Life at Bluffton

a boy and his cat

2008-04-28T22:08:00.007-04:00

There's this one adorable cat who is running all around campus lately. She has a collar but apparently isn't declawed, so she must be an outdoor cat. She is THE BEST CAT EVER. When Peter picks her up, she puts one arm on either side of his shoulders and nuzzles her head into his chin. I cannot believe how adorable it is. I got a picture--not a good one though...

I also have pictures from playing Five Crowns on Friday night. Jen, Peter, Chris and I all played in the 2nd-floor lobby of Hirschy Annex before going to Wal-Mart...we had a good time. I lost miserably--last place!

This is Southern Belle Peter or maybe Geisha Peter. LOL!

Huh. I just realized this is turning into a blog all about Peter. Well, Peter is awesome. He's hilarious, and insults me in the funniest ways; when I'm upset he's got sweet words for me, and he does notice when I'm upset. So he deserves his own blog post :-) I'm gonna miss him this summer!

Things are getting bittersweet around here. When I hang out with the guys--or anyone--I'm aware that it's one of the last times we'll be together for 4 months...

Also on Friday, Jessica and I spent some time together painting our nails and getting food from Bob's. It was so much fun being girly together in her dorm room, talking about life. She's not living on campus next year, but she's best friends with Allen, so I bet she'll be around. It's awesome how much you can have in common with people who seem different from you! Jessica is a music major who wears moccasins, and I'm a girly-girl who likes pink! I think it's cute that we can be friends :-)

So moral of the story: I have some great friends here at Bluffton :-)

220 Neufeld!

2008-04-27T02:24:00.006-04:00

Guess what! I found a roommate and a room for next year! I found out that Olivia, who is friends with my friends, didn't have a roommate either and so we decided we would room together, and there was one room still open in Neufeld, the nicest dorm (that you have to pay an extra $200 a semester for). A lot of my friends are in Neufeld so I really wanted to be there. So next semester, come visit us in 220 Neufeld :-)

Speaking of Olivia, she and I joined 4 of the guys--my boyfriend Chris, her boyfriend Chris (I know, it's going to be so confusing), Peter, and Mark--for tennis ball golf on Friday! I took some pictures:
That's Mark climbing up the bank of the Riley after rescuing some of our tennis balls from the creek. Thanks, Mark! :-)

Here's Chris (and the other Chris behind him!) taking a swing near the art building.

It was pretty fun--I did about 5 rounds (is that what you call them?) and didn't fail miserably most of the time!

Finals started on Friday, and I think I did really well on sociology (my only exam so far). We'll see. And classes ended on Thursday, which was mildly sad but not much.

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is Singin' in the Rain. I've been working a lot on the films and they may be finally completely done. (I keep thinking they're done and then we find mistakes...so I'm going to say "may be" instead of "are"!) It's been so hard to get used to using Adobe Premiere Elements 3, which is what they have here at school, instead of Final Cut Pro, which is what I used for last summer's "Hamartia" at RC-TV15. (Which, by the way, I can't wait to return to! Adam and I are going to edit this year's McQuaid film there this summer!)

Once the play is over, I'll maybe post some of the clips from the films on here, so you guys can see what I've done! I got to have fun with it because it was so corny and goofy.

Well, it's late! Stay posted for more pictures in the next blog of tonight's card games!

recognition for Winter Formal! banquets galore

2008-04-22T20:49:00.003-04:00

Tuesday was the 2nd annual SOUL banquet (Student Organizations United in Leadership). Winter Formal was nominated for Best Programming. We were up against Sex Signals and Homecoming, and Sex Signals won (rightfully so--it was awesome!). So it was really nice for my committee and I to be recognized as contributing to Bluffton's student life! I'm so proud of us! Tabitha, Jen, Mel, and I all went over to the banquet together and had a nice little time. The food was really good--ex: chicken that's better quality than normal days in Marbeck! We also had a very funny keynote speaker, Chris Jebsen, the director of admissions. And it was fun to dress up a little. So all in all, a good night!

Then tonight was a banquet for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We went to a restaurant called The Old Barn Out Back, which is buffet-style. It was pretty good, and it felt nice to be recognized for our efforts with the kids, too.

On Monday is ANOTHER banquet, this one for the Honors program, at Tu Pueblo in town!

I also gave my final speech today in Public Speaking. It went really well, I think, and the thing I'm happiest about is a comment that I got on a piece of paper afterwards (we had to review each other's speeches): "I never really knew much about foster care before but now I am really considering doing it when I'm older" or something very close to that. That is EXACTLY what I wanted to do with the speech! :-)

Today was the last day of classes! We had Monday classes even though it's a Thursday because we've missed a lot of Mondays for different reasons. It was a little sad but not too much. So all we have left is finals and Singin' in the Rain. Tomorrow is my first final--Sociology. I'm a little nervous! Wish me luck!

papers, photo shoots, and end of BBBS

2008-04-18T00:35:00.004-04:00

School is almost over, I can't believe it. I'm almost done being a freshman in college!

I spent tonight working on papers. I have 2 due tomorrow: one for sociology and one for biblical world view, each about 2 pages long. I sort of liked the sociology paper--not writing it, but the idea behind it. We looked at whether women who have their first child at a younger age (say, 18) make less, in general, than women who have their first child at an older age (35). (There does seem to be a trend that indicates that that's true.)

I'm also polishing up a speech I may have to give tomorrow. It's possibly my favorite assignment at Bluffton so far because we got to choose a topic we care about. I chose to talk about being a foster parent. I'm not sure why that cause is really important to me, but I wholeheartedly believe in recruiting more capable, loving foster parents. There are so many children in need of safe, stable, nurturing homes, and we need more people to provide this for them.

The speech is sort of an evolution of the speech I gave on Monday, so it wasn't terribly hard to write this one. It was mostly improving and adding onto what I had already.

This morning I did a photo shoot for the admissions office! About 5 other students and I posed for pictures in a tiny classroom, pretending to listen to 2 different professors lecture. It was fun, though we had to sit unnaturally close to each other! We'll see if any of the pictures I was in make it into any promotional materials. That would be exciting!

The other big thing about today was that it was my last Big Brothers Big Sisters session of the school year. We played kickball as a group instead of doing much actual schoolwork. It was kind of sad to say goodbye. I don't know if I'm going to be with the same child next year. I think I will try to continue to mentor, though. This is the next best thing to being a foster parent, since I'm only 19 and everything!

I would encourage everyone to look into being a foster parent or a Big Brother/Sister. Visit beafosterparent.org and bbbs.org to find out more about helping children in need!

food, worship, & life!

2008-04-13T02:46:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone! I've been neglecting my blog lately so I thought I'd squeeze in a blog before bed!

Some thoughts about life at Bluffton...

The food: As I've said many times before, I do not like the food. But I should reiterate that it's partially because I'm a picky eater. I have a favorite dish: the Italian pasta salad in the salad bar. It tastes just like the stuff from Wendy's did when I was little. I also like the ravioli, and they make some good quesadillas with different vegetables and beans in them. Their nachos are yummy, if a little spicy. And their baked ziti dish is usually good. If you guys want to see what you'd eat in a typical week, check out http://www.bluffton.edu/marbeck/foodservice/Weeklymenu/ .

At Bob's Place, which is the fast-food-type shop, I usually get mozzarella sticks, unless it's breakfast hours, in which case I go for the huge chocolate-chip or blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. Breakfast is really cheap there, but it's only served till 11:15. My guy friends like their chicken tenders a lot. And a sub is always a safe option.

Worship: There are two types of on-campus religious services. Every Thursday at 11 is chapel, which is completely voluntary, unlike at many other Christian colleges. Then on every other Sunday morning they hold a Sunday Morning Worship Service. Both are rather contemporary, which isn't really my style, which is part of the reason why I rarely go. But other people enjoy them and are regular attendees.

Dorm hours: I don't remember if I've written about them before--sorry if this is old news. Bluffton has open dorm hours from 12-12 (I think?) Sunday through Thursday, and then on Friday and Saturday I think it's 12 to 2, or something around there. I don't usually have to worry about the morning start times, just the evening end times, which I know are 12 and 2. So what that means is that people of the opposite sex can only be in your room during those times. The lobbies are open much more--something like 7 AM to 2 AM? Lots of people complain about this, but I think I like it. For one thing, it makes it easier to get to bed at a reasonable hour! If I'm hanging out with the guys on a school night, it's a good thing that I have to be out by midnight because then that means I go back to my room and get ready for bed. If they didn't have those rules, it'd probably be much harder for me to stick to a reasonable bedtime. Another good thing is that I don't have to worry about guys seeing me walking around in my towel from the shower or in my pajamas unless I get ready for bed early or wake up REALLY late. And I think a final good thing about it is that it helps you set boundaries with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course, this rule doesn't get followed to the letter--I've seen it/heard of it being broken on numerous occasions--but generally it's a good thing that it's there. And I like that it's not terribly strict. One Christian college I visited had dorm hours that didn't start until 4 PM. I thought that was a little ridiculous. This gives us reasonable freedom.

Well, I'm exhausted. Even though dorm hours ended at 2 and so I came back to my room then, I've been online since I got back. So tonight the dorm hours didn't help me get to bed at a reasonable time :-) Goodnight everyone!

where to go when you need to get off-campus

2008-04-08T23:57:00.003-04:00

Q: Where do Bluffton students go when they feel like getting off campus?

A: Since I've come to college, I think I've spent more time at Wal-Mart than I have ever before! We go every couple of weeks and spend probably an hour inside. With gas so expensive, it costs like $6 to get there even in Peter's fuel-efficient car, which is ridiculous, but it's so nice to get off campus and it's such a convenient place to get everything you need. Plus you can get the thrill of spending money without being frivolous. (At least, this is one reason I go to Wal-Mart...I'm not sure the guys think of it that way!)

Right next to Wal-Mart is Waffle House. I had never been to a Waffle House before coming here--they don't have any in Rochester, that I know of. For those of you who don't know, it's just a little diner-ish place. Nothing remarkable at all. But it's pretty cheap and it serves breakfast food anytime, which is great when you have a craving for scrambled eggs! (You can also satisfy your maple syrup cravings by drinking it out of the bottles they put on the tables...I think it's nasty but people do it!)

Sometimes people go to Tu Pueblo, the Mexican restaurant in town, or take a trip to the Whippy Dip, which is down the road on Main Street a little ways but still definitely within easy walking distance. There's fast food down right by the highway, including Arby's, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell, and more.

Toledo is only about an hour away, so if you feel like going to a big mall, that's an option for a day trip, and for shorter mall trips you can go to Lima or Findlay. Other places in Lima and Findlay that we go to are Kohl's, Friendly's (yummy) and Hobby Lobby. So that stuff is within 15-25 minutes (depending on how fast the guys are driving!)

Q: What stores are available right in town? Where can I get prescriptions, milk, etc?

Greg's Pharmacy is a little store with tons of things that you might need but don't want to make the trip to Wal-Mart for, like batteries or tissues or toothbrushes. It's really convenient. And of course if you need medication, it's a pharmacy.

I walk to the gas station for milk sometimes in a pinch. They're so friendly there!

The natural foods store is nice. Some people get their water there--I think you can bring in containers and pay to fill them up.

The Etcetera Shop is a little thrift store with clothing and household items. I think it's pretty hit or miss, but it's fun to look even if you don't find anything. There's also Ten Thousand Villages, which is a globally-focused little store with handmade things from artisans around the world. Things in there are pretty expensive in general, but it's really awesome inside and I duck in whenever I'm strolling around.

The movie rental place just shut down, so that's not an option anymore, which is depressing. But you can still get some movies from the rental machine at McDonald's, which I think is pretty amusing!

Also, there's a hairdresser who I have never been to but it's surprisingly modern inside, with all the newer products, despite its old-fashioned exterior. I think I might try going there next year.

So, those are a few of the things that we do when we go off-campus. Clearly Bluffton isn't exactly the most happening place, but we have our small-town fun. You have to be prepared to live in the middle of nowhere if you come to Bluffton! But it's really nice to have clean country air, no highway noise, few sirens, and other country luxuries. I'm getting used to living in cornfields!

Q & A about college life!

2008-04-03T18:10:00.006-04:00

Hey everyone. Today I thought I'd address some questions that some of you might have when you're preparing for college...

Is it really one big slumber party with all these girls living together?

Actually, some days, yeah. Particularly at the beginning of the year, groups of us (anywhere between 3 and 8 girls) would lie on the floor in the hallway of the dorm with our legs up against the wall, just talking and giggling about anything and everything. This has considerably slowed down as the year progresses, but occasionally it will still happen, or girls will gather in the kitchen as they bake cookies. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it happens! So sometimes people are up till 2 AM just talking and talking. It's a great bonding experience and I think maybe it's easier to talk about deeper issues because you're staring at the ceiling, not at each other! The only downside is that other people may be trying to sleep nearby, but this hasn't been a problem for us. Sometimes my roommate is asleep already and I hear a group of girls giggling in the kitchen, so I'll go out and say, "Hey guys, just so you know, Meghan is asleep, so if you could just..." and smile and leave it at that. And they have no problem with it that I can tell. If you're really bugged by inconsiderate people and don't want to ask them to be quiet yourself, you can go to your RA and they will take care of it for you. Our dorms have quiet hours from maybe 11 PM to 8 AM, so you're not allowed to be REALLY noisy at night, and 24-hour "courtesy" hours, which means be respectful at all times. I've noticed that my dorm is a LOT quieter than those at other schools; for example, I visited Goshen several times and each time, I could hear music blasting through multiple doors into the hallway and could feel the bass in a different room. It was really annoying and unsettling to someone who enjoys quiet like I do. But I think that most of the dorms here at Bluffton are more low-key, with people playing their music more softly--or maybe it's just that the walls are thicker here!

All joking aside, I do think that Bluffton tends to be a more low-key campus with more conservative people and a quieter atmosphere. It's very peaceful. But if you're looking for a 24/7 party school with punk-rock cliques, we're not for you! :-)

2. How do I prepare so I'm not so nervous?

For me, what worked was focusing on the one thing I could control: the decorations of my room. For those of you who are more masculine, you might focus on the setup of your room, with where you'll store all your video games and stuff like that! I sent lots of e-mails back and forth with my roommate, whom I did not get to meet before school started, talking about what kind of stuff we were each buying. I sent her pictures of my comforter, our rugs, even my towels and little lamps! It made me feel better to know that my room was going to be a sanctuary and a fun place to retreat from whatever bad things I might experience. Make sure you communicate with your roommate as to who is bringing what--you don't need 2 TVs (usually), two DVD players, etc. Some people choose to bring 2 of things like fridges because they will use them so much, but a lot of people just have 1 that they share. Also, make sure you read the student handbook online before you buy stuff--there might be restrictions that you didn't think about. For example, at Bluffton, we can't have open flames, so no candles, and no curtains (although today I saw a window that totally had pink curtains! SO not allowed).

Okay, I think that's enough questions for the night! I hope I helped!

As for what's been going on in my life and on campus, there hasn't been a whole lot. I spend most of my free time with my boyfriend and our other guy friends, hanging out, watching movies, eating, going on Wal-Mart trips, things like that. Tonight I had dinner with some girls I know from the Honors program, First Year Seminar, and Big Brothers Big Sisters, which was a fun little change.

Oh! Some other news! Filming for Singin' in the Rain is scheduled to start on Saturday! Please wish me luck as I tackle this big project!

I'll let you know how it goes. For now, I'll leave you with a cute picture, though it's bad quality, of Chris and I, and a picture of Peter being goofy with Eli in the background!

MEHA--Mideast Honors Association Conference

2008-03-30T22:03:00.003-04:00

Good weekend! On Friday, Tabitha and I were excused from our 3:00 class so we could pack for a weekend in Indianapolis. 7 of us from the honors program signed up to go with our Honors director to the conference for the Mideast Honors Association. We piled into a 12-passenger van and got to Indianapolis around 8 PM. We had missed the activities earlier in the evening but we were able to join the Icebreakers events and get settled in our rooms. For Icebreakers, we did things like split into groups and play the Numbers Game. Ever played? There are a list of questions about the members of the group, and each question has a quantitative answer. For example, "What is your shoe size?" Then you add up the group's answers and compare them with other groups, and whoever has the biggest number wins. Pointless but fun. (We didn't win.)

Tabitha and I stayed in a room with Christy, and that night the three of us went out exploring the city. It was awesome. Most stores were closed, but we got some great pictures, which I can't post yet because I don't have them. Then on Saturday and Sunday we had presentations about things such as stem cell research and how to expand your honors program. They were actually pretty interesting and useful. We explored the city some more on Saturday night. Walked along the canal, posed for pictures with awesome public art, had mint hot chocolate at the Chocolate Shop...it was a really nice time. I would definitely recommend the conference to other honors students. It's a nice weekend away, a great chance to explore a new place, and you can meet other honors students and learn really important things. I plan on using things I learned at the conference a LOT, such as fundraising ideas and strategies and ways to organize committees. It's definitely a conference for people who want to be leaders.

Now we're back at Bluffton and I've got a speech due on Wednesday, a speech due on Friday, and a huge science test tomorrow. Gotta go study!

here we go again...

2008-03-26T15:31:00.007-04:00

I have pictures from the break!

Here's one thing that Bluffton students do for fun...we sit in our dorm rooms and throw beach balls around! The ball actually came from Marbeck Center Board, the group that does activities. They stopped by the dinner table a month or two ago and gave out stuff to promote their Friday night activity, which was a luau. I only stopped by the luau for a little while, but this ball has lasted awhile.

This is Eli, who came to visit us. Good times!

The last couple of days have been unremarkable. People gradually trailed back to campus on Monday. I think I hung out with the guys but I don't really remember! I didn't do much of anything yesterday because I didn't have classes. Last night, Chris and I both had papers we had to work on, so we didn't watch a movie or anything, but each of us had done the paper that the other one was doing, so we helped clarify stuff for each other, which was helpful. The papers were for Introduction to Biblical Worldview. His was an in-depth study (well, a few pages' worth of study) on Matthew 5-7, while mine was about "the good life."

Hall Association is winding things up for the year. I thought of an interesting idea last night to boost our income from the Pepsi-brand vending machines in the lobby. We used to get around $200 every month and now it's down to less than $50, so I wondered if maybe a change of selection would help boost the sales again. We're going for more "girly" drinks, like more flavored water and less straight energy drinks. We'll see how that change goes over.

Little Sibs Weekend is coming up soon, as is Capture the Flag with the other "south-side" halls, Bren-Dell and Riley Court. Details about Capture the Flag are still a little up in the air, but it sounds like it'll be a fun thing! Also, Cat, an RA from Ropp Addition, decorated the lobby for spring, and it makes it look really festive. Pictures will be posted next blog! That's one reason I love Ropp: the Hall Association makes it look adorable. We have big windows that we paint with words and symbols to celebrate different events, like hearts for Valentine's Day, and we decorate for things like Christmas and Halloween. It looked pretty magical at Christmas, I thought--lots of twinkle lights and several decorated trees. So at night when you came back to the dorm, you'd be walking in the glow of the string lights! (Sometimes, I have no idea why, the lights in the lobby are off in the evening/night. It's actually a little spooky. I should bring that up at Hall Association!)

See you all later, I've got another paper to write!

fun with the guys for Easter

2008-03-23T21:40:00.004-04:00

Well, this weekend was pretty awesome! I spent all my time with Chris, Peter, and Eli. We had picked Eli up from Goshen on Thursday afternoon and hung out that evening. The next morning we had planned on meeting up for lunch at Marbeck, but then they called me and said oops: Marbeck isn't open this whole weekend! So we drove to Community Markets, which is rather expensive and not very large but really close by, and picked up a few things, and then made the 20-minute trek to Wal-Mart to get a TON of food. We planned on 6 meals for 4 people, but it ended up being way too much, because Chris and I were gone the whole day Saturday. We drove to Perrysburg, his hometown, to take his sister shopping for her birthday, and we also went to Biaggi's for dinner with a lot of his extended family. They're fun and wacky. I had been to Biaggi's once before--they have one right outside of Rochester--and it was pretty good.

So anyway, that left only Peter and Eli there to eat food on Saturday, and then Eli left today after lunch. Our Easter dinner was ridiculous--it was tacos and Hawaiian rolls! Not exactly traditional. But it was fun nonetheless--and maybe it'll be a new tradition, who knows?

The campus was dead this weekend. I'm not sure there was ANYONE on my entire floor except for me. If there was, I didn't see or hear them at night when I was around, and there was no evidence of them in the bathrooms. The RAs put up these pieces of colored paper with questions on them in the stalls and you write answers to them. So I've written my answers and nobody else has put anything up yet, so I'm assuming I've been the only one here! I saw my RA on maybe Thursday night, but after that, it was so empty. I don't really know what the international students did. I bet some of them were invited home by friends.

At least nobody being here gave us plenty of room in the floor's freezer to store our food!

We also hung out with 3 friends of Eli's, two who go here and one from Goshen. They came by Chris's room and watched part of Enchanted with us...They didn't like it too much. Too girly for them. But they confirmed my best friend Adam's opinion that I am Princess Gisele personified/she is the movie version of me! So if you want to know what I'm like, just watch the movie :-)

Oh, I forgot. On Friday night the guys and I went over to Rodney and Marie's, friends of ours who live just outside of town, and had dinner with them. Then we played Five Crowns and I came in first place! I'm pretty proud of myself. I saved the scorecard to put in a scrapbook :-) It's a good game, you should try it!

spontaneity

2008-03-21T02:12:00.003-04:00

I expect this weekend to be a good one! It's going to be pretty empty here because most people have gone home for Easter. But I wasn't up for an 8-hour car ride on Thursday and Monday to get home, so I'm staying here, as are my friend Peter and my boyfriend Chris. Plus, Peter and I drove to Goshen today to pick up our friend Eli, so I did end up spending about 6 hours in the car, but it was 2 sets of 3 hours, so it wasn't as bad as going home would be.

Tonight we watched "Right at Your Door," a slightly creepy and disturbing movie about dirty bombs going off in LA. It was unnerving to think that we're so vulnerable, but it made me feel better to know that I'm in a small town where it's presumably safer. But the movie, all in all, was pretty lame. We've been watching lame movies lately because the Movie Gallery in town just closed, and so they were selling DVDs for $1.50. But by the time Chris got there, they were pretty cleaned out of good ones! I did end up scoring some great deals (of course, the guys don't want to watch mine), but it's sad that they went out of business because they're the only movie rental place in town. Although the McDonald's does have one of those new DVD rental machines!

Speaking of McDonald's, I went with the girls (Melissa, Danette, Kristy, and Meghan) to McDonald's the other night right after dinner to get Shamrock Shakes. We decided that we were hungry for them and so we just hopped in the car and went! It's nice to have such freedom and to be able to be spontaneous like that. And the same thing happened a different night--I was at dinner with Kristen and some of our mutual friends, and we decided that we were going to go to Movie Gallery that night that it was $1.50. So, again, we just hopped in the car and spent like an hour browsing the store!

It's good times like those that make college so much fun!

outside!

2008-03-14T18:26:00.004-04:00

Back from spring break…not a great one. I’m kind of glad to be back to my normal routine at school.

Tonight I'm hanging out with Alen, Chris, Peter, and Chris's friend Adam from Cincinatti. Earlier they did something that I think is really cool, even if I don't do it myself--they played Ultimate Frisbee in the field by Adams Bridge. They have it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4. It's just an informal type of thing, I guess, but sometimes a prof joins them, which is funny to see. Today it was supermuddy but they played anyway, so Chris came back with a handprint on his shirt. I should have taken a picture!

Another outdoor activity that I haven't taken part in is sledding. There's a couple of small hills on campus, one by the art building and one by Bren-Dell dorm. Sometimes we hear little kids sledding down the hill, but a lot of the time it's actual college students who are sledding. My girl friends have had some snowball fights, which aren't my thing, but a few days ago we staged a fake snowball fight for the Putnam County Sentinel for a friend who works there:

These are the girls from my floor that I go to dinner with every day. Kristy on the left, me in brown and pink, Meghan in red, then Danette, and Melissa being the victim of our attack. It was totally out of character for me to be throwing a snowball--and throwing it Melissa--but it turned out to be a really cute photo!

I guess the good thing about being in a small town is that you have a better chance of being the newspaper than you do in a big city! :-)

almost time for break

2008-02-27T18:50:00.002-05:00

My mom and Kristen's mom are driving up (well, over?) on Thursday and will be here late Thursday night, and they'll stay Friday too, and on Saturday morning we'll head back home. I'm not looking forward to break. It just kind of messes up the schedule you've got going for yourself, you know? I guess most other people are like, "Thank goodness break is here!" but Christmas break really threw me off balance, and I'm hoping this week off doesn't do the same.

I'm not going to miss the food here, that's for sure, but I will really miss the people, particularly Chris and Peter. I hang out with them almost every night now, even though hanging out consists of almost nonstop jokes at either my expense or the expense of women! For those of you who don't know, I met Peter this summer at orientation; he was staying with mutual friends of the family and I met him at their house. We didn't hang out much at all until just before Christmas break, when I started joining the college ball tournaments at Bob's that he and Chris were a part of. As for Chris, we were in the same First Year Seminar class, and again, I started hanging out with him when I started playing college ball. Now the three of us do lots of things together: weekly Wal-Mart trips for groceries (I have basically a constant hunger), near-nightly movies, baking, trips to the house of our family friends, baking/cooking, studying, whatever! And of course, the whole time, I'm saying stupid things (not on purpose!) and they're laughing at me! It's a surprisingly good time :-) I'm staying with them at Chris's house overnight on the way back to school, so that should be fun, because Chris has a cool sister and nice friends. Except the guys are going to startle us during the scary movie we're going to watch--I hate that!

Well, I've got to go set up for the Hall Association's scrapbooking night. I'm going to bring some of my clear acrylic stamps to show people (my mom and I sell Close to My Heart products) so people can play around with them, they're so much fun. "See" you all after break!

"that's how you know..."

2008-02-26T17:36:00.002-05:00

One question that it was suggested I address in my blog was how you know that a college is right for you. For me, it wasn't an extremely difficult decision once I got rejected from my other top choice university: I just felt comfortable at Bluffton when I visited, and I knew I would have a support system here because my best friend from home is a sophomore here, and my parents have friends in town. So even though I'm eight hours away from my family, I've got people that I can turn to here.

I really like the beauty of the campus here. It's so cute! Sure, there's a few ugly buildings, but then there's the really picturesque parts like the library, Lincoln Hall, and even Centennial. It was important for me to have a nice green campus that wasn't too harsh-looking, and that's what I got. I know that part of the beauty of campus is that a lot of the walkways are not absolutely straight--they have some curve to them. So it gives it a softer look than geometric lines. And even the lampposts here are pretty--they're old-fashioned, not highway-style. I would be depressed by a campus that wasn't aesthetically pleasing, and so I'm very happy with what I see as I walk every day on campus here.

