What a Weekend! October 13, 2008

Phew! I am so happy to be back on capmus. This past weekend was the debut of the Leadership Consultants positioanl leaders’ retreat L.A.T.T.E. (stands for Leadership and Teamwork Training Experience). It went SO well — a lot better than I expected. (It’s not that I had been expecting it to go badly, but I figured having lower expectations for the first time around would make it easier to deal if we had failed…) Anyway, we had a good number of participants who were great people really trying to make a difference in their student orgs. I have to admit that the whole weekend was rather stressful… Keep in mind that I get stressed out easily. I was facilitating/leading 5 sessions (most people only did 2 or 3). I am really grateful to the Office of Student Life, the other LCs, and all the participants for making this happen. Facilitating my first retreat was a really awesome experiene. I cannot wait till next year!

In other news, on Friday I discoverd one of the funniest things at UMBC (probably any college, actually). The Commons (giant buiding that houses student orgs, the bookstore, food, Office of Student Life, etc.) Gameroom now has a [(brace yourslef)] HOT DOG VENDING MACHINE! Who would have ever thought that a hot dog vending machine woulf make the list of inventions. Ice cream vending machines are absurd (fantastic, but absurd all the same) enough… hot dog vending machines are plain ridiculous.

^ One of the MANY reasons I am PROUD to be a RETRIEVER! ^

Round 2: Sophomore Year October 6, 2008

After an exhausting summer of working two jobs and trying to see as much as possible of my friends at home, I am FINALLY back at school. This semester I’m living in the same residence hall I lived in last year (go Potomac!) and I have the same roommate. We have a different RA (resident assistant), and we live on the second floor south side (instead of 3rd N). I am taking 17 credits and have plenty of extracurricular activities to keep me occupied.

So far I like all of my classes — my favorite is Calc 3.  I am taking Intro to Psyc, Fundamentals of Leadership Development, Multivariable Calculus (aka Calc 3), Mechanics of Materials (an engineering class), and Intro to Engineering Science.  I have never had any of this semester’s five professors before; fortunately for me, I like all of them.

Other than classes, this semester has been fantastic! There have been some really great events, I making new friends/meeting more people, and all my activities limit the time I can sit around doing nothing.

…Since I have two HUGE exams back to back tomorrow, I am going to have to say goodbye. I will be sure to post soon!

Back in the Saddle Again September 5, 2008

Hey readers!

Right now, I’m in my room after my last class of the day! Friday’s are the BEST this semester! Not only is it the beginning of the weekend, but I only have one class and it’s at 9am, so my day is MINE by 10!  I’ve now got 3 strangers in my room… to fix my lock. They’re all UMBC employees. Fascinating stuff, locks.

Long story: So move in day I come up to the second floor of Potomac with the heaviest trunk known to man on my dolly to find my roommate’s parents standing idly outside our door. Our door was unlocked, but for some reason it didn’t open. Upon pulling a Gaston from Beauty and the Beast (throw myself, not a giant log, into the door), I entered our room. Within a few days, we’d mastered getting in (and out) of the room.

TODAY, however, Robyn and I are getting our door fixed!!!! Oh, the things you learn to appreciate!

Other than my quirky door, this academic year is off to a pretty good start! Sadly my friend Abhi (pronounced “Abby”) is commuting this year to be with her family more so I see much less of her. (Don’t get me wrong, I still see her regularly — just not for several hours every day ) Scholastically, everything’s great! I love my schedule, my classes, and my professors. I’m taking 17 credits (5 classes): Mechanics of Materials (engineering), Introduction to Engineering, Multivariable Calculus, Psychology 100, and Leadership Development (also PSYC).  I’m really excited about this semester. I’m now a full-fledged member of Leadership Consultants. The LCs are a group of students who facilitate programs and workshops for students and student organizations to improve their leadership skills and learn more about the way they (and others) lead. Leadership is a fast growing (and fascinating, if you ask me) field. I’m really happy to be part of it at UMBC!

I’m off to study before hitting the RAC. More later!

