Last Post!

Honestly, blogging was a good experience and it made me put thoughts into writing but it is not for me. I don’t enjoy sharing my personal life with the world and I don’t have anything that I’m so passionate about that I would like to sit down and write down every week. Maybe later in life, whenever I have kids or want to share things with friends that are distant, I will start writing about me and my life publicly. As for now, this is the end of my blog. I’m not going to lie, writing this is also a bit sad because it also means that the end to a successful semester at A&M is coming to an end. Most people get excited about finishing up things, but for me this case is different because it means that a life filled responsibilities is rapidly approaching. Hopefully I will be able to handle every test that God puts in my path and keep learning from the good people around me.

Family Comes First

Does it ever happen to you that during the year there are few things that you really want to go to but the day there take place, there are more than one that u don’t want to miss? A little long and complicated, but I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about. This weekend It was my dad’s birthday, my sister’s birthday party and my best friends’ ring dunk. To make things easier for me both events were in different cities at the same time. Obviously it was a no-brainer deciding which one I had to miss because family always goes first, at least that’s what I’ve been brain washed to say, think, and act on. It was no surprised that the ring dunk, the event I missed, was a total success. Not only that, but everyone had asked me why I missed the party. I feel like being upset about missing such a great time with friends, some which I won’t be seeing because they are graduating, but instead I have thought about reasons why I shouldn’t. Even though I feel like I could have gotten out of the birthday party with some sneaky moves, I would have hated myself after that. Family does go first because they have always been there for me and even when I have a family of my own, I know that I would have really been hurt if any of my family has traded a special day for me for some friends. I don’t regret going to my little sis birthday party and I hope that she never trades a day with me for any of her temporary friendships.

Colombian Pride

Like I have mentioned before, I am Colombian. Born and raised. In college I have participate in various events that remind me who I am and why I so passionately defend and represent my country. Last week I helped put together and participated in an international presentation where we danced to Cumbia and showed a video that told the public a little about our country. Well, I could write forever about my country but I think this video basically sums it up. WATCH iT… I promise you won’t regret it.

Colombia is Passion

Commited or Constrained?

Today three of the plomos, my closest friend, got their aggie ring. For those non aggies, the aggie ring is one of the biggest traditions and in Texas A&M. Of course I accompanied them throughout the whole experience and it made me think about the future. During the two hours I was there my friends got their rings, there were a few proposals, and many happy families filled with hopes for the future. This of course made me think about the future. Soon after ring day I had time to chat with some of my dance group girls and talk about my thoughts on how our future would play out. It was very interesting to hear what each girl’s idea of their future. Marriage was a popular topic when we started talking. Most of them told me that they would never get married in college, which made sense, that they wanted to travel and “live life” after college without any constrains and that they would like to have a job and be financially stable before having any kind of commitment with a partner. This caught me in surprise because I had thought that most girls would want to get married right after college and find stability with a partner more than by themselves. This doesn’t necessary mean marry someone financially stable, but someone who can help you find it by being by present and committed to you. This made me second guess my ideas of marriage and how I how fast I wanted to be committed. Not because I want to prove that I can be financially stable by myself, but because the thought of being “constrained” to live life made me wonder if I really want to be married soon after college.

There's No Such Thing as a Perfect Job

I wonder if people are ever 100% satisfied and content with their job. Is there really a perfect job? Obviously I’m still in school, but I’m already having second thought about what major or career path I should take. It’s scary to think that I will be stuck with a career that I won’t enjoy. A friend of mine constantly promised me that whatever the career path a job is not meant to be enjoyable. After repetition of doing the same thing over and over again, it will just become a routine. I have to admit that his thought reflect his personality: very pessimistic. So it got me to think. Could it work the other way around. With the same idea that no matter what your job is, at the end it will become part of your life routine. I could say, being a little more optimistic about life, that whatever career we choose we could adapt to it and learn to make the best of it. “Getting this job offer is exciting, and I feel proud of myself. But this is just another step along the way. I know I won’t stop trying.” In his blog Matetells us a few anecdotes about how trying new things and hard work has paid off in his career and in his life. This is what I’m talking about. Even if a job is not exactly what you want, you will feel good in it if you set yourself a goal and reach it instead of reminding yourself about that sucky position.