On a different subject, yesterday in public speaking class we got into a big debate! It was so intense. Every single person in the class got question #23 on our midterm wrong, and so we argued that it had not been worded clearly. It took us a looong time--like 20 minutes--to convince the prof that he should throw the question out and give us 2 extra points. We finally convinced him, after almost every single person in the class spoke up and did their best to contribute to the argument! It was the most fun session of the class we've ever had! Those are the best classes--when students get to actually speak. It might not happen that much, but when it does, it's awesome!

that darn cat

2008-02-22T15:43:00.002-05:00

There is a white cat who keeps sneaking into Ropp (my dorm). It left a little present in the hall this morning, and apparently it's about to have kittens. I'm worried I'm going to come into the kitchen one day and oh--lookit--there's a litterful of kittens right in front of the refrigerator door! I don't know where the cat comes from; people suggest that it has a home but gets more attention here, but I don't know about that. It has no tag and comes and goes whenever. What kind of gross diseases does it have that it's bringing into the dorms?!

Today, I was really satisfied with one of the dishes at lunch. It was a bean/vegetable/cheese quesadilla that I dipped in sour cream. Oh it was absolutely delicious and not too bad for you! I was also really satisfied with the concern that the dining services seem to have for the students. I just answered an online survey they sent out by e-mail that asked about how Sodexho (the company) is doing in regards to wellness. I don't know if things will actually change, but it's nice to think they're listening! We're getting some interesting new offerings this month at Bob's, I think (the fast-food-type option on campus). Nothing that I am really interested in eating, but other people might like to try it.

This was the last day of one of our sections of Biblical Worldview class. We had Randy Keeler, who is a fun professor that I had for First Year Seminar class last semester, for the past few weeks. His section was the "Ministry" section. We talked about ways to discern God's will; baptism; ways God speaks to us; what it means to call yourself a Christian; and stuff like that--how to live your life. The unit before that was Laura Brenneman's, and it was more history of Christianity and the Bible. I liked both of the units. They weren't exactly revolutionary or fascinating, but they were interesting enough, and it's a great introduction to what we'll study in upper-level religion courses. Some people don't like Biblical Worldview and the fact that it's required, but I think it's a really important class to take because it makes you analyze your faith a little bit more and increases your awareness of the world around you. I almost feel that I learned more about the Bible in this class than I ever did in Sunday school! So, for all you prospectives: there's absolutely no reason to dread the class! :-)

missed opportunity

2008-02-19T12:39:00.002-05:00

Do you know who Spike Lee is? He directed "Inside Man" recently, but is most famous for his films exploring racial tension, like "Do the Right Thing." I will admit, I have not seen more than about 5 minutes of "Do the Right Thing," or any of his films other than "Inside Man." But I know that he's legendary and very talented (at least in many people's eyes) and somewhat controversial.

Well, yesterday in sociology class, the professor, Dr. Nyce, told us that she had 4 extra tickets to see Spike Lee speak in Dayton that night, and anyone was welcome to have them. I immediately called up my best friend Adam, who is more obsessed with movies than anyone I know including me and is a teenage director. I knew he would kill me if I didn't go! He reminded me that he had seen Spike Lee talk at the University of Rochester and that it had changed his life. But I couldn't find a ride to Dayton or anyone to go with, and I already had plans to bake biscotti with Peter and Chris at Rodney and Marie's, so I ended up not going. I was pretty bummed a lot of the day. I mean, it's SPIKE LEE! For someone who wants to make meaningful movies, he's a role model.

But I ended up having a good time baking biscotti, even if I ended up doing all the dishes. And mm, that biscotti is good!

I cleaned my room up some last night, so I'm proud of myself!

Tomorrow we have an outline for a big speech due in public speaking class, which I'm nervous about. I don't know what to speak about! I mean, I have a topic: how to educate consumers about environmentally friendly textiles. But I don't know how to go about educating them! I need to go to the library and get help from the reference librarian, I think. They have their hours posted on the Bluffton website, and the hours are pretty convenient.

Then I have my meeting today about "Singin' in the Rain". Exciting!

the plans are revealed :-)

2008-02-17T02:27:00.003-05:00

Ah...Friendly's. Tonight I went with Chris to Friendly's after trying to get into the Olive Garden and a steak restaurant. I got my usual: I special-order a former menu item, the 4-cheese-and-bacon supermelt with tomatoes and honey mustard. Oh gosh it's so good. And of course an orange sherbet Slammer. Yummy!

So, awhile ago I might have alluded to a new project that would possibly be coming up for me. I think I can finally announce the good news to the world at large: I'm going to be filming/editing/just plain DOING the filmed sequences for the spring musical at Bluffton, "Singin' in the Rain." If you haven't seen it, the musical is about actors in silent films who are making the transition to "talkies" way back when. So during the musical, they show bits of the silent films and of the talkies, some of which are disastrous. Since the drama department needs someone to create these sequences, they asked me to work on it! I've been sent a script and I've marked up the scenes that I'll be filming, and even did a little bit of storyboarding today. But then I got discouraged because I think I need to watch some silent movies and the movie of "Singin' in the Rain" to get the feel for what those early films were like so I can be historically accurate. Luckily, I have a Netflix subscription, and you can play that movie online whenever you want! Since I have a meeting with the head of the theatre department on Tuesday afternoon, I'll have to get cracking on that ASAP! I have a lot of questions to ask and it could be a very difficult job. But I'm ready for it! Please wish me luck. This would be something great to put on a resume and to show potential employers, and it'll be doing film again! Oh I'm so excited and nervous!

"legacy"?

2008-02-15T18:31:00.004-05:00

I suppose you could call me a legacy, couldn't you? The daughter of an alumnus of Bluffton? My dad graduated from Bluffton sometime a long while ago :-) 1978 actually. I've always felt a little left out growing up in the Mennonite church because I don't have any family connections to other churches and other Mennonites (my parents are the first Mennonites in their families), and a favorite activity of many Mennonites is to see the funny familial connections we have with each other! So that used to bum me out a little bit, but now I have a different kind of insider connection: being the daughter of a Bluffton alumnus. I sat with Kristy and Ben at dinner today, and Ben's dad was my dad's roommate here. Ben and I had never met before we came to college, but our parents tell us stories about each other and they know all these college staff and faculty that went here too. Ben and I were making a list of people that our parents knew, including Randy Keeler (religion professor), Steve Steiner (science professor and honors program director), and oh, now I can't remember the rest. And then there's also Rodney and Marie, who live just outside of town and whose house I go to on the weekends, although Ben doesn't know them. I just get tickled that I have these little unexpected connections.

So, if you're Mennonite, you might find yourself with some distant cousins or some friends of your parents' if you come to Bluffton! But the point of this blog isn't to exclude people who aren't Mennonite: I want to assure you all that you shouldn't worry if you aren't Mennonite, everyone is very welcoming no matter where you're from! In fact, I take Kristy, Peter, and Chris with me when I visit Rodney and Marie; Peter is Mennonite but his parents don't know Rodney and Marie, and Kristy and Chris have no connections to the Mennonite church or anyone here. But they fit in just fine anyway!

food times 2

2008-02-08T01:01:00.000-05:00

On the first Wednesday of every month (I think), Dining Services has a meeting that anyone is free to go to where we can share concerns and ideas and thoughts about the food and about Marbeck Commons and Bob's in general (the cafeteria and the fast-food-type place). Amy, Sarah, and I went this Wednesday and I thought it was really helpful. For example, I asked whether it would be possible to put hard-boiled eggs into the salad bar more consistently, because if you don't want to eat the meat they're serving as an entree or you're vegetarian, you need protein. I also expressed my concern at the amount of deep-fried main dishes. Then, we got to tell the Marbeck Center Director and the food service head what our dream cafeteria would be like--with layout, atmosphere, etc. They're thinking about/planning a huge overhaul of the current cafeteria. I'm not sure as to the timeline of the project--this would obviously cost a heck of a lot of money and take so much planning and effort. But it's great that they're thinking about this and trying to get student feedback!

In other food-ish news, we had an interesting floor activity tonight. A bunch of us signed up to go to dinner in Neufeld, the newest dorm, to learn etiquette. Dr. Nerad, a family and consumer sciences prof that I had last semester, taught us a ton of guidelines and rules for formal dinners. It would have been nice to have had that before the banquet for the Honors Program! That reminds me, I want to tell Pete, the dining services manager, that I really liked the rice and raisin dish they served then!

So I've had a couple of unusual meals the last two days! It's definitely a nice break from the usual day-to-day stuff we do all the time!

a little risque for Bluffton...

2008-02-06T17:05:00.000-05:00

Last night, everyone, including me, went to this show thing called Sex Signals. By "everyone," I mean 300 students--a third of the campus! Me and my friends arrived 45 minutes early to get seats. It was crazy packed.

So, we'd been seeing ads (some with pictures of the two actors in risque poses) around campus for a couple of weeks for a "sort-of improv show about sex". I heard somewhere that it was about date rape, but I don't remember where. So I was kind of iffy about the whole thing--sounds a little awkward!--and I hadn't been feeling well, but all my friends were going. So I decided what the heck, it's a campus event, and I don't feel like there are enough of them that really attract a large audience, so I wanted to participate in something that brought a lot of campus together. I wanted a sense of community, you know?

It ended up being a pretty great time. The two actors were absolutely fabulous. They have such skill at improv. First they had sort of a conversation with the audience about stereotypes about girls and guys, and they did skits. It really got a little bit R-rated for Bluffton, I thought. I was a little shocked. It's good to have honest talk but it was a bit intense for me. It was still hilarious, though! Then we got more serious with a skit about a guy accused of date rape, where he gave his side of the story, and a little "sermon" about date rape. But the heaviness didn't last too long, so it was still mostly a lighthearted good time. I'm really glad that they were brought in--it was a great event. A bunch of campus groups got together to sponsor it, and I think this proves that we can do incredible things when we team up!

So, that was the highlight of the past few days! In other news, the campus is flooding. I did NOT know that I was signing up to live in a swamp when I enrolled :-) Nah, it's not that gross, but there is definitely a lot of flooding. Some paths are blocked by enormous puddles and the Riley Creek is way overflowed. It's been intense!

longing for biscotti

2008-01-31T21:46:00.000-05:00

Do you know what I am so hungry for? Chocolate-filled biscotti.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/chocolate-filled-biscotti-4297?

My family friend Marie and I made this at her house a few weeks ago. It is absolutely delicious. Not typical biscotti--more like a slightly chewy soft cookie. Oh I am longing for this so badly! Try it, it's fabulous!

I never wanted to bake before I got to college, but now I wish I had ingredients so I could do that. We have a mixing bowl, spoons, and a 13x9 pan (I think that's the dimensions). But I don't have flour or a mix or eggs or anything. I think I might get some when I go shopping next...maybe. This feeling will probably pass pretty soon, I'm not typically very domestic!

I still feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because winter formal is over. I have some responsibilities that I didn't anticipate beforehand, which is a bummer, but at least I don't have to worry like I did before.

I don't think this weekend is going to be much fun. My best friend Kristen is going to a leadership conference of some kind, and I have piles of homework. More specifically, about 10 pages of papers to write for 3 classes. They've given us plenty of time for this, but I'd been busy with planning the formal last week, and then last weekend I had Wicked and the formal, so I didn't get any done then. And yesterday and today I studied for physics instead of doing other homework. So this weekend I'm buckling down. I probably will try to do a lot tomorrow night, even though it's a Friday. I had my fun tonight instead of tomorrow: I went to the Wafflehouse with my friends Chris, Peter, and Alan. I was really starving tonight, so I texted them and said, "Let's go out to eat!" and they were up for it. I had TWO BLTs and two cups of hot chocolate. Yeah, the BLTs were kinda small, but still--that's a lot of food! I was really starving. Actually, I'm STILL hungry! I've gotta find a way to get to Wal-Mart this weekend--I need food!

People have been campaigning to be Student Senate President for the last few weeks. Cyrus is one of the presidential hopefuls, and he was the first one to put signs everywhere. He also has made a big point to talk to as many people as possible to see what people would like out of Senate. Sarah Ricks also came around and talked to us. Both of them are putting food in their campaign: Cyrus wants to make Meal Deals for the weekends, and Sarah was talking about major Marbeck overhauls. Meal Deals are when you go to Bob's, the fast-food-type-place on campus, during a designated time instead of going to the cafeteria (Marbeck Commons). You get a certain amount of money to spend that acts as your meal for that period of time (say, lunch on Tuesday). It's convenient when your schedule is wacky and you don't get to go to regular meals (although the hours for the Commons are pretty accommodating). So I'm still on the fence about who to vote for, and I don't know much of anything about the two other candidates, Holly and Zach. We'll see if they come courtin' my vote before the primary!

Well, it's late, and I'm exhausted. I gotta get my sleep so I can possibly, hopefully pass the test for physics tomorrow!

Oh, and as promised, some more pictures of Winter Formal...

This is Mel, me, and Jen--President, representative, and Vice-President of Ropp Hall Association, respectively! Aren't we cute?!

This is a picture of our "photo spot" during set-up. (See the paper towel roll still on it?!) The fountain broke (started leaking) so we stuck balloons in it instead! The blue mat in the background is a little annoying, but whatever--it was still cute!

YES! THE WINTER FORMAL IS OVER!

2008-01-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

WHOO-HOO!!! The event that has consumed so much of my time and energy for the past like 3 or 4 months is over. Winter Formal was on Saturday night. In case you're new to my blog, I was the chair of the committee. It was really stressful trying to remember all the little things that needed to be done--and sometimes I wasn't very good at it, like forgetting to buy tape/ask someone to buy tape for the floors (we had cobblestone-pattern paper as a walkway). (Although to be fair, we didn't know what kind of tape we needed until a couple days beforehand.) So anyway, I want to say thank you to everyone who put in all of THEIR time and energy to help make it such a success. And it WAS a success! We had almost 200 people--which is about 75 more than we had planned on! And I've been hearing great things about the dance; everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. They liked the little twist that we had--the 1920s theme with a band coming in to play--and the gym looked fabulous.

