I’ve decided I have a new superpower: extreme observation. Eye sight that is now drawn to the things I used to pass without a second glance. Starting to notice all the little details, the uniqueness, the artistry, and things that are just plain cool.

The cause for my new skills? Art courses. Throughout college, I’ve taken a Black & White film Photography course, currently a Digital Photography course, as well as several graphic design and computer graphics courses. They’ve taught me to seek out and savour every little detail that I find. Photography courses have honestly changed how I see the world. While walking along campus or down the street, I notice everything (I feel like Spiderman or Superman with extreme senses): cotton-ball clouds standing out against the blue sky, the reflection of a tree in the window, the light illuminating someone’s earring in class or an interesting texture off a rusty metal car.

Everything suddenly has beauty and value even if it’s just bizarre. No longer do I simply walk looking straight ahead- I look up to see rolling storm clouds or sunset-streaked skies against the dark outlines of trees. I look down and notice how the puddles from yesterday’s rain are reflecting the cloud-dotted sky. A rainy day produces beautiful raindrops on windows. You get the idea. I’m constantly searching, observing and waiting to find something other people haven’t noticed. I have photography classes to thank for that.

Then there are also my graphic design classes. Never have I looked at magazine ads the same way. The other day I opened my friend’s magazine to a car advertisement and was fascinated, “Look at this! They morphed the car into water droplets! Do you have any idea how much work that would take??” I now know the effort and skill behind the design and the graphics, what things are original and what can be easily produced with Photoshop. When passing a billboard, I literally do think, “Woah. That’s a great logo.” Or…not so great- I could do better than that.

Whether you have a great interest in art or photography or not, take it from me that just taking one little photography class can open your eyes to a whole new world. The mundane becomes interesting. The fascinating and beautiful suddenly appears all around. Want to spice up your life? How about acquiring some X-ray vision?

Tonight, I got a three-course dinner. The best part: it was free!  Sodexo, the company that does our food at McDaniel has a new chef in the kitchen for the past two years: Chef Jamie. As a new idea to improve campus dinning, Chef Jamie decided to create “Dinner on Us” events each month. Essentially, an announcement is sent out, and whoever responds can come in for a free, served 3-course meal in Glar while we discuss campus dining: what works and what doesn’t and what we’d like to see in the future.

While he’s only been here for around two years now, our new chef has had his work cut out for him and, in my opinion (and that of others there tonight), made a lot of progress on making Glar food better! He’s been improving a lot of things behind the scenes and introducing new ideas and items pretty regularly, like the Mongolian Grill, Pasta Action station and the crêpe station I talked about last week.

The meal was great (especially the fresh, still-hot rolls and the delicious lemon custard dessert), and the best part was Chef Jamie sitting there with his yellow legal pad and pen taking down all our comments and suggestions. It’s so great to have leaders and management that actually listen to the students, seek out their opinions and then react accordingly; I got to bring up how I loved the “make-your-own” type stations, such as the crêpe, pasta and Mongolian grill stations. New today was also a make-your-own flatbread pizza station! You got to pick all the sauces and ingredients you wanted to go on top and they made it right there- three minutes later you got to pick up your own personal pizza.

After we had chatted away critiquing, praising and making suggestions for both the Pub upstairs (please bring back flatbread!), and Glar downstairs, Chef Jamie took us on a behind-the-scene tour of Glar to the kitchens and food storage areas. He definitely has me convinced on his vision for Glar in the future and knows how to get there. So incoming students- look forward to more delicious food! And if we’re not happy- they’re always open to suggestions. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

Anyone will tell you not to wear jeans to a job interview. Anyone will give you tips on how to write the best resume. But what most people differ on is the personality and attitude to enter an interview with. I always try to stay as positive as possible. I greet my interviewer as if they are an equal and a superior all in one. I make sure to give them a nice handshake and keep the focus of the interview on what skills I have that are important to the job. Luckily, I have had many of these opportunities. I have had lots of chances to interview for jobs and internships. Many of which I have gotten and others have slid right past me. Either way, I always learn something from the experience.

