Dicken's of a Christmas!

Ripon's 17th annual "Dicken's of a Christmas" kicks off tonight in Historic Downtown Ripon! The event began 17 years ago when a handful of community members decided to organize a Victorian-themed festival as a tribute to the stunning Victorian architecture and homes throughout Ripon and to thank the community and businesses for their support throughout the year. Over the years, it has grown and become one of Ripon's premiere festivals held every year the first weekend of December. It runs Thursday-Sunday and features Living Windows in downtown businesses on Friday evening, carriage rides through Historic Downtown Ripon, a Tour of Homes on Saturday (including the new Campus Apartments!), Dickens of a Quilt Show, an Enchanted Forest of trees sponsored and decorated by area organizations, an International Gift Market, Victorian Costume Contest, Breakfast with Santa, Gingerbread House Contest, and Victorian Dickens Photos--just to name a few!

I don't think I'll make it downtown tonight because I have a big Chemistry exam tomorrow, but I am definitely heading down for the Living Windows tomorrow night! I might even have to do a little shopping at the International Gift Market! :) Tonight I do want to try and go to the Yoga Class in Great Hall, which is led by the woman that owns Marigold Yoga, located downtown. I think it would be a relaxing and rejuvinating study break! :)

--Christy

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Monday night Jess and I went shopping and decorated our toom for Christmas! We have three strings of lights, two trees, lots of Hoho, Pine boughs, window clings, and hanging ornaments! It is very festive and full of holiday cheer! We've already invited over some of the Admission Counselors and have decided that we're hosting the Secret Santa gift exchange for our living group! :)

Our hanging ornaments and my tree!

My side!

Looking ahead...next week is the last week of classes already and what a week it will be! Monday I have a presentation for my research project, Tuesday my final Chemistry lab is due, and Wednesday I have my Spanish oral interview--to start the week out! Then the week after that is finals! I have my Chem final Monday, Statistics on Tuesday morning and Latin in the afternoon, Wednesday I have a discussion to talk about our research papers for Latin, and then my last final, Spanish, is Thursday morning from 9-11, so I'll be out of here Thursday! But there is much to do before then!

--Christy-mas :)

Back so soon?!

My Thanksgiving break was awesome!! :) Nick and I spent the long weekend at home with my family. He met my dad, my sister, and also my aunt, uncle, little cousins, and some of my friends too. I gave him a little tour of Rochester, we went to the movie "Enchanted" on Friday night with my family, Saturday we worked on homework (sad, I know) and then Saturday night we went up to the cities to the Timberwolves game and then went dancing afterward--it was a blast, but we didn't get home until 3 a.m.! So coming back to Ripon yesterday was a lot harder than usual! I was so exhausted and I had an incredible amount of homework waiting for me. :(

It's hard to believe the semester is winding down! We have two more weeks of classes, then it's finals week! I have two exams this week: a stats exam tomorrow and a chem exam on Friday. Spanish oral finals begin the end of this week as well! I am also finishing up a few long-term projects: my psychology research project, my latin paper, and my final chemistry lab, Identification of an Unknown. When I look at all the things I have to do on paper it's kind of overwhelming, but somehow I always manage to get everything done! Hopefully too much sleep won't be sacrificed in the process...

--Christy

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am so excited Thanksgiving is finally here! I have class until noon today, then my dad and my sister are coming to pick up me and Nick. It's weird to think that the semester is winding down; after Thanksgiving we only have a few weeks left! I wish I could relax the entire break, but I have two exams next week, a paper to be working on, and also a research project to clean up a little. But this break is just what I need! I haven't been home since October, so this will be my second time home this semester and I can't wait! Also, Nick hasn't met my dad or my sister, so that'll be good that they can finally meet! :) And my sister can finally see my room! My sister is a freshman in high school and she also plays volleyball, so it's hard to find time to see eachother in the fall because we are both busy with our seasons. She hasn't been to Ripon all semester, so I'm excited to show her my room!

Then it's off to Minnesota for a long weekend of friends, family, and food! :) What an excellent combination!

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

--Christy

Helloooo!

