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.
|
I just realized that I have never adequately described the McDaniel Budapest campus. How could I have missed that? Although McDaniel Europe does have similarities to the main campus in Westminster, it is an extremely different college and here are some of the main differences I have experienced during my time at the Budapest campus so far.
1. The student body is much smaller. While McDaniel Westminster has about 1,700 students, the campus in Budapest is maybe 1/15 of this size.
2. Because of the difference in size, there are also fewer professors and classes.
3. McDaniel in Maryland has a diverse student body, but on the Budapest campus, students come from all around the world. In one class, I have seven students who come from seven different countries.
4. No Glar (our beloved dining hall in Westminster). The Budapest campus has a small cafeteria, but it is nothing compared to Glar; I miss the convenience and atmosphere of the dining hall- especially the theme nights and the Mongolian grill!
5. The trek to school in Budapest is an actual trek. In Westminster, I can walk to any one of my classes in five minutes. Here, my voyage from my apartment to school is twenty minutes, so I actually have to plan my day in advance.
6. The appliances are somewhat complicated in Budapest. You might think that I am being funny, but I do struggle with them daily (if you ask other students in Budapest, they will most likely agree with me). We have a gas oven/stove, I guess every time I use the washer (I just push random buttons until I hear the water), and there are no dryers in any of the apartments.
While I am sure that I will think of more differences later, these are the main differences that my friends and I discussed this afternoon while our clothes were drying out the windows.
 Hi there,
As a resident assistant, I’m responsible for hosting events for my floor. This, quite honestly, scares me. I’m not the best at telling people that they should go to events, so the advertising part is just pure scary. However, I had an event last week that came together super successfully.
My event, which I called Munch With Friends (though I neglected to include that on the advertisements!) was exceedingly simple. I provided food, and my residents on my floor came and ate it and they got to hang out with their floormates while doing so! In this case, simple really was best. It was a Monday night, so a few people brought textbooks and did homework, while others used the event as an excuse to pause and take a break.
I really enjoyed seeing my residents interact–sometimes, living on opposite sides of the floor, people don’t even meet each other. Though a lot of them are athletes and I’m decidedly not an athlete, they’re a lovely bunch of people and are so much fun to hang out with.
Ema
 During my time here at McDaniel, I’ve had several busy weeks. Many things can cause busy weeks. These factors may be due to social life, academics, and athletics. Last week was my first busy week of the semester, so I thought it might be helpful to give a couple tips on how to avoid and/or deal with these types of weeks.
Prioritize
Don’t lose track of why your enrolled here, academics! Academics are the number one priority. Yes- we all want to have fun and have a great experience while at McDaniel. But we never lose sight that everything starts in the classroom. Academics should be the main priority.
Keep track of time
While you may not realize, time is of the essence. There always seems to be an abundant amount of time while here; being as though most of your day is spent outside of the classroom. But how you manage that time is key. If you learn to manage your time you will effectively avoid busy weeks. My suggestion is a planner, having a planner is a good tool for managing time.
With this being said, if you use these two tips it might help you eliminate busy weeks to come. While we all will eventually have busy weeks, these methods may guide us through them.
 Hey guys!
This past week, the English department has been busy with an Alumni Panel and with an alumni author visiting campus.
One of the struggles of college is realizing that pretty soon I’ve got to know what I’m doing with my life. I have a very divided personality–I want to do something Political Science related or something English related, but I’m not sure which direction I want to take yet. I’ve been confident, thanks to MSL and various simulations, that if I go PoliSci I’ll go into public policy. And in this past week, I’ve solidified my thoughts for if I go English.
 If I focus my career on English, I want to work in the publishing industry. I love to read and I love to edit and I am one of the very few people who has fun finding grammar mistakes and making things look pretty. I’ve had this vague notion for a while. Lisa Van Allen, author of The Night Garden and The Wishing Thread, graduated from McDaniel in 2002. She went on to work for a literary agent before getting her masters in Creative Writing and then becoming a published novelist.
Last Monday, I was invited along with other English majors to dinner at the president’s house, where she was the guest of honour. She then gave a reading in the Wahraftig room of the library. The next day, she came in to talk to my Creative Writing class, and then she spoke at the alumni panel, meaning I got a lot of opportunities to quiz her about her career. It’s a lot different actually speaking with someone who was doing what I want to do than reading reports and informational articles online. She was super sweet and willing to answer my thousands of questions, which I really appreciated!
The alumni panel was super interesting in of itself because English is one of those majors that really can be applied to absolutely everything. Ironically, it’s one of the majors that gets questioned often, but it teaches one how to write effectively, how to communicate, and how to analyse. The paths that McDaniel graduates had taken were all interesting to hear about.
Each department has alumni panel dinners, co-sponsored by the Center for Experience and Opportunity, every second year, and I definitely recommend going to them, even if you have a solid idea of how you want your career to look!
Ema
 Lisa Van Allen with my Creative Writing class.
This weekend was so exciting with so many different events! On Saturday, one of my friends from the Westminster community was confirmed at a local church and I went to see the ceremony. Afterwards we went to lunch at a local restaurant called Johansson’s. It was a beautiful atmosphere and the food was delicious. I didn’t have any dessert, but my friend got a Reese’s peanut butter cup pie and I almost fainted upon seeing it. It is now my mission to make it back there this week to try it out.
 Birthday celebration in town! Birthday girl is on the left 😀 On Saturday evening one of my best friends turned 21 and we went to O’Lordan’s Pub to celebrate! I feel it necessary to specify that we were all of age and only had one drink, but we had a ball and really enjoyed the atmosphere. The bartender was lots of fun and had such a thick Irish accent that I couldn’t even understand him at first. There was a live band playing in the background and dim lighting. The stone walls and the relatively low ceiling made for a cozy environment. I really felt like I was in Ireland for the hour or so that we were there. When we stepped outside and began our trek back to school, I couldn’t believe we were still in Westminster – the experience had kind of transported me to another place!
On Sunday, my parents came to visit for Families Weekend. Because most Family Weekend activities happen on Saturday, we spent most of our time catching up and enjoying time together in my apartment. My mom made coconut and chocolate bars for the apartment and my dad fixed various cabinets with loose hinges. He also “WD-40”-ed the door to our entire apartment complex. If any of you have ever seen, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, my dad uses WD-40 like the main character’s father used Windex – it fixes everything. After some time at the apartment, we headed over to Fall Fest, the local festival in Westminster! There were vendors and carnival rides, and my favorite – free samples. If anyone ever gets the chance they should absolutely try basil salt. There is a man at the festival that has created this phenomenon and it is incredible. He gives out free samples, hence my great understanding of the product ;). My dad bought me a nice pair of earrings from one of the vendors and I am so excited to wear them. After the festival, we collected my friends and went to dinner at O’Lordan’s Pub. In all of my four years here at McDaniel, I had never been to O’Lordan’s Pub and this weekend, I went twice in two days! My only regret is that I didn’t go sooner! Now I feel like I need to go every weekend to make up for lost time! The inside of the restaurant is even more beautiful and old-timey than the bar the night before. The seats appear to be thrones made for royalty and the color scheme made me seriously consider making myself queen of something – if nothing more than my car or refrigerator. Again, low-lit chandeliers hung from the ceiling making the atmosphere cozy and desirable. I can’t wait to go back. So after a wonderful weekend, here I am writing, getting ready to take off on another crazy week. Wish me luck!
|
|
