[insert fist pump]

Everyone has a dirty little secret. What's mine? Trash TV.  I'll proudly admit it...I am an avid viewer of MTV. Ya know, the station with all of the ridiculously dumb shows like Jersey Shore, The Real World, or Teen Mom (just to name a few). I have at least one TV show that I watch every night:

Mondays: Skins

Tuesdays: Teen Mom

Wednesdays: The Real World & Million Dollar Listing

Thursdays: Grey's Anatomy & Jersey Shore

Sundays: Kim & Kourtney take Miami & Holly's World

So I'll admit it--I'm a junkie.  Looking at my schedule above is a little disgusting, but after a long day of class & homework, it's my way to unwind. I put on my sweats, jump into bed (as long as all of my work is completed of course), grab a snack and sit back to watch people make a fool of themselves.
I did get some reassurance when I was able to use my unhealthy obsession for a comm presentation in my Media Lit class. I was actually required to watch as many episodes of the Jersey Shore & The Real World so I could later write a paper and give a presentation over what I was watching--I can maybe leave out the fact that what I was studying was the disturbing amount of violence occurring throughout these shows....
But let's look on the bright side--what am I 'learning' from these shows?
1. Don't ever drink an excessive amount of alcohol because I don't want to make myself look like one of the Jersey Shore cast members.
2. Don't get pregnant--I'll just end up in a custody battle with my mother.
3. Don't ever try to maintain a relationship as unhealthy as Ronnie & Sam's.
4. Don't date guys like Kiefer, let alone named Kiefer.

To sum it up, I've learned some valuable life lessons: don't drink, don't have sex, domestic abuse, relationship advice (obviously if you've never watched any of these shows you won't catch my drift...)
All in all, we all have our unhealthy obsessions. What's yours?

Take it or leave it.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011.

8:50am- Making sure all of the classes I want are still available.

8:52am- Find out one of them is already closed.

8:52am- Find another open class--it's boring & not anything that is relatable to my interests.

8:55am- Set up my 4 classes on Wittlink.

8:59am- Finger is on the mouse.

9:00am- Clicking, 'SUBMIT'!

9:00:08am- "The course you're trying to register for is full. Please select another course"

....................

Welcome to the past three years of my 'scheduling career'. 

Every year continues to amaze me, not to mention takes away a few years of my life, how difficult it is to get into a class you need let alone have a desire to take. One would think the $44,000 price tag would be a sufficient reason to take relevant classes, but I've been reminded otherwise year after year.

Scheduling week for me is like listening to nails on a chalkboard. I dread it. As a junior, who has now gone through this seven times, I've determined it's almost pointless to map out the classes that I want to take--now I just write what I need to take.  Big difference there. 

So, here's my take--I understand if money is an issue.  Whether or not Wittenberg has have enough resources to hire another professor to teach that extra class then so be it, however, the excuse that I keep hearing is wanting to keep majority of the classes at a 15 student limit, therefore classes can remain a 'lecture seminar'...really? They're putting student's through the stress and frustration so they can keep a 15 limit cap...c'mon, you gotta use the resources that you already have!  

Well, for now I guess all we can do now is sit back and continue to take the pointless, boring classes we don't want to be taking. Thanks, Witt, you're truly too kind.

Job description: Actively seeking an internship.

The title says it all, looking for an internship is a job in itself.  I'm just saying, if I got paid for how long I've been searching for an internship...I'd be rich--but just to clarify, by rich I mean "college kid" rich!
Realistically I want(ed) to go to a big city.  Seeking an internship in a field such as public relations, marketing, or advertising, it would ultimately be the best way to get my name out there in a competitive field-- big city, however, means big money.  If I went to a big city, I'd have to pay the $1000 monthly rent that accompanies a 300 sq ft. apartment.  So I then turn to an internship program, but after seeing that it comes with a $6,000 price tag (not including the $1,800 that Witt requires in order to receive credit), it ultimately deters my decision.  So, now I'm stuck strictly looking for internships in either Columbus or Dayton and both of those cities have only so many PR/marketing/advertising internships available to students.  Even after visiting the Career Center...twice...I feel as if I'm still stuck.

What are your opinions? Are internships easy to come by? Maybe I'm simply doing the wrong kind of searching...?

Oh Wittenberg, oh Wittenberg...

As a tour guide, I'm asked this question weekly--what's my favorite thing about Witt.  Most of the time I make up cheesy answers (i.e. the beautiful campus, the outrageous number of student organizations, etc.) but when I try to think of what my favorite thing is, it get's seemingly difficult. It also makes it increasingly difficult when you have issues arising such as the uproar the Torch has recently been getting...

So, let's start here--what I don't like about Witt: Paying $240 monthly gas bills to "heat" (and if 62 degrees qualifies as heating, someone please inform me otherwise) my house that was built in the 1800's, their inability to shovel the sidewalks & plow the streets, the outrageous bookstore & post95 prices, only having three places to eat on campus...I think I'll stop there.

But, social, financial and emotional reasons aside, one of my favorite things about Witt is knowing that after I graduate, my education that I received here will advance me further into the workforce (I know, if that isn't cheesy I don't know what is either)... But in all honesty, whether the rumors are true and we are considered "the Harvard of the Midwest", I know you guys can attest that we're leaving as more well-rounded individuals.  It's also a fact that companies are looking for graduates of liberal arts schools. So let's just hope that when next year I'm applying for "big girl" jobs, the decision to attend a small liberal arts school will pay off...

Who knows, I may change my mind in a year. Seniors how do you feel?

BIG story.

For the big semester story, I want to focus on the admissions office.  As a tour guide I have seen a decrease in the number of tours coming to Witt (or maybe I just have the wrong tour time), but the number of applications that the university has received over the past couple of months has been one of the highest recorded numbers of prospective students.
 
So, basically I want to compare the class sizes over the past few years to the number of applications/admitted students to see if there has been a drastic increase or decrease over the years.

Depending on how much information I get, I would also like to hone in on how the economy had effected Witt in terms of number of students, or to them $$$$, but I'm not sure if I want to dive into this--I may just want to focus mainly on admissions rate.

We'll see where I can go with this. There are so many ideas to choose from!

Show me the money!

Today's February 16th...that makes yesterday the 15th. And we all know what that means...PAY DAY.

I remember hearing someone in class talk about a potential story idea covering why we only get paid once a month.  Not only do I think this is a brilliant idea, but after looking at my statement that I received yesterday, I want to know even more.

I've heard through friends that when students work for Witt, they have received a federal work study package. Key word here--federal.  

Let's look into this.  I'm granted $2,800 a semester, meaning $5,600 a year, but do I make anywhere near this amount? Hell no. With many of my jobs, I'm limited to the number of hours I can work a week--so although I hold 4 campus jobs total, I'm making around $250 a month, but that's on a good month.  Once you factor in winter break cutting out half of December and January, the ice days, spring break, we're now looking at an average of $175.  So to add it up, I'm not anywhere near that $2,800 that I should be getting each semester.

As I heard through my friends, the federal work study money doesn't even come from Witt.  Since it's federal, we're granted a certain amount that goes towards working a campus job.  So, if it's not Witt's money, why are we limited to the number of hours we can work? Or more importantly, why am I not getting all of the money that I was granted?

I know a friend who has a campus job who let's her clock in her hours every month to where it will equal her given amount every semester.  That may seem like cheating the system--but it's her money, so why not?!

Enough ranting, basically, I want to know more about this. Are the rumors I heard true? Is it really not Wittenberg's money? And if so, why don't we get what we earned? I feel an investigation coming on..

The Golden Bowl.

This may be a strange blog topic, but hey...why not.
When I walked into a bathroom in Reci, I saw a stack of magazines sitting next to the john. As I sat there, I wondered how someone could sit there long enough in order to read even a page in a magazine.  What's even worse is the idea that they sell books like "The World's Best Bathroom Book"...c'mon, really?! What could be inside such a book? I honestly thought that reading a newspaper while on the loo was just seen in the movies.
This isn't my first time seeing reading material in a bathroom, but I guess I've never seen the bizarre-ness. Now that I do think about it, we even have books in my bathroom at home--which includes a magazine published in 2006 (which goes to show that it's not read). Do people actually use the bathroom long enough to get even a littler reading done?
Well, I did my research. According to "Execuread" it takes the average person one minute to read 200-250 words, or roughly 2 minutes per page. TWO minutes...I don't think I've even been in a bathroom for 2 minutes--but, maybe that's just me?
Maybe they're for decoration. Or maybe someone is trying to prove to their guests that they're well-educated? But let's be real, who wants to be that person who takes 5 minutes in the bathroom?
Who knows-- I may just be over thinking it...