... to the end of winter break, the start of a new semester, to the start of a new chapter in my life!
As you can see I retitled the blog because I decided it would be better for it to reflect my current "adventures!" I've been back in the US for a good 7 months now and I haven't been out of the country since then. I'm not exactly sure when I will leave the US again but it won't be before the end of my final semester at Dickinson in any case. I realize blogging about college life isn't very exciting but I'm mostly blogging for myself now instead of for people who read this blog while I was abroad. Anyways who knows, I may be abroad next year!
Winter Break is now winding down and I will be back at Dickinson the following weekend. I will be honest, I am very excited to be going back to school. First of all, it will be my last semester as an undergrad. I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I am excited about not having to worry about classes and papers and fulfilling sorority obligations. It's nice to be busy but I'm usually so stressed out at school that I usually am running around like a chicken with her head cut off. So it will be nice for that to end... but if I end up going to grad school, that school stress will continue and will actually be more intense.
But I am definitely going to miss Dickinson and the people I've met there. Some of these people will definitely become life long friends and without the school, I never would have met them. Some of the people I will never see again, obviously some I will miss and others not so much. It's hard to realize that after graduation, I'm expected to go out into the world and find a job/go to grad school and become this responsible, mature adult. When the heck did that happen? I definitely don't feel very responsible or mature at all. Well I suppose I do a little. Whenever I pass by gaggles of high schoolers (especially girls) giggling and talking obnoxiously loud and pushing into each other and slapping each other as they walk around in groups of mini armies, I definitely think "Oh my god, thank God I'm not that annoying anymore." Though if I may so myself, I never actually did that to begin with. However I'm definitely grateful high school is over and that I've definitely done some sort of growing up since then.
But I feel like there is a lot I don't know about the world. It's scary going out into the unknown which I obviously know nothing about. What is going to happen? Will it work out? Ugh. Anyways, it will be hard to say bye to Dickinson so I hope to take advantage of this semester. Maybe I will finally get around to taking pictures of my school this spring because the campus is absolutely gorgeous when all the trees and flowers are in bloom, with the signature red Adirondack chairs dotting the green lawns.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day went off without a hitch. We celebrated Christmas Eve at our house with the traditional goose and all the other usual fixings, including the buche de Noel dessert (yule log in English). Ever year my father makes his own buche de Noel from scratch, but he also buys one from the fancy French restaurant in our town. Christmas Day was spent quietly at our house and my friend Duoyi also was there! It was definitely very different from last year when we were all in France in that rented room.
Duoyi wasn't at our house for very long. She arrived late Christmas Eve and took off in the evening of Christmas Day. She is from China but instead of going home for the holidays during break (Christmas isn't a big to do in China), she decided to travel around the USA. She didn't really have a set plan for Christmas and I absolutely refused to let her spend Christmas in NY alone. So she came over to our house and spent the day with us, accompanying our family on a walk to the boardwalk and learning all about how my parents met. (Short version in one sentence: Papa was Mom's French host brother) Then she decided to head to the airport that evening since she had an early flight out of Laguardia to Texas. I dropped her off at the station but I was very nervous about letting her go alone, even though she is rather fearless and totally fine about traveling alone.
We then spent 4 days in Vermont to go skiing at Killington. We stayed in a resort this time around and to leave Milou behind because it didn't accept dogs. We weren't able to go skiing the first day because it was raining so we went cross country skiing instead for the first time. Mom obviously loved it because she was skiing on a flat surface for once and not advancing at the rate of a snail on the slopes. I absolutely hated it. I don't really see the point of gliding around on snow in the woods when you can easily walk along the path in your boots! Definitely very boring and not as fun as downhill skiing.
Other activities at the hotel included snowshoeing, ice skating, sledding, marshmallow roasting, horse sleigh rides, an outdoor heated pool, massages at the spa... we nearly participated in all these activities which includes the massages. I've had Swedish massage done before and after a day of skiing it felt great! However I doubt Papa will be clamoring for another one anytime soon haha.
