I have scary news: I’m *gulp* a senior now. So while I certainly had fun this past week, I also found myself thinking way too much about how next year, I won’t have another one of these first weeks of school. But rather than dwell on how sad that is, let’s focus on what was fun about this week, starting with last Saturday.
Saturday, Aug. 23
-All of my friends who weren’t already back on campus moved back in. My guy friends, who are living in a coveted North Village apartment this year, continuously streamed “The Boys Are Back in Town” until all six apartment mates had arrived.
-All of my housemates moved in too. Some of them I know, from having lived with them last year and/or the year before, and some of them are new. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to know the new-to-me housemates a bit better throughout the year.
-Several of my friends and I had Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner to ring in the new school year.
Sunday, Aug. 24
-I spent more time reconnecting with friends and I worked on unpacking things and decorating my room–tasks that after nearly two weeks on the Hill, I still have yet to complete.
-I went to Glar, McDaniel’s dining hall, for the first time this semester to eat dinner with friends.
Monday, Aug. 25
-I had my first and only class of the day, New Media Writing, from 11:30 to 12:30. In this class, I’ll be learning strategies for using social media effectively, and I’ll be responsible for creating my own Tumblr and Twitter about some sort of McDaniel-related “niche.” I think my niche is going to be about coffee–coffee places nearby, ways students make their own coffee on campus, and anything else coffee and McDaniel that I can think of.
-I met with my advisor (who like me, had also happened to decide that a black and white striped shirt was the best thing to wear for the first day of school) to discuss my senior seminar project and other life stuff. I am so grateful for the conversations I get to have with her.
-I briefly went to the annual poster sale on campus. Because I’ve been a college student for a while now, pretty much have all the posters I need, so I didn’t look around for very long. I did, however, treat myself to a magnet of van Gogh’s Starry Night.
-My fellow writing center tutors and I attended our first tutor meeting of the semester, where we discussed tutoring strategies and plans for the semester and had plenty of laughs.
-Because I finished all my reading for New Media Writing relatively early in the day, I spent the evening reading for pleasure, a rare treat during the semester.
A Batman/black cat poster mash-up to promote the annual poster sale, as seen outside Decker College Center in Red Square.
Tuesday, Aug. 26
-At 9:40 a.m., I had Professional Communication, better known as Prof Comm, my first of three classes for the day. Our first assignment was to create LinkedIn profiles for ourselves. I made a LinkedIn profile last year, so this gave me an opportunity to make improvements.
-Immediately after Prof Comm, I went down one flight of stairs to attend my next class, Minds and Language, a class about the philosophy of Language.
-After three straight hours of class, I finally got to eat lunch at 1:00!
-Later in the afternoon, I went to the Richwine Room on the third floor of the library to attend my first class meeting of senior sem.
Wednesday, Aug. 27
-New Media Writing met for the second time. We watched a documentary about technology and its impact on the mind and as a class, we live-tweeted it.
-I spent the afternoon making cupcakes for a friend’s birthday and preparing for the annual Involvement Fair, an evening for all students to dine on hotdogs and hamburgers and find out more information about the dozens of student organizations on campus.
-At 4:00, two other writing tutors and I led students in playing a giant rendition of Bananagrams in Red Square.
-For the next two hours after that, I manned the Involvement Fair table for Contrast, McDaniel’s literary magazine. I had a lot of fun sharing the table with other Free Press editors and spreading the word about both Contrast and the Free Press.
-Soon after the Involvement Fair ended, all of the other Free Press editors and I met in the Free Press Room in Hill Hall to discuss story ideas and plans for this year.
-At 9:00, three of my housemates and I went over to my friend’s apartment to celebrate his birthday with the chocolate cupcakes I had made earlier.
Editors of the Free Press hope to get more students involved with the newspaper during the Involvement Fair.
Thursday, Aug. 28
-I had Prof Comm and Minds and Language once again.
-I went to the first Chicken Tender Thursday of the year for lunch.
-I also had senior sem again. We had a really thought-provoking discussion about New Criticism, a school of literary theory whose techniques are rarely used on their own but now feed into other schools of literary thought.
-My friend Nat and I went to go chat with my advisor. Afterwards, Nat and I went to IHOP for dinner.
Friday, Aug. 29
-My only class of the day, New Media Writing, was my last class of the week! We continued to watch the documentary we had watched on Wednesday and continued to live-tweet our thoughts.
-For lunch, I went to Wieners for Seniors in Red Square, a seniors-only event with free hotdogs.
-In the afternoon, I took a nap and then spent a couple hours in the library finding books by and about Michel Foucault, with the hopes that they’ll help me with my senior sem project.
-After spending some time with the ideas of Foucault, I spent time with my housemates playing cards and watching TV before going to bed.
Student Alumni Council sponsored Wieners for Seniors, providing free hotdogs to all students graduating in December 2014 or May 2015.
Saturday, Aug. 30
-Three-day weekend! Today was a lazy day, but I did get some reading done. Hopefully the next two days of this three-day weekend will be more productive.