So special thank-yous go to my committee members, particularly Tabitha Wile, Amy Tracey, Kim Ringler, and Laura Dennis. They headed up sub-committees, such as Reservations, Publicity, Prizes, and Decorations. And thanks to everyone who was on the decorations committee and helped out in any other committee and those who helped us set-up and tear-down. I don't have a list of the names of people on those committees or who came to help out, so I don't want to put any names in case I forget one and hurt someone's feelings. But know that we couldn't have done this without you!

So, I didn't take any pictures of the formal, unfortunately. I was too consumed with trying to stay on top of everything during set-up, and then during the dance I was busy doing things like refilling the water. Plus, I left my camera batteries at home! And I had borrowed Kristen's camera and forgot it in my dorm room! But I've saved some pictures from other people's Facebook accounts and I'll put them up here!

Those are roses floating in the bowl on the table, with black feathers scattered on the table around it...

This is our cobblestone walkway (a little torn) with scatter grass on the sides, and red vases near the entrance with golden ting inside and little gold ribbon around the necks. Hey, those are still intact, I could still take a picture of them!

I'll post more photos next blog!

Thanks again to everyone! This turned out fabulously!

Wicked!

2008-01-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

Last night, about 20 people (I think--I didn't count) from the Honors program were lucky enough to visit Cincinnatti to see Wicked for just $15 each. I was one of those people!

We took two vans and left right after classes ended on Friday. We piled in like sardines--okay, it wasn't that bad, we just didn't have room to spread out!--and I sat with my best friend Kristen. We talked a lot of the trip, when I wasn't trying to sleep and she wasn't counting the number of "knits" or whatever you count when you're knitting!

We stopped for food in Mason. About half of us went to Panera, and another half to City Barbecue. The program paid for the food (yay!) and we had 45 minutes to eat. That was plenty of time even for a slow eater like me :-) Then we piled back in the van and made it to the city.

I was so incredibly excited to be in a city again. Although I'm not positive I have the kind of personality that it takes to live in a heavily populated urban area, I loooove to visit, like when I've visited NYC and Montreal and just a tiny bit when I go into the city in Rochester. The hustle and bustle is so exciting and so are the variety of people, shops, and architecture. Plus, last night I was wearing a slightly fancier outfit (we had been told to dress up a little) and I was on my way to a Broadway musical, so I felt so sophisticated!

Hopefully I'll be able to get one of the few pictures that we took and post it on this blog soon. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the beautiful theater part of the building (which was absolutely stunning) but we took a few in the rest of the building. (Speaking of the inside of the theater, I thought I was going to be a little dizzy, we were up high in the balcony, as were about half the seats in the theater, and I don't do well with heights! But most of the time I managed to forget the height.)

As for the play itself, I enjoyed it. I really loved the voice of Elphaba--I think the woman playing her has just a beautiful talent. The number "Defying Gravity" was powerful, and her voice and the voice of the woman playing Glinda's blended and complimented each other so well, it was fabulous. I just wish the cast recording featured those actual singers. These are people who are on tour with Wicked, I think, as opposed to the original Broadway cast members. But I think they are possibly more talented than the people I've heard on the soundtrack, the few times I've heard it!

I'll admit it, I cried! I cried during the song about being changed, maybe not for the better, but for good. I'd heard the song several times before when the high school chorus performed it in the past, but I had never really liked it. This time, it just got to me, with the context being there and the incredible voices and everything. I wanted to bawl my eyes out!

My friend Abby from high school had told me that I would like the musical better than the book. I had tried reading the book and it was too dark and complicated for me, I never even finished it, though I gave it a valiant effort. (Usually I love to read but this was just too much for me.) And she was right. I loved how it explained so much of the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. Kristen and I are going to get the movie soon and watch it--it's been ages since we've seen it!

But I can't spend any more time thinking about Wicked today--I've gotta get ready for the winter formal, which is tonight. Wish me luck, everyone! Pray for everyone who's worked so hard on it!

it snuck up on me!

2008-01-24T18:42:00.000-05:00

Wow. Winter Formal is almost here. I can't believe it. We've been planning since September, I think, and it's going to be Saturday night. Oh my gosh. I'm so nervous. I feel like it's going to take a lot of luck to pull this one off. But I shouldn't discuss the details of mistakes, it's not professional! Suffice to say, I'll be praying a lot in the next two days.

Let's see, what else has been going on? I'm taking the first class that I've ever had to write a formal lab report for. It's Introduction to the Physical World with Steve Steiner, who is the Honors Program director and my boss. I've always had trouble with science; English is my strong point and science is tough. Combine it with math, which I like but which takes me a while to really "get", and that equals me having a hard time. We had our third lab today, so I'm learning how to write up lab reports properly.

I'm still having lots of fun volunteering as a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The honors program has a volunteering component to it, so I travel with Yelena and Crystal to Lima every week to meet with elementary-school-age kids. So far we've just played games, but soon we'll start on academic work. I hope I don't become the evil taskmaster who makes Thursdays miserable!

A little thing that I'm really happy about is that I vacuumed my dorm room! :-) It had been probably 6 weeks since I'd done that--it was before Christmas break, definitely. I do most of the cleaning because I make most of the mess :-) Okay, so dust isn't anyone's fault, but I keep the dorm room so messy that I think it's only fair that I do the cleaning.

All right, time to go work on some more winter formal stuff...wish me luck!!

fashion at BU...or lack thereof

2008-01-18T16:39:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. First, I want to start off by sounding off about this winter's trends. SO BORING! Where are all the prints? The glitter? The polka dots? The anything? Ugh. At least at Bluffton, there's not much pressure to be that stylish. People wear sneakers all the time, and jeans and a sweatshirt are typical clothes for any day of the week for lots of the student body. For chapel, some people get dressed up more--nice pants and a real shirt, with more formal shoes. But unless you're one of the few fashion majors, you're not that likely to be wearing the latest trends. That's not saying that people don't have style--but it's so casual here that the majority of people don't bother getting all dressed up. It's a little different from high school, where lots of girls wore high heels or really stylish flats all the time, and what you wore had a big role in determining where you fit in.

There are a few unique fashionistas on campus, though. There's one guy who wears flashy track suit outfits and a sweatshirt with the money symbol printed all over it. Then there's this girl--yes, a fashion major--who wears the coolest offbeat clothes, like a belt she made herself made out of pop tabs and ribbon. You won't see her in high heels though--at least, I haven't noticed her wearing them! And there are people who do dress up a lot of the time, with more professional-looking clothes, but they're not the majority at all.

What I'm having trouble with is the temperature. I can't figure out what to wear because the temperature fluctuates so much with where I am! My dorm room is generally really warm--must be 75 degrees or something--and so are some of the rooms in Centennial (the main classroom building); then it's like 25 degrees outside; and yet other rooms in Centennial must be like 65 or something, and so are parts of Marbeck (particularly if you're sitting under a vent, and Danette has an unfortunate knack for accidentally picking tables under vents). I don't want to be carrying a sweater around, so I usually just go for a long-sleeve shirt. That way I'm only mildly uncomfortable in the warm rooms and mildly uncomfortable in the cold rooms! ;-) But the stores seem to only be carrying short-sleeve stuff, even in the dead of winter. Now they're coming out wiih spring stuff, but even in November and December that's all they were carrying. And it'll probably take till April to be able to wear short sleeves outside, right? (I don't know, that's how it is in New York, or even till May. I'm not sure about Ohio.)

Did I write that I got great grades for all my classes last semester? I'm pretty proud. I feel like I was very prepared by my high school, with a strong background in English, especially. That's always been my best subject, but I definitely learned a lot from 11th- and 12th-grade English that prepared me well for Honors English here. And I had Humanities class in high school, which is just like a class here, Integrated Arts. We even watched the same video, "Sunday in the Park With George"! So even though some of my classes felt hard--particularly Media and Culture--I ended up getting B+ and up! Yay!

new semester!

2008-01-14T17:28:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. How was your Christmas break? We didn't have as much time off as some other people did. Like, my friends at community college had more than a month off, and we had 3 weeks. :-(

It was really hard to come back from break. As much as I love the campus and the friendly atmosphere, I knew I was going to get homesick. But I made it back. Gotta keep going!

We started our classes last Monday. I'm taking:

--Public Speaking and Persuasion (Honors)
--Women and Culture (or something like that)
--Into to Sociology
--The Physical World (a lab science)
--Intro to Biblical Worldview

I have 4 classes on MWF and just one on TT. But the TT one really messes up my day! It's right smack dab in the middle--1-2:15 PM--so the whole early afternoon is taken up and it takes time out of the day that I could have scheduled meetings in. Oh my gosh I'm swamped in meetings. OK, so it hasn't been bad so far this semester, and soon Winter Formal will be over, so that's good. But then we have Little Sibs Weekend, so planning for that starts as soon as WF is over. Oy vey.

I spent a lot of time this weekend at a family friends' house. They live about 5 minutes away from campus and they have a lovely cozy house with a woodstove thing, and they have such good food. I gotta admit, it was disappointing to come back on Sunday night and have dining hall food! I think I might spend a little more time with those friends this semester because it's like a little taste of home, a little getaway from the dorm. Sometimes you need a mom figure and some peace and quiet!

the semester is over!

2007-12-14T01:35:00.001-05:00

The semester is over! Wow! I am completely a college student. I've got a semester under my belt and that means I'm one step closer to having a degree. That's mindblowing!

The exams weren't terrible.

Monday: I had to do a 8-minute presentation for Media and Culture (I'm not sure how long it actually was)

Tuesday: I had English, which was an essay exam in which we were given the prompts ahead of time and we got to brainstorm the prompts ourselves

Wednesday: day off

Thursday: Intro to Retail Merchandising and Design in the AM--very reasonable test, considering the study guide had looked so hard!--and FYS in the afternoon. I don't think I did fabulously on FYS, maybe an an 80-85? I'm not sure. Hopefully higher but I really don't know. Oh well--as long as I pass!

So today, I'm heading home. I actually am really adjusting to college life well, in my opinion. I kinda don't want to go home. I love the independence I have here and being able to walk over 20 feet to my friends' rooms at any time. Laundry and dishes are a drag, yeah, but being able to come and go when you want is so freeing, and you set your own mealtimes and everything. I adore my family, but I'm growing up and I'm needing my space. Isn't that surprising? If you knew me before college, I was so close to my family and I wasn't very independent, and college seemed like a huge step for me that could have possibly ended badly and quickly. But nope, I've been here almost 4 months and I'm doing well!...Ugh except for the girls upstairs from me--they're moving furniture at quarter to two in the morning and it's making ear-piercing squeaks, ouch!

I won't be writing any official blogs over break, so have a great winter break and happy holidays to you all!

an awful lot of college ball!

2007-12-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, I feel like I've been playing a lot of college ball lately. If I haven't explained it before, it's a multiplayer game on a pool table. Players take turns hitting one of the colored balls with the cue ball, and the point is to never let the colored ball stop moving and to hit it into the pocket. When someone hits it into the pocket, the player after them gets a point. When you get 3 points, you're out. And so you keep going until there's only 1 person with less than 3 points. It's kinda nervewracking, I'll admit--it's so fast-moving! So I've been playing it with Chris and Peter and other guys, and the occasional girl. It's so much fun.

Last night I also went to the "finals midnight breakfast" with Chris and Peter and Jacob. It's a breakfast at 10 PM, served by the faculty and staff. Isn't that weird? It's hilarious to see them in their Santa hats behind the serving bar! There were also coloring pages and crayons at the tables. A good stress-reliever for a lot of people--you wouldn't believe how many college students love coloring! (I actually don't like coloring, but...) Speaking of coloring pages, here's one I did last week at our floor Christmas party (Santa has a purple suit!):

In other news, the decorations committee has been working overtime to try to figure everything out. Things look really promising, what with help from MCB and Matt Thomson, and a great phone call from Laura! (She managed to get us a huge deal on the city skyline!)

Something really exciting and funny happened to me on my birthday. I forgot to write about it then. See, on Thursday I was at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Lima, which is about 20 minutes away, and the local news came to interview us. So on Friday at 6 PM I was on the local news saying how much fun I have with my Little. Then on Saturday, as Marie and I were pulling out of Morey's, she spotted a coworker and the coworker's daughter-in-law. The daughter in law takes a look at me and says, "Wait a minute, I know you. You were on the news!" It was so funny that she remembered me and so exciting to be recognized! I felt famous :-)

Wow, just thinking of that makes me grin! :-)

my birthday!

2007-12-10T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday! So, I went to brunch with my parents' friend Marie who lives in town. We went to Morey's, the new coffeeshop in town. I'm not sure how well it's doing--Common Grounds, the other coffeeshop, is much more established and definitely is popular. I love Common Grounds' steamers! And so Morey's was okay, nothing very special, but I had a great time with Marie, she's a great listener.

Then I came back to the dorms and cleaned and slept and did homework. Then at five, Melissa, Danette, and I went to Kristen's grandma's house, which is just a few minutes away. Kristen and Katy had made dinner and cake. It was just macaroni and cheese and hot dogs, and frozen vegetables, but it was so good because it wasn't Marbeck--I'm sorry, but Marbeck macaroni and cheese is disgusting to me! (To be fair, Melissa and Danette like it...but I just can't stand it!) Then we watched Chocolat, and Jake stopped by for awhile. I liked the movie, it was good, and Johnny Depp was in it. I never used to like him much, but I think I'm developing a celebrity crush on him!

