Madness in Admissions!

Warning! Shameless plug for Beloit below- proceed at your own risk:



I walked into work about 15 minutes ago and one of our dedicated admissions staff was on the phone with a prospective student. She sounded concerned and was asking questions such as, "Are you near a McDondalds? A Road Ranger? No? Ok..."



I was slightly confused but decided I would ask questions when I came back upstairs after a trip to the bathroom. When I returned, seven admissions staff and Gold Key coordinator (and fellow blogger!) Alex Catalan had all materialized and were hurrying about, trying to print things and looking up directions to a bus stop in Kenosha, Wisconson. It turns out that said prospective student had accidently gotten on the wrong bus at the airport (which is easy to do, so please double check when you visit!!!!!!!) and was now located about an hour north of where she wanted to be. As soon as the admissions counselors knew where she was, they hopped in a car and are racing toward Kenosha as I type! That, my friends, is committment! A harrowing tale of a daring rescue- thanks, admissions staff! We love you!

The reason for all the on hand staff members (they are wonderful, but not present in the office 24/7) is because it is the last of our Autumn Visit days tomorrow, and there are over one hundred perspective students on campus! That's 8 percent of our student body! A big thanks to the Gold Key coordinators for running this all- it is a HUGE task and you do an incredible job every time.

Oh, Beloit. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by my love for thee.

This weekend was a whirlwind of fun and games, followed by work and more work. Unfortunately, that's the way the cookie crumbles. This weekend was of particular note for a few reasons:



My parents came to visit, and they brought my dog! My dad took all the pictures in this blog, and this one details the fall colors beautifully. While here we went to the football team's last game (which they won in overtime, 16-13!!!!!), an art opening at the school owned gallery down town, and a modern dance show about disabilities called From the Limb where they met a large amount of the members of Theater for Social Action, including Dan, Angie, and Sophie, who were all at the dance concert in the row ahead of us. Exciting stuff!



Emma Ramsbottom '10, Liz Ziner '10, and Megan Armstrong '10 accompanied us for dinner at the Atlanta Bread Company.



This is the crowd at the Voodoo Barbie performance that evening (the reason for my parent's visit). The woman in the foreground is Ms Judy Ziner, Liz's mom. Liz is in Voodo Barbie with me and her parents surprised her by going to the performance.



Jon Verkler and Travis Robinson during an improv game called Oxygen Deprivation. One has to stick their head in a bucket of water while two other people perform a scene. When the person in the bucket can't hold their breath any more, they start banging the floor with their hand to signal that they need to get out. Then one of the people in the scene thinks of a reason to leave and they take over for the person in the bucket, who them has to think of a reason for entering the scene while being wet. This is Jon being relieved by Travis in the middle of the game.



This is Voodoo Barbie (counter clockwise, starting with the bottom right corner: Daisy Donohue '10, Emily Edstrom '10, Liz Ziner '10, Caitlin MacDougall '10, Travis Robinson '08, Lincoln McLain '08, Jade Daugherty '11, Amelia Buzzell '10, Betsy Huggins '10, and Jon Verkler '11). We often perform during Presidential Weekends and other scheduled visit days, so keep an eye open if you do!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I've already carved my pumpkin, and the candy is in a bowl by the door. Bring it on, costumed little ones!

Last night, in celebration of the spookiest time of year, there was a ghost walk held on the Beloit campus. The paths were lit with candles in white bags, and there was cider and cookies out for everyone. The campus looked really magical, and the RAs worked hard to put it all together. The only thing that would have made it better was a big, fat snow storm!

Ok, I know what some of you might be thinking: is she CRAZY?! It can't snow YET!

Au contraire, mes amies. Tomorrow is November, and where I'm from (Minnesota, in case you forgot) November means winter. And winter means snow. It's not quite cold enough for it here yet, but I would bet on some flurries in the next two weeks. I mean, I'm not a meteorologist, but my new red coat with over sized buttons is waiting on the back of my desk chair oh, so patiently right next to my comfy black boots, sooo... something's gotta give.

Have a spooky Halloween and great All Saint's day (that's tomorrow)!

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My parents have been encouraging my extended family to read this (Hi, everyone!), and I have a couple redactions to make. First of all, my aunt isn't a travel coordinator, she owns a travel company. And second, my mother is only a LITTLE afraid I'm going to get malaria. We've talked about all the medical necessities for my trans-Atlantic jaunt, but moms will be moms and sometimes moms worry. It's ok, Mom, I'm not going for over another year. Heck- I have to make it INTO the program first! So, try not to be too worried too soon. Love you!

Love, actually...

