"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice." ~Meister Eckhart

One of my favorite things to do is eat. I love trying new foods and seeing differences in other cultures’ food. But when it comes down to it I just love having a home cooked meal while being surrounded by my family! I have always loved Thanksgiving for a few reasons. One is just being able to spend time with my family. It is a relaxing day that does not involve much preparation, no presents or surprises, just family enjoying each other’s company. However, the best part of Thanksgiving is all the delicious food and magnificent smells that I encounter that day.

I go to my aunts’ house for the day in Torrington. As soon as a walk in the door I am paralyzed by all the magnificent smells of each food. The smell of the moist gravy and turkey baking, the burn of the spicy hot stuffed peppers, and the freshly made corn muffins cooling after just coming out of the oven. All these smells are heavenly. At each chair there is a hand made turkey picture with each persons name on it, when we find our name we sit down and wait for everything to be ready. While we wait everyone talks about how everything is going in their life, usually the cousins are asked about school and grades, while the adults talk about work. When everything was out it was time to start dishing up the food. I took a little bit of everything; I even tried a hot stuffed pepper! Everything was so scrumptious, even when I was full I wanted to eat more! My favorite dish at Thanksgiving is the sweet potatoes. The sweetness from the brown sugar on top of the perfectly cooked potatoes makes my mouth water.

This year I was especially excited for Thanksgiving dinner. It was because I have not had a home cooked meal in a while. Because I live on campus I eat at Connecticut Hall everyday, I get the same chicken nuggets and French fries every time. I know that is not the healthiest choice, but it is definitely delicious! Although I do love the chicken and fries, nothing compares to a home cooked meal. I think it is the perfect dish, and I cannot get enough of it! Each of the dishes are delightful, and my Thanksgiving was the best yet!   

What Inspires Me

This is my second draft of my video. I'm not quite sure what I want to add to make it longer, so any suggestions are great appreciated! Also any feed back on what I can change to make my video better will be awesome! Thank you!

“Life is my college” -Unknown

A difficult situation I have been in this semester is getting use to living on campus. I have never been away from home for a long period of time; so living on campus has been quite a change for me. I have handled it a bunch of different ways. One way is that I go home every weekend. This is because, since I am the baby of the family, it is weird for my parents to have the house all to their self. I like going home because it is like having a vacation from school. This helped me ease into getting use to living away. At first I would leave Thursday and come back Sunday night, but now I come home on Friday and come back Saturday night. I am now comfortable with staying at school. I was lucky enough to get a great roommate and have not had any problems so far. We have a lot of fun together and have very similar personalities. We get along magnificently, which makes my experience so much better. Another way I got use to living on campus is making my room feel like home. I brought a bunch of things from my room and house to remind me of home. It is nice to have a few things that remind me of home. I picked going to Southern Connecticut State University because it is only less than an hour away from my house so it is easy for me to come home whenever I want. 

"The best example of leadership is leadership by example." ~Jerry McClain

         In high school I was very involved in extracurricular activities. I was the vice president of my class my junior and senior year. I also took part in LINK Crew, upper classmen who help the incoming freshmen get use to being in high school. I was involved in this organization all four years of high school. During my senior year I was elected to be the co-commissioner along with another student. This was the time in my life where I was a true leader. There was a specific time when we had to organize a haunted house in just a few weeks. I had to step up and lead about thirty people and arrange a great program. I split the group up into four different groups each specializing in a certain activity. When the day finally came I led the set up and everyone came to me with questions or concerns. During the haunted house I was very proud of the turn out. Every freshman that showed up loved what we did for them and had such a fun time. By then of the night I felt very accomplished in everything that happened. Even though it was very stressful throughout the planning process we all had so much fun!

      Throughout the year we put on a different activity every month. And when the year was over we were complimented on how hard we worked and what an amazing year we had. It felt wonderful to get such an admiring comment. Even a few of the freshmen asked how they could become a part of LINK Crew. This meant that they had fun at the events we put on and wanted to be apart of it.

“Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.” James Dean

In my Psychology class, I fell intellectually stimulated. Each class we talk about ourselves. The professor wants us to learn about each of us rather than what the book has to say about us.

One week’s class was very interesting to me. It gave me a lot of ideas that I have never thought about before. In the beginning of class when Professor Fontaine told us we were going to meet someone very important, I was excited to see who the guest would be. I was wondering why they were so special to him and what they would talk about or if they would touch me in some way. When he had us first close our eyes and relax I thought he was going to hypnotize us, but he just introduced us to the special person, ourselves. After he told us the person we were going to meet today was ourselves, I didn’t have any reaction. I wasn’t disappointed that I there wasn’t an actual person coming into our class, but I wasn’t excited that I got to meet myself. I think this means that I know a little bit about myself and I am okay with the person that I am now, but I am still trying to find a little part of me that has not yet been revealed. I liked this exercise it made me relax and feel comfortable being with myself. My reaction was completely different from that on the first day of class when Professor Fontaine had us just sit in silence not knowing what was going on.

Another interesting thing we talked about in class what that even though we plan for the future, the future is really the presence. This is interesting to me because in my inquiry class I am doing a project on self-discipline. For this project I need to interview different people and one of the questions I am asking is, ‘Are you living in the moment or are you working hard now for your future?’ I was a little skeptical on asking this question after we had our class because I learned that what each person is doing now is leading them to their “future” but in reality there is never really a future, only a presence. I decided to keep the question because most people do not realize that statement and would not understand without taking this class.

“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I do all my studying in my room. I am unsure of any outside places to study other than the library. However, I have not been there to study yet. In the dorm we have nice desks where I keep all my books and stay organized from each class. This is where I like to study because it is my own and I am able to find everything I need right away. I do not have to worry about forgetting anything, because I am right here and have everything I need. At my desk I have an organizer where I keep my pens, pencils, highlighters, and sticky notes. This helps me stay organized so when I am looking for something specific to help me study it is right in my reach. I use the drawer in my desk to keep all my notebooks and folders orderly. I have three piles of them one for my Monday/ Wednesday classes, another for my Tuesday/ Thursday classes, and the last pile for all my miscellaneous notebooks and papers I have. This keeps me ready and in line for each class.

The reason I like to study at my desk is because it helps me focus on what I need to do. I have all the resources I need, my books, notes, and my computer to look up questions I have. It makes me think of being in an actual classroom, since I am sitting at a desk. It is where I keep my center of attention while I am studying and doing my homework. 

dance away the pain

Usually when I am stressed I find something to do to get my mind off of whatever it is I am stressed about. This week I danced to help relieve my stress. When I dance I forget about everything else that is going on in my life at the moment and put all my emotions into my performance. Whether I am happy, sad, angry, or stressed I use that energy to perform to the best of my ability.

Whenever I come up with a dance that is impressive to others I find that it was during a time I had a strong emotion. I can create a piece of art that is expressive in my own way and others may also relate to what I am feeling.

My advise to people who are stressed is to find something that you love to do and use your anxiety and put your heart and soul into it. I find that when you find something you love you should pursue it. When you come across that special hobby you have, even if you are not good at it, use it to your advantage. Being stressed is a lot of pressure and by using your negative energy you can create something beautiful. 

Grade Inflation

I don't think grade inflation is a good thing to have in schools. There are too many kids that work hard that deserve an A in a class. Others that try their hardest will get the grade they deserve. If you don't get something then you will be able to ask the teacher and they will see how hard you are working. Therefore giving you the grade you deserve. If I was in a class and worked my hardest, and got an A, and if a friend in that same class did enough to get by, and because of grade inflation got an A. This would make me very angry because I did the work I needed, while others just got by but got the same grade. Grade inflation is not a fair way to show how well students are doing in a class. I believe that if you work your hardest you will get the grade you deserve.