This last week was the Environmental Affairs Symposium!
It feels weird to say that, because I've been working on it for the last 11 months. We put a lot of time into it. Weekly (sometimes more often) meetings, lots of emails over the summer, talking with our keynotes and facilities and the venue we used for our keynote event- and now, after three days, it's done.
It feels weird to say that, because I've been working on it for the last 11 months. We put a lot of time into it. Weekly (sometimes more often) meetings, lots of emails over the summer, talking with our keynotes and facilities and the venue we used for our keynote event- and now, after three days, it's done.
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It was definitely a whirlwind. Monday evening we were supposed to have a movie event, but because everyone had just gotten back from fall break and because we hadn't been as good about publicity as we could have been, and because everyone was busy with midterms, we ended up canceling it due to low turnout. Tuesday was our keynote, which was held downtown at Ecotrust's Natural Capital building. It was a really cool venue, and we had pretty good turn out. The keynotes, Paul Robbins and Lesley Head, were amazing, and presented some extremely interesting research. Wednesday the keynotes presented again, about interdisciplinary studies, and were present for a lunch. Wednesday afternoon students presented academic sessions they'd been preparing since last spring, which included panelists from throughout the Pacific Northwest. Lesley and Paul both attended some of the sessions, as well. Thursday we held the last of the sessions, and then had our closing banquet. The banquet was bittersweet, but it was nice to be able to celebrate all the work we put into this.
On top of Symposium, I had the chance to catch up with and see a couple of friends this week who I haven't seen for a while. One of my friends, and a fellow co-chair of Symposium, is gone this semester since he went abroad on an environmental studies program to Japan this summer. He came back just for Symposium, and it was really fun having him here. This afternoon he came over along with a few other environmental studies friends to play ukulele at my house. I also had a friend from home come visit this week, and it was fun to show her around campus and introduce her to my friends here. On top of all of that, another friend from home is coming next week. It's so great to see people I haven't seen in a while, but it makes me sad that I can't see them more often.
Now that Symposium is over, I feel like I've had all this free time dumped on me. Up until Symposium, I was busy catching up with work because I had to leave for a couple of weeks earlier in the semester. Just as I got caught up, it was Symposium week, which rendered me incredibly busy. Now that it's all over, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. I don't have that much homework this weekend, so I've been enjoying watching a lot of Netflix (Gilmore Girls! And the Mighty Ducks 2, last night) and as I already mentioned, playing ukulele.
And, the semester continues! I had a midterm last week (surprisingly, my only one this semester), and I have a drawing project due Monday. Next week my friend is visiting, Halloween is the week after that (protip: if you eat on campus, go to the Bon for dinner on Halloween. They go all out!), and two weeks after that is my birthday! Then Thanksgiving is only two weeks after that, and Finals only two more weeks after that! My, the time flies.
If you have any questions, please please email me at rekidder@lclark.edu! I welcome any and all questions!
-Rebecca