Life

What is life? Does it have meaning to you? Does your life have meaning to you? What are you doing with your life?

Life as I see it! (An Engineering Student's perspective)

Growing up, I remember having to be forced to go to bed. I remember having to be forced to do chores, homework, and go to church. That was my life then; my life as a child. I remember being mischevious. I remember getting a whipping everyday for doing something bad. I remember cursing, going to church, fighting, disobeying; I remember it all. That was my life as a child. I know the character (me) above sounds bad. Nevertheless, I did what I was told whether I was forced to do it or not, whipped to get me to do it or not, or influenced to do it or not. Still, that was my life as a child.

Now I am older. Not much older but, old enough to view life from a different perspective. Life isn't something that should be taken for granted. We shouldn't have to be forced to do the things that benefit us.

As a student this is my life:

I wake up about eight a.m every morning to get ready for class. I go to school and attend class back to back (with exception of a lunch break) until approximately 4:30 p.m daily. Following, I head home and set myself to work in attempt to do the many (or few) difficult homework problems. This process sometimes continues until 6 a.m in the morning (meaning sleepless nights). During my homework time, off course I am distracted by food and the internet (two very good things but very distractive when not used wisely). Then there are the party times which although are very tiring, gives the oppurtunity to feel a little relaxed and to shake some stress out.

Here is how I view life:

Life is like an engineering problem (life = engineering problem). A book of problems is like a world of life (book = world). Out that book of problems, you can get to choose one (you get to choose your life). Sometimes the problem you choose is limited by the section you take it from but, a problem is a problem (sometimes your choice of life is limited) once you continue on to other sections, you may find an easier method to solve that problem. Keep in mind that some problems are much more difficult than others but, if you put time into it, analyze it, and set it up correctly, then it becomes very easy.

The Breakdown: (As thought by Dr. Donkoh)

Read the problem correctly and understand it. (know where you are in life and understand)

Draw a freebody diagram. (life can be so much easier if you see it the way it actually is)

Bring together necessary data and equations. (think of the way you would wish to live and what you need to do to get there)

Use these equations and solve. (you already know what you need to do, use this and make your life what it suppose to be)


To some of us, life has no meaning. However, life has meaning to me. Sometimes I wish I was not a living being but, I cheerish my life and the people who help make my life a blessing. Do you cheerish life? Are you making something out of your life? If not, you should start!!

START NOW!!!




*Not re-read and editing. Just typed and posted. Please forgive any errors. Thank you!

If I had the brain of my Professor

After a half of a semester has finished, most lecturers find it necessary to test their students to see how well they have been understanding the covered material thus far. Some students tend to understand quite well resulting in good midterm exam grades while on the other hand, other students tend to have not understood to well.

At this time, the students gets to choose. He or she gets to think! He asks himself, "Am I doing well enough to go on with this class?" She asks herself, "Can I pass this class with a grade like this?" If the answer is yes, the student will most likely continue to attend the class without withdrawing. However, those who have proven that they have not been doing so well will go to the business office, drop the class, and live with a W (standing for withdrawal) on their transcripts.

Now look what I am going to throw at you. Its a serious question. Can we blame students for failing midterm exams and accept them withdrawing or is it sometimes the lecturers fault? My answer is, it can be one or the other, or a combination of both. It can be found if researched upon that most students understand the course material and still fail the midterm exam. This is because either the lecturer may have set a difficult exam which covered material and/or knowledge that wasn't passed down to the students, or the students just refused to study. Come to think of it, I know lecturers who set exams completely different to that of the material that is covered in class. Then, their are those who know nothing, study hard, and at the end of the day, still do not know anything. My sympathy goes to them but, from what I have sometimes seen, they are the set who drop, still attend class, give it a try the next semester, pass, and move on. I encourage students to try over and over again.

Ok! Let's upgrade your life. Pretend you are me for a moment. You were up all last night doing homework and now its 9:45 a.m and you are in your class at Dalhousie Univeristy falling asleep. Then, you here your little grey-haired lecturer say in his low voice, "Don't bother to study for your midterm because you would not pass anyway." What would you do? Become fully awake raise your hand and ask him to repeat what he just said, or return your eyes to the closed position and try to dream like you thought you were doing a moment ago? Well, lots of hands went up. Questions like "Why the hell are we taking a midterm then?" "Why won't you just give us a F and not allow us to waste time?" were asked. The questions were ignored and he followed by saying, "You are allowed one sheet of cheat notes on both sides of the sheet, and you can put on it whatever you want."

