During the “I Don’t Speak Spanish” discussion with the Latino Student Union, we sat down and were asked discussion questions as we were informed about why there are individuals who don’t speak Spanish. The first question was something I can relate to since I am Hispanic myself: What goes through your mind when you meet a Hispanic that does not speak Spanish? Although to me, I would answer quite differently because I do know Spanish, but I don’t like to speak it due to my accent. I was raised in America with English everywhere, and even though I learned Spanish at the youngest age, English overlapped my way of speech. Thus giving me more of a stutter and accent in the Spanish language. Some people are made fun of, and some don’t pick Spanish up very well, as discussed in the lecture.

Another question addressed was: what are some reasons why the number of Hispanics speaking Spanish decreasing? It was due to the dominating language here being English. We figured this is the case since our school systems use English, the menus at restaurants use English, and when we go to take a subway train in New York City: the speaker uses English vocabulary to announce the upcoming stop. There is also a bad stigma going around where they would say “just practice”, and all I, and probably any person struggling to speak Spanish can say is, “it’s not that easy.”

Some factors for some Hispanics not speaking Spanish are the Shame/fear out of it, Desire to assimilate, and that they are bad at languages. Some people, even me, are afraid of being discriminated against, especially when I go to a place where Spanish is hardly spoken, like Idaho State. If there are no Hispanics in a particular location, “who am I going to speak Spanish to?” There are Hispanics who don’t necessarily speak Spanish, rather slang, like we do in English. Another discussion question was: “Why is it important to be able to speak Spanish?” Some points were made that Spanish is almost becoming the most spoken language in the world behind Mandarin. Some jobs now actually have the job requirement to speak Spanish. For example: Customer Service Representatives, when you call and they say “dial 2 for Spanish…” that position gives a higher wage of about 50 cents to a dollar higher than an English speaking CSR.

I enjoyed my time discussing more about my own Spanish background with my peers and having them add more to it with stories of their own. Many of us listeners were involved and it was intriguing. There was also a recommendation at the end of the discussion to try out an app on the phone that helps you learn other languages over time, not to mention it’s interactive. I definitely gained some knowledge and the actual “want” of learning more languages now that I know of such an app. We talked about how interracial marriages can affect how to raise your own children by having yourself question whether the Spanish language should be taught to them or the language of the significant other.

Hello, I’d like to introduce myself all over again; my name is Javier Fernandez, I’m from the Bronx, NY and my major is Accounting. I am a sophomore and I have participated in the Web Content Editor/Tester position last year. I plan to look for more interesting events and activities to talk about and be heard through my future blogs this year. There will be more things to write about, especially now that I am residing in Hart, in which feels like an advantage because I have to go out and participate in IST approved events. I can talk about them here before I go to them/ after them. Anything that proves helpful to you guys, I will try to share. There are some events that I am looking forward to that you guys may find a lot of interest in:

Humans Vs. Zombies Campus Wide event by the StoryTeller’s Guild here in SUNY Oswego!

ALANA Fashion Show

Laker Men’s Home Hockey games!

Concerts

Fairs, Etc…

I honestly can’t wait to talk about this year’s HvZ campus wide game. Last year was a lot of fun and I even made a whole outline of what happened throughout each day in a blog post. The Hockey games will be full of energy within the crowds, and maybe I’ll be able to list of the crowd chants we traditionally use like “He’s a Freshman!”, “#$%hole! x3”, “Let’s go Lakers! x3”, and more! You can find the list to these events in the SUNY Oswego website here: http://www.oswego.edu/news/calendar/

See you around. I plan to make as many posts as I can within my available times between studying, homework, and classes. It will take some time management on my part, but i’ll finalize every blog with more of me enjoying the time writing it.

