I’m “Accounting” on a Few Bumps in the Road

I’m not going to lie. I was a little scared when I signed up to take Principles of Accounting this semester as part of my requirement for the Office Assistant program. I’ve always considered myself the creative type, and I was worried this class would put me out of my comfort zone.

I felt pretty apprehensive the first day when I took my seat among the other students I had never met before. We sat at round tables in groups of four and introduced ourselves and talked about our career goals. Our instructor started off with the basics like assets and liabilities, and we discussed how these terms could be applied to things in our lives.

At the end of class we took a sort of progress test to see what we understood so far. I didn’t do so well. Fortunately, our instructor offered us extra help if we were struggling with any of the concepts. A few of us showed up early for class the following week and the instructor cleared up any confusion we had. I retook the progress test and got all the questions right this time.

Later, during class, we delved in a little deeper into some accounting concepts. When it came time to test what we knew, I got everything correct! I could not believe that I actually understood how to use the equation we learned that day.

My First Day of Fall 2012 Classes

My lunchtime view

I sat down in the cafeteria after my first class was over on Wednesday. Then I thought to myself, what am I doing here? The weather was beautiful outside, and I could see some tables through the window. So I grabbed my books and my lunch and headed outside. It was the best decision I made that day. It rejuvenated me so I was alert during my class that evening.

Since I go to class only two days during the week, I’ve got some pretty long days. I’m still deciding how I want to spend my time during the breaks in between classes. So far the plan is to spend some time outside while the weather is good. I’ll probably work on homework during that time as well, after giving my brain a little break.

Free refills!

While walking to my second class I was happy to see the new drinking fountain, also known as a “bubbler” in many parts of Wisconsin, was already installed. I’ve got some Aleutian bottles I like to bring with me to campus. This bubbler will make it easy to fill my bottle up on long days.

My tip this week: Take the opportunity to sit outside at the picnic tables on campus to eat lunch or do homework while the weather is still nice.

Welcome (Back) to MPTC!

The first thing I went to the first week of the fall semester wasn’t class, it was the Welcome Back Lunch featuring comedian Adam Ace. It felt a little strange to be “back to school” but not back to class yet. It was a pretty good way to ease into the fall 2012 semester.

I met up with a friend from Student Senate in the cafeteria for the show and free lunch. Adam Ace had a lot of variety in his show. He incorporated people from the audience, including our own student life advisor, into the show. He got him and a student to dance on stage in funny costumes.

My Annual Reoccurring Dream

Week in Review: A Reflection of August 13 – 19

It’s usually around this time of the year I have the same reoccurring dream. I wake up and it is late, really late. It’s so late that not only have I missed the start of class, I’ve missed the entire class. In some scenarios I’m not aware I was suppose to be in a class until the end of the semester. Yikes!

But none of these dreams have ever come true. In fact, it’s unlikely I would oversleep enough this semester to miss a class since the earliest class I have starts at 11 a.m. So far I have not had these reoccurring dreams this year.

The only thing I needed to worry about this past week was how I was going to spend the last weekend of summer before classes start. I would like to tell you that I had an action-packed weekend in some exotic place, but really, for the most part, I just relaxed at home. It’s what I wanted to do since everything is going to get really busy really soon.

I did, however, venture out and made it to the Milwaukee County Zoo. I didn’t have to go to a foreign country to see giraffes, elephants, or monkeys. It was a pretty good day to be outside. Even though we had dark clouds, lightning, and thunder, we didn’t have any rain.

The Busiest Week of Summer

Week in Review: A Reflection of August 6 – 12

Between helping out with Tech Knowledge College, going to the Wisconsin State Fair, and my sister’s bridal shower, I had one of the busiest weeks of all summer.

I had never heard of “TKC” until very recently. Tech Knowledge College is an event that Moraine Park’s Fond du Lac campus hosts every year. Middle school students get the opportunity to choose from a wide range of educational opportunities such as manufacturing yo-yos, engineering, auto tech, web design, and many other subjects. The students learning to cook put on a tea party on the last day, which I attended. They did an amazing job! The banquet table looked absolutely beautiful, and it was filled with all kinds of foods I had never tried.

TKC has been running for more than 20 years. It’s a shame I didn’t know about it when I was in middle school. The yo-yo class and the animation class would probably have been on the top of my list. I was never good with yo-yo tricks, but I sure did like them anyways.

Happy Birthday Harry

Week in Review:  A Reflection of July 30 – August 5

The Knight Bus makes a stop at my house

My friends and I have been reading and watching the Harry Potter series since grade school. We even performed a skit I wrote and directed about the Harry Potter characters at the local bookstore for one of the book releases. The absence of any new books or movies this year, and for the foreseeable future, had us feeling pretty down. So, we decided to have a Harry Potter movie marathon party a few days after Harry Potter’s birthday.

Pumpkin Pasties

There are eight movies, so it really was a full weekend. By watching all of the films back-to-back, we were able to appreciate the story of Harry Potter as a whole rather than as individual adventures.

To keep with the theme of the weekend we made a few Harry Potter related foods and beverages. Pumpkin pasties are made with sugar cookie dough and pumpkin pie filling. We made butterbeer using cream soda, vanilla ice cream, and butterscotch. The recipe we used said to put in actual butter, but I don’t recommend it.

A Fair Time for Rain

Week in Review: A Reflection of July 23 – 29 

It was like someone was turning a faucet on and off on Friday when I went to the Washington County Fair. I won’t complain about the rain, though, since we really needed it. Luckily, there are exhibits in the building so there’s a place to get away from the rain and have something fun to do. It’s my favorite part of the fair actually. I like looking at the photographs, furniture, and cakes that people make.

On Saturday my friends and I went to see a movie. We are trying to spend as much time as possible together, because everyone is going to be busy starting at the end of August. We’re trying to get together this coming weekend as well.

There is less than a month before my classes start at Moraine Park Technical College. I’m looking forward to new classes and seeing many classmates and clubmates I haven’t seen for a while. Since we compared schedules at the end of last semester, I know I’ll have a few classes with some of them.

If you’re a new or returning student, don’t forget to come to the Welcome Back events during the first week of classes. You can find out what’s going on and where by visiting my Events page or logging into your myMPTC account and clicking on the “Student Life” tab.