September 5th, 2008
Hello all prospective students,
The second week is done and it was much more manageable than the first. Maybe I’m actually getting into a routine. I feel like I was always going, but I don’t have too much to report to you. Obviously I had all of my classes and I also had a planning meeting for the Collegiate Disaster Relief Team, watching speeches of the Republican National Convention for Campaigns 2008, a tour, a meeting for the Council for Christian Unity, an NFL Kickoff Party for InterVarsity, and a lunch for the United Methodist group. I guess I’ve just been busy doing homework and trying to work ahead so that I won’t have any homework when I return from the Fall Retreat. I did have my first paper due already. I had my teacher preview it and she suggested “taking it to a whole new level” and almost rewriting it, even though she said it was “beautifully written” and “very good”. Well, I did rewrite it and she liked it even more. So, even though it was a lot of work, I think it got me off to a solid start in the class. Other news included me being selected to represent my class by speaking at Investiture, the event welcoming the freshmen men to Richmond College.
This week, we had Iron Man play at the Pier, which was fun to watch with some of my new freshmen friends. We also had Ben Lee come for a concert on Saturday night. It was a great time. I was up front and, even though I hadn’t heard much about him before the concert, I found that I’ve been listening to a lot of his music throughout the week. He was humorous and put on a very entertaining show.
Ben Lee performing at the concert
A Ben Lee music video
Now it’s time for a fun story that happened on Wednesday (a crazy day of the week for me). I get up at 7:00 AM and go non-stop until 9:00 PM. I go from breakfast to class to an hour of homework to two classes to an hour of homework to a tour to an hour of homework to Spider Diaries training to Student Government to InterVarsity. Anyways, at the very end of the day I relaxed by playing volleyball. At the volleyball courts, a freshman girl I didn’t know ran up to me and asked if I was Ben. I said “Yes” and she said that I had given her a tour in May and I was the reason that she chose to come here, which was fun to hear.
Another thing going on in my life is looking ahead to study abroad. I’m so active on-campus and I have a few other complicating factors, yet I definitely want to study abroad next year. It’s one of the reasons why I chose this school in the first place. So, I spent all summer researching my options for the future and I think that I have a good feel for what I might do. Although I looked into Semester at Sea (circling the globe aboard an academic cruise ship), I believe I will study abroad next summer in a more traditional program, but it could be moved to the summer after. I’ve always enjoyed traveling and seeing new places, but I wasn’t sure if just one city would be enough. Plus, I’ve always wanted to see Europe. So, I think I have found a solution. I will probably take a month of classes at the University of Salamanca in Spain. Then, I will spend the next month backpacking through Europe and visiting a whole bunch of places I’ve always dreamed of visiting, such as Paris, Normandy, Amsterdam, Munich, Rothenberg, Vienna, Bern, Interlaken, Rome, Tuscany, Venice, and Santorini. I’ve done tons of research and hope all goes according to plan. Our office of International Education has worked with me to make sure that the program I want to attend is a possibility and also to help me in whatever way possible, since I am planning on doing it in the summer and also at a non-University affiliated program.
In other news, our football team moved up to being ranked third in the nation for Division 1-AA. We even received a vote for the top team in the nation. This week we play at the University of Virginia. It will be very interesting to see the game considering that Hurricane Hannah will be hitting Virginia at that very same time.
I won’t be able to go to the game because this weekend will be spent at the InterVarsity Fall Retreat. I’m really excited to get to know all of the new freshmen and make more friends. Hopefully the weather cooperates some and we’re not locked inside all weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Quote of the Week: Live life fully while you’re here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You’re going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.” -Anthony Robbins
Thought to Ponder: If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
Shout Outs: Any parents of prospective students out there
YouTube Video of the Week:
What a nice big sister
