This Week's Highlights

It's finally Friday! Actually, this week has gone rather quickly. I'm excited about that and ready for the weekend, which is going to include a hang-out session with my lovely Big from APO, a Halloween party at TRAX, and maybe, possibly snow. 

Here are some highlights of this week:

• Monday I had a service project with Alpha Phi Omega at a community center where I got to play with kids. I hadn't been in the best mood all day, but I really enjoyed myself when I was there. I am signed up to go back soon.
• Tuesday I had my short story workshopped in Intermediate Fiction, which is always fairly interesting--and, you know, nervewracking.
• I did another service project Tuesday as well. Alpha Phi Omega is organizing a clothing drive as its big project for this semester, and I was helping distribute flyers. It was a lot of fun, and I'm going to do more flyer distribution on Sunday. Also--the houses we were delivering flyers to were absolutely gorgeous! They were so fancy, I really wonder how expensive they were.  
• Wednesday, in Thought & the Natural Sciences, we went on a field trip. Our class trekked up the side of a hill--I'd call it a mountain--on the side of a highway to look at rocks from the Duvonian era. I'll admit, I didn't know too much about the rocks but it was kind of fun breaking them apart. Also, I was very glad that I had decided to wear rain boots. Some girls were wearing flats and skirts, and they looked absolutely miserable.
• Thursday one of SU's visiting writers, James Galvin, spoke to my Intermediate Fiction class. Galvin identifies as a poet but his prose book, The Meadow, is well-known. It's always interesting to see the person behind a book you've been reading. The formation of The Meadow was especially intriguing. Galvin was writing about the real people and lifestyle he knew to capture it for his then 4-year-old daughter, who would not really ever get to know those people, that way of life, or the land as it had been for Galvin growing up. I've heard this kind of idea before--writing for a very particular person--and it's still one I'd like to really try.
• In Hebrew Bible on Thursday, I got my group and topic for the final project. I am very excited that my group will be presenting on the sages. Sages are basically wisemen, responsible for books in the Bible like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. 
• InterVaristy's large group meeting--this week, about friendship--made my Thursday night awesome, as always!
• I've decided on my topic for my final, 12 page grammar paper. I'll be looking at the grammatical differences between the King James Version of the Bible and newer versions using more modern language, such as the New International Version, and I'll be arguing about which is more effective rhetorically. It was very hard to choose between this idea and analyzing the grammar in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, which I love!
• I wrote a short-short last night. I have some little tweaks to do before I send it out. I'm not actually sure how good it is, but I had fun writing it.
• Registration is approaching for next semester. Actually, classes and times come out today. I am still majorly flip-flopping on whether or not I want to double major in Creative Writing and Religion. I would really like to make the decision before next semester, though.  

It's been a busy week. Hopefully another highlight of my weekend will be lots of sleep.

Fall Conference!

Friday afternoon, I headed out to InterVarsity Fall Conference. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is not merely an organization on this campus but is represented on campuses across the country. Fall Conferences provide a chance for students from different campuses to get together. At our conference, 10 colleges were represented, with decent numbers of students from schools like Albright, Alvernia, Bloomsburg, Bucknell, and Lehigh. The conference, which took place in the Poconos, provided plenty of free time for hanging out with friends as well as speakers, worship, and quiet time.

While I love the Susquehanna campus, I really do love these times when I can break from my usual routine and escape off-campus. It's a great opportunity to be away from stressors at school. In fact, I brought no homework at all with me on this trip, since I knew I wouldn't get to it. Of course, reality comes crashing back in very quickly--like finding out you've overslept Monday morning, for instance.

I wish it could've gone on longer, but I hope that it has ramifications on my semester as it continues. One thing I hope to do, particularly, is to deepen my friendships and fellowship with people from IV.

I am so grateful that I began attending this group first semester. It's been so formative to my college life and has given me so many memorable experiences that I would not have had otherwise. I advise all college students to join an organization they're passionate about as early as they can! I'm excited for the rest of the time I'll be having with IV throughout the year and through my next years here at SU, and though I may not get to go on Fall Conference next year, due to study abroad, I definitely want to go my senior year!

Fall Break and the Mini-Week

Number 3--my Venetian mask!

It's been a short but active week since I've returned from Fall Break!

Fall Break itself wasn't particularly interesting (it was also way too short), so I thought a fun way to share about it would be looking at a list of all the things I brought back from home after Fall Break that I hadn't had at school before.