All in all, a pretty good birthday, particularly considering the fact that it was my first birthday away from home!

good things and snowball fights

2007-12-07T19:27:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. So I've had a pretty good week, for the most part, particularly the last few days. It was the last day of classes for the semester today, and so that was satisfying. I'm a real college student now! I have 1 semester under my belt! (Besides exams, but I'm not worried about them.)

Yesterday, Amy T. and Kim went to a meeting of Marbeck Center Board, the group that puts on activities on campus (MCB). We went to ask if they would like to work with us on the Winter Formal. I was keeping my expectations low, suggesting that if they could donate, you know, $50 or so, so that we could get a live band, and if they could help us with advertising, that would be great. Well, they ended up more than doubling our budget, giving us an almost dream-come-true budget. It'll still be a challenge to transform Burkey Gym into someplace magical, but we're up to the challenge. We wanted to hold it on campus because it would save us $600 (renting The Centre, like they usually do, costs that much) and so that more people might be able to come, because they can walk there instead of having to drive. Unfortunately, even though we expected to be able to have that $600 to decorate, the budget ended up being tighter, and we didn't get any of that $600. So partnering with MCB will be fabulous...and they have a fountain we can use! :-) (I've been wanting to use a fountain ever since we started planning this thing!)

Also, today my new computer came. My old one has been giving me so much trouble, and so Dell replaced it. Thank you, Dell! So hopefully it won't crash all the time anymore. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

My Scentsy system came today, too. It's a candlewarmer with blocks of scented wax. I tell you, it smells SO INCREDIBLY GOOD. I have something like "Orange Citrus" in right now, and it's heavenly. I can't believe how wonderful my room smells. And my room already looks festive, because I put up the strand of lights that I bought last week at Hobby Lobby for $2:

Yes, my room is an incredible mess. I'm Hurricane Holly. My roommate Meghan is so neat, we're such opposites. But she doesn't have nearly as much stuff as I do because she gets to go home every weekend and she doesn't have a job that makes her bring stuff back to the room and she doesn't eat in the room. My part of the room serves as my office and kitchen and storage as well as just my bedroom and living room. So really, I feel like I can't help having so much stuff! There's just not enough room for it all!

I was pretty happy because I put in a few hours of work this week. I don't have a regular work schedule as the student assistant for the honors program, but this week we did mailings, so I put in at least 3 or 4 hours for that. Money is always a good thing :-)

Oh, and my birthday is tomorrow, so I already opened my package from my mom. It has a pretty gold scarf in it, which is totally my style. I think I'll wear it tomorrow. And I like the sweater my parents sent too.

Last night, my friend Kristy made her first snow angel (she's from Los Angeles), and Danette did one too, and it was adorable. Then tonight Danette started a snowball fight on our way back from dinner. (I didn't participate--I stay out of stuff like that--but it was funny to watch.) I love how Danette acts in the snow--like a little kid!

Well, I have to go do some more planning for the formal! I'll write tomorrow!

unexpected weekend

2007-12-02T01:27:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I was just such a hard little worker :-) I stopped in 3 offices over the course of the day to deal with timesheet stuff for my jobs, and I picked up brochures for the honors program to send out in the first mailing we're doing. I had no idea what I was doing this weekend when I went into it. It felt like the week had sort of flown by, and I was sort of surprised when it came. Danette went home and Kristy had to work, so I went to dinner with Jen, and then we went out to Enchanted. (It was my second time seeing it, and I think I liked it better this time. Jen and I left with big grins on our faces, it made us so happy!) Then I came back to my room and did laundry, dishes, and homework. Today, I went out with Tabitha and 2 girls named Meghan to Party America and Hobby Lobby to look for stuff for Winter Formal, and we had a really good time. We stopped at Dots, too, which was fun. Then after having dinner with Kristen and her boyfriend Doug, I went to Wal-Mart with Kristen and Katy (whom we now call "kay-DEE" in a low voice!). It was pretty scary because it was so icy out. But once we were in the store, it was definitely fun. I got a present for my little brother--hopefully he'll like it. I already have a present for my mom, so now I need to find one for my dad! I feel accomplished :-)

Then tonight, this guy Mike stopped by to talk about film. I don't know him well; I just know him through a friend. We had a nice talk. It must have lasted an hour and a half or so because we strayed from the main topic a LOT!

A cute thing I wanted to share: in the bathroom, we have sheets of paper that have questions on them, and everyone writes their answers in. So I hadn't checked one particular question for a few days--"Who's your favorite movie star?"--so I looked tonight, and guess what was up there as an answer? "Holly Nickeson"! I thought that was so cute! Thanks, whoever that was!

slacker!

2007-11-28T19:51:00.001-05:00

Man I'm getting nervous about the winter formal. I feel like November has flown by. We've done some great planning, like a tentative, preliminary budget, a theme, committees, ideas for prizes, and stuff like that. But there's so much to be done--we still need to find a deejay, get decorations, get food, find chaperones, and all kinds of things. Oy! And the deejay we were planning on trying to get has gone out of business or something. The number doesn't work. This stinks, because we know they're good--apparently they did a great show in 2005--and they're cheap. So tomorrow hopefully the other deejays call Laura back--she's our reservations committee chair--and we can get that all planned out!

Yesterday was a really relaxing Tuesday, until I realized how much winter formal work I had to do! I only had one meeting--Hall Association--because the design board, BSDB, didn't meet, and I didn't have the winter formal committee meet because the work that needs to be done, needs to be done within individual committees, not the committee as a whole. I should have gone to Forum--we need a certain number of Forum credits to graduate--but it didn't seem like something I'd be interested in. The pamphlet said something about a woman's view from the press box at all kinds of sporting events. I don't do sports and I don't really like 'em. So it wasn't my thing. But then Meghan, my roommate, went, and she said a lot of the time was spent talking about Title IX, the law that helped equalize men's and women's sports at schools. (At least, that's what I understand about it.)

Today's FYS class was really fascinating, if also sad. We were doing presentations that wove readings we've done with our own lives. That's not a very good description of it, but it's the best I can do! So I did mine on Monday, and it was basically about how place affects me, since New York (where I'm from) and Ohio are so different. Today, we heard about hearing loss, broken families, eating disorders, and fear of changes. It was so interesting to hear about everyone's lives; some people seem so perfect and then you realize they have problems too, and they're actually a lot like you. I'm just sad that this had to come at the end of the semester, because if it had been done at the beginning, I would have had time afterward to get to know these people even better! But basically, I think these presentations have been awesome.

Tonight, Ropp Hall is decorating the Pitt (common area) for the holidays. I'll post pictures when we're done! Talk to y'all later!

back to BU

2007-11-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

Back at Bluffton from Thanksgiving break! I have to admit, I missed my independence while I was at home. Even though it's really nice to have my mom cook and have her do my laundry and stuff, it can't compare to being on your own. (Although dorm life isn't exactly "on your own"!)

I had a pretty good break. John and I went to Friendly's on Wednesday, and my family went to Kristen's on Thanksgiving, which was nice. Such good food! On Friday, Adam took me out to lunch at the mall and we shopped and saw Enchanted. It wasn't quite as "enchanting" as I wanted it to be, but Adam loved it, so I was happy for him! I think it's the kind of movie that might grow on you when you watch it more times. So maybe I'll get it when it comes out on DVD.

Then yesterday, Adam had a movie night at his house for a bunch of the film crew. The regulars were there: me, Adam, Emily, Elyse, and Martin. Then we also had Alex W., Frank, and Ricky. And of course Georgie-girl, Adam's adorable dog, joined us for a lot of the time! (She seemed to like Elyse better than she liked me :-( ). We got into the holiday mood by watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians." It was pretty funny.

And how can I forget to mention what I spent the most time doing? I spent 16 hours total with Kristen in the car! It was actually fun. We sang along to the radio a LOT and chatted. She's got truck-driver blood in her--she did the whole 7 or 8-hour trip back home, and I only did an hour or so on the way back. She's Supergirl!

I talked to my parents over break about the things that have been on my mind lately, which was good. It wasn't overly helpful but it felt good to let it out.

Plus, I got to see my little brother, who I adore. We don't have heart-to-hearts or anything like that, but we chat and I just adore him. He's a good guy, rarely gets on my nerves, has a good sense of humor and he puts up with me. What more can you ask from a little brother? And he's just such a cutie-pie! I love him! I'm just bummed out because he probably can't come out for Little Sibs Weekend, which I'm planning, because he'd have to miss a day of school and one or both of my parents would have to miss a day of work so they could get here. And that's a little unreasonable to ask them to do. Besides, I don't have a boyfriend that I can have him stay with! (Kids up to 12 can stay in opposite-sex dorms, but after that boys stay with boys and girls with girls.)

Well, I gotta go finish my speech for First Year Seminar. I present tomorrow. Eek!

midnight madness and computer madness

2007-11-19T17:15:00.000-05:00

Oh. My. Gosh. My computer is driving me up the wall. It's crashed 3 times in the past 15 minutes. This is absolutely ridiculous. Dell already had me wipe my hard drive clean and start everything all over again, and that didn't fix it. I am SO GLAD I'm going home tomorrow so I can just have my dad fix it. I know, I'm a college student now, I should be able to handle stuff on my own, but he's a computer whiz and this stuff is just so frustrating. The woman at the Computer Help Desk here on campus was great, but she never encountered the error I've been getting while the computer was in her hands, so she didn't know what I was talking about when I complained about it. So I'm just going to take the laptop home with me when I go and hope that my dad can fix it. I have a lot of confidence in him, but this darn computer seems to be ridiculously hard to handle!

Last night at 11 PM, I went with Sarah to Midnight Madness, where we met up with Leah, a friend of mine from English class, and Hannah, who's on my floor, and some of their guy friends that I sort of know. They're a pretty close little group, it seems like, so it was a little awkward for me, but it was fun anyway. And Midnight Madness was pretty cool! It was a celebration of the start of the basketball season. The players were introduced, they had free food (yay!), the dance team performed, and people competed for prizes. Kristy was awesome (she's on the dance team). Sarah, who's Kristy's roommate, and I were so proud. She looked like she was having so much fun! All the girls did, but Kristy kept an almost constant smile on her face. It was fun to watch.

The competitions for prizes were also fun to watch. The best part was when 3 guys competed for who has the coolest slam-dunking skill. So each guy did 3 versions of slam dunks and they were so fancy--I was really impressed. The crowd went crazy for them.

The only bad part was that Bucky the Beaver (the school mascot) and the Hamburglar (the McDonald's mascot) were there, and they kind of freak me and the other girls out. I mean, they're scary-looking! At least, the Hamburglar is. But I have to admit, he and Bucky were kind of cute together!

I can't wait for next year's Midnight Madness!!

"except for Holly, cuz she's from New York"

2007-11-17T22:17:00.001-05:00

Last weekend, I was really bored, so I borrowed these exercise DVDs from Kristen's roommate Karla. Don't laugh...they're Yoga Booty Ballet. So I've done them about 5 times now and on Wednesday night, me, Melissa, Meghan and Danette worked out together and it was so fun. I was self-conscious about it a little bit, but then we all started doing it and none of us got it totally right, so it was fine!

On Tuesday, I went shopping with girls from Hall Association--Katie, the Hall Director; Melissa, the president; and Tabitha, the secretary. We went to Wal-Mart and bought kitchen kits for all the floors, which consist of stuff like measuring spoons, pans, pots, cookie trays, and spatulas. Each floor in all parts of Ropp has a kitchen, except for First Addition, I believe. So we budgeted out what we were going to spend and ended up getting a lot of bang for our buck. We were pretty happy! And I had an awesome time with the girls. I wish Melissa would put the pictures online!

Today was a laze-around day. The Buckeyes or whoever they are were playing, so everyone was watching that. Danette went over to Meghan's to watch the game, so they weren't around to hang out with. I worked on homework a little bit, slept a lot, and watched some movies. I ate dinner with Danette, Sarah, Kristy, and Jen, which was nice. We don't see a lot of Sarah anymore because she's been so busy with rehearsing for the play, so it's cool when she has time to hang with us.

Then tonight, I lazed around more and watched parts of Lifetime movies with Danette and her friend Robert. It was fun but I got antsy, so I came back to my room.

Tomorrow, we have Sunday morning worship, which should be nice. They put it on every other week. I still haven't found a church that I really like for the weeks in between, unfortunately. There's four Mennonite churches around to choose from, at least--Grace, First, Ebenezer, and St. John's. I've been to all but Grace this year, but I went to Grace last year when I visited here. None of them were quite right for me, I didn't feel like. But then again, we talked a few weeks ago in First Year Seminar about how young adults and kids today are taught that they can "shop" for their religion. We have really cool discussions in there. Oh, it was hilarious--my class combined with another one for a day last week, and this one guy, Gary, said, "Usually when we combine classes, everyone's really quiet--except for Holly, 'cuz she's from New York." I thought that was a really funny statement. Am I that loud? I really don't think so!

You know what I like about Ohio, or at least about Bluffton? Everyone is so friendly. It's not weird to smile at people you don't know well, or even at people you don't know at all. I love it!

Well, I should do some more homework or at least get some good relaxation time in. See y'all later!

i've been missing out!

2007-11-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

It has been way too long since I've been exposed to new top 40 music. The radio reception in Bluffton--and most of the surrounding areas--is terrible. There's something wrong with my radio in my room, too, which makes it even more staticky. So this morning I woke up to Fergie's "Clumsy" when my alarm went off, and I thought, wow, this is catchy, I'm missing out. So I started listening to online radio and Yahoo! music videos, and I'm really liking some of the new music. I definitely want an itunes gift card for Christmas!

