2007 December Archive at Ben, ‘11

Archive for December, 2007

The Semester In Review

December 27th, 2007

Now that I have had one semester of college under my belt, I figure that it would be good to give all of my readers a brief summary of what I have done. I have had a lot of posts, but the purpose of this one is to combine everything and make it very concise. I think that the best way to do that is through pictures, so here it goes.

I began my college adventure from Hudson, WI and traveled 1,500 miles with my parents and younger brother and sister. We stayed in a pop-up camper and it was an intensive trip. We enjoyed the Little League World Series, Kelly Island State Park in Lake Erie, Gettysburg, and Washington D.C. Finally, after a stressful week of traveling, we arrived at the University of Richmond.

We left Wisconsin at 5:00 AM and had quite a trip

The first day was spent unpacking and getting settled into our rooms. My roommate and I had a difficult time with furniture, but we finally got it. After unpacking everything, we had a few days of Orientation. I didn’t care for Orientation, but it was required. It was a lot of speeches, but I did meet new people.

Getting settled on move-in day

After a month of improvements, this is what my living space looks like

I was ready for classes to begin and the first few weeks went fairly well. I wasn’t overwhelmed and I was happy. Some classes interested me more than others, but that’s the way it goes. I took Microeconomics, Introduction to Public Policy, Intensive Intermediate Spanish, and CORE (a required Freshmen course). That gave me 15 credits my first semester. As the semester went along, I fell behind in some areas (which was my fault), but managed to bring everything back up at the end. I had two long papers (8 pages) and several shorter ones for CORE, but I was able to get everything done without having to pull an all-nighter (although I did try, but fell asleep). Now that my finals are taken and my grades have been posted, I am very pleased with what I have been able to accomplish my first semester.

These were all of the books that I read during my first semester

If my friends and I needed a late-night break from homework, we went to Sheetz

Two weeks into classes, I went on a retreat with InterVarsity (the non-denominational religious group on campus). We went to the border of West Virginia and spent the weekend getting to know each other and having deep discussions. It was a great time to make new friends and get a break from school.

We found this disgusting pond on a hike and decided to go swimming

The Freshmen Guys of InterVarsity

As the semester progressed, I ended up doing a lot of events with InterVarsity. I did a grill out, scavenger hunt, karaoke night, capture the flag, Man Night, dance party, NFL Kickoff Party, Dollar Burger Night, and a lot more. Of course, we also had our weekly Wednesday night worship services. I also got plugged into a freshmen guys Bible study that meets on Tuesday nights. InterVarsity is probably the biggest consumer of my extracurricular time.

The campus-wide Scavenger Hunt was my favorite InterVarsity event

Also through InterVarsity, I participated in intramural sports. I joined the InterVarsity football and volleyball team. I have very little football talent, yet I still had a good time. Our volleyball team was a different story. We were very competitive and very talented. We ended up winning the championship and getting cool Intramural Champions t-shirts. Intramural volleyball was definitely one of my favorite events of the semester.

Our Intramural Champion volleyball team

On a final religious note, I found a home church in Richmond and they are awesome. It took me months, but I settled on River Road United Methodist Church. I’ve made new friends there and also celebrated Christmas with them before I left for break.

The UR students and church leaders of River Road UMC at Bottoms Up Pizza

Besides InterVarsity, I attended a ton of extracurricular events through the Modlin Center. I went to see many cultural, musical, and artistic performances, and most of them were free. I attended Diavolo (an amazing acrobatic dance group), 1984 the play performed by a professional touring group, Macbeth performed by fellow students, New Faces (a hodgepodge of comedy sketches and music performed by UR students), an Eastern European Jewish klezmer band, Lionheart (an a cappella Gregorian chant group), an Indonesian music and dance festival performed by students and community members, and an electroacoustic music festival. Some were not very exciting, but others were quite entertaining.

