No. I’ve had this question for a while now. Right now, I am taking a French 2 class and it is literally my favorite class and it is so interesting. Interesting in the sense that learning a language to me is interesting, but can I really be fluent in this language? Will all of my hard work pay off in the end?

In my psychology class, I learned that one can be bilingual at a really young age. This is because if the baby hears the two languages while in the womb, it can adapt to the sounds of it and learn it, which is interesting. For the people who only know one language, it is pretty difficult to learn a second language, especially if we’re a college student. They say that young children can learn more things easily than adults in the sense of memorization of certain things like a language music, or dancing.

Depending on the way your mind works, it may take a long or short time to become fluent in a language. This website, http://www.languagesurfer.com/2012/08/21/how-long-does-it-take-to-become-fluent/, tells us that becoming fluent in a language depends on four factors: the difficulty of the language, how long and often you study, the quality of your study, and your individual ability. For the language difficulty, the US government categorizes languages according to how difficult they are for native English speakers to learn, with Category I being the easiest and Category IV being the hardest. For me, I think maybe Spanish would be in Category one, French in Category two, an maybe Chinese or Japanese in Category 4. French is a common language to learn, but it is a little hard.

If you are studying everyday of your life the language that you want to learn, then maybe their will be some improvement in your fluency in that language. Language Surfer says that you should study for 2 hours a day. Another website, http://matadornetwork.com/abroad/10-steps-to-becoming-fluent-in-a-language-in-6-months/ says that if you immerse yourself, then you can definitely learn it. Another way to become fluent, is to start listening to the culture’s music and hearing it more and more everyday. Watch TV shows or movies in that language, it will be easier.

Learning a new language is definitely not easy, but anyone can do it. You just have to devote the time and effort into your everyday life.

Exercise is something that researchers says that humans should do every single day, some form of it. Obviously, to stay fit, but are there other reasons that researches want you to stay active?

 Apparently, a work out at the gym for 30 minutes can make you a happier human being. According to this site, http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/exercise/art-20048389, physical activity stimulates different brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. Also, you my feel better about your appearance and have more confidence in yourself on a daily basis. This can improve our self-esteem and boost your confidence. Exercise also can boost your energy. Regular physical activity can improve your muscle strength and strengthen your endurance. Exercise and physical activity deliver oxygen and nutrients into your tissues and helps your cardiovascular system to work more efficiently. When your heart and lungs start to work more efficiently, then you have the energy to daily things such as chores or run errands.

Also, this website says that it promotes you to get better sleep. It can help you to fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. This is great, especially when you are having troubles sleeping. Exercise also decreases your risks of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and many other things. It does improve your sense of well-being and your metabolic system.

According to http://umm.edu/health/medical/reports/articles/exercise, exercise can help change other dangerous lifestyles habits. A 2007 review of existing studies found that moderate exercise, for as little as 5 minutes at a time, can help combat the nicotine withdrawal symptoms people have when they try to stop smoking. This is interesting how effective a little bit of exercise can do.

Today I woke up late this morning at 11 and felt so good the whole day. I felt like I was in a better mood than usual, and I usually wake up at about 8 in the morning. The question that I was thinking about today is is waking up late get you in a better mood.

Research says that it’s not what time you wake up, but how you wake up. To elaborate, this website, http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/wellness_articles.asp?id=329, tells us how to wake up in the morning or anytime. It says that when you have an alarm clock, it is an unnatural way to wake up. That’s probably why I was in such a good mood because when I woke up, no alarm was set and it was a natural awakening. When you wake up with an alarm clock set, you start to have a frantic morning, which is tiring. Instead of waking up to the sound of that dreading alarm, try and change the alarm sound to music, so you will be calmed down.

Also, this website tells you not to get up right away. It says to breath deeply, stretch in bed an little from your fingers to your toes. Get out of your bed slowly and turn on one light at a time, instead of multiple lights at the same time. Depending on the weather, step outside for a minute, do 3-5 minutes of easy activity and also eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important because it gives you the energy throughout the day.

Another website, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kanegis/start-your-day-in-a-great_b_5177193.html, gives tips to wake up in a better mood at any time. It says you need at least 20 minutes prior to do these activities before bed. It says to make yourself comfortable and eat a little snack. Take about 10 slow, relaxing breaths and think about your pleasant surroundings. Then, begin writing things that makes you happy and include the best and happiest moment in your life. Prioritize the list and turn it into the top 3,5, or 10 things and put it on your nightstand to always refer to before you go to sleep. Finally, say to yourself that you will be in a good mood the next morning.