I'm also really liking Gossip Girl, the TV series on the CW. My best friend Stevee, who lives in Las Vegas, has been urging me to watch it, but I'm always too busy. So I finally watched a few episodes online, and I'm a little bit hooked. Man, the stuff I've been missing here at college!

But there's definitely been some fun stuff that I can only do because I'm here at college. On Thursday night, Melissa, Danette, Meghan, and I met Jenn S. at the school play, "The Importance of Being Earnest." Our friend Sarah was one of the stars, so we just had to go! And it turned out to be really funny, and Sarah was perfect for the role. I was so happy for her! (And a nice little side bit of info for you all: the tickets were free for college students!)

Then last night, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but at the last minute, Jenn S called up Danette and invited her--and me--to the 2nd Ramseyer (a girls' floor of a dorm) floor activity. Nobody had showed up, so Jenn invited us, even though we're in Ropp. So Danette, Jenn, and I went to Shawnee to a church there where they were having a girls night. There were women of all ages, from 9 months to 60ish. Most of the girls were in the 4-9 age range, but they were pretty cute. We had really good cookies, made some crafts, and watched the Princess Diaries. The theme was princesses because, according to them, we are all God's princesses. It was kind of cute, although I found it interesting how we equate princess with all things pink and girly instead of power and leadership. I've been doing a paper on the effect of Disney princesses on young girls, for Honors English, and so I've been thinking about all this stuff.

Well, it's going to be time for lunch soon, so I'd better go get dressed! I'll write another blog tonight once I've had an exciting day :-)

nice friday and pretty pictures

2007-11-10T14:30:00.000-05:00

I had a nice, fairly quiet Friday night last night. I ate dinner with Melissa, Amy C., and Sarah C., which was pretty quiet but nice. Then I vegged out in my room for a couple hours and headed over to my friend Chris's room at 7:30. Jen was there too, and so we all hung out. We went to Family Video (is that what it's called? I can't remember, it's different out here than at home, we have Blockbusters at home) and rented kids' movies, then headed out to Common Grounds, the coffee shop, where I got a caramel steamer. Yummy...but now my tongue is burned!

Then we went to McDonald's and got a few things--and I totally scored! We ordered 2 cups (one for Jen and one for Chris) and they gave us 3, and they didn't care when we said we hadn't ordered 3. So I got a root beer for free :-) Yay!

I wanted to share some pictures with you guys...

This is on the wall of the stairway to my floor. It's supposed to say "Welcome to paradise" but people keep switching up the letters. I think it's so funny, even if my RAs don't like it very much! That's the kind of harmless fun we do here at Bluffton!

OK, I just wanted to show y'all the cool poster that I got from the premiere of my movie. I love it! And I also wanted to show you my to-do list, which is on the whiteboard above the poster. It has...let me see...more than 15 things on it. Oy vey, I don't know how I'm going to get it all done.

Today I have to go shopping. I need food and I want to recycle some stuff, which they don't have a very good program for yet here on campus. I've been cleaning out the binders for Hall Association for a lot of the officers and activities and there's so much outdated stuff that won't help whatsoever. So I've got--seriously--a laundry basket half-full of paper. It's ridiculous. I can't wait to get it out of my room!

So I've got that to do, and I have assignments to do. One of them actually involves going shopping: you go to a retail establishment and write all about what your senses experience while you're there. It's a way of analyzing what they're doing to make you buy. Interesting, huh? I think I'll go to Kohl's or Wet Seal...fun!

See you all later!

no computer again :-(

2007-11-07T17:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my computer started acting crazy, with the touchpad not matching what the onscreen arrow was doing. So I had to take it, finally, to the Computer Help Desk on campus. I've been needing to do that because my computer has been restarting on me randomly, but I've been putting it off. So I was forced to finally take it in, because it was unusable. Now I'm stuck without a computer and it stinks. Right now I'm typing on the computers in the computer room in Ropp, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not convenient like it is to have a laptop sitting right next to you in your chair in your room. Grr.

I've had a very emotional week or so for several reasons, and a very stressful one, too. I'm having trouble making it to all of my classes and finishing all my work. And I'm desperately missing being involved in film. Looks like throwing myself into extracurriculars isn't the answer to all my problems...

One thing I'm ticked off about is my grade in Media and Culture. I got a kinda bad grade on my midterm, and I'm not sure if that was really fair or not. I should talk to the teacher, but it's scary to go up to a professor, even with how nice they are here.

So, things aren't exactly peachy right about now, and I have a lot on my mind. At least prep for the winter formal is going pretty well. We got a lot less money allocated to us than I thought we would, so we're going to have to work around that--and believe me, right now it's pretty tight--but if we pair up with other hall associations and clubs, we can make this winter formal the best one EVER. By the way, Winter Formal is going to be the day after the Honors program goes to see Wicked in Cincinnatti!! Each ticket is only $15, and it's just for honors students. What an awesome perk to being an Honors student :-)

Hopefully the next post will be happier!

i'm a farm girl now!

2007-11-02T18:13:00.000-04:00

I'm totally a country girl now! Yesterday, Meghan took me and Danette to her house for combining. For you city slickers like me, it's a process where they use a huge machine called a combine to get the corn off the stalks and off the heads so all you're left with is a huge pile of kernels. And what a huge pile that is! There's this fountain of corn kernels flowing from a chute into a truck; it was incredible.

So when you're riding in the combine, you peer out of a glass booth that slopes towards you, so you feel a little like you're going to fall out. You can watch as corn gets plowed down right in front of you. It's pretty cool. Of course, to Danette and Meghan it was old hat, but for me, it was like being a little kid all over again.

We got some pictures, but they're on Meghan's camera, so I don't have them yet. We also have some pictures on there of Danette and Meghan and I chewing on grass or whatever it is that farmers chew on! They should turn out pretty funny, I'll definitely put them up when I get them!

They do Halloween differently out here in Ohio. Towns here have designated days and times to go trick-or-treating. In Rochester, you go on Halloween (makes sense, right?) after dinner (so anywhere from 6 on) till about 9 or 10 PM. I don't get why they don't just do it on Halloween here too!

Ropp Hall had trick-or-treaters on, what was it, Tuesday? We could pick up little signs for our doors if we had candy to give out, but most people who were giving out candy stood at the doors anyway so they could admire all the kids' costumes better. There were some really cute kids, like a ladybug that must have been 2 years old. Adorable. (No, I didn't give out candy, I'm a stingy miser.)

On actual Halloween, my friend Tabitha and I went to the town library to get some books and DVDs. Yes, we're dorky like that--we love to read. I ended up not getting any DVDs but getting a great idea for a research paper from Tabitha. For Honors English, I'm going to research the effects that the Disney Princess ideal has on little girls. Thanks, Tabitha!

Then Tabitha and I went to College Hall for Bingo and Clue, but I was pretty disappointed--there were only like 20 people there and I had thought maybe it would be a giant game of clue all throughout the Hall, but it was just the board game. I hear in past years they did a murder mystery type thing, so I was hoping for that, but nope. So Tabitha and I are on Hall Association and we decided we'd like to do a hall activity that's a murder mystery party! I'm pretty excited, I hope we get to do it!

Oh, snap, I've gotta go pick up foam fingers in a few minutes. Ropp Hall Association is selling foam fingers at the football game tomorrow--it's Family Day and a home game--and I promised I'd help. But I just got the chance, yesterday, to visit a friend at Goshen tomorrow, so I'm trying to find someone to fill in for me. Keep your fingers crossed that I can find someone!

eww gross (from Sunday)

2007-10-28T22:09:00.000-04:00

UGH! It was so disgusting, I should have taken a picture to prove how gross it was...I came back to my room tonight and I noticed the fan from on top of the TV, on the ground. Then I looked a little closer and saw some orange stuff on it...and I looked around and there is Meghan's pumpkin, smashed on the cords of the TV and its various electronics. So that's a little gross, right? But what makes it a million times worse is that it was all moldy!!! It was absolutely disgusting and the worst part is, mold is the only thing I know I'm allergic to, but I had to clean it up because Meghan wasn't home! Ewwww...

On a lighter note, I had a pretty good weekend. On Friday night, me and Jen hung out and watched The Phantom of the Opera and played some carpetball at Bob's. Then I came back to my room and watched Pretty Woman. I'd never seen either of those before, so that was fun. Yesterday...what did I do yesterday? I don't remember! But today, I went to First Mennonite Church with Danette and met up with some of my friends. Then Kristen, Jake, Katy and I went to Wal-Mart and the mall, where I got good deals! Yay! And tonight, Jen and I went over to Chris's room to play some MarioKart DoubleDash. I was psyched!

LOL I can't believe I can't think of what I did yesterday. I feel like an idiot!

Coming up this week, I don't have night class tomorrow! The professor is away! I'm pretty excited! Also coming up is registration for classes...I have no idea what I'm going to do :-/

See y'all later!

Oh, let me leave you with a picture of Saturday:

That's Jen and I looking over the railing of the little bridge of the Little Riley Creek. Most of the pictures didn't turn out so well--this is the clearest of them!

premiere! and pumpking carving

2007-10-25T12:15:00.000-04:00

So, I had a wonderful time at my premiere in Rochester. About 200 people came to it! Here's a picture of two of my best friends from film, Adam and Emily, being interviewed as they step out of the limo onto the red carpet:

You can read the article here: http://rnews.com/story_2004.cfm?story_type=2&rnews_story_type=18&id=54559

And if you go there and click on "watch video" under the picture, you can watch them interview me! LOL I talk way too fast and lost my train of thought a little, but I'm happy with it anyway.

So now I'm back at BU, after sleepless nights on the train and way too much excitement. The first couple days I was back, I was catching up on work I missed on Friday, so that was pretty stressful. I had to do a "braided" essay, where you have seemingly different topics and you weave them all together in the end. I was afraid I'd get a bad grade on it, because I didn't weave environmentalism into it very well (that was part of the assignment) but I did fine! I also did great on my FYS midterm, which I had been stressing about a little bit (although I was too distracted by the thought of going home to get REALLY stressed). Yay!

Last night, Ropp Hall Association put on a pumpkin-carving event. Here's a picture of the pumpkins that three of my friends did:

They even named them! About 25 girls came down to the Pitt (the hang-out area in Ropp Hall) to carve pumpkins and have cider and cookies. It was pretty cool, even though I don't like carving pumpkins. I don't know why, but I've never been big on it. Maybe because my mom was always like, "Do we HAVE to carve pumpkins this year?" :-)

Well, that's all the news for now!

midterms--ew

2007-10-19T12:40:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it, but we just had midterms. Have we really been at college long enough for that? I didn't write any blogs past week on time because I've been swamped with studying. I had 3 small essays due for Media and Culture on Monday, so I was recovering from my weekend of writing that, and then my First Year Seminar midterm was on Wednesday, so I spent a lot of time studying for that (including a study session on Monday night, which was moderately helpful). I think I did pretty well--at least an 80, I hope. They give you about 7-13 essay questions in advance, and then for the test, each teacher picks 4 for you to choose from. Then you choose 2 of the 4 that they give you. So you have to study for anywhere between 7 and 13 questions, which is stressful. One of my friends wrote out full essays for each of her 7 questions to prepare! I didn't do that, but I went back and looked at a lot of the readings that the questions were based off of.

I also prepared like crazy to come back home to Rochester, which is where I am right now! All day Tuesday--when I didn't have class--and all day Wednesday, I packed. And I cleaned, because my roommate's family is coming this weekend and I had made a mess. Then I had to do things like laundry and take trash out and do dishes so nothing would get gross while I'm away. They seem like little things, but they take up a lot of time...especially with how messy my room was!

Plus, I had to write a speech, which I'll give tonight! See, the reason I'm home is because there's going to be a premiere of the movie I did! In case you're just starting to read my blogs, I'll recap: I assistant-directed, edited, and acted in a 32-minute movie this spring and summer with the local Jesuit boys' high school. So, after months of hard work (and almost a year of hard work for my friend Adam!) we are finally getting a public screening. Well, semi-public--we sent out invitations, but the general public is also welcome to come. We're going to have fake paparazzi, a red carpet, and real news stations! We're getting dressed up and arriving in a limo. I'm psyched!

So I have been very distracted, and then I was barely home yesterday. I got home around 11 AM, after sleeping for a total of about 1/2 an hour that night (and not even a solid half hour! That was like 3 ten-minute dozes on the train!). I've also been trying to write an essay for honors English, which is due today and yet I have only three sentences written. Oh goodness. Overwhelmed!

Well, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed! Gotta rest up before my big premiere tonight!

--Holly

boring college student

2007-10-13T00:45:00.000-04:00

I'm officially a boring college student. I spent my Friday night napping, doing laundry and dishes and homework. Things are getting a little overwhelming: I have 3 mini-essays due on Monday for Media and Culture class, a project for Intro to Retail and Design due on Monday, and a midterm for First Year Seminar on Wednesday. The mini-essays are what are really getting me. The professor is a really nice guy, but I have a feeling he's going to be a super-tough grader. And I feel like the subject matter is a little over my head. Postmodernism? A mediated or situated culture? Too hard!

Today in FYS (First Year Seminar) we split into groups: girls and guys. We're planning out, each group, 20 minutes of class on Monday, teaching the opposite sex something we want them to know. The girls in my class split into two groups according to where on campus we live, so I'm with 4 or so other girls and they're all coming over tomorrow night to work on the skit we're putting on. I play the girl who's frustrated with her boyfriend. Fun! But it means I have to clean my room :-( LOL it's probably a good thing, though!

