My intenship

So I am really excited abou this internship possibility that I may have with Food Lion this summer. I am finishing everything up to get my application packet sent off in the mail and ready to go. Unfortunately, I do realize that I am giong head-to-head with some competition for these spots. Alot of these kids are going to be just as good as me in terms of extracurricular and grades; if not better. If I get selected for an interview, I am really going to have to step up my game. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! The only thing I am concerned about right not is getting my statement of interest polished and my recommendation letters from faculty members in the mail. After all, the due date is the Monday that we get back from spring break. In the end, even if I don't get this internship, it's not the end of the world for me. There are other opportunities out there for me. I just have to find them. The reality is that Americans live in a very competitive society. We like to do our best and go for the gold! Sometimes, I feel like I lose sight about what really matters: God. Why I should I worry about life if God already has a plan? After all, He is my Creator. It should be more about what HE wants and not what I want.

Spring break

So, spring break is coming up and I am excited! I am going down to Miami to visist my relatives (maybe even catch a tan: not). I have not been out of South Carolina on my break since a year ago when I went to London, and I think that it will definitely be refreshing for me. After all, Florida is warm all year long! To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm going to relax more or do more homework. I do have a paper and an outline due for two different classes a week after we get back. Well, thinking about that just answered my question: homework would be a definite "yes" while I'm down in Cuban land. I am just as excited for kids at SWU who are going overseas to Azerbaijan and London. What cultural experiences those will be! I have been giving advice to the people going to London about what to pack, what to do and not do while you are over there, etc. I just love talking about it because it brings back all the fun memories I had when I went to London. After all, it was the first time I had been over the Atlantic Ocean in my life (not to mention the first non-U.S. country that I have visited besides Canada!). Even though our break is coming at a time when we are freezing and cold from the blustering wind and rain, I am relieved that we have it. To be honest, I do not know any other schools in the country that have a break as early as ours. I guess not everyone can have the same break. Otherwise, the places that everyone goes would be jammed pack and inaccessible.

Culture

Discussing culture in one of the previous classes really interested me. Sometimes, I feel like we get so caught up in thinking that everything should be Americanized that we lose sight of respecting other cultures. We are not the only country that exists in the world! There are other other cultures. For example, as Americans, we think that in order to survive, we have to compete and be succesful. However, in countries such as Japan, loyalty and trust is valued more highly than competition. On the other hand, there are some American principles that are pretty standard worldwide. A great example is time for business meetings and appointments. Just about every culture that I know of considers being on time to business-related functions a must. On the other hand, not all countries consider being on time to a recreational function a must. In many European countries, when people get together for a party, even though the party may start at a certain time, people don't show up for the party till much later. In a way, this is an American concept too as people think it is the cool thing to show up fashionably late at an event and not be on time (unless you are coordinating the event, that is!). God made each culture different and unique. In order to love one another, we must be respectful of cultural differences across the world. On one final note, this is true for gestures. A good example is "giving the bird" or "flicking some one off." In america, it is represented by sticking up the middle finger. However, in Germany, flicking someone off can be done by showing the "peace sign." So when you travel or go to places with different cultures, please have a general understanding of what the culture is like and do not do something taboo.

Interviewing.......

Today I met with my intern coordinator to talk about internship possibilities. I told him that I thought that it would be practical for me to get advice on writing resumes and interviewing for internships. In terms of interviewing, he told me that I needed to work on my eye contact and not be so tense. Me? TENSE?! Since when have I ever been tense? I consider myself to be one of the most carefree people in the world. I guess all this tension with the homework for my classes has gotten to me lately. I need to cool it and not be so task-minded. As for the eye contact, I did tell him that I kept looking at the clock in his office because of a class I was going to have (this class actually!). Ironically enough, I have been told that sometimes I give too much eye contact and I stare at an individual too intensely. I'm just a messed up person. I guess I just need to not come off so tense and not be so intense in my eye contact. It's all about balancing out the extremes: not doing too much or too little of something. My personality doesn't help much either as I tend to be an overachiever. I am really starting to feel drained as I write this.....a nap or a massage could really benefit me right now.

Busyness

Lately, it just seems like I've been so busy. Honestly, it's probably just me being an overachiever. I do not like to procrastinate on anything that I'm assigned. Procrastination is something that abosolutely drives me up the wall. It's either that or the fact that I've actually been doing the assigned readings for my classes this semester. Who would have thought that reading might actually help me do better? That does sound retarded now that I think about it, but then again I am processing my thoughts as I write. I never thought that I would say this, but some of the stuff that I am learning is actually interesting. For example, I actually look forward to reading for my human resource management class because I find it to be interesting material. No offense to any of the material that I had to study for my general education courses, but I find my classes that are related to my career more interesting. After all, why do I care about the cell division process in Biology if I am a business major?! General education classes are for the benefit of laying foundations for future classes, so I guess I can see why we have to take them. I mean, how can we effectively write papers for upper-level courses in our majors if we do not learn how to in Freshman English?

I'm feeling better

The sickness is basically gone! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My voice is still improving, but other than that there are no issues that I'm facing. One interesting that I noticed is that I lost weight while I was sick. This usually only happens when I get a stomach virus. I guess since I was taking in less food than usual, this makes sense. I was eating soup and Jello for lunch and dinner for two days straight.....go figure. I'm actually hungry for real food. It's always interesting for me to make the transition from soft food back to real food. It feels awkward at first, but you gradually build yourself back up to eating real food. I have heard that a good percentage of the students over at Clemson are suffering from illnesses similar to mine. Whether it's the actual flu or a touch of it, illness has been in the news lately. All I can say is that my heart goes out to people like me who have been suffering from the "Carolina Crud" or are just now starting to suffer from it. My advice to anyone who is feeling sick: go out and buy food and ginger-ale, get a heating pad (since your back will be sore from lying down all the time), get some advil and decongestant medicine, and have some wet cloths ready when you burn up from fever. I just love to be the bear of bad things in life! (lol.)