Freshman class of 2041

Freshman year of college 2041 and yes, I wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy, but I have no idea who the heck that is. People just say that all the time. My daily college routine goes a little something like this: My window shade opens promptly at 10am monday, tuesday, and thursday, letting the daylight into my room and waking me up. Alarm clocks are not even sold anymore. Here at FGCU we have settings on the window shade. Waking up that was is just lovely.

      Next, I walk myself to the bathroom where I wash my face and brush my teeth. Our toilets are a little different than the ones you see at grandmas house. They just stick out of the wall. Almost like a little bench. Our sinks are also different. To use our sinks, you simply place your hands under the glass bowl and water comes from the wall. No hot and cold knobs. After I have freshened up, I head back to my room where my bed has already been made for me. We have sensors that make your bed if it has been unoccupied for ten or more minutes. I walk to the closet and type into an ipad that is built into the wall what exactly I want to wear today. As the seasons change, the clothes in this closet adjust to the outside temperature. So for example, today was a little on the chilly side. So when I was scrolling through my options, lots of jeans and long sleeve shirts and sweaters were showing up. Once you choose what you want, it appears in a little glass door next to the ipad. 

     To get to class, students teleport. It makes everything easier, and takes about five minutes. Teleporting makes getting to class so simple, and I usually go early to grab a bite to eat. The food here is all organic and healthy. We still have restaurants, but all of their food is very healthy. Soda machines are now filled with organic juices, milk, and water. Once in class, students all sit at large tables with floating chairs. Classes are usually conducted by a avatar professor. The professors at FGCU are very important people and sometimes have to be in tow places at once. These avatars make this possible. They are simply linked to the professors mind and do two totally different tasks at the same time. Our education system has made a great improvement. Students are now being challenged in all the right ways. My mom tells stories of Kindergarten and how she was learning her ABC's and 123's. In kindergarten now, they are learning how to solve math problems and are writing paragraphs about their weekend. It has gotten crazy intense. Teachers and professors now a days push students to do their best and the standards have increased dramatically. In the year of 2020, out education matched China's. Now, we have surpassed them and are making new world records. 

     Being a college student at FGCU in 2041 is pretty epic. I'm so happy to be alive and healthy! Time to PARTY!

Skunk APES????

While doing the skunk ape activity, I found the videos to be extremely boring and the work to be quite tedious but in the end, I actually did learn a few things. I never really knew what exactly should be looked up in a library catalog, an internet browser, or a data base. I just always searched through google. I also didn't really understand how much the FGCU library catalog could offer. I will most definitely be using that more. The final thing I did not know was exactly how to use a data base! Interesting stuff here, people. I found that a lot of information was common knowledge. I did really appreciate the review on citations. I have difficulty getting book, website, and journal all straight and correct. Overall, I do agree that everyone at FGCU should have to do this activity. Although boring, it was somewhat helpful.

Smoke free campus? Try alcohol free campus.

 I have recently had a conversation with my aunt about cigarettes and alcohol. Over the fourth of July weekend, she asked if FGCU was a smoke-free campus. I proceeded to tell her no, but I strongly feel that it eventually will be. Before I could explain why, she began a year long rant about how it is unfair that smoking students have to give up their "thing that makes them happy", but students who drink daily don't have to give up their "thing that makes THEM happy." She covered the both can kill you topic, and continued to state how unfair that was, but thats about it. It really got me thinking about what campus life would be like without those two terrible things. How many customers would the local gas stations lose? If all college campuses decided to abolish alcohol and cigarettes, how many Beer and Cigarette companies would go out of business?

"How cute are these boots?!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS_fc5XVjkc

     The 2009 Gap Christmas Commercial was always something that caught my attention. Now, in 2009, I was clearly not the age of those little girls, but their cute cheerleader-like attitudes, and adorable boots made me wish I was their age so I could run home to mom and beg her to take me to GAP. I feel that the overall message of this commercial was to convince parents to but cute, comfy clothes for their kids. I see it being more for young girls, because there are no young boys in the commercial. I think that GAP's purpose was to grab the attention of young girls, and their mothers and get them to go out and buy their comfy sweaters, and cute boots. As a young girl, I recall hating those girly dresses! I love Grandma and all, but did I really have to wear the sweater with a stocking on it? In the commercial, the girls are cheering and/or singing about how they are not going to wear those dresses anymore. The audience I see is to parents, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, cousins, brothers and sisters, but more importantly, it is to catch the attention of little girls. The actresses in the video portray ample amounts of fun and excitement. I can easily see why girls their age would love to own that comfy sweater and those cute boots! Not only is this commercial made adorable with little girls full of attitude and spunk, but they come up with a cheer/chant that gets embedded in your brain. When christmas time rolls around, it never fails to get stuck in my head, and my mom never fails to comment on me singing it ALL THE TIME.