Samsung Galaxy S5

The next generation smartphone is going on sale in a matter of days. Have you pre-ordered? Are you looking forward to buying it? Well if you’re a Samsung fan, this is the phone you want. If you aren’t and are more agnostic, you may be looking for something else that could be better. Although the Samsung Galaxy S5 is a good step ahead of the S4, it’s not competitive in the design aspect with its competitors. Overall, the value, usability, performance, and features are in great standing. Looks aren’t everything, but it’s a critical part of the buying cycle. You can’t rely on brand loyalty for long if competitors are putting out things that are much better looking. This is true, just look at Apple.

Now the S5 is something I look forward to purchasing because I can’t get enough of my S3. I can’t wait to have the battery life upgrade and a much better camera. Everyone is looking forward to the S5, especially if they are upgrading from a S3 phone or lower. The S4 is already an advance, and it probably wouldn’t be worth purchasing the S5, unless you have an excellent budget, otherwise, look forward to the S6.

Although I want to purchase the S5, I am going to have to wait until next year to buy it because I’m paying for college as well as my current phone bill. For me, it would be more comfortable to make my purchase when Boost Mobile has it (late as usual). I was the first to purchase the S3 as soon as Boost had released it on June 12, 2013; close to the release date of the S4. So I’m not expecting to be purchasing the S5 anytime soon.  Besides, I have to worry about upgrading my 3 year old laptop by June.

There’s quite an amount of hype going on about the Samsung Galaxy S5. It is indeed an evolution, being the most secure Samsung Galaxy phone created. The S5 may be more solid than the S4, however the superior design just isn’t there when compared to the HTC phone. Most likely Samsung will fix this “mistake” when building the Samsung Galaxy S6. They didn’t quite optimize its software in certain areas, for example, the camera taking a while to load up. At least the battery life is excellent with more efficiency, beating the HTC 1 M8.

And so, I hope you enjoy the Samsung Galaxy S5 to its full potential if you are a Samsung fan. Have fun with the phone with high capabilities that can really be amazing to those making a major upgrade. This being anyone with a Galaxy S3 or lower.

College Friends

            I encourage all of the incoming freshmen to make as many friends as possible among each other and even upper classmen. This is because college friends are really your lifelong friends that you are going to spend your memories with and enjoy life with. You may find some amazing people who will help shape a path in your life to more of a better future than you could have ever imagined. Sure you will find people who you don’t appreciate and are possibly too much, well; we all can’t like everyone in today’s society. It’s better to find and make connections so you can build a successful future. You can be a famous anything with the help of friends. The assistance of friends leads to finding out who your real and fake friends are. Although some people mention to not trust anyone, you need to understand that everyone wants friends and a successful future. Therefore, chances are, everyone is friendly and want real friends, too.

You build feelings of missing each other if you have a friend who is an upper classman. There you would hope to keep contact for when you all grow up to have your careers and want to catch up at a reunion or dinner for 2. Eventually, you will find Mr. Right, and build feelings and build a family together. This is a potential possibility if we all build connections, be real, and share important and well experienced memories. I hope you all enjoy your time in college, the best 4 years of your life all offered by SUNY Oswego!

            Many of us students here at SUNY Oswego have two different reactions for April 9^th, 2014. One of them being: “Hooray! No classes!” and the other being: “I’m going to check out some of these presentations going on around campus.” If we all are honest, we are more than happy to hear we don’t have classes scheduled and have the opportunity to catch up or relax for that day on your school workload. I encourage everyone, including myself, to at least go to one or two of these presentations going on because so many of them look very interesting. They all range from multiple subjects ranging from Meteorology, Software Engineering, and Physics to Mass Communications, Anthropology, and Studying Abroad. All of the presentations are scheduled throughout the day from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. We have a keynote speaker for Quest 2014: Bruce Coville, who is a 1973 alumnus and author of more than 100 books. I would totally try to go to his speech and check out what he has to say. Enjoy the day guys and enjoy the sharing of scholarly and creative pursuits of faculty, staff, and students here on campus!

