So this past week I decided that I would be intensively studious. I needed to isolate myself in order to reap the results I really wanted. At least for Chemistry. Trying to study chemistry around friends has proved a horrendous idea on numerous occasions. And with our second big test coming up on Wednesday, I decided that Monday and Tuesday needed to be solid days of chemistry devotion. Even if it required eating, breathing, even dreaming about molecules and atoms and ionization levels.

All I have to say is thank God for the library. It provided a perfect little camp out for my new and improved studious lifestyle. Monday should have been named National Day of Chemistry because all of my waking hours were spent pouring over chemical formulas and such. The day began with an hour Chemistry lecture. Followed by an hour of chem studying in the library. Then an hour and a half study session with my professor in the afternoon. Only to end in a wonderful four and a half MORE hours of brain stuffing in dear old Ritter Library. Tuesday wasn’t much different. Except that when I went to bed that night, I felt a lot more confident in my ability to draw the geometrical shapes of molecules and determine their polarity.

The test honestly wasn’t that bad either. Yessss for studying. Anyway, Friday I found out that I got a 90 on it. Not as well as I wanted to do, especially after all of that insane studying. But I have to say, that it’s not tooooo bad. At least the current B average will enjoy the higher grade… So, here’s to a thousand more library hours and just as many consequent A grades.

Today was the BW volleyball girls’ last match of the season. It was a home game so a bunch of my friends and I went to see our friend Danielle play this afternoon. Before college, I’d never actually watched a “real” volleyball match before. My knowledge of game play was limited to beach-related games. So now that I’m at school, it’s cool to be able to watch the college matches. They move really fast and are extremely high energy.

Today was an exxxxtra good day to go to a game though. Our girls played sooo well and completely demolished the other team. Definitely the fastest volleyball game any of us had ever been to. They won the first match 25 to 21. Then in the second and third matches, our girls nearly doubled the other team’s scores by the time they reached 25. It seemed like we were clapping after every single play. And every single girl got a chance to play because they were up so much throughout the games (which was especially nice since it was the last game of the season). So congrats to all of the volleyball girls for a good season and a really strong closing game! Can’t wait to see you play again next fall!

So today is Halloween! The scariest day of the year. Well, at least around here. I’ve already seen several people walking around campus in their costumes, and saw some of the best at the Halloween Dance Thursday night. The category of best in drag was my favorite, and the winner was, in my opinion, the best costume of all. A guy dressed up as Kate Goslin from Jon and Kate Plus 8 and was carrying around babies and five more in a stroller. I think it’s important to mention the babies weren’t real, seeing as he was tossing and throwing them around.

Personally, I don’t plan on going trick or treating, but I know a lot of people who are, so that’ll be a lot of fun for them. I’m actually going downtown tonight to go to a concert at Peabody’s, a popular concert place for rock or more unknown music. I’m sure I’ll see some characters down there. Lol. But anyway, have fun as whatever you are dressed up for because we’re definitely not too old for trick or treating yet. Don’t let your parents tell you any different.

Tonight, at eight in Gamble auditorium (In Kulas), Symphonic Orchestra is putting on their second concert of this year. We’re performing works by Mozart, Schubert and Brahms, including Music from the Ballet Rosamunde, and Brahms Symphony No. 2. The concert is free, as always, so you should be sure to come check it out.

Another interesting upcoming event is with Michael Chikuzen Gould (Hopefully spelled correctly), a master Shakuhachi player. For you who don’t know, the Shakuhachi is a japanese flute, commonly used in Buddhist meditations. An awesome cultural opportunity, it’s also free, and something you should definitely go see.

Lastly, a word of advice. Be cautious about double majoring. I chose two very different majors, and it’s always been very difficult to get the classes in each to fit together on a schedule. Just finished working that out, but this week was very annoying because of that.