The Electroacoustic Music Festival

The Indonesian Gamelon Festival

On the same note, I have fallen in love with a cappella music. We have four great groups on campus and I have attended half a dozen of their concerts. Plus, I’ve already bought a CD by one of them. They’re very talented.

Chouer de Roi, one of our a cappella groups, performs

There are also lots of on-campus activities that are not through the Modlin Center. Our Campus Activities Board brought Robert Randolph and the Family Band to campus for a concert. They also play weekly movies that are fresh out of the theaters, such as Superbad, the Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up, and many others. All of these things were fun.

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

Additionally, a lot of the student groups put on socials or fun events. I’ve attended an Arabian Night, a Multicultural Dinner, a Senior Citizens Prom, and many other events that I randomly see. Most of them are well done and have great food.

The Senior Citizen’s Prom sponsored by one of our fraternities

Along with all of this great food at the events comes great food at D-Hall. I am nowhere near sick of the food and I am eating well. Unfortunately, I also add a fourth meal somedays as late-night pizza has become a staple of our diet. When you stay up until 2:00 or 3:00 AM each night, you get pretty hungry, so the local pizza place is already in my cell phone’s phonebook. As a result of me going to our amazing athletic center nowhere near as often as our amazing dining center, I have put on some weight. However, I have changed my ways late in the semester and am now on my way to being back on track.

My first meal at D-Hall. This is pretty standard.

2:00 AM Pizza

At this point, I should begin to mention breaks from school. We don’t labor for months on end as it may seem. We had Parent’s Weekend, a four day Fall Break, and a five day Thanksgiving Break. Unlike many other students, I did not go home or see my family once. It wasn’t worth it for my parents to make the long trek from Wisconsin for Parent’s Weekend, so I was an orphan. Fortunately, one of my friends’ family adopted several of us orphan students and provided a nice dinner at their home.

The Parents Weekend Orphan Dinner

Likewise, it simply wasn’t worth it for me to go home during the short period of Fall Break. I stayed on campus and accomplished next to nothing. But it was nice to finally get some peace and quiet. For Thanksgiving Break, I also didn’t go home. I had made it three months without seeing my family, so I figured I could make it a few more weeks. I went to New York City to meet up with my best friend from high school who was attending the Coast Guard Academy. We both could have used some fun and a nice break. So, we spent four days exploring Manhattan, attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, visiting all of the famous landmarks, and relaxing. It was a good time.

Me and my friend in NYC

Visiting the Statue of Liberty

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

Since I hadn’t been home in so long, it was nice to get care packages every once in a while. Also, I had frequent communication with my family via phone and e-mail. Finally, D-Hall made some of my favorite recipes that my mom submitted for Home for the Holidays. Still, it was nice to get back to Wisconsin, except for the frigid weather.

My first care package from home

At one point, I was fairly close to home. My scholarship group went on a trip to Chicago in October. We went to see a ballet and WICKED the musical. WICKED was awesome. We also went to a comedy club, Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Navy Pier. Our group stayed in a 4 star hotel and were flown there for free. All of this was paid by our scholarship family. We estimated that it cost roughly $1000 for each person. It was an amazing trip and I made some new friends. I can’t wait to see where we go next year.

Millennium Park in Chicago. This was really cool.

Seeing WICKED in Chicago was one of my favorite events of the semester

I have to mention my involvement with Student Government. I decided to run for Class Chair and didn’t know if I had any chance of winning. In the end, I was elected by four votes and I added another activity to my busy schedule. It’s been a great way to meet new people and stay involved. I surveyed the freshmen guys and tried to find out what they wanted changed. Also, I helped put together all of the Homecoming activities

My good friend, Buddy, helped me campaign and was one of the main reasons that I won

As Class Chair, I plan events for the freshmen guys. We’ve only have had one event so far, but it went very well. My Cabinet and I held FreshMan night and we played poker, ate pizza, and watched a James Bond film. We are already busy planning next semester’s events.