Can you believe I spent a week reading and writing cheat notes as fine as I can on my cheat sheet and when exam time came I sat there with all the information I needed and still could of not figure out what I was supposed to do. However, I didn't feel too bad though as the majority of the class got 33.3 % with the leading grade being 45%. With such low grades, different lecturers of the department were asked to do the questions since they can be interpreted in many ways and the exams will be remarked according to the answers and solutions that other lecturers may have came up with.

Do you think you could have passed that test? I think I could have IF I HAD THE BRAIN OF MY PROFESSOR!

Thanks for reading,
Kenwood Carwtright



*This has been written without re-reading or editing. Please do forgive if there exists anyy errors.

How to Dance in The Bahamas! (Bahamian & Bermudian Way)

Well, being from the Caribbean, a dancehall and reggae type of culture exist in all of us! When our type of music is played, we tend to get a little carried away. Perhaps our gentleman and lady-like personalities goes away for a while and our wild side tends to show. Such is the case with most of us!!

Well, atleast we get wild and dance which is far better than murdering or raping some one. Above is a video which was filmed by me at a surprise party in Canada at Dalhousie's residence for Jonathon (a bahamian student). Take a look of how we join with one another and perhaps have a little fun.

Below is a beautiful way to end. It is a dance by 3 Bermudian girls along with one Bahamian girl! Can you tell which one is The Bahamian. lol. Try your luck!

Remember we are here to learn, but its the fun that makes the learning a success! Sit back, relax, laugh, and enjoy.

Thank you!!

How NOT to Dance in The Bahamas

A night with nothing to do, I decided to chill with Brandon and some of his friends. We all ate Chineese and then looked for a place to go dancing. The first place we tried was dead empty. They were so empty I couldn't even laugh but I just had to laugh!! Why? Because they had a CD in the DJ's music set that was recorded with a huge crowd of people making noise to make people think that there was a full house. However, for us that just was not going to do it.

We then decided to try this club called Pacifico. It was the cleanest most decorative club I ever stepped foot into. The whole club seem to be V.I.P or atleast thats how I felt when I stepped in. We all had a few drinks and went into the V.I.P section of the club as we waited for the party to get started.

Little by little the dance floor became filled. The dance moves were unbelievable. They were definitely dance moves I WOULD NOT DO. On the dance floor, instead of dance, I pratically laughed all night. View my video and you would see what I mean. It displays very obviously HOW NOT TO DANCE IN THE BAHAMAS.

Brandon don't worry, we'll just assume that your a African Canadian inside of the video so that you can be excepted.

Dance on Bahamas but do not, I repeat DO NOT do it the way you see it done in my video.

Sincerely,

Kenwood!

I am Caribbean! I am Bahamian!

Video : Kyle immitating a member of Dalhousie's Caribbean Society
(A game we were playing)

Going places for extended period of times can sometimes be wierd and uncomfortable. Sometimes, you have no idea where to go or what to do. Therefore, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourselves with your new enviroment or be a friend of someone who knows about this new strange enviroment.

My first week in Halifax, I found myself lost just about everyday! Passing my corner, following wrong directions, and acting tourist like all contributed to me being lost. Eventually, I came in contact with one of my old C.O.B friends and who happens to be enrolled in three of the same classes as me. Through him, I was taught a few things like where to eat, and what buses to catch. Also, he introduced me to other Bahamian students. Now i barely get lost! Why? Because I know people who can help me with what I need and directions to where I want to go.

Later on down the line, I joind the Dalhousie's Caribbean Connection where a group of Caribbean students (mostly Bahamians) meet as a group and discuss upcoming events and play games. Some of these events included Caibanza which is a formal dinner show, a ski day where we will go sking and so on.

This is just to say that no Bahamian should settle for being lost. We are similiar to Hiatians and Chineese. (We are almost everywhere) Therefore, find your brother, find your sister!! Mix, mingle, and help eachother out!

Peace

Kenwood!

Exchange for Improvement

The College/University of The Bahamas has made a great decision when they decided to initiate the process of sending students to study abroad. Not only does a process like this provide students with the oppurtunity to experience learning in a different way and different culture but, also provides students a chance to come back home and express their views on how The College/University of The Bahamas can be improved.

