Semester Summary

I would first like to apologize for not posting anything recently. Finals this semester were honestly CRAZY!!! I am so happy to be finished and home for the holidays although I do miss USD. This picture is from my fall semester banquet for Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity. This is the Beta Nu pledge class, some of my best friends in the whole world!

USD does a good job of spacing out finals (even if it means we get home two days before Christmas). I never had a day when I had more than two finals. Most of the professors are very speedy about grades and all of our grades should be posted on mysandiego within the next few days. Just for a heads up, next semester I will be studying abroad in Oxford, England so look forward to a change of scenery on "A Day in the Life of a Torero". Happy Holidays!!!

Interesting Facts About International Business

Recently I was presented with some facts about the best classes to take for International Business. Follow the link to look at the opportunities. This article shows how the IB major at USD is an excellent path to take to "make it" in the global economy. http://www.onlinecolleges.net/2009/11/16/100-excellent-open-courses-for-international-businessmen/

First Place at the International Politics of Economics Forum hosted by Student International Business Council on November 14, 2009!!!

Last weekend I travelled to Benedictine College in Kansas to compete in an interscholastic debate for SIBC. The team from USD won first place! This picture is of me and my three hardworking teammates. USD students clearly not only excel in the classroom but out in the world as well. Next year the debate will be hosted at USD and hopefully we can bring home the trophy again!

Sophomore Year

It has been more than three months since my last post to "A Day in the Life of a Torero". I changed my major this year to International Business (from Business Administration) and added a Spanish minor. The major declaration process is fairly simple in the business school, all you have to do is set up an appointment with your advisor, attend the scheduled appointment and he/she will walk you through the steps to make sure you are able to graduate on time. I declared in 2008 and was just changing my major this fall and so the process was even more simple for me. I am very excited about my new major and I very happy USD decided to create this new major this year.

My extracurricular involvements have really picked up this year. Alpha Kappa Psi (professional business fraternity) is taking up a great deal of my time but I absolutely love it. My brothers are some of my best friends at USD and I am excited to attend and participate in every event. If any incoming freshman are at all interested in careers in business, I encourage you to rush Alpha Kappa Psi. I am also the Director of Membership this semester for the Student International Business Council, another organization through the School of Business Administration. In SIBC I work with others to promote "peace through commerce". In two weeks I will be presenting a project to a panel of judges at Benedictine University in Kansas. Without the support of the SBA I would never be able to have this opportunity.

This week is class registration for the spring semester. I am also in the midst of applying to a study abroad program in Oxford, England. Right now I am waiting to hear back on my acceptance, hopefully all goes well and I will be studying at St. Clare's in the UK next semester!

Adios Madrid

The Madrid Summer Study Abroad Program has come to its end. After six amazing weeks in Spain us USD students are finally returning to the US. Last weekend was the highlight of my Spanish excursion. The administration hosted a weekend trip to Barcelona, the capital of Catalunya. I fell in love with this picturesque Mediterreanean city. The weather, architecture and people were so beautiful. Gaudi's work is absolutely breathtaking, especially his world renowned Sagrada Familia Church. Tomorrow is the last day of finals and then I will be going home. Thank you USD for offerring such an amazing trip!

Computer use in Spain, is it the same?

I feel blessed being a citizen of the United States of America. Although Spain is a magnificent country to say the least, the technological opportunities available to students are far behind those in the United States. For example, all of the computers in the lab at the school I am studying at in Madrid are ancient machines. I sense that all of them were made prior to 2000. Picture this - a room full of gigantic monitors that displays in Windows prior to Windows XP. On another note, everyone must supply their own printer paper and the public printer is no larger than the one I keep on my desk at USD. In the United States it would seem ridiculous to have over 150 students printing from such a small, inefficient printer. The largest difference is the internet capabilities here in Madrid. Although there are internet cafes, it is very rare to see WiFi around the city. At my host home I must use an ethernet cord to get access to a very slow and tempermental Broadband Network. The wireless network at the school crashes if someone is trying to upload pictures and is hence "hogging the network". Clearly, there is a difference between internet use in Spain and in the United States and I am extremely grateful that I am even able to access the web.

Halfway Finished with Study Abroad

I am more than halfway finished with my study abroad experience in Madrid, Spain. I have thus far traveled all around Madrid, the capital, as well as the towns of Segovia, Toledo, El Escorial and visited the sites of La Granja and The Valley of the Fallen. In less than two weeks I will be going to Barcelona! This pictures is from the Monastery del Escorial. It was beautiful!

