Coffee, Good News, and Prospective Students

Another week has gone by, way too fast of course. This week was especially busy as the Admission Office and campus in general prepared for Scholars Weekend. If you've read my blog before, you know that Scholars Weekend will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my second visit to Coe and a lot of great things occurred on that Friday and Saturday back in 2010.

But before the weekend could begin, I had to (of course) focus on schoolwork. I had a lot on my plate and so coffee became a very important part of my routine. I liked to brew a few cups of coffee, sometimes even late at night, before digging into some homework. The coffee keeps me awake and it's delicious.

The good news of the week was that I received acceptance letters into two graduate programs. Woot! While I have not decided where I would like to go next year, it's nice to know that I have options. My path to become a children's librarian has shifted into focus a little bit more.

And then came Scholars Weekend. It's so great to see so many prospective students on campus. Campus is abuzz with excitement. I also had the privilege to help out with the students competing for the Williston Jones Scholarship. This scholarship provides full tuition for four years to three high school seniors. It's one of Coe's most prestigious awards. The candidates who competed this weekend were outstanding students and people. I had a great time getting to know both the students and their families.

The rest of the weekend will be spent doing homework and catching up. Some more muffins will most likely be made, so be on the lookout!

Wild About...

This past week was excellent/awesome/amazing in every aspect. Classes went well and I lucked out with a great schedule. With my bookshelf full of new books and folders with fresh syllabi, I've got much to look forward to.

My Friday afternoon ended after working in Admissions with a visit from Millie. We drank hot chocolate (it was pretty chilly in Cedar Rapids) and talked about our week.

All warm and cozy in our sweaters

Saturday was also an excellent day. After working out and doing a bit of homework, Millie and I went on a thrifting adventure. We were in search of a side table/stool/bench of sorts for my room, but we didn't find anything that particularly caught our eye. Instead, we found some other neat stuff including a great book about muffins.

Yes. Muffins.

Let me explain. An inside joke Millie and I have centers around muffins and our love for them. So to find this, let's say, "classic," book all about muffins was like hitting the jackpot. 

We are indeed "wild" about muffins

With this book in our possession, the only sensible thing to do was make muffins. Our choice was a mocha almond muffin, which didn't turn out too bad.

Millie and our muffins

We have much to learn about the art of making muffins; lucky for us there are lots of recipes in the book. Our plan (which is subject to change) is to attempt a new muffin recipe each week. It will be our chance to destress and work on our cooking skills. Needless to say, we are "wild" about this new adventure. And of course, this blog will be updated with our muffin escapades.

On top of muffins, we made some cookies (just to double check our oven is fully functioning) and then did some homework. By this point, our friend Chloe had also joined our adventure. And luck has it, the three of us are in the same English seminar class. The topic of this class is Manners and Marriage and our first book is Jane Austen's Emma. And what better way to think about the book but watch a cultural adaptation...aka Clueless starring Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd? 

Essentially, we ended our night perfectly. 

Today was filled with homework. Since we have no class tomorrow for Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, my schedule looks pretty light. If this is what week one looked like, I cannot wait for the other 13 weeks of this final semester.

Last Week of Classes Update

Earlier this afternoon, I had a conference with Dr. Bob for our Writing Center staff development class. Our "final" project of sorts was an online e-Portfolio, a way to preserve our writing during our time at Coe. Another important aspect of this portfolio deals with much self-reflection. While we were looking at my portfolio, Dr. Bob clicked on a link of this blog and I realized I hadn't posted since my 500th post celebration.

Whoops. 

So this is my mega post to make up for that. I had a great Thanksgiving Break (although I had lots of work to keep up with so it wasn't much of a break). When I got back to campus, it was December 1st and therefore, time to start gearing up for finals. This past week was my final week of classes and other than one class tomorrow, it's time for finals.

Here's a recap of this past week. In terms of my classes, I took my final astronomy test and kept working on my English seminar paper (a 15 page paper on Toni Morrison's novel, Paradise). These and a few other projects kept me plenty busy and up late at night. 

On Friday we had the Coe Review publication release party for our poetry issue. The issue came in on Wednesday and looked fantastic. I am incredibly proud of this issue and was thrilled to show it off on Friday. Our release was in the PUB, included free coffee drinks, snacks, and a poetry reading. 

