futuristic swag

Dear Boubou (my nickname for my older brother),

I know you couldn't wait to hear about my first day of college. It may sound a little different from your first day of college back in 2006. First things first, my alarm which adapts to my every day schedule woke me up this morning for my 8 am biology class. I actually ate breakfast this morning, which was prepared by just a request of whatever I wanted to eat. My oven is voice operated, so therefore it'll cook whatever I ask it to. After that, I took a shower in my clap on/off operated shower. You and I both know how long my showers are, so after 30 minutes, the water shuts off. Since I do attend FGCU, we're all about being "green" here. I'm still trying to adjust to these short showers. After my shower, I came back to my room, where my closet picks a different outfit for me every day. It saves me time, because you know I could spend hours trying on different outfits just to go back to the first one I tried on. Then, I had to hop on the Irail. The Irail is a train that takes us students to whatever building with just a press of a button. I got to my 8 am class just in time to receive my syllabus from my professor, whom teaches us over Skype. We didn't have lab today, since it was our first day. I went to all my classes today courtesy of the Irail. Later today, I will probably do some online homework and online studying. Unlike your days in college, we don't have books anymore. All our books are online, so we carry our laptops/ipads a lot around to class. I'll keep you updated though!

Love you,

Gigi :)

Skunk Ape

The Skunk Ape tutorial helps students and faculty with getting more in depth with their research regardless of what the topic is. It helps narrow down details to whatever you're truly looking for in your research. Not only did the Skunk Ape give insight on research, but it taught you about what a Skunk Ape actually is, and where it lives, and etc. The tedious modules were a pretty boring but helpful because they each showed something different that tutorial can help you find out. I didn't know what or where a Skunk Ape is/lives. Also, I didn't know the tutorial can help you find about or find a job. Lastly, I learned how to specify my research to find what I'm looking for.
The few things that I did know it can help with were scholarly journals and articles from "popular" and "nonpopular" magazines. Overrall the Skunk Ape tutorial was helpful, even though it was probably the most boring tutorial I've ever done.

5 feet for life

People always ask me if I'm finished growing and if I wish that I would grow a couple more inches. To be completely honest, one of my 5 for life, is to grow, hopefully. Except I don't mean physically, instead I'd rather grow mentally. I would like for my mind to mature as I grow in age. I know way too many adults that still have a mind of a teenager, or even younger sometimes. I want to be in tune with my growth as I progress in age. My second 5 for life, is to be successful. Success to me isn't necessarily defined by money. My ideal success is to be able to do whatever I love doing for the rest of my life, I can't say that I want to be a doctor for sure. But I want to be able to help people the way doctors do. I want to be able to travel like artists do. I want to be able to enjoy my family like I do now. Success to me is will be when I find what I love doing and what makes me happy. My third 5 for life is pretty dreamy, I want to find my love, and be in love and get married and all gooshy stuff. Growing up, it wasn't often that I did always see people love and stay in love throughout their marriage. I hope that I will be able to find that person that truly "completes" me. Whether or not I'm 20 when I find him, or 55 when I find him. As long as I find him. My fourth 5 for life is to give my mom everything she ever gave me. As I've matured, I've appreciated her on a completely different level. I can't wait until the day comes when she won't have to ever work a double shift, or even a shift ever again because she knows that her children will take care of her. This is my most important 5 for life. My last but not least 5 for life is to be able to look back on my life and know that I made a difference in someone's life. I want people to know that I was here.

16 and pregnant.....what about 18 and in college?

I know almost everyone has watched at least one episode of the MTV series 16 & pregnant. I may be the only person that doesn't understand the point of the show. Is it to expose teenage girls and their hardships during pregnancy and during parenting? Or has it become a show to help them make money and make them a "reality show star"? Season after season, they have new teenage girls on the show that are pregnant and deciding whether or not to be responsible for their actions or to continue living the life they used to have. The show's purpose has fallen from informative to pure entertainment for the audience. I don't understand why these girls are getting famous and paid for being pregnant and young, when there are girls that are attending college and trying to make something of themselves. Why don't we have a show called 18 and in college? Is it because it wouldn't be as entertaining as seeing "baby mamas" and "baby daddies" fighting? I think we educated girls should get way more credit for making it this far.

