Even Short Weeks Can Be Long

Three days. How hard can that be? The Spanish paper was due today. This weekend when I was putting  the final touches on it my flash drive decided to act up and my changes got deleted. Then I could not find the bibliography. I was ready to scream. Thankfully, I had time to fix it and was able to hand it in on time.

I have wanted to scream several times already this week. Spending three hours at the doctor can definitely make someone scream. I had to miss two classes yesterday because I had an appointment in Delaware at two o'clock. Three hours and two shots later I was on my way home. Although the day was not very good it does bring me to a good thing about college. Having fewer classes each day. This is a major plus when you are absent because you have fewer notes to catch up on.  In fact I only have to get notes for one of my classes because my English professor was absent. 

Tomorrow is my last day before Thanksgiving break. This brings me to another myth about community college. Students get more time off and attendance is not taken seriously. Many of my friends are already home. Also my school does not have a fall break. Several of my friends from different schools have told me they do not have to go to class. Almost all my teachers take attendance at the beginning of class and if students miss more then four classes, points are deducted from their final grade. Community college a joke? I no longer think so.

That is enough about school. I am just looking forward to spending time with my family and friends. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and I hope it is full of food, family and adventure because everyday is an adventure. 

 

How about this weather?

People on campus are freaking out because the weather has finally gone below freezing. Finally, there's an advantage to being from Minnesota - I'm more than ready for this stuff.
We had an exceptionally rainy weekend, which was okay, because I found myself doing a lot of indoor activities anyway. I caught up with my friend from my hometown who goes to college nearby. I've seen him a few other times this semester, and he's definitely more stressed out than I am. His college is considerably more competitive, and one of the reasons I don't see him that often is that he is constantly busy working or studying. Though that is the case for most college students, I usually find time on weekends to go into town or go to a movie, but he seems to be busy all the time, and on top of his work he signs up for numerous extracurricular activities. We met up and went to the new James Bond movie, which was pretty cool, and hung out at the mall. He's still in a good mood, and he's also going back home for Thanksgiving break, because his school actually gives them a full week off, unlike my school, which gives us Wednesday through Sunday. Although I'm not that upset about it actually. Sure, going home would be nice, but the amount of time it would take to do all that travelling (college to bus station, bus to Boston, Boston to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to home.) would be too tedious and annoying of a process to have to endure twice in one month. I'll be home soon enough, I figure. And I'll get to spend Thanksgiving in the Washington DC area with my friend, which should be fun since I've never been there, even though I don't plan on doing any sight-seeing.

Sometimes I Miss the Old Days

Did you ever wake up on Monday and just know that it was going to be an eventful week? That is what happened to me this week and it seems my feeling was right. It is only Tuesday and there have already been highlights! Yesterday morning my printer didn't work and of course I had a paper due. I saved the paper to my flash drive and went to the library to print it out. All I can say is thank goodness I had an hour. First you have to buy a print card using this big machine. After you get the print card you have to go to a computer in the front and select your computer number and the document you want printed. For a person that is as technological challenged as I am this was quite a task. Boy I miss the days when I would just hit file print and go stand by the printer. 

I realized another thing I miss yesterday. Clubs that were organized. Mr. W I never thought I would say this but I have found an advisor more unorganized than you! I went to a Rotaract meeting which is a volunteer organization that they are trying to begin at my school. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for volunteering and I have a hard time saying no. It should come as no surprise that I am now president of the Rotaract club. The adviser has no idea where to begin and he told me it was now my club. If anyone has any suggestions for fundraising or advice on how to get a club started I would appreciate it.

Just a quick example of how different college is. I watched a film in Spanish today. At one point in the film the professor turned to us and said "You're all eighteen correct?" She was asking because of the content of the previous scene. It just made me laugh and remember when I had to get a consent form signed when they showed movies with curses and how in college age does not matter.  I guess it is just another one of the many differences between high school and college.

There have already been multiple adventures this week and I have a feeling they are far from over. This is not surprising of course because everyday is an adventure! 

TGIF

All I can say is TGIF. This week has been full of projects, papers and test. Unfortunately, it looks like this will be the pattern until the end of the semester. I have been working on a five page paper for my Spanish class for over a month now and I am still not done. I have written the paper in English and am now translating into Spanish. Translation takes me forever! There is also my theatre class where I have to pretend to be a designer meaning I have to design a set and costumes and do the lighting for my own version of Hansel and Gretel. This is a major challenge for non creative people like myself. Finally there is the English paper I have to write for Monday. The topic is what is my definition of the American Identity. Professionals can not even come up with a clear definition for this phrase. How exactly am I supposed to? Especially since I can't even figure out my own individual identity let alone a single identity for the entire country. Whoever said community college was so much easier than a four year institution never went to community college!

Another challenge at community college besides academics is extracurricular activities. I have found difficultly getting back to school for them. One reason is lack of motivation to wait at school for an extra hour just for the meeting to begin. The other reason is difficulty getting a ride back to school to attend the meeting. Community college is certainly not what I expected. I should not be surprised though because no adventure ever is and everyday is an adventure!