Even though I hate to admit it, I know I have to grow up and be an adult more often than I like to. More than half of my closet now holds clothes that can double as professional and casual attire. Dress pants and appropriate skirts dangle from one side while my nice shirts and sweaters sway from side to side each morning I search through them looking for a cute and professional outfit. Then there are the shoes…there must be specific outfits for specific pairs of shoes. The floor of my closet this year is carpeted with various flats and heels that are comfortable enough to walk around in for hours at a time and appropriate for the workplace. Of course, I still have my Mickey sneakers that I wear on the weekends.

As much as I love to sleep in as a college kid (with all those late nights writing papers), I end up loosing more sleep because it takes even more time to get ready in the mornings. But all the fuss and lost sleep will be worth it in the end. All the experience I am gaining from my two internships this semester and all the summer jobs I have worked will help me get to my big professional goals.

Having the CEO (Center for Experience and Opportunity) has been a huge help as well. They have been great about giving feedback on resumes and getting the students of McDaniel into internships and part time jobs that will actually look amazing on their resumes. It is thanks to them that I am interning with the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. With them, I am helping two other students create a relocation guide for people moving into the county. It was intended for English and Writing focused people. Perfect for me. I have spent time doing research on the county and it’s towns and cities, writing promotional material for each place and thing to do in the county, and creating a professional brochure for the Chamber to use as a template for years to come. These experiences have shown me the ins and outs of working with small companies and I feel that because of that I will have an easier time adjusting to working for one of the largest companies in the world come August.

The countdown continues, exactly 6 months, I will be working for the impeccable Walt Disney Company!

Last week the student volunteers at Université Saint Louis organized a trip to a local brewery for us exchange students. We met at the local metro station, rode the subway a few stops, walked for 10 minutes, and arrived at an old warehouse that was recently transformed into la Brasserie de la Senne.

Our tour was given by one of the co-owners of the brewery. He explained that, like most small brewing companies, he and his partner started out by home brewing in their basements. Later, as their beers became more and more popular they decided they needed to expand. That was when they bought an old warehouse in the city and worked for a few years turning it into a working brewery.

Our guide explained to us that they based their entire business on one simple rule: make beer that they want to drink. Instead of following current trends or trying to appear fancy, they want to cater to their own tastes. If other people happen to like it too, more’s the better.
They also wanted to truly be a beer from Brussels, by Brussels, and for Brussels. They felt strongly that having a brewery in the actual city was important (there’s only one other brewery in Brussels), and despite heavy foreign demand they primarily sell to Belgian stores.

Our tour was short, but in about 45 minutes we were really able to understand where beer comes from and how it is made. He took us to each stage of production and explained how the processes occur that transform water, hops, and barley into a beer. He gave us hops to taste and showed us how hops of different colors produce different beers. It was really remarkable how much he knew and how he was able to explain the relatively complex scientific process in an understandable way off the top of his head, in his second language.

Hops. They tasted a little like bitter sunflower seeds, but I don’t think I’m gonna start eating them during baseball games.

Of course, like any brewery tour, we finished by drinking some beers. We enjoyed tasting three different kinds of beer, and one of the Italians may have purchased a dozen to go. Overall the brewery trip was a great success; now we need to visit the second Brussels brewery to compare!

P.S. Can you tell how cold it was that day? Brrrrrr!

One of the ways to promote a club or campus event on campus is to have a table in Decker. Decker is the heart of the college, the center that every student walks through whether it be a short cut to class, on the way to getting a meal at one of three dining options, or picking up their mail. Along the halls there are tables stationed to give out information about events or promote awareness for certain clubs or activities. So how do people get attracted to a table?

One key in attraction is handing out things for free. The free candy has always been popular with students to entice them to visit your table, but also is overdone. For a campus group I am promoting, Global Initiatives, we wanted to be creative in getting people to come to our table. So what did we do?

We did three things. The first was free candy, and the second free pens. While the free thing was great our club schemed up an idea of having something interactive. This idea turned out to be buttons! Global Initiatives is allowing students to create and design their own button, which we will then deliver to them. It turns out students love the idea of creating something for themselves, especially because there are stickers involved. Almost every college student loves a good blast from the past, and stickers are a great reminder of the blissful innocent days of our youth. The table sitting has also become a lot more fun now that it has some variety.