The Roommate Debate College is a life altering experience. It is a place where you leave anything and everything you have ever known, to come to a place where nothing is familiar. The summer before your freshman year of college can be a nerve racking experience. You anxiously wait for the day when the mailman will bring you that envelope that holds your fate. Enclosed in this envelope is the name of your roommate. Your roommate can have the biggest influence on your freshmen year. They can turn into your best friend or your worst enemy. You anticipate the day when you actually get to meet the person you will be living with for the whole year. At Penn State there are no guarantees that you will have anything in common with your roommate at all, and that is a scary thing. As the Housing Administration of Penn State, I ask you to put yourself in the shoes of the incoming freshmen. As a freshman, you hope for a roommate you can relate to and spend your time with. But at Penn State the chances of you getting along with your roommate are slim to none. I know so many people who cannot stand living with their roommates. Two of my friends actually switched at the semester because they could not deal with their living situation. At Penn State we are placed together by major. Two people with the same major are not guaranteed to have any of the same habits, interests, or goals. I feel that this is not an effective way of matching people up. I researched other colleges to see how roommates were paired. The colleges I researched were: Albright, Bucknell, Virginia Tech, Saint Joseph’s University, Millersville, and University of Pittsburgh. At Albright, Bucknell, and University of Pittsburgh the housing administration requires incoming freshmen to fill out a survey that asks about their sleep patterns (early bird/ night owl), taste in music, if they smoke, their qualities of an ideal roommate, pet peeves, and major. This enables the housing administration to effectively match up freshmen that would be compatible with each other. My friend Maureen, who attends Bucknell, said, “My roommate and I have become best friends and I am so thankful that we were matched together. I think that all colleges should use surveys to match up freshmen. The summer before my freshmen year, I was less nervous about meeting my roommate, because I knew that even if we were not the best of friends, I knew we would be compatible enough to live together.
Since 776 BCE, the Olympics have been a way for people of different cultures to come together and compete in friendly competition. In 1892 the first modern Olympics were held in Athens, although it had been over a thousand years since the last game it still had brought together an assortment of different religions and ethnic groups together. Many factors shaping the Olympic Games reflect the changes that have taken place in our world since the last game in 393 CE in Greece such changes include woman’s suffrage, global economy, world wars, and proving competency.
Athletic events at this time were also closely related to the religious beliefs and practices of the Greek citizens. Each competition was devoted to a specific pagan god. For example, the patron of the Olympics was Zeus. The Greeks believed that the physical strength and ability of athletes was a direct gift from the gods (http://www.meiaconcerto.com/olympic/olympia/ideal_o.php, September 27, 2004). Therefore, each athlete competed not only in honor of his city-state, but also in honor of the gods.
Finding a roommate in college was a lot more difficult than expected. Knowing someone and creating a strong foundation of friendship is completely different than living with someone. I assume people know about room etiquette such as when you close the door behind you, I’d assume you think that would be an indication for privacy or a non-verbal gesture of privacy and boundaries but for my roommates I guess this miscommunication does not compute in his mind. I did not think this would come to an interpersonal conflict between myself and my roommate.
“Personality begins where comparison ends- Karl Lagerfeld © 2011.” This quote is a foreshadow for what is to follow, for a 100 freshman residents and their Residence Assistant. Not all roommates will be your best friends but not all will be your enemy. It is important to know during your young adult life, which types of people are compatible for your personality to ensure a smooth and fun living experience.
Mary Shelley brings about both the positive and negative aspects of knowledge through her characters in Frankenstein. The use of knowledge usually has many benefits, but here Shelley illustrates how seeking knowledge beyond its limits takes away from the natural pleasures of known knowledge. She suggests that knowledge without mortality and uncontrolled passions will lead to destruction. Victor and his monster experience this destruction following their desires and losing self control. Walton, on the other hand, becomes of aware of the consequences and is able to turn back before it’s too late. Shelley also suggests that without enjoying the natural pleasures of life, pursuing knowledge is limited, but how can knowledge be limited if it is infinite?
The Olympic Games, hosted in Olympia, Greece, reflected and represented many of Greece 's traditional values in their culture, politics, and social institutions. With the Olympics being the biggest event in Greece at the time, the occasion brought many new ideas and showed what the traditions and customs of Greece were really about. Through this big spectacle people learned about their own culture and went through many experiences ranging from listening to poets and praying at the Temple of Zeus to spectating the sport of “Pankration”, a combination of boxing and wrestling. They would even compete in the nude as a time-honored tradition. “...the practice [competing in the nude] also symbolically stripped away social rank, an extraordinary gesture toward a democratic sporting ideal in the status-obsessed ancient world.”(pg. 7) The Olympics
Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.
