It can be stressful the first couple of days when you are trying to figure everything out but here is a little cheat sheet to help you make it through…

Logging in to your computer:

a)  firstname.lastname

Example: john.smith

b) Username: Lastname and last 4 digits of student ID#

Example:  Smith1234

Logging into student webmail:  (A link on the right side of the Hill College home page under additional links)

a)  Hit the “student webmail” link after logging onto the home page, and follow the step-by-step instructions that are on this page  

b)  If you are having any trouble logging into your e-mail, click the e-mail administrative key and write a quick summary of the problem you are having, and it will be fixed as soon as possible.

BLACKBOARD: (Click icon located on the Home Page right below the featured picture)

a)  This site is for the communication between you and your instructor. Many times, a student will try to send an e-mail via Blackboard, and they get no response. UNLESS the instructor says use the Blackboard e-mail, DO NOT use it. This will save you a lot of time when trying to communicate with an instructor.

b)  Logging in: Hit the Blackboard 9 key/link, and follow the instructions given to you on how to log-on. Just follow the steps…it is not as hard as it looks.

c)  When on the Blackboard site, it will list the courses for which you are enrolled. The icon on the right top of each section will allow you to personalize what you would like to see after logging in.

c)  ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THIS ONCE A DAY OR EVERY OTHER DAY, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE AN ONLINE STUDENT, FOR NEW ASSIGNMENTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS YOUR INSTRUCTORS MAY HAVE.

d)  Blackboard is where you, as a student, begin when it comes to finding your introduction to an instructor, syllabus, announcements, discussion boards, quizzes and homework assignments (some instructors do not use this area, but will tell you in their introduction).  

CAMPUS CONNECT: (Located on the Home Page next to Blackboard)

a)  This area is for your personal information such as transcripts information, mid-term grades, choosing your classes for the following semester, mini-mester, or 1^st and 2^nd  eight weeks. This will also let you know about your financial aid, loans and payments that you have coming or have made.

b)  This area will also help you with your degree plan and auditing the classes you need.

c)   Logging in:              

Student ID#

Date of birth backward

Example:  Student ID#  123456789

                DOB  19981003  (use no slashes in between)

These are just a few pointers to help you get situated for the semester. If you as a student or future student have any questions, please feel free to contact me — Kathleen Oellig — at (254) 659-7782, and I will help you or forward you to someone who can.

Some of us, when starting school, are locked in on a target we are headed for, and nothing will stand in our way. Others, however, the choice doesn’t come so easily. All of us, as children, dreamed of becoming doctors, lawyers, teachers, farmers and other things, but reaching deep within yourself and finding something that you enjoy or something you have a gift in might take longer to realize.

When we, as students, are trying to figure out “what we want to be when we grow up,” it can be very frustrating at times when we know we want to accomplish something but have no idea what it is. So this is what I suggest…choose “Liberal Arts” as a degree. That way, at least you are getting all of your basics out of the way, and mid-way through, if the light bulb goes off, you will have some of the small stuff out of the way. Finding a pathway in life is not the easiest task, and for some of us, it takes longer (it did not happen to me until I was 45)!

Hill College counselors can help guide you through the different degree plans offered and help you with the choices of classes and schedules, but it is YOU who has the make the ultimate and final decisions for your pathway to your future. I would like to make one suggestion, though, especially if you are a non-traditional student—have patience, and DO NOT get discouraged! College can be hard, but the possibilities are ENDLESS!!!!!

When the holiday season comes around everyone always says how quickly it has come upon us, it seems like it was just yesterday we were celebrating the 4^th of July. Many students are anxious to go home and be with family, and the employees enjoy the time off, but for a lot of us, it will be a time of working hard in the kitchen for the yearly family gathering.

Whether it be turkey or ham or both, we all eat way too much. You know the story, we get to the house where the celebrating begins, and all the kids are screaming and crying. Everyone hugs and kisses and spreads the wonderful bacteria of the cold and flu season. The women are in the kitchen doing their gossiping and getting everything put on the table while the men are watching football and yelling at the television and are arguing amongst each other on who’s the better player and the kids are acting like just ate a ton of sugar and are jumping around like they have never been disciplined (but it’s okay…they can act like that—it’s just family).

But after dinner, it is a totally different story! Everyone finds a spot around the TV to watch “Home Alone”, and you would think that nitrous oxide had been put through the vents. The tone of everyone’s voices has completely changed, and it’s naptime!

