Review of my first semester schedule

My first semester so far at FSU has been, for the most part, a cakewalk.  My intended major is Finance, which is included in the school of business.  I brought over twelve credits from high school and a dual enrollment course (actually, today I had to call collegeboard to get them to send my AP scores because I forgot to over the summer), so coming into college I was a little ahead of the game.  Here is a review of the five classes I'm currently taking:


Business Calculus - This class is incredibly easy for me because I took calculus in high school, but I can imagine it being difficult for people that have never taken it.  The class moves fast - one section a day, with a quiz or test every Thursday.  At the moment I believe I have a B or a B+; the midterm was not friendly.


English Composition - My professor in this class is a graduate student named Michael Yoon, and I'm sure that's the only reason why I enjoy the class.  I've never been a big fan of English related courses, but this guy makes the class engaged in what's going on instead of boring us to death like the majority of my teachers in high school.  As far as the course goes, I have not had any problems completing my papers in a timely manner, and all of the topics are extremely easy to write about.  This course (ENC 1101) and ENC 1102 can both be passed by getting a 4 or 5 on the English AP exam.


Dinosaurs and Disasters -  Yes, this is a college course.  It counts as three science credits out of the seven I need.  I highly recommend this class to anyone that is looking for an easy A.  The professor, Dr. Wise, gives out a ton of extra credit.  So far, we've had two tests.  I got an 81 on the first and a 71 on the second, yet I still have a 93 overall due to the 40 or so extra credit points I've earned.  All of the homework assignments are worth two points extra credit if turned in on time, and are extremely simple.  Every day in class he'll also ask a few pop questions to be answered with an i-clicker which are worth one EC point each.  Going to class and doing the homework on time basically guarantee yourself an A in the class.


The other two classes I have are online courses.  Computer Apps for Business (CGS 2100) is the easiest business related course offered at Florida State.  There are four assignments to be completed using MS Word and Excel worth 100 points each, and two tests (midterm and final) worth 100 each.  The assignments are very easy - they only take a couple hours to finish, and you get 2-3 weeks to complete each one.


My last course is Multicultural Film Studies, which might be even easier than Dinos and Disasters.  Every week we are instructed to watch a movie (some so far have been The Princess Bride, The Other Guys, and Office Space) and write a few paragraphs about how it relates to the textbook.  Overall it's an interesting and easy course, and I once again recommend it to anyone.


-Cody

FSU Dining Halls: Suwannee and Fresh Food Co. Breakfast

As I said before, I am not particularly a fan of the dining halls food selection here at Florida State.  For this entry I'll give you the rundown on what I normally see at each dining hall for breakfast.


Suwannee's breakfast usually consists of biscuits, omelets, scrambled eggs, waffles, and tater tots.  Actually, to save myself the time of listing out the rest of the food options, here is this weeks menu for breakfast at Suwannee.

Mmm... the same thing every day.

There it is.  These might be appealing to the untrained eye, but there are disgusting characteristics in almost all of these foods.  The eggs are watery;  sometimes I end up with a puddle of egg juice on my plate, which is definitely not normal for scrambled eggs.  The omelets are made slower than anything else in the whole cafeteria - there are three machines at a rate of one omelet per couple of minutes.  If there are any more than nine people in the omelet line, you will be sitting down with your food by the time your friends have finished eating.  The tater tots are hard as a rock and absolutely loaded with salt.  

However, it is not all bad.  The biscuits and gravy (when put together, obviously) are better than every other food offered at both Fresh and Suwannee.  The drink machine looks like it's from the future, and is packed with one hundred and six different flavors.  The cereal has actually become a big hit for me and some of my friends; there are eight different types of cereal and rather large bowls compared to Fresh.  I'll get to that in a minute. 

Fresh Food has the same problem that Suwannee does regarding eggs, tater tots, and omelets, but from there it only gets worse.  The cereal bowls are ridiculously small - I could probably fit more cereal into my cupped hands. The pancakes are decent, but much like the omelets, they are made slowly and taken quick.  Here is the breakfast menu for this week at Fresh.

I guess they aren't open for breakfast on the weekends, but honestly I haven't been awake that early on a Saturday or Sunday to find out.  There isn't much left to say about the food.  The cinnamon rolls taste like they're covered in powdered sugar (which literally might be what they use), but like Suwannee, there is one good thing about it.  The waffles are stellar, but take time to make and usually have a hefty line behind the two machines.  Same goes for the omelets if I didn't mention that before.  

If you have some time on your hands, Fresh Food is probably the better option for breakfast.  If you need to eat quick and get to class, Suwannee fits perfectly with adequate cereal bowls and amazing biscuits and gravy.  However, it doesn't get too much more diverse than that, and for that reason, I don't enjoy eating at the dining halls for breakfast.