Hi there! It's been a while! Things have been so busy around here lately! Let me catch you up on last week: Jay Black was HILARIOUS. I am so glad I went! Totally worth the sleep I lost doing homework after the show. Thursday was the first day of my Psychology Study, "The Effects of Time of Day on Cognitive Performance." I am looking to see if there is a difference in people's concentration in the morning versus the afternoon, so I tested 10 people over the course of Thursday and Friday, and I found that on average, people do better in the afternoon. Friday night was TOTU (Take Over The Union), sponsored by Residence Life. This year it was an Olympics theme, so everyone was dressed in togas, like famous athletes, or in athletic gear, and we played Olympic games like curling, hocky, frisbee, ring toss, and hot lava. I was there serving mocktails for SMAC. We served Steroid Manufactured Athletic Concoctions :), I thought it was cute! Friday night was also the Shack-a-Thon, where students created homes out of cardboard boxes and spent the night outside to raise money and awareness for the homeless. The rest of my weekend was pretty quiet; I worked on a lot of homework, studied for the tests that I have this week, and started research for a Latin paper due at the end of the semester. The only thing I did this weekend was homework, and I still have more to do. This time of the semester is just crazy for everyone, but we just have to get through these next three days then it's Thanksgiving! I can't wait.

--Christy

Late nights

I love my roommate. Last night we were both exhausted; I was doing homework until midnight, but we stayed up for another hour just talking after we went to bed. Having a roommate is like having a sleepover--every night. I love it. I have never shared a room with anyone before coming to college, and now it's weird to have my own room when Jess is gone or when I go home. I don't like not having anyone to talk to or to send IM's to from six feet away, it's just not the same! :) So even if I do only get five hours of sleep I don't care because that's not what I'm going to remember. In twenty, thirty years I'm going to remember all the late nights, the laughter, and the girl talk. That's what's important. :)So even though I might look like a zombie today there are many things to do (like usual!). I have class until noon, then I work from 1-3...then I think I might go for a run or hit up the Fitness Center for awhile to get rid of some stress, and drop off my jerseys and bag down at Storzer. Tonight SMAC is bringing comedian Jay Black to the Terrace, so I really want to see him! It'll be a tight fit though...he's at 8 p.m. and I meet with my Chemistry tutor from 9-10 p.m., but I'll make it work! I can always make time to laugh! :)

Jay Black

--Christy

Perfect.

Today was such a great day! The weather was beautiful--53° when I went downtown this afternoon!! I wish the weather would just stay like this for the next three months! Today was a very productive day also! I designed the student planner for next year, along with my co-chair, Arielle, as one of our duties as SMAC Student Representatives. So that is a great thing to have taken care of early! If only I could do everything I need to do this far in advance! I have a few long-term papers that I need to get started on because once Thanksgiving has come and gone the rest of the semester will fly by! I think this weekend I will practically live in the library...at least they have that window seat I like so much! :)

--Christy

Another Monday...

This was easily the best weekend I could have asked for. I did nothing but relax and watch football! Friday night I went to the swim meet then watched "We are Marshall" with the girls, then Saturday I watched the Badger game while Nick and some of his roommates made breakfast. Saturday night Nick and I went out to dinner at Dos Gringos and stuffed ourselves, then went to Fred Claus, which was playing at the Campus Cinema. It was such a great movie! And it definitely put me in the mood for Christmas! Except I'm still waiting for Thanksgiving... :)

And it's days like this that I can't wait until Thanksgiving! Today was extremely busy: my first class of the day was Orgo from 8-8:50, but I had some things I had to finish up this morning, so I got up at 6:30 to do that. I am doing a psychology study on the Effects of Time of Day on Concentration, so I had to make a sign-up sheet for my participants. I am also applying to participate in the Peace Studies Maymester in Jamaica this May, so I had to write an essay telling why I wanted to be in the class. I finished up both of those things early this morning (with a little help from Nick :)) Then it was off to Orgo, then work, then recruiting Intro Psych students to sign-up for my study, then Spanish from 10-11, then Stats from 11-12, then lunch, followed by Chem lab from 1-4, then a Marketing Advisory Committee meeting from 4-5. I went to dinner at 5, then I had to run a few errands downtown. Now it's laundry and homework. Fun, right?

--Christy

Dos!