A very excited me with the poetry issue

On Friday night, the final Blindspot of 2013 was happening and I went to support my friend, Ariana, who was performing. I also took part in the late-night movie. It's an event sponsored by our Student Activities Committee (SAC) where they essentially "rent out" the movie theater to show a current movie to Coe students, FOR FREE. Yes, for free! The movie was Hunger Games: Catching Fire. I went with Ariana, Peter, Paulina, and Ryan. It was a good group and I enjoyed the movie. Having read the books, I knew the plot and thought it was a good adaptation.

Saturday was composed of working on my seminar paper. Alison P and I escaped to Panera for unlimited coffee and hours of productivity. Ariana, Alison P., and I hung out Saturday night, taking a break from homework and overthinking our finals schedule. 

Then, this morning, I participated in my very first Lumberjack Festival. It was an event sponsored by one of our fraternities on campus, Phi Kappa Tau. They were raising money for Serious Fun, an organization helping kids with serious illnesses. During November, several of the guys had participated in No Shave November so the main event was bidding on shaving their impressive beards. On top of that, the guys had made an excellent brunch: pancakes, sausage, and eggs. After eating, we could play some games and just enjoy a Sunday morning. Flannel was the outfit of choice so the PUB was packed with various colors of flannel and plaid print. It was a lot of fun and for a good cause, so what's not to love?

Angela and I in our flannel!

The rest of my Sunday consisted of homework in the Writing Center; I found a spot, camped out, and had a lot of fun. We also saw how many people who work in the Writing Center supported Lumberjack Fest because of this pretty photo:

A bunch of pretty good lucking consultants

It's been a good week. Still lots to do between tonight and Thursday, when my final paper is due. I'm sure it will go by fast, and I'll be sure to keep you up to date.

  

Connected Youth Forum

During Fall Break, I got an email from Gina about participating in a forum at a local church. The topic was social media and especially, my blog.

Of course I said yes.

So, a few weeks ago, I headed over to the First Presbyterian Church to be a part of their "Connected Forum". It's for adult education (target audience are retired folks). These folks had asked Gina because many of them attend Coe's Thursday Forum, which Gina is in charge of.

I was on the panel with Gina, and two other students, Rachel (sophomore) and Ben (a non-traditional student). Basically, Gina started with asking us a few questions and then based on our answers and the audience's comments and questions, we were able to have a lively discussion for a good hour. While Ben and Rachel were on the skeptical side of the benefits of social media, I seemed to be the only one in the other corner. Sure, social media has negatives (obsessive need to stay "plugged-in" and potential for isolation) but it also has many benefits. I saw these benefits when I worked at the Paley Center this spring and I see it every time I write a post on my blog. It's a way of connecting with each other and sharing news.

The other thing I stressed on the panel was the idea of balance. Someone in the audience asked if we still "wrote letters" and used "snail mail". I do, and I think that's because of the balance I try to use in my everyday life. I was raised on making handmade cards and love writing and receiving snail mail (a big shout out to Millie for providing the BEST cards this semester while she's been away in Chicago). Yes, I'm a fan of social media, but I remember the importance of logging out of Twitter and putting my computer to sleep. To go outside. Read a book. Go for an adventure.

It was a fruitful discussion. The audience was thrilled to know we aren't as "plugged-in" as they had assumed we were. They were impressed with how articulate we were and how much they learned during that hour (one woman wanted to start a Twitter account after the talk. Woot!). Big shout out thanks to Gina for asking me to be on the panel; definitely a highlight of off campus activities during my time at Coe.

A Few Homecoming Links

It seems like Homecoming was weeks ago, but I have a few links to pass on. Sorry for the delay!

"I think this must be like my 20th panel..." November Campus Visit Day

Yesterday I was up early and in the library for our November Campus Visit Day. Cedar Rapids and Mother Nature teamed up for some nice weather and the icing on the cake was the exceptionally wonderful families I got to interact with.

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Homecoming Recap Part I

This week FLEW by, especially with Homecoming events at the end of the week. This was one fantastic Homecoming and this is part one of my recap. I've got some photos to share now and I'll have more a little bit later. Besides, there was too much awesomeness to have only one post!

Friday afternoon, I gave a brief presentation of my experiences in New York during a Common Hour. I presented first, followed by Nicki (she did research at CERN in Sweeden) and Aaron (who did both Asia Term and New York Term). It was really neat to have an audience (professors, students, and alums) to share my experiences with, although it made me miss New York and my past internships!

