advise for next years freshman

As my first year of college ends soon I have some useful advice for new students for their freshman year. When your stressed out about writing a paper, studying, or homework in general, sometimes its good to just walk away from it and come back to it later. It brings new ideas for when your writing. It refreshes your mind when studying or doing homework. Also don’t procrastinate. I learned the hard way that you can get behind and over whelmed when you do so. It also puts more stress on you in the long run. You should always do your work the day it was given. You should always start studying when your teacher says that there is a test next week. Also if a teacher gives you a study guide for a test, do it, it helps a lot. Study guides also bring your stress down because its sometimes easier to follow than your notes.

I think my advice about this is important because being my first year and all I learned the hard way of all of this. I always got behind and was overly stressed because of it. It was hard thinking about it as college not high school.

relief!

Other than music being a stress reliever for me, I like to go out and have fun. When I'm really stressed about homework or writing a paper I go to wal-mart with my boyfriend just to walk around and talk. I know going to wal-mart just to walk around? It's the only thing to do around Punxsy. It is the closest thing to a mall that we have! It takes my mind off of stuff that was bugging me and it gets my mind all refreshed when I get back home and work on my homework.

I also like to stay out all weekend with my friends. It takes my mind off of everything that went wrong in the week before. It also makes me reenergized for the week coming up. We usually go for walks, go to parties, shop, just hang out, or drive around. I also hang out with my boyfriend during the weekends and we usually ride 4-wheelers, go mudding, mud bogs, go out of town, go to the movies, go out to eat, or ride bikes on the trails.

To relieve myself of stress I like to basically do anything that takes my mind off of the stress. If not I would get more stressed and just keep thinking about it till I do it.

Music that lifts my spirits.

Its hard for me to pin point one song that makes me in a good mood because I love all kinds of music. I love country, rap, hip hop, rock, and metal. Any fast paste or meaningful music makes me in a good mood really. A country song that makes me in a good mood is God gave me you by Blake Shelton. It reminds me of my boyfriend and how good our relationship is. It also reminds me that he is always here for me. My favorite part of the song is the beginning because I can relate to them. “I've been a walking heartache, I've made a mess of me. The person that I've been lately, Ain't who I wanna be
But you stay here right beside me And watch as the storm blows through And I need you
Cause God gave me you for the ups and downs God gave me you for the days of doubt
And for when I think I lost my way There are no words here left to say, it's true
God gave me you Gave me you”.

Another song that lifts my spirits when I’m upset or angry is any song from Eminem. I’ve been a big fan since I was 7 years old. The song that puts me in good spirits is 25 to life. It puts me in a good mood because in this song he raps with an angry voice and I like the words. “Took me for granted took my heart and ran it straight into the planet Into the dirt I can no longer stand it Now my respect I demand it Imma take control of this relationship Command it, and imma be the boss of you now goddamnit And what I mean is that I will no longer let you control me”

I love this song not because its about a relationship, but because how he raps angrily makes me not angry.


I don't have a youtube account, so it wouldn't let me upload a video

Post 10

My year at IUP Punxsy was a very long one. It felt like it was so long because of all the work that I had to put into everything. In high school I hardly ever did any of my work. I met a few people here at IUP, but since I’m from Punxsy I just stuck to my old friends from high school and my boyfriend. So, Morgan, Ryan, Kaylee, Casey and I would drive around to all the hang out spots in town. We would drive to both Uni-Marts, Wal-mart, Sheetz, Cloe Lake, and where ever we felt like it. Sometimes if no one is in town, we would just take laps around Wal-mart for hours. We would also just walk around town or on the Rails to Trails. I find it funny how the students that come to the Punxsy campus think there is nothing to do around here, but there really is if you like the out doors.

blog post #9

Barbra, the author of Nickel and Dimed, faced many challenges during this project. From finding a place to stay, getting jobs, being able to pay rent, and trying her best to stick to her rules. The first thing she did in every state was find a place to live. In Florida, her first state, she had to go with affordability instead of efficiency. (pg 12) She soon had to move out of that $500 house to save gas, since it was a 30 mile drive to work. She then lived in a trailer in a not so great part of town.(pg ) She solved this difficulty by moving into a more affordable place and while saving money for gas since her new place was closer to her work.