Summer Update #1 June 24, 2008

Yesterday was my 19th birhtday which means that summer is 1/3 done. I have mixed feelings about summer being one third done ALREADY! I’m working this summer so it will be really nice to go back to school and do a completely different kind of work. Plus, since all of my school friends aren’t close, I’m really excited to be seeing them every day again.  Most of my school friends live close to school, so if I can just get up to school one of these days, it would be SUPER easy to see them. But, I don’t want to leave my friends at home already. Boy, am I glad I chose the closest school to me after all.

In other news, I am going to copy the Underground (www.umbcunderground.com) and talk about Chartwells. From what I’ve seen, UMBC dining is going to be great. I was just fine with Sodexho (some loved it, some hated it, I was in the middle), but they did leave a few things to be desired. So far, my favorite things about Chartwells are their health tab on the website that helps you keep track of what you’re really eating, the online menus, and the sustainability iniative. I am excited. School food got tiring by mid May so I’m really looking forward to a change. You can get to the dining website by looking at the post about Chartwells on the Underground.

More later… probably mid to late July.

I have a sunburn!!! April 17, 2008

I know that having a sunburn is a bad thing, but this morning when the hot water of the shower irritated the burn on my left shoulder, it meant that Spring is finally here! Now, being from this area, I realize that, chances are, the weather will change again soon, but nevertheless I am overjoyed that Spring is here. Just walking across the quad to class is a happy experience. Behind me the Commons sparkles jubilantly reflecting the sun’s rays. Scores of students lounge on the grass stairs. The glittering water on the pool taunts me innocently. Students cover the quad, and I walk cautiously, fearing that my head will have a magnetic effect on the soaring Frisbees. Everything is in bloom. Even inside the buildings I can detect the fragrant scent of Spring and happiness (yes, happiness does have a smell). I’m drinking in every last drop I can find. I love campus during the seasonal transitions. When the first blustery days of the fall and the first snowfall came, you could find me dancing around outside, enjoying every minute of it. Now is the perfect time to come visit UMBC. After all, it was this time last year that I came and fell in love with UMBC.

[I am very, very happy today ]

Title Goes Here April 15, 2008

I have no idea what to write about today.  There is SO much going on at school and home these days. It’s rather overwhelming.

This Past Weekend:

Dogapalooza, which is a Resident Student Association event every spring was Saturday evening. Sadly, I missed that AND the Mama’s Boys’ (who have AWESOME new jackets, by the way) concert because I could only get home on Saturday evening to see a bunch of HS friends who happened to be home. BUT, this last weekend was also Out of State Student Overnight and New Student Day. It was SO much fun! Exhausting but tons of fun! There were all kinds of activities in the Commons, and it was so much fun for me to share UMBC with someone, especially a new student. The folks over in Admissions matched us up by major so the girl (from Philly) who stayed with me is an undecided engineering major. All that means is that she’s declared engineering but not Mechanical, Chemical, Computer, etc. That was me last year before I declared Mechanical in the Fall. I had SO much fun answering all her questions about UMBC.  So many of them were ones I had myself.  I could go on forever about New Student Day, but I think I’m going to move on.

Coming Up:

Advising for Fall 2008 is Thursday morning for me.  As a freshman, I have to go to advising to discuss my academic plans before I can get “cleared” to actually register. I’m a little nervous because I haven’t written out my plan for the next couple years and it’s already Tuesday night. [I would put a ":-\" face here but wordpress has changed and I don't know how.] I’ve also got training for an extracurricular activity I’m doing next year, the Cleftomaniacs concert, homework (as always), a blood donation, yadda, yadda, yadda. OH! and I’m going home this weekend because the blacksmiths’ guild (I know, weird, right?) my dad, brother and I all belong to is having their annual fund-raiser called the Spring Fling.  Then I’m coming back to school at 4am on Monday because my mom needs to be at Johns Hopkins at 5:30ish. Ick. But, then it’s Carl’s birthday! Since I’m fairly sure he doesn’t read my blog I can talk about it. Robyn, Abhi (pronounced Abby), and I are planning lots of stuff! (I’d elaborate but just in case Carl happens to be reading this, I don’t want him to know everything.) I’m so excited! I LOVE birthdays!! I think it’s about time I did some school work.