1     A bag of clothing
2.   Bags of stuffed animals
3.   A Venetian mask
4.   My Halloween costume
5.   Rainboots
6.   Umbrella
7.   A fan
8.   Cookies

The clothing and stuffed animals are for Alpha Phi Omega, my service fraternity. APO is running a clothing drive as its major project, so I brought some of my clothes to donate. I am asking my parents to bring any clothes they have lying around when they come up for Family Weekend. APO has also made me aware of a stuffed animal drive. I’m pretty okay with parting with all of these stuffed animals—as long as I have my Pillow Pet that I got at APO initiation last year, a hippo I named Hagrid. The stuffed turtle, though, is probably the coolest of the stuffed animals I’m donating. The Venetian mask is also for Alpha Phi Omega. APO has a formal once a year. This year’s formal is masquerade themed. Many people are making masks, but I thought I’d take advantage of the one I had in my room! It’s a souvenier my brother bought me when he went on a trip to Europe in college.

I also brought my Halloween costume—or the key piece of it, which I bought at Salvation Army for 3 dollars over break. My Halloween costume is obscure, and nobody may get it, but I’m still very excited about it. I am being Lindsay Weir from the cult classic television show Freaks and Geeks. This costume basically consists of jeans and a green, oversized Army jacket.

Earlier in the year, I threw out my rainboots because they had a hole in them. This was a decision I came to regret since, for a while there, it was nonstop rain. It was such a relief to get rainboots over break! My former umbrella also had some difficulties—though I haven’t yet thrown it out. A new one is very helpful, though I’ve already used it and struggled with closing it before I go into buildings.

A small fan is one of the best things I’ve brought back from break! My room can get pretty hot. It’s super nice to feel that air.

There is no real reason for cookies, except that they’re Golden Oreos and they’re yummy.

All in all, I was pretty prepared for the short, but active week that was ahead of me! Yesterday was probably the most hectic, as I scrambled to complete a short story for Intermediate Fiction. It was due around midnight, but everyone else with the same due date had sent their stories in prior to mine—which came in around 9:45.

Nevertheless, I headed over to the Christian group I’m involved in, InterVarsity, even though it was only for the final 15 minutes. After InterVarsity was formally finished, a group of us stayed after to make a scarecrow for an event happening at SU called Scarecrows for a Cause.  Scarecrows for a Cause is a competition among different organizations. Each organization submits a decorated scarecrow, and members of the campus community will “vote” for different scarecrows by donating money. The scarecrow that accrues the most money will earn its groups’ charity of choice all of the money made through Scarecrows for a Cause. I didn’t go back until my room late last night, but it was worth it because it was a lot of fun—especially after all that story stress!

Skipping to Summer: Thinking about Internships

Though it's midterm week of fall semester, my friends and I have already discussed plans for the summer. This past summer I worked at Salvation Army hanging up clothing. The  location was nearby, the hours were good, and the work was easy, so no major complaints there. I am even thinking that I'll be return to this position over winter break so I can make some money for study abroad next year. However, I am hoping to do something different next summer. I would really like an internship. Creative Writing majors, like most majors, don't all end up in the same field, and it's not always as obvious how to make this study into a career. I think it's especially important for me, then, to get experience in possible career paths. 

One advantage I have in the internship search is that I live near Harrisburg. Being by the capital gives me more opportunities than I might have elsewhere. Already I've found two really interesting internship opportunities.

One company is looking for a Communications Intern. The position would involve with marketing and media relations. Though I am not a Communications major, the writing skills I'm cultivating through my major can definitely be helpful in that field. I also work for Susquehanna's University Communications office, so I have some experience. Completing this internship may give me some more insight on whether or not I am interested in pursuing communications professionally.

The second internship I found was at an archive. Archival work and library science are fields that are often associated with each other. Because of my interest in librarianship, I have stumbled upon, and been intrigued by, information on archival careers. One job I find interesting is that of a digital archivist. The only way to know if I'd really like archival work, though, is to do it. This internship could provide a great opportunity to explore a career path that I might not get to really consider otherwise.

I'm only at the beginning of my search, though. I'm sure if I found these two great opportunities, I can find a lot more! Once I have my list, I'll begin working on resumes, cover letters, and applications. I think I will take advantage of the Center for Career Services before I send any materials to companies. I have yet to use this resource on campus, but this would be the perfect time; I want to give myself the best chance possible for success!

