Three more weeks! A week and a half of classes, half a week of reading days, and about a week of finals, then I'll be home for three weeks!
As I talked about in my last post, I didn't go home for Thanksgiving. It's a long way to go for just four days off, and my sister got to come out here and visit campus. We also all got to hang out with my brother and my sister-in-law, which was fun. Break mostly consisted of relaxing, catching up on homework, and finishing Breaking Bad (it's so good! I highly recommend it). My brother pulled out the N64 that we had when we were kids and we spent an evening playing it. I'm not a big videogame person, but I actually had a lot of fun- probably mostly for nostalgia reasons. I regained my skills with Kirby in Super Smash Bros, and ended up beating my brother, which was really exciting- when we were kids, he always won. Also, Pokemon Snap remembered me- which is impressive, because I haven't touched it in probably 10 years.
As much as I wish I went home, I think these next few weeks will be easier because I didn't. All of my friends who went home (both who go to LC and who go to other schools) seem to be having a harder time concentrating now, because they had a brief taste of home before they had to leave it for a few weeks. It was hard for them not to settle in the same way that you do during longer breaks, and it sounds like it's hard to focus having experienced that.
My work is ramping up again as classes are ending. We're reading one final play in Spanish- "La vida es sueño"- and I have an essay due on the 9th that I have to start. We also have a final unit test on the last day of class, which is the 11th. I have a couple more chapters of the textbook to read for climate science, a chapter quiz, two more labs and whatever assignments come with them, and a final. Environmental studies has two more labs, one to finish our group project (which we are presenting at a poster celebration on the 11th- my group studied the aesthetics of invasive species and how they influence the public's desire to spend time outside) and one to get started on our final, which is a mock project proposal. It's supposed to relate to our concentration, so it'll essentially be like a mock thesis project proposal. In our final period we are presenting these, as if we're trying to get funding for it. International affairs is pretty much almost done, but we still have one more quiz and one more short (one-page) paper. On top of that, the biology lab that I TA is presenting their research projects tomorrow. I'm excited to see how they analyzed what they found, and the implications of their results. Work for the environmental studies symposium is already pretty intense, also. Over break another co-chair and I researched potential keynotes, and started thinking about logistics. Other people started looking into other aspects of the symposium, and we have at least two meetings about it this week. Luckily it's work that feels good to do. I'm excited to move forward with that.
So, it's a lot of work, but it's good work. I've learned a lot this semester, and I know I will continue to in future semesters. I can't begin to express how lucky I feel to be experiencing such a solid education. And, in three weeks, I'll have a small break to spend time with family and friends, and relax.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at rekidder@lclark.edu.
-Rebecca
As I talked about in my last post, I didn't go home for Thanksgiving. It's a long way to go for just four days off, and my sister got to come out here and visit campus. We also all got to hang out with my brother and my sister-in-law, which was fun. Break mostly consisted of relaxing, catching up on homework, and finishing Breaking Bad (it's so good! I highly recommend it). My brother pulled out the N64 that we had when we were kids and we spent an evening playing it. I'm not a big videogame person, but I actually had a lot of fun- probably mostly for nostalgia reasons. I regained my skills with Kirby in Super Smash Bros, and ended up beating my brother, which was really exciting- when we were kids, he always won. Also, Pokemon Snap remembered me- which is impressive, because I haven't touched it in probably 10 years.
 |
| it even remembered my name |
My work is ramping up again as classes are ending. We're reading one final play in Spanish- "La vida es sueño"- and I have an essay due on the 9th that I have to start. We also have a final unit test on the last day of class, which is the 11th. I have a couple more chapters of the textbook to read for climate science, a chapter quiz, two more labs and whatever assignments come with them, and a final. Environmental studies has two more labs, one to finish our group project (which we are presenting at a poster celebration on the 11th- my group studied the aesthetics of invasive species and how they influence the public's desire to spend time outside) and one to get started on our final, which is a mock project proposal. It's supposed to relate to our concentration, so it'll essentially be like a mock thesis project proposal. In our final period we are presenting these, as if we're trying to get funding for it. International affairs is pretty much almost done, but we still have one more quiz and one more short (one-page) paper. On top of that, the biology lab that I TA is presenting their research projects tomorrow. I'm excited to see how they analyzed what they found, and the implications of their results. Work for the environmental studies symposium is already pretty intense, also. Over break another co-chair and I researched potential keynotes, and started thinking about logistics. Other people started looking into other aspects of the symposium, and we have at least two meetings about it this week. Luckily it's work that feels good to do. I'm excited to move forward with that.
So, it's a lot of work, but it's good work. I've learned a lot this semester, and I know I will continue to in future semesters. I can't begin to express how lucky I feel to be experiencing such a solid education. And, in three weeks, I'll have a small break to spend time with family and friends, and relax.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me at rekidder@lclark.edu.
-Rebecca