Things have really cooled off the last few days and it feels so good. I got a new coat at Wet Seal and I adore it. So I've been walking around campus in my new coat feeling so pretty :-)

Adam, my best guy friend and my director for the movie, was demanding this week! He wanted a headshot to put up in his school before the big premiere next Friday. I tried a couple of times--first my hair wasn't straight enough, then I had too much makeup on, and finally I got it right. Aimee from down the hall tried to help--she's really into photography, she's fabulous--but in the end I just had to have my roommate Meghan take the picture because Adam wanted it different and Aimee wasn't around. So I feel like I did pretty good, check it out:
I'm okay with it, even if my mom doesn't like it that much!

Wow, it's getting late. I want to be up early tomorrow so I can get stuff done and be ready when my friend Jen calls--her and some friends are doing a video for a competition put on by Apple, so I'm going to help. Wish us luck!

not bad!

2007-10-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

A little bit surprisingly, I had a good time this weekend/fall break! At first, on Friday afternoon when practically everyone went home but me, I felt kind of lonely and the campus seemed a little bit creepy because it was so empty. But then I had a few friends who stayed too, and we hung out most of the time. Like, Kristen and Taasha (one of my best friends from home and her friend, respectively) and I raided Kristen's grandma's video collection and watched "The Illusionist" on Friday night. We also cooked ourselves a meal--mmm, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs is so good when you've had only cafeteria food for a month--and went shopping. I bought a dress for the premiere--no, nobody's allowed to see pictures of the dress until it has its official debut--at Penney's in Lima. Now I just need gold shoes and accessories!

I went to church with Kristen, Jen, and Karla on Sunday. We went to Ebenezer Mennonite Church. It was okay--it didn't strike any of us as perfect for us, or anything, but it was okay. We went to the traditional service, which is at 10:30. That's unusual--around here, at least, the contemporary service is usually around 10:30 and the traditional one is much earlier. But I'm fine with that because I grew up in a church that was mostly traditional hymns, so I feel at home in that kind of service.

We've been trying out different churches. Chapel on campus is held every other week, so we have half of our Sundays to try out different area churches. I wonder what we'll do this week!

My room is a mess. I spent a lot of time trying to clean it up this weekend, and it still looks terrible. Poor Meghan.

Oh, and I also taught Kristy to scrapbook this weekend! That was fun! Kristen and Kristy came over after we saw Pride and Prejudice with Taasha, Karla, and Jen. We went to Jen's room because she's in Ramseyer, which is air-conditioned. It felt good!!!

alone for the weekend

2007-10-05T19:37:00.000-04:00

It's fall break, and that means things are going to be dead around here. Most people go home, but Kristen (my best friend from home who is a sophomore here) and I decided not to make the trek. My family's going to a wedding reception in NJ anyway, so I'd be in the car 4 out of the 5 days we have off. So Kristen and her friend Taasha and I are stuck here...we're going to make the best of it, though. Tonight we borrowed "The Illusionist" from Kristen's grandma, who's only 3/4 of a mile away, and watched it. (I can't decide if I liked it or not.) Tomorrow we'll go shopping, at least to Lima, possibly to Toledo. I might get a formal dress to wear to my movie premiere. Yay!

By the way, I'm totally psyched about the premiere. It's for the movie I acted in/worked on this spring and summer ("Hamartia") and it'll be at the school who sponsored it, McQuaid Jesuit High School, back in Rochester. I'll take the train by myself--scary!--for a couple of days nearer to the end of October. Invitations have been sent out to faculty, posters are all up around McQuaid, and the school website even promotes it. The local news is doing a piece on us! EXCITING!

I thought of a couple things about Bluffton that might be interesting to y'all:

1) Many of us have a mild obsession with the black squirrels on campus. I had never seen black squirrels before Bluffton, and I think they're so cool-looking. They're practically tame, you can get so close to them. (I've been about 3 feet from one, and it freaked me out. You're not supposed to be able to get that close! I thought only rabid ones are tame like that!) There's even a Facebook group for people who want to make a video of the cool squirrels.

2. Many of us also have an obsession with The Office, the TV show--and that obsession isn't mild. It's severe to crippling. If someone says something funny, chances are, it may have been on The Office at one time. For example..."Shun. Unshun."

3. The professors are so down-to-earth. In the past, people like Ropp Hall Association have had auctions where the faculty and staff donate a meal at their house to be sold, and today, my First Year Seminar professor, Randy Keeler, had lunch with me at Bob's. He does this with every FYS student. I was a little iffy about it at first, because I've never had that kind of an experience with a teacher or authority figure before, but it was fine. He even knew my dad from when they were at college together! The unexpected connections here are so funny.

So that's a couple things I thought are just fun trivia about life at Bluffton!

Well, I'm off to shower and head to bed--there's nothing else to do around here tonight!

ugh. too many meetings

2007-10-03T14:09:00.000-04:00

I am sick of meetings. I had three yesterday. First was winter formal...I had made signs and put them throughout Ropp Hall to try to get people to show up so we can start planning, and who shows up? One of my friends from ANOTHER hall who I had told about it. That's all. Nobody noticed the signs or cared from my hall! So we waited like 10 minutes, just us (me and Jen), and then, thank goodness, like 4 girls were walking by and asked what we were doing, and I said "Want to help plan the winter formal?" So they said "Sure!" and got really into it. We looked through prom catalogs and came up with themes. We have it narrowed down to 4 options:

1. Parisian Rooftop
2. A Night in Central Park
3. Roaring '20s
4. Boat ride/Nautical (I can't remember the catchy name I came up with this morning)

We're going to try to have people vote on the theme next week. That reminds me, I should make sure the girls are doing everything they said they would.

I also had a Bluffton Student Design Board (BSDB) meeting at 7:30, which went kind of rough and made me late for my THIRD meeting, which was Hall Association. So I was just kinda worn out from all the meetings...and that's not even taking into account how I sat at the BSDB carnation sale booth at lunchtime and worked on Flip This Dorm at 6:30!

Here's a before picture of the dorm room:

The awesome thing about sitting at the carnation table was that I mentioned that I need a ride to Toledo at 3 in the morning in a couple of weeks so I can take the train home for the premiere of the movie I did this spring/summer. A few people said they'd like to take me, but their parents wouldn't let them. So I mentioned that I was going home then instead of this weekend for Fall Break, and how I need a way to get to the train station, and the girl Maggie that I was working with said, "I'll take you." Just like that! And another girl, also named Maggie, was standing right there and said, "I'll go with you to make sure you don't fall asleep on the ride or anything." It's so sweet of them! I'm so grateful. AND I CAN'T WAIT!

Let's see, what other news do I have...there's something wrong with my foot, I've been limping around because it hurts really bad. If it's not better by Friday, I have to see the doctor on campus. The nurse was really nice, I liked her. (Sometimes the nurses at school scared me. I'm glad this one doesn't seem intimidating!)

I went to Waffle House for the first time on Friday night! I went with four friends after I stopped by the Root Beer Keg Party in Bob's and danced one dance. I wasn't that into the music they were playing, and I wasn't in a huge dancing mood, so I didn't stay at the party for long, but I liked how it was a clean alternative to regular parties.

Talk to y'all later!

oops!

2007-09-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

Today I had an "oops" moment. I walked into Intro to Retail and Design, sat down, chatted a little
with the teacher (Dr. Nerad) and Kati, who was there picking up the overhead projector thing, for a few minutes, and looked at the clock. I saw that it was like a minute after the hour, so I said "I can't believe I'm the first one here!" Dr. Nerad looks at me and says, "Class is over! You missed it!" I hadn't paid attention to what hour it was, just the minute. It was so funny--and so embarrassing! She was supernice about it, though. Looks like I'll have to get the notes from someone else...although this is a class where she says a lot of interesting things that aren't necessarily on the PowerPoints. So that's not good. But it happens to everyone--I have friends who slept through 2 classes a day like 4 days already! Till today, I hadn't missed a class in the month I've been here, so I'm still pretty proud of myself!

As I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm the chair for the Winter Formal committee, so yesterday I made up flyers for the first meeting, which will be Tuesday at 2. Then Tabitha and Kati and I decorated them and put em up all around Ropp. (Ropp is traditionally in charge of the Winter Formal.) Then I'll hopefully bring in some other halls to help. I'll have the girls who come to the meeting help me with getting assistance from the other halls. I'm not sure how many guys we can rope in to help, but I want to try!

Things have been so fun around the dorm lately. Last night me and Meghan had Danette and Melissa and two guys over to watch "In Her Shoes," the Cameron Diaz chick flick. We had to watch it for First Year Seminar because of the way it portrays complicated family relationships. So that was kinda nice. Then I was IM-ing with my mom--when you get to college, it's weird, but that sometimes happens--and I hear this disturbance, for lack of a better word, from down the hall. I went and investigated and found my friends Peter and Sarah wrestling over a pillow. I think Peter had stuck her pillow in the freezer! And then Sarah stuck another guy's keys in the freezer...it was very strange! Then Peter went in to Jess and Aimee's room and stole their rug and ran around the dorm with it. Man, weird things happen in dorms, and it's great :-)

Then Sarah and Danette and Meghan and I sat in the hall and just talked for a few minutes in our pajamas. It was really nice :-) We have great chats late at night. I love having friends 15 feet away!

This weekend is Flip This Dorm's big time to shine. We'll clean out the dorm, organize it, go shopping, totally transform it. I got a great idea for milk crates turning into shelves from my friend Rachel. I went to her room to borrow her vacuum cleaner--she has the cutest little one that can turn into a handheld--and saw her crates and thought, "Brilliant!" Ropp (and the other dorms too, I think) have picture rails built into the walls about 1.5 feet below the ceiling. So it's easy to hang shelves and other things from those with S-hooks...looks like a trip to the hardware store is going to happen soon!

Looks like I also need a trip to Wal-mart...I have the 15-meal-a-week plan, so I eat breakfast in my room, and I'm almost out of milk, cereal, and juice. That's an annoying thing about college--you have to do your own shopping. Laundry is a pain too! Bluffton tries to make it easier: it's included in room and board, so you don't have to collect quarters, and there's a way to check from your computer whether your laundry is done (although I haven't actually tried that yet). So that's pretty nice.

Oh, I forgot what else is happening tonight--a root beer keg party! I hope to get out of Flip This Dorm in time for that. It's good clean fun--I love that kind of fun :-)

Other good clean fun they have around here is corn hole. I've mentioned it already, but I found a picture I wanted to share. It's so funny:
Well, I have things to do and people to see! Talk to you next week!

fun weekend!

2007-09-25T00:38:00.000-04:00

You won't believe what I did this weekend.

I sung karaoke.

Okay, so there were only about 10 other people there at the time, but I didn't know a lot of them. And yes, I did it with two other girls (Jen and Danette), but I definitely leaned into that microphone and sang. We did Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut is the Deepest." It was hard because it wasn't one of my "good voice" days, and I always have trouble singing when I can't hear myself--like then, with two other girls singing and lots of background noise. But I did it!

I also did 3 rounds of DDR against/with Jen in front of a different group of maybe 10 people. But they were mostly girls and somehow that made it easier, as did knowing most of them.

This stuff was sponsored by MCB (Marbeck Center Board) on Friday night. Every Friday from 10 to 2, MCB holds Marbeck After Dark, which is a program that holds different activities for the students here.

Then on Saturday, Jen and Emily and I walked into town. We went to the used bookstore and Ten Thousand Villages, and ate lunch at the coffee shop, Common Grounds. Then we hung out and did some silly stuff after that in my room. That night, 10 of us--6 girls, 4 guys--drove to Lima, got a little lost, but made our way to the Thai restaurant. I really don't like Thai food but I knew it would be a good time. (Jessica from down the hall invited me when she saw that I was homesick. What a sweetie!) Then we stopped in Macy's but ended up at Kohl's, where most of the girls bought some things. I heart Kohl's. Anyway, after THAT, we went to Kroeger (that's what it's called, right? They don't have them in Rochester). We had some fun there, although I was kinda tired and didn't really feel like playing along with the others with their little games. Goofballs!

Here's a picture of me at the restaurant:

On Sunday, I went to church with Danette and her friend Jen. We went to St. John's Mennonite Church. I wasn't crazy about it, to be honest--there was only one or two songs, and they were praise songs, which I didn't grow up with. I'm more used to hymns, and lots of 'em. But it was cool seeing my first year seminar professor, Randy Keeler, up there giving the sermon!

Today was my longest day of the week--I start classes at 10 AM and end at 9:15 PM. Luckily there's a break between each class, even if some are just an hour.

Looks like my roomie's ready for bed, I gotta go!

--Holly

homesick...

2007-09-20T14:03:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling homesick. It's not even that I miss my family, which is what I thought I'd miss--it's my friends and the big city. Okay, Rochester is no NYC or anything like that, but there's a lot more places to go and a lot more people. I'm feeling kinda down about it all. But I know I wouldn't be happy just going to the local community college with 20,000 other kids or however many go there. So I have to remember that this is what's best for me, even if it doesn't always feel that way.

And I do have some fun, that's for sure...let me show y'all a picture of me and my friend Amy:

I think that might have been the night we went bowling? BU rented out the local bowling alley and we had a good time bowling. LOL the weird thing was, we'd hear music playing, and we'd notice it start...but then a few minutes later we'd sort of realize, wait, the music stopped...when did that happen? It was kinda strange!