Today is a pretty relaxed day for me: I have classes until noon, then I lunch-host a volleyball recruit, then this afternoon I have to meet with a professor, work on designing the planner for next year, and stop into the Career Development office to discuss possible summer opportunities and internships. After I do all that the weekend is mine.

Tonight there's a home swim meet, the first one in five years or something ridiculous like that, so I think I might try and go to that. Then tomorrow is my two month anniversary with Nick, so we're going to DOS Gringos, a mexican reataurant downtown. I thought Dos would be appropriate for our dos meses! Can you tell I planned that? I love corny stuff like that! :) And I think after dinner we might see what's playing at the Campus Cinema and maybe catch a movie! I think campus will be pretty quiet this weekend; it's the first weekend after all the fall sports are over and a lot of people are going home. But I'm not going to mind at all! I am looking forward to a weekend of quiet and relaxation! And since my homework for Chemistry is not to get sick, I think a weekend like that is just what the doctor ordered! :)

--Christy

Aerobics again :)

I am so excited for my second EVER aerobics class today. :) I can't believe I never went to these last year! I think it's one of the underappreciated things of Ripon College. In fact, I don't want you to miss out on any of these things while at Ripon College:

*The PRAIRIE
*Sunday morning brunch
*OMELETS
*Breakfast in General
*Sledding on Sadhoff
*Innnertube water polo
*The Mulit-cultural lounge
*Joyce to the World
*Aerobics
*Midnight Breakfast
*Springfest
*Racquetball
*Dirt Cake

That should be a good start. Once you have experienced all those things, you will be loving life at Ripon College. :)

I am loving life today. I have one class. Beautiful. And after that nothing to do. I will probably end up putting my laundry away, doing dishes, cleaning my room, then most likely taking a nap. Then aerobics. Maybe I can even talk Nick into going to aerobics... :)

--Christy

Snow?!

It's only the second week of November and it's already starting to snow a little?! Sometimes I wonder why I stayed in the midwest. But I figure if it's going to be cold, we might as well have snow, and the 38° right now is pretty darn cold!

After work today, I am going to go downtown with Nick and look for a birthday present for my mom. There are a lot of cute little shops downtown, the only problem is a lot of them close pretty early, so we're going to go now! Then the rest of tonight will be getting my study ready for testing next week and then going to the Panel Discussion featuring President Joyce, Dean Ogle, and Josh DeWar from 8-10 p.m. The discussion is going to be held in Great Hall, but I don't know if there'll be enough room, a LOT of students are going to be there. But I think that's a good thing. We care about our campus and what goes on here.

Stay warm!

--Christy

Off-season begins

This past weekend was our conference tournament at Carroll College, where we lost in the semi-finals. Our first match of the tournament was against Beloit, who we had lost to in five games during the regular season, but improved and were able to beat them in three games: 30-15, 30-28, 30-26. After beating Beloit, we went on to play Carroll, who wanted revenge after we tarnished their 8-0 record in conference. We just couldn't keep up with Carroll, who stepped up thier game from last weekend, and ended up losing in three games: 14-30, 25-30, 27-30.

At this tournament, especially against Beloit, I think we played our best volleyball of the season. After this weekend, I am so excited for next year! We lost three seniors this year, but we have a lot of talent and a lot of experience coming back. I think we will do very well. But I am definitely going to enjoy the extra free time I have now that we don't have practice and tournaments all the time. I have two exams this week, so I will definitely use that time toward studying!

--Christy

Last practice!

Today is our last practice of the season! It's hard to believe it's almost over; it seems like we were just playing our first conference match of the season, and now we're headed to the conference tournament tomorrow! The top six teams go to the tournament, which will be played at Carroll, since they finished number one in conference. We will open tomorrow night against Beloit at 4 p.m., which will be a very exciting game. We're after some revenge after they came to Ripon two weeks ago and beat us in five close games. But we've done a lot of things since that match, including beating the number one team in conference and giving them their first and only loss. We are fired up to go in there and show what we've got!!

After practice tonight, I am going with Jess to see "Much Ado About Nothing," one of Shakespeare's best-loved romantic comedies. I'm so glad we got tickets! The tickets are free, but you have to reserve them, and they've sold out for some of the performances already! But I've heard nothing but good things about it, so I'm really excited to see it for myself!

--Christy