From Coe's Facebook page

Then, on Friday night, I got the chance to hang out with some Lambda Chis and...MILLIE! Yes, Millie returned from Chicago (she's on an ACM program there) for Homecoming weekend. We were at Daniel Arthur's; a nice restaurant in Cedar Rapids about halfway between Coe and downtown. It was oh so wonderful to see her (and don't worry, we got in plenty of Hailley-Millie time later this weekend too!). It was also nice to hang out with the Lambda Chis; they were having a little alumni event so it was nice to see some familiar faces I hadn't seen in a while too!

After Daniel Arthur's, it was back to Coe for the Pep Rally. The cheerleaders got us fired up and the we heard from all the fall sport teams about how their season was going. Then, it was time for the coronation of court. We were all introduced and Palmer and Kobe (a fellow Wisconsinite from Racine) were crowned king and queen.

L to R: Tevin, TJ, Hannah, Andrew, me, Queen Palmer, King Kobe, Chelsea, Keaton, and Anna

Saturday arrived and it was time for the parade! It was my first Coe Homecoming Parade I had been to (just wasn't on top of things the past couple of years). But this year, I got to ride in a corvette! The cars were owned by the Cedar Rapids Corvette Club and it was pretty awesome. This was my ride: 

Anna and I 

Unfortunately, my escort and fellow court member, Andrew, had basketball practice and couldn't be at the parade. So I got a corvette all to myself!

Then it was the football game. We played University of Dubuque and unfortunately, we lost. It was crappy weather, very cold and windy. Regardless, it was still fun to cheer on my fellow Kohawks. The court was also announced at halftime.  

L to R: Anna, Chelsea, me, Andrew, Hannah, Palmer, and Kobe

After the game, I went back to my room, got some homework out of the way and then went out to eat with some friends. We came back to Coe, got ready for the dance, and then danced the night away. I got to see Millie again! We all had a really great time. 

Olivia and I looking fabulous.

Heidi, Haley, and I. Friends since Day 1!

My favorite sophomores Angela and Sam

MORE TO COME. But now it's back to homework!

Film Adventure and Literary Extravaganza!

I'm almost all caught up with blog posts!

I've decided to combine two awesome events together. First up, my film professor from NYC, Alan, was in town to promote his film festival, Rural Route Films. Rina, Amy, and I headed to CSPS, a landmark building in Cedar Rapids located in the Newbo District.

Alan had an excellent turnout for his festival. The films he showed were short films from the 2013 film festival (which premiered in NYC). After the main premiere, Alan gets to travel the world, showing off these short films and promoting his festival.

The films were excellent, a good solid choice of unique films. Some were very short, only a couple minutes long, and the longest was just over 20 minutes. Although they all were "rural" in some way, each had a new twist and topic to think about. And of course, it was good to see Alan and have a mini NYC Term reunion.

Then, today (Saturday), The Coe Review took a bunch of our staff members to Iowa City for the Iowa City Book Festival. Today, there were panels and readings downtown and a literary buzz in the air. It was BEAUTIFUL day in Iowa City. During the day, I went to a panel about fact vs. fiction and then two readings. The second reading was my favorite, mainly due to hearing Tessa Mellas' short story. I had heard Tessa earlier in the day at the panel and was looking forward to hearing one of her short stories. It was fantastic and I ended up buying her book. The best part was, I even got her autographed. We chatted briefly after the reading and it was so cool. Definitely geeking out a bit!

I finished up my time in Iowa City with meeting up with a family friend, Eileen. We got coffee, checked out a great used bookshop, and walked around campus. It was great to see Eileen and a nice way to end the day.

Peter and the Plants: Watermelon Fest 2013

Each year, one of Coe's fraternities, Lambda Chi, hosts a Watermelon Fest. A lot of watermelon is involved and all the proceeds they raise goes towards their local philanthropy, Waypoint. It always looked like a lot of fun, but I never got my act together to be on a team and participate.

That was NOT the case this year. Because it's my senior year, I keep trying to check things off a running bucket list in my head. Watermelon Fest was one of those items. So I recruited my friends Olivia, Peter, and Luke to form a Watermelon Fest team.

Our first task was to pick out a team name. We wanted something clever and finally after many possible team costume ideas for groups of four (cardinal directions, humps on a camel, seasons, elements) we came up with this team name:

Peter and the Plants.

