When will my reflection show...

Hello! My name is Susy Vargas, I am a first-year business administration major at UCI, and am very excited to start blogging weekly! A few of my interests include playing soccer, watching Netflix, attending concerts, and skating. The past seven months have been the greatest of my life, and it's all because of UCI. Part of the reason I have had such a great time at UCI is because I am heavily involved with Circle K, a community service club, on campus.

Truthfully, I would not consider myself to be a very strong writer. I think this has more to do with my technique when it comes to writing. I typically do not put in as much effort into my writing classes as I do my others. I am much too comfortable when it comes to not turning in rough drafts and getting genuine help revising my papers. This is something I definitely want to, and need to change for this class. I have taken some time to reflect on my writing skills, and I have come to realize it is time to take my writing way more seriously. I realize there will be many, many papers that I will have to write during my time here at UCI. If I don't put in the effort to change my writing habits now, I know I will struggle throughout my four years.

This week I read the article "Animal Minds" from The Economist, which discussed the topic of whether or not animals have minds similar to those of humans. Something I found very interesting in the article was the mirror recognition test. Animals were tested to see if they could self-recognize themselves in a mirror. Some animals like chimpanzees and elephants showed that they could recognize themselves while others like dogs and monkeys could not. I wonder what causes one animal to be able to recognize themselves and another to not. Something else I found interesting in the article is how some animals are able to show compassion for animals of a different species. The article mentioned humpback whales rescuing seals from orcas.