Stress Relieve Other Than Alcohol

Last blogs made me think about the reasons or excuses people use to tell themselves drinking is ok. Of course there are many, but the most logical I came up with is stress. People sometimes go to “escapes” such as alcohol… to deal with stress and pressures that seem hard to handle. So, If you believe that your life is to overwhelmingly stressful, I guess drinking does make some sense after all. If you want more than temporary fix there are some ways that are supposed to reduce stress and improve your lifestyle.
• Take a stand against over scheduling.
• Be realistic. Don't try to be perfect — no one is.
• Get a good night's sleep. A goodnight sleep helps your body and mind be equipped to deal with any negative stressors.
• Learn to relax. Help trigger the relaxation response by learning breathing exercises, schedule for activities that are calming and pleasurable: reading a good book or making time for a hobby, spending time with your pet, or just taking a relaxing bath.
• Treat your body well. Experts agree that getting regular exercise and eating well helps people manage stress.
• Watch what you're thinking. A healthy dose of optimism can help you make the best of stressful circumstances.
• Solve the little problems. Learning to solve everyday problems can give you a sense of control. But avoiding them can leave you feeling like you have little control and that just adds to stress. Develop skills to calmly look at a problem, figure out options, and take some action toward a solution. Feeling capable of solving little problems builds the inner confidence to move on to life's bigger ones — and it and can serve you well in times of stress.
For more info CLICK HERE.
Even though people may turn to substance abuse as a way to ease tension, the truth is that they promote more stress because they wear down the body's ability to recover. This list mentions actions that unlike alcohol will improve your health and well-being more permanently.

Alcohol

Sometimes it seems like I’m one of the few 20 year old who has never abused alcohol, specially in college. Honestly some find it somewhat illogical that I don't get drunk along with my friends. First because in Colombia, my place of birth, the legal age to purchase and consume alcohol is 18. This means that it is very normal for 15-year old kids to have access to alcohol. Most family and social reunions are also certain to be accompanied by alcoholic drinks, which means that I have had access to alcohol my whole life. Secondly, because I am a college student with no direct social pressure not to drink or family constrains and with plenty of friends older than me that could provide the alcohol. Obviously it’s a personal choice that I make week after week. I’m not sure of the reason for not abusing alcohol specially seeing that so many enjoy and crave it. My family does not abuse alcohol often and I can honestly say that it’s not fear of it so I can’t pinpoint a single factor for my apprehension for alcohol over use. After reading some information of the direct effect of alcohol, it seems like not over using it is just common sense.
Why would someone want to depress their breathing rate, heart rate, and the control mechanisms in their brain?
Maybe because they want to:
• Impair their motor coordination
• Impair their short-term memory
• Decrease their ability to drive and perform complex tasks
• Prolong reaction time
• Reduce attention span
• Reduce inhibitions
• Slow their thought processes
And raise their blood alcohol level until they reach one of these percentages and effect:
• 0.05 -- reduced inhibitions
• 0.10 -- slurred speech
• 0.20 -- euphoria and motor impairment
• 0.30 -- confusion
• 0.40 -- stupor
• 0.50 -- coma
• 0.60 -- respiratory paralysis and death
Well, I don’t like to tell people what to do with their lives, so If they want to destroy their liver along with their brain and heart in order to get as close as they can to a coma or a respiratory paralysis or even death, be my guest. Just don’t recommend it to anyone because that’s just low.