Mama Earth

Whenever I hear the word “footprint” I obviously think of walking down the beach and seeing an indentation of a persons foot in the sand. I think it is safe to say that the majority of people think of an indentation a foot makes when they hear the word. Now, when I hear “ecological footprint” everything changes. I begin to think about how much of an impact I am making on Mother Earth. How many water bottles I drink a day, what I can recycle, but am too lazy to do so, how much I drive my car, how much meat I consume. After calculating my lifestyle in a footprint calculator, I discovered that if every one lived the lifestyle I do, we would need 4.6 planet earths, and 20.6 global acres of the earth’s productive area. Before knowing all of this, I thought I was leaving a small little footprint. Not taking crazy long showers, I am pretty good at refilling a water bottle numerous times, and I try my very best to recycle any time I can. Knowing what I now know, I better understand how people use a calculation like this to measure and interpret life choices. Like my mom always said: “wants and needs”. Do you want to fly to Europe, or do you need to fly to Europe? Flying causes serious damage. As of Wednesday, July 6 2011, I Megan Freel, will try my absolute best to decrease my ecological footprint. I found that my biggest issue is using products that are not natural. Eating a lot of foods that use less packaging, and or eat more food that comes in post-consumer packaging. Since that Wednesday, I have used one water bottle and have refilled it multiple times, I have searched for foods that come in post consumer packaging, such as water bottles.  I am still always trying to cut down on my driving and shower times, always turn the water off when it is not being used. I offer to take the recycling to the proper place, and I am trying my best to get my roomies involved. Together we can make the world a better place!

Afternoon sky

I must admit that the evening sky is my absolute favorite. Tonight was a beautiful mixture of light and dark grays, a luscious white that reminds me of marsh mellows, and about five shades of blue, and my favorite shade of yellow from the setting sun.  Each color representing something different, but mixed so perfectly. The clouds make me want to spend a lazy afternoon searching for images or signs from the Heavens above. They appear so peaceful and slow moving, and it’s hard to believe that they are moving so fast that they appear to be standing still. The different sizes, shapes, colors, and patterns blow my mind. I could stare at them all day. The clouds that look like tiny cotton balls are my personal favorite. Tonight, they all seemed to be mixed in together, which makes looking at the sky inevitable. It’s so serene and peaceful. The cool, refreshing breeze is one of a kind. When taking a closer look, the clouds individually have no definite shape, but the way they form together and make an object recognizable to man is amazing.  They slowly move together, than re-shape into something completely different. Their fluffy looking texture looks oh so inviting. It’s strange how something that we imagine can’t hold anything can produce destructive storms that leave families devastated. How can Mother Nature be so harsh at times? I guess that’s why we are always taught to respect her.  While gazing into the afternoon sky, I can’t help but wonder if these clouds that I admire so much are really the gateway to Heaven. If they are, what does it mean when it storms? So many unanswered questions, but the best questions are left unanswered. We will know the answers when the time comes. But for now, everyone should take a moment to enjoy the seven PM sky.

Megan Freel :)

Hey everyone, my name is Megan Freel. I was born on August 19, 1993. I’m from West Palm Beach, Florida! I’ve lived in West Palm my whole life and absolutely love it.  Some of my hobbies include almost any water sport, cheerleading, horseback riding, and music. I cheered from age eight up until the eighth grade when I dislocated my kneecap at practice. Aside from cheerleading in middle school, I was in band. I’ve been playing my flute for seven years now and was a member of my high school’s marching band. GO FALCONS! My junior year I was the assistant Drum Major and became the head Drum Major my senior year. For those who don’t know what a Drum Major is, it’s the person who conducts the marching band. I consider myself a friendly and open person. I absolutely hate confrontation and try to avoid it at all costs. I’ve been employed with Panera Bread and currently work at Flanigans Seafood Bar and Grill. I never thought I would say this, but I love and miss my job. Moving to FGCU was a big step for me because my family is extremely close. My brother and I are best friends and it is hard to not spend my last summer with him. He attends Florida State University and is studying environmental science. As for me, I absolutely love children. Therefore, I am an education major. I would love to teach kindergarten in the South Carolina area. As part of my community service in high school, I coached a recreational cheerleading team. I really knew I wanted to teach after I saw the smiles on everyone’s face after they learned a new cheer. I feel like South Carolina would be the perfect area for me because it’s not super cold, and I can still be near some sort of water like a lake. Growing up in West Palm messes with your body so I feel like I need something half way. Well, I look forward to becoming friends with everyone. I’m really looking forward to this summer comp class!