Four weeks left

I've only got four weeks or so left of the semester. I feel both excited and stressed at the same time. I'm really looking forward to getting back to Minnesota for a while and getting a good break in without having to worry about work, and my schedule for January Term and Spring Semester sound exciting. I'm taking a screenplay course, as well as a creative writing class and a visual media class, and they all sound really fun. The worst part about it though is that two of these classes are in the Humanities department, and my least favorite class right now, the dreaded Postcolonial turn, is in the humanities department. So not only is that class horribly confusing and impossible to gain anything from, there's now no reason for me to be taking it, since I'll have fulfilled the requirement two more times over once the year is over. And I'm not looking forward to the end of the semester a whole lot. Granted, my school doesn't administer tests, so there won't be any finals, but I totaled it up the other day and I found that I'll have roughly 60 pages of work to turn in at the end of the semester. Some of that work will be easy and I'm not too worried about it, but plenty of it sounds absoultely frustrating, and I'm dreading it. But having it done will be nice, and it should make break, once it comes, all the more rewarding.

Massive Nights

Two of the single wildest nights of my life happened in the past week:

1) Halloween. The College is notorious for its Halloween party, often referred to as 'Trip or Treat" for the supposed widespread consumption of psychedelic drugs. I don't know how many people exactly were tripping, but there was definitely plenty of weed, alcohol, and ecstasy going around, and even without consuming any drugs the night was still pretty surreal. There were three bands playing, two of them outside, so if you stood in the right place there was a mash-up of sounds. In that rough middle area there were people juggling torches, swallowing fire, and doing acrobatic tricks, while overhead a barrage of fireworks exploded constantly. Above all this, nearly everyone is in a costume, and most of them are also on drugs. It was like walking around in a deranged circus. I've been mostly annoyed with the amount of drug use going on on campus, but I wasn't as bothered, maybe because everyone was having a good time regardless, and I wasn't trying to get to sleep. I had a great time dancing to many of the live bands, and was totally exhausted by the next morning.
2) Election Night. I don't know if I'll ever forget this moment. We were all sitting in a lounge watching the election returns, when CNN officially projected that Barack Obama would be the next president of The United States. Suddenly everyone's phones were ringing. The moment we had been waiting for ever since we started caring about politics had finally come. My friend from Vermont gave me a call and we yelled at each other for a good five minutes about how it had finally changed, how the next four years of our lives will be different than the past eight. When I finished talking to him, we all ran outside, where nearly every student was out celebrating. I've never seen such a happy group of people in my life. I can think of my High School graduation, but that was nothing compared to the joy we were all feeling. I felt compelled to shout at the top of my lungs - "IT'S OVER!" I got a hug from somebody I'd never met before. Though this is probably truly pale in comparison, I could only relate this moment to those celebrations that happened after World War II ended. You could almost see a sailor kissing a nurse amongst all the chaos. I saw fireworks exploding over the library lawn. We all ran to the front of the library, and the sight that greeted me made me more excited than I ever was. Along with the fireworks, students had assembled an impromptu band, mostly consisting of percussion and some big horns, and were playing dance music while everyone danced together. But what made it so great was that the combination of these elements made it exactly like the final scene of The Return of The Jedi - one of my all time favorite movies. The only thing it needed was a toppling Bush statue or some funeral pyres and you would swear you had walked on to a movie set in 1983. I have never felt such a sense of unity with such a large group of people in my life, and I doubt I ever will again. And while I'm sure there were plenty of people on drugs in the crowd, we were all undoubtedly high on the feelings of pure joy we felt. People were going wild, and even though many of these people were strangers, we all were there for the same reasons and we all felt totally united.
"It's Finally OVER!" I was yelling.
"No - It's just beginning." whoever I was hugging responded with.
They were right, too. At least I hope they are. This is a new era, and that's where I was when the moment came. I must have hugged at least 50 people, and been hugged by just as many. Everyone was jumping, dancing, hugging and chanting the various chants that have become associated with the Obama campaign. I went to my friend we spontaneously began singing the National Anthem, which eventually everyone caught on and sang. Not only was it cool because I started the whole crowd singing, but I think I may have been in the first time in my life I sang that song by choice, and not just out of routine or tradition. As skeptical as I sometimes as I may be about The College, last night I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

Optional Class? There really is such a thing.

This week has demonstrated the biggest difference between college and high school: Optional classes. We had the option of going to theatre on Monday to have one on one conferences with the professor about our grades and the upcoming midterm. I did not go because I felt I could better prepare myself by taking online quizzes and reviewing the text. What that really means, I got to sleep an extra two hours! One on one conferences are popular in college. I have a conference with my English professor tomorrow. This one is not optional. I am nervous for his assessment of my writing. The good news is that after my conference  I get to go home meaning more time to sleep! On Thursday I don't have to go to my World Civilization class because we are having a unit exam which I will have to take in the test center. I finally got my first A in that class. I now study with a classmate which helps tremendously.

 It seems that everyday I attend college I face new struggles, but I also find new solutions. The easiest way to find solutions is to keep life in perspective. My friends have helped me to begin to realize this, whether it be grieving the loss of a good friend (Rest in Peace RS) or having a friend begin to successfully recover from a long surgery friends have shown me there is more to life then school. Also adventures are much easy to survive when someone is there with you, which is good because everyday is an adventure.