Women are Crazy

Women are crazy. I’m serious. Well, not literally crazy but definitely not rational. Meaning that sometimes they let their feelings, not their logic, play an important part of their decision making. For this blog I personally searched for a space where they talked about women…. And I found it. The title of the website is: Women are Crazy. Perfect, right? In one of his posts the blogger made a list of ‘Things Men want Women to know.” Even though some sentences in the list were written just to entertain the audience, most of them where so obvious that could be considered common sense. The funny thing is that all women don’t know, or pretend not to know, these things. Some include: Don’t ask if you’re fat, you know the answer; don’t expect men to read your mind; your man doesn’t think about you 24/7, deal with it; if you share a problem, he will try to fix it. It is simple and obvious enough. I want to think we act irrationally only around our men because they bring it out of us, but we definitely do act absurdly. Why do we expect men to know exactly what we are thinking by just looking at them? What kind of answer do we want to hear when we ask questions that we know the answer will hurt us? It’s perfectly fine that our partner does not think about us constantly, we don’t even do that. So, why do we get mad when they only call us once or twice a day? Yes, we do irrational things. Blame the hormones, the genes, the cycles of the moon, but we do. All I can say is that this is not going to change any time soon and no, there are no exceptions. What is impressive is that we obviously compensate this with something else because most men prefer to endure our nonsense than forget about us.

After Thinking, Just Have Faith

Are you of those people who make a decision and stick to it? Or one who takes forever to make a decision and at the end you always second guess yourself? I’m sure it varies on the kind of decision and how much it affects the future. I feel like my family takes their time deciding, but we all take our own sweet time in different things. I am known for taking long ordering in restaurants, my mom takes forever to choose what cloth to buy, while my dad could look at cars for years before making up his mind. Emi, my little sister, has to talk to everyone and their mothers before deciding what classes to take. Lindsey wrote in her blog about her extreme indecisiveness and how overwhelmed she feels when she has to make big decisions such as choosing a career path. After a sermon she heard at church she realized that there are times where she has to let go and trust in God that things are going to be ok. This made me think that us not being sure of what to choose or what step to take next is just us trying to have control of our lives. Obviously Lindsey doesn’t love torturing herself going through every possible career and my sister hates stressing about her classes for her but they do it because they feel like is the only way they can make sure their lives are the way they want it to be. Like I said in my last blog, sticking to a decision is sometimes the best thing someone can do. This doesn’t mean that its bad to analyze different outcome but, Like Lindsey realized, sometimes there’s a point in the process where the only thing to do is have faith.

A Week in NYC

A week in NYC makes people think. Think of a million things, sometimes all at once. That city has the potential to show you everything from the rich to the poor and from the hardworking to the drug addicts living on a subway. You also get to see famous people in between of millions of people who look the same and others giving everything they have to live a dream. This made me think a little of where I stand and who I want to be. Do I want to be the artist at central park making money from charity doing what I love or the surgeon living on 5th street? I’m currently studying to be an engineer. This major is not all that easy considering that I could of majored in a million things that would make my life easier and certainly less stressful. Another engineer student wrote a week of her busy life as an engineer: A Week from Hell. If most engineering students agree that majoring in engineering is not only stressful but sometimes seems like impossible, why do we keep trying? Well, I’m almost done with my second year as an engineer and I’ve seen too many of my classmates drop out from the major. It’s not because they are not smart enough, but because their priorities and needs are somewhere else. They could have easily graduated with an engineering degree but their will didn’t let them. This is because it doesn’t really matter who you are, but what you want. For example, I’m everything but decisive. It takes time to analyze and consider every option for me to make a decision, but when that decision is reached I stick to it to the end because I know that’s what I want to do. I think that is what has helped me endure all of the bumps on the road of a difficult academic life. Whatever the decision is, make sure is made one hundred percent yours because that’s the only way you will be happy doing whatever you are doing.

Sunny Days! :)

Yesterday was the first sunny and warm day in a very long time. That’s one of the things that can make my day that much better. Not only my mood changes but also I have more productive and successful days. I thought I was the only one that was affected by the weather to this extreme, but I found a blog of someone who reacts similarly to me. Read it so that you can realize that I’m not the only crazy one who believes her emotions are affected by the position of the sun. It is funny how something so out of our control can control everything about our day. Enjoy those Sunny days! They don’t last forever.

“Know Thyself”

Read this blog!