The family gatherings are fun, especially for those of us whose family are just a tad dysfunctional and odd. When families get together, especially large ones, there will always be some kind of drama. Someone is not doing something they were suppose to be doing in life, or did you hear about Aunt Mary? These are issues that are brought to the Thanksgiving dinner table every year. Our families are just that…OURS…and no matter how much screaming, crying or gossiping is done, I wouldn’t exchange them for anything! So this Thanksgiving, take 20 minutes out of your gathering and look around and say to yourself, Yes, I am truly BLESSED!!!!!

As I walk around campus today, I see people dressed up as witches (good and bad), goblins, Elvira, Spiderman and Snow White. All the different costumes bring smiles to people’s faces and make for a good conversation piece! The people that have mostly celebrated is the staff, but I am sure the students have BIG plans for tonight…or they celebrated over the weekend. The baseball team will be out in force this afternoon, for sure!

Remember when we (the older generation on campus) were little, dressing up was being a Gypsy, a hippie, G.I. Joe, and then when my kids were little, it was dressing up like Barney, the guy from the movie Scream, Jason, or Freddie. I have noticed these days a lot of costumes are becoming a lot more complex and expensive with the make-up and costumes. However, some costumes will always be around like those Gypsies or hippies because these you can pretty much put together easily, with no extra expense.

Halloween is one celebration that does not age discriminate. No matter how old a person is, for one afternoon or evening, they can act like and look like a kid again…and it really doesn’t matter! When the early evening arrives, though, it is nice to see the children walking around with their parents or family, scurrying up to the neighbors who are sitting outside or “watching them tell their tricks for their treats.”

So no matter what time or where you celebrate this Halloween, please be safe and enjoy a laugh or two with family and friends!

(Above: The Hill College Marketing/Public Relations team, dressed up this morning.)

STAYING FOCUSED IN CLASS

We have all been in classrooms that for one reason or another cannot seem to hold our attention. For those reasons, here are a couple of ideas on how to stay focused in class.

• Get plenty of rest! A person cannot retain as much in their brain if they are only sleeping 2-4 hours a night. Try to save the late nights for the weekend…which is Friday and Saturday…that does not include Thursday or Sunday. Arrange it to where you are getting at least 6-8 good hours of sleep each night.
• Eat a healthy breakfast before your first class…this does not include a five-hour energy drink and a donut. Try orange juice with a bowl of cereal (YES, OATMEAL IS THE BEST BREAKFAST CEREAL) and a piece of toast.
• Appreciate your time here at college! For those who do not have to work their way through school, this will be the time when you are least responsible in life! If you learn how to focus and set goals for yourself now, this will help you begin your life after college.
• Always be respectful to your teachers, this means NO texting in class and NO falling asleep. The classroom is also not the playground…you are not in high school or grade school anymore. Your teachers are there to teach YOU, and you are there to learn what they are teaching.
• If you are having trouble with the class and you do not understand it, after class ask the teacher if you could meet with him/her. DO NOT WAIT TO THE LAST MINUTE OR A WEEK BEFORE FINALS…THIS WILL HURT YOUR GRADE.
• Try to make at least one friend in each class so you can have someone to talk to about what you learned, and it helps to not make the class as “boring.”
• If a teacher lectures, make sure you take notes. This is very important for tests and surprise quizzes! A person will retain more by writing it down, and it gives your body movement during the lecture to help you be more focused.

These are just a few suggestions to help you stay focused. We are almost halfway through this semester already…hope everyone is having fun and doing a great job!

CONSIGNMENT SHOPPING (and selling)…A LEARNING ADVENTURE 

Many students do not have a lot of money after tuition, buying books and beginning their new college life, so I have a suggestion about saving money on buying clothes…find slightly used, and even never worn clothes with the original store’s price tags still attached, at your local consignment shop! Buying a pair of jeans that are in style (which many consignment stores only buy up-to-date clothing) for $15 instead of $70 is a great advantage for anyone.

Along with having a day of shopping, you get an opportunity to learn how to stretch the money you have. Buying consignment or even sales items from a retail store means you purchase two or three times the amount you would buying straight retail. Always check the clearance items first before purchasing a full-priced item. This will leave you with plenty of cash for the extra necessities.

Here is one idea on how to make a little extra money. Cleaning out your closets is never fun, but have you ever thought that you could make money from the clothes you normally either donate or just throw away? I am detailing some instructions you can follow, for making some extra holiday money.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Check your local phone book’s yellow pages or search the web for consignment shops near you. There are a number of shops in the Waco area.
2. Go into the store as a customer first and look around at the cleanliness and the prices to see if the store’s prices are too high because you may end up with items that don’t sell.
3. Talk to the employees about their rules of buying and selling, ask what they are looking for (designers, styles) and how long they keep your items to sell. Make sure you totally understand their policy.
4. Gather up your clothing making sure they are in season, in style and in good shape. Normally, washed, pressed and stain-free items, are what stores are looking for.
5. Keep a record of what you consign so you are compensated for the items that are left.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

And if you are just looking for an afternoon to get out, ladies, you can still grab your friends and have an afternoon of shopping. So hop in the car, grab some friends and take a trip to Waco!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!!

