Ben, ‘11

April 5, 2009

Howdy!!! I am sure that many of you are still deciding what to do in terms of college for next year. It can be a daunting and difficult decision, but I wish you the best. As I’ve said before, try to not be so anxious and worried about making the wrong decision, just trust yourself and enjoy the process. You applied to all of these schools for a reason. I’ll try to post a blog next week that should be able to help you some, at least I hope so.

Just like many of you are planning for your futures, so am I. It’s been a very busy week for me. Last Saturday required eight hours of pouring over Leadership applications for InterVarsity and selecting next years’ team. It was a long process, but actually quite enjoyable. I will be returning in my role as the head of the event-planning team for all of next year. So, I will continue being able to create really fun events for the entire organization and campus to enjoy.

I also had to register for classes. I thought I was on the right track with Business and Leadership, but Business requires you to declare a concentration, such as Economics, Finance, Marketing, Management, etc…, which requires you to go down own path or another. I flopped back and forth many times this week. I started as Finance, then switched to International Business, but then ended at Management or Marketing, all within a few days time. I won’t have to officially decide until the end of Junior year, but it caused a lot of stress this week. Determining the path I thought would be best, I finalized it on Friday by registering for classes for the Fall semester. I will take Business Statistics II, Principles of Marketing, Organizational Behavior, Theories and Models of Leadership, and Cooperation, Competition, and Choice (an negotiation-based Leadership course). I’m pretty excited for them. I also registered for classes for my period abroad this summer. I will be at Saint Louis University in Madrid and plan to take a Legal Environment of Business course as well as a Principle of Finance course.

The last major decision regarded housing arrangements for next year. There was a lot of drama earlier this week, most of it unexpected, regarding who would live together and where, but it has been resolved and our suite finally came together. The University of Richmond has a lottery system and I had a good pick, so I’m really happy with the room I got. Three current freshmen and myself will live together in a double-double suite in South Court. That means that two people will live in one room and two in the other. Both of the rooms are connected via a private bathroom. The room even has a fireplace, which is probably not usable at all, but it’s still really cool!!! The four of us living together will be Alex from Virginia and Chris from New York in one room and Billy from New York and myself from Wisconsin living in the other. I’ve switched roommates every year and will have lived with people from Alabama, Virginia, and New York. What a diverse group.

Besides major decisions to make, I also had major projects to complete for some of my classes. I had two fourteen page papers due at exactly the same time. I finished one early for Rhetoric regarding the contemporization of rhetoric and the on-campus Speech Center by proposing that both of them be brought to YouTube. It was a fun topic to write about. The other project was a paper that I wrote with one other person for Critical Thinking. It detailed the failure of the New Orleans criminal justice system by not revising Article 701 of the state law which mandates suspected criminals must be released from jail after sixty days if no evidence or conviction is brought forth. It required working from 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM the night before it was due to finish it, but we did finish it. Sure, we accidentally deleted almost six hours of work, but we discovered the one solitary updated file that had been saved. What a relief.

My friend was also hard at work with me in our
favorite place to study-the hallway

Considering all of the hard work, it resulted in me having a completely free weekend. I was done with all of my work and ready for some fun. So, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends, playing games, and watching online episodes of “30 Rock”. Plus, there was the annual extravaganza on-campus that we call Pig Roast. It’s a chance for everyone to dress up and hang out at the fraternities where there is free food, music, and a lot of fun. So, my friends and I went over for several hours and enjoyed the glorious day. Seriously, it couldn’t have been much nicer. Mid seventies and pure sunshine. Amazing.

Some of my friends enjoying Pig Roast

Finally, I should mention that one of the major remodeling projects on-campus is now complete. It is called The Gameroom and it looks really cool. It has giant flat-screen TVs everywhere that students can play video games and watch TV shows on. It’s basically a giant lounge where students can come to hang out, play video games, and relax. It’s really cool.

The new Gameroom

Quote of the Week: “Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” -Robert Babson
Thought to Ponder: Why do we drive on parkways when we park on driveways?
YouTube Video of the Week: