Food

                Breakfast, lunch and dinner are generally the times when people eat the amazing thing known as food. Food is one of the beautiful things in life and without it we would perish. But having too much of it or eating unhealthy items can be a bad thing. It can cause a person to become obese and sick, which know wants to be.

                As a freshman at Virginia Tech the availability of food is overwhelming and wonderful. There is no more asking mom what’s for dinner and her response is whatever’s in the pantry. There are so many options and different types of food that anyone can find something that pleases them. But at the same time there are so many things that you have to have self-control. I know I personally have a problem with sweets; if I could eat dessert all day, I would and I would also possibly be the happiest person in the world. But unfortunately that’s not the best idea… it is tempting though. Everywhere I go there are always cookies, cupcakes, or crepes for sale, and my thought is that one can’t hurt. This is a lie. Maybe one is ok, but that thought can happen multiple times in one day, adding to the extra amount of calories I would be eating.

                To avoid that situation I have certain foods in my rooms that I can munch on that I feel aren’t completely horrible for me. For example, I have Honey Nut Cheerios in my room at all times. My love for honey nut cheerios is like no others. I honestly could eat theses honey glazed circles of goodness for the rest of my life and not get tired of them. They are sweet, but they are healthy in a way. At least I like to think so. The box says that it can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, so that constitutes as healthy. They are made with whole grains and contain all sorts of good vitamins and minerals. They are good to eat when I’m having a good or bad day, or just when I want a snack. I remember when I was in high school that is the cereal that stayed in the pantry and if we somehow ran out, I would feel incomplete. Well, maybe not all that, but it was upsetting. It started with only me eating them in my family, but then my little brother found the goodness in them, so I had to share my box. Then my stepdad decided he also enjoyed eating them for breakfast. With the 3 of us combined we couldn’t keep a box for a week, so that when my mom had to start getting the bulk boxes at Costco. With that we had a generally good supply of Honey Nut Cheerios.

                I digressed from my point though; all I wanted to say was make sure you eat healthy.

Tests

                This was my first week of tests here at Virginia tech, and if there is one thing I can say about it, it’s that it kicked my ass. Now I know everyone says that high school and college are two completely different animals, which I know is true,  but I still have to test the limits to see if some of the things I did in high school will also work here. Answer: No. I found out that studying the day of the test is not a good idea. I know common sense would say to study before, but when you have 10 other things to do, it gets hard.

                For example, I had my Chemistry test yesterday, and I when I finished it I had that I’m screwed feeling left inside of me. I kept putting it off, because when my professor explained how to do the problems in class it made a lot of sense, but when I finally got around to doing the online assignments, it was a different experience. So on Thursday I don’t have class till 2 pm which was my chemistry class, so I woke up at 8 am and literally studied from the time I woke up till it was time to go to class. I’m not going to say it was ineffective cramming because I was able to understand some things, but others just flew over my head. It was quite something going into class and seeing everyone’s anxious faces, it made me feel not as alone in my nervous state at the time. It was also at the time when I noticed how different college tests were from high school ones. When I was actually taking my chemistry test I found it interesting how the scantrons were different. There were no more question numbers with the choices A-E, now it’s question numbers with choice answers of numbers 1-10.

There is one thing about college tests that can be a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, and it is that they are short. In high school tests would be 50-60 multiple questions that you had the whole period to do. But now, the tests are short so each question is worth more and the time to take it varies. Fewer questions are great because you aren’t doing a myriad of problems, but that means a person needs to make sure they know the material because the luxury of missing a few problems is gone. What can be annoying about the test process is that a person may have to go to a different place to take a test. I understand that some professors don’t have time in class for their students to take their tests, since they are trying to try a lot of material in 15 weeks. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy having to go out of my way to go to the math empo, or taking my free time on Thursday night to take a test. It’s something I’m going to have to get used to though, because this is only the beginning of my long college career of testing.

Smokers

                The air is becoming cool and crisp here at Virginia Tech, and it makes me want to go outside and walk around just to enjoy the weather. Walking around in a sweatshirt and jeans is how I tend to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. But on multiple occasions as I walk around campus I have felt that the life was being sucked out of me as I breathe in air from some smoker that happened to be in front of me.