Peace

BEWARE! Take it from a guy who has received three tickets in one day; do not park anywhere else then the freshman lot if you’re a freshman and you have a car. I had the mistaken impression that there truly wasn’t anybody who checked these things, that those high-tech SUV’s roaming around were computer controlled and there, simply, to instill fear into the BW student psyche… I was wrong (Not about the robot cars but about the first part). For the other day I saw a scoundrel. A man in a yellow BW hat, jean material button-up shirt and khaki pants, scouring the parking lots of Baldwin-Wallace College. He does it around 5:00 PM and 11:00 AM in the fairground parking lot and the Heritage lots, if my observation is correct. A meter-man is afoot. Rest not all ye who park without a permit.
-SLL

So with the hustle and bustle of classes, I’m buckling down even more with studying… I’m studying so much that i get more studying hours than sleep, and I like sleep….

Yesterday at our Student Activities Center, the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority had an event on. The event was called Mr. B-W. We all know of Miss America, Miss (Insert state here), what-have-you. It’s the male equivalent of a pageant (man-geant?). Anyways several talented guys strutted their stuff by singing, dancing, eating a watermelon, or even signing out “Party in the USA” by Miley Cyrus. This was followed by some Q & A. Had several questions like “What do you like about B-W?”, “What’s the meaning of life?”, “What’s your idea of a romantic date?”. It was a great event to go to and all of the money raised from the event went towards Alpha Gamma Delta’s philanthropy, the Juvenile Diabetes research foundation.

I’m going to be a participant next year. I just need to find a talent…. Hmm, fire breathing? I think that sounds like a good one. Better start practicing.

So this one’s for you, sisters of AGD <3
-David

This past weekend was pretty interesting. I’m in the Honors Program, and we’re supposed to experience three “cultural” events around Cleveland and spend the night at a college property called the Archwood House in Cleveland. And the trick was that wherever we went, we were supposed to use public transportation. Which I though was cool because Cleveland does have the number one transportation system on the continent.

First of all, we took the rapid down to Little Italy, which was pretty awesome. We had an excellent dinner and I enjoyed it very much. The only drawback was that it was windy and rainy. But while we were walking around, the weather combined perfectly so that we saw a double rainbow! It was amazingly beautiful. Then we made our way downtown to the Hanna theater to see a production of Edwin Drood. The show was great, and while I was flipping through the program, I was surprised to see that about four of the people casted in the show were current students at BW, and about ten others had either recently graduated or were teaching at BW! That really showed me how good our theater program is, and I’m really proud that so many people tied to our school are so involved with Cleveland Arts.

Even though I haven’t been here too long, I’m already developing that sense of pride. And I’m proud of it.

Hey everyone!
So, since I’ve decided to come back to BW in the Spring, I need to register for classes, right? (I’m sure you’re thinking, well, duh, lol). Well, there are a lot of different systems colleges use for their students to register. There is one girl here who had to register LAST Spring for this coming Spring because her school (Westminster College in PA) functions on a paper system, which she fills in and then has her advisors sign off on. BW has evolved a bit more, technologically speaking, and all registration occurs online (such as you will find if you look at big schools, like OSU).
Webexpress is the name of the site used. It has many functions, but all primarily correspond with that of classes and registration. One option is the Academic Evaluation which shows how many credits you still need and what requirements, for your major/minor/core/etc. (I don’t know what etcetera would be, but I’m sure there is something), so that when you go to register, you know exactly what you need. My favorite part of Webexpress, however, is the Search for Sections (which is really Search for Classes). Even while registering, if you aren’t into planning your classes before your actual time of registration, you can search classes and then pick from the list of all those offered from a department, or that fit a core requirement, and click to register them. For example, if I were to put in Term: Spring Semester 2010; Subjects: English, History; Core Requirement: International; Hit Submit: Then a list comes up of the 10 English classes being offered this Spring that would count as International classes for Core and 9 History classes show up (this is only counting titles, all the classes are shown multiple times for each different time slot they are offered, but I didn’t count them that way). The basic information that shows up is whether the class is Open (meaning there are spots available) or Closed, the entire Section and Name (such as HIS-313I-S01 Renaissance & Reformation), the meeting information (dates the class runs, what hour, what building, which room), the faculty member teaching the class, the number of seats available and the maximum allowed (aka, 12/25 would mean there are 25 total seats and only 12 are still open), the number of credits and the academic level of the class (undergrad or graduate).
There is one complication with BW’s system, and it can be both good and bad. After registering for classes, each student’s advisor has to approve the courses chosen. All freshman are required to meet in persont to discuss options (preferably before registration) and then again after registering to make sure they chose wisely. All other students are recommended to go in person and see their advisor. Normally, I stop by one of my two advisor’s office, talk for 5 minutes while he approves the courses and then that’s that; however, I’ve found that it is a bit more difficult while you are overseas. BW is small enough that my advisors will at least remember my face, but that does not mean that the minute they get my email requesting class approval, they are going to drop everything and do it. There is also the downside of not being able to go in person and watch as they approve (electronically) your choices, as being there physically makes it really hard for them to forget! So my advice for incoming freshman and any other college students who read this, if you plan on studying abroad, have a nice long chat with your advisor about what you except to take when you come back and what you expect from them while you are abroad.