Beloit on the weekends is an interesting time. I'm often thrown by the juxtaposition of the calm and focused days with the abundant energy of the nights. Events on campus this weekend included a scary story reading, a German polka dance, a staging of the Rocky Horror Picture show, battle of the bands at the on campus bar, a band at the on campus bar the next evening, and a halloween party, complete with costume contest (first prize went to a guy that fashioned an Optimus Prime costume out cardboard boses and intricate spray painting), thrown by Sigma Chi and Kappa Delta. As social chair of KD, I was one of the people in charge of this all-campus shindig, and I am extremely happy that it went as well as it did. There were some CRAZY costumes out there! I feel that Beloit may be one of the only places where Edward Scissorshands, an alein from Star Wars, a member of the blue man group, Spartans from 300, Anna Nicole Smith, a transformer, pirates, and 4 different stages of Britney Spears can be found in the same place. I could be wrong, though. Also, don't let anyone ever tell you that there's nothing to do at Beloit. If they say that, they clearly have not looked hard enough or are just not paying attention. I mean, that's quite the list for two days!

Really quickly I want to explain the title of my blog. Last night I slept over in my friend Liz and Emma's room (they are wonderful and let me keep my own toothbrush there), and when I walked into the room Emma had put on the movie Love, Actually. This movie will always remind me of my first year in college (I watched it who knows how many times first semester last year with my friends Rachael and Ally) and having it on last night took me back to those first few weeks when it felt breezy, confusing, delightful, challenging, and amusing all at the same time trying to figure out the whole college thing. This year I'm up to my ears in repsonsibility, constantly on my toes, and having the time of my life. My point is, it is so interesting to see how things have worked themselves out over the course of a year, and I wait excitedly to see what challenges, lessons, and stories the rest of my time here will bring. Like watching Love, Actually more than any other movie as a first year, and being delighted by it enough my second year to have trouble falling asleep after a night of constant action, distracted by the memories of using every excuse possible to watch it (bad day, good day, rainy day, homework break, etc) only a year before.

It's thoughts like these that make it all too clear why I'm a history major :)

So sweet, the fall!

Oh my goodness, College street on the residential side of campus is simply gorgeous right now! All of the leaves on the trees lining it have turned stunning and subtle shades of red and yellow. When I got back from break and saw the change that had taken place, I had to pause for a moment and appreciate life and being here at Beloit. Sometimes I think I don't live my life with enough gratitude, but I need to keep in mind how lucky I really am.

And speaking of gratitude, I am extremely grateful for the relaxing time of fall break! Beloit certainly does know how to split up a semester, and after being here for a couple of months it is nice to escape back home for a breather. Over break my friend Emma and I went on a roadtrip with stops in Plymouth Minnesota (where my parents live), Moorhead Minnesota (where a bunch of my close friends go to school), back to Plymouth, a night in Beloit, and finally to Champaign Illinois (to visit with Emma's extended family that were in town). There were some crazy adventures over the 9 days, too many to recount, so I will give you the top 5 moments of my fall break (you know, other than being happy to be home- also,with pictures to follow):

5. Emma and my photo shoot on my friend Sam's extra long couch, inspired by a rerun of America's Next Top Model
4. My friend Georgia stuffing 5 gumballs in her mouth after a halloween costume shopping trip at a store called Fantasies.
3. Every hour in the car that Emma humored me by letting me listening to musicals while claiming to be "expanding her horizons"
2. My parent's first reactions to the news that I'm planning to study abroad in Ghana (after Emma prefaced the conversation with our fake marriage, to soften them up): My dad immediately got onto Wikipedia and read the page about Ghana, and the first words out my mother's mouth were, "You're going to get malaria." (ok, not quite, but close- she warmed up to the idea over the next few days... it helped that her sister, a travel coordinator, is behind me 100 percent. I know she's reading this- Hi, mom!)
1. When Emma and I finally purchased Uggs (don't judge!) after a two day journey that involved Dick's sporting goods, two holds at different stores, Bubbly Betsy and Downer Dennis, and a lot of self-doubt, coercion, and pie

Ok, I will post again soon!
Good night, everyone!

Julie came in, here is her poem...

Julie and the Medical Condition



Oh, sweet Julie fair

with brown eyes and brown hair

Has a love that she longs to see

Each week she makes sure,

with a heart that's quite pure,

To find time for with them to be

It takes only an hour

for her joy to flower

On her face, a fine filigree

And when the time's up

it is awfully abrupt

And she knows she wants not to be free

For each night when she dreams

Each picture gleams

With what her life someday may be

And when she wakes to the day

the dreams prompts her to say:

"I love you, Grey's Anatomy."

Love you, Julie!

I hope everyone enjoys their next week! See you after break, world!

:)

Mentally checked-out!

Mentally checked out, and, therefore, not wanting to process anything else completely intellectual until after fall break.

And now, continuing with the poetry vein:

An Ode to Shanna Dell

(The Limerick!)

There once was a SOI we called Shanna

Who, unlike most girls, disliked fauna

One evening at work

She revelaed a small quirk

When she changed her whole name to Svetlana

Now there's a SOI named Svetlana

Who really is a prima donna

She's really forthright

(Her bark's worse than her bite)

One day she hopes to reach nirvana

Svetalana has twenty iguanas

Half of them are named after Madonna

She puts them in clothes

Then likes making them pose

In scenes full of Americana

(The traits discussed in this poem do NOT relfect nor are supported by Shanna Dell[TM], especially the final stanza)

When Julie comes in I'll write one about her, too...

:)