Month: February 2013

Looking for a Job or Internship?

Looking for a Job or Internship?

Earlier this week, I braved the snowstorm to attend the well-anticipated Career Fair. I wasn’t there for long, so I only spoke with several companies.

The main companies I was looking to speak to were Deloitte and Epic, which I got the chance to do. Both companies were more interested in students that were graduating to hire full time, so my conversations were rather short. I gave them my resume and got a bit of information, and went on.

Since my Career Fair experience wasn’t as productive as I was hoping, this blog will be about general job resources instead of focused on only the Career Fair. So for those of you searching for a job or internship now, or will be looking in the future, here are my top resources:

  1. RamblerLink– I go on the RamblerLink website many times a week, sometimes even multiple times a day to see what updated jobs and internships they have. I search all of the different options, not just those that fit my description. It was through RamblerLink that I applied for The Power Company, and I got the job. Even though the company was listed under summer positions, I got a call back within a week and I got the job within two. It’s not always easy to get a job through RamblerLink, but if you keep applying and practicing and taking every opportunity you find, your chances increase greatly.
  2. Word-of-mouth (and sight)- If you hear that a place is hiring, or see that they are hiring (i.e. signs, advertisements), apply if you are interested. Applying everywhere is a great idea, but chances are higher that you’ll get a job at a place you know is actually hiring- you may save yourself time by applying later if you are still interested when they are hiring.
  3. Online- Searching online, whether on job websites such as Internships.com or Craigslist, or direct company websites such as wholefoods.com, is a great way to apply to places. Some companies have exact open positions listed on their websites, which makes your search easier. Be cautious about job websites though. Websites like Craigslist may be great for jobs, but they could also turn out very negatively. Apply at your own risk, and try to apply only to those that have as much detailed information (at least a company name and job description) as possible. Don’t apply somewhere just because they say “Hiring! $1000 a Week!”. Don’t do it.
  4. In person- This is where the Career Fair comes in. Applying or giving someone your resume in person may give you the opportunity to pick apart their brain and get some useful insight. Whether this gives you a better chance at getting a job depends on each individual interviewer and company, but these can be great opportunities to make connections. Sometimes in these cases, you can even get interviewed on the spot.

Using these techniques is a good idea, but take them a step further by using multiple at once. You don’t have to apply just online, by word of mouth, or just on RamblerLink. Use any combination of these techniques, and use as many as you can and want.

Spring Break: So Close, and Yet So Far Away

Spring Break: So Close, and Yet So Far Away

Spring Break is next week! Of course, that means that every professor in the university has decided to schedule whatever exams, papers and tests they could fit into the last few days before freedom. I conquered an Intro to Computer Science exam on Tuesday, but I might not be so lucky with my Honors Seminar exam coming up on Friday. I’ve got to become an expert on Shakespeare, Moliere, Descartes and Machiavelli within the next 24 hours. Unfortunately for me, studying is still a skill I haven’t mastered. My trips to the IC usually consist of an hour of Facebook browsing for every hour of work, so wish me luck!

In the midst of studying/failing to study, class, and rehearsal, I was lucky enough to see Loyola’s Mainstage production of the comedy Tartuffe at the Newhart on Sunday! I was beyond impressed with the cast of the show. Anyone familiar with the play knows that it is written entirely in rhyming couplets. Trying to portray a character truthfully and naturally can be difficult when speaking in rhymes, but the cast handled the language very well. The show is hilarious and I’d recommend it-it still runs for one more weekend!

On another note, I’m thrilled and relieved that the housing process for my sophomore year is complete-and I got into Georgetown! I’m so excited for next year to live with four of my best friends in a killer building. It seems so odd to me to talk about sophomore year already, because it feels like just yesterday I made the big move to the city, knowing no one here. The year has really zoomed by-and I wouldn’t mind if it slowed down just a little.

After I survive the next two days, I’ll be back on the Megabus (or as I call it, the StruggleBus) to the Nati (Cincinnati)! I haven’t seen my family since winter break, so I’m ready to be back home and relax a little. When I get back, Frankenstein goes into tech rehearsals so I’ll need the rest!

 

Ebony Ball: Our Shades of Beauty

Ebony Ball: Our Shades of Beauty

This year’s Ebony Ball was held at Regents Hall in the Lewis Towers.
Photo by: Antoinette Isama

One of the last events for Loyola University Chicago‘s Black History Month celebrations was Ebony Ball.

On Friday, Feb. 22, the Black Cultural Center hosted this formal for the first time at Regents Hall in the Lewis Towers on our campus downtown.

As vice president, I had to oversee the planning and facilitate tasks to prepare for this fun night!

With the theme “Our Shades of Beauty,” we sought to show the beauty of diversity by shedding light on how one should not be ashamed of the color of their skin.

