First College week

I was able to live through my very first week in College and it actually wasn't too bad even thought I have always a lot to do.
Well to start out with Monday my first school day and also the most relaxing one that I probably will have. I got in the morning at 9:00 to my first class which was French. It was an easy and short class. Our teacher introduced herself, gave us the Syllabus and explained it to us and then released us from class. It was very nice :)
After that I went over to Matthew Hall to go to my first Programming class which I was really exited about. I wondered already on my way over there what we are going to do in this class.
I worked pretty much my whole life with computers, ok actually starting when I was 6 years old. That's when my father gave me an old Computer that his Company was about to throw away. It was really and VERY old model. It was one of those Computers that was still running completely on MS-Dos and did not have Windows yet. No CD and well yes it had one for a little 3.5 disk but threr was also one spot for a I think it was a 9" disk....
Well so I arrived at my Programming class sat down and waited for the teacher to come. Unfortunatly he came late but that didn't really matter.
Well he introduced himself and also just handed out the syllabus and then let us leave. I went to my next class which was right next door didn't take place since my teacher there was already on his first day sick. It was kind of my lucky day^^

I went to the picnic and met there some friends and had lunch with them which was quite funny.
I won't go into detail there if the persons I was with are reading this then they'll understand right Katie?^^
Well after that mhh... I don't quite remember I think I went to my dorm and organized there some things.

Well Thusday I got up in the morning and at 9:30 I was at my Accounting class. now here it comes. We got on our first Accounting class a 25 page reading for Thursday and answer a sheet with 62 questions on it which was not required but required. She started already teaching on Thusday meaning already in the first of here classes...
After that I went to my first english class which was quite interesting. I got really excited when I heared that we are going to have like a disscussion class in there.

On WednesdayI had my first honors forum class. I came into that class without knowing anything about it. I tried to get some information from other students about it but well I got pretty much nothing out of my research.
So I went into that class and it was quite nice that we all sat around in a circle and we got to hear that we all will talk about a part of a country this year france :)
I'm still not quite sure what this class will bring up but I'm sure it is going to be fun.

On thursday then was Accounting again first and we wrote our first Pop-Quiz. Well luckily I got full points in it.
After that I had English which was a lot of fun since we started our first discussion there about Machiavelli The prince. It was very interesting sadly the hour was over so quick...
After English I started my first day of work which is Tutoring every day. It is a nice job and I also do the Webdesign for the International Language resource center which is a nice job for me since I got some experience in that.

Well Friday again normal classes and then in the afternoon I first went to play a little bit of Pool. There I heard from a guy that there was going to be a water splash party thing^^ I was like: "Yeah I will be there!" And went then there when it started at seven. It was a LOT of FUN. I tried out all the rides. Where the big slide was the most fun, since I could do always my flip on it. On the smaller slide the flip wasn't that good and I couldn't add my superman to it.
Anyway I was also a long while in the Foam part trying that nobody gets a hold of my feet to pull them away, which was really hard ^^
Also another funny part was when I was in the Foam a girl I knew came up to me holding on to me and said: "Germany, protect France from Amerika." Well she didn't want anybody to grab here feed^^
After the Water party there was also a dance party in the Billingscenter which I went to, but I was not really impressed by it and I left around 1:30 already even thought it was going to keep on until like 3 a.m. but it just was not really my kind of style of dance. I tried to enjoy everything there and it was ok but...

On saturday I woke up in the morning with my back hurting (from the water party^^) well I tried to do a little bit of all the Homework that I had to do and then later on in the evening I found out that the international Club is going to "The Bridge" which was a fun thing so I joined them. First there was Breakdancing and Breakdance battles which was a lot of fun to watch and I even joined in in the end into one :)
After the Breakdance many of the int. students wanted to leave (I didn't understand why since there was going to start a DJ dance party soon after). Well so all 30 of us went to the coffee shop I think it is called Starbucks if I remember right, but you all probably know which one I mean.

On Sunday I stayed pretty much all day in my dorm and worked on my homework and relaxed a little bit from the Week which felt good.

