself, "I wonder how these sculptures and paintings would be if I were at Art in Island." As Mallonee mentioned in her article how normal museums are boring and just like any other art museum where you walk quietly looking at art, I could see why she thought that. Me not really being an art person, I did sort of start getting bored after a while. Walking around silently looking at art isn't really my thing, but it was free so why not? I did think the art was still be

So this past week of spring break happened to fall on the week of my birthday! Better yet, my birthday fell on the the Friday we got off of school for spring break! I went out for sushi with my friends that day and later that night, my mom took me out for even more sushi! I guess you could say I love my sushi. On Sunday, my family and I went to a Korean Barbecue place for my birthday. I received $600 total from my family, but you already know I spent most of it the next day at Oakbrook Mall :) I have a habit of spending money, which I should really learn how to save up. Being that it was pretty chilly out on Monday and Oakbrook is an outside mall, I got a little sick the next day and found myself having a sore throat and a stuffy nose, which is never fun, especially on spring break :/ However, I took some medicine and felt a little better as the days came along, so my friend Chloe and I decided to do downtown on Thursday and go to the Art Institute since it's free from 5-8 on Thu

I have talked about this topic in the previous blog, but I thought I could go more into depth with it. America has become the land of entertainment. From carnivals to amusements parks, humans and animals have been exploited for their entertainment value. One of the biggest amusement parks in America, Sea World, is under heavy scrutiny by people across the nation. I personally have visited the Orlando Sea World, and although I fell in love with the marine animals around me, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the entrapped creatures. These animals have been kidnapped from their homes and kept in captivity for years swimming in a "bath tub". Orcas in the wild are fierce and intellectual hunters who are very social creatures. Orcas in captivity have a history of killing humans who have entered the aquatic prison with them. A well known orca named Tilikum had a track record of four murders before he died a premature death due to the conditions in which he lived. Orcas in capti

Blackfish This documentary is one of my favorites I have watched. It is about how these whales and other marine animals were captured and taken into captivity for Seaworld. Me personally, I don't think it is right to keep animals in captivity and use them for entertainment. I think it is a cruel thing to do to these creatures just to get money. Blackfish tells the story of different whales, like Tilikum and Kasatka, and ow they were used for entertainment. One scene I found very interesting was the one where the man that used to capture the whales for Seaworld. He talked about how he regrets that moment, capturing the whales and taking them away from their family and their home. I wonder what changed his mind and made him realize that what he was doing wasn't right. Overall, this documentary was very interesting to watch. When I was younger, I used to love going to Seaworld as a kid. Realizing how bad it really was and how they only used these creatures for money really open

1. A scene that really affected me was when Vincent Moto was talking about how he had served his time in prison just to be proven innocent and how he wasted 10 and a half years of his life in jail for something he didn't do. He felt like he couldn't be a father to his kids because he couldn't support them or be there for them while he was in jail. This made me very angry because after he was released, he received no compensation. This is not only wrong but inconsiderate to him and his family. As he said in the documentary, he missed out on life during what was supposed to be his prime years and he can never get them back. He received nothing for the mistake that THEY made. He now has to live his life harder than before. It will be much harder for him to find a well-paying, stable job. 2. The fact that all of these people were accused of something that they didn't do and that they had to spend all of this time serving when they were innocent all along. Their lives wer

As the new semester kicks off, I am excited to start writing and see how much I improve this year. Last semester in College Writing I, I started off as not being the best writer. I never really knew how to start my papers or what to write about. As time progressed however, I slowly started to become a better writer and discovered the importance of revising, which I rarely did in the past. This year, I hope to improve even more with my writing skills and become the best writer that I can be. The papers we wrote last semester were pretty tough, but it helped me a lot in the long run. I hope that this semester will be the same!