Our social chair, Marlena Ortiz, had the great idea of embossing images on to pieces of wood that are examples of our different shades of beauty.

With the help of our other executive board members, each centerpiece and accent piece were crafted and painted by hand.

There was great music from a student DJ from Northwestern University and I would also consider this year’s Ebony Ball as the most successful – especially with how diverse the turnout came to be.

The students that attended had a great time! I hope that with events like these, my organization can bring the Loyola community closer together.

Quotes and More Quotes

Quotes and More Quotes

Even though I just posted some Spring Break activities, we do still need to acknowledge that we have one week left of classes. For some of us, like me, this is also the week that we have midterms. It’s going to be a long and hard week, and we all know we need that little extra push to give it our all. Here are some quotes (and a joke) to motivate us and put smiles on our faces while we study:

“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible’”- Audrey Hepburn

“If we do not plant knowledge when young, it will give us no shade when we are old”- Lord Chesterfield

“If we all did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves”- Thomas Edison

“Just because it isn’t in your life plan, doesn’t mean it isn’t exactly where you’re supposed to be”- Don’t Trust the B in Apt 23

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.”-  John Maxwell 

Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.”- It’s a corny joke, but it made me laugh

Spring Break is Right Around The Corner

Spring Break is Right Around The Corner

It’s the most wonderful time! Of the Spring semester that is. IT”S SPRING BREAK! There’s one week left before students head home, overseas or even just hang out in their off campus apartments for a week. There’s plenty to do and nothing to do at the same time, and I’ll be embracing every moment of it.

This year for break, I’m heading down south to Mexico with my family to soak up some rays (some pictures will be shown upon my return). We haven’t been on vacation in years, though, so all my other college Spring Breaks have been spent at home. Therefore, I know exactly what it’s like to look forward to break… and then feel bored and unproductive during it.

Have no fear, though. This blog is dedicated to making a list of things to do during Spring Break 2013, with things I have done and things I have yet to do.

1. Pick up that hobby you’ve been waiting to start- Whether it’s writing a book, knitting, Mixed Martial Arts, or Video blogging, just do it already! I know- this applies to me too in regards to the video blogging.

2. Catch up on your television shows- Watching your favorite shows in college can be hard when you have night classes during them, you don’t have the right channels, and you just plain don’t have the time. So take some time (but not too much!) to enjoy your favorites- because The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars are all awesome.

3. “Dolce Far Niente”- I’m picking up snippets of Italian here and there, and this saying translates to “The sweetness of doing nothing”. So go ahead, be daring, and spend some alone time with yourself being idle. This may seem scary, but how many people can say that they’ve mastered the art of just spending time with themselves, getting to know themselves while doing absolutely nothing at all? Consider this my challenge to you.

4. Redecorate something- This can mean redecorating your room at home, your apartment, yourself or your life. Or you can do all of the above. This week may be short, but it’s plenty of time to evaluate your life both physically and mentally. Clean out your closet finally and donate your old things. Repaint. Hit the gym and get a haircut. Check in with your New Year’s resolutions and see how they are going. Making little alterations or beginning to make big ones is a great way to productively spend time. It’s called Spring-cleaning for a reason.

Now, you may be wondering why all the activities on my list seem rather individualistic. Include other people in them if you want and can! But from personal experience, I’ve noticed that I don’t hang out with too many people during my Spring break because our breaks are different, we’re in different locations, I want to take time for myself, whatever the reason.

Also, it’s pretty easy to come up with things to do with friends. Are you more likely to go bowling with friends or by yourself? When you are on own, the feeling of nothing to do and a lack of motivation kicks in, so sometimes it takes some outside help to get inspired. Therefore, hopefully, you guys will do one (or all) of the activities above during your week vacation to preoccupy yourselves.

Life Update

Life Update

Another busy week at Loyola!

It’s hard for me not to write about Frankenstein, because I spend so much of my time in rehearsal or thinking about rehearsal. We have now completely blocked the show! We are now focusing on fine-tuning the scenes, especially a lot of the movement work.We have been rehearsing in a rehearsal studio in the Mundelein Center, but tonight we move into the actual space-the Underground Theatre! I’m excited to work in the space we will be performing in. The blackbox theatre is very small and intimate, which will take some getting used to and adds a fun challenge to the show.

Here is an interview with our fearless director and playwright, senior Ali Burch! Tickets for the show can be purchased online now (I will not apologize for the shameless plug).

Also happening in the theatre department at Loyola now is the mainstage production of Moliere’s Tartuffe, which opens tonight and runs til next weekend! I’m seeing it on Sunday afternoon.! I just read Tartuffe in my Honors class a few weeks ago, so I’m eager to see the performance on stage.