Why is sleep a necessity? April 10, 2008

Don’t get me wrong, I love my sleep, but seriously, I have so much to do. Sleep is just getting in the way. If I didn’t have to sleep, I’d be able to get EVERYTHING done. So, I’m finally getting how the whole 18 credits thing is a heavy load. I seem to have at least two big things every week, and every week I find myself thinking that I next week will be easier. Although it’s kind of hard to focus on school when there are so many fun things to do and it’s SPRING!

The weather is getting better, and I swear I’m having to limit myself on how many events I go to on campus. I don’t have the time to get all my school work done and do all the things I want to do. I’m not going to lie — responsibility stinks sometimes.

On the bright side — I have to do something fun on Saturday! I’m hosting a girl from out of state on Friday night because of Accepted Student Day on Saturday. I’m SOO excited! I loved my Accepted Student Day. It was a really great initiation-type event into UMBC. Personally, I was sure I was going to come here from the day I walked on campus, but that was only days before Accepted Student Day ‘07. I loved Accepted Student Day. I mean the whole having my parents with me all day wasn’t exactly the way real college life is. Even so, it was just one of those times in my life that I knew that however terrifying all the new things were I was doing something right. It’s a great feeling to be sure of something. So that’s my little sentimental thought for the day.

P.S. Quadmania and Dogapalooza are coming up!!!!

Glorious, GLORIOUS Weather! March 5, 2008

I love the weather! It is absolutely perfect. It was rainy when I got up this morning (at 6:30… bleh) so I got to wear my lime green rain coat and carry an umbrella.  Usually I don’t think about preparing for weather so I was super excited. (Like I said in the beginning, I get excited by little things.)  Luckily, I wore my hair up — it was windy yesterday. I find wind completely invigorating. Yes, I makes doing statics homework outside the commons rather difficult, but I still love it. It makes me feel so alive. You can actually FEEL every part of your body.  Wind makes me so aware of exisitence. This all probably sounds completely ridiculous… but I swear I’m not competely nuts.

All day I spent dancing around and singing. When my friend Carl and I were walking to and from our discussions yesterday, I just couldn’t resist.  Being outside validates my life. It’s glorious! (I really like the word glorious if you couldn’t tell…) Some of the gusts today were so strong that you had to lean into them to walk straight. My balance got really thrown off when they stopped. I can’t get the wind out of my mind, and since I’m inside I’ll list some of the reasons I like the wind.

Wind:

1. Is emotional. It can whip and gust or softly breeze.

2. Is invigorating.

3. Makes you more aware of existence.

4. Can be harvested as a renewable source of energy

5. Kites. Enough said.

6. Is fun to walk in… gusts and all.

7. Makes me happy. (That’s good, right?)

8. Inspires creativity, for me at leaast.

9. Reminds me of the beach without forcing me to apply sunblock. (I burn.)

10. Makes everything whimsical and slightly better.

I’ll stop at 10 though I’m sure I could continue. I understand that not everyone likes the wind… sorry to anyone who’s reading this and doesn’t like wind. After all, Robyn and Abby don’t like the wind. I certainly don’t get it…  I hope it stays this way for a while. However, I promise if it does I will not only write about the wind. No matter how much I want to.

The Last Growl February 24, 2008

I was never one for sports in high school. Recently I have discovered the joys of men’s basketball. Last night was “The Last Growl.”   Men’s basketball played University of New Hampshire in the lasat home game of the season. It was so intense. Neither team was up by more than 10 points at any time. New Hampshire is really good at 3 pointers. I swear the majority of their points came from 3 point shots. There must have been 15 foul shots. In the end we went into overtime (I had never seen overtime in basketball before!). It was such a close game. I think we spent more time in time-outs during overtime than we did actually playing! I think we won by 5 points, (67-62…?) but I can’t really remember…

The event doubled as a spirit competition between the residence halls for a giant trophy. Obviously, my building (Potomac) won!   The RAC was packed! We started game prep at 4:30. Robyn (my roomie), Damilola, and I went around our hall knocking on doors to get more people to come.  Then we went to the lobby and painted faces and posters. I totally love this stuff. As a building, we walked over to the RAC for a tailgating party/pep rally. 