Cue this song (thanks YouTube)

Pretty clever is it not? And so this team was born:

L to R: Olivia, Peter, myself, and Luke

So the big day finally came. Peter and the Plants arrived, ready to eat some watermelon. The Lambda Chis got a great turnout and we were in for a lot of fun. Our first test was to carve a watermelon. That was not the easiest task and it wasn't until about half-way through the test did we realize our carving had to be Coe related! Lucky for us, our carving could easily be turned Coe relatable (thanks to my Admission training and Peter's involvement with E-Club). See if you can figure out what we carved:

It's a flower from Coe's permaculture garden in front of Murray Hall, emphasizing Coe's sustainability efforts and our efforts to be eco-friendly. Our nifty carving earned us fourth place! Woot! 

From there, we didn't have the best showing (we didn't win anything else), but we had a lot of fun. And we ate a lot of watermelon. I mean, a lot. Although we never did get the knack of eating watermelon quickly. I think this picture of Olivia shows how much fun we had: 

At the end, we had some fun with the remaining watermelons. The weather was ideal and it was great way to end the fest. Also, everyone left with a prize, which were donated from the various sponsors of the fest! I went home with a stomach full of watermelon and a nice Starbuck mug for my coffee or tea in the morning. 

I was so so glad I participated in the 2013 Watermelon Fest. Not only did I help support an excellent cause, but I got to have a lot of fun with my friends. We had great costumes and a great team and it's something I'll remember for years to come (because how can you forget a team name like Peter and the Plants?!?!). For you prospective students, if you come to Coe you HAVE to participate in Watermelon Fest. It's just too much fun to pass up! 

Spending Some Quality Time With My Dad: Family Weekend 2013

Every year, Coe hosts a Family Weekend. It happens early in the first semester and allows families to head to campus to see what their students are doing. The event lasts all weekend and families can sit in on classes, participate in a service project, check out a football game, and eat food in our cafeteria.

For the past three years, I haven't been able to take part in this weekend. Lucky for me, this was my year! My dad made the now oh-so-familiar trip to Cedar Rapids. He arrived bright and early this morning. We headed over to the Clark Alumni House to check-in and have breakfast.

Then it was service project time. Originally, they were going to limit their volunteers to only about 75 people. But, due to the tremendous amount of people who signed up, Coe pulled together several more projects. My dad and I went with about 50 other volunteers to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

It was a phenomenal experience. The store was hustling and bustling. You can walk down any aisle and find just about anything home improvement related. We got our instructions from one of the managers of the store. He said that our help today (and it was just two hours) would help put him at least three months ahead. It was neat to hear that our volunteering would really make an impact.

The group divided up and I worked with a mom and sister. Our first assignment was bringing extra paint cans from the storeroom. We then had to organize the paint cans and make all the extras from the storeroom fit on the shelves in the front. I learned some neat paint colors like "Safari Tan" or "Green Sage."

Our second task was organizing light bulbs. Such as small task (organizing was not too complicated) meant so much to the store. It was one of those moments where I was reminded how important community service is. I was so thrilled that Coe had this project, it felt great to give back to Cedar Rapids.

The father-daugher day continued with lunch in the caf (the chicken parmesan was perfecto!), a trip to the bookstore (we saw Heidi!), and then to the football game. Our seats were great (right behind the field goal on one side and Olivia joined us). Since my dad played football in high school and college, it was awesome to have a play-by-play analysis. Coe won, beating Washington University (St. Louis) 10-0.

The day ended with returning to the Clark Alumni House for a Presidential Reception. My dad finally got to meet Dave and Janice McInally. It was awesome to see these two world "collides" so to speak. My dad has heard a lot about the process of finding President McInally and the McInally have heard a lot about my dad so it was neat for them to meet in person.

In general, that was my favorite part of the day: my dad getting to meet the people I interact with, talk to, and care about on campus. This is another one of those days where I see how great my Coe education has been.

Unfortunately, my dad had to head back home for my high school's Homecoming. Nevertheless, it was so so so amazing to see him. I had the best day and this was definitely the best family weekend yet!

A Toasty Saturday in Cedar Rapids

Sorry for the delay in this post, but already it seems the weeks are going by way too fast! Also, this post is dedicated to my sophomore buddy Sam Patterson, who will be making a guest appearance a little later on!

On Saturday, I decided to show my friends some of what they had been missing by not spending the summer in Cedar Rapids. Our route was one I had walked several times this summer: downtown for the Farmer's Market and then to Newbo Market right near the Cedar River.

We had so much fun. It was hot, Cedar Rapids has been quite toasty the past two weeks or so. When we go to the Farmer's Market, it was in full swing. I loved being able to have the inside scoop on where speciality booths were and how to navigate downtown. For me, my big purchase was outside the new Cedar Rapids Public Library. They had a book sale and when you have gently used books for only one dollar, you can't stop me!

We also ran into Dr. Bob, and since we were all Writing Center consultants, a photo had to be taken!

Yes, Dr. Bob is holding a wedge of cheese!

The group took a little break, sitting in Greene Square Park (in between the library and art museum) to eat some food and attempt to escape the hot sun.

Sam with her apple!

  With food in our stomachs, we decided to make our way to Newbo. Lucky for us, Newbo was pretty calm when we got there. The main crowd from the Farmer's Market hadn't made it's way to Newbo yet, so for the first-timers at Newbo, they got to enjoy with not a whole lot of people.

After a little bit in Newbo and our wallets a little lighter, we figured we best head back to Coe. It was a lovely walk back. I love weekends like these because I get to know my peers better. We all share working in the Writing Center and now we have this adventure to remember.

My Saturday ended with a trip to Clark Field to watch our boys' soccer team and then hanging out with friends. Despite the heat, it was still a cool weekend!

Newbo Newbies

Peter enjoying a sandwich 

Laura, Olivia, and Alexis

Olivia and I at Newbo! Woot :)

Do You Think This Cake Needs More Sugar? Adventures From The Ladies of Schlarbaum 6

This weekend, all four of us (Millie, Hayleigh, Anna, and I) were all on campus. This is a rare event because of our crazy busy schedules so it was nice to have the apartment full.

Friday night, Hayleigh, Kyle, and I went to Bata's Restaurant, where Millie works. It wasn't too busy for a Friday night, so we were able to snag a table so Millie could wait on us. This restaurant is located in the Newbo District and is actually owned by Coe's head of computer services. It's a great restaurant, known for their delicious sweet potato fries (yum!), flatbread pizza, and blueberry burger. And seeing Millie in her waitress element was great!

On Saturday, I spent most of the day outside, reading and enjoying the nice weather. I'm reading a wide variety of things -- from books on Mary Robinson, to books as potential first-year common reading, and then of course, books just for fun! Saturday night was also kept pretty chill; more reading and just hanging out with the roommates.

But I think Sunday was the best day of the weekend. I spent the morning reading and around lunchtime, Millie and I walked to our favorite HyVee (about an hour walk round trip). We picked up a few essentials, but really we went for the walk, fresh air, and a chance to chat. Once back on campus, we were reading some more when suddenly Millie said, "Let's bake!"

Millie with our finished cake!

And thus, our baking adventure began. We decided to be super adventurous and not follow a recipe. After baking cakes for years on end, we figured we would know the basic gist of putting together a cake batter.

We did pretty well. Our cake was named The Three Egg Honey Cake. This is what it looked like before going into the oven (photo on right).

We let our cake cool off and headed to a music concert. Yes, this is our lives. Dr. Carson had sent out an all campus email earlier in the week announcing that the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band was having a concert. It took place at Ellis Park, which is on the river and about an hour away (by foot) from campus.

The concert was amazing. About an hour long and included some great music. We listened to George Gershwin, Glenn Miller, and the infamous Sandpaper Ballet song. I was taken back to some great high school band memories and it made me miss playing the clarinet as well (looking forward to getting back to lessons this fall). It was also nice to see a different part of Cedar Rapids. I discovered a whole other side of the city that I had not had the opportunity to see before now. This just makes me want to continue to explore Cedar Rapids, especially since I'm coming into my last year here.

When the concert got over, it was still light enough to walk back to campus. It was such a nice way to end the day and weekend.

Looking forward to another busy but great week ahead! With weekends like these, I sort of don't want summer to end!  

A big old pile of ADVENTURES

It was another wonderful weekend in Cedar Rapids. The weather decided to be SUPER nice and I got a little sun in. But don't worry, I put on sunscreen so no burns!

After work on Friday, Millie and I headed over to the Kirkwood Hotel to hear author Gillian Flynn. She was speaking as part of the Out Loud Author Series sponsored by the Metro Library System (Cedar Rapids, Marion, and Hiawatha communities). You might have heard of Flynn with the recent success of her newest (well, it's a year old) novel, Gone Girl. This is actually her third published novel, her first book was Sharp Objects (2006) and then Dark Places (2009).

Flynn was out of this world. She was articulate, engaging, quirky, and fun. The first half of her talk was all about her journey to becoming a published writer. Flynn started off working at a magazine and eventually decided to write a novel. It was fascinating to hear her talk about her characters; the way she finds herself in their heads and writes scenes that will never show up in her published books. The last ten minutes or so were reserved for questions. I asked one; I wanted to know one of her most memorable memories that she had with the publication of her novel. Her answer: getting a good review clip for the book jacket from one of her favorite authors, Stephen King!