I study what I’m interested in at BW, and that’s English and Education. I tend to do well at the things I’m interested most in, so I usually post some good grades in those classes. I’m not bragging, since I mean to say that the things that have ever kept me from being where I want to be grade-wise are the elective and core classes every student has to take. Not to knock those classes, but I just tend to do worse in the ones I don’t have as keen an interest in. This semester, biology has been my poison. Ever since honors bio in high school, I’ve never been any good at what I think to be the rote memorization of facts about cells and animals and stuff. Needless to say, the first few grades I got in this bio class were… not up to my liking. But I’m proud to say that in the past few days I’ve gotten back my most recent tests from the bio lecture and lab, and the grades have much improved to some high B’s. Believe me, it’s a heck of an improvement. See, there used to be a point where I might do poorly in a class and want to give up, but especially being in college has taught me that you just need to lower your head sometimes and crack down on what you need to do. I think that by the end of the semester I can get my once-bad grades up to B and A status. I’ve come closer and closer to perfecting my art of studying, and I’ve been doing increasingly better since. Flash cards come to mind, as they’ve been my bread and butter for some time now. So, hopefully this little good-streak continues and puts that bounce in my step. I’ll continue to work hard, and sometimes you just have to sit back and let yourself know: nicely done, Carson. Nicely done.

So This weekend was a blast… An absolute blast.

Let’s start with the good stuff shall we?
I got a bunch of studying done and that is always a good thing. I mean, school equal studying right?

So on Friday, there was this lovely event called Brummagem. Brummagem is a photo scavenger hunt all across campus. Learning from the failures of last year and being more strategic this year. My team had great success. My team took 3rd place, ran around campus a whole lot less, and made some cashola…. Prizes this year was $400 to the first place team, $200 to the second place, and $100 to the third place. I made $25 bucks and I had fun, it’s all good.

Saturday was filled with excitement as well. I got a haircut… yes, a haircut, shocking I know. But It consisted of Saturday of Service. This is an event where B-W students go and volunteer at several different job sites. My group went to Brooklyn Memorial Church, located in Brooklyn, Ohio. This church feeds over 2000 people monthly through its hot meals program. My group help clean and organize the kitchen, clean out two large rooms, and re-arranged the tables for their big meal event. It’s a great thing that B-W and the student group Office of Community Outreach (OCO) does. It’s students giving back to the community.

Later in the night, we had B Cubed (B to the third power, B ^3). It is Bingo, (Root)Beer, and Buffalo Wings. A great event held by the fine people of Midnight Madness, and Campus Entertainment Productions. Tons of huge prizes and tons of small prizes for winners as well. I got lucky enough to win a $20 card to Arbys…. Simply awesome.

So here’s to another week at B-W.
Got two tests coming up and some projects. Yays…. Arghhhh

-David