St Louis trip!

The fun of college is that not everyone you know lives within 10 miles of the school you go to. People come from everywhere and have all kinds of different stories they want to tell you about where they come from. One of my best friends that I've met since coming to Coe is from just outside St Louis. Coming from Cedar Rapids, it is pretty easy to show everyone my neighborhood, and she was totally jealous. So we took a roadtrip down to St Louis this weekend so I could be shown around her town.

We drove down on Friday (it rained the entire way) which was exciting. We went out to dinner and got "St Louis style" pizza (which basically means it is REALLY REALLY flat and the sauce burns your tongue) and saw "Where the Wild Things Are".

Saturday was a blast, though. We went to a marching band competition for her high school...

and took the MetroLink to Forest Park...

and went to the zoo and saw lots of animals...

as well as went to "The Loop" and did a TON of walking around basically all day. When we finally go to bed around 2 in the morning, we were totally exhausted.

Sunday was pretty chill. We went out to lunch, did a lot of packing and last-minute running around before we left around 3:30 and drove all the way back to Cedar Rapids... again in the rain. (But at least Saturday had gorgeous weather!)

The weekend involved a lot of Lady Gaga, poor gas mileage and lots of walking around, but it was a really lovely break from the stress of school. Now I'm totally overloaded with the weekly homework and the homework I didn't do this weekend (which all seems worse since my computer is in for repairs until God knows when and I am using my dad' big beastly laptop instead... ::sad::). It was totally worth it, though. :)

Fall Break! Yay!

So today is the final day of Fall Break. :( So soon!

Both of my roommates (I only have 2 now ::sniff, sniff::) went home for the long weekend, so I've had the whole room (and sometimes it seems, the entire floor) to myself. I've stayed up late watching tear-jerker movies and done almost all my homework for the week. It's been eerily quiet in the dorm. Hardly anyone is moving around! It's like a ghost town!

I went to the library yesterday and saw about 4 other people. Normally the library is full of people checking Facebook, texting instead of reading, trying to chat quietly with their friends... I went to lunch yesterday and they hardly had any food options and there weren't even tables because they were trying to clean the caf! I saw about 10 other people there. And I saw 2 people on my floor. All in all, a grand total of about 16 people all day. It's been very lonely. :P

But an excellent time for homework and organization and downloading free software trials (::cough:: iWork 09... ::cough::) and, in general, being a bum. It's been a really long weekend and I'm running out of things to do, so I'm glad my roomies and all my friends will be coming back today! The campus will actually be lively again!

In the meantime... a couple of pictures!

Our door after my roomie Bekah got into ASA. :)

My two desk monsters. One from Target, one made for my FYS.

All I can say is.....

BRRRRR!

Where did summer/warm fall go?!

I am sitting here in my dorm room with the air turned to 80 degrees, so that it won't turn on and turn me into an icicle every 5 minutes, listening to the wind whistle and howl outside my window. (This sound fills me with dread every day around cross country time...)

It is kind of sad that we've already gotten to the cold, windy part of fall. The warm, sunny autumn days that are reminiscent of summer are the best. It still lends a fun, whimsical feeling to the school year. But once it gets cold, I can't go out and get distracted in the sunshine... so instead I have to buckle down and get things done. Yuck!

I will tell you though, that cross country in this weather is all sorts of fun! It is colder, so I run faster, and feel awesomer. :P And it's like a game to try not to get blown off course by the wind when it's gusting at 40 mph. And sometimes, you can even compare who has the reddest legs at the end of practice. I just hope it stays this temperature for our HOME MEET at JONES PARK on SATURDAY MORNING around 10:30. (::hint hint...::). Because then we're going to smoke it!

And in case no one caught that serious pimpage...

Coe cross country has a HOME MEET on SATURDAY MORNING. Girls run around 10:30 and boys around 11:30 (I think). It is at JONES PARK. You should come and cheer us on, Kohawks and future-Kohawks!

Happy October 1st!

Rain.

I am pretty positive that every time a Coe student sees rain on the forecast, something dies a little inside. Umbrellas just can't keep your feet dry on the Coe campus!