-Cody

FSU Gameday

Florida State football games are the most exciting thing about the weekend.  We went into this season as the fifth ranked team, but have since fallen out of the rankings after three losses to Oklahoma, Clemson, and Wake Forest.  The Oklahoma game was easily the most fun I've had all year, and possibly of all time at a sporting event.  Before each play in Oklahoma's possession, the entire stadium would go nuts so that the offense couldn't hear what was going on.  At one point we forced two false starts in a row, and my head literally began to hurt from yelling so much.  Unfortunately at the end, OU came out with the win after scoring ten points in the fourth quarter.  


Gameday is not all about the game though.  Before the game, the Marching Cheifs plays various songs for everyone to listen to while tailgating. 

Marching Chiefs

This is a picture taken from my friend's window in Wildwood Hall.  The band's practices and pre-game performances take place outside of Wildwood, so just by cracking the window we were able to listen to the Marching Chiefs play.


This past weekend we played against Maryland, and came out victorious with a final score of 41-16.  For those wondering, the student section seats are amazing.  The earlier you get there, the better seats you're going to get because it's first come, first serve. The line to the stadium opens two hours before the game, and once you get inside it's another ninety minutes until game time.  Really the only reason you would want to get there that early is to get great seats for a game like the Oklahoma game.  When we played them, we were ranked #5 and they were #1, so the seats filled up pretty fast. 


EJ Manuel played a great game this weekend along with the rest of the Seminoles.  Here are some pictures from my point of view.

Warm-ups.

Here come the 'Noles

Touchdown FSU!

It may be difficult to tell, but we scored on that play.  I also dropped my phone as I took that picture, so I'm surprised it came out as well as it did.

I highly suggest going to every football game.  There are only seven home games this year and I can't imagine missing any of them. I'll be sure to write about the FSU/UF game this November when we destroy them in Gainesville.  For now, that is all.  Go 'Noles!

-Cody

Special Events at FSU

There are a ton of special events on campus at Florida State, and since one of them was tonight, I figured I'd talk about the things I've seen and participated in so far.  Tonight was the dress-up Halloween party at the union, which included a variety of things to do like laser tag, dancing, and $1 breakfast.  The only thing I did was get cheap food, because nothing is better than cheap food when you're a college student.  I really wish I would have taken pictures, but basically the entire union was full of people in their costumes hanging out.  Think of it as a fair, but in the middle of the night, really cold, and full of kids wearing costumes.  You probably understand.


Other things I've seen/taken part in that don't happen very often:  $2 grand slams at Dennys, free coffee at Einsteins, game night in Degraff, and a lot of Halloween related things that would take up an entire page if I were to list them all out.  There are a lot of deals at the restaurants on campus, so it's smart to take advantage of these and save your money whenever possible.


I imagine in the future there will be more events like tonight for holidays and such, and I will be sure to get pictures the next time it happens so you can get a true feel for what it would be like.  It's 3 in the morning and it's gameday tomorrow, so I'm off to bed to rest up for a crazy day.


-Cody

Florida State University Intro/Meal Plans

Hello high school students, parents, and even current Florida State students.  This blog is going to cover every aspect of undergraduate life here at FSU, complete with pictures and details so that you know exactly what to expect if you decide to come here.  Right now I'm sitting in my dorm in Degraff hall on campus as a freshman --  I've been at school for about seven weeks now. I will basically be posting what happens in my life as well as many of the things that you should know about when considering which school to attend/send your child to.  


The first thing I want to talk about is the meal plans offered here.  When you get accepted to FSU, one of the major things to think about is how much you plan on eating every day.  One of the biggest influences on which one you decide to pick is your location on campus, because there are only two places to use your meal plan at:  Suwannee and Fresh Food.  As a student in Degraff, the walk to either of these places is around ten minutes and is generally out of the way.  For my first semester I have the unlimited meal plan, which was definitely a poor choice considering where I live.  Here are the food plan choices:

As you can see, these are all very expensive, and may not be ideal for everyone.  Personally, I think meal plans are not a good choice.  The food at Suwannee and Fresh is less than stellar (I'll get more into this another time) compared to places like Dennys, Chilis, and Pollo Tropical, all of which can be found on campus in the union.  A much smarter and less costly alternative to meal plans would be to give your son/daughter around $1000 for food each semester (or if you are a student and have to pay for your food, save your money and put $1000 off to the side) Other great restaurants that are within walking distance are Zaxbys, Jimmy Johns, Mo Mo's, and Mr. Robotos.


In the future I plan on covering everything I can think of that someone would want to know before getting here.  The gym, pool, nightlife, SLC (student life cinema), various classroom buildings, professors, dorm life, dining halls, library, etc.  Anything I can think of.  If you have any suggestions that you want an opinion on, leave a comment and I'll be sure to give you my feedback.


-Cody