So that was my first week in College. It is a great experience and I hope that I will learn here a lot more and also have fun from time to time here :)

Hostage Crisis RPG

The Hostage Crisis Roleplay Game. To simulate the reality.
Many different outcomes where set at the begining but the more we got into the game the clearer the outcome of our RPG here was.
It could either have been a peacefull solution for both sides, a 1 on1 exchange of the emprisioned people; A solution that would have benefit the US, meaning they would get there people but did not have to give the imprisoned people of Needak to the Comity of National Struggle (the Terorists); A solution that would have benefit the CoNS, meaning they would have gotten back their men and maybe even some money;
OR, as it turned out in our game, a war was created between the two paries which would have killed instead of five Amerikans, a few hundred Keibar citizens.

As Foreign Minister I got a great inside-view of the Conflict and had also an great insight into the thoughts, suggestions, offers and demands of both parties.
At the beginning of this Conflict the Foreign Minister seemed first to be not important at all and had no work to do. But the farther the time continued to pass by the Foreign Minister got a greater and greater role and seemed to be one of the most important person at the middle of this RPG.
It was not because of decisions he could have made or the discussions he took part in but mostly because he is the connection between the two parties, the US and the CoNS.
It seemed that both parties where totally dependend on him.

But as time went on the first problem occured to me which seems also in the reality one of the big issues in conflict.
TIME!!!
And by time I do not mean the time that might be left until the first hostage will be killed but the time difference of Comunication between each other.
The Foreign Minister was one of two Connections between the two Parties, another one was the Keibar Business man. Both where the connections between the two parties and both communicated with them at different times.
There starts a big problem which we actually even had in the RPG but it seemed like that nobody had noticed it otherwise the outcome would have been even more different and probably not to the good.
SO here is about a recollection of how this one Scene went:

"The US meant the Foreign Minister to talk to the CoNS, that they (US) just received their demands and that they will start now to think about them and come call me back as soon as a decision is made.
Me the Foreign Minister could not reach the CoNS since they where at a TV interview.
Well meanwhile the US contacted the Business man to call the CoNS that they will start a one on one release but they shall first release one of their men since the CoNS has more then the US/Needak have.
The Business man reached the CoNS befor the Foreign Minister reached them meaning they (CoNS) heared first that the US will release their men but then heared well the US is just thinking about this situation."

This could have come to missunderstandings in the conflicts which could have ended already at this point in a mistrust and even war...

In real live the same things can happen if the communication goes over different medien it might not be their fault but still sometime one is able to get faster through then another person. This is not a lack of information but the time difference between each medium.


The next big issue that I realised throughout the game was the power that the Foreign Minister and the Business man had. It seemed that, as I mentioned above already, the US and the CoNS where totally depended on these two "in between men".
This also means that part of the future has been put onto these two men and that both parties had to trust them completely.
Lets put this into an extreem, if the business man and the Foreign Minister where just up for their own benefits, they could have change every word that the two parties had told them to overbring to the other side. They could have changed, added or taken words away that both leaders had sent to each other.
This is one of the biggest world issues not only in politics but also with friends people one gets to know and in school: TRUST!!!
This remindes me of an old story that actually happened to me when I was about I think 9 years or so old. I had a letter that I wanted to give to a girl that I liked back then but I was to shy to give it myself. So I asked a friend whom I thought I could trust to give it to her. Well It never reached her...

In todays world Trust is one of the most important things. Many people lost their faith into other people because they can't trust them anymore. May it be now because of false promises or things they did.
In our game the US and the CoNS had to trust the Foreign Minister and the Business man completly and always hope that the message reaches the other party and was right.


The last thing that I want to talk about for this RPG is people. And important question that I raised in one of the meetings of the US was:
"What is more important the live of 5 US people or the live of hundreds of Keibar citizens??"
In my opinion this was one of the most important questions over all these other ones. Who is more important to save?
We always see on TV that there is new war and most of us wish for world peace. The politicians have to fight always with this question in mind who is more important?
I know that one human live is as important as the whole human race. It is not that I think well let's kill three and get therefore a hundred NO... But isn't it that way that we have to try to always think for the human good?

In the game I confronted the US comity with the fact that there are already a lot of citizens at the place of the CoNS to cheer for them and as soon as they would go puiblic with this situation there would be even more people coming.
But even in despite of this fact the US went on TV and hold there a conference about this issue.
And at the end they even started as they called it a "air and ground attack" which would have involved instead of 5 people a few hundred.

Well this is about it so far from my point of few.
I would be glad to hear Comments on my blog and your opinion on this issue.

It was a pleasur for me to be part in this conflict even thought the goals have not been reached.

Foreign Minister