Heyo Mt. Horeb!

I'm writing this blog post while sitting at my kitchen table...in Mt. Horeb.

That's right, my finals are over, I've survived them and now I'm home for a couple of weeks. Finals weren't nearly as bad as I expected. I think that means I was prepared to take them (or write them as demonstrated in the originally 15 page turned 25 page paper I turned in).

And this past week, I accomplished a lot more than taking two tests and finishing off one 25 page paper. I also...

• Completed my sixth semester of clarinet juries. I played the second movement from Robert Schumann's Fantasy Pieces. While the link I've attached features a cello as the solo instrument, it's such a beautiful piece, I wanted you to hear it. So just imagine the cello magically turns into a clarinet and there I am, playing away! 
• Mailed out contributor copies of the newest issue of the Coe Review. I can't wait for the authors to get a hold of the issue. Over break, I plan to upload the issue to our website and post some picture from our publication release. Woot! 
• Watched my roommate, Emily, and several other senior theater majors perform in a student-created and student-produced show for their senior seminar class. It was about body image and very well done. They performed shortly after I turned in my final paper, so it was a nice celebration of sorts. 
• Had dinner on two separate nights with two of my professors. Wednesday night I ate dinner with Melissa, my thesis advisor, and on Thursday, my sophomore year globalization class had dinner at our professor's house (Kimberly). Both nights were fantastic and such a good way to end the semester. I think this also highlights the strengths of our professors at Coe. They want to know you as a person and this more casual setting allowed us to talk about lots of different topics. I think these relationships we build with our professors are out of this world and help to make Coe feel even more like a family. 

And now I'm back with my Fargo family. It's good to be back and to have a break. Of course, I've got lots of writing to do and can't wait to dig into some books for fun! I've got a few posts I want to write, so don't worry, this blog will be active for the next couple of weeks. 

Happy holidays! 

Last Day of Classes!

If you can believe it, yesterday was my last day of classes. Today is Reading Day, a day devoted to students studying before final exams start on Wednesday.

I seriously cannot believe this semester is almost over. I have one clarinet jury, two finals, and one final paper to complete between now and Friday. Then I'll pack up everything and move back to Wisconsin since I'll be in New York this January. So so so crazy.

Even though it's Reading Day, I still have a full plate of things to do. They include:

• Practicing my clarinet for my jury on Wednesday.
• Mail the recently printed The Coe Reviews to poets not on Coe's campus. 
• Support my friend Courtney as the play she wrote in her advanced playwriting class is performed. 
• Lunch with my friend Alexis.
• Help host the publication release event for The Coe Review.
• Work in the Writing Center.
• And OF COURSE, study for my finals and work on my final paper.

Never a dull moment right? Because I'll be busy with school, I've queued a few posts to entertain you until I'm all done with finals! Enjoy! :)

What I've been up to

As promised, my adventures that have gone unsaid since finals took over my life!

• Publication Release.  All three of our literary publications (The Coe Review, the Pearl, and Colere) had a release celebration on Reading Day.  Since I am involved with two (Coe Review and Pearl) I was in charge of the event.  It went very smoothly and all three publications turned out fantastically.  If you want to check out the Coe Review, you can view our online edition at our new website!  Here's a photo taken at the release by my good friend, Haley.  There were also prizes given out at this release and I won one of the Young Essay prizes for a piece I wrote last semester for Dr. Bob.  Pretty cool, right? 
• Also on Friday, I was on a panel to talk to sophomores in high school about Coe.  It was a lot of fun and although they didn't always seem interested (you know, thinking about college as a sophomore isn't "cool"), I enjoyed being able to share my Coe experience with them!
• Last Sunday one of the math professors on campus, Jon White, was holding a brunch at his house for any student interested.  Since my friend Alison W. is a physics and math major, she invited me to come along.  Such a good choice.  Delicious food and great company.  People were glad to see me there, since I am an English major and all.  Hahaha :)
• I played for my fourth clarinet jury.  It went very well and was much less stressful; I guess once you perform in Recital Hour, juries are not as big as a deal as they were before.  
• Our retiring poetry professor, Ann Struthers, had a poetry reading on Tuesday.  Lots of people came out and my favorite part of the reading was when she showed a picture of Lake Grasmere, where I'll be in a matter of weeks.  Got me really pumped.
• Helped friends pack.  Definitely bittersweet.  Glad that they are going home but sad they are leaving.  
• Had lunch with Gordon Mennenga (Coe Review advisor), Whitney, and Emily W.  We discussed Coe Review things.  We are really working on making the magazine more well-known to attract even more submissions.  With our website and the work Whitney and I will do over the summer while on campus, we hope to really get the Coe Review running next semester.  
• Still packing for England.  We had a class meeting right before finals and another one tomorrow.  My parents even came down on Thursday to help me get some final things.  I AM LEAVING TUESDAY. 

Anxious but excited: First clarinet recital

It's a big day, I am performing in Recital Hour for the very first time.  Recital Hour is mainly for music majors who perform at least once to show their peers and professors the progress they have made.  I've attended a few Recital Hours to cheer on my music major friends but never performed in one.  This semester Dr. Carson thought I was ready for a debut.  I agreed and have spent the past several weeks working on my solo.  It's a piece by Brahms and I really love it.  On Monday in clarinet seminar, I practiced on the stage so I'm ready.  I'll play sometime between 2:30-3:30.  Wish me luck!

My Friday Night

So it was our last official Friday on campus!  I had class, worked in Admissions for an hour, had my last clarinet seminar and attended a going away party for our poetry professor, Ann Struthers.  My night continued with a trip to Coffeesmiths with my friend Whitney.  She's a wonderful girl and super involved on campus.  I met her for the first time when I visited Coe during Scholarship Weekend.  Now, we've bonded over working together on the Budget and Finance Committee (she's the Treasurer) and we get along great.  At Coffeesmiths we did some homework, did some talking, and just unwound from a busy (and at times, stressful) week.

Whitney and I arrived back on campus just in time for this semester's final Blindspot.  It was a long (but fun) Blindspot with a few students graduating at semester doing their farewell performances.  We also had a guy ask out a girl so that was sort of (okay, I'm not going to lie, it was really, really, really) adorable.  :)  We ended Blindspot with a Finals Dance (aka everyone got out of their seats and started dancing).  Lovely.

Now, it's time to study and get ready for Finals Week!  

Recital Hour

On Thursday, I attended my first ever Recital Hour.  This hour is for music majors and throughout the semester, they have to perform at least once.  The piece they play is something different than the piece they play for their jury.  It's sort of a big deal. 

My friend and fellow clarinet player, Elise, was performing on Thursday so I made sure to be in Marquis to hear her play.  She did a FANTASTIC job and she's really my peer role model; I hope to play the clarinet as well as her someday.  Also, unknown to me, some of my other friends were performing as well so it was nice to be able to hear them.  

A Good Friday

I can't believe another week has flown by!  Today was an especially good day.  Here's what happened.

Had class.  Psychology in the morning, then Barcelona and Cultural Studies in the afternoon.  The crazy thing about all my classes this semester is that they either overlap with other classes I'm taking or ones I have taken at Coe.  For instance today in Cultural Studies we read the poem, Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelly.  I've included the poem below, thanks to Poem Hunter:

I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.And on the pedestal these words appear --"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.'  After we read the poem, Dr. Bob promised a dollar to anyone who could name the form of the poem.  We were all silent for a moment until Dr. Bob prompted us by saying, "How many lines does it have?"  Fourteen.  Which means it's a sonnet.  Which I had learned about in my British Renaissance Poetry class last spring.  I shouted out the answer and therefore, I'm one dollar richer today.   So it's things like that, where my classes are overlapping that makes learning so much fun.  When I can tie everything today, well, that's a pretty incredible feeling.  And I think it makes remembering everything for that next test or paper that much easier.  Because it's relatable and relevant to my real life.   In between Psychology and Barcelona, I went to le Table Francaise, the French speaking group that meets Fridays.  There was a great turnout and it was nice to tune up my French.   And, in between Table Francaise and Barcelona, I met a girl on the third floor of Hickok named Delaney who had read my blog.  We were just sitting in the hall waiting for our classrooms to be open when she said, "Don't you write a blog?  Because I think I've read yours."  And I was like, "OH MY GOSH I DO WRITE A BLOG AND YOU'VE READ IT!"  I had a minor freakout in the hallway I was so excited.  That's probably the biggest reason I love writing my blog -- I love love love meeting people who have read it.  It makes me feel really good that people are reading it and it's having some impact.  Woot! After classes were over, I still had my clarinet seminar in the late afternoon.  I'm really enjoying the new clarinet teacher I have this semester, Stephanie Nuss.  Dr. Carson is on a sabbatical so Stephanie is filling in for him.  She's super enthusiastic and knowledgeable about clarinet and I'm learning tons from her.   Dinner in the caf and then it was back to Murray to do some miscellaneous homework before heading over to Dows for the first Blindspot of the year.  I got some footage of some of the best acts and I'll post a montage soon. Blindspot had a huge crowd, Dows was packed!  What a way to start the Blindspot season!

Day Two!

Okay, so I promise you that I won't normally be making a post that describes EVERY day of my year at Coe.  But these two are important ones because they are the first two days.  Usually classes meet either Monday, Wednesday, & Friday OR Tuesday & Thursday.  So yesterday I had one group of classes and today I had my final (fourth) class. 

My class on Tuesdays and Thursdays is History of English Literature.  It's a class required for any English major or minor so it's kind of big deal class.  We went over the syllabus (which happens in the first day of any new class) and also went through an abbreviated timeline of English history which is crucial to understand the literature we will be reading this semester. 

Today was also my first day of training for my job at Admissions!  I met all the Admissions staff and started learning about all the ins and outs of being an Admissions worker.  I'm really excited for my new job; I can't wait for my training to continue on Thursday! 

Another first was my clarinet lesson a little later in the afternoon.  Dr. Carson is on sabbatical this semester, so I have a new professor.  We had a great first lesson and I've now got things to work on before my next lesson.  My first seminar (the other component of taking private lessons) will be on Friday.

Of course, during the afternoon, it was pouring rain so I got to walk across campus in my raincoat while my pants and shoes got all wet.  Never fear though, I put up my handy drying rack so the water wouldn't get on stuff it wasn't suppose to!

Now, as I'm writing this post, I'm in the Writing Center, working on homework and waiting for my Writing Fellows.  We are having our first meeting of the semester and I'm excited to get to know them and help them with their papers.

Well, the homework is calling.  Lots going on!  Which for me, is fantastic!