Assignments

The layout of this class is definitely new for me but from what I can tell I am going to like it. The freedom of the class is very convenient. I am interested to do the extra credit each week and try to get my extra points in for the times I am unable (hopefully never) to complete all the assignments of a certain week. I can tell that the assignments will be time consuming but hopefully I will enjoy the content and won't be worried about time. I'm excited to start brainstorming for the final project and hopefully create some interesting stories!

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Growth Mindset

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I personally have not heard of Carol Dweck before now. From what I learned from the videos, a growth mindset is the belief that one can always improve and learn more, rather than having a set intelligence or a fixed mindset. I definitely agree with the concept of a growth mindset, I am always learning more and being challenge with new concepts in class. Going into some of these classes I am initially worried that the concepts will be too advance for me to grasp and do well, but I later learn that as long as I pay attention and ask questions when I need to, it is definitely possible to do well. Every semester I have the goal to listen in every class and be fully engaged, because I am very easily distracted and my mind starts to wonder. Hopefully learning about the growth mindset and adopting the concept of it will help me to do this and have a successful summer.

Introduction to a tired student

This is my senior year and wow am I tired. I am a Biology Pre-Medicine major in a constant battle of trying to have a social life while also trying to maintain grades, volunteer and boost my resume. This might seem relatable to some, it might seem horrible to others, but either way I'm really just being a cry baby. It's really not that bad....most of the time. No matter what your major is, I'm sure you can all relate to my blog name, collegeutopia. This was my ~clever~ way of saying that online classes are the ideal college class for most busy students.

I haven't had much experience in blogging so try to hang in there while you choke down the words from my future class posts. When I told my roommate I had to finish my blog post before we could go to dinner she replied "YOU have a blog....you're kidding" really reassured me that I'd be good at this thing.

Anyways, one of the things I really love to do is to travel, whether its a short drive to Dallas or long flight out of the country. My favorite places to go always involved the beach, but my most memorable trip was when I traveled to Bolivia for a medical mission trip. Bolivia really stuck with me because I was able to interact with so many different people and learn about a new culture. One of my favorite parts about traveling is capturing the experience in photographs. Below are some of my favorite photos taken while I was in Bolivia. While I like capturing photos of nature, my favorite is photos of people. Looking at photos of nature and places never fully reminds me of the experience quite like seeing the emotions of the people. I love the photo of the three girls on the bottom because it reminds me off all the teenagers coming to the clinic, trying to talk to me through google translate and making fun of my poorly spoken Spanish.

A photo I took of the streets outside of our hotel in Vallegrande, Bolivia 

A photo of a mural at the hospital. 

A girl and her love for stickers.

A grumpy little girl waiting for her turn with the physicians.

A young boy running around the hospital.

Three girls just happy to be out of class for the day.

Storybook Favorites

There were surprisingly quite a few stories that I did not recognize form the list of storybooks. So I decided to check out two that I was aware of and one that was unfamiliar.

Due to my childhood love for Aladdin, the first storybook that stood out to me was A Whole New World. The storybook was very organized, with multiple navigation options. I thought it was interesting that the main characters roles from the original story were essentially switched. A fun twist was the fact that both Aladdin and Zakiya were given genies. I liked how each story was based off of the emotional state of a different character, helping to connect with the storyline.

Source: A genie lamp as commonly showed and described in Aladdin.

The next story that caught my attention was Back to the Inferno. My initial thought was that this story was going to be based on the movie "Back to the Future," due to the title, but after reading the intro I started to realize it was sounding offaly close to "A Christmas Carol," an all time classic. This story was very fun to read, the plot changed was creative and even witty with the use of characters like Bill Cosby and Quagmire.

source: Death as told in the story.

The third and final storybook I chose to write about was based on a story I was unfamiliar with. This was My Brothers Grimm: A Diary of the Only Grimm Sister.  I feel out of the loop not knowing this story and I know it's something that I heard as a child but just did not retain and keep to memory, considering I know of Hansel and Grethel. My main reason for picking this story was due to the layout of the post. I thoroughly enjoyed the design, with the dark background and the bright titles.

source: The Brothers Grimm

St. Thomas aka My Favorite Place

St. Thomas is located in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I have gotten to visit 3 times and hope I'll get to go many more times. When I have gone I have stayed in Magen's Bay. The house we rent is located on the side of the mountain and had the best view, pictured below.

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Island. Pictured by myself.

Magen's Beach is located on the end of the cove and is one of the top 10 beaches in the world. If you have the opportunity to visit, you definitely should! 

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas. Pictured by myself.