Barbra also had to get a second job because she was still $100 short on her months rent including the money she got from tips. (pg 28) She was working as a waitress at Hearthside. She got a second job as a waitress at a place called Jerry’s. It was the first place to offer her a job. “So unless I want to start using my car as a residence, I have to find a second or an alternative job.” stated Barbra. She solved this by getting another job. She worked the morning shift at Jerry’s and the night shift at Hearthside.

Those were the two difficulties that stood out the most to me in this book. It seemed as it was rougher for her to get used to this way of living in the beginning. But, after some experience she got the hang of it. Such as, working two jobs, living in horrible conditions/places, and trying not to break rules even though she did.
I thought the book was very interesting how she managed to make up a whole new life to write this book. I think she didn’t make all the adversity look easy. She described each problem she faced with lots of detail. It kind of made me stressed just by reading what she was going through because of the great detail. This book also makes me want to strive in college to get a career so I wouldn’t have to work two jobs or live in non-livable conditions.

50 pages into Nickel and Dimed.

So far the main character is dealing with moving away from her home and normal life to experience middle class life to write a book. She moved in a little cabin like house 30 miles away from where she will be working at (pg 12). She then finds a job. She applies at many different places like hotels, supermarkets, and restaurants. She didn't want to be a waitress because she experienced that exhaustion in high school, but that’s what she ends up doing because they gave her the job (pg 16). later on she found out that even with her tips she couldn't afford rent one month, so she had to get another job. She got an other waitress job working a morning shift while still keeping her other waitress job during the evening shift (pg 28-29). She even had to move into a trailer closer to her jobs to save gas money and plus the rent was cheaper. She was in a high crime neighborhood now. She also explains the hardships of the people she has met so far too. Gail lives with a roommate, Claude is living with roommates but wants out, Annett lives with her mother, Marianne lives in a trailer, Billy lives in a trailer, Andy lives on his small boat, Tina lives in a hotel, and Joan lives in her car behind her work (pg 25-26).
While I was reading I thought that she should try to find a different job then to be a waitress. She hardly makes money with the wages being only $2 something plus tips. If she would get a minimum wage job she could probably get down to one job and work everyday all day. That is still crazy that all those people are living the way they do. Living in a hotel and car would be pretty rough. She hardly has time to eat even. She is late for her evening job because she has to change clothes and drive. I just hope I don't have to have two jobs and have any time for myself or even have enough money to have a day off.

Stress journal

A stress journal is something that you can keep track of how you cope with stress and how you react when being in a stressful situation. You pick a week or longer to keep track of and you record your time, stressful even, reaction, and coping method. I learned that when I’m in a stressful situation I either deal with it head on, walk away for a few hours, get worried, go out, or sleep. I think I deal with stress in a healthy way. I don’t let myself get over stressed when there is no need to. What ever happens, happens I guess. The most stress that I get is when I’m at school or have school work to do. Like when I had the flue during the week of classes. I had to miss a day of classes because it was so bad. I got lucky one day because the one class I had that day got canceled. But I still had to miss the next day, which I had 3 classes. I had to make up all my notes and get prepared for tests and papers. I also get less stressed when I get all that I need done that day, done. Stress journal 

Time	Stressful event	Reaction (symptoms, thoughts, behaviors)	Coping response
Feb 18	grocery shopping	I didn't know why walmart only has 3 cashiers open when its busy. sweating, not in a good mood	Went out to eat after putting stuff away and went home to sleep
Feb 19	Around family that I don't like	Just wanted to leave, Kept to myself	relaxed when I went home
Feb 20	Flue	Slept all day. Worried about how I'd feel the next day for classes.	Vent out my feelings to my boyfriend
Feb 21	Missing classes due to the flue	Slept all day, Wondering how I am going to make up anything, Felt sick to my stomach from stress of sickness and classes.	Asked classmates what I missed and took notes from online.
Feb 22	Today was good	none	none