So despite a day of no skiing and very limited skiing on another day because the windchill was tooooo cold and the visibility was zero (and our ski goggles froze over), we had a good time overall. Nobody broke any bones this time around (my aunt broke her foot two years ago) and it was great to be on the slopes after a 2 year absence. I forgot how much I hate snowboarders though, I think all snowboarders should have their own mountain because they clearly can't control their boards as well as skiers can on skis.
And of course we stopped at the Vermont Country Store on the way back at Mom's insistence which sells super tacky, rustic merchandise that Mom is super fond of. After that, it was slow going in the blizzard and we must have seen between 8-10 accidents on the highway, including someone being pulled out on a stretcher. Some drivers underestimate the power of snow and forget that snow + speed = recipe for disaster.
And as of now, I'm the remaining adult child left in the house. Hermana is already back at school "In the Woods" and el primo frances has returned to France to extend his visa. He is supposed to be back in 2 weeks, or so he claims. We shall see... he was, like, 3 months late getting here!
I was in Boston for a couple of days, visiting a grad school and my friend who goes to law school there. I hadn't been to Boston since visiting colleges in high school and I had forgotten how beautiful the city is. Boston doesn't have the crazy, nervous energy that is the living pulse of NYC, or specifically Manhattan (the only other borough I've ventured out to is the Bronx). It's definitely more laidback, but very New England. It's also a lot less crowded and a lot smaller, which is why I probably feel like it's more manageable.
Anyways the grad school has a nice campus and is located near a bunch of other schools, outside the center of Boston. It's close to a T stop, which is great because if I do end up going to school in Boston, I most likely won't have a car. Mom also accompanied me (just for the day) to attend the info session with me so it was nice to spend some one one one time with her.
Oh and my friend's apartment is to die for. It's a studio, but a really large studio! It overlooks Boston Common so it has this gorgeous view of the park and apparently the Rock lives down the hall from her. I did not see him while I was there though. Her law school is close by so she lives within walking distance of it and she is very close to many restaurants, clubs, bars, and what have you. We did end up going to a club for a night and it was a lot of fun! However to my friend's great displeasure, all clubs close at 2 AM in Boston. Well it is a smaller city than NYC and the T stops running around 1 AM... Anyways it was nice to spend time with my friend and meet some of her law school/Boston friends and get a peek of the Boston student life.
Apart from that, I'm taking the GRE and starting to apply to grad schools online. This will probably take up a lot of my time this semester so it's probably a good things I'm not taking difficult classes this semester (seminar is O-V-E-R thank god!). We will see what happens with all of that!
Oh and if you haven't seen Avatar in 3D yet, you really should! Or the Princess and the Frog... yes I did drag my 27 year old French cousin to go see it and we both loved it!
It's been a relaxing break, which is what I wanted. Now I am ready to take on this semester and figure out what comes next.
Tootles,
Amelie
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Home for the Holidays
I finally made it home!!!! After many train delays due to snow and getting stuck in Philly for 3 hours, I made it home! I was traveling with a friend who lives in my area so we were miserable together. It was definitely nice to have company for a change since I usually end up traveling home alone. I had a feeling there would be delays due to the snow anyways so I wasn't too surprised when I got off the train in Philly to see my connecting train and all other connecting traisn were supremely late.
But yes, what about that snowstorm? It started snowing in central PA around 2 AM (I know this because I was still up writing a seminar paper.... and I was with a friend writing the same paper for the same class so I wasn't the only one doing it at the last minute!) In fact we kept taking breaks to peek outside the Theta House (where my friend lives) to see if it had started snowing since it was the only thing the news had been talking about for the past few days. And sure enough, before we knew it a light powder filled the streets and sidewalks. By the time I left my friend at 4 AM to go back home (who kept working on righp up until the 2 PM deadline!), there were a good couple of inches.
And of course the next morning, there was quite a lot. I even saw 2 women cross country skiing at one point, there was that much snow! It didn't stop snowing until well into Saturday night. I spent my last night on campus hanging out with the Thetas that had not gone home yet either because 1) they were snowed in for the day 2) they had had papers/exams that Saturday like me.