Looking out from my third-floor window, I see many students with umbrellas or soaking wet heads. I see people running, others walking no faster than any other day. We all have different ways to deal with the cold, windy, miserable rainy day. But most of us still have a problem with our feet! There are puddles the size of lakes on some parts of the sidewalks and rivers running straight through some of the paths! A lucky few have rainboots (something I ought to invest in, really...), the rest wear flip flops because they dry the fastest. Others who are not so smart, such as myself, wear canvas shoes... so their feet can freeze all during class.

Rain is the one part of the college experience I just cannot stand! At least in high school I only got wet coming in from the parking lot! But I'll just have to wait and see how well I do with snow... and ice... and winter... Yuck!

In other news: Midterm is fast approaching (or over in some of my classes... woo hoo!) so this is going to be an active brain week! It will then be followed by a dead brain week. :P

SO BUSY!

I have seriously never been so busy in my entire life! Oh my goodness!

The last couple weeks have been so crazy! Between cross country, class, eating meals and doing homework/watching movies for my First Year Seminar, I haven't even had time to breathe! I'm being forced into learning some pretty decent time management skills, thank goodness!

That being said, the last couple weeks have been awesome. :D I haven't done much around campus (far too much homework, sadly), but have been having a fantastic time in all of my classes. Things are really heating up in all of them. We're getting into really interesting stuff, so the homework isn't a total pain... just time consuming!

Tip for (next year's) freshmen everywhere: First semester, take classes you are interested in! Don't worry about filling in all your gen eds your first year! I know plenty of people who are trying to do that and they hate school and are totally miserable. Take things that are interesting and new and what you're passionate about! :)

Anne Fadiman Q&A

For the freshman class's summer reading book, we had to read a book called "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down." There were pretty mixed opinions about it when we all got on campus, but personally, I thought the book was fantastic. I read it twice; once when we got it early in June, and again at the beginning of August so it was fresh for orientation week. I completely marked it up like crazy with little Post-It notes so I wouldn't forget where the important parts were.

Well, Coe got the author, Anne Fadiman, to come out and give us a Q&A session tonight, and she will be giving a speech tomorrow. I went to the Q&A tonight (admittedly, I came in about 20 minutes late... very embarassing), and it was really interesting.

Anne is such a fantastic speaker. She seems to always have a lot to say. Other students were asking questions and she always elaborated on the topic. She went into a spiel about an experience she had when she was doing some kind of journalistic research in North Manitoba in Canada with a bunch of scientists, and at the end of the trip, one of them had his arm mauled by a polar bear. She didn't tell us to freak us out, but to prove a point that the scientists who saved their life showed really heroism. She's always looking for deeper meanings, such as with an event like this, when I would just perceive it as scary and that-can't-happen-to-me, but she looks at it and wants to know what she can connect it to.

After the Q&A, Anne stuck around to talk to the kids who lingered and to sign books for those of us that wanted her to. She wrote in my book an adorable personal message regarding my immense use of Post-Its: "For Kristine- Nothing gives a writer greater pleasure than seeing such a well-Post-It-ed book! -Anne Fadiman." She was really, really nice and genuine in person. I am looking forward to her speech tomorrow because I can tell that it is going to be good. She's a humble writer who has made a name for herself through persistence and hard-work and following her passions and she's a real inspiration.

Dear Next-Year's-Freshman...

Dear Next Year's Freshman...

When you get your roommate assignment, make sure you talk to them. Not just figuring out who will bring what (and make sure not just one person brings everything), but that you get to know who they are.

And when you begin living together, be open about problems you have. Do not let them bottle up inside because that just causes drama. And nobody needs drama in addition to their adjustment to college life.

Because it sucks. And when people want to move out, and you aren't entirely sure why, it is really frustrating. And it is very hard to concentrate on your classes.

And one more tip: Learn to sleep with lights on. It is very beneficial to both you and your roommate. I don't even notice lights anymore, and it is like a godsend. :)

Sincerely,

Kristine