One random thing I love about basketball games: When the ref makes a call you don’t like, you yell. It’s really stress relieving.   

P.S. Today I learned how to change the font color and insert cool characters like this: ♣  ³ Ü  

Classes, To Do Lists, and Staying on Track February 20, 2008

I failed at getting up at the same time every day and being on a regular schedule… ALREADY! In my defense, having my wisdom teeth out pretty much incapacitated me. I’ve decided to hop right back on it — and it’s practically killing me. Though, that’s mostly because I’m training for a 5k and doing yoga 6 days/week and trying to stay on top of school (which, obviously, is most important but it’s not as exhausting). I can honestly say that I have never been in shape in my life. I’ve also never had straight A’s. (Two lofty goals for the semester…)

I was talking to my R.A. (get to know your R.A., wherever you go), and he showed me a website called “Todoist” (www.todoist.com) that lets you set up a free account and build a personal to do list. It’s so cool. (I also love not having billions of paper scraps with mini to do lists scribbled on them.)

Completely random — I am completely in love with my English class. Take Findlay for English. Best teacher ever. She is engaging and exciting (and she has a Scottish accent!). I have never enjoyed English class this much. I mean, last semester I dropped my English class because the Professor intimidated me. It just goes to show how much the professor affects your performance in the course. Try to get the best professors possible for your learning style, especially in classes you’re not particularly strong in.

As an aside — I just realized how many side thoughts I have interjected. Sorry… I’m having a completely ADD day. Hope I didn’t confuse anyone too much.

WHERE did my week go?! February 11, 2008

Monday I had my wisdom teeth out and the entirety of the week barring today has been a complete blur. For those of you who have yet to get your wisdom teeth pulled, it’s usually not that bad… I didn’t heal properly. I have a dry socket which in essence means that instead of the hole filling in as it heals, it stays a gaping hole collecting all kinds of grossness. So, I have spent the past six days sleeping (or not sleeping, as the case may be) and struggling to eat. I missed two of my hardest days of classes so I’m in for quite a week.

I have my first exam of the semester on Friday. In Physics. Wish me luck… physics requires a lot of thought for me — I have a tendency to get things backwards. On Tuesday, I get to vote in my first ever official election ever! I’m so excited!!! It actually happens that because I have to go back to the dentist (ugh!) tomorrow, I can vote! (At first I was going to request an absentee ballot, but I swear the government must not want us to vote with how difficult they make things.) For everyone who hasn’t registered go to www.rockthevote.com and register because it is SO easy! (That was my little Public Service Announcement of the day.)

I want to write about Recyclemania, but I have to get a bit of work to do before tomorrow. I’ll write again tomorrow to catch up.

Perfect Fit January 31, 2008

I always feel like I should write something new and interesting I have discovered about UMBC. So today as I was thinking about writing in my blog, I thought to myself that I have not discovered something new and exciting. Then I realized that last night I discovered 5!

Some students had been asked to come to a focus group in the Admissions office to help redo the UMBC viewbook. (That’s the book of information you get when you request it from UMBC, and the paper application is in the back.) Anyway, my understanding is that the six students that I was one of last night was in a series of meetings of a creative publication firm and UMBC students. I was honored to have been asked mostly because I love my experience at UMBC so far. Last night, we talked about many aspects of our lives as UMBC students: hometowns, majors, scholastics, social life, other schools we applied to, what brought us to UMBC, etc. Around 7 p.m. last night I learned that there are at least five other UMBC students who as perfect a fit as I. The meeting was in a conference room around a table and the man at the head of the table turns to me well into the meeting and says, “You’re really a perfect fit for this school, aren’t you?” I assume I blushed because I took that question as quite a compliment. Since last April I have known that UMBC is the perfect fit for me. I never thought of the opposite. The man leading then meeting then turns and says, “Well, really, you’re all perfect fits for UMBC!” It is so true. All six of us brought something different to the table and came from different backgrounds and yet we all suit UMBC the way the way the school suits us.