“It takes 37 muscles to frown and 22 muscles to smile”

There are so many different theories of how many muscles it takes…I just used this one as an example. We have all had a morning when everything has gone wrong, from spilling the coffee on that nice ironed shirt to having a flat tire on the way to work. Our mood is what sets our day on how we feel and act toward others.

When something goes wrong, as sometimes they will, stop and take a deep breath and think: “There is someone who is doing much worse than I am today…time to think about the positive.”

For example, just holding the door for someone or stopping and saying, “Hello” or “Good Morning “could totally change someone’s mood for the day. So the next time you pass someone in the hall or on campus that looks like they need help…smile…and offer your help. You really might brighten their day!

HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK 

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed the much-needed rain we got last night. Along with everyone’s work/class schedule, Hill College has a lot of wonderful things going on around campus this week…please feel free to take part!

• Guns and Hoses softball game today at 3:30 p.m. (they are asking for a donation of water and clothing to help wildfire victims)
• UCF Free Lunch on Monday
• BSC Free Lunch on Wednesday
• SGA Blood Drive @ the PAC 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Thursday
• The computer lab is open M-Th til 9 p.m. – thanks to Joan West for the update
• Thurs., Sept. 22^nd @ 7:30 p.m., in the PAC, will be the Baylor Jazz Ensemble

When Nikki Wilmoth, the marketing and public relations director for Hill, approached me about blogging, I thought to myself: “What is blogging?” So what did I do? I googled it, as does everyone these days when it comes to finding the meaning of, or examples of something. And what did I find? More than 160 million examples, meanings and whatever else they could throw in for the word blog!!! Seriously though, the meaning of blogging is an article usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events or other material such as graphics or video.

I will post a blog on here weekly about different things going on around campus, and addressing other topics throughout the semester. If there is a topic you would like to hear about, I am totally open for suggestions. Please feel free to e-mail me at koellig@hillcollege.edu or call me at (254) 679-7782.

So for my first blog, I just wanted to introduce myself and make everyone feel at home here on the Hill College Campus because I know the first couple of weeks of college can be a bit stressful for everyone. Do not ever feel you cannot ask a question because there is always someone who can help. If you would like to stop by the Welcome Center and ask any questions, I will be glad to help out, or at least direct you to someone who can answer the questions you have.

My flight is delayed until 1 p.m. so I have some time to kill.  My Miami connection does not leave for Dallas until 9 p.m. (Ecuador is on Central time, just like us!).  The Ecuadorian lady in front of me in line, Ruth, has a daughter studying cinema at U of New Orleans.  She is going to look at a grad school in Florida with her.  She has work to do and is able to leave the airport in the interim.  My choice is to re-enter Ecuador (another passport stamp), have a cup of coffee and use the wifi in the airport.

Thank you for sharing this trip with me, blogueadores.  For those that read this and met me in Ecuador, I wish you all the very best and hope to see you sometime soon again.  If you have any questions, thoughts or interesting stories about Ecuador or your travels, please feel free to share them (use your discretion ☺).

Muchos saludos,

Drew (Andrés)

The Canadians bolt toward the back of the bus having found seats.  Because the bus was ready to leave and there were open seats in the front, it becomes an option for me to call them back.  Natacha is happy because she has a front row seat for “Zorro”, with Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones.  As we go, the attendant hands plastic stools to those passengers in the aisle that join along the way.  .  A beautiful indigenous woman wearing a white, traditional dress (vestido) said the stool was too low.  Sometimes you feel like you had better give her your seat, or feel real guilty.  Soon, they found her a seat immediately next to the driver (conductor).

A little girl (una niña) sits down in the aisle next to Natacha.  She only speaks Quichua and is traveling alone.  This girl was no more than 8 years old!  She enjoyed Natacha’s Chex Mix snack, as did we all.

We arrive to Estación Carcelén in the north of the city at about 8 pm, sábado el 23 de julio.  We are 2 busses and about an hour away from home.  After 6 pm the taxi drivers don’t use “el taxímetro”, the machine that counts your time and gives you a “fair” fare (ja ja).  Eric and I wanted to take a taxi from Carcelén (not thinking about the price) but Natacha stood firm for the bus and probably saved us 15 bucks!   It cost 50 cents each and there was no transfer fee.  Elena actually put dinner (cena) together for us when we arrived home.

