Better than my imagination .

Let me start off by saying that Howard was the only school i ever wanted to attend. When my acceptance letter came i was immediately ecstatic and started trying to imagine how wonderful my freshman experience was going to be . I had no idea that the reality would be so much better than my imagination.


My freshman week here at Howard was an interesting time. All my life i have heard that it is so easy to get distracted in college , but i never imagined how easy it really was. Between all of the events and parties that took place , it was hard to set aside time for essential issues like buying your books , or taking a trip to the financial aid office. However, once time management skills were acquired , freshman week was one of the most exciting weeks of my life. Everyone i met was so friendly , welcoming , and helpful.  I learned a couple of key things in my short time here to help me be more efficient on campus. Such as, there is no need to take the metro to target , when the shuttle takes you for free. The other would be to NEVER catch a group shuttle bus at night to an event , ever. Other than those lessons , freshman week was one of the best experiences of my life , so far.

I'm excited about all of my classes this semester , even though they will prove to be challenging , the reward of succeeding will be worth it. When i found out i was reacquired to take freshman seminar , i was nonchalant about it , assuming it was an easy A. Then i heard rumors that it was a dumb , pointless class , and it was going to be a waste of my time. Needless to say , i was very unenthused about reporting to class. After sitting through the first session , i honestly cannot say if they were right or wrong , because it was only the first day. What i can say is that i am going to go to each session , with a learners mentality and be open to what each speaker has to say. I think i am going to learn things about African American history as well as Howard 's own history that i would have otherwise been uninformed about.


With freshman week behind me and alot of work ahead of me , i can still say that i am ecstatic about being at Howard , and taking advantage of all the great oppertunities the university has to offer .

My Life at Howard University so Far

It’s been two weeks since I arrived at Howard University. My experience so far at the university has been exciting, intimidating, and even discouraging at times. I have gone through many changes within my short period of time here.

Freshman week was enjoyable for the most part. I didn’t party too much, but I met a lot of people, so that was cool. By the end of the week I was ready for classes to begin. My first week of classes at HU felt like the beginning of a whole new academic life. There’s people everywhere who seem more intelligent and advanced in many areas than myself. Meeting people from all over the country has really been an eye opening experience. I feel like I barley made it into HU, so I already have catching up to do academically in my mind. Though things seem intimidating, I feel that if I apply myself I can do well in my academics. The classes seem challenging, but not so much that I won't be able to handle them.

The social aspect of school is going to take some getting used to. I’m used to having the luxury of being able to do what I want whenever I want within reason back home. This has changed though now that I’m sharing a room and living space with other people besides my parents. One aspect of my life that has been hit hard is my music producing career. Finding time to make music has been difficult because of the university’s many distractions. I try to be aware of others, and respect them and their actions, but this interferes with what I’d like to do sometimes. I know I’ll eventually find time to continue it, but not being able to make music when I want is discouraging, and hurtful financially somewhat.

I can’t really say that I’m too excited about freshman seminar just yet. The lineup of seminars seem like they could possibly be interesting, but I won’t really be able to make any judgments until after I’ve experienced them. The class as a whole seems like it will help me assimilate to college life, and provide information on the history of Howard. I hope the class gives me a sense of pride and understanding about what it really means to be a Howard Bison.

Jael's post: Overwhelmed but Proud

To start off, I am actually very proud of myself due to this week. As I am music major, most of my courses are in music, which are each very demanding. I took a placement test in music theory and placed out of fundamentals (hooray!), I earned a 95% and higher on sight singing drills in my elementary sight singing class, and I auditioned for and was placed in a jazz choir. Though one might say it is a little early in the game to feel accomplished I reserve the right anyway. But this is not to say that these tests and auditions were a breeze, I worked my butt off every single second. When preparing for my audition the people on the metro must have thought I was crazy because I kept singing the same song over and over again, and they must have thought worse this morning because I was preparing for a quiz what would require me to conduct and vocalize rhythm at the same time.

This week set the pace for the rest of the year. I am going to have to sit down and actually invent a study schedule for myself. I now understand why my mother said I should not work this year even though money is tight. To be succesful I need to dedicate atleast a hour every day to each of the three instruments that I play, I need to constantly refresh myself on theory, and my English teacher recommends that I study six hours a week for her class. This weekend I plan to take all my notes and reorganize them to keep things simple.

I am a little excited about freshman seminar. It seems like a good place to listen to and get involved in an educated discussion/debate. I want to change the world and therefore I pride knowing what everyone else is thinking. However, I am slightly concerned about the level of afrocentricity that may be presented in the class. Though I understand that Howard University is a HBCU, I feel that afrocentrism can be just as dangerous as we have seen eurocentrism become. I fear that it may limit students understanding of the human experience to just the afro-experience or information may be misrepresented in favor of African Americans. But I have not been in the class long enough to analyze whether my concern would even be a problem.

Thank you, and I can not wait until next class.

Becoming a Bison

Today marks two weeks that I haave been at Howard University. Although two weeks may seem like a short period of time, I feel as though I have gotten so much done and have gone through many changes. These changes include leaving nehind my nieces and sisters, going from having my own room to sharing a room with two others, and having to buy five hundred dollars worth of books, rather than have them handed to you in the beginning of the year and collected at the end.
For the most part, Freshman Week at Howard was what I expected that it would be. This would be the week that I would meet the people that I would end up spending most of my time with, the week that I would find out that not every night of "going out" would be a success, and the week I would get the run around with Howard University administration. Freshman week was a blast but it had to come to an end and inevitably, school was back. As I assumed, the first week of classes simply consisted of the overview of syllabuses, introductions, and getting to know the professors. Classes like Spanish, Freshman composition, and Intro to Sociology and Psychology were straightforward to me, in terms of what to expect. However, there was one class that I had no idea what would be expected of me. That was Freshman Seminar. Would it be about planning out your future at Howard? Would it be about how to avoid the Freshman 15? Or maybe about resisting the pressures of drugs and alcohol. Boy was I wrong! Freshman Seminar turned out to be a class that instructs on who and what made Howard University the school that it is today and how to continue the legacy.
From Wednesday's lecture, I expect that Freshman Seminar will give me the basis I need to be proud to say that I am a Howard University student. I am looking forward to learning more about the history of the school and of African Americans themselves. Freshman Seminar will overlap on some of the concepts that I am learning in my Black Diaspora class and will therefore deepen my understanding and better prepare me for my experience at a historically black university. I hope that this class will provide me with the pride, integrity and knowledge of being a Bison.