NOWRUZ

New Year: 1391

Sale Naw Mobarak (Happy New Year). Nowruz is the first day of spring and it is celebrated by more than 300 million people worldwide on March 21, the day of the spring equinox, which marks the sun’s crossing of the Equator and the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.    As I know Iran, Tajikistan and Afghanistan celebrate Nowruz because they have similar cultures and traditions. Iranians celebrate Nowruz for thirteen days, which people go away from their hometown to different cities for visits and usually people go camping on the mountains, (Sizdah badar), and Afghanistan and Tajikistan celebrates for three days. Nowruz always comes on March but not always on the 21th because it differs every year depending upon the Sun crossing the Equator.

In Afghanistan, people prepares a week or two before the first day of Nowruz.On the first day of Nowruz families get together for breakfast and early in the morning whoever you see first, you do greetings saying “Nowruz Mobarak” with hugs and kisses on the chick and people even greet the people whom they have fought or never talked before because Nowruz is supposed to bring a change to people’s lives . People put Hinah on their hands and feet for decoration and children goes to their elders to get money for Eidi.

There would be all kinds of celebrations like Buzkashi and concerts. Buzkashi is a kind of game played by horsemen and it is supposed to be our National sport.

It seems that I am missing all of it because here people have no idea what Nowruz means and probably have never seen it. Here at Champlain in the U.S I have been only dressing up for Nowruz and some people have come and asked why I am dressed up today. I explain the whole thing about Nowruz and sometimes I give presentations in schools to share my culture so that we all know each other’s culture. I am interested in knowing people from different backgrounds and I am always happy to share my culture with you.

SPORT:

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Sport is part of my life and I can’t live without it. Soccer (which other countries call it Football) is one of my favorite sports. I started playing soccer when I was nine and I have been playing it since I came to the U.S.

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I am very glad that Champlain provides us with so many opportunities to play any sport. We have indoor Soccer, Volleyball, Basketball, Floor Hockey and other recreational sports. With all these opportunities I have been able to attend the Volleyball club on Wednesday evenings from 5:30-8:00P. We gather in the gym located in the IDX Student Life Center to play pick-up volleyball and our teams are based on how many students attend each week. I started attending juggling club and equestrian club which I like them a lot and I often work out in the gym too. Although I like soccer I have been either busy or too lazy to play it since I came to Champlain. One of my international friends Zig plays soccer and basketball every week.

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Getting together and playing soccer or any kind of sport at Champlain makes you feel like you are at home, and even better you will stay healthy. I am enjoying it and I recommend anyone who likes sport or being outdoors to take advantage of their most gracious time.

Midterm Exam:

Taken from Google

          Midterm exam’s are the rush time for every student at Champlain College and it is time when work load comes all at once.

          Some professors assign papers and projects a week before finals which can be stressful because for some students it’s hard to manage their time to finish their papers and projects before its due. Students are scattered all over the places during the day and night; Champlain's library is always full of people working on papers or group projects and computer labs are full of game designers or programmers working on their game designs or programming projects. The pressure increases every day as professors emphasize the submission due dates every class to remind us and to make sure everyone completes their work

          Sometimes it’s funny though that people don’t realize the benefit of the work they do prior to exams but during this “rush time” everybody complains and if you see their Facebook profile status it says either “so ready to be done” or “ In the library studying”. I have seen many students freaked out and worried about their grades.

          Personally, I am not worried about my grades but I get nervous about exams because in my high school at Putney, VT we didn’t have exams but instead we focused on projects working with two teachers mentors on chosen topics.The pressure was there but different and not as intense as taking a college exam for the first time.

           My college classes went well this semester although I was nervous when I first arrived at Champlain. Fortunately, I have done well on exams both last semester and the midterm this semester in almost all of my classes. I’ve discovered taking exams and managing stress is a learning process and with each class project, quiz or presentation one becomes more confident and builds new skills. Fortunately, the professors at Champlain are always there to help you with ideas for your projects, paper or anything else you are struggling with.

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Again, I am happy that I have made the right decision to attend Champlain.