Temple's Textbook Trader

For my ITMG class I was assigned to create a website similar to craigslist. Here I created a wonderful service for college students that guarantees lower textbooks costs than at your school bookstore. Feel free to leave comments.



See the list of textbooks available to trade.

Note: This is just a class assignment and will not be in existence past the end of this summer.

Publishing My Pictures from Spain

In my ITMG class in Spain, I recently learned how to upload and publish photos on Picasa Web Albums. Similar to Facebook photo uploader, Picasa allows the user to show their photos to others through the internet. I really like Picasa because it allows me to upload 500 photos per album and so I am able to condense all my photos from Spain into just a few albums. My Spain photos are located in the "Madrid, Spain Summer Study Abroad Program" album. Send me an email at colleentemple-12@sandiego.edu or catemple@gmail.com if you would like to view the photos because the albums are set to private and thus you must be sent an invitation to be able to view them.

New Skills from ITMG

In Madrid this summer on my study abroad excursion, I am taking an Information Systems class for my business major. We recently downloaded and learned how to navigate Firefox Web Browser. Firefox is special in that it allows the user to install "add-ons" or "extensions" to get further use out of the browser. Today I looked for, installed and played with two more extensions. My newest extensions are Evernote Web Clipper 3.0.0.126 and WebMail Ad Blocker 2.3.1. This brings my total amount of extensions/add-ons up to 13.

The Evernote Web Clipper provides a button and context menus to easily add a selection or an entire page to Evernote. This application basically allows the user to be able to always access their notes find words they have "clipped" within seconds. It takes away the hassle of having to search for something through hand written notes or across numerous bookmarked files on the computer. I thought this extension sounded interesting but I do not plan on using it much. I have been able to stay organized without needing to have all my notes in one place. I played around with the extension by watching the introductory video and writing a few connections.

The WebMail Ad Blocker creates more screen space for email messages. Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Gmail advertisements take up a lot of space even if they get blocked by other add ons because they leave unused empty space. This add-on extends the width of the message and removes the useless ads most email users never even open. This extension isn't one to play with or experiment with, it is just installed and then changes the email configuration. The only aspect of this extension I do not like is that it somehow changed the inbox to "highlight" every message when the cursor is pulled over it and I find that to be annoying and I'm not sure how to change it.

Altogether these extensions are extremely valuable to my internet usage. ITMG is a very interesting class and I suggest you take it while at USD, or atleast experiment with Firefox on your own!

San Diego Zoo Photos

Summer Study Abroad

Hello from Madrid, Spain!
USD is amazing in that the university allows its students to Study Abroad at a variety of locations around the world. This summer I am studying in Madrid, Spain with over 150 other USD students. I am at the Fundaccion de Jose Ortega y Gassett in Madrid and I am taking classes in Information Systems and Advanced Spanish Grammar and Composition. All of us students live with lovely host families and spend our free time travelling around the country. The next few blogs will be about my experiences as a citizen of the world. Enjoy!

Majors and Minors

Today I just declared my second minor at USD. I was already a business administration major and an international business minor, but I decided to declare a Peace and Justice Studies minor. Declaring minors is relatively simple. All you need to do is print off and fill out the form online and take it into the One Stop Student Center. Declaring a major is a little more difficult in that you must receive an advisor signature. USD is great in that students are allowed to declare at any time during their academic career. I knew prior to starting school that I wanted to be a business major and thus I declared as a first semester freshman. Some people declare as late as second semester sophomore year. I think the choice as to when you want to declare is great because everyone moves at a different pace and some people want to try a little bit of everything before they find their area of expertise while others want to start on their major right away.

Student International Business Council

Attention all incoming USD freshmen!

If you are interested in business or peace studies, I strongly recommend joining the Student International Business Council (SIBC). This student organization has the motto of "peace through commerce" and that is exactly what we do. SIBC has the largest endowment of any USD student organization and we use this to help societies improve around the world through our business skills. Any student can join (it is not necessary to be a business major) and once students are members, they are members for life! I will be the Director of Membership for Fall 2009 and my goal is to increase our chapter's membership. SIBC has weekly meetings on Tuesdays from 12:15-1:15. Our meetings consist of guest speakers on entrepreneurship, global peace, networking skills and much more as well as group projects. This semester I am working with a group of students to help the Southern Sudanese Community Center in San Diego. SIBC has a project for everyone. If you are interested in joining next school year, please contact me at colleentemple-12@sandiego.edu.