So, it is not how late you woke up, but what you did when you woke up. This is an interesting study and it is something I may have to experiment with to find the true answers. I will try and do these things and see what happens to confirm if these studies will actually work. It could be another factor that can cause a good mood in the morning, but we will see.

Gossiping is a good thing? That’s what these psychologists are saying today. My parents always told me to never gossip or talk about anyone behind their back. Doing that is just a waste of time and energy when you can just say it to their face. Psychologists are saying something way different than what my parents taught me.

Studies are finding that gossip is actually good for you in a sense and it isn’t always a bad thing. A study called  “The Virtues of Gossip,” , found that gossip can play the role of protecting others from being exploited by passing on information about bad behavior to warn others. A man , who is a postdoctoral student at Stanford, named Matthew Feinberg said if you tell people that a person is a jerk, then people learn to avoid this person. This is what http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/16/your-money/studies-find-gossip-isnt-just-loose-talk.html?pagewanted=all&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A15%22%7D says.

Also, a professor named Professor Willer did a study showing how just the threat of gossip could encourage people to be nicer. About 300 participants played an economic trust game online using raffle tickets that will be entered for a $50 drawing. They knew that they were going to be talked about if they didn’t play fairly. This made all of the participants to become more generous.

Another study that happened was Bianca Beersma, an associate of work psychology, and Gerban van Kleef, a professor of social psychology, told a group of people that they were randomly picked to distribute 100 lottery tickets with a cash prize.  They had a choice to be generous and give away the tickets or keep it all to themselves. Half the time, the participant was told the choice would be kept private and no one would know. The rest of the time, the decision would be publicized in the group. At the private time, these people were being more selfish and kept most of the lottery tickets, but when it became publicized , they became less selfish. They knew that people would gossip about them, so they started doing more of the right thing.

According to this website http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sideways-view/201311/gossip-is-good-you, it says that sharing gossip builds and secures bonds and it can be influential to others. Gossip is also the way corporate cultures are established and maintained. It sometimes is a social norm in certain cultures and it can let off team, anger, or stress. So is gossip good for you? A little bit, depending on what angle you’re looking at it.

Many people say that you need physical contact or hugs from other human beings in order to be happier and healthier. One time at my church, a pastor preached about how giving hugs to people isn’t a bad thing because as human beings, we need it. This was an interesting topic for me, so I have decided to look more into it.

This article from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/the-power-of-touch-physical-contact-health_n_3253987.html shows that you indeed need physical contact in order to be healthier. In our culture, we believe in personal space and no affection towards stranger or even acquaintances. Other cultures in Latin America or in the Middle East usually do not believe in personal space, maybe very little, but not much. Humans get something called touch deprivation, we just need more human contact than what we are getting. According to http://www.city-data.com/forum/psychology/1780367-craving-touch-physical-affection-important-part.html, studies have shown that people crave being touched more than they desire sex, money, or social status. Basic physical affection (nonsexual) is very important to our species and sometimes people who go without physical contact for a long time start to become depressed. They tend to isolate their selves and have less interest in everyday activities, which is just sad.

On the Huffington Post, it says research shows that stimulating touch receptors under the skin can lower blood pressures and cortisol levels, reducing stress levels. Also, a warm embrace increases oxytocin levels in the brain, which is why women who hug their spouses have lower blood pressures. Psycology Today http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mind-body-connection/201309/why-we-all-need-touch-and-be-touched says that being touched and touching someone is apart of human interaction and the oxytocin has a big part of it. When you were born this oxytocin helped expel you from your mother’s womb and made it possible for her to nurse you. When younger, you enjoyed your father/mother’s loving touch because it released oxytocin in your body. Now that we are older and are adults, we experience the effects of oxytocin when we eat good food, get a massage, or have an intimate interlude with a romantic partner.

Simple things such as hugging, holding hands, massages, or being caressed can help our health and mood. We would be in a happier state and will have interests to do different things more. Indeed, hugs are needed in an everyday life of a human. It could be reverse causation though. People can be in a healthy enough or in the mood to give a person a hug. It can go both ways, which is interesting. Usually when people are happier, they are more affectionate. Try and put more physical contact into your life and see how your mood changes or what happens.

Yes, those sprites are real. When Andrew brought this up in class the other day, I was instantly interested in what they were and how they’re formed. Sprites are these electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds. They are triggered by the positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground. They appear as a reddish-orange color.

According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning) , there are three types of sprites: jellyfish sprite, carrot sprite, and Column sprite. Recently, a man named Thomas Ashcraft has been studying these sprites with his own equipment. Every summer in the evening, around 7:00pm,  he would search for these sprites and get lucky sometimes. Depending on his skill, luck, or the weather, he would get at least one or two sprite images a night or even 300, according to New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/on-the-hunt-for-a-sprite-on-a-midsummers-night.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A16%22%7D&_r=0. Also, from June to August, he captured sprite on 29 of these nights, which is interesting. His location is in a dry and clear place, with a grand view of the sky over the great plains of Colorado. He usually only goes out and turns his equipment on when a thunderstorm is approaching.

These sprites are indeed real. Other studies and people have proved it to be true. A US photographer flew in a research aircraft above a storm in Colorado to take pictures of these sprites. Jason Ahrns was his name and he was onboard of the plane belonging to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, He took the images using special high speed film according to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/10230097/Rare-sprite-lightning-caught-on-camera.html  . It also says that the existence of these rare sprite lightings was confirmed in 1989 when scientists at the University of Michigan filmed it occurring.  These two are connected because Ashcraft asked Ahrns for advice about where and how to find these sprites in Colorado.

Sprites are probably not found in cities, but who knows? Maybe they can be found in State College, right here! Studies should be formed in order to look at these sprites ourselves.

There is big debate on if McDonald’s food is the real deal. Many people say because the burgers there do not rot, it is not real food. Also on social media, there is a video with a man burning the McDonald’s fries, which he believes are made of cardboard. Cheese in the burgers are 1% away from being plastic. Other people say that it is real food, but who knows?

In an article, it explains that all of these rumors are false accusations and myths. They explain the ingredients in this article http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-mcdonalds-food-2014-5?op=1 about how the food is very much real. In my opinion, I don’t know if I believe that the food is real. It seems as though the food just isn’t right and they say that it is real, so they won’t lose customers. In reality, they could be making things up and actually have secret ingredients or something that they’re keeping away from the public.

My friend’s sister is a nurse and she says that McDonald’s food is in fact not real. The fries aren’t cardboard, but they’re not skinned and cut from a potato. In the article, it says that the fries are peeled and cut and shipped to local McDonald’s, so they can be deep-fried. The question is, do they really do that? They could be just showing the public an artificial video about how they process the food.

McDonald’s food always makes me feel really bad afterwards, so I don’t eat it that much, but I wonder what the ingredients could actually be in the meals that they serve. I definitely know that the orange juice is fake though. It’s funny because when I went to a McDonald’s for breakfast, I saw a big package of an orange type of goo. It looked disgusting and I realized that it was what they used for the orange juice. What do you all think about McDonald’s food? Is it real or not?

The question that many people our age have. Is weed or marijuana dangerous or is it harmless? Many people believe that weed is harmless because it is a plant and it shouldn’t cause cancer. Many studies say otherwise. In this link, http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/marijuana/the-harmful-effects.html, the article says that marijuana smoke contains 50-70% more cancer causing substances than tobaccos smoke. That is very intriguing because you would think that it shouldn’t be too bad since it is only a plant.

Marijuana smokers believe that weed is healthy for you and it brigs relaxation to the mind and soul. It makes one more peaceful within themselves and it isn’t that serious of a drug. They may be wrong. According to the article one cannabis joint could cause as much damage to the lungs as 5 cigarettes smoked one after the other. That sounds pretty bad.

Everyone knows that marijuana causes a lack of physical coordination and also depression or sleepiness. It may also cause laziness. This is not a fact, but I have noticed different effects that marijuana has caused. What I have observed is that the more people smoke, the more they become lazy with their lives. What I mean Is that, they never want to do anything or go to school. They make up excuses as to why they do not want to do something and end up not doing anything. Not all marijuana smokers are like that though, just the ones that I have encountered.

Anyways, also in this article, it says that marijuana changes the structure of sperm cells and deforms them. Also, marijuana can upset a woman’s menstrual cycle, which isn’t that good. Studies in this article also show that the mental functions of people who have smoked marijuana tend to b diminished. It really makes you think, is it worth the high ?

I have a neutral opinion about this topic, but I want to hear what everyone has to say. Do you think marijuana can be dangerous to you?

This is something that I have been thinking about for a while. Should I beat my kids? I do plan on having children when I grow older, but the problem is how do I discipline them? From my personal experience, my mom spanked me only once, my dad never, and my grand mom spanked me every time I didn’t listen. I mean, I came out as a great child that has her priorities straight, so I cannot determine if it is good or bad to spank you children.

Recently, I’ve had a long discussion about this topic with different views of this situation. One person said that she wouldn’t hit her kids, but take away privileges, which is a good way to think of things. I believe that if you are going to spank your child, you should at least tell them why they’re in trouble and why they have to suffer. Communication is key to every relationship, that is my motto. Therefore, communication should be used when dealing with a child. That may be the problem to disciplining children, the parents always want to be right and not communicate with their kids.

In this article http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/07/health/spanking-mental-illness-reaction/, it shows different opinions about people their kids. It either you should hit your kids or you shouldn’t. The man in this article, Dr. David Safir, thinks that spanking or beating his kids and grandkids would help.  He thinks that it is an effective tool for parents to use. Psychologists believe that people who say they were beat and are okay are lucky, which I disagree with that statement. They believe that it brings upon a feeling of shame into a child’s heart because of the embarrassment.

I think that if you beat or don’t beat your child, you should always tell them what happened so they won’t be curious and do it again. Parents seem to always want to be in control and never listen to their children though, which is a bad trait to have because you can never have a good relationship with your child. It can effect the future teenager or adult. Telling the child what he/she did will help them to learn from their mistakes and continue on without any problems. It is a good idea to do this for their life.

I do not know if I want to spank them, mildly hit them ,or not touch them at all. That is something I will have to learn in the future. I do know, that I plan on talking with my child so he/she knows how it is in this world.

The question that I always ask myself when I think of the future. It seems as though, if you love the work that you do, then life will be a little easier. I personally think that is a true statement. If you hate math, then one shouldn’t become a accountant because they’ll probably not like the way they’re living. Also, it would just cause unnecessary stress for the person doing it, when they can do something that they have interests in or something that they LOVE.

When I think of a career that someone wants to do for their entire life, I think of something that isn’t boring to them and that doesn’t make them fall asleep. Some say that liking work, like in this article, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/opinion/sunday/go-with-the-flow.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A17%22%7D&_r=0 enhances your work ethics. In this article, they study a group of undergraduates and ask them to work on word puzzles. They were asked how exciting or entertaining this would be for them. The ones who actually thought it would be enjoyable solved the most problems, and as the article says, “…their engagement was more efficient…”. Also, it was not mentally exhausting for them. The ones who were uninterested in the task performed worse and were mentally exhausted.

I think this research is pretty accurate. Some people just want to pursue certain careers because of the pay and even though one would be set financially, they wouldn’t be as happy as they could be. Doing something that you love or even are just interested in, will bring some sort of happiness into your life. One should ask themselves at Penn State “Am I interested in what I am majoring in?” “Will I hate working in the future?”. Those are important questions to ask in order to continue one’s future.

When one is interested in something, they are more motivated to do better. An example would be if someone loved basketball , they would be motivated to get better at that sport. If one wasn’t interested in basketball, then they would not have the drive to be the best that they can be. That situation is just like a career path. Not only are you motivated, but you also want to strive to be on top.

Hello Everyone! My name is Sydni Jean and I am a little freshman here at Penn State University. I am originally from Philadelphia, Pa, but later in life I moved to Chichester, PA and went to Chichester High School (http://www.edline.net/pages/ChichesterCSD). I will be majoring in Communications- Broadcast Journalism. I am taking this course because one it was a requirement and two because I had a feeling it was interesting. I say this because when I was selecting this course it clearly said that if you aren’t a science major, this is the class for you, so I took that.

I am not planning on becoming a science major simply because I do not like science. Science was my worst subject in high school, so I don’t want to torture myself in something that I don’t even like. Therefore, becoming a science major would’ve been a waste of time and waste of my other talents that I can use in other majors.