Back to school

We all had quite a variety of experiences coming back from our Spring Break. From experiencing child birth on bus rides back here to a quick and relaxing plane ride over. I’ve heard many people having quite an adventure coming back and we can all be thankful we arrived back safely. Now that we’re back, we all have to get back into the mood of getting used to school after a 1 week break. For some it can be rough, with a side of rude awakenings or it can be just another day for those who stayed on campus during the break. Some midterms are unfortunately still going on and we have to be rushed into the mood of studying for them. I have an essay due plus two midterms and a quiz due in this one week, and it feels overwhelming as I find the time to write this blog describing my thoughts.

I am not as stressed as I could have been if I had all my tests due before the break. However, I didn’t quite use my time during the break to study or really get any information from my classes in my mind. I’m surely not the only one who does this, but I do hope to get rid of that habit of procrastinating. Although many of us can work well under pressure, it feels overwhelmingly risky in my opinion. This Sunday was the day we could all notice that people tried to get their last minute homework in and some found out, they couldn’t beat their forced limited time.

The break, for me, was probably one I couldn’t ask to be any better, even though I really didn’t want it to end. Fun times with friends are the best moments you will experience in your life. To be able to share memories with others is the best. I feel like you will be able to smile more often and be happy. This ability could win the battle over the stress and sadness you can evidently feel if you had oops on your homework and study time.

Now that I’m back, I had a mix of feelings being back here in Oswego. The first was the weather difference! Again I almost forgot just how much colder a 10 degree difference feels like here in Oswego compared to New York City. Second, the lights in the hallways are much brighter! It causes my eyes to squint much more when I have to use the restroom in the middle of the night. I do like how I can almost call my hall one of the brightest dorms on campus. Finally, third, the upsetting fire alarms going off. They sure bring back memories. I think we all hope we don’t get caught taking a shower when it goes off. It is probably all of our greatest fears.

I think it is great to be back to be able to spend time and make more memories with friends in here SUNY Oswego. I’m glad to be back and continue pushing on to my goals. Enjoy your time here everyone, it’s definitely worth it.

Committing to SUNY Oswego

I have noticed some of the admitted students wonder whether to commit to attending this university and the answer is: they definitely should! Well why? Well, SUNY Oswego has a wide variety of activities, clubs, sports, and dorms to try out! Especially the fun orientation over the summer! Oh how I wish I can be a freshman again next year… As a current second semester freshman, I definitely love it here and wish to live and study here quite lot more. When you think about graduating sooner and sooner, you are getting closer to living away from the best 4 years of your life, give or take a few more years if you’re going to graduate school.

The traveling, specifically from New York City to here can be a pain in the neck if you are using the bus(es) to travel here. Using both Greyhound and Centro is probably the best way by bus since Greyhound has outlets within the bus, from what I know of. It can take a total of 9 hours adding waiting time and the time to arrive to the bus from whichever borough you live in using the MTA. The actual bus rides would take 6 to 7 hours. However, you should realize you aren’t the only one! There are many city kids here in Oswego and they enjoy coming back every semester to this university. The friends you make is really hard to let go once you commit, especially when you go back home for vacations. You’d have to wait to come back to the university to live with them again in your respective dorm halls.

It’s also great to find out you have quite a number of things in common with others within the SUNY Accepted Students Class of 2018 page. The same hobbies, sports, etc…! Take note that your college friends have the most potential of being your lifelong friends!