Feel free to reach me for any other USD related concerns as well. Go Toreros!!!

Clubs, Class and More

Hello All,
This March has been one of the busiest months in my life, no joke. A little over a month ago I decided to rush for Alpha Kappa Psi - the premier business fraternity on campus. As a pledge, I am required to attend a variety of events, do a significant amount of assignments, and put on community service, fundraising, professional and social events around campus. All of these are for my growth as an individual and member of the fraternity. It has been challenging but so far I am really enjoying it. If anyone is interested in a professional fraternity, I highly recommend Alpha Kappa Psi. You do not need to be a business major to be involved. On another note, everyone is in the midst of signing up for housing for next year. I will be living in the Honors RLC in the Alcala Vista Apartments next year. This should be really nice because the four of us girls will have our own kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and bathrooms. I can't wait to no longer be a little freshman!

Spring Break!

This week is Spring Break at USD and everyone is off relaxing after the stressful two weeks of midterms. USD offers Spring Break Immersion Trips for students all across Latin America. Many students participate in these trips and come back to school with amazing life changing experiences. I decided to just go home and spend time with my family and friends in Colorado. Right now we are signing up for housing for next year. About 75% of sophomores live on campus and I am signing up to live in the Alcala Vista Apartments. This is the most popular option for sophomores and I am extremely excited for the full apartment living complex. Housing registration is different for upper classmen than it is for freshman because it is all based on a lottery. We also get to pick our roommates and the exact room we want. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me at colleentemple-12@sandiego.edu.

Grandparents Weekend 2009

Hey everyone!
These last few weeks have been extremely busy here at USD. This past weekend (Friday, Feb. 20- Sunday, Feb 22) was Grandparents Weekend. USD did a great job of welcoming grandparents and made the events a blast for everyone involved. On Friday, my grandparents and I attended the Friday daily mass, lunch in the Main Dining Room (free for grandparents), they sat in on one of my classes and we went to the Opening Event in the Alumni Center. This event was magnificent. We were welcomed by our beloved President, Mary Lyons, and the Choral Scholars sang beautiful music as we ate the scrumptious free food. On Saturday my grandparents and I ate a tasty breakfast in the IPJ and listened to a lecture on the history of the architecture at USD. My favorite aspect of Grandparents Weekend was the trolley tour around San Diego. Although this was at an extra cost to grandparents and USD students, it was definitely worth the price. In the brightly colored buses we traveled to over 100 points of interest in San Diego, ranging from Old Town to Coronado. The driver was extremely funny as well. This weekend is a program unique to San Diego and is a great way for grandparents to be welcomed back into college life. I encourage everyone to attend next year's event!

Second Semester

This semester is as busy as ever here at the University of San Diego. Girls just rushed for sororities and boys are in the midst of their rushing experience for fraternities. Many of my friends chose to enter Greek Life but I decided against it. I am looking into joining a professional fraternity though, Alpha Kappa Psi - the premier business fraternity on campus. I have my interview this coming Monday and can't wait! Classes are going really well so far. I have had a few quizzes and my first big exams come up in two weeks. As a member of the Honors Program, I am fortunate to have a lot of my classes with the same group of students and so I don't have to worry about not knowing people in my classes. The University of San Diego is beautiful this winter (despite the recent rain) and I absolutely love it all. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me at colleentemple-12@sandiego.edu.

Second semester started today here at USD and so far all is going well. I have a very busy load this semester with six academic classes plus a dance class. I am taking Philosophy 110, Accounting 201, Natural Disasters, Spanish 4, Macroeconomics, and Writing Center Tutor. Last night I attended the 9 pm mass in Founders Chapel and participated as the First Reader. I feel that attending such a spiritually cleansing activity right away was a great way to start the semester. Seeing all of my friends again was a blast and I can't wait to catch up with everyone!

Getting Ready For Second Semester

Hey Guys!
I'm sure everyone is enjoying their winter break as much as I am. At USD, I don't have to be back for classes until January 26th because we have what is called Intersession, a period of time where taking classes is optional at an extra cost. I am back in Colorado skiing and catching up with high school friends instead. Next semester is going to be wonderful and I am extremely excited for my classes. My schedule includes Accounting 201, Macroeconomics, Spanish 202, Natural Disasters and Philosophy 110. On the side I will also be taking an advanced ballet class on campus with my dorm friends. Spring semester should be great!