FreshMan Night

I must also mention my participation in sports games. I am attending as many of the basketball games as I can and was thrilled by our football team. We had the best team in school history and made the Division 1 AA playoffs. We made it all the way to the National Semifinals where we lost to Appalachian State, who later won the Championship. I traveled to Boone, NC to watch the game and, though we lost in a heartbreaker, had a great time. I had some of the most school spirit that I’ve ever had. Plus, I think I was on ESPN 2.

My friend and I cheer for Richmond at the National Semifinals

Naturally, I am a college student so I do my fair share of hanging out with friends and having fun. We play board games, video games, and do whatever comes to mind.

Playing Apples to Apples with my friends. I’m Honorable, Lovable, Fresh, and Friendly

Hanging out after everyone returns from Fall Break

As you may have seen, I am, once again, not very concise. But, I’ve had a very busy semester. I would say that I am much more active than the average student, but that’s how I like it. I don’t know what second semester has in store for me, but you’ll have to keep checking back to find out. Best of luck wrapping up your college applications and beginning the long wait. Feel free to ask me any questions. I’m pretty bored since it’s Christmas Break. This is Ben, signing off on first semester. Over and out.

Quote of the Semester: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” -Sir Isaac Newton
Thought to Ponder: Why do we sing “Take me out to the ballgame” if we are already there?
Shout Outs: My family and friends back home along with all of the new friends that I have made. Also, YOU, my faithful readers

Published on December 26, 2007 in Campus Events, Intramural, Sports Games, Class Cabinet, Artsy Performances, InterVarsity, Breaks, Community Activities, Football, Student Government and Miscellaneous. 0 Comments

Final-ly Here

December 13, 2007

In less than 24 hours, I will be back home and resting in my very own house. I haven’t been back in four months and I could use a nice break. This week has been very unusual with finals. Either I was resting and trying to stay relaxed or studying. I thought I would do the worst on my Public Policy final followed by my Microeconomics and Spanish ones. After taking them, I felt the most confident about my Public Policy and least confident about the Spanish. I studied with my friend, Jimmy, for my Public Policy for several hours. We went over every question on the review sheet. When we got the exam, we realized that it was almost an exact copy of the review sheet, word for word. Some questions weren’t on there, but I felt very happy that I had studied the way that I had. My answers weren’t fantastic, but I felt much better leaving the test than when I had arrived. Economics also went well. I remembered which subject areas my professor had hinted would be on the final, so I studied well. I felt very good about the graphs and essays, yet didn’t feel as well about the multiple choice. Oh well, that happens. As for my Spanish, I knew everything and could conjugate everything, yet had a hard time choosing which tense to choose, even when only given two options. I have a bad tendency to do that and to play too many mind games. Now, all I can do is wait for the results.

These are all of the books that I read this semester.

Enough about school. I studied, but that’s not all life is around here. Besides, it’s probably boring to you and it’s also hard for me to easily explain. I caught up on my rest on Saturday and Sunday. I caught the Packers game and saw another dominant performance. I also went to the Christmas Candlelight Service at our chapel. The community comes to campus and our choir sings traditional Christmas carols.

The Christmas Candlelight Service

Halfway through studying on Monday night, I got an e-mail asking me for my comments on the concert that I had attended that night. I then realized that I had completely forgotten about the concert that I was really looking forwards to. It had slipped my mind amidst the finals. It was a Christmas concert by Eileen Eivers. She is a famous Celtic fiddler and I heard that she had an amazing show. She brought in a local boys choir and other local talent to help her. I was really sad that I had missed it. If she comes back next year, I will be sure to make it.

D-Hall did another Home for the Holidays. Once again, one of my mom’s recipes was chosen. They were her Christmas Bars. It was a great selections of bars, pies, egg nog, and other favorite recipes from students’ homes.