I have noticed a fair amount of smokers on campus and it has always had me wonder, why did you start smoking? In the 1960’s when almost everyone smoked, they didn’t know it was bad for you so that is more understandable. In today’s time, it has been proven through many studies that it’s destroy your lungs and the smoke that you breathe out also hurts the others around you. Then I thought why would anyone want to start something that you’re going to be addicted to? I see smokers that stand out in the freezing cold just to get a smoke. It looks completely ridiculous for someone to subject themselves to that kind of weather for some puffs.  Also to supply that addiction a smoker has to buy their cigarettes, which can easily get expensive depending on what brand and how often a person gets them.

Smoking is terrible for the health of both the smoker and the unfortunate people that happen to be around them. Have you ever noticed that generally when comparing people that smoke and people that don’t, the ones who smoke lose their breath more easily when doing an activity? That in itself is a sign that a person shouldn’t smoke, because nothing good can lead from a shortness of breath.  Some of the severe consequences of smoking cigarettes can be lung disease and a loss of vocal cords. I remember when I was in 6^th grade my school had a presentation for us about the dangers of smoking. They brought a man that talked to us through one of artificial vocal cords, so he sounded like a robot and he had a hole in his throat. Seeing that freaked me out and when I think of him it can still give me the chills. The thought that went through my mind while I saw him was that my grandma also smokes, so what if she ends up like him? My grandma has been smoking since she was 16 and now she’s 65, so for 49 years smoking has been a part of her life. I felt that she was in serious danger and I tried to convince her to stop smoking, but I realized then that it’s easy to say that people shouldn’t smoke and list terrible facts about it, but getting someone to stop is a truly difficult task. It’s not easy for a person to change their lifestyle, so needless to say that I couldn’t get my grandma to stop smoking. I had asked her why she started was because she was curious about it, and I’m sure that same reason of curiosity applies to the people who start smoking in today’s time. So please don’t smoke, even if you’re curious about it. Just think, is that moment of curiosity worth a lifetime of addiction and bad health?

The Heat

                I love almost everything about Virginia Tech. The campus is beautiful, the food is great, and then people are nice. One of the few things is dislike here is the summer heat. The heat here isn’t a normal outside hot; it’s a kind of sweltering heat that makes everything sticky because of the humidity. Generally when it rains, I would be grateful because the rain cools down the heat. But here when it rains here I am filled with dread. The rain is great until it stops and everything is left wet and ready to be dried by the sun. When the water is evaporated by the sun, the air is similar to the heat of a sauna. Except the difference is that it’s not relaxing because you’re walking through it for 15 min trying to avoid people while carrying a backpack occupied with notebooks and a laptop. You would think that because of the intense heat, there would be air conditioning in every building, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

 Here at Tech air conditioning is a gift that I have come to have a new appreciation for.  First of all I live in a dorm without air conditioning, which I still haven’t come to understand myself. Why would anyone make dorms without AC? I know that it gets cooler in September so you will not have a need for it, except the thing is that it gets warmer again at some point. Of course people can bring fans for their room, but I’ve learned that fans can create a nice little breeze, but that breeze is the hot air bring circulated around your room. It makes doing work in my room painful, so I end up trying to find a cooler place in my dorm so I can concentrate on my studies. I was trying to think of why someone would decide to make dorms without air conditioning, and the first thing that came to my mind was money. I’m positive that Tech saves thousands among thousands of dollars from not having to pay for AC. I can understand wanting to save money, but if they’re going to do that, at least have it make sense. College kids will survive not having AC in their dorms, but why would you not have it in a gym where people are hot and sweating? War Memorial hall is the gym without AC, and I wonder how people can work out there? When you’re physically exhausting yourself you want to be in a nice cool environment so you don’t pass out from the heat. Even with that fact, people still go there so they must have a system that works, but I myself can’t comprehend it.

Anyway as the days go on I’m glad that summer is almost over, because I’m excited for the cool, crisp, fall weather.