When it comes to choosing a dorm hall, this all depends on how you feel like living. All dorms have something unique about them but here’s some basic information. East campus dorms are Scales, Waterbury, Riggs, and Johnson. Scales and Waterbury do not have a dining hall, thus, you would have to walk to the lakeside dining hall that is connected between Riggs and Johnson. Johnson is the freshman dorm hall that requires you to do some community service type of classes (I’m not completely sure what they are since I haven’t really chose to live there) in order to stay there.  The one dorm I have never been to Riggs. The middle campus dorms are Hart and Funnelle, Hart is the international dorm, the dorm that invites those who come from different nations and come here, and just like Johnson, you need to do some sort of community service classes in order to stay. Funnelle seems to be the dorm many students favor because of the wide rooms and the fact that it’s so close to all the academic buildings! You will most likely be eating at the Cooper dining hall connected between Hart and Funnelle when you come for orientation.  The West campus dorms are Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida. Seneca is a huge 10 floor dorm hall while Cayuga is the 4 floor dorm hall with the amazing RA’s! But I’m probably only being bias. Both Cayuga and Seneca share Pathfinder Dining hall and there’s a tunnel connecting both dorms. Similarly Onondaga is like Seneca only for upper classmen and full of suites, and Oneida is like Cayuga only with lounges on every floor plus a computer lab to print stuff out. The Village is the farthest place to live on campus, unfortunately I don’t know much about living there.

Overall, the choice is yours and we are lucky to be given the chance to choose where we want to live and with which roommate specifically. Hope we all can be friends and enjoy making your commitment to SUNY Oswego worthwhile!

The Half Day

Today, February 26^th, we encounter so far the earliest call for cancelled classes in 2014. Afternoon and evening classes were all cancelled, and I could help but feel relieved enough to be able to find the perfect time to study and relieve some of my stress for the two exams I have this Friday. The reason of course for the cancellations was due to the insane snowstorm. The morning was pretty bad even though I didn’t experience how much worse it was around 8 am or 9. When I went outside to run to the bus to go to my 10 am class, I had so much snow all over my clothes as I entered that bus. It was fun, sort of, having to fight the wind and sneaky snow that would find its way passed my glasses and hit my face a little under my scarf. Weirdly enough, I wish I had taken footage of it. The weather here makes you feel like you want to say: “Oh my gosh!”

Spending the day studying meteorology and doing my Insanity workout later in the day is definitely what I look forward to when it comes to feeling better about myself. All I seek is the sense of relief nowadays. After the exams, I think I’ll be just on track with everything. I almost can’t wait for this to be over. I look forward to the spring break coming up. I hope everyone is taking this day as a rest and relaxation type of day unless you have to study and get your relief afterwards.  Whatever is happening, enjoy your half day of classes everyone.

Stress is in the air

Some of us have either taken or will take their first exams soon and begin stressing. I recently had a relaxing Chemistry exam, but I know I won’t be as relaxed when it comes to taking two exams this coming Friday for Meteorology and Ethics. The amount of studying I put per day increases the closer the exam day arrives. I wish I could reverse that fact, but I always tend to “procrastinate” my study time. I usually take notes, place the notes in the back of my folder, and never look at them again until the week before the scheduled exam date. I usually begin studying by the week before an exam arrives.

The classes we all take should be well balanced for the reason of less stress input. Balancing out classes reduce the possibility of feeling overwhelmed with added chance of having an exam for two or more classes on the same date. Sometimes I feel like I work better under pressure, but that is risky to my health. When I researched about stress on the website: medicalnewstoday.com, I found that we generally use the word “stress” when we feel that everything seems to have become too much. We are overloaded and wonder whether we really can cope with the pressures placed upon us.  Therefore, I am stressed in the general manner. The thing is, I hope myself or anyone else doesn’t get themselves thinking too much and stressing over things because of the possible effects from it.

• Blood pressure rises
• Breathing becomes more rapid
• Digestive system slows down
• Heart rate rises
• Immune system goes down
•  Muscles become tense
• We don’t sleep, resulting in a heightened state of alertness

This list is derived from medicalnewstoday.com; where we all can self-evidently see that stressing is not a good thing both mentally and physically. I can only give the advice to stay as calm as possible, even if you have a sort of pessimistic view. Know that your physical health is what you should take into priority. Decide and learn to make or take easy shortcuts within your studying or schedule planning to reduce any chance of the possible side effects from stress.