My Writing During Freshmen Year

I came into English 15 without really writing a (real) paper since first semester of my senior year (senioritis kicked in around december and all hope was lost). I took AP Language and AP Literature for my last two english classes in high school. So basically, my writing was about books we read or had to be written in a specific model. Coming into English 15 where you made your own thesis/your own style was much different and little uncomfortable to me. I thought it was hard to come up with something on my own and really make it my own; to make it believable to the audience I was focusing on.
Also I think that one of my biggest struggles was that in my papers in this class I was either being too informal or too formal; I couldn't find the balance between the two. I also think that my papers started off strong, introductions have always been my strongest point (I like to be creative), but then I think that it would start to lose it's purpose towards the end. I need to start strong and end strong. The reason I think that my papers started to lose their purpose or credibility was a little because I was being too wordy. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until the last paper, when we did an adjective/verb activity in class. I seem to put my words in the past tense a lot/ use extra words that I don't need. Wordiness definitely does not add to the success of a paper.
I am not an english major, but I will be using writing my whole life. I plan to be an elementary school teacher and how would it look if I emailed parents with bad grammar or wordiness? Not so great I would think! Also my major includes pre-k to 4th grade children. If I am teaching at the higher levels I will be teaching them english and I need to know how to write. Also along with my major, I plan on minoring in Spanish. Someday I may have a spanish-speaking child in my classroom and will have to teach him the basics of English. If I don't know how to write well or know verbs or grammar I will be of no help to him! English is definitely something I need to carry with me in my future.

Last Week of Classes

This is the last week of classes and I have very mixed feelings about going home. Of course I can't wait to see my family and my friends, but I am going to miss the friends I have made here. I decided to make a pro-con list of staying here and going home.

Pros of Going Home-

• No schoolwork
• Home-cooked meals 
• My mom doing my laundry (hopefully)
• Not paying for everything (gunna have to use my puppy dog face to achieve this one)
• Seeing friends
• Spending time with family
• Beach and vacations!

Cons of Going Home-

• Missing everyone here 
• Parents can tell me what to do (kinda)
• Not being able to eat Big-O pizza
• The 9 hour drive home
• Spending TOO much time with family (they can be annoying)
• Colder weather for now

See my pros and cons are pretty much of the same amount, so my emotions are conflicted. For now I am just so happy that it is the last day of classes! Now I have to get through 3 finals and then decide if I'm happy or sad to be on my way home. 

Delta Gamma Parents Weekend

I recently joined the sorority Delta Gamma, and two weekends ago was our parents weekend; a weekend where our parents can meet our sisters and see what we are doing at Penn State. I was really excited since I hadn't been home or seen my parents since Christmas break. It had been 4 months! Anyways, my mom, dad, and little brother came up for three days and we did various activities. On Friday my family, my boyfriend, Maureen (from class) and her parents, and I all went out to dinner. I was nervous to see how my parents would interact with Maureen's parents; my parents are quite goofy and embarrassing. But, the parents hit it off right away, and we were at dinner for a good three hours, and then we went to Kiwi (YUM!) and stayed until close; Maureen and I practically had to drag our parents out of there. The next day the boys went golfing and my mom and I got breakfast and went shopping; it was nice to spend time with her. Later that day my sorority had planned a "cocktail hour" at a frat house; yes, my parents were semi-introduced to Penn State Fratland. I do have to say that the frat boys cleaned their house very well, and that the food was pretty good. The cocktail was an hour of eating appetizers, drinking, and trying to socialize, but honestly just getting stuck in a corner with your family because there was no where to move. Later that night there was "music and mingling" at the frat. Basically this meant that it would be a typical social, just with parents. This idea was a little strange to me; I wasn't sure I wanted my parents to see Penn State students playing flip cup or beer pong or worse, actually joining in on these activities. I avoided the party and went out to dinner with my family and my sorority sister Emily's family at the Nittany Lion Inn. I had been to the inn for a special function before and the food was amazing, so I had high hopes for this dinner. I was sadly disappointed. The dinner menu was very small, with limited choices, and high prices. But, all in all I had a nice time during dinner. The next morning my sorority had a brunch at Toftrees. My dinner was made up for! There was a huge buffet with anything you could think of-eggs, french toast, pancakes, potatoes, pasta, fruit, salad, made to order omelets, and more! Oh and I can't forget about dessert-chocolate fudge cake, three types of cheesecake, brownies, truffles, coffee cake, cookies, and much much more-I'm quite the sweet tooth!
The brunch ended around 12, and the weekend came to an end too soon. My family had to head back right away, 9 hours is a long time to drive. I was so glad that they got to come visit me, I had such a great weekend!

Paper 5: Comparing and Contrasting Publications

The two publications I chose were Glamour Magazine and the Boston Globe. Glamour is my monthly guilty pleasure, and the Boston Globe is what came to my house every day when I lived at home. Glamour is described as a magazine, "For young women interested in fashion, beauty and a contemporary lifestyle." The cover features a photo of celebrity, usually a woman,  and has various cover stories in neon colors to make them pop out at a reader. Each issue of the magazine has a theme, and this months is the Swimsuit Issue, which means that the focus of the magazine this month will be swimsuits. Each issue is split up into sections, and this is repetitive each month. The sections include, Cover Reads/Hot Topics,Fashion, Beauty, Health, All About You, Obsessed, and Everything Else You Need. The tone is very upbeat throughout all articles, and definitely geared towards woman in their teens-twenties. The Boston Globe, on the other hand, usually has a more formal tone. There are tons of articles in the Globe, and most are about news topics and are written in a more serious manner. The audience of the Boston Globe is mostly anyone who lives in the Boston area; news that concerns them. The Boston Globe, like Glamour, is separated into sections and these are repetitive each day. The sections include News, Metro, Arts, Business, Sports, Opinion, Lifestyle, and Magazine. The sections of lifestyle and magazine have more of a relaxed tone. The cover of the Boston Globe always has a picture on it, usually it is about the most prevailing news in Boston or even the country/world, depending on what news is available that day. For example, something that happened in Massachusetts could be on the front cover or if something happened in Iran, that could be on the cover too. The cover stories are always the most important, similar to Glamour.