Being Studied

Though I have not been a brother of Alpha Phi Omega for very long, it has provided me quite a few opportunities that I wouldn't have had--or been aware of having--otherwise. For instance, last year I spent some time plucking weeds at a muddy campus garden and knocking on dorm room doors, asking students for their unneeded shirts. I'm a bit behind on my service hours for APO this semester (I need 20 by the semester's end, meaning I should be around 10 hours right now; unfortunately, I'm only a bit over 5) but I have still engaged in some new opportunities through APO this year. For example, I got to attend a kindergarten through third grade dance at the YMCA and represent Alpha Phi Omega at one of Susquehanna's activity fairs. 

Most recently, APO has asked brothers to sign up for some of the research studies SU students conduct.

Yesterday I participated in a Psychology study. It was a very simple way to help out my fellow students. All I had to do was report to a classroom at 7 p.m., fill out a consent form, and take a test, mostly about myself and my personality. The only downside, for me, is filling out test bubbles. I spend so long on each bubble! That definitely contributed to me being the second to last person to finish the test. Still, it was only a painless hour of time that helped out the pursuit of academics at Susquehanna.

Taking that study helped me appreciate the work that is done in other, more research-oriented majors, like psychology. It seems like a whole other way of life, when I think about what my Creative Writing major requires of me, and it strikes me how much our areas of study impact our college experiences. However, there are ample opportunities for students of different disciplines to support each other--that is, if we take them.

It's funny that these research studies come up now. My group in my science course for the Honors program, Thought & the Natural Sciences, is in the preliminary stage of our own research study. Since this research is coming from a science class that is more general and meant to fulfill Central Curriculum requirements, obviously our research won't be as in-depth. Still, we will follow a similar process on a smaller scale.

I suppose college gives not only the chance to study, but do studies and be studied in return.

Part of Your World



Bev and I over the summer

My friend Beverly, who goes to the University of Pittsburgh, commented on how Susquehanna is very much a different world from her big, urban university. We concluded that basically every college is its own world, with its own culture, and how her visit was taking her into mine.

When Bev arrived Saturday afternoon, I gave her a campus tour with her other friend she was visiting. It was fun to be able to show her all the places on campus, including my beloved freshman dormitory (though we didn't get the chance to go inside). One place we explored with her was the library. Then we ate lunch with her at my favorite place to eat on campus, Benny's. During this tour, I was able to introduce her to many people, like my roommate from last year Sarah who I called to meet us outside of Smith, where she RAs, my Big from Alpha Phi Omega, and one of my friends from my residence hall last year, Kathleen.

Saturday she went to stay with her other friend, but on Sunday we spent the day together. A cool aspect of the day was that it differed from the norm but I also was able to include her in many of my Sunday routines. We met at chapel, then had Sunday brunch in the cafeteria, one of my favorite SU meals. We decided to spend a lot of our day outside. We walked into downtown Selinsgrove which Bev found adorable; of course I agreed. There wasn't much open in Selinsgrove on a Sunday afternoon so we walked over by the river and found a gazebo where we could chat. I had never actually been to that spot before, but it was nice and I want to go back. Following our outdoors adventure, we returned to my dorm, where we spent time with my friends, and then went to Benny's for dinner. This Sunday happened to be a week when the Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene was having its young adult service. I was able to take her to that, and she got to see many of my friends from InterVarsity who also attend Plugged In. Afterwards, we ordered Domino's at my dorm.

We ended the night chilling in my room and staying up talking way too late.

It's so awesome that she has been here and experienced some parts of my Susquehanna world. Now I can talk to her about my college life and the people in it, and she will have at least some idea about what I'm saying! It makes me want to visit here even more at Pitt--though I know that world will be extremely different from Susquehanna.

Gathering More Study Abroad Information

Yesterday, after Hebrew Bible class, I went to an information session on study abroad. A representative from IFSA-Butler, an organization that has many study abroad programs, was visiting. It was a very small information session—only me and one other student, but that meant receiving a lot of personalized information about the program I was interested in at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The University of Ulster has four different campuses, and I like the one in Coleraine. It has a strong English program so I should be able to find classes to meet my requirements here.

The representative was able to describe the campus so I have a better picture than my research had given me. He said the campus itself wasn’t the prettiest campus, but it was surrounded by a scenic area. Also, there are busses that take students into the nearby town. The college is also larger than Susquehanna, but I think I’m willing to take bigger class sizes for a semester in order to have my study abroad experience. The academic approach in Northern Ireland will be different as well. There is less week-to-week work; students are expected to be more independent, and much of your grade comes down to a long, final exam. There will definitely be an international population, but it won’t be a huge one, like in some other countries. The program comes with an orientation before the semester--I believe in Belfast, though my memory isn't 100% clear--as well as excursions. For students in Northern Ireland, he said there is usually a weekend in Dublin. He was also able to give me more information on how signing up for classes and applying work. Something else I like is that there will probably be a group flight to Northern Ireland leaving from JFK airport. This is a comfort to me because I’ve never flown before.