This is the blog of someone very close to me. I have had the chance to get to know her for the past couple of months more than any of my friends. Like she states, she is someone who seems to know what she wants and where she wants to go in life, but everything is not what it seems. An advice that her dad gave her inspired her to write blog and inspired me to write mine. “Know thyself”, her dad quoted an ancient Greek inscription, when she felt lost in her thoughts and aspirations. Most of us claim know ourselves better than anyone else but I realized that sometimes we focus on other factors and forget to ask ourselves for our opinions and feelings. This is why is hard to understand what makes us happy, and so easy to get lost in a life made out of everything and everyone but you. I have met many people that demonstrate this simple argument. There are many engineering students who think their salary will buy happiness , anorexic teenagers who think that weighing less than ninety pounds will make them feel happy, and aspiring doctors who feel like the excitement and admiration of their parents will be contagious enough to make it their own. Some adults even think that drinking or smoking will solve their problems instead of making them worst and that marrying someone with a wealth will carry their lives toward a perfect life. Since we don’t know ourselves, many of us have no idea what will make us happy which in effect causes us to settle for things that bring temporary bliss.

Trust Calculator

Since my previous blog was not very comforting I decided to research a little and find out how we, human being, decide who to trust.

Defining the word is important so lets start there.: What is Trus?

In this website they define trust in a scientific way that seems like a way to calculate how much one person trusts another.

This is what I got out of that definition:

Assessed gain/loss probability +calculated expected utility based on hard performance data+ personal faith in humanity = concluded that the person in question will behave in a predictable manner= trust.

Based on this information the way we asses who to trust is by thinking about how much we can lose or gain by trusting this person and by judging their “performance data” or actions. Depending on how much each individual trusts others and how close this is to reality; this assessment will give us an idea of how that person will behave in various circumstances which in turn will make us trust them.

I like scientific thinking because a lot of the times it makes us think. Not only the actions of others and how each of us trust others matters, but how much we can lose. This is why is harder to trust your boyfriend more than you class mate. If you classmate goes to lunch instead of going to study like he told you he would it would not mean nearly as much as if you boyfriend did the same thing. You would definitely suspect of things and question what your boyfriend did and not even wonder why your classmate lied. Based on the definition this is because we are risking getting our heart broken or loosing someone who we have shared more with.

All of this makes sense and honestly it makes me feel better about the people I trust. My logic and analytical skills will decide who and when I should trust someone. If they fail, let’s hope at least I learn my lesson.

Trusting the One

As we are growing up, we get into a stage where we start choosing our friends and becoming more familiar with family members. We start to decide who to play with, who to share stories, and experience our daily adventures with. As we grow up we start choosing our life partner, some later in life than others, but it’s a natural step in life that most consider an important one. The difference with choosing who to play in the playground during recess and who to spend the rest of your life is that you are investing something much more important than your time: your emotions. So, how do you choose the one person you want to share so much of yourself with? In the previews blog I wrote about how actions give away the personality and thoughts of a person in a way that’s impossible to do with words. Anyone can tell you what you want to hear over a phone or internet conversation or have great personal advertisements with pictures and descriptions of who they are online, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. While spending time with someone and getting to know what they do and how they treat others feels like the only way to start trusting someone but it seems like there should be more to it than that. I don’t consider myself someone who has trusting issues but I’m not stupid either. Most of us know when someone is hiding or lying to you, mostly because we do it too. If everyone does it and we know this, how in the world are we going to have a relationship with someone where you are supposed to share almost everything with? It seems like most of the time the best way and the only way to do it is give people a chance until they break that trust. Until then I plan to enjoy others’ company as if I have known them my whole life because I don’t plan to miss out on people and everything I can learn from them.

Choices, Choices

Not long ago I read a blog from a student in my English class and I decided to share the story about an incident with a not-so-nice clerk at a computer store. Even though everyone has gone through bad costumer service she tells the story very amusingly and encourages us to think about our personal reaction. Click and Read!

Thoughts about the blog:
I’ve always told people who like to talk about themselves that the only way they can proof others who they are with actions. Everyone talks: about things they think, they are, they want, they feel. Most of them are opinions that are not always viewed the same way by everyone. So, how do I believe people show their real selves? Well, we all go through different occurrence in life that presents us with a variety of choices. The choices we make describe who were are a lot better than everything we think and talk about ourselves. The author of the blog goes through a series of options of how to react to an undeserved insult and finally decides not to act at all, which many would say is an action itself. She explains that she chose not to act because of the possibility that the clerk could get into more trouble than she deserved. This is a simple example of an incident that could have had various different endings. Her specific action does not describe everything she is and she could possibly react differently next time she gets confronted with an insult but it definitely shows a side of compassion and thoughtfulness in her. I am not done writing about this, but I will continue in another blog because I want to tell you in detail how this relates to my relationship with my past and current boyfriends.