Sociology studies heavily on the interactions between individuals in different settings. For those who go off to college and decide to live on campus, they are presented a new setting of living with another student who could possibly have a similar background or in contrast a very different background. The factors that can contribute to the background differences are endless. Human interaction is very fascinating and is constantly being observed. Therefore plenty of research has been done on roommate interactions. This paper focuses specifically on the University of California Los Angeles population of freshmen. UCLA has a large amount of diversity and is particularly great for the study of people with different backgrounds coming together and interacting. Both qualitative and quantitative research has been done on this topic, but this paper will focus on qualitative data through interviews. All the participants were thorough with their responses and tried their best to answer as honestly as possible. Overall the data presented varied results with each factor creating a different outcome when it came to the interactions and the closeness of the two roommates. Although the participants gave good insight into their backgrounds through the answering of the interview questions, there is the possibility of many other influences in their lives that could allow for either cohesiveness or non-cohesiveness with roommates that just weren’t examined closely enough. This paper will try to answer how differences in ethnicity or race, socioeconomic background, and other background aspects affect college roommate interactions.
My experience so far at William Penn University has been a roller coaster ride. It has had its ups and downs similar to any other new experience to a person. As a freshman it takes some adjusting to get used to the style, especially when I have had the support from my parents for a long time. I have had moments here that I have enjoyed, and other ones that I would rather not have to deal with. It has been a full 7 weeks, but it definitely has been an experience I will need in the future and it is better to learn it now than later on down the road.
Victor Frankenstein’s scientific endeavor, Robert Walton’s search for the North Pole, and the creature’s kind heart but scary features creates this whole theme of dangerous knowledge. The search for knowledge is encouraged and at times pushed by others. In Frankenstein is shows quest can lead to too much knowledge and drive him or her to his fate.
For as much as college is studying, test, and learning about diverse environments, it is also a good time for the student to establish who they are. Analysis of everything from personality, to learning style, to how to properly prepare for classes are all very useful to the new college student.
Is your passion worth hurting your friends or family? In the article Niagara by Tightrope, Blondin puts his manager’s life on the line just for entertainment. Blondin tells Harry while he is on the rope, "Look up, Harry... You are no longer Colcord you are Blondin... be a part of me, mind, body, and soul. If I sway, sway with me. Do not attempt to do any balancing by yourself. If you do we will both go to our death (Roger Hudson, page 1)". Blondin thought his passion would only be better if he performed stunts that no other tightrope walker would attempt by putting someone else’s life on the line. This takes me to the...
Ancient Olympics The ancient Olympics had some differences from the modern Games. There were fewer events, and only free men who spoke Greek could compete, instead of athletes from any country. Women where not allowed to even watch the games on penalty of death let alone play in them.. Also, the games were always held at Olympia in Greece instead of being moved around to different sites every time. But also they had some similarities to our modern Olympics, winning athletes were heroes who put their home towns on the map, and became financially sound for life. The conflict between the Olympic's ideals of sportsmanship and unity and the commercialism and political acts which accompany the Games where also present in ancient times. "Sotades at the ninety-ninth Festival was victorious in the long race and proclaimed a Cretan, as in fact he was. But at the next Festival he made himself an Ephesian, being bribed to do so by the Ephesian people. For this act he was banished by the Cretans."
The college life certainly has its share of fears, cheers, and jeers, but it really can be a worthwhile endeavor. The most important task is to find the college niche, that little place that just feels right, and not just the first time. Once I found clubs, organizations, jobs, and social circles in which I felt like a valued participant, I really seemed to be at home, and that's not something I could have found just by being matched with good roommates or schmoozing at a toga party.
The biggest piece of advice I would give to an incoming student is “You get what you put in”. Now I say this because my first semester of college was an experience that I disliked. Something that I did wrong was, I only went to class then went home. At the time I felt it was best to give my education all of my attention. It was like this for five days a week from August to December. I began to question if college was for me, and if I even belonged anywhere. I felt alone, clueless, and unimportant to the campus. I wasn’t use to feeling like this I was always in extracurricular activities, meeting new people, having close relationships, and being employed. After my first semester, I had enough of feeling this way and knew I had to be the person