The Rain in Spain

Hey all! Im coming into finals week now, so the stress is on, but I'm coming home soon! My classes are finishing their last lectures this week, and next week I have a few days of finals and I'm homeward bound. A few things have happened since I last posted. First of all, I visited my sister in Spain! It was my first time in the country and I had a wonderful week with my family. It was a little chillier than we expected, but since staying in New York, I've gotten used to the cold. We saw all the sights where she is studying and even got to ride some segways through the narrow streets up to some lookouts over the valley. Overall, it was an awesome time and it was nice to have the whole family back together.

Other than our Thanksgiving getaway, I have recently gotten a job! I'm working for Admissions Owl, which is a service that connects prospective students with students attending the colleges they are looking at. It is a great opportunity for me and I really think that the company can help a lot of students find the right college for them, especially those who are looking at going to colleges that are too far to visit.

That's all for now! I will be home soon to see everyone, but if I don't see you, happy holidays!

In Other News

So there are lots of things to tell! First of all, I got a new job at Admissions Owl. Admissions Owl is an online service that connects high school students to college students over Skype. It is pretty much a way for high school students to get a better feel of a campus without having to go on a visit. They're just a start up, but I see a lot of potential since there is a big need for services like this. Anyway, I'm really excited to get started!

The other news is that I was interviewed for an article for University news about my major. It's a pretty small mention, but I'm in the news nonetheless! Here's the article:

https://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=53999&source=enewsletter

I was also home for the weekend last week and had a wonderful time with family and friends. I picked a friend up from Altoona on the way home and we spent the time seeing all of the "exciting" sights. It was good to be home, but it definitely made me yearn for the days of no homework.

Over Thanksgiving break, I'll be visiting my sister in Spain! I'm very excited and will share pictures when I return.

Small Addition to Blog... Large Step for Lauren

So, a quick but important update! This afternoon, I signed the paperwork to declare as HCC! It was much less of an ordeal than it sounds (I only had to sign one paper), but I'm officially in the rounds for admission into the HCC program at the end of the semester. That's all, folks!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! This weekend, I was invited to a friend's house for dinner. We had some great pizza and then decided to put some costumes on and hit the streets. Obviously, now that I'm in college, it's time for me to start trick or treating again. Or at least that's what we decided. We got more candy that I ever expected because we swept in after most of the kids had left. So, we got all of the left overs that people didn't want. I'm not complaining, though. It was a lot of fun and now I'm set for candy for the rest of the semester at least.

The notable figures here are a Hawaiian pizza, a taco, a Monty Python knight,
a gorilla with a coconut bra, a hastily-put-together Mexican, a sailor,
and a carrot (me).

After we got home, we watched a scary movie (not my idea) called Trick R Treat. By that time, it was pretty late, but we didn't want to leave on that note, so we watched some Dr. Who and headed home. Nerd school for the win. That was the extent of my Halloween. Not the most exciting, but it was my kind of party. Hope everyone is well!

The Big Apple

Over the weekend, I visited NYC with the Golisano Honors group (Golisano being the Computing college). We took tours of a few companies and got some time to spend exploring the city as well. We visited jetBlue, Google, and Coalfire, each being companies that are highly driven by technology and taking interns from RIT. It was a busy few days, but I got to stay in a really nice hotel and spent a lot of quality time with friends.

While the companies were not the most exciting thing ever, I still had a lot of fun. The company visits weren't bad, they just weren't particularly helpful. The jetBlue visit was based largely around the company itself, which was interesting, but not the most relevant for me at the moment. At Google, there were lots of fun things to see, but no one really talked at all about what people do as a Google employee. It seems like the actual content of a Google job is very illusive, which is a little bothersome. Nonetheless, it was a fun tour. Finally, Coalfire is a security company. So, while the presentations were very interesting, they don't make much sense for me as an HCC student (unless I were to minor in Csec or something). Furthermore, they were our last stop at the end of a long day and there weren't enough seats for everyone so it was a tiring experience.

On Saturday, I got to spend most of the day just wandering around the city. I did so with a friend of mine and we spent a majority of our time walking around window shopping. We went to the Nintendo store, a Starbucks, and a Barnes & Noble. Afterwards, we took a long walk down to Grand Central where we played in the Apple store for a half hour or so. Then, we walked to Central Park, got some food, and went to the zoo. The zoo was tons of fun and we enjoyed having a day to not worry about time obligations or homework.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. I got to spend a lot of quality time with some friends that I hadn't been seeing much of lately and I got a nice weekend away from schoolwork and stress. We stayed in super nice hotel rooms, got lots of free food and knick knacks, and learnt a lot about the real world of computing. I'm very glad I decided to go.

Halfway Through the Semester

Hello all! At the moment, I reside in Rochester and I'm having a wonderful time. I've made lots of friends here and lots of exciting things are happening! For the time being, I'm a computing exploration student (meaning I'm undeclared computing). This means I get to try out all of the different majors for a semester or a year and then I can pick whichever suits my fancy. Recently, I think I might have come to some sort of a decision--don't hold me to that, though. I'm thinking that I will major in HCC, or Human Centered Computing. It's pretty much about how people interact with technology and making technology accessible and user-friendly for everyone. This link will probably explain it better than I could: https://www.rit.edu/programs/human-centered-computing-bs

Since I've been in college, a few things have happened. First of all, I went on a trip with Women in Computing (WiC) to Niagara Falls. Two of my close friends went as well and we all had so much fun. It was my first time going to the American side of the falls!

I also took a trip with my floor to a local farm and corn maze.

Shortly after, a friend from home visited and she let me stay at her lake house for the weekend.

This morning we got our first snow here in Rochester. It didn't stick, but it's still a little unnerving to have snow before Halloween. Otherwise, the weather has been gorgeous. It's just cool enough for a sweatshirt, which is just my kind of weather.

Overall, everything is going very well. I am looking into housing and course registration for next semester and next year, which will be quite the task, especially when I don't have a major. I might declare at the end of the semester, however, if I end up making a concrete decision by then. I am also thinking of applying to be an RA for next year to solve the housing issue. I am going to visit NYC next weekend with the Honors Computing kids to see some companies that are housed there, so I will have another update after that. Blessings, hope all is well at home!