Here I am, a 19 year old student blessed to be studying in Canada at Dalhousie University at this time for four cold snow filled months thanks to Mr. Russell, Dr. Davis, and their lovely staff. To my surprise, Dalhousie University is not much a difference from The University of The Bahamas with the distinct exception that they cater to a large number and variety of students from near and far. In addition, I must compliment the Maths department of The College/University of The Bahamas. Our Math Classes in The Bahamas can be compared hand in hand with those here at Dal. (Inside joke : My math lecturer at Dal likes to say "straight line" however, my old math lecturer at C.O.B would say "don't be silly, all lines are straight")

Well Bahamas, we are on our final stages of transforming our College to a University. Therefore, we must quickly work together to give our views on the things that can be done to make it a first last learning facility.
Here are mines:
1. A bus system! (C.O.B should work out an agreement with the public bus system to allow those with current C.O.B I.Ds to catch the bus for free or at a much lower price)

2. A cafeteria! (There should be a cafeteria on all campuses that have a variety of foods. Students should be allowed to purchase meals daily or purchase a semesterly meal plan)

3. Evaluate lecturers! (Eventhough students evaluate lecturers near the end of every semester, every now and again, another lecturer should be made to sit into another lecturer's class and evaluate the way they lecturer and get the class to understand. This will help to get maximum performance from the lecturer)

4. More computers! (C.O.B definitely needs more computers. Computer lines get very long during times near midterm and the end of semester)

5. Wireless Internet! (If C.O.B provided wireless internet, it would reduce the student load that occupy the computers. It is factual that many students using the computer labs are only doing research or searching through hi5 or facebook. If wireless is provided, they can do this from anywhere around campus on their laptops)

6. Take risks! (I think C.O.B is scary. Its scared of loosing money so it doesn't want to take the risk of running classes every semester. However, my opinion is that if classes are often more frequently, more persons would be encouraged to attend instead of going international)

Those are some of my view points. There is no such thing as perfect or too good. As a result, there will always be room for improvemt. Do your part and suggest your views of how our University can be improved. It helped to educate you and it help to educate me, now its our time to give back!

Keep up the good works C.O.B and we together will succeed!

Truly,
Kenwood M. Cartwright

Snow Down!!

Here it goes!! From The 78 degress in Nassau to 30 degrees in New Wack to -12 degrees in Halifax!! ATleast there was a transition; from a high temp to a med temp to a way too low temp! It could have been worse like from 78 degrees straight to -12 degrees!!

Here I am! Done with immigration waiting to catch my first Canadian bus which I have no idea where it was going! But hey, "ya can't be scared!!" I caught it anyhow!! Why?? Because it was 18 dollars and the taxi was 60 dollars!! lol Well I caught the bus to the Lord Nelson and caught a cab to my housing place called Fenwick Towers. Fenwick happens to be the tallest building in Halifax and has 33 floors!! Guess which floor im on! Yes you are right! The absolute 33rd. Eventhough my elevator ride is 5 minutes and the building feels like it dances in the small snow storms, its pretty cool! I share the 33rd floor with Jill (who is in charge of this entire floor), 2 french girls who finds it hard to understand what I am saying, and a german who i know nothing about. They are all exchange students.
Some nights we along with the exchange students on the 32nd floor who are from norway, the netherlands, mexico, argentina, and austrilia go to dinner and do activities together. We have lots of jokes laughin at the way eachother and talks and laughing at the things we all do in our different countries. We all share 2 kitchens and 3 bathrooms between the 33rd n 32nd floor! Surprisingly, they are always clean!!

Now, everyone has been asking me about the snow!!
"Well snow down snow down snow down!!" lol they are the words of my co-exchange students. Most of us our seeing snow for the first time, others are just seeing it more than normal. Today on my way to class, there was lots of snow and lots of wind!! Myself along with two other students were picked up of the ground and thrown about 4 feet from our orginally positions by the wind!! So its dangerous but its fun! The key is to be careful! I've been lost approximately 4 times, therefore I knida almost know where everything is now by mistake but, its beneficial! The classes our huge which means you get less attention and the books are around the same prices as COB.

Nevertheless, I am here in Halifax now and I am not complaining. I'm just waiting on book money and a meal plan! Follow along so that I can continue to share my experience with you!!