What a Week...

Let’s start with a brief summary about my week. My weeks start Sunday night. I go to help out teaching salsa and then salsa practice. This Sunday I was at that room for four hours practicing for a performance, which is about two hours more than I had planned. After that I was dizzy, sore, and very tired and definitely incapable of thinking about studying of doing homework. Monday and Tuesday I caught up with some assignments, cleaned the apartment and even did some grocery shopping that needed to be done. Wednesday morning I went looking for black baggie pants at every store in town because the team needed for our hip hop number. This obviously took half of my day and replaced important studying time but it was accomplished before my 12:30 class. I rushed all morning to make sure to make it to my 12:30 class. I knew I had to park my car at 12:00 in order to ride the bus to campus in order to make it to class in time. The problem was that I don’t have a 12: 30 class. When I arrived to my class all of my classmates were leaving and then is when it hit me: my class starts at 11:30, not 12:30 like I’ve been telling myself the whole morning. As soon as I saw Tito, one of the performers of the team in my class, I asked him if I could copy his notes and told him what happened. I assured myself that this error wouldn’t hurt me much because I could easily study the notes that I had missed, but that was not the only thing I had missed. The professor had given out one of those pop quizzes he likes to give out at random once a week. I kept telling myself that this would only make me more focused on making good grades in the class, but it didn’t keep me from feeling very stupid. Wednesday night was our last time to practice for the big performance. All of the team was dancing for what seemed for the first time so it made it harder to teach and organize the choreography. It was a two hour practice where a lot of reviewing and sweating was done but we felt like all the work would pay off competing against the other teams. Thursday was a hectic day. The performance was that night so I needed to make sure costumes, make up, shoes were all packed. I drove my car for the first time the whole semester because I had a heavy bag to carry and because of the disguising rainy weather. When I got to a building I looked for my iPhone which I had seen minutes earlier in my car. I didn’t see it in my bag or any pockets so I thought I left in my car. As a nice touch to my week I still can’t find my iPhone. Those who have an iPhone or anything similar will understand my frustration. It is unbelievable how much we learn to depend on them. We find ways to use them for every single activity in our day. I thought about using it to look at the time before class, to calculate the answer to a statics problem, to text your friend you were supposed to meet to work on the statics homework to mention a few that day. Finally the one thing that makes me forget about the one million things that I’m supposed to be doing was going to happen: it was dancing time! Right before the performance one of our dancers realized she left her shoes at home which made us change formations right before performing. The two performances went well, but there was no doubt that there was not an obvious winner. I’m not blaming our lost on my bad luck that week but both groups knew well that it wasn’t definite who was going to win. I ended up spending the whole week worrying about a dance competition which we didn’t even win. Oh, and I lost my iPhone and got a zero on a calculus quiz on the way. The week is over and I plan to have a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend while I catch up on all the homework I have for next week. Since this blog is about learning about situations and people I will bring up a thougt that it’s good to think about every now and then: other people have it worst than I do. I know it sounds a little selfish but sometimes the thought of other people’s troubles makes appreciate life a little more, even when everything is not going your way.

Plomo... What?

