Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Half-way Through Finals Week

Today marks the half-way point of finals week and is designated as "Reading Day," so there are only evening finals today. So, for me today is a chance to start packing, clean my room, do laundry, and study for my last final tomorrow.
Finals has been a time of great studying, but also a chance to spend time with friends before break. Great Hall has been open 24 hours a day, offering a place to study around-the-clock, but also activitites and snacks to give the brain a rest! One really popular event was the "Midnight Breakfast" held in the Commons last night. Many faculty members and staff served pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausages, and hashbrowns to almost the entire campus. It was the most people I have ever seen in the Commons at one time! It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the semester. I am really excited to go home for break, but I'm sure I will be just as excited to come back in January!

--Christy

Friday, December 8, 2006

Last Day of Classes

Today marked the last day of classes for my first semester of college; it's a bittersweet feeling. After being at Ripon for a semester now I understand completely what people mean when they say "Ripon is more than a school, it's a family," because it is undeniably true. I have really gotten to know my professors and I am going to miss each and every one of them. Yesterday, for example, I had an appointment to meet with my First-Year Seminar professor in her office and I ended up staying there for half an hour, just talking. And today, my psychology professor, Dr. Hatcher, invited my Intro Psych class (48 students) into the Psych lounge for a holiday party and a chance to talk to eachother; 16 students came and it was a great way to meet the faculty in the department. As of right now, I'm thinking I want to be a psych major, so I will be spending plenty of time in that lounge!
Tonight is YULE BALL, the all-campus formal, held in Great Hall. I'm planning on going to that, so it should be a lot of fun! And tomorrow night we have our end-of-the-season banquet for volleyball--80's themed--of course and after that the Phi Delta Theta fraternity is hosting a Christmas Party in their lounge! It will be a busy weekend of studying, but hopefully I will have some time to go out as well, after all it is our last weekend in Ripon!

--Christy

Wednesday, December 6, 2006

'Twas the week before finals...

Twas the week before finals and all through the air, mumbling of stress and nerves, all knowing that finals would soon be there...
This last week of classes there are a lot of fun activities going on around campus to take our minds off of finals or to offer a study break and a time to appreciate the season. Last night, SMAC (Student Media and Activities Committee) showed "White Christmas" in Great Hall and provided snacks and materials for Gingerbread houses, and tonight is JOYCE to the WORLD! President Joyce will read a holiday story aloud in Great Hall and there will be an Ugly Sweater Contest and also NICK MOTIL will be performing! With so many exciting things to do, it makes it easier to concentrate on studying, because if I don't get all of my work done, I can't go to the event!

Friday, December 1, 2006

A Dickens of a weekend!

This weekend marks the Dickens of a Christmas festival in Ripon. The festivities include living window displays of A Christmas Carol, a Dickens of a quilt show, "A Christmas Story" is being shown in the Ripon Public Library, and a Victorian costume contest. Many of the student organizations on campus take part in the living windows, so it should be a lot of fun!

Also going on tonight is InPulse, one of the country’s most exciting new a cappella vocal bands. Based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, InPulse uses only its mouths and microphones to create a stage performance that is second to none!

But that's not all! The men's and women's basketball teams are in town this weekend with back-to-back games tonight versus Knox College. The student section will be filled with fans wearing the new "Red Hawk Nation" t-shirts in support of Red Hawk basketball, so the season should be a fun one!!

The only hard part will be trying to get to everything!

--Christy

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Wonderful Wednesday!

As the end of the semester is drawing near, today marked one of the last days of instruction in some classes. For Introductory Spanish, we have our last scheduled exam on Friday, an oral exam next week, and then a written final during finals week. And for my FYS, we have a seminar project, worth 25% of our grade, due next week, and an oral exam during finals week. Looking at all I have to study, I am a little overwhelmed, but everything will be just fine if I just stay focused and work hard.
Tonight though, is Theta Chi's Casino Night, a recruitment event where first-year and independent males can come down and meet some of the guys and learn what Theta Chi is all about. I will be waitressing, so that should be fun...and also a nice study-break! On the other end of Brockway, Sigma Chi is hosting its annual Christmas Party for the faculty and staff. So the boys have been busy decorating these last few days.
The Commons is also spruced up for the holidays! Today they set up three Christmas trees! And almost all of the buildings on campus have wreaths on the doors and everyone had a smile on their face--Christmas (and Winter Break!) are right around the corner!

--Christy

Monday, November 27, 2006

the time is flying!

I can't believe that Thanksgiving break has come and gone already! Only two weeks before finals week...wow! This week is a busy one too! A lot of my classes have the last scheduled exam this week, and First-Year Seminar projects are due next week...the list goes on and on! The Thanksgiving holiday was a nice break from the studying and homework, but I was excited to come back to Ripon. My roommate and I decorated our room and our door for Christmas, so our room has a nice, cozy, hoilday vibe to it! And I will have plenty of time to enjoy it when I'm stuck inside studying!

--Christy :)

Monday, November 20, 2006

Mega-packed Monday

Today one of my classes was cancelled because the professor was ill, which worked out well for me since I have a big psychology paper due on Wednesday. So I spent my free time working on that and then I also had my first day volunteering at Advocap, a literary service for adults learning English. I played with the children while their parents were learning English; it was actually a lot of fun!
And tonight I have a meeting with my FYS group, but at that same time is our first playoff game for intramural innertube waterpolo! So I might have to miss it. :(

There is never a shortage of things to do around here!

--christy

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Extreme Home Makeover: RIPON edition!

Tonight is the airing of Extreme Makeover Home Edition that Ripon College students helped with! SMAC is sponsoring a viewing of the show in Little Theatre in East Hall, so I might have to go check it out! I knew a lot of people who were in on the project and this is a great way for to support all of the wonderful volunteers!

