Ricardo Castillo

Spring Term

 

 

                 The analysis essay was probably my favorite part about spring term because It made me really look into my picture I decided to look at which was a mural. I love Portland and all of the paintings it has like the ones in Northeast too. I really liked analyzing the mural because I got to really look deep into the mural and think about all the different things the artist was trying to express through his painting. I really like the painting because it kind of related a bit to home because growing up close to Columbia River Gorge I often heard it wasn’t a very clean river so to see this mural to help get the message to keep our rivers clean really attracted my attention.

 

               

                  Throughout the year I feel like I have learned a lot about who I am and who I want to become, and I’m still learning about myself. After winter term I decided I no longer wanted to pursue a degree in Computer Science. I spent a lot of my time programming and my peers were having fun doing it but I didn’t. Throughout my life, I have always been told to follow what I’m passionate about and I came to understand that I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life. So I started looking for other areas of study and Marketing and Advertisement Management really caught my attention. So I’m majoring in this for now unless I decide to change my mind later.

 

 

                  Over the year I have learned a lot about Portland and it’s history to now and how it has changed over the years. The people that have contributed to it and how they have earned their right to the city. I learned many things about the city that led me to choose what kind of career I wanted to do by looking at the connections PSU has to offer. Being in Portland where two of the largest sports companies have their headquarters definitely gives me an opportunity to get to know a little bit about the corporate world and try to get involved in it. So hopefully once I graduate I can be able to find a job very quickly and aren’t struggling really bad.

 

 

            My ways of contributing idea’s helps people learn a lot better and build an argument or help people gain more knowledge about things. I’ve learned that there's no such thing as a bad idea and I’m not afraid to fail. I love reflecting and analysing situation so that they can become real clear to me. I help contribute my ideas to the group to hopefully help give others an idea and see if they can add anything to it. Sometime’s I feel clueless as well that I don’t even know where to start so when I hear new ideas it helps me find new pieces to the puzzle.

 

 

           In final consideration, for next term and the upcoming years I really want to take school very seriously and try to learn as much as possible while focusing a lot on running. I also want to see if I can get summer internships to help me decide if I want to keep doing Marketing or switch to something else. I can’t believe this year is almost over because it has flown by so fast that I remember the first day like it was yesterday. Overall, I want to keep meeting new people and try to establish some friendships.

 

Winter Term

 

    This term was a lot less stressful than the previous terms thankfully, but it was a lot more rigorous than fall term. Which was unexpected from taking eighteen credits to thirteen credits. This class for winter term, I was expecting to write essays about the 70’s which would be kind of boring so I’m glad we could write about the present  and not too much about the history. I’m really happy we were able to explore neighborhoods in Portland. I didn’t know much about Goose Hollow but I learned that there's a lot of apartments there and is quieter than most places which is great. I’m happy that I found out this information because now I have a place to look for apartments for next year that aren't as expensive as living in the University District. Here’s a picture of the Providence Park which is in the Goose Hollow district.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was really surprised that their was an issue of people jumping off of the Vista Bridge because it doesn’t seem like a suicidal place. I get more of a peaceful vibe around the Goose Hollow District besides the loud Timbers games. Another assignment that I enjoyed doing was my research paper because I was able to spend a lot of time on a research paper topic that I enjoyed researching. I love Nike and what they have done for Oregon. I’m happy to learn that they’re working on expanding their headquarters because it opens the job opportunity for students graduating trying to work at the corporate level.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really fortunate to be able to train with my teammates here at the Nike HQ and hope that one day I can work here in software engineering department and help contribute and earn my Right to the city. Here’s a picture of myself and rest of  the Portland State University mens cross country team at the bus stop by the Hollister Trail in front of the Nike HQ.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Fall Term

         

 I was really looking forward to learning about Portland and Its past and visiting places in Portland. You know kind of like visiting musuems and really fancy places that have been there for a while or have just moved in. I mean we did take that field trip down the park blocks which was really nice and every thing. I do remember Mrs. Serbulo telling us about once the weather clears up we would take more trips. I'm looking forward to just keep exploring Portland and what's new about it. I guess I kind of want to explore when they started making all these trails and fun things going on in Portland. I also am looking forward when all of the hipster/weird stuff started occuring and brought this vibe into Portland.  I think all of the assignments where pretty meaningful and I learned a lot this term.

 

             The David Sohappy assignment made me really learn about the native american history in America. I never really knew that they located really close to my hometown because I don't know we learned about them at a young age that I never really payed too much attention to them. I guess growing up as a kid I never really cared to pay attention to the native americans since all I wanted to was play soccer outside so I'm happy I learned this stuff about the history of this country. I mean just like they put David Sohappy in jail for not really doing much but fishing really shows that this country hasn't changed too much, with what happened in Ferguson. It's sad to see that racism hasn't really changed especially after all these years just like when people where racist to the japenease people in the early Portland years.

 

         I guess I really didn't think we would do this much reading and writing in this class so It was really time consuming for me. Just with reading all the chapters then having to write all these reflections along with all of the other homework I had on my plate made it stressful. Other than that, I guess I was really expecting to study about the people that were here first when I took this course. First term was pretty hard for with the amount of classes I had to take but I balanced it okay. I'm just happy that I was happy enough to hang in there and now I just look forward to next term where I won't have as many classes. With not taking as many classes I can focus on getting A's on every single one of my classes including this one.

       I really enjoyed this group project because we really had a diverse group that we didn't talk to before this project and once we started it we communicated more. We helped each other and became good friends. Therefore, this group project let us get out of our bubble and allowed us to make new friends. I think I can improve on my ability of procrastinating and just do things after they're assigned instead of putting things off which just really messes me up. This way I won't be here turning things in late and just get them over with.

 

       In final consideration, this class was very fun and interesting that I really enjoyed going to it. This class isn't one of those that you dread going to and can't wait for it to end. I look forward to the next term and learning more about more of the recent things that have been going on in the rose city. Also I want to learn more about the sport venue that are in town and their history of being built. I'm also looking forward to going out and exploring Portland and doing more group projects with a bunch of friends. I don't want to go outside though it's too cold out there.

      

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