Something cool: This blog is the sixth link that shows up on a Google search page when you Google my name!

On To Day 2! January 29, 2008

Yesterday was the first day of classes. I managed to make it from 7AM to midnight without a nap! (This is HUGE for me.) On Monday’s (and Friday’s) I have an 8, a 9, a 10, an 11, and a 1 o’clock class.  If that’s not a full schedule, I would like to know what is. I have always been a huge fan of the first days of school — new supplies, new books, new locations, new people, new teachers. It’s all so exhilarating! So, I do have one professor that I had last semester but I like her so it’s ok. And a lot of the people are the same because most of them took Chem, Engineering and Calc last semester. But all in all, first days are new and exciting and I love them!

I am taking 5 classes: Physics, Statics (engineering), Gender and Women Studies, Calculus 2, and English. I’m working towards a 3.5 since last semester really did not go as planned. I hope that a range of fields will keep my brain balanced. I quite dislike only using part of your brain repeatedly. I always imagine the less-used parts of the brain like a peach in the sun — eventually it falls into mush and the only thing holding it together is the skin. (Apologies for the run-on sentence!) Back to what I was saying… I think the Gender and Women Studies and English will balance out the engineering.

I could write forever (and ever) but I have to get ready for class. First English class of the semester! I’m quite excited; I have heard good things about this Professor. Wish me luck!

Going Back to Campus Early January 22, 2008

Two more days until I’m back on campus! (I’m stoked, if you couldn’t already tell.) One nice thing about having the opportunity to go back early is that I can avoid the inevitable craziness of everyone moving back into their rooms. I plan on going back early to settle in, clean my room a little (my poor roommate), and see what’s going on around campus. I love college life!

My goals for this semester are as follows: Get a 4.0, Sleep on a regular schedule (not having a bedtime gets old fast), Eat square meals, Get more involved on campus, and Write in my political blog on a regular basis. I’m hope none of them are too lofty. I feel like an old person with the “sqaure meals and regular sleeping schedule.” Honestly, though, my first week of break I only ate healthful foods and I slept about 18 hours per day.

I’m already getting more involved on campus. On Saturday UMBC is hosting the FIRST Lego League (FLL) which is a challenge where middle school students build robots with a certain focus in mind. This year’s focus is “Power Puzzle: Energy Resources — Meeting the Global Demand.” I am volunteering as a referee. I’m so excited. (As an engineering major, I get really excited about this kind of thing.) As if involvement and volunteering is not enough of an incentive, I get a free t-shirt. I’ve noticed that every time you volunteer to help run something or participate in planning an event in college you get free stuff, most often clothes. A good percentage of my wardrobe is school related clothing now. Maybe by the time I graduate I won’t have to buy any t-shirts myself.

LeaderShape2008 January 19, 2008

I just got back yesterday from a leadership training prgram the UMBC offers. It was such a meaningful experience! I would advise anyone applying to schools or deciding between schools to choose schools that offer the LeaderShape program.

The program was a week at the YMCA Camp Letts. It was so much fun. I got the opportunity to meet many UMBC students and make some new friends. It was really exciting to me to meet students who genuinely want to make the world a better place. We did many leadership and teamwork building activities that required us to observe how we act under pressure while working towards a specific goal. I’m so glad that I went. So many people came from so many backgrounds, and I reminded me how diverse UMBC really is. I met many inspiring people with whom I’m so excited to spend time with back on campus next week!

I CANNOT wait to get back on campus and begin my first spring semester. I’m so glad that I live in the 9-month residence hall! I need to be on campus early Saturday morning so I’m returning for the semester on Friday. I can’t wait to see my friends again and begin classes. I’m a bit of a dork — I love learning.

Six days ’till I’m back!