A sample text widget
Etiam pulvinar consectetur dolor sed malesuada. Ut convallis
euismod dolor nec pretium. Nunc ut tristique massa.
Nam sodales mi vitae dolor ullamcorper et vulputate enim accumsan.
Morbi orci magna, tincidunt vitae molestie nec, molestie at mi. Nulla nulla lorem,
suscipit in posuere in, interdum non magna.
|
One of the nice things about being on campus for Jan Term is that even with things to do, there’s a lot of free time. I’m not taking a class, but I do have track practice every day and some projects to be working on that take up my time. Those projects include preparing for an academic retreat on campus called Potential Unleashed, preparing a presentation for the Honors conference in March, and assisting with the editing of a wine chemistry textbook.
Despite that, I have more free time than I ever have during the regular semester. It’s a glorious feeling. I have my room to myself and hours at my disposal to read, write, knit, or do anything else I want to, including Netflix, of course.
I’ve watched ABC’s mini series Galavant since it started with some friends that come every Sunday, but my favorite thing by far was watching the Addams Family movies twice in one weekend and going to Goodwill to hunt for some useful things (I got a notebook, six books, and a shirt that says “Textually Active,” so I think it was a successful trip).
With the spring semester starting in less than a week (!!!!), I find myself appreciating the weekends of free time to spend with friends and good movies. I’ll just soon have to start appreciating weekends full of homework, work, and track meets, which can be almost as fun.
My friends and I decided to go to Philadelphia for the day yesterday to explore.
We were going to take the train in, but we realised that with a mini-van it’d actually be cheaper to drive. With a bit of luck in parking garages, we were in the city!
We toured Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Benjamin Franklin Museum, and the Edgar Allen Poe museum. Since it was Benjamin Franklin’s birthday yesterday as well, the museum was free, and as all of the other places area always free, we ended up seeing a lot for absolutely nothing! Later, we walked along the harbour and went to a restaurant where some of us, to continue being tourists, had Philly cheesesteaks.
I’m talking an English literature class on Edgar Allan Poe this semester, so seeing the house where he lived for one of his six years in Philadelphia was really cool and served as a good intro. I realised how little I actually know about him–I hadn’t known the cause of his death is still unknown, as he had just been found in Baltimore unconscious. The class will be taught by Dr. Kachur, one of my favourite professors, and I think it will have a good dose of mystery and intriguing language. Poe’s birthday is tomorrow, the nineteenth, so the museum was crowded with people, but it was still really cool to see the beaten up walls and floors and imagining Poe living there with his wife.
My favourite part of the day, however, was at the Benjamin Franklin museum where they had an armonica that I could play. Franklin had created the armonica, which looked like a series of bowls that make noises when you spin them and put your wet finger on the rim. I managed to play “Baa Baa Black Sheep” and I was very proud of myself.
We were all exhausted by the time we got back to McDaniel, but it was a day very well spent!
Right next to campus, about five houses are springing up for low income families sponsored by a grant from the city of Westminster and by Habitat for Humanity, an organization that works to build houses for families in need.
They’ve been putting out a call to students to volunteer. A few of my fellow RAs and I decided to go as a group and put in a few hours, so today after my JanTerm class, we walked down. In one of the houses, we were haphazardly handed rollers, brushes, and paints, and directed where to paint. My only painting experience having been twelve years ago when my mum renovated the lounge in our house in New Zealand, I was surprised that our coordinator trusted us enough to be able to put on two finishing coats.
I painted the walls and ceiling of a staircase, managing to get almost as much paint on my hands and face as I did the walls. I don’t think the walls looked very professionally done; however, I was very proud of my job on the ceiling–it turns out I sometimes can manage to paint straight lines, but only on the harder areas.
I was shocked to find that they’re currently scheduled to have families move in during the first week of February. There still seems to be so much that needs done. It’s super easy to schedule volunteering, though, so hopefully with enough volunteer work coming in from the community, they’ll be successful!
This month, I’ve found myself spending a lot of time thinking back to the Jan Term class I took last year called Travel Writing Across Europe. One thing that I think is useful to share with everyone is how to pack for a whirlwind trip across Europe.
When my professor Josh Ambrose told the members of my Jan Term and me that we should only pack a backpack or small duffel’s worth of stuff for our 11-day trip to Europe, we thought he was crazy! Don’t pack a different outfit for every day and limit our souvenir purchases? Hogwash!
