Soundtrack to My Life

THE SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

Butterfly Kisses—Bob Carlisle
Down the Road—Kenny Chesney
Bless the Broken Road—Rascal Flatts
You Can’t Lose Me—Faith Hill
Country Man—Luke Bryan
Space Jam—Quad City DJ
The Night Before(Life Goes On)—Carrie Underwood
I’ve Had the Time of My Life—Dirty Dancing
Ain’t Nothing Wrong With That—Robert Randolph
The Way You Make Me Feel—Michael Jackson

Going through my extremely long iTunes library, it was hard to only choose ten songs that relate to my life. The majority of the songs in my library are there because they evoke some kind of emotion or memory. The ten songs I did choose each have a specific meaning to me. A lot of the country songs on my list remind me of my boyfriend, country music is pretty much all he listens to and it has started to grow me. He is an important part of my life so these songs are close to my heart. A couple of the songs on my list remind me of my parents and when I was little. They used to play these songs for me and we would dance around the house and sing all of the lyrics as loud as we could. These memories are also a vital part of me and these songs evoke very happy memories of my childhood. Others on the list have to deal with my first dance routine, and car dancing with my best friends. I encountered most of these songs through the radio and other people. Music is a big part of my life in the sense that it helps me portray the emotions I am feeling at any given time.
My soundtrack to anyone else would tell them that I am extremely random when it comes to music choices. I have every genre on this list from rap to country to techno and more. I guess that shows my personality perfectly. I love being spontaneous and I enjoy anything that life throws at me. I don’t limit myself to liking just one type of music. I love the different emotions different types of songs allow me to experience, and the different variety is also a good thing. By looking through this list, I realize that there are many different subcultures I could be a part of. In other people’s minds I could be a hick from the south with all of the country songs. My soundtrack also shows that I am a part of the dance culture, or that I enjoy dancing in my free time which is true. You can judge people a lot by their music choices. However, they may not even be a part of these subgroups. I am a prime example because I am not from the south, and I am definitely not a “hick.” I just enjoy country music. I have a great sense of self, granted my music choices may be random, but I know who I am and what groups I belong to, and the type of music I listen to should not define me as a person, even though often times it does.
Like I said before, people would learn by listening to my play list that I am a very outgoing, random and spontaneous individual. My music choices are fun and energetic so they may gather that I am very friendly. When they listen to “Butterfly Kisses,” or “You Can’t Lose Me,” they will be able to understand that family means a lot to me. This could also show the listener that I am very sentimental as well. Someone may not be able to realize that I am not a typical country music listener. I don’t wear camouflage on a daily basis or drive a Chevy or any other stereotype.
Each and every individual contributes to a larger culture by being a part of various subcultures. The soundtrack to my life shows me in a light that others can put me into the various subcultures that exist in the world. Although some of these may not necessarily be true, they are how others see me. Every individual has different tastes and likings of different genres of music. It is all a matter of how others perceive you. Whether we choose to believe it or not, we judge others on a daily basis. The clothes they wear, the language they speak, their habits, and even the type of music that they listen to. Even if we do judge, we need to realize that all of the different subcultures each individual is apart of create the amazing culture we belong to.
When I was going through my classmate’s soundtrack I was able to determine that this person was most likely a music major. They chose a lot of jazz music that some of my band friends know and listen to. I am not sure if I was accurate on anything else, but it was interesting to hear a different type of music that most teenagers do not listen to. We can never be sure of our inferences or assumptions about others, but I feel that I did a pretty good job.

Dressed to Impress...NOT!

