The past 24 hours have provided me with information that effects my Spring Break and most of my summer. I learned that I was accepted to CDRT (Collegiate Disaster Relief Team). That means that I will spend Spring Break in New Orleans with thirty other students from UR. I was very honored since there are very few freshmen who are accepted.
So that means that I won’t return home until May, right? Wrong. I was also informed yesterday that I was accepted to the LURE (Long Term Undergraduate Research). So, I will spend ten weeks this summer doing math research on-campus. I’m excited for this opportunity, but also am apprehensive about my skills. But, it’ll be great to have nights and weekends in the summer open to hang out with friends and play beach volleyball and have fun. My research group will be investigating the shape of blood vessels in the brain and their tortuosity and corkscrew patterns which lead to strokes. I don’t even understand everything yet, but it sounds cool.
This is what I’ll be working with this summer
My other application that I’m waiting to hear on is Lakeview. That is the Political Campaigns program which lives together and takes a class together. I’ve submitted my application and am waiting to hear the results early next month. I went to an Open House and heard what I wanted. The second semester we are free to live in the amazing dorm but have no obligations to the program. Plus, the program is meant to enhance everything with outside activities that are designed by us, but by no means consume our life. Wish me luck on that one too.
As far as homework is concerned, it’s been very light. I have almost no work this weekend and this semester has been great for me. It’s definitely made me feel more at ease and that I’ve made good decisions last semester and this semester already. I am reading Machiavelli’s “Prince” and am finding it very fascinating. Everything he says makes sense, yet is so contrary to common thinking. I am working on a group project for it and need to lead a class discussion on it. The class is still interesting and the teacher is still great. Sculpture is also going well. The teacher had a lot of compliments for my skull and it looks pretty good in my mind. I’ll post a picture when it’s all done, which will be next week. Finally, CORE is going well. Oddly, I’m liking the books that we’re reading. We are currently on Shakespeare’s “Othello”. Our class is reenacting it with a very modern twist. It’s fun. Wow. I actually just called Shakespeare “fun”. I never thought that would happen. I’m also starting a paper on “Confessions” by St. Augustine for CORE. I’m well ahead of the rest of the class and already have my thesis and intro done. My paper is on the role of fear in Augustine’s decision to convert to Christianity.
I went shopping for the Super Bowl Party that our Class Cabinet is throwing. It was a lot of fun to go into town with them. Plus, we had some pretty interesting conversations about everything from black lights to politics to medicine. I ended up getting some games and other supplies that I needed as well. Now, I can have more game nights with friends. The next night, I went into town again with my friend, Andrew. He treated me to dinner at a Mexican restaurant and it was pretty fun. Andrew has done so much to help me with Class Cabinet and has gotten to be a good friend. I’ve hung out with friends a little bit more this semester. I had dinner with David, my friend and small group leader, and I think it’s going to turn into a weekly event.
Eating at the Mexican restaurant with Andrew
Finally, I went to two forms of entertainmen this week. This afternoon, I went to see Ira Glass, who is on NPR’s “This American Life”, which is one of the top shows on all of the radio. He gave a monologue which was interrupted by clips from his shows. It was fairly interesting, but slightly dry at times. To make life more fun, I went to see a comedian which CAB brought on Friday night. His name was Dan Cummins and he was really funny. It made my night and made me laugh a lot. He made a joke about us having a Leadership major, thinking it was a joke, and was blown away when he found out we weren’t kidding. He made some funny jokes about it, but I’m still proud of it.
That’s about it. The weekend is flying by and I’m trying to enjoy it. The weather has been great lately and gotten into the 50’s and is supposed to reach 70 soon. I have to sign off for now, but I’ll keep you filled in on the developments in my life. Adios.
Quote of the Week: “If you think dogs can’t count, then try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them.” -Phil Pastoret
Thought to Ponder: If money doesn’t grow on trees, then why do banks have branches?
Shout Outs: Andrew for taking me into town… twice
My newest feature (I just found out how to embed movies and am having a lot of fun):
YouTube Movie of the Week:
This is my former teammate Tim catching the diving board with his right leg and tearing his ACL, LCL, and part of his MCL. He won state diving while on our high school team. This is in honor of him.