On our first night out in Houston some of my girlfriends decided to RA sushi. It was almost Dany’s twenty-first birthday and we were deciding little details. Before I continue the story you have to have an idea of who she is. Dany is the second oldest of the group and she is a planning freak. Let me explain: she needs to have every event planned in detail months before an event: what we are doing, what we are wearing, the time, the place, everything. Let’s just say that she already knows exactly what her braid maids are wearing and her boyfriend has not even proposed. It might sound like she is a little bit crazy, but everyone knows that her birthday parties, get-together’s and trips are definitely the most fun to go to. So, that night at RA sushi we were talking about her birthday party and she wanted us to brainstorm of what we could all wear to the party. Like a color theme. Obviously some mentioned the common black-and-white party, or “Wear red” themed. While we were debating between colors and themes Maki, the oldest of us, stopped our conversation and we knew she had the perfect theme. Let’s all wear lead (plomo). I really wish I could say that in Spanish “plomo” is a color we use often, but it is used just as the word lead is used in English. We all looked at each other and couldn’t stop laughing. Lead? We asked. Maki tried to explain what she was thinking when she thought of all of us wearing a beautiful lead color dress, but it was too funny to make sense out of it. Obviously other crazy ideas came up making fun of what Maki had just said. “Let’s all wear baby-chicken yellow.” We never forgot of how funny it was when we all pictured ourselves in lead outfits. The name “Las Plomo” which translates to “The Lead Girls” stuck with us. We all remember it as a night that not only our “name” came up but a night when we realized that we could enjoy each other’s company and have the time of our lives laughing at something so simple as a color.

Las Plomo

My closest friends in College Station are the group of friends that I always wished to have in college. Sometimes they don’t make my life easier, that’s for sure, but they surely make your life happier when I need it the most. My girlfriends are close to me but not because we know everything that goes on in each others life, but because we share a bond we share that not even we can explain. I can start to describe who we are by saying that we are all Colombian, but this is not enough explanation because we are all VERY different. A handful of essential values and our heritage are about all that we have in common. You will realize this when I write more in detail about every individual one that we all have different personalities, looks, believe, and even economical status. These different traits teach me different things everyday and shows me how important is to have friends like them in my life. Sometimes friendships like these amaze me because it’s not easy to trust and give so much of our time and effort to people who you just happen to meet. I will never understand why we give each other so much, specially knowing that they it is possible that our relationship could change any second, but that’s what makes it is so special.

I'm a Part of Her

There’s always days in our lives were we realize we are alone and we have no one but ourselves to fight throughout the tough moments of our life. In those moments my mom always said; “At the end the only think that we really have is family. Friends will always come and go”. Obviously thinking of this always made me feel better because it is true. I’m a very independent and goal reaching person, but I have always had my family watching my back. When I feel alone is easy to run to my parents’ and sisters’ embrace and feel safe and loved whenever people disappointed me. The relationship I have with my family is the one relationship we’re people need to have. A safety feeling that a lot find within religion because is a bond that will not be damaged by frustration, anger, or jealousy and has been permanent throughout life. Even though my dad is our financial stability and my sisters are happiness, my mom is the one that brings us together. I almost want to say that our family bond is more specifically the bond we all have with my mom. Obviously this tells you how important my mom is to the wellbeing of my family but with this I also want to explain why we all need that relationship with her. Earlier I compared it to the relationship some have with God because it is a relationship that does not change and is always present. That is the exact reason why is needed. I can’t say that in everyone’s life, but in mine for sure, people come and go. There are people who betray you and people who just vanish. It doesn’t matter how they leave, it’s easy to feel like friends and family are nothing more than people who happen to concede in your life but soon will be nothing but distant memories. When gloomy feelings like those come by just the thought of everything that mom has done and is willing to do for me is enough to make me feel loved at a lonely time. In my life she doesn’t replace God, but they both give me hope when difficult situations come up. Just like my dad gives every penny he makes to us, my mom gives every minute of her life to us. She thinks more about what we want and need than anything else. I know that sooner or later I will make a family of my own and later in life she will not be with me anymore, but she has given me a part of her that I will be eternally grateful for. Thank to her, I will make sure that whatever happens I let my love ones know I will always have their back because I know how important is to have a permanent, solid column to lean on when you feel that everything else disappears like a mirage of water in a desert.

This is Me:

My name is Susy. I’m a sophomore civil engineering major in Texas A&M. I’m originally from Colombia and lived in Argentina for three years before moving to Texas. Obviously English is not my first language, so don’t be surprised if I write something that confuses you or is grammatically incorrect. It WILL happen. I love dancing and I’m currently in a Salsa dancing group in A&M called Salsa Fusion. I was also at my high schools dance team. When I’m not studying or performing, I hang out with my girlfriends or my boyfriend Andy.