Late night hunger

Have you ever been watching tv late at night and saw a fast food commercial come on? Like Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Mcdonald’s and other fast food joints now have 24 hr drive thrus or late night hours open. Even if the person watching tv wasn’t hungry before, that person suddenly has the urge to eat a burger. Restaurants have made late night menus to trigger your appetite. These commercials aren’t only made for the people coming home late from clubs, work and etc but also to make those people watching tv get up and drive to go get something they probably shouldn’t be eating. The way the food looks so delicious on tv and the satisfaction you’ll feel after you eat it is what drives people to go eat at late hours.  This is only one of the contributors to obesity. I can go on and on explaining how fast food commercials contribute to obesity but I won’t. The purpose of these commercials is to make people eat at times they wouldn’t usually eat at, and the convenience of their food and prices. They’ve targeted the audience that suffer from some type of sleeping disorder, people that like to watch tv at night before they go to sleep, and teenagers that have nothing better to do but watch tv. Their whole message is to sell their food at times that normally wouldn’t bring business but now because of the amount of people that don’t sleep at night or are up doing other things have brought them business. 

Big Ecological footprint for a small person

An ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems.I find it crazy that it would take 5.2 Earths to accommodate my lifestyle. I would've never looked at the way I live to be harmful to the Earth. But when I do take the time to think about the things I can easily do to reduce the amount of energy I lose, it all makes sense. Leaving the water in the shower running, plugged in chargers for my phone and laptop, and leaving lights on when I'm not even in the room. My mom always complained about those things back home, but I highly doubt it was because I wasn't being "green" she was more worried about the water and electricity bills. I won't even start about how many new things I buy to stay accommodate my fashion taste. I buy clothing that I haven't even worn yet, sitting in my closet with the price tags on them. It will definitely be hard to stop all these bad habits, but if I want to continue living a healthy life for many more years to come, I have to make some big changes. I plan to start using minimum electricity, not leaving the water on, turning off the tvs, laptops and etc. 

Who would've known such a small person like me could have such a big ecological footprint?

Rainy Days

As I sit on the stairs, and look up into the gray sky, I look forward to the rain. The gloomy sky, the dark and rainy clouds hovering over us on a Sunday afternoon, I love it. It reminds me of all the rainy days I’ve spent with my family back at home, cooking and cleaning, making the best out of a rainy day. The smell of moist air, the sound of the soft raindrops against the windowsill, brings music to my ears. The rain brings lush to the green grass, washes away the heat, and brings in a cool breeze as the night approaches. Hearing the blaring thunder, seeing the burning lightning light up the sky as the rain pours brings peace to my mind. Feeling the breeze in my hair as I sit on the stairs, reminds me of the memories I made in South Florida on rainy days like this. As much as I love to see the sun come out, it’s always nice to have calm rainy days to clear your thoughts and being your week on the right note. Watching the trees sway back and forth, as if the trees have been waiting for the rain to quench their thirst. The heat has dried up all the beautiful plants around, the thirst for rain was strong. As much as the sun brings out the beauty of nature, the rain reinstates the beautiful colors outside. There’s nothing like a rainbow to magnify the beautiful sky after a well needed storm. It’s always nice to have calm rainy days to clear your thoughts and begin your week with an unclouded mind.

Short and Sweet Gigi :)

Hey, my name is Jihann pronounced (Gee-han) but I ask everyone to call me Gigi. My mom made up the “short and sweet” nickname for me since I am short and sweet. Also, I prefer to be called that since everyone usually butchers my name. I’m 18 years old and was born and raised in the beautiful Miami, Florida. I love being from Miami because of all the different cultures, it’s like a mini melting pot down there. I recently graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School where I spent the best years of my life with the best people. I hope to continue these years here at Florida Gulf Coast University. I picked to FGCU because of the small setting and the distance from home, it’s not too far but not too close. My major is biology, in the near future I plan to go to Med School to study to be a plastic surgeon. My dreams are big so I won’t stop until I get there. Enough about school now, I am Haitian American. I was born in the United States but my real home is Haiti. I visit every Christmas break and summer as much as I can. I am fluent in French and French-creole. I can’t cook Haitiann food unfortunately but I love eating it. A few hobbies I have are spending time with family and friends, partying, listening to all genres of music, dancing and sleeping. Music is a big part of my life without it, I’m not sure where I would be in life. My taste in music varies from House music all the way to Spanish music. I keep an open mind when I try new things. I figure I only have one life to live, there’s no reason to not live it to its fullest. I am a very outgoing person but seem to be shy at first glance. Anyway I think I’m done talking about myself, feel free to get to know me though! J