In other news, the housing lottery numbers came out for freshmen a couple of days ago-a stressful situation-but I’m lucky enough that one of my room mates drew number 20, meaning he will be one of the first students to pick a residence hall for next year! We are hoping to live in Georgetown, an apartment-style “quint” residence hall with a huge kitchen, living area and three bedrooms for five people. We find out Monday-wish us luck!

I hope you are all having wonderful weeks!

 

Timothy Doolin’s Day Off

Timothy Doolin’s Day Off

Today I was given a class assignment to go to a museum and write about a sculpture in one of the exhibits. And upon seeing this interesting item, I could not resit posting about it.

Photos taken by Ania Jakobiec

I missed my classes to go to the art institute (which is free to Loyola Students) I was going to see it all not just some weird horse head cup and leave. No, I wanted to check out what the rest of the museum had to offer.

First was the modern wing…

Call me simple minded but I’m sorry this is a canvas with scribbles on it. But this is infinitely better than the next one we saw.

I get it! Technology will all loose connection some day and we will need to respect art.

And my personal favorite.

Seriously? I wish I knew this is all it took to get into the Art Institute.

We didn’t only stay in the modern wing, we ventured to see some classic paintings like the one below.

While the new Picasso exhibit was quite awesome, this is one of my favorites. The American Gothic and the surrealism section is always a great stop to add smiles before heading to see all the blood and guts that was the Renaissance. While beautiful, these artworks are quite gruesome.

Finally we ended with the most famous works in the museum. The Monet’s and pointillism that will always remind me of that scene from Ferris Bullers day off.

 

 

 

Its Just a Game Right?

Its Just a Game Right?

It has been a while since I last blogged and I would like to explain a bit about the reason.

It is actually quite simple, I am way too competitive and have taken up playing intramural basketball!

Photo taken by Ania Jakobiec.

College Q&A

College Q&A

This week I had my first day at a clinical site for my secondary education classes. This semester the School of Education requires me to have a total of 80 hours in a classroom. This is broken down between 35 hours for English Methods, 30 hours for two English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and 15 hours for Middle School Methods. I have been placed in Holy Trinity high school where I will be completing all of my English methods hours and some ESL hours.

The first day I was there, my cooperating teacher wanted my students to get to know me so he allowed the day to be dedicated to holding a “press conference” with each class during which the students had the opportunity to ask me questions that they had.  The questions could be about me, my background, Loyola or college in general. I thought that their questions might be interesting for other potential college-goers so I will recap some of the students questions about college here.

Q: Why did you chose Loyola?

A: My decision came down between University of Michigan and Loyola, two starkly different schools. I decided on Loyola because I wanted to experience living in the city and going somewhere where I did not know anyone.

Q: Was the transition from high school to college hard?

A: Yes, in two different ways. I was not mentally prepared for the academics of college and found out very fast that college requires a lot more work than high school does. I also had a hard time the first semester with homesickness. I did not know anyone at Loyola and missed my friends from home. Second semester was much better though and I am so glad that I pushed through the first semester of freshman year.

Q: How many papers do you write?

A: I am an English major so I write more than the average college student, but on average I write a paper or two a week. Usually each class has a handful of 3-5 page papers and one final, longer paper, around 10-15 pages. However, I have less tests than many of my peers.

Q: Do you live on campus?

A: I no longer live on campus. I lived in Loyola’s residence halls my first two years and loved it. Living in Mertz (a freshman residence hall) is where I met all of my current friends and it’s where I learned the ins and outs of college life. I now live in an apartment a few blocks off of campus with four of my best friends. Our street is filled with Loyola students and I never have to walk far to get to a friends apartment .

Q: Is college expensive?

A: Yes it is! All colleges are expensive, but Loyola does a good job of providing scholarships opportunities to students whenever they can. It may be expensive, but in the long-run you will have more money if you attend college than if you don’t.

 

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day

I spent this Valentine’s Day with a few of my best friends.  We called it “Galentine’s Day.” (Well, we actually got that from Amy Poehler on the funniest television show ever, Parks and Recreation)

We planned on making a bunch of creative desserts inspired by Pinterest, but we ended up being too lazy to attempt any of them.  Instead, we went to one of my favorite places in Chicago to eat: FoodLife! FoodLife is the greatest part of Water Tower Place.  When you enter, you get seated and get a little card that you could swipe at any of the food stands.  (You pay when you leave)  The food places range from Chinese, southern comfort food, Mexican, Italian, soups and salads, and much more. I always get the Mexican dishes…followed by some gelato of course!

After FoodLife we exchanged gifts (We went all out this year!).  I got some magazines and a ton of candy.  I had also received care packages from my parents, aunt, and grandma, so I am pretty set on candy for the rest of the semester! After that, we watched a few chick flicks. (cliche, I know)

It was a perfect Valentines Day: good food, friends, and chick flicks. Here’s a picture of some of the things my friends got me. 🙂