I have to say, this finals week was very, very stressful. Dickinson cut a reading day from the exam schedule because they thought by doing so, they would get the students out of there faster and cut back on utility/heating costs. Well, that only ended up in a really stressed out student body. Facebook was full of "15 pages to go" status updates. Not a great move on Dickinson's part. I literally was going to bed at 6 AM and sleeping until 1 PM, throwing off my sleeping schedule entirely. And on top of that, I was running low on meal points so I also ended up starving too. I seriously hope exams next semester are not this stressful... I am alo not taking 3 literature classes next semester so I w0n't be analyzing any more plays, books, poems, or what have you. In fact, no more lit classes for me! I enjoy reading, as everybody knows, but analyzing literature is one of the things I hate the most. Authors don't think about half the stuff people come up with in papers based on their works anyways.
So our Christmas tree is up and decorated, Mom has made her bonbons and lebcookins (I seriously have no idea how to spell that, it's the German cookies), I picked up the geese for Christmas dinner, the lights are up outside, and there is snow on the ground. Definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Oh and the newsletter/Christmas pictures have been sent out. And after Christmas, we are headed to Killington, VT for a couple of days of skiing. I can't wait, I haven't been skiing in 2 years since last year I was abroad in Europe. I suppose I could have gone skiing in the Pyrenees near Toulouse if I had really wanted to, but I didn't have the equipment or the clothes for it.
Other than studying for the GRE, I expect to fully relax these next 5 weeks. Besides studying for that and carrying around Milou, that is the most I am going to exert myself. (Oh and the skiing).
Oh yeah, because Milou basically can't walk anymore. On Sunday when the storm hit NY, my parents let him run around outside as they shoveled the driveway. Either he is still extremely sore from all that running or he tore a ligament or something. He has been in a lot of pain since then :( and hobbles around the house. Going outside to pee is a huge chore. I've been carrying him up and down stairs and giving him a lot of TLC because he is absolutely miserable due to all the pain he is in. Here's hoping in a few days he'll be better. But no more running for him, he is too old for that now! However he still gave me the welcome home dance so at least he was happy enough to see me. :)
Ok well hope everyone is psyched for Christmas/Hannukah/holiday vacation. Safe traveling and all of that!
Amelie
But yes, what about that snowstorm? It started snowing in central PA around 2 AM (I know this because I was still up writing a seminar paper.... and I was with a friend writing the same paper for the same class so I wasn't the only one doing it at the last minute!) In fact we kept taking breaks to peek outside the Theta House (where my friend lives) to see if it had started snowing since it was the only thing the news had been talking about for the past few days. And sure enough, before we knew it a light powder filled the streets and sidewalks. By the time I left my friend at 4 AM to go back home (who kept working on righp up until the 2 PM deadline!), there were a good couple of inches.
And of course the next morning, there was quite a lot. I even saw 2 women cross country skiing at one point, there was that much snow! It didn't stop snowing until well into Saturday night. I spent my last night on campus hanging out with the Thetas that had not gone home yet either because 1) they were snowed in for the day 2) they had had papers/exams that Saturday like me.
I have to say, this finals week was very, very stressful. Dickinson cut a reading day from the exam schedule because they thought by doing so, they would get the students out of there faster and cut back on utility/heating costs. Well, that only ended up in a really stressed out student body. Facebook was full of "15 pages to go" status updates. Not a great move on Dickinson's part. I literally was going to bed at 6 AM and sleeping until 1 PM, throwing off my sleeping schedule entirely. And on top of that, I was running low on meal points so I also ended up starving too. I seriously hope exams next semester are not this stressful... I am alo not taking 3 literature classes next semester so I w0n't be analyzing any more plays, books, poems, or what have you. In fact, no more lit classes for me! I enjoy reading, as everybody knows, but analyzing literature is one of the things I hate the most. Authors don't think about half the stuff people come up with in papers based on their works anyways.
So our Christmas tree is up and decorated, Mom has made her bonbons and lebcookins (I seriously have no idea how to spell that, it's the German cookies), I picked up the geese for Christmas dinner, the lights are up outside, and there is snow on the ground. Definitely beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Oh and the newsletter/Christmas pictures have been sent out. And after Christmas, we are headed to Killington, VT for a couple of days of skiing. I can't wait, I haven't been skiing in 2 years since last year I was abroad in Europe. I suppose I could have gone skiing in the Pyrenees near Toulouse if I had really wanted to, but I didn't have the equipment or the clothes for it.
