May 4, 2011

I keep working on the final. I added new slides to my presentations and new backgrounds.

May 3, 2011

Today i went to my internship but it seemed that the three psychologists were busy so I just stayed in the front office for a little. My final is coming together and when i practiced it i reached the 30 minutes requirement. I still have yo make more corrections and polish it a little bit more

April 28, 2011

I had my mentor meeting today, I met Ms. Hurst's two older sons. They are simply adorable! She asked me how I was doing and I told her about my final presentation.
I keep working on the powerpoint and adding more information. Hopefully next week I can start rehearsing with my mom

April 26, 2011

Today I went to my internship. I had the chance to talk to Monica for a while and she explained more about the internships she had to do in college. She said that all of them were important because that is how one can be aware of what they are good at and what they really love. I helped her file paperwork and left as soon as I was done.
As far as my final project, I've been working on it but I still need to do more things.

April 25, 2011

I had a really good weekend! Today i continued to work on my finak presentation, i keep planning how i am going to organize my project. I hope by the end of the week i can start practicing with everything ill have ready the next couple of days

April 20, 2011

This morning I woke up early and by now I can say that I finished my outline. When I get my computer back I'll try to finish the business card and I will be almost done! Also, I put in separate folders all the information that will be present in my oral assignment. Tomorrow I'll have to be in school early to be able to pick a date that works for me to present. I will also be having my mentor meeting today and hopefully I'll finish other homework that is also in my mind.

April 19, 2011

I attended my internshipctoday for a while. I worked on more insurance papers and helped in the front desk when new clients came in. In addition to that, i also attended the model presentation. Coach love was amazing! He really is over the top, more than I imagined. Now I will have to plan something great to reach his expectatives. I will continue to think of all the info ive learned so I can have a presentation somewhere near his :)

April 18, 2011

Today I got back from a fabulous cruise to Bahamas. It was amazing but I couldn't add anything to my research this weekend. So I plan for this week to keep working on iMovie since I am still having troubles putting the information together.

April 14, 2011

Today was the second time I drove over the children psychologist office and still I couldn't find anyone available to talk to me. I left a message on the phone and I sent an email. Now I am just going to have to wait to see if I am able to do a quick interview. I've been working on my final presentation too. I am currently learning how to use imovie and hopefully my presentation looks as good as I plan.

April 12, 2011

I finally got my ipad! I was able to download some free books one of them including a book by Freud that talks about developmental psychology. I will be reading it the next couple of days as well as starting to use imovie to put all of my presentation together. I have a folder where i kept all the important papers i had for wise so now is time to organize and think about what i want to say in my oral presentation

April 8, 2011

Today I had my mentor meeting and it went great. We also discussed my possibilities of practicing psychology in other places. I've been really stressed out about college lately but this weekend I'll start putting together all the information I have for my final project. I will also watch some other movies and find more research.

April 6, 2011

This has been a hectic week. I was finally able to check the money I am receiving from FASFA and bright futures and I am still trying to figure out what everything means.
On my project news, I watched "Radio" this weekend. I though it was a really cure movie because it is based on a true story about a young teen with disabilities and his ambition to know about football. He is bullied but everybody soon learns to look beyond his disability and were able to see the good heart he has.
I attended my internship on tuesday. Monica talked to me only for a little while because she had a patient coming in, so I stayed in the front office fixing some paperwork.

March 30, 2011

Today I went to my mentor meeting with Ms. Hurst. She finally got to see m final project preview and she though it was great. I was good to see that my hard effort finally paid off. We also talked about other subjects for a long time, like the bookstore she owns and how people coming in are impacted by her because she relates to those who come in seeking for help. I also got to see Christina's preview and I also though it was amazing! I am glad coach Love wants to send it to New York so people there see what we do here in the WISE program :)

March 29, 2011

After two weeks without going, I finally attended the internship. I got to turn all the paperwork I was assigned and the whole time I stayed there we were organizing more papers that had to be se sent to insurance companies, and more first-time papers for new people coming in. I got to talk to monica a little about schools and how drugs are becoming more popular there, as well as information she will write in my recommendation letter.

March 28, 2011

Today the preview was due. I finished it at home and coach Love helped me to save it in his computer. Although the presentation didn't look like it did on my computer, I think I did a pretty good job! I also finished some of the paperwork I have to turn in tomorrow at my interview. I plan to watch a Beautiful Mind this week and do whatever they assign me tomorrow at the interview.

March 24, 2011

Today I had a great talk with my mentor! we talked about how faith affects personal points of views and how important it can be to finding a meaning to one's life. She also gave me the name of a school that has awesome psychologists that deal with children. At this point of my research, I want to start moving to something new like that, so I plan to drive over to a local children psychologist next week. I told her about my progress and what I did over the break while we discussed the mentor report questions.
Also, I had the chance to sit with coach love to put the audio with the visual part of my presentation together, I am still having some issues but I believe they will work our between now and monday.

March 23, 2011

Today I watched another movie called Shawshank Redemption. I thought it was great! The important aspect I related to psychology is how guards treat the inmates and how corruption occurs. When I start my training in psychology, I am going to have to go to different jails and help inmates get better and have hope that even though they made a mistake in the past, they can still make up for that mistake.
I am finishing the preview and I reschedules my mentor meeting for tomorrow. Hopefully Coach Love is going to like my preview!

March 22, 2011

I had an awesome break! no vacations though. I still had three classes at BC but it was OK. Last week I dedicated most of my time in finishing my WISE preview. It looks great I just need to make some adjustments and I'll do that on Wednesday with the help of Coach Love. Today, I watched a great movie, 21. In this movie, the main character goes about some crazy adventures in search of money for Harvard. After he gets all the money he needs, he is unable to quit gambling and shows some type of addiction. At first, he wanted to leave as soon as he got all the money he needed, but his addiction and greed to easy money lead him to loose all the money he had in the first place. This taught me how we can be weak sometimes and we become unable to leave a situation before it is too late, especially when dealing with money. It also taught me the different strategies needed to manipulate the managers of the casinos so they don't get caught counting. I truly love this movie, and I hope this week I can go rent the movie that one of the psychologists told me was really impacting.
I also attended my internship this week and last week, I keep helping them on simple tasks such as organization and translation for Monica's patients that only speak Spanish.

March 12, 2011

In addition to the reading and regular research, I am now focusing more on watching movies because that is the best way to learn about aspects in psychology. On the movie Patch Adams, I noticed some interesting patterns. For example, when Parch made people feel better their physical problems were relieved. This once again proved me the importance of inner feelings and how we react to situations is what makes a difference in our physic. This is one of my favorite movies and I thought it was the highlight of all the new information I found. 

March 7, 2011

Today I realized something new. Everything I do is related to psychology! When I am with friends and they ask for advice, I am practicing psychotherapy. By doing my research paper on buddhism I learn how much power the mind has, once again going back to cognitive psychology. Every movie has to do with emotions and I can relate it to human behavior. This makes me really excited because I know for sure that I am really taking time to expand my knowledge and the most important part is that everything I gain comes from various sources!
I had a great weekend in gainesville... we once again visited the psychology department and I asked some students enrolled in the university how they like it and what not. Today I watched "He Is Just Not That Into You" and the way I related it to psychology is that men and women have different ways of taking a relationship. Women tend to be more emotional and dissect every detail that goes on, while men are more careless until it comes the time where they really fall in love,

March 3, 2011

Today was more of like a catch up day. I went to my mentor meeting, a little unprepared because the student notes web site wasn't working so I stayed there for a while to talk to my mentor. Ms. Hurst also gave me another great book that I'll be looking over these couple of days to have more information on "Addictive Behaviors." I also learned more about the trailer preview we must do by March 28th. I already started and is looking great so far!

March 1, 2011

Today I was supposed to attend my internship but this week got a little complicated for me and my attention went somewhere else. Instead, I watched a movie called "A Clockwork Orange" for the second time in my life. We had to watch it for our psychology class and it is one of my favorite movies. It is a little controversial because its too graphic and too harsh. Looking at the psychoanalytic aspect, I believe its great! It really helped me understand how living things can be conditioned to learn a specific behavior. This is what happens to the main protagonist (he is bad so it would be an antagonist). Alex loves ultra-violence but soon associates this behavior with being sick when he volunteers to be part of an experiment in jail. The movie is extremely complex and I love it so much I can talk about it for hours... But my major point of watching it was to find out new things about the movie that I missed the first time I watched it.
I also read for a while and I keep finding really interesting info. The chapter I am on right now is depression. It talks about ways to deal with these symptoms and how you can teach your mind out of it.

February 28, 2011

I had a great weekend! I read and finished some "homework" they assigned me at the internship.
Today I worked on finding an apartment close to the psychology building in UF. Some of them looked great and the prices were reasonable, but I kept facing the same problem. NO ROOMATE! I still sent some applications to see if the can hook me up with someone and I'll see how it goes. I was thinking of watching some movies that Ms. Patterson told me were related to psychology as part of my project! I thought it was a great idea and I can enjoy watching them with friends or something. Everything else is going smooth and I'll be starting to do my project preview presentation soon :)

February 23, 2011

Today was more like a catch-up day. I finished the week's homework, make up work, student notes, and I turned everything before the due date!
For the rest, everything is running smoothly. I did my student notes with my wonderful mentor, Mr. Hurst, and she told me that this afternoon she will submit the mentor meeting report.
I keep reading my book and finding out new things all the time.

February 22, 2011

Wonderful day today!
I went to my internship in which I was asked to make copies of a book one of the psychologists uses for her patient. She told me that she assigned them to read books because since 55 minute sessions aren't long enough, they can have something to do in between sessions. Today I also learned that the youngest patient they've ever had is 7 years old and they do not have many of them because they need play therapy instead of psychotherapy and they do not know too much about it. I finished the Spanish paperwork Monica asked me to translate and she was extremely thankful and asked me if I needed anything as prove that I've been attending to my internship. I said that this experience is mainly for myself because I am leaning a lot from the job and if she could write me a letter of recommendation for the future would be great, but for the rest I am on my own and no body checks if I am attending or not.
I continue reading my book and searching online for fun facts and other stuff as well as catching up with make-up work, the newsletter activity, homework, etc.
This weekend I went to Gainesville to check out the psychology building as part of my research too. I LOVED IT! I thought it was the most beautiful campus and by far it is my first option.

February 16, 2011

So today I went to Cypress Bay to talk to my wonderful mentor, Ms. Hurst. She gave me a little of background information about the book I am reading, she referred to me another great psychologist that lives in the area so I will interview him as another source of my research. We also had a great talk about how I am going to UF and her daughter studied psychology there. She told me that her experience up there wasn't that great but it still depends on our personal experiences. I'll still go up there this weekend and maybe I can gain more information about the field.
I continued reading "We Are What We Think" and I keep writing personal notes not only for my WISE project but also as long term reminders.

February 15, 2011

I had a great day today. I went to my internship and I got to talk to Monica meanwhile her patient showed up. She showed me all the paperwork her first time patients have to fill out and the personal notes she takes to remember each case. She touched bases with me about extreme cases she has had in the past and what the usuals are. I got to see all the paperwork involved to take care of a patient and that was really exciting. I got to keep a copy of each one of them as future reference.
When her patient showed up, I was allowed to stay in the front desk and be aware of people that come in, make copies, answer the phone, and other simple tasks, but I guess I must start somewhere.
I also continued reading my book and I am now getting ready for my mentor meeting tomorrow during fourth period with Ms. Hurst.

February 14, 2011

For my WISE project, I have continued to read a book called "You Are What You Think" and although I am not a big fan of reading, I found this book extremely interesting and I believe is one of the few books that I look forward reading. It is related to psychology because it talks about the power of the mind and how we can create change in our lives by gaining control of out thoughts. These constant thoughts also affect our behavior and how we react to external stimuli. It is enriching me of great information that not only I could use for WISE, but also teachings that can be helpful later in life.

In other news... I got in to UF! I was extremely surprised since my SAT's were not high enough. I will be going there this weekend because I have never been to Gainesville and I want to see if I like it there enough to move and study in the area.

February 9, 2011

So I finally fixed the interview and polished it a little as my first piece of work for my project. I had the idea of conducting another interview with one of her patients to see how her experience went and how well she helped her. Today I checked out some videos online about psychology and I also found two books I would like to use for my research.
I translated the interview because I thought it would be better if she talked to me in Spanish because it is my first language.

1. What is the typical day of a psychologist?

Patients con in every day to this very office and try to open up to me and I try to guide them with any kinds of problems, addictions, or depression.

2. How many patients a day?

About seven each day. Some days I see more and some days less.

3. Do you use medical treatment?

No, since I am a social worker, I usually get to treat them mentally, I tell them to go to other specialists if the problem gets out of control and medication is needed. I am just a social worker.

4. How much vacation time do you get?

I work on my own schedule and I choose the vacation time I want. But the less I work, the less money I make so it is in my own interest to stay working.

5. How much do you get paid?

It is different every month, the single sessions are $90 and couples or families are $100 for 55 minutes.

6. Is it rewarding to see how a patient develops over a period of time?

Yes, I get to see the process of each of them. They get better by just being able to do a simple task as communication.

7. For how long do patients attend to your sessions?

I see some patients for as long as years. For the first couple of months they come as often as needed. When things start to fall into place for them, I make them come every six months or so just for check ups.

8. What types of approaches are used?

Depends, for the single sessions I use cognitive approaches which is more like expressing feelings and stating their experiences, and when more than one person comes, I use dynamic approaches to see how each react with each other. 

February 8, 2011

Today was amazing! I finally see my project progressing. My interview went great, I gained more insight in the field of psychology and Dr. Arroyo truly opened my eyes because she said that the process of getting to where she is is hard and painful. But if I was really interested in the field, she said that it would be extremely rewarding in the end. After I type her answers, I'll be posting the entire interview to see just to show some of the basic information in the field. I'll be back in her office soon and I will be able to work as an assistant and do simple tasks such as making copies and answering the phone just to see how everything works:)

February 7, 2011

Tomorrow is the big day… I will get to finally talk to the psychologist I’ll be going to the internship with. I am preparing an interview for her so I know some basic information. Since people’s problems are extremely personal, I won’t be able to see how she approaches different situations when she has sessions with patients. I will be able to ask questions, answer the phone, and be pretty much a personal assistant hopefully. Today I added some sources to my noodletools, and I am sure that a lot of information I found in those sources will be part of my final presentation. 

February 5, 2011

Horray! I have finally made some progress. I drove over another local psychologist that a friend of mine knew. She was great and allowed me to be an intern at her office! I start on tuesday at 1:30 PM and I now know that my project will be about psychology. I will continue my research online and get new information for my final project.

February 2, 2011

It seems that this isn’t the right choice for me because is not working out. I tried calling, leaving messages, and when I drove there, I couldn’t find the place. My friend told me about another great psychologist that lives around the area and I will contact her the first thing tomorrow. Meanwhile, I continue my research on sketching because if the psychology option doesn’t work for me, ill spend my days of WISE sketching. 

January 31, 2011

After searching for a long time, I finally saw the profile of what seems to be a good psychologist. The best part is that she lives around Weston, therefore, I could go several times a week and check out the world of a psychologist. If this idea works, then I’ll definitely focus my WISE project on psychology because I’ll have an expert that can guide me. I sent her an e-mail this weekend and since I never received a response, I will drive by today early this week to personally talk to her. 

January 27, 2011

As I plan my following months, I came up with a few topics I would like to focus on the most. These topics include psychology, sketching, dancing, or an internship related to these topics. I came up with these options because those are the things I am most passionate about and I truly wish that I could be able to learn more about a specific one. Now, I will talk to Coach Love and see if he know any good places I could go do some research or any interesting ideas to expand my topic. I will keep working on sharpening my topic a little and make sure it unites as many things I like as possible.

January 26, 2011

Today I finally got my batch to leave everyday for fourth period! My journey officially began and I am still wondering about what I might do. I plan to meet with Coach Love before friday to guide me with what are the best options for me. Although wednesdays are very busy for me, I plan to take some time and do self-tests online to figure out what hobbies match my personality good enough to focus the rest of the school year on it. 

January 25, 2011

Today was the big day. The day my WISE experience started. With no project on mind, my journey begins. The presentation went great, it truly clarified all the doubts I had about the program, and it made me more enthusiastic to begin. It also made me a little afraid and unsecure because I still don’t know what I want to do and I need to step up my game. I went home today and sat down to write all the things I enjoy doing the most but it is still too vague. I plan to use this week as my planning week to figure out what will make my experience unforgettable.