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 Several members of the Political Science department. Each year, the Political Science department hosts a picnic in Harvey Stone, the gazebo near the golf course on campus. This year’s was on Tuesday, and due to a cancelled meeting I was able to attend. The picnic also served as a send off to our departmental secretary, who is retiring after many years of service.
Campus is absolutely gorgeous right now, and though Tuesday was bordering on too hot for me to handle, the temperature was perfect under the shade of the gazebo. Students manned the grill and various people brought dishes with them. The guacamole was gone in less than half an hour!
Though I had a million other things I should have been doing, I put those aside to enjoy the opportunity to hang out with my PoliSci friends, including some graduating seniors who I’ll miss a ton. One of my professors brought her puppy, who quickly made friends with another student’s dog, to my immense amusement. I also got to meet a visiting professor, who is in the department for this year and next. I didn’t get to have a class with him,
The picnic made summer feel almost tangible, and though I immediately had to go to work and then do homework all evening, I was glad for the opportunity to spend time with fellow polisci geeks.
Tonight, I went to the Gospel Choir concert, and it was amazing per usual! I was in the class last semester, so I may be a little biased, but everyone else said they loved it as well. It was cool because this year to advertise the concert, they sang in Glar and passed out flyers. I love being serenaded as I eat!
 Gospel Choir in Glar At the actual concert, they sang amazingly! The soloists were beautiful singers, and they took it to church! I was so proud of them, and it made me feel like I was back home. That was one of the best performances I have been to in a while.
 Tonight’s concert
At the end of every spring semester, I have a ritual. The weekend before our last week of classes, I go to conferences championships for track. This usually involves leaving Friday morning, coming back Sunday night, and bringing along homework that never actually gets done.
Then, during the last week of classes, I try to make sure I’ve started all the projects I need to do, finished all the homework for the last few days of classes, and most importantly, read for fun, take a few days off from exercise, and then start my summer training.
That’s when the weekend hits, and it’s time to get down to business. I go to the Hill lab or the library with everything I need to work on projects and presentations, bring some snacks, and settle in for many hours of Getting Things Done.
This is my fifth hour here. I’ve been working on (and making wonderful progress in) my final project on redheads for my class about hair and my Chinese final.
Although most people hate having to work for hours on end, I find it a much more relaxing weekend than conferences the weekend before, and so I enjoy it. Plus, I enjoy my classes and the things I’m learning, and that makes everything I do very interesting.
There are lots of ways to de-stress before and during finals. During this last week of classes, groups around camps planned lots of activities to help students relax.
 The most photogenic alpaca ever! On Wednesday, Active Minds and the Wellness Center hosted an event near Glar that involved therapy dogs, free iced tea from CUP, and mandala coloring. Therapy dogs have become a regular staple on campus over the past few years, coming at least every other week, and I take time to stop and pet them whenever I can.
On Thursday, Green Terror Productions hosted a petting zoo in Red Square. There were bunnies, chicks, ducklings, a baby emu, a horse, and a very photogenic alpaca that people kept posting selfies with. I didn’t get to go to this event, since it took place while I was in class, but I did enjoy seeing pictures — I had never seen a baby emu before!
On Friday evening, Dangersauce, McDaniel’s improv troupe, performed their last show of the semester, and it was an hour full of fun and laughs. It had been a while since I’d had time to see a Dangersauce show, so I was glad I was able to go see the very talented senior members of Dangersauce take their final bows.
Today I find myself in Birdie’s again working on a paper. I decided to walk there today because the annual Westminster Flower and Jazz Festival was on Main Street, and I wanted to check it out on my way. (I would have had to have found an alternate route in order to drive to Birdie’s since the festival blocked off part of Main Street.) It was fun to listen to music as I browsed lots of different craft tents, and I was glad to have gotten to go before I graduate.
During the last few weeks of school, hitting the books is important, but I definitely recommend taking time to relax however you see fit and to savor spring on the Hill.
 My view from the dais, where I sat as Parliamentarian. Of the many things I do, Maryland Student Legislature is one activity I’ve held near and dear to my heart for the past two years. Last weekend, we had our Annual Session in the State House in Annapolis. Our attendance was low with only about 60 students from 7 different schools in Maryland in attendance, but it was still a lot of fun and there were some incredibly interesting debates.
This time last year I was elected to serve as Attorney General for the state, which meant that I edited the 30 or so pieces of legislation that were submitted. I also wrote a bunch of my own, which included some amendments to our Constitution as well as regular pieces such as an act banning the sale of cats and dogs from pet stores. Though being AG had consumed HOURS upon HOURS of my life, I had really loved getting to fix all grammatical and spelling errors and I had become much better at navigating the laws of Maryland from assisting other students as they wrote their own legislation. I’d have loved to run for another term if I weren’t going abroad next year.
At the last minute before our packets went to print, I had whipped together a resolution on freezing college tuition for students while they attended. I expected it to be controversial as it applied to all colleges in Maryland, including private colleges, but I was pleasantly overwhelmed by the healthy debate it inspired. At the fancy gala on Saturday night, they announced awards, and to my surprise, they awarded me Most Outstanding Resolution. I won the award last year as well, and am the first person in MSL history to win two legislative awards, so I felt very pleased–though a little amused that it had been the piece I had spent the least time on! (I mandated that if passed the bill be sent to the director of the Maryland Vehicle Administration, which made no sense at all, to my later entertainment.)
While I’m so excited to go abroad next year, it was really sad to have to say goodbye to all of the seniors AND juniors in MSL. I’ll definitely do it again my senior year though, and I’m excited to see what the younger members bring to the table.
 McDaniel students in the State House.
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