Other than studying for the GRE, I expect to fully relax these next 5 weeks. Besides studying for that and carrying around Milou, that is the most I am going to exert myself. (Oh and the skiing).
Oh yeah, because Milou basically can't walk anymore. On Sunday when the storm hit NY, my parents let him run around outside as they shoveled the driveway. Either he is still extremely sore from all that running or he tore a ligament or something. He has been in a lot of pain since then :( and hobbles around the house. Going outside to pee is a huge chore. I've been carrying him up and down stairs and giving him a lot of TLC because he is absolutely miserable due to all the pain he is in. Here's hoping in a few days he'll be better. But no more running for him, he is too old for that now! However he still gave me the welcome home dance so at least he was happy enough to see me. :)
Ok well hope everyone is psyched for Christmas/Hannukah/holiday vacation. Safe traveling and all of that!
Amelie
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Mental Study Break
So this is now the last week of the semester! Classes ended Friday and this week is finals/final papers. I don't really have exams per se, it's more like a bunch of papers. I have two "take home exams" (one of which is done yay!) but no real exam anxiety. 4 papers and 1 take home exam separate me from freedom. And 3 of those papers are due on the same day, ugh. I can't wait to be home Sunday evening!!! Winter Break will be a welcome respite from this madness.
Though I can't relax too much, I am taking the GREs in January and I need to consult the parents about my future. I actually have an idea now but I am not going to discuss it here because I don't want people bothering me about it. When I officially know what I'm doing with my future, I will share the news. And no it has nothing to do with teaching so Mom you can stop harassing me about that! I don't care what the results of that online personality test said, helping others can mean a lot of things! Rest assured though, the career I have in mind has nothing to do with waitressing. In all seriousness this is what I wanted to be when I was 5, and obviously it horrified Mom and probably gave her nightmares.
But yes it's weird to think I only have a semester left of college! Where the hell did the time go??? I mean I know I will not have had 4 complete years but still 3.5 years of college are going by very fast! I feel very at home at Dickinson now which is really too bad that it had to take this long.
Obviously freshman year is awkward but it was doubly awkward for me since I started in January. When I look back on it, I ask myself what the heck I was thinking! In all honesty, I really should have deferred admission for a year or begged Admissions to let me come at the end of August with the rest of the incoming freshmen. The January program at Dickinson is not that well planned out. I did meet with some Admissions lady with a fellow Jan. start student earlier in the semester and we had a conversation about how the program could be improved. However it seems nothing really came of that. In my humble opinion, they should just scrap the program. What is the point of admitting between 15 and 20 freshmen students in January (apart from the international students and transfers)? I guess it means more money for the school? I dunno, the transition for me was very painful and very hard and I got zero support from the school. Our orientation was a huge joke and so was our freshman seminar. The Role of Wine in American Society? Seriously? The whole semester was just bizarre.
Then the beginning of sophomore year was just awful. I didn't have any real friends and then those problems with my back started up (which continue to this day but I basically ignore it and don't care) and I was so stressed out, I was breaking out mysteriously into hives for several weeks (which I thought was a symptom of something very serious) because I was so mentally and emotionally shattered. Who knew stress could cause you to break into hives? So then Theta came along and things got better by the next semester. Then I went abroad and had a grand old time for the most part and now finally Dickinson feels like home. It took a lot of adjusting but Dickinson and I are now best friends. Except for a few minor kinks such as weird townies, the laundry and printing quota, the fact that Pres. Durden insists on wearing bowties instead of ties (just kidding about that last one I think it's kind of cute actualy), I've been pleased with senior year. Minus the workload and finals week.