On February 26, 2009 our entire English 110 class dressed up in the craziest outfits you would ever expect college students to wear. Not only were these outfits extravagant, but they were far outside our comfort zones. I even felt uncomfortable in my own skin for the entire day I wore my crazy mismatched clothes.
It was a challenge deciding what to wear for this special day. I had no idea how much the other people in my class were going to get into this assignment. It worried me while I was picking out my outfit that I would be the only one really going “all out” for this assignment. To be honest, my outfit was pretty tame compared to most other individuals in my class. Some came I in prom dresses, others wearing cowboy attire, some wore mismatched colored clothes like myself, and others simply wore shirts or dresses they would never be caught dead wearing. I wanted to make sure my outfit was not too outrageous where people would view me differently, but I wanted it to be out of my norm enough so people would notice. I guess you could call me a chicken, but I worry so much about my appearance that I tried to make my crazy mismatched outfit “cute” by doing my regular makeup and hair to the best of my ability. I did this hoping that people could concentrate on my pretty face rather than the outrageous attire I had chosen for the day. So those were sort of my boundaries I set for myself when choosing what to wear: wear enough to be seen by others, but not so much that they would judge me.
Most of my friends were already aware of the assignment because I talked about it over and over again. I tried getting their advice on what to wear throughout the previous week so they knew what to expect when I walked into classes. When I approached the people I knew they basically let out a good laugh and cracked a joke at my crazy outfit.
“You look like some 70’s GoGo Girl Fashion Disaster,” my friend who let me borrow a larger flannel long sleeve shirt for the occasion. He needed the shirt back before I could take my pictures for the blog, but I basically put the shirt over my bright colored t-shirts and tied it up in the middle.
“You look like you are a sophomore….in high school!” my classmate Dave commented. I replied with a sarcastic thanks. I didn’t know a crazy outfit could actually make me look younger. I already look young because of my size; I didn’t want to make myself seem too immature.
As far as the people I didn’t know, they really didn’t say much to me. They gave me funny looks, but no one asked me why I was dressed the way I was. They seemed to talk to me as if nothing was wrong, but I know as soon as I turned away they would talk about my crazy fashion choices after I left. No one wanted to come up to me and say, “What’s the deal with this insane outfit you are wearing?” If they were to ask it would make me feel so much better than if they were just guessing how loony I was.
My peers joked around every time I tried to talk to them. One time I was trying to have a conversation with my friend Chris in the cafeteria of Davies and he simply said, “Who is this crazy girl talking to me, do I know her?” They really didn’t treat me different other than cracking a lot more jokes than they usually do. Professors treated me the exact same, however I participated a lot less in lectures and discussions for fear of attracting people to look at me.
Only those who really knew what I was doing commented on my clothing. They commented the most on how crazy my outfit really was.
“Wow. Just Wow. I can’t believe you managed to get all of those clothes to go together so well,” my friend Drew remarked.
I was shocked to notice that others around me gave me weird, judgmental looks, but they never straight out asked me why I looked the way I did. It made for an extremely interesting day hearing whispers amongst friends as I walked past, and the jokes made by my friends made the day even more memorable.
Now that I have been on the other side of perspective to the phrase “clothes make the person,” I definitely agree with it. The uncomfortable feeling I had in the gut of my stomach the entire day showed me how important it is to dress to impress. Granted, I left a big impression on others as a “70’s GoGo Girl Fashion Disaster,” I do not want to ever deal with the looks and laughs from others after that day. Looking your best and dressing to impress makes you feel good about yourself and it even makes you behave differently. Like I said before, I did not participate as much in my classes on this day because I was too afraid if I started talking people would look at me even more. I figured I would just fade into the background and no one would notice. The experience of dressing up was fun and interesting, but I now understand how important the way you dress is to others. People will judge you no matter what you do, and we all have to learn to deal with it because it is just a never-ending fact about our society.