It was the sort of advice that was hard to hear but incredibly useful to receive. When you’re constantly traveling from one place to the next, as we did, things are a lot quicker — and less painful — when you’re not shlepping around very many things. Here’s what we were told to pack:
 Duffel bag with a strap (shape shifts, can double as a pillow, etc)- Passport
- Wallet
- Your book selection (we were each assigned a different travel writing book to read prior to and during the trip)
- Course packet (provided by Prof A)
- Notebook
- Camera
- One pair of walking shoes
- One pair of nicer shoes
- Water resistant/proof overcoat
- Hat, gloves, and a scarf. Note: finding new ones can be an easy, practical souvenir!
- A sweater or two
- 3 pairs of clothes
- Garbage bag
- Towel
- Bathing suit for the Budapest Baths
I really took this list to heart. My small duffel bag, which I’d bought from Macy’s especially for the occasion of going on this trip contained (clothing-wise) four long-sleeved shirts, two sweaters, three pairs of pants, a few pairs of underwear and socks. Because we were traveling in the winter, we didn’t need to worry about sweating as much, and knowing to what extent we would be able to access laundry facilities, we knew we could hand wash things in the sinks in our hotel rooms and hostels.
The duffel I bought also had a compartment perfect for my book, notebook, course notes, and postcards. I also packed a somewhat large crossbody purse so that I could easily carry my notebook on days that I didn’t need my duffel with me and my DSLR camera — which was definitely heavy but also definitely worth having. (When traveling abroad with a purse, I highly recommend bringing a crossbody bag; being able to situate it so that it is in front of your body and not in your hands make it MUCH harder for pickpockets to steal your things!)
I think I also packed some sort of dress or skirt, but I ended up not wearing it (and not wearing the suggested pair of nicer shoes either). And I actually brought two coats — a thin down liner and a windbreaker, so that I had more control over my body temperature than if I had just brought one heavy coat.
One thing not on the list that I packed was a pair of flip flops; my sister had traveled to France the summer before and thought it was nice to have a comfortable pair of shoes different from the ones I spent all day in to be able to walk around hotels in. (This was great advice! One night, when my roommate was occupying the bathroom, it was nice to be able to slip on the flip flops to go use the bathroom in the lobby.) I also brought a reusable shopping bag with me so that if I did buy a few larger souvenirs by the end of the trip, I would have something to carry them in.
When I arrived at Dulles International Airport on the evening of our flight to Paris, everyone marveled at how small and compact my bag was! (They somehow failed to notice that my purse was relatively large.) The duffel alone ended up being the least heavy bag of anyone on the trip, and I hoisted it above my head in victory while we waited for our plane at the gate. At first, I did worry that I hadn’t packed enough things, but my worries quickly disappeared. As our travels made me increasingly sore and tired, it was a relief not to have so many things to carry around.
Take advantage of McDaniel’s travel Jan Terms, especially if you’re like me and don’t get a chance to study abroad for a whole semester. Just don’t forget to pack lightly and economically — pack like a traveler!
 Long live Sesame Peep! One of my favorite things about Westminster is that every spring, around Easter, the Carroll Arts Center hosts what they call the PEEPshow. It’s not what it sounds like! The Westminster PEEPshow is actually an art competition in which Carroll County families and school groups (and occasionally McDaniel students) make sculptures (and illustrations, paintings, photographs, and even movies) using Marshmallow Peeps.
I’ve gone to the PEEPshow every year, and two years ago, I took my family with me. That particular PEEPshow was memorable because one family, the Mondors, had made a GIANT sculpture of Big Bird with — you guessed it — Marshmallow Peeps. I was impressed with the time and talent it must have taken to create such a spectacle, who carried a sign that said “Long Live Sesame Peep,” as was practically everyone else who saw it.
Now, why am I writing about Peeps and Easter in January? Last month, I had the chance to see the Big Bird Peep sculpture in the flesh again. My mom, brother, and I traveled to Bethlehem, PA to visit their Christkindlmarkt the week before Christmas, and when we passed the offices of the local PBS station on our way back to our car, who else was standing in the window but Big Bird himself?
I was thrilled. I called out, “It’s Big Bird! It’s Sesame Peep!” and my family, having attended that PEEPshow with me, quickly understood what I was talking about. We snapped a few photos of my yellow friend and were on our way.
After the 2013 PEEPshow had ended, Big Bird needed a home big enough for him, and the PBS station in Bethlehem ended up being perfect, since Bethlehem is home to Just Born Inc., the company that manufactures Peeps, and PBS is obviously home to Sesame Street. Instead of being trashed like many Peeps sculptures inevitably do, Big Bird is able to continue to delight the public — including unsuspecting folks like me, who think of Westminster as a second home, and are highly entertained to see a big yellow slice of it somewhere else.
Long live Sesame Peep.
|
|