Graduation/Commencement is going to be a very sad and exciting day. Exciting because I have my whole future ahead of me. It's scary to think about yet there's that whole "anything can happen" mentality which is sort of thrilling. Sad because there are so many people I will probably never see again unless I go to the college reunions. Let's face it, there's too many people to keep in touch with. I will definitely keep in touch with the BFFs obviously but that's a small group. Which is fine because trying to keep track of 20+ people is just too hard. I'll also miss the spontaneity that comes along with college such as planning for the weekend the day of and that kind of thing. Bumping into random people I know. The ridiculous conversations such as the zombie apocalypse (which I'm surprised that so many people take seriously. Just a couple of days ago Mimi and a friend busted into the apartment grabbing random things and ran out announcing "it happened!" Turns out they were just relieving stress from finals. For the record, I don't believe in the zombie apocalypse.) The laughter, the tears, the get togethers at parties or for meal dates... It's a whole community and way of life I'll be leaving behind for good next May. It's too bad real life can't be like college, I think Westchester would be way more fun if it were.
Other than realizing my time at Dickinson is running out and finals, nothing too new to report. My sorority formal was last weekend and that was a lot of fun. I brought Mimi along as my date and we both had fun as we danced with our friends. I have to say though, Americans really don't know how to dance. I know I can't dance which is fine so I look stupid like everybody else. But the way my generation dances... I won't go into specifics but let's just say it looks really stupid when you try to replicate the same dance moves in Europe. Unfortunately no one taught me the rock and roll kind of dancing Papa grew up with in France in the late 70s and I'm rather pathetic when I try to attempt it myself. Mom, you may look ridiculous when you dance by yourself to Lady Gaga but you and Papa look pretty good on the dancefloor when you bust out the rock and roll (which I guess is sort of similar to swing dancing?) But yeah formal was fun and a good way to release steam before the end of the semester.
Oh and it also snowed here earlier in the week! We got may one to two inches overnight though most of it was washed away by the next day's rain. However there are still some remnants on the ground which are now frozen over. Some people decided to get creative and build a snow penis on the academic quad. I'm wondering what the tour guides said the next day when faced with the task of leading tours by it. Again, just another example of why I'm going to miss college!
Ok back to finals and lack of sleep. Hope everyone is not getting too stressed getting ready for the holidays. I've already watched Love Actually and Polar Express to get me into the Christmas mindset.
Amelie
Though I can't relax too much, I am taking the GREs in January and I need to consult the parents about my future. I actually have an idea now but I am not going to discuss it here because I don't want people bothering me about it. When I officially know what I'm doing with my future, I will share the news. And no it has nothing to do with teaching so Mom you can stop harassing me about that! I don't care what the results of that online personality test said, helping others can mean a lot of things! Rest assured though, the career I have in mind has nothing to do with waitressing. In all seriousness this is what I wanted to be when I was 5, and obviously it horrified Mom and probably gave her nightmares.
But yes it's weird to think I only have a semester left of college! Where the hell did the time go??? I mean I know I will not have had 4 complete years but still 3.5 years of college are going by very fast! I feel very at home at Dickinson now which is really too bad that it had to take this long.
Obviously freshman year is awkward but it was doubly awkward for me since I started in January. When I look back on it, I ask myself what the heck I was thinking! In all honesty, I really should have deferred admission for a year or begged Admissions to let me come at the end of August with the rest of the incoming freshmen. The January program at Dickinson is not that well planned out. I did meet with some Admissions lady with a fellow Jan. start student earlier in the semester and we had a conversation about how the program could be improved. However it seems nothing really came of that. In my humble opinion, they should just scrap the program. What is the point of admitting between 15 and 20 freshmen students in January (apart from the international students and transfers)? I guess it means more money for the school? I dunno, the transition for me was very painful and very hard and I got zero support from the school. Our orientation was a huge joke and so was our freshman seminar. The Role of Wine in American Society? Seriously? The whole semester was just bizarre.
Then the beginning of sophomore year was just awful. I didn't have any real friends and then those problems with my back started up (which continue to this day but I basically ignore it and don't care) and I was so stressed out, I was breaking out mysteriously into hives for several weeks (which I thought was a symptom of something very serious) because I was so mentally and emotionally shattered. Who knew stress could cause you to break into hives? So then Theta came along and things got better by the next semester. Then I went abroad and had a grand old time for the most part and now finally Dickinson feels like home. It took a lot of adjusting but Dickinson and I are now best friends. Except for a few minor kinks such as weird townies, the laundry and printing quota, the fact that Pres. Durden insists on wearing bowties instead of ties (just kidding about that last one I think it's kind of cute actualy), I've been pleased with senior year. Minus the workload and finals week.
