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