My room is a mess. I've gotten a shipment of apples from my parents--NY makes really excellent apples--and I've got papers everywhere from the 5 binders for the committees I'm on. I think I mentioned it--I'm chair of the winter formal committee and of the Little Sibling Weekend committee. So I have papers everywhere from the past years--the girls who did this last year and the years before were pretty considerate and left a lot of records and helpful instructions. I'm having a little trouble getting up a committee (nobody showed up to the meeting!) but that's understandable, there's a lot of other stuff going on. Like, the night of the meeting, BASIC was having a meeting too (Brothers and Sisters in Christ). So a lot of my friends went to that. Luckily, Amy (the girl in the picture) was on her prom committee in high school and wants to help, and the other girls in my hall said they'd help too. I'm kinda psyched...I think this can be really awesome, especially if we decide to keep the dance at the school instead of renting out a hall, and then we'd have a lot more money to spend on decorations and who knows what else. So it could be really sweet! We'll have to think hard about it.

I'm also secretary of the Bluffton Student Design Board. I'm pretty excited about that too. We could go on trips to bigger cities, bring speakers in, do lots of activities and fundraisers for charity...there's so many possibilities! We're selling carnations for homecoming and teaming up with FCSA (Family and Consumer Sciences Association) to sell cookies at the same booth. That's coming up soon. The carnations might be purple--how pretty! (Purple and white are Bluffton's colors.)

Well, I can't think of anything more to say...I'm write another blog before next Tuesday if I have any big news! Bye!

getting crazier...

2007-09-18T13:27:00.000-04:00

Hey all! 5th blog post already? Wow.

Today is Tuesday, which means it's meeting day! Whoo-hoo. <--sarcasm

I don't have classes on Tuesdays andd Thursdays, so those are my days to get things done. I have a meeting with the hall director, Katie, about my position as Little Sibs Weekend chair/Winter Formal chair at 2, then at 4:30 I have a Stylefile meeting, and at 9 there's a Hall Association meeting. Anyone from Ropp Annex or Ropp Addition can be on Hall Association; you help shape the activities and the atmosphere in the dorm. I hope a lot of people come tonight--I'll definitely be able to use the help once planning starts getting underway! I'm excited--there's going to be lots of fun things to do this year, I hope. One thing I'd like to do is a scrapbooking activity. A lot of girls here like scrapbooking, and I know how to teach some of it (mind you, I'm not a great teacher, but I've done it before).

There's roommate drama going on--again, not with me and my roommate, but other girls. It's a little stressful being around it. But most people I know like their roommates, which is good!

Last night, my evening class (Media and Culture) was canceled (the professor wasn't feeling well) so I had to go turn my homework into his mailbox. Danette and Meghan came with me (Danette lives down the hall, and Meghan, as I've said before, is my roommate). We stopped by the all-boys dorm Lincoln (it's gorgeous...from the outside!) to visit my friend Peter, and we ended up watching Vacancy with Peter, his roommate, and a couple other guys. We got maybe halfway through when a bunch of them had to leave for a future teachers meeting, but I stayed. It was really pretty scary and I don't know why people like to watch movies like that, with the disturbing parts being so bad. But I had a good time anyway. Lincoln's the crazy dorm--the football players live there, and a lot of them are a little wild. We kept hearing really strange things from the hall while we were watching the movie!

So I'm off to a Stylefile meeting, where we're going to talk more about Flip This Dorm. We have a winner, so now we have to get a group together to talk to the girl who won, see what she likes, go shopping, look at the room, stuff like that. I'm excited!

Talk to y'all in a few days!

big sister!

2007-09-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

I'm going to be a Big Sister! For the Honors program, we have to do some volunteer work. So today I had my interview and it seems like it could be a really great experience. I want to be a stable force in some kid's life who needs it. I have a friend--not a close one--who has a Big Brother, and that's probably really influenced his life for the better. There are a ton of other options though, if you get into the Honors program. You can do things with computers, or work with the Girl Scouts, or work with old people...personally, I'm a little-kid kind of a person, so I hope I can click with someone a little older. The kids in the BBBS program are from kindergarten to eighth grade, and while I have experience babysitting kids that age, I really love tiny kids. Like, age 5 and under. Maybe next year I'll volunteer at a daycare or something.

Tonight was my second Bluffton premiere of my movie. About 20 people came to the Ropp Pitt (common area) and watched it with me. They seemed to like it--I was really happy. We started with just girls from our floor, and then over the past 2 days I invited about 10 more people through facebook, and today and tonight we just ran into people and said, "hey, you should come!" Then a few people were passing by just as the movie was starting and they came and joined us. They were guys--I'm not sure what they were doing in Ropp (it's all girls). That's the beauty of college life--there's almost always someone there to hang out with, and people your age are just everywhere.

Tonight we also had a hall association meeting. I am in charge of Little Sibling Weekend in the spring and the winter formal. Whoa--lots of responsibility right there. This year, I'm going to pick a better deejay--the one last year was awful. (I came and visited campus during the Winter Wonderland dance during my senior year.) Tomorrow, our residence hall adviser person will post my name and the other officers' names somewhere, and we'll get decorations on our doors that say our positions. Fun!

I'm really excited about one particular thing that Ropp Hall Association is going to do--a dorm-wide recycling program! I don't know details, but Katie, the adviser, mentioned
it at our meeting tonight, and I'm all for it. It fits right in with our campus-wide theme this year too: environmental awareness. Before we came this fall, we were given a book to read called Wisdom for a Livable Planet, by Dr. Carl McDaniel. It's all about people who are activists for helping the environment, and in turn, helping people. We are maybe going to talk about it in First Year Seminar--the one class that is required first semester of your freshman year. That might be mildly interesting.

Well, it's late, and I've gotta be up for a 10:00 class tomorrow. (Yes, 10 seems early for you when you're in college!) Goodnight!

busy busy busy

2007-09-13T00:16:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! So the past few days have been kinda crazy. When I'm not in class, I'm doing an errand or catching up on sleep. (I'm the kind of person who generally needs a LOT of sleep. It's a drag.)

One of the things I've been doing is Flip This Dorm (or, Flip This). It's a contest put on by StyleFile, which is the main part of Bluffton Student Design Board, the interior design/fashion design/other design club on campus. It's called BSDB for short. It's only been around for a year, but they've done really cool things so far. Like, last year, they did a fashion show with clothes from Wet Seal, I think it was. They designed the stage, which looked awesome, and the clothes were put together really well. (We saw pictures in my Intro to Retail and Design class.)

Anyway, Flip This Dorm is a contest that just ended, where Stylefile put up a bulletin board in Marbeck (the student center) with pictures of 7 different disastrous dorm rooms. Each room had something wrong with it: too cluttered, too messy, too boring. There were ballots so you could vote on which one you thought needed the most improvement. Then the winner (who will be revealed soon) will get $50 in goods in a dorm room makeover! So I'm one of the main people in charge of Flip This Dorm, and I had to make the bulletin board and try to round people up and things like that. We had a meeting tonight which was tons of fun. I brought my friend Danette, who lives down the hall from me, to the meeting, where there were 3 upperclassmen and a fifth-year senior and another freshman. The older girls have so much wisdom to share about different teachers and they're just so funny. Allison and I (she's the other freshman) are just dying to see the different things that apparently the teachers do. We've got some characters here! For example, one middle-aged professor who danced around to Usher music once. It sounds like quite a sight....

Last night we had a floor activity, although only a few people were able to come (everyone's so busy with music, sports, homework, meetings...). It was a little bitty premiere of the movie I acted in/assistant-directed/edited this spring and summer called "Hamartia." We had about 5 girls plus me, and we went down to the Ropp Pitt, which is the common area on the first floor of our dorm. We had popcorn and soda and watched the movie. I think they liked it :-)

Here's a screenshot from the movie:

Tomorrow night we're having another premiere--a bigger one. About 20 people are supposed to come to the Pitt and we're going to dress up! It's going to be awesome (I hope).

Meghan (my roommate) and I went to the hardware store today and bought some metal chain. We put up a shelf from the picture rail in our room and I'm really happy with how it works. Now I have a good place for my food!

Another errand I did was open a bank account. They had this sweet deal at one of the local banks where you open a checking account and get $25--$15 in your account, and $10 to the BU bookstore. I was happy :-) So they have a lot of incentives around here for college students. It's cool.

Tonight me and about 6 girls from my floor sat in our dorm hallway and chatted for like half an hour or more. It was great!! We laugh and laugh. Dorm life is so unique--no other time will you be in such close proximity with so many people your age. I love it...although I do kind of miss grown-ups a little bit!

Well, I'm exhausted. Time for bed so I can get up tomorrow and go to the weekly chapel service!

things are settling down...and starting up

2007-09-06T16:18:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone. I've been at Bluffton for just about 2 weeks now--hard to believe! I already call my dorm room "home." In fact, I have a sign on top of the door that says "home" in order to trick myself into feeling at home here!

Of course, there's things about dorms that will never feel like home. For one, the water here just isn't as good as at home. Some people get used to it, but I've gotta filter mine. Even then, it's not like the tap water in Rochester. Another thing is the communal showers. Here in Ropp Annex (I don't know about the other dorms), it's hard to keep anything dry--your glasses, your change of clothes, whatever. So that's annoying.

But dorm life is also a blast. There's almost always somebody to hang out with--I've had to walk to lunch alone only once. I can wander the halls and stop in someone's room to just say hi, chat, or play a game of Dutch Blitz. Do y'all know what that is? It's a card game that I think is traditionally Mennonite, and it's a lot of fun. We're big on that here :-) There's going to be a tournament tomorrow night--I'm excited! MCB (Marbeck Center Board, the event planning group on campus) puts on a lot of cool stuff for the people who are around on weekends. It's at 10 PM: they cater to the typical college student's schedule. Although me and Meghan, my roommate (see picture below!) go to bed between 11 and 12 most nights. We're not the most exciting people, I guess! :-)

Everyone in my dorm--and on campus, for that matter--has been really great. My laptop was backordered, so I've been borrowing other people's computers for the last 2 weeks in order to check my e-mail and do my homework and feed my facebook addiction. They're really generous about it. Luckily, I got an e-mail last night saying my pink laptop has shipped! Whoo-hoo!

Today I sort of started work as the honors program secretary. The honors program here is really nice because it's fairly small, so you can get to know people. There's maybe 20 freshmen in it, so we're all in the same advanced English class and we get to interact a lot. I feel a little bit over my head sometimes during class discussions--everyone's so deep!--but mostly it's really thought-provoking. Lately we've been exploring the question, "Is an experience diminished when other people have experienced it too?" and things along those lines. Speaking of that question, I need to write a paper about it tonight!

So not only is the freshman honors class small, but the whole honors program is, so we all went over last week to Dr. Steiner's house. He's the director of the honors program. So we had a picnic, and it was really fun. A few professors came and most of the honors students, and the food was a nice change from cafeteria food! Then we played a game called Corn Hole. I'd never heard of it before I came to Ohio--maybe it's a midwest thing? We don't have that much corn in New York, so maybe that's why we don't play it :-) I didn't do so well, but then again, it was only my first time. I plan on practicing so I can beat Team Ben, the reigning champions, next time!

I should probably explain what I mean by "things are settling down...and starting up". On the one hand, we're all settling into a routine--we've had almost 2 weeks of classes now, so we're figuring out when we have to get up and when we have to leave our dorms to get to class on time, stuff like that. But on the other hand, all the clubs have started their meetings. I'm basically the main person in charge of making over a dorm room for the Bluffton Student Design Board (BDSB) and its little subgroup, Stylefile. I've never done anything like this before! I decorated my own dorm room, and I've always been very interested in interior design, but I didn't expect to be put in charge of the complete makeover AND the bulletin board in Marbeck (the dining hall/mailroom/hangout spot/etc)! So today I rushed around trying to get the bulletin board up to advertise the makeover and so people can vote on which dorm room needs the makeover the most. It was crazy!

Well, I'll definitely post before and after pictures of the dorm room we choose. Stay tuned!

first post!

2007-09-04T15:52:00.000-04:00

Hey guys! I figured I'd introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my first week and a half at Bluffton!

So my name is Holly Nickeson, and I'm from Rochester, New York. "What?! Why are you in the middle of Ohio?" is a question I get a lot. I chose Bluffton because I'm Mennonite, and Bluffton is a historically Mennonite school, in case you didn't know, although only about 20% of its students right now are Mennonite. I also liked that one of my best friends, Kristen, is a sophomore this year and would be here for me if I got overwhelmed or homesick, and my parents have some friends here that would be here for me too. Most of all, though, I just really liked the campus and the people and its small size (about 1,000 people)--I felt like I could really fit in.

Actually, one of the ways I could tell that I liked the people here was because I went to two dances during my Bluffton visits in senior year. It gave me a chance to see that a lot of Bluffton students share my views about dancing--there was practically no dirty dancing at both of the dances! I was thrilled! Back home, 90% of the music at dances is rap, and 90% of the dancing consists of grinding. Here, everyone just had a great time with music of all different genres and decades (particularly at the Decades dance, where we dressed up in outfits from different eras) and danced without it being disgusting.

So even though that seems like a little thing, it really said something about the campus and its students, and it was part of the reason I decided to be a Bluffton Beaver :-)

When I got here, I could tell that I made a good choice. Everyone was so friendly, and my roommate's dad helped my dad set up my loft bed. It was really generous of him because it was sweltering out--the job wasn't easy! All the girls from my floor are great. They're tons of fun, always stopping by my room to hang out. It's definitely not one of those floors where everyone stays in their room all the time. We go out to lunch and dinner in groups, which shows how much we genuinely like each other :-) It's been over a week now, but we're still close and hang out 24/7. Sure, there's a few roommate problems (not mine, thank goodness!) but for the most part, everyone gets along really well.

Well, I'm off to a Bluffton Design Board meeting--their first one this year--so I'll blog more on Thursday! I'll tell you all about it then!

--Holly