Graduation/Commencement is going to be a very sad and exciting day. Exciting because I have my whole future ahead of me. It's scary to think about yet there's that whole "anything can happen" mentality which is sort of thrilling. Sad because there are so many people I will probably never see again unless I go to the college reunions. Let's face it, there's too many people to keep in touch with. I will definitely keep in touch with the BFFs obviously but that's a small group. Which is fine because trying to keep track of 20+ people is just too hard. I'll also miss the spontaneity that comes along with college such as planning for the weekend the day of and that kind of thing. Bumping into random people I know. The ridiculous conversations such as the zombie apocalypse (which I'm surprised that so many people take seriously. Just a couple of days ago Mimi and a friend busted into the apartment grabbing random things and ran out announcing "it happened!" Turns out they were just relieving stress from finals. For the record, I don't believe in the zombie apocalypse.) The laughter, the tears, the get togethers at parties or for meal dates... It's a whole community and way of life I'll be leaving behind for good next May. It's too bad real life can't be like college, I think Westchester would be way more fun if it were.
Other than realizing my time at Dickinson is running out and finals, nothing too new to report. My sorority formal was last weekend and that was a lot of fun. I brought Mimi along as my date and we both had fun as we danced with our friends. I have to say though, Americans really don't know how to dance. I know I can't dance which is fine so I look stupid like everybody else. But the way my generation dances... I won't go into specifics but let's just say it looks really stupid when you try to replicate the same dance moves in Europe. Unfortunately no one taught me the rock and roll kind of dancing Papa grew up with in France in the late 70s and I'm rather pathetic when I try to attempt it myself. Mom, you may look ridiculous when you dance by yourself to Lady Gaga but you and Papa look pretty good on the dancefloor when you bust out the rock and roll (which I guess is sort of similar to swing dancing?) But yeah formal was fun and a good way to release steam before the end of the semester.
Oh and it also snowed here earlier in the week! We got may one to two inches overnight though most of it was washed away by the next day's rain. However there are still some remnants on the ground which are now frozen over. Some people decided to get creative and build a snow penis on the academic quad. I'm wondering what the tour guides said the next day when faced with the task of leading tours by it. Again, just another example of why I'm going to miss college!
Ok back to finals and lack of sleep. Hope everyone is not getting too stressed getting ready for the holidays. I've already watched Love Actually and Polar Express to get me into the Christmas mindset.
Amelie
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Be Careful What You Blog About
In between writing about love in medieval Iberian works and analyzing characters, space, and time in Spanish plays (yes it's finals and yes they are killing me), I just wanted to share this anecdote that happened in my contemporary Spanish lit. class yesterday.
My Spanish professor who teaches this class is the same guy who was the director in residence while I was in Malaga last year. Anyways it turns out he has a blog too which I found pretty easily after Googling its title. He posted an entry about displays of American patriotism and his thoughts about people taking their patriotic pride a little too far. In the entry, he linked to a specific website to show what he meant by extreme nationalistic pride.
Well it turns out his entry was bombarded with vicious comments and he was sent several emails attacking him and his blog. He read one of the emails aloud to us and not only did it contain several curse words, but the guy who wrote it directly attacked my professor's family, saying ridiculous things such as "you are what is wrong with this country." The email basically amounted to a death threat which is scary enough in itself. My professor was obviously rattled by the whole experience and it just made me realize once again you have to be careful the way you word things online. Tone is not easy to read so people always misinterpret things. My professor was also concerned because it would honestly not be hard to track him down since he has personal pictures online of his family and the blog's URL even has his full name in it.
I'm not going to link back to the website my professor did because honestly I don't need a bunch of hate mail right in the middle of final exams and papers. But honestly the fact that these people take the time out of their (what I'm assuming is incredibly dull) day to attack people they don't even know? That's just mind boggling and honestly I think that is what is wrong with our country... I can vouch for my professor and say he is a mild-mannered American citizen who was just expressing his opinion about a topic. Free speech anyone? You're allowed to disagree but it's not okay to start sending death threats! People need to chill out!
I briefly looked at the website my professor used as an example and well... I have a few choