Wednesday, September 26, 2012

iExamen 1-Max McLaughlin 9/26/12

iExamen, Literally!

        The Jesuit tradition not only requires students to attend class or attend a certain service-learning experience, it also requires a student to understand and observe oneself.  Self-Analysis is a huge part of the Jesuit community and it always has been since the beginning of the Jesuit.  Loyola has a pretty unique group of students, meaning there are so many different people out there with different personalities or different looks on life.  There are these different kinds of people out in the world today, but we, the students at Loyola, are surrounded by it 24/7.  We interact with these people in dorms, on campus, in class, on sports teams, in the FAC, and etc.  The Jesuit community really wants us students to experience these different kinds of people before we enter the real world after senior year.
        I chose to complete my iExamen today after my amazing sleep, with waking up at 12:30 in the afternoon.  It was a long sleep, but I needed it so badly.  I was up all night writing a history and sociology paper believe it or not.  In my sociology class yesterday, my teacher asked us, "What does it mean to be a student?"  Our whole class said having good grades, being nice to teachers, and etc., but I said, "Cura-Personalis".  My teacher faced my way and just said, "BINGO".  My sociology teacher knows what it means to be a student at Loyola or any other Jesuit school.  If you think about it, Jesuit schools in the U.S. and all around the world require so much more than any other schools.  Jesuit schools want good grades, good health, good service-learning, and good self-analysis.  To be honest, I am so glad I chose to come to Loyola and I am so glad that Loyola requires all of these qualities out of a student.  It gets a person so prepared that he or she will be ready the first minute after graduation.
       With that said, after waking up at 12:30, my roommate was not in the room.  My roommate has early classes everyday so he was just finishing up.  I first spoke to my parents and they just wanted to check in and see how things were going.  It was a pleasant conversation and it was great to hear my parents positivity because it then gave my a boost to my day.  I then went on Facebook to see if I had any notifications.  There were four notifications, so I contacted some of my friends from home, closed the computer and was off to class.  While walking to class I noticed that everyone was happy, outgoing, and confident.  It made me happy to see that because I thrive on positive atmospheres.  That is a main reason why I chose Loyola because during a tour my junior year of high school, I noticed all of the other students walking around my family and I were so nice.  I told my parents that this school is definitely the place for me.  I take it as a blessing in disguise that I did not get accepted into Georgetown because then I would not be happy and the person I am today.  Loyola has always been perfect since birth.  
        When I walked into class, I immediately received a hello from my teacher and classmates.  They were so quick to say hello leading me to not say hello because they beat me to it.  Class was class but right after class I had to sit and wait until my 4:30 multimedia class.  I noticed a lot of students were wearing the same brand of the t-shirt that I have, which is Brooks Brothers.  I was the only one wearing sandals but it is fine because I still want to believe that it is summer.  Right near Starbucks, people were smiling, laughing, and jumping.  Nothing was negative.  4:30 arrives, and my teacher is always funny during class but today was a little different and it made happy.  For the last five minutes of class, our teacher put on a clip of this ski video.  I know exactly what it was and I have so many ski videos that I was used to the grahpics, music, and excitement of the viewers.  Professor Cook after the video said, "Wow, that is soo cool and I wish I can know how to do that".  The little things matter in this world and I feel that three minute clip made his day and possibly the rest of the week.  Therefore, everyone at Loyola communicates the same way and that is communicating in a positive voice and body tone.  I strongly feel that Loyola's positive energy does not compare to any other colleges because the other colleges do not get worked as hard as we do, and in the end of the day, we feel happier, stronger, and more grown to the self.  
        When I saw that the iExaman required an hour without any electronics, I immediately said to myself, "Great, I am not huge on electronics anyway.  This is going to be easy!"  After my multimedia class ended, I turned off everything and just left my room.  I used this amazing hour to go out of campus and explore while working out.  Last year my roommate, who is currently abroad, and I would go out for runs after our classes ended.  We would always choose the same path and miles and it wasn't ever boring for us.  We would run to the huge and beautiful garden right behind the reservoir.  I forget the name exactly of the garden but it is the coolest garden that I have ever seen.  I haven't seen or ran by the garden since last May so today was my first time back.  When I came up to the garden after completing two miles, I just stopped and looked at the garden for a little bit.  It brought back memories and it just made me happy, but it made me realize something else.  When I was looking at this one particular flower, it popped into my head that this hour was without electronics.  I kept looking at the flower and I said to myself, "Wow, there are so many better and important things then being on Facebook or texting a friend about something random and useless.  God has created such beautiful things in this world and a lot of people out there just do not see it.  I hope they do because they do not know how good they have it being surrounded by beautiful"  I did not know what else to say so I just said, "beautiful".  When I arrived back at my room, the hour was up and honestly just went about the rest of my night.  The whole "one hour without electronics" thing didn't even destroy me at all because I am and always have been not too connected to electronics.  I will say that I am glad that I had the "one hour without" electronics because it forced me to go back to that garden and just think and be happy. 
      On the whole, I will conclude with saying that one friend I had during my freshman year here at Loyola was nice but not that friendly now that I realize.  James transferred to another school and I actually forgot where but it doesn't matter.  One day, I was walking with James on campus and I was saying hi to all of my friends and just being social.  One of my really good friends comes up to say hi to me and during me introducing James to my good friend, James pulls me aside and says, "Stop introducing me to your friends, I really do not want to say hi and I just do not care at all".  I think my good friend heard him say that and later left, but I looked at James with this negative and sad face because I didn't get it.  Here, I am this outgoing friend and James is one of my friends but to act the way he did, was just unacceptable.  To this day I regret friending him but it hasn't affected me what so ever.  I am stronger than that.  The Jesuit tradition taught me well and I thank God everyday being where I am right this second. 
       

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