My Christmas Bars at Home for the Holidays

I had mentioned that I had finally found a home church here in Richmond that I have been attending for a few weeks. It is a really small congregation and a good group of people. Every week, the few students from U of R who go to that church get together for lunch and a Bible Study. I could never make it due to my CORE class at the same time, but was able to make a Christmas get together this past week. The other students, pastor, main greeter, and myself went into downtown Richmond to the famous Bottoms Up Pizza. It was a great time to relax from finals, get to know the leaders in the church, eat great food, and have a few laughs. I’m excited to keep going with the group and get to know everyone better.

My church group at Bottoms Up Pizza

My Chesapeake Pizza with crab and sweet onions. It was quite interesting.

With all of this food, I figured that I should get in a good workout. Our Bible Study small group scheduled a workout day at the gym. It initially fell through, but we finally got together. However, all that we ended up doing was playing DDR, pool, and arcade games. Then, everyone else went into the sauna. I’m not a huge fan of saunas, so I went out and got in a good run around the lake. It was a high of 77 that day and continued an amazing streak of good weather. Someone was handing out free hot chocolate, but no one really wanted any when they’re wearing a T-shirt and shorts. The run allowed me to clear my mind and reflect on everything that I had done and was still looking for here. I hadn’t really had any pure quiet time. Either I was around other people, listening to music, or watching TV. Even when studying, there is always noise in the hallways or other rooms. So, it was a very pleasant break.

Our small group ended up playing arcade games during our gym get together

On Thursday, I volunteered to help evaluate our Career Development Center. Several outside evaluators came and several other students and myself lent our opinions on the CDC in an effort to improve it. Plus, I got a really good meal out of it.

The final thing that I must mention makes me really sad. One of my friends is transferring after this semester. I don’t know exactly why he is doing it, but I trust that he is making the right decision. He’ll be closer to home as well. I hadn’t been able to hang out with him as much as I would have liked, so this makes me sad. Other than him, I don’t specifically know too many people who are transferring, but I’m sure that some are doing it. It’s probably the same on every other campus in the nation, but I never really thought that some people that I know won’t be coming back. It’s rather sad since I didn’t see it coming. Anyways, best of luck back in Texas, Ben.

My friend, Sarah, delivered some candy canes to bring Christmas cheer

Countdown to Home: 19 Hours
Countdown to Christmas: 11 Days
Quote of the Week: “Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thought to Ponder:Why do hotdogs come in packs of 8 when hotdog buns come in packs of 10?
Shout Outs: My friends at my new church, Ben: “Best of luck in Texas. We’ll miss you.”

Published on December 13, 2007 in InterVarsity and Breaks. 1 Comment

Heartbreak to App State

December 8, 2007

It’s been quite a year for our football team, but it has come to a close. We lost to Appalachian State 55-35 in the National Semifinals for Division 1 AA. If we had won, we would have been in the National Championship. There was no way that I was going to miss this game, so here is the tale of my adventure to Boone, NC.

Our Athletic Department provided free buses so that us fans could go to the game. The only costs I paid were the $5 ticket and food for the trip. We left at 11:30 AM on Friday and spent six hours traveling to Boone, NC. The system is flawed in that the best team does not always get the home game. We were better than Wofford, but had to play there. They mainly factor who can provide the most seats, best atmosphere, and most revenue. That would not be us. So, we traveled to Appalachian State, who knocked off Michigan earlier this year and is the two-time defending National Champions.

My friend, Sarah, and I are excited and anxious for the game as we ride the bus

After we arrived, our two busloads of fans entered the stadium. There was quite an atmosphere there. Fans were everywhere. They sprint and slide to get the best seats in the fan section. I was fortunate to get a front row seat in the Richmond section and we started to get really excited for the game to start. It was in the mid-40s for temperature, but we had layers and layers of clothing on to stay warm.