Millie and I couldn't leave without each buying a copy of Gone Girl and also having her sign it! The apartment is doing a group reading of said book. So far, the two chapters are wonderful but we know there is much more to come!

Moving onto Saturday...Millie, Hayleigh, and I walked down to the famers' market. It seemed to have gotten bigger from last year, which was good for us! We meandered around, saw some Coe friends, and enjoyed the nice weather. We even took goofy photos in a photo booth.

Once we had made a thorough lap around, we walked a little farther to the New Bohemia (Newbo) Market. I had never been (which people could not believe) and I definitely wish I had checked this place out earlier. It's basically a local food court and an indoor farmers market. We ate lunch down there and my meal was made entirely from local businesses and from food made in the Cedar Rapids area. It was fantastic and I recommend this place to anyone going through Cedar Rapids. Here are a compilation of photos I took while I was down there.

We also snagged another photo of myself, Millie, and Hayleigh:

L to R: Hayleigh, me (Hailley), and Millie

Adventured out, we walked back to Coe. We spent the rest of the weekend hanging out on campus, playing beach volleyball, and enjoying the beautiful weekend. 

Weekend Adventures

Officially, last weekend was my first summer weekend on campus. I turned in my final May Term projects on Friday night and my brother came down for a visit! Once the project was sent in, we cooked up a meal in the apartment and then kicked back and watched a movie.

Saturday was a bit of a lazy day. I finally slept in (I had stayed up pretty late working on my final May Term projects...whoops!) and then made breakfast. My brother and I headed to Clark Field for a workout and then returned to the apartment for lunch. In the afternoon, we played some sand volleyball (whoo!) and worked up an appetite for dinner.

Then a Saturday night adventure began. Myself and a bunch of friends were interested in the Kernels baseball game. But, we got there a little late and there weren't many good seats left. We made the tough but right decision to skip the game and instead, wound up at a high school softball game. Despite us not knowing anyone playing, we still stayed for two innings. The excitement had kind of worn out by then, and so we moved onto another adventure: a movie at our local theater. We saw Now You See Me, a magical adventure about four magicians who try to pull off these amazing tricks. It was so nice to relax in the theater and not worry about a homework assignment or meeting with a professor I had to prepare for.

My Saturday night ended with my brother and I hanging out with my roommates, watching TV, and playing some card games. Not a shabby Saturday if you ask me.

Sunday was definitely a cleaning day. I got some stuff in order and prepared for the week.

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. If every weekend was like this: full of friends, being outside, and cooking in my apartment, I could stay in summer forever.

The Last Weekend

WHAT?!?!

It didn't really hit me until I was writing this post that Sunday was my last Sunday in NYC. I feel like I'm a broken record when I say this, but I just can't believe. The months have FLOWN by and next Saturday I'll be on a flight back to the Midwest.

Anywho, I had a wonderful last weekend in the city. Saturday the group headed to Queens (Astoria to be exact) to have one final film event with Alan. We ended up watching several short film selections from the 2012-2013 Rural Route Film Festival.

This is actually a festival that Alan founded. Alan is a Coe grad (from a small town in Iowa) and so this festival is sort of a shout out to the Midwest. All the films in this festival have a common setting: rural.

The films were excellent and each girl got to take home a DVD with 11 films. I can't wait to show others and I definitely want to follow some of these directors and see if they make any other films.

After Alan's, I headed to the Schwarzman's Library to do more Mary Robinson research. On Saturday, I looked at two letters written by Robinson and one written by her daughter, Maria. Robinson had beautiful but somewhat messy handwriting. It was amazing to hold this letter in my hands. One of the letters still had her seal intact. Of course, I was silently geeking out and so happy I got the opportunity to view these letters. I have no idea if I can use these letters in my thesis but I guess it's more of "Look at what I saw" as opposed to "This is how I will use these letters."

Sunday morning rolled around and I finally started packing. I will have to send some things home since I'll be taking an airplane back to the Midwest and not driving.

My break from packing was taking a bus with Whitney and Alison to Ensemble Studio Theater for their monthly Youngblood Brunch. This is my third time at EST and my second brunch. The theme this time around was WOMEN with the title of "I Am Woman, Hear Me Brunch."

The food was fantastic and so were the one-act plays. The plays were written by women and the actors were only women. The audience ate the theme up and it was a perfect way to spend my afternoon.

