Advice for the young grasshopper starting university -- making connections

Roommates
Dorm Life
Campus Life and textbooks

Out of my friends whom I haven't seen in ages I was one of the few that moved out of my hometown to go to university. Even though my hometown has 2 universities and a bunch of colleges the advantage I find for those remaining there is you at least know someone whether you're taking the same courses or not. Going away to another city or country can have an advantage if you have relatives or a friend or two there. Other than that you're pretty much starting at square one. Whether or not you're a stranger or someone who is known to a lot of people connect with others.

One place to start is within your own residence. Attend a bunch of activities planned by the house or your housemates and who knows you might make a friend or two. Not everyone you meet will be a social butterfly or hang out with the housemates. Also you can't stay in your room all the time and spend all your time studying. So if the people in your residence are not the type of people you hang out with then get out there!

There are sports teams you can try out but if you don't make it or it's not your thing attend one of those clubs and society fairs. It might be paired up as part of the orientation events or have its own day. Here you can find clubs and activities that may interest you. Every campus usually has some sort of religious society, student versions of groups like Amnesty International and Oxfam, geekdom, watching films, and many more. It was during one of these fairs I discovered fencing. I knew the sport existed but had no knowledge of places where these things could be done and through a clubs and societies fair I was introduced to it. So even if you are a beginner at some sort of activity or never had any experience join up. Who knows, you may find something you like and even meet someone who has connections. If none of the clubs and societies interest you, try to make your own or contribute to finding one.

Then there are the societies formed by the various departments on campus. Let's say you're studying chemistry you can probably join up and learn from others taking the same courses or who have been through the same situations as you and may give you help or advice as you go through your studies. Again if you can't find a society that suits you try to make one or help in the creation of one.

Maybe your interests lie off campus. If you have the means (and the funds) to get there and the time, go for it. Take caution though if you are in unfamiliar territory. Even if you are adventurous play it safe. Other than that look at the message boards around campus and who know, you might find something that interests you or whatever it is that you usually do back home.

Don't really have anything more to say on this topic. Not sure who reads these things but if someone happens upon this and wishes to leave a comment, feel free to do so.

Next up: Campus life and comparing it to high school.

Advice for the young grasshopper starting university -- Dorm Life

Introduction and Roommates
Connecting with others
Campus life and textbooks 

Every University should have on-campus student residences. Some may choose to live off-campus or have someone they know living in the city providing a room for them, others, like me, chose to live in the student residences. The university I attend has two different types of student residences: dormitory and apartment. I'll mention those when I go through some things. Some student residences have single gendered housing while some are co-ed but all usually participate in the same activities.

Each student residence has proctors and resident assistants (R.A.'s). Proctors are like the landlord/landlady of the residence. The only time I've ever seen the proctor for proctor related business was for room arrangements (whether I was getting a new roommate or have to change rooms or whether I was returning to the residence next year) or if I was having some problems with a roommate or people on the floor. R.A. are just like their title says, they're there to assist you. Both share the same roles in a way. Houses have certain hours when you can blast your stereo and make sorts of loud noises but once quiet hours settle in they are wandering the halls warning you or slapping a fine that you have to pay. Other than providing a sense of security they sometimes organize various activities.

Each residence has an academic don (A.D.) or some sort of advisor that deals with academic stuff. Say you're failing your courses or need to know something like dropping out of a course the A.D. is one to turn to when the campus offices are closed. The A.D. also organizes some various activities as well.

The various activities organized can range from trips to a museum, bowling, bingo and trivia, pub crawls, scavenger hunts, some sort of party to some sort of movie night. Not all of the activities mentioned are organized by the house staff but also other people living in the house too. This is one way you can meet the others in your house as well at the same time score some free food.

• If you are planning to return to the same residence next year participate in some of these activities

Some residences not only require that you have a certain grade point average (GPA) to remain but also how much you are involved in school/residence life. Usually the dry events, the ones that don't include alcohol, count towards your involvement.

Another thing to add to that involvement is intramural sports. The sports I have encountered are soccer, basketball, t-ball/baseball, volleyball, Ultimate Frisbees, badminton, water polo, hockey, road race/some running activity and bowling. Depending on how many people sign up your house might have either a single gendered team or a co-ed team.