Emily and I show our Spider pride

ESPN 2 was showing the game nationwide

Once gametime arrived, the bleachers were packed. The final attendance showed 24,000 people in attendance. I’m pretty sure that Richmond had about 500 fans total. We were drastically outnumbered, but we had a ton of spirit. I had never been to such an intense sports game before. There were fireworks and roaring stands to greet Appalachian State. We did what we could to cheer the Spiders’ arrival. We had white towels that were in constant motion and some fans used body paint to spell “Spiders”. They were rather cold.

The Appalachian State Mountaineers take the field

Some brave souls went without shirts. They had on more in the second half.

We had a rough start and could not stop Armanti Edwards, their quarterback. However, our offense was doing pretty well. We were able to score and our fan sections went crazy. The television cameras came over and I’m pretty sure that I got on TV. Let me know if you saw me. However, our defense was just having a difficult time keeping up with their amazing quarterback. At halftime, it was 35-21 in favor of Appalachian State. That was lucky since we got a last second touchdown before the half ended.

We never lost spirit. Our student body president really got into it,

We all take a break during halftime

Starting the second half, we came out strong. We scored and then scored again off of a turnover. It was 35-35. After we tied it, there was pandemonium in our section. We were all screaming, hugging, yelling, etc… It was the most excited I’d been all day, and probably all semester. We could possibly knock off the two-time defending National Champs. I had already lost my voice after the first quarter, but I was getting into it. I was probably one of the most vocal and energized fans in our entire section.

I made this sign so that it could get me on TV. I think it did. Did you see it?

It was 35-35. Here’s proof. Sorry for the bad quality.

However, our joy was not meant to last. Armanti Edwards continued to destroy us. On their next possession, it was 3rd and nine and he ran for a lot of yards. It was heartbreaking. That play basically turned the tide of the game and the momentum back to them. I think they only punted once all game. We just couldn’t stop him. It was so frustrating. in the end, we lost 55-35 and Armanti Edwards, their quarterback, had rushed for 314 yards and thrown for a lot too. I think that was a rushing record for a quarterback. It was the most that any quarterback has ever rushed in a game, whether it be NFL, FBS, or FCS. It was rather humiliating, yet we stuck close.

The final score. What a sad sight.

After the game, their fans rushed the field. They torn down the goalposts and paraded them through campus. It was heartbreaking since we had come so close. I so wanted to storm the field if we had managed to knock them off. However, all that we had to look forwards to was a six hour drive home. We stopped for food and everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted. Finally, we arrived back to campus at 6:00 AM. Writing this 24 hours later, I am still emotionally exhausted from the game and have very little physical energy. I was so excited before the game and then we had a rough start. However, they teased us with a comeback to tie it, yet it slipped away. It was heart wrenching

Appalachian State fans rush the field

They tore down the goalposts after their victory

Through it all, I am very proud of our team and what they accomplished this year. They were one of the top four teams in the entire nation. They also won the most games in school history and made it to the National Semifinals for the first time as well. So many records were set and our running back, Tim Hightower, was voted as the second best player in Virginia, behind Chris Long of the D1 school UVA. Also, I was more proud than ever to be a Spider. During the game, we had such spirit and excitement and it was amazing. One of my major frustrations is a sense of apathy among students. They don’t attend as many events or games as I would like them to. However, our small fan section at the game was incredible. We were all bonded together and so invested in our team. There was a huge sense of pride among us. I hear that most of campus watched the game on TV as well. I was still upset after finding out that some of my friends gave up on the game early on and didn’t watch it after the half. Yet, they are die-hard fans of their other teams. I just don’t understand. Oh well, I guess that I’ll just need to work on doing what I can to improve overall spirit.

Since I am exhausted, I must say farewell. Finals are upon me and I must summon the last of my strength. Once again, I am still open to questions and will have plenty of time to answer them during break.

Countdown to Home: 6 days
Countdown to Christmas: 17 days
Quote of the Week: “The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.” - Robert Ingersoll
Thought to Ponder: Do you remember seeing me on ESPN 2 during the game?
Shout Outs: The Richmond Spiders football team for an outstanding season