I returned to the hotel for more packing and finishing up my final responses. My entire document of responses ended up being 67 pages long and covered 38 events.

Woah.

Now begins my final week in the city. I'm working at the library Monday through Wednesday and at the Paley Center on Friday. I have Thursday off to finish packing and tie up any loose ends. I know this week will fly by and I'm excited yet sad that my time in NYC is almost over for now.

Flamenco Ballet and Central Park

Last night I went to another dance event. Patricia is our professor and she always has so much energy. We got a nice change of pace last night and saw flamenco ballet. It was at the same venu as Romeo and Juliet, the New York City Center.

This was definitely different than Romeo and Juliet. The first dance, the curtain went up and on an elevated platform was the live band. A single guitar was playing and five men were on stage. It was a beautiful first dance and the whole first act definitely paid homage to traditional flamenco dancing. The second act had the ballet and was equally beautiful and passionate. Here's a snippet of what I saw, curtsey of the New York City Center.



One of the coolest things was that once the "actual" performance was over, all the dancers were taking in applause and then they started dancing again. It had an improvised feel and when we were talking in the lobby afterwards, Patricia told us that was like if you went into a bar and saw people just dancing. It was beautiful and a lovely way to end the performance.

Today was another beautiful day in NYC. It's about 50 degrees and sunny. Definitely don't need a hat today! The time change got us so once I got up, I was ready to do things. Whitney and I decided a walk in Central Park was needed.

Can I just say I love Central Park? It's so huge and wonderful and yes, beautiful green space in the middle of the city. Whenever I enter the park, I think back to my Cultural Studies class my sophomore year and an essay I read about parks. An ideal park does not have one set path. You could go to the park a thousand times and each time, walk a new path. That is exactly how I feel about Central Park. Whitney and I walked around for a bit and then grabbed some food cart food and sat on one of the giant rocks.

The other task we had to complete in Central Park was obtaining photographic evidence of me doing a cartwheel.

Okay, story time. So the freshman this year at Coe are fantastic and I have several favorites. One of them, who works in the Writing Center, is Sara. We bonded over cartwheels. Usually, we both spent several late nights in the Writing Center and when we needed a break, we could go out into the hall and do cartwheels. It was a lot of fun and a perfect break before jumping back into our homework. I promised Sara that I would do cartwheels in Central Park and take a photo for her.

Mission accomplished:

Can I also just say I love this photo because of the expressions of the people in the background? Priceless.

From there, Whitney and I took a standard Hailley and Whitney photo...

...and then headed to the Coffee Bean. I successfully wrote postcards and now am catching up on random stuff. I also am planning my library extravaganza  Aka one Saturday I'm going to go to as many Manhattan branches as I possibly can. It's going to be intense and awesome. Because that's how much I love libraries.  

We've got another pretty busy week. The London Philharmonic tomorrow, pizza meeting on Tuesday, National Academy Museum on Thursday morning and then A Streetcar Named Desire opera still Thursday night, another pizza meeting on Friday and finish off the week with Henry IV Part I (YES) on Sunday. Wonderful.

Weekend Before Finals Recap

Sorry this is so late. I've had this post waiting to be published but hadn't put the final "Hailley touches" on it. So here it is, better late than never! :)

My last weekend on campus was a memorable one. I had planned on spending Friday night catching up on some homework and it started out that way until I got a text from my friend Joe. He wanted to know if I was interested in co-hosting Blindspot (our talent show on campus) with my other friend Reid. Joe usually hosts but was feeling a little under the weather.

I decided I couldn't pass up a chance to host Blindspot so said yes and 30 minutes later, I was standing in the Dows Theater with Reid discussing our intro. It was a lot of fun and I did well! After Blindspot, I hung out with Reid and his friends and we played a version of Apples to Apples. Again, more fun and a great way to celebrate a week of hard work.

Saturday was spent doing homework and prepping for finals. After a full day of school work, it was time for Coe Monologues.

Coe Monologues was a brand new event this year hosted by our chapter of V-Day, an organization trying to end violence against women. Usually V-Day is active in the spring but this year they wanted to do events in the fall as well. In October, you could submit your own personal monologue and then it could be read anonymously in December. The subject was being a woman, sex, sexuality, and relationships specifically on Coe's campus. I wrote a monologue about my mom and the idea of being strong. I decided to read my own monologue on Saturday. Some people knew it was me and other thoughts I was just reading what someone else had submitted.