• You don't have to be good at any of these sports in order to participate

I am not very athletic and I wasn't into sports when I was a kid but if you do sign up for, let's say soccer, but aren't very good at it or haven't played before you will be placed in a team of people with the same experience. Eventually you will have to play against the more experienced teams but whether or not you win the games at least you will be scoring points for your house. If you can't play due to injury or not really interested in playing sports you can show up for support and that may count towards participation points. Want to join in on the action but not sure if it fits into your schedule? You can be a back-up team player so if someone decides to go home on the weekend his or her team is playing a game you know what to do, or someone can find you.

Now that you're all sweaty from playing a game it's time to hit the showers. Living in the apartment style residence it's usually one bathroom per 2-4 people living there while in the dorms if the one on your floor is full or broken you can go to another floor. Some may have the stalls, some may have the one attached to a bathtub, and some may have both. Whether you use the stalls or the bathtub:

• Wear some foot protection
• Don't leave anything behind

Who knows when was the last time the floors have been cleaned and sometimes you might encounter sharp objects, people might have spat in there, gum, and probably some gross unmentionables.

The last thing I'll mention is initiation. Usually this is planned by the senior students as they have (unless someone went home for the weekend) gone through it. I'm not going to say what exactly happens but it can involve some silly crazy things, but nothing too defiling but if it something that makes you feel uncomfortable or for some medical reason can't do whatever activity it is they'll probably won't let you do it or find some sort of alternative. At the end you get a "Congratulations! You are now a member of <insert house name here>"

That's all for now. Next up: clubs, societies and meeting people.

Advice for the young grasshopper starting university -- Intro & Roommates

So starting in September it will be my fourth year attending university. Four years is what it takes to obtain a degree? Not for everyone and not for me.

University may be a big step for some. I have seen people drop out halfway through the first year because they feel unprepared or it's not right for them. Another reason may be that they're not fitting in. Later on they either resurface whether it is the same university they attended or switch to another university, even take things down a notch by going to college, or eventually they found a job somewhere and are on the road to becoming a manager of something of that sort. Others are okay with the transition and still continue with everyday life.

Whether people read this or not here will be some advice from my experiences dealing with:

1. Roommates
2. Dorm Life
3. Connecting with others
4. Campus stuff (includes info on textbooks)
5. Mid-Terms and Exams

Everyone experiences university or the college life differently. For me I chose to attend a university that is not in my hometown so this will be based on one who traveled to another part of the country to get an education. I guess I can put it halfway between the experience of someone who has stayed in their hometown as I haven't left the country and an international student as I have sort of entered a strange new world.

I haven't watched a lot of TV shows or movies that revolve around the university lifestyle but as you know a lot of things on TV are exaggerations of real life, except for Harry Potter which I can make a comparison to in terms of the houses. Though there is no magic involved the houses on campus compete in intramural sports and various activities that win the house either free pizza or money that goes towards purchasing furniture for the TV room. The dining hall even has separate tables for the houses.

So if you chose the path of living in the on-campus residences, chances are you're stuck in one room with another boy or girl who is around the same age as you are, or you may have your own little room and have to share a bathroom. In this days and age of e-mail and Facebook you can get to know your future roommate(s) or you can wait until you meet for the first time. Will you get along the first time? It's hit and miss. Some advice:

• If you have a sick roommate who is non-stop coughing, understand that they're just as annoyed as you, possibly even more because he/she has the bug.

From personal experience, at the start my first year I had a really bad cold. I was given penicillin before I started my first year and that wasn't working. I eventually got better meds and still I was coughing but getting better. The coughing was not only keeping me awake but my roommate too. She complained the whole time I was sick and every time I coughed violently she would think I was getting sick. My advice to you is to wait it out and sooner or later (provided that the meds are working) you may get some peace and quiet.

• If possible, take your phone calls elsewhere

This mostly applies to the roommate that communicates by cell phone, and possibly webcam. If your buddy says to take it outside, then take it outside. Unless your roommate's family is halfway around the world, if you have to talk to someone at 2 in the morning and your roommate wants to get some sleep take your phone call out of the room. Speaking of activity at 2 in the morning . . .

• Earphones are your best friends

Even if you and your roommate(s) like it loud you may want some quiet time. If you want to listen to music or watch a movie on the laptop at 2 in the morning while your roommate wants some shut-eye just plug in some earphones, whether they're from your mp3 player or the cheap ones from the airplane. If for some reason your earphone jack is busted, you can always go for the USB headsets. They may cost more but at least you can live it loud while the others around you can get some sleep.

• Do your share of cleaning the room.