How to Make a PB&J

As Peter Griffith, main character of the hit comedy show Family Guy would say, “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly time!” Griffith is referring to the making of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, commonly nicknamed a PB&J. There are many variations of a PB&J sandwich, and each of them are nutritious and the taste is not so bad either. Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich should be common knowledge amongst individuals, but just in case you have never had the chance to enjoy one of these delectable creations, here is the process by which you can make one to eat and enjoy at anytime of the day.
First, one must drive to the nearest grocery store in order to retrieve all of the supplies needed to make this simple culinary masterpiece. Although a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is quite simple to make, there is quite a bit of variety in the options of ingredients. The staple ingredients for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich include: peanut butter, jelly, and bread. There is a variety of each of these ingredients to choose from. For example, for your peanut butter one can choose either crunchy or smooth. Crunchy peanut butter has extremely small bits of peanuts spread throughout the smooth peanut butter, while smooth peanut butter does not have the pieces of peanuts in it. For jelly there are many options: grape, strawberry, apricot, raspberry and basically any other “berry.” You can also choose from white, wheat, whole grain and other types of bread to use on your sandwich. Once you have chosen and placed these three ingredients in your cart, go to the checkout counter to purchase your items. Be sure that you have silverware, particularly a knife, and a plate to complete the items you will need to make your PB&J.
Next, once you have made it back to your house, take your ingredients out of your grocery bag and place them on a table. Then, you are going to need to retrieve a plate of some sort and a knife, set them on the table next to your ingredients. Open the peanut butter by unscrewing the top and placing it next to the jar on the table. There will be a paper covering sealing the peanut butter. Remove this by gripping the edge and pulling with enough force to peel the entire covering off of the jar. Once you have removed this covering you can throw it into a garbage can. Next, open the top of the jelly by unscrewing the top. This may involve a lot more force than it did to remove the cap from the peanut butter. Then, remove the “twisty tie” from the loaf of bread. The twisty tie will be the small string like piece of metal twisting around the bag to shut it. Unwrap the bread bag by gripping the two ends of the tie and untwisting it in the opposite direction. Remove two pieces of bread from the bag and place them side by side on the plate.
You are now ready to begin constructing a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Take your knife and stick it inside the jar of peanut butter and scoop up enough to spread onto a piece of bread. Take one slice of bread and lay it flat on the palm of your hand. With the knife, spread the peanut butter so it covers the entire slice of bread. You may have to go back and get more peanut butter from the jar, depending on how much peanut butter you want on your sandwich. Place this piece of bread peanut butter side up on the plate. You will then want to clean off your knife before you dip it into your jar of jelly. Repeat the process of spreading the jelly onto the next slice of bread. Place the jelly side directly on top of the peanut butter of the other slice of bread. You now have completed the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Take a bite and enjoy!

After all of my Research is done.....

Okay, so I had this posted with my exchange student response so I figured I would just put it under a new post so people could find it easier.
After I completed all of my research, studied the UWEC campus, talked to students, exchange students, and professors, finding out the real meaning behind our campus “mascot” and actually reading a newspaper, I found out that there are a lot of things about Eau Claire that I never realized. Our campus is extremely unique and because of its exceptional qualities, I am proud to be a Blugold, even if it isn’t technically a mascot.
I have realized that community is a large part of what is important to University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students. We strive to be active and one with one another. Our community ties in with our study habits. Those individuals who have a sense of community with other students on campus tend to do better in their courses than those students who do not find themselves at the university.
I also realized that school spirit is a very important part of the culture on campus. I mean come on we do not have a bird or a bulldog for a mascot, we have the spirit of the Blugold. How cool is that? Every other university has a plain Jane mascot that distinguishes them from other schools, but the Eau Claire Blugold makes everyone question and think twice. Our school spirit is unique from all the rest and that makes me take pride in our culture on campus.

2. Finding and Exchange Student

First of all, it is very hard to find these individuals because they have grown so accustomed to the American way that they blend in very well with American students. It's not like you can go up to just any individual and as "Are you from another country?" I remembered my friend from my Creative Writing course last semester, David Steinfeld.
David couldn't tell me much about the universities in Germany because he did not go to school there long enough to be enrolled in one of the higher educational facilities. However he was able to enlighten me on the differences between the cliques as well as the differences n popularity amongst German and American high schools.
"Spending an exchange year at an American high school was a bit different....we did have cliques at my school. However, I wouldn't say it was those stereotypical cliques you see at American high schools and in American teen movies, you know, the jocks, the nerds, the princesses etc. Also, popularity wasn't so much a big deal in my school whereas it seems to be an important aspect of American high schools," he said.
Also, David told me a lot about the different kind of education systems in Germany. the majority of Germany's school system is run by the triparty system. this is how it works: all the kids go to the same school in elementary school. however, after the fourth year, depending on how well the kid is doing, it will be sent to one of the three types of secondary schools. there is one which is called "the hauptschule, that school is for those who didn't do well in school, didn't care about school or did not show an appropriate level of intelligence. then we have another school that is called "realschule" that is more for those kids who were average in elementary school, grades were okay and they go to a school, that school also prepares them for technical professions i would say. then we have the school called "gymnasium" where those students go who did well in school and show an appropriate level of intelligence. in comparison to the other two schools, the students at the gymnasium go to school til they the 13th or 12th grade, the other two schools only go up to the 10th grade, after that the students are done. anyway, the gymnasium is also the school where you get a diploma called "the abitur" which qualifies to attend a university,” he wrote to me.
All in all, Steinfeld gave me a lot of information, almost too much to include in this one blog post. It was incredibly interesting to hear about the different kinds of schooling, catered to different needs of each student, were available in Germany. In the United States, we try to group kids all together hoping they will learn from each other. We also do this because it would almost be social suicide if we distinguished students by their grades, or amount of interest in school. We can learn a lot from the exchange students about their culture, as well as the educational systems that most of us will not get to experience in our lifetime. I am glad that I was able to talk with my friend David and receive an immense amount of information about Germany’s educational system.

1. How Do We Study?

Speaking with different students around campus, it was interesting to see how differently everyone studies, as well as the various different places people like to study.
Kaela Bialk, a freshman Kinesiology major said, " I really like to study in the library. I feel more focused there and I can get a lot more work done." However, when she was asked how she studies she had a difficult time answering. " I used to be such a crammer in high school. I would study the night before a test and that always got me A's, here in college though I have learned that I cannot cram as much. I need to try and start studying earlier for tests because then I think I will do better in my classes," she added. Most students at UWEC would agree with Bialk that their high school study habits are no good in college.
One student I talked to said that college is so much different than they had expected. Tristian Killey, a freshman at UWEC stated, "I pretty much do the same thing I did in high school when I am preparing for a class. I thought I would have to make a lot of changes in my study habits but cramming still seems to be working for me." So all in all, my findings varied from different people. Some could still do all of the same types of studying they did in high school, while other struggled with the transition.
Others elaborated that they could study anywhere at anytime. Freshman Politics major Drew Peterson said, "I like to study in my room the best. There is a lot of noise because they guys on my floor are always loud, but I would not want to study anywhere else. I do my best when I study in an active environment." He also went on to say that he still follows the cramming method, but that he did not really have to study that much in high school. “I study in my room, most of the time with other people, the night before a test and that usually gets me a B, and I am okay with that,” Peterson said.
On the other hand however, there are individuals that do their best studying when it is completely quiet. "I can not study when people are loud. I always go down to the quiet study lounges in my hall or the library. I have to study for two to three days prior to a test or exam too," Stephanie King a freshman Psychology major stated. Clearly, the cramming method does not work for all students, it shouldn’t anyways. Everyone is different and each individual has their own quirks when it comes to academic achievement.
Some individuals I talked to, Alex Zinc in particular do not have to study at all. "If I go to class and pay attention during lecture, I do not have to study for an exam. My mind seems to retain information pretty easily." I wish that I could say the same thing as Zinc did, but for me studying is the focal point of my college career. I have to study anything and everything that comes my way. I pay attention during lectures and attend classes but I know that if I did not study for anything I would not receive the grades I want. So how do we study? Our generation of students seems to have various methods to answer this question. To me, it seems as though we are getting lazier about our grades and how much outside work we do for our classes.

3. The Mysterious XF

So you see these two letters sitting next to each other and are faced with the question, what do they mean? I had never even heard of an XF before this project was assigned, but it was interesting to find out exactly what it was. Through my extended research and determining that an XF was not referring to a computer file, I finally figured out that and XF is a type of grade. Some colleges in the United States give out the grade of XF when a student is caught executing academic dishonesty. Some colleges even use this grade to indicate a student failing a course by their lack of attendance. This could very well affect me as a college student. If I ever would decide to cheat on a test, plagiarize or perform any other form of academic misconduct, I could suffer receiving an XF on my transcripts. In my mind that is probably the worst grade you could receive on your transcripts because not only do you not receive credit for the class, every other college who looks at your transcripts can see that you acted poorly in the course. Attendance is also a big issue with college students, especially those enrolled in 8 A.M. classes. They think it is okay to skip classes that do not require attendance as a part of their grade. However, little do they know they could still suffer receiving an XF when they do not attend class as often as they should. So knowing what these two letters mean together was something very important for me to find out. Not only is it good to be informed, but it is also beneficial to know what not to do in order to prevent myself from seeing a XF on my transcripts.