Of course, Saturday wasn't my first day reading my monologue. There were 14 readers and 21 monologues that were read in a two-act performance. We had four practices and then our performance. People who came on Saturday were asked for a $3 donation to Waypoint which supports children, women, and families in the Cedar Rapids area. We were able to raise over $350 that night!

It was a fantastic performance. The people there were great audience members and the readers definitely fed off of them well. I am so thankful in being able to read my monologue and be a part of something so fantastic. After the show, I got flowers from the wonderful Alison W. and then went out to dinner with Whitney, Chelsea, and Chelsea's mom.

Sunday was more studying, (what's new?), as well as the final Writing Center dinner. It's weekends like these that remind me why I love Coe so much.

B&F Day: Another One in the Books

So, if you haven't heard, I'm completing my second semester as Student Senate Treasurer. It's one of my favorite club positions to hold on campus because it's a great way for me to interact with clubs and see all the great things they are doing.

One of my responsibilities is to hold Budget and Finance Day, a grand old day where every club on campus that would like money for the next semester presents in front of the committee. The committee has the right to approve or deny aspects of the budget. It's a long day (we start at 8 AM) but it's worth it.

So on snowless December 1st, I woke up and drove to Bruegger's to get bagels for the committee. My committee started showing up around 7:50 AM and we started the budget presentations shortly after 8 AM. We went until lunch and then took a break for Panchero's. Then we went back to budgets.

L to R: Hailley, Alexis, Peter, and Ashley

Overall, it was a great day. It was nice because I had run the day before so I knew what to expect. I'm glad it went well but I'm also glad it's done.

Post B&F, I came back to my apartment, did a little homework, and then had a few friends over to unwind after a full day. It was nice to have people over, recapping the day, or just talking about finals, Winter Break plans, and our lives in general. Perfect example of my kohawk family.

Chocolate gold coins were being thrown at us because we're GOLDEN! :)

Campus Visit Day Recap!

Boy, did Coe have a great Saturday!

My blog cards!

First, at 9 AM, there were so many fantastic prospective students and their families on campus. It was nice to meet so many interesting students who are thinking about being Kohawks.

As always, I love Campus Visit Days. There is just that buzz in the air. When people were checking in on the main floor of the library, I was on the second floor, at the blogging table. Yes, you heard right, a blogging table. It's a great way to promote our blog and we even have a nifty business card to give students. This time, we were conveniently placed next to the Writing Center display so I got to do double duty. What I didn't realize when I was talking to prospective students was that many of them would end up being in my tour group!

But before the tour, there was a panel. I started doing panels during Iowa's Private College Week and now I can't get enough of them. It's just fun to interact with the students and their parents and it allows me to share my passion for Coe with a large group of people. This time, the panel had current students, professors, and even an alum who was here for the football game. It was a fun group and they asked a lot of really great questions. I even got to talk about New York term since I'm getting pumped up for it. Literally cannot wait for January.

Anywho, once the panel was over, it was tour time. My escort today was Jordan, who was actually one of students I worked with last fall in my role of a writing fellow. I've seen her several times on campus since I was her tutor, but it was nice to be reunited with her for a longer period of time. As I mentioned earlier, I ended up touring all English/Creative Writing/Writing/Theater students, which was perfect!

After a successful tour (it was pretty nice outside), I dropped them off for lunch and then went to do my own thing. My own thing consisted of homework and lots of it.

Other good Coe news, our football team beat Central today so we ended our regular season UNDEFEATED. Yep, true life. Selection for the NCAA DIII tournament is today so we will see where Coe is placed. Exciting, exciting.

What are you doing this weekend?

Yes, yes, it's only Monday but hey, the weekend is fast approaching. I know that my weekend will consist of homework (lots of paper writing) but also a fun Admission adventure. Campus visit day! If you'd like to see campus on a Saturday morning, this Saturday would be the day to do it! Sign up here!

Not only will you be able to meet a bunch of Coe students, hear from professors, take a tour, but you can even check out our last home football game. Our football team is doing fantastically this year, winning conference last weekend. We are playing Central and it should be a great game!

If you'd like to visit campus but this Saturday doesn't work, please sign up for an individual visit. Come sit in on a class, take a tour, have lunch with a student, meet with a professor, hang out with a sports team, and even stay overnight! It will be a lot of fun, I promise you! :)

On a fun and slightly unrelated note, Campus Visit Day is just as much fun as going into a mine in England's Lake District and wearing cool hard harts with lamps! See picture below for complete understanding!