You may have requested the roommate that doesn't really care about cleanliness and ended up with one that does, do your share of sweeping the floor every . . . well often. Maybe then your roommate(s) won't complain that they're always doing the work.

• Make sure that your roommate(s) are okay with you bringing in people and certain items

You may not be sexually active but if you feel uncomfortable with your roommate bringing in someone, tell him or her that you feel uncomfortable. Chances are they probably won't be screwing each other while you're in the room but if it gets too far and the roommate goes "it's my room too you know", take it to the proctor, saying that you have problems with your roommate. Same goes with bringing in items that you may not want in the room.

• Respect your roommate(s)' religious views and cultural stuff

Disclosing your religious beliefs can help you match up with someone who has the same religious beliefs. Again with the cleanliness point there could be the chance that you may be matched up with someone who may hold different beliefs. Also if you're with someone from another part of the world, whether English is their first or second (maybe even third) don't disrespect them. So what if they're different than you, you can probably learn a lot of what you don't know from them, just don't shove your beliefs down their throats.


My third and most recent year I moved to the apartment style residences where instead of having 2 people in 1 room it is 4 individual rooms in 1 room sharing bathroom and kitchen. All 4 of us got along well and I am looking forward to seeing 2 of them and a new roommate this coming September.

Next up: What's it like in a dorm

Miss Universe 2010

Last night was the Miss Universe beauty pageant where 83 (the amount of competitors this year) women from all across the globe compete for the title. The reason I would watch these beauty pageants is for what the models wear, especially the cultural costumes and evening gowns.

One thing I want to know is who pre-selects the top 15. All those women are beautiful I must say but the top 15 was composed of 7 Europeans, 1 African, 1 from Oceania, 3 North Americans, 1 South American, 1 Central American, and 1 Asian (Russia spans over 2 continents but I'm grouping it in the Europe category). I'm sure the proportions change each year but it would be interesting to see a country that has never placed in the top 15 place there at least once instead of having some of the same countries that have been in the top 15 for many years.

The issue I want to bring up is Miss Philippines, Venus Raj. She made it all the way to the top 5 and finished in fifth place. She probably would have placed higher if she either had a different question that what she was asked (which makes me wonder what Criss Angel's question was) or if she gave a better answer.

Here is what she was asked and what she answered:

"One big mistake that you made in your life and what did you do to make it right?"

We all have made mistakes in our lives. If a big mistake is too personal to say on live television just say that it's too personal. I'd probably say something like, "I have made many big mistakes in my life and even though I do not want to talk about any of them I have learned from them. Anyone involved I have made amends with them." I think the contestant is only given like a minute and a half to answer (if I'm wrong I know it's a short amount of time). The purpose of the question I believe is to show humility and that the next Miss Universe is human. After all, besides being a supermodel the titleholder is also a humanitarian role model.

On the other hand I am just a spectator. With the question round the top 5 must be under a lot of pressure as how they answer affects who gets the prize. They're up there not knowing what question they're going to get. I'm also thinking that these women have been in smaller competitions which follow the same format so the pressure may not be as much but are prepared.

Not sure if I have anything more to say. Other than that though you can sit around and criticize how someone looks and what someone says, but one experienced one gains an understanding.

Introduction

Well, while I am learning the ropes might as well say something here. I might as well give the origins of my username, Queen_Raiden, and why I named my blog Quenching Karma v.2.

Queen_Raiden came from two things that I liked when I was around 14, 15 years old. Queen came from one of my favourite bands (and I still like them to this day thought I don't listen to them much). The song "Bohemian Rhapsody" would be stuck on repeat on my cd player. Raiden comes from the character I would pick for Mortal Kombat (and Christopher Lambert, the actor who played him in the first movie). I have Queen_Raiden as my Windows Live username and for my accounts on fanfiction.net and fictionpress.com (Whatever is on there will never be updated or have a slim to no chance of being cleaned up. I may, one day, post something that in my opinion will be better than what is on there.) Currently, I use it as my gaiaonline and interpals usename and now whatever is connected to my google account.

Quenching Karma v.2 came from what I named my Windows Live Spaces page which had some form of a blog on there that is no longer updated as I began to use Facebook. Quenching Karma itself came from a phrase that I created with magnet words (or whatever you call those things) on my aunt's fridge "quench your karma". Not sure if it made sense back in the day and probably will not make sense now.

Well, that's all I have to say at the moment. So far the visitor account will only increase due to me trying to figure out how this blog site works.