Right now, I definitely think this is what I want to do in terms of study abroad. The application process for studying abroad next school year opens up in November, so around then this blog will probably be filled with more updates as I go through paperwork, try to obtain a faculty recommendation, etc.  My main concern, at the moment, is just making sure things will check out financially.

Despite the fact that I’m in the very beginning of this process—practically before the beginning—the more I think about study abroad the more excited I become. In high school, this is an opportunity I hadn’t really considered taking, but now I’m very much attached to the idea.  

Group Projects

In my Intermediate Fiction class, I just completed something I haven't done in any of my other writing courses--a group project. Like the rest of my writing courses, Intermediate Fiction is divided between workshopping people in the class and reading published works. Each group in our class is leading the discussion on two authors. Today, my group had to lead conversation and activity around two David Foster Wallace short stories. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't contribute enough, because I wasn't leading a section on my own, but I think I was able to ask some interesting questions as well as respond to some of the questions my other group members raised. What I liked about this group project was that it was not nearly as stressful as many I've done!

My Thought & The Natural Sciences course also relies on group projects. For tomorrow, we need to turni n the next stage of our end-of-unit group project. Our professor gave us a lot of freedom as to the topic and medium of our projects. My team ended up choosing to do vlogs, or video blogs, of different scientists involved in aviation, in order to convey biographical information about these scientists as well as scientific concepts. I am playing Daniel Bernoulli. Aviation was before his time, but the Bernoulli principle became very important in flight. Our last due date we all turned in outlines of our research. Tonight I need to write my video script so I can hand that in. The next stage will be actually filming my video, which will be interesting--I feel like I need to find a good costume!

For Friday we also have to come up with an idea for an experiment we could conduct as a team. We're still in the brainstorming stage, but we are leaning towards something to do with psychology.

Usually, I'm very wary of group projects, but for both these classes, I've had good group members. I have yet to really feel my normal group project stress. I hope that I can continue warding that off as our group begins a new project in science.

Religious Life Council's Fall Retreat

On Friday, I left for this year's Religious Life Council Christian Fellowship Retreat. This was my third RLC  retreat so far, and I hope to go to one each semester, besides my semester abroad. Our group, I think around 25 of us, gathered at the chapel with blankets, pillows, and bags. After approximately 45 minutes in a school bus, we reached Mountain Dale Farms. It's a great location, though it was too rainy for us to enjoy nature as much as most of us would've liked. Last year, all of the girls stayed in one cabin, but because so many people went this year, a group of us girls slept in a different cabin. This cabin had a really cool loft, where many of the girls slept, but I stuck to one of the bunk beds on the ground. Unfortunately, I've had a cold, and I didn't want it spread by sleeping in such close quarters!

In fact, I got so sick that I practically lost my voice over the weekend. This was a major pain but I didn't let it ruin my retreat experience.

Friday night was mostly spent hanging out and playing games in "The Room of Death," the meeting area with comfy couches and chairs and many mounted animal heads. As groups, we played the knot game, which is when people stand in a circle and grab hands so everyone is tangled; then, the group has to work to free itself from the knot. My group was very unsuccessful--we didn't unknot ourselves once! I also played a game of Pictionary Down the Lane that night, which is pictionary mixed with the game Telephone. To begin, someone writes a sentence. The person that gets the sentence has to do a drawing of it. The next person then, without looking at the previous sentence, has to compose a sentence about the drawing. Everything gets wonderfully convuluted! On Saturday, I also had plenty of time to sit and talk with people, as well as play card games and 20 questions.

Of course, the retreat also had a spiritual focus. Susquehanna's Deacon of Spiritual Nurture, a senior religion major, led our group in sessions about heaven and the concept of heaven on earth. These sessions incorporated Bible study and discussion. For some, we listened to and reflected on songs about heaven. During one session, all of us got a chance to bust out our artistic skills and draw our childhood picture of heaven--it was very hard for me to decide on God's clothing and hairstyle! Saturday night, our structured activities ended with worship and prayer. I was a bit sad that, because of my cold, I couldn't sing along to the worship songs. My favorite part of worship was seeing the skits our different groups made about the Scripture readings. My group updated a parable about a servant inviting guests to his master's great feast to a butler inviting guests to his master's luau! The skits, in all, were very creative.

It was very nice to step away from campus and my routines; I wish I could've been gone longer! Luckily, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Fall Conference is coming up this month as well, giving me plenty of chances to get away.