Volcán Pichincha (Símbolo de Quito)– domingo, 24 de Julio

Pichincha is the volcano that overlooks Quito.  The city has constructed a “teleférico” ,an  enclosed “ski lift” for about 6 people that takes you much of the way up the mountain.  Exiting the teleférico there is a restaurant, a shop (una tienda) and a medical facility (un médico).  It is nice for many to view the city from there, but many also take the trail to one of the peaks of Pichincha.  The sign says “Welcome”.

Eric and I told ourselves that we would turn back at 4 pm.  At 4:25, we decide to turn around and rendezvous with Natacha.  If we pushed another 15 minutes or so we would arrive.  No biggie.  It was a great walk.  Eric returned during the next 2 days to the peak.  He is training to climb Cotopaxi,  http://www.summitpost.org/cotopaxi/150311 , for which he will set out at 1 am.  His wife, who also teaches snowboarding, is training to enjoy a hot tub and a half day on a horse.

lunes, 25 de julio

Today, Paco is taking Paula to her home.  Paula is from Quito, has lived around the world and has been transitioning back to Quito through Paco’s home.  She is a very good source if travelling to Indonesia.  Planning to open only the second German restaurant (with her German guy) in the city of Quito, they are both trained in engineering and have a plan to brew beer on the spot.  Her boyfriend arrives very soon from Germany to be with her and advance their dream.  It is his first time in Ecuador.

While Eric climbs Pichincha again Natacha and I tag along with Paco and Paula.  After we meet Paula’s mom (mamá)  and niece (sobrina) the crying begins.  Mamá did not expect her daughter, and here she is.  Mom begins crying, hugging, hugging me, hugging all.  Natacha starts crying (again), laughing (more).

Paco drops us off at Parque  La Carolina.  Having seen many photos and online suggestions about this park, Paco followed it up with a recommendation of his own.  Las orquídeas, he said.  Paco is an artist.  He moved here from Otavalo 30 years ago, so he knows.  Just so happens, this day las orquídeas were not blooming.  There were other pretty flowers and there was a children’s area.  Entry ($3.50) to the “jardín botánico” was 2 x 1 through agosto.  Natacha’s Spanish is improving and she enjoys practicing!

martes, el 26 de julio

Quito market – On my last day I decided to add to the few recuerdos (souveneirs/memories) I had gotten in Otavalo.  Elena tells me exactly how to get to a mercado de artesanías (dirección: Juan León Vera y Jorge Washington).  I don’t know what it is called but it is in La Mariscal area, not far from Parque La Carolina.  One bus takes me from my house (bus stop 7 doors down) to one block from the market – 25 cents.

Before leaving the house, Clemente, a visitor from France by way of Philly for 2 years, tells me he is going to “Mitad del mundo”, the place close to Quito that represents Ecuador’s location at 0.0 degrees latitude.  The Quebecers say that there is a museum very close that is worth the trip (vale la pena), but that “Mitad” itself is kind of overblown.  In one of my textbooks, a group of “students” tour Ecuador.  I recall seeing one of them standing on one leg right on the 0 latitude line.

Clemente is a very cool guy.  A Biologist who lived in Barcelona for about 3 years, he speaks Spanish very well (but not Catalan), and English, too.  He respects the idea of speaking a common language among foreigners.  I told Clemente that if I could get everything done by noon or so, I would take a bus out there.  Paco drives him there and later to the airport.  I would grab a ride back with Paco.

Well, it didn’t happen.  I get to the market and have to give it all the once-over before making any decisions.  This is a great market for somebody like me to practice not just speaking, but bargaining (regatear),seeing how people interact with each other moreso than with me.  A person wearing a Michigan State sweatshirt catches my eye.  We talk for a couple minutes.   I went to Central (Fire Up Chippewas!).

Outside the Mercado, I look ahead and see the lady that was on top of Fuya Fuya at the same time as Eric and me.  She is with her family that is walking away from me.  I acknowledge her, this time without the rain gear and bright fuscia hat (tuque in Canadian).  In the 2 seconds during which she heard me, saw me and continued on, I don’t think she recognized me.  I almost wanted to catch up to them and chat, but no.

FYI:   I never had any problem with petty theft or pickpocketing whatsoever when surrounded by many people on the street or in the market.  A taxi driver gave me change using a counterfeit $10 bill.  He may have been ignorant, I expect he knew simply because counterfeit $5 and $10 are a concern down there.