We only have three more days of class before Thanksgiving break, but I already had one Thanksgiving dinner! Yesterday Chefs Anonymous cooked a Thanksgiving dinner in the commons. We made ham, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato pie! It was so yummy, and so much fun! Now I'll be able to help cook this year's Thanksgiving dinner at home! :)

--Christy

Friday, November 17, 2006

shacked out all night!

On Wednesday, about fifteen Ripon College students spent the night in a cardboard box in order to raise awareness for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. From 8-10 we built the shacks, using cardboard, scraps of wood, and lots of duct tape; then from 10pm-10am, someone from your shack had to sleep in it. I went down (with some Gushers!) to visit one of my friends who was building a shack and I ended up going back to my room and getting a few more blankets and spending the night! I slept in a box mansion that some of the ROTC boys on campus had built--it was huge! Seven of us ended up sleeping in there!!! It was a lot of fun, for a good cause, and a great story to tell!

Friday, November 10, 2006

* * * It's beginning to look a lot like...winter * * *

*Today it is snowing! * I was supposed *to go home to Minnesota* today, but my mom isn't going to come and get me until *tomorrow now because we have *5 inches of snow at home!*! Crazy! *Earlier this week people were wearing shorts *and doing homework outside* on the Tri-John lawn, now the lawn is *covered in snow! I *don't really like the *cold and the snow, but I guess *it's an excuse to start listening to* Christmas music!!! *
*
--Christy*

Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Election Day!

Hi there! Today is election day all over the nation, and just turning 18 in July this is my first chance to vote, so I'm definately taking advantage of my right!
One of the most controversial topics on the ballot tonight is the proposed amendment to the Wisconsin constitution, which will define marraige as only between a man and a woman. This is a very important issue, especially to the students on campus. There have even been two forum discussions held in Great Hall about the topic. We have invited various professors and leaders of local churches to come and openly discuss the issue in front of the Ripon College community and the Ripon community as a whole. These discussions were very powerful and I am so glad that I could be there and hear both sides of this great debate.
But now it's up to us to make the decision.

a Get out and vote--make your voice heard!

--Christy

Monday, November 6, 2006

B-b-back In Ripon

Well I'm back in Ripon after a surprise trip home for the weekend! It was nice to be home, if only for a day, though. I had to get up early on Sunday morning to make it back in time for the Admissions Open House. It was the second and final one of the semester and I had to shadow a tour so I can become a tour guide myself.
I rode home with Sara, another first-year volleyball player and on the way home we were writing raps about all of the girls on the volleyball team because we have to do a "rookie show" at the end-of-the-season team dinner coming up. The rookie show is a big deal I guess and there's a lot of pressure to make it good, so all of the rookies are meeting tonight to write some more raps and hopefully plan out our show!

word.

--christy

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

It's been awhile...

Another string of busy days has gone by...our last tournament was Saturday, so it was bittersweet. However we only lost one senior, so the next few years are looking good for us as a team. It was a great season with amazing people and an excellent way to start out my first year at Ripon College. Now on the agenda is a team dinner/banquet and the "Rookie Show!" Every year, the rookies have to put together a show and Coach videptapes it (She has tapes of all of the seasons!)...and then we talk about it for an entire year! So there is a lot of pressure to make the show a good one! :)
I think the worst part about the season bring over is that I won't get to see the girls everyday at practice. We really grew together as a team and spent a lot of time together on the court as well as off the court. For example Saturday night we all dressed up in our Halloween Costumes and went out together! This just shows that we're more than teammates. We're a family.
In other news...this is another stressful week! I have a paper to write by Friday for my FYS class. We have to write a lot of papers for that class, but we're not alone to do it. I have been emailing my professor and she has offered me some tips on finding some sources for my research. We also have a student mentor for the class that is available to answer any of our questions or proofread our papers--it really helps!
I also began meeting with my tutor for Biology. He is a biology-chemistry major, a senior, and a member of one of the fraternities that I hang out at a lot. I have a re-test on Thursday (tomorrow!), so we have an extra study session tonight! He is really good about explaining things and I feel totally comfortable asking questions. The only bad thing is that we meet in the lounge in his dorm and I know all the guys there so they all had to stop and say "hi!!" :D It's a good problem to have though!!!

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Busy Day!

Last night we lost to St. Norbert's in 3 games...25-30, 20-30, 27-30...So we don't have a spot in the conference tournament. But on a brighter note, my grandparents surprised me and came to the game last night and brought me a care package! It was so good to see them, and they took me out for Culver's after the game! :D
Today is a busy day though--and I don't even have any classes! Already this morning I stopped by Student Support Services (SSS) and got a tutor lined up for my Biology class, I work for three hours, and then have a meeting with my advisor (my coach!) to discuss my schedule for next semester, and then practice after that! Today is Thursday, which means there will be a movie showing in Bear Auditorium; tonight is "An inconvenient Truth," with a discussion panel too! I want to try and go to that, but I also have a big Psychology exam tomorrow too...So we'll see!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Last Conference Game Tonight!

Today is a great day! I got my mid-term paper back that I wrote for my First-Year Seminar (FYS) Class, and I got an A! :) We reviewed in Psychology for our test coming up on Friday, so I feel more confident about that. And now I'm going to go look and see if I can find a Halloween costume at the thrift store for the Halloween Party at Theta Sigma Tau this weekend! And then...the MAIN EVENT...our game versus St. Norbert's tonight! This is a really big game for us--it decides whether or not we go to the Conference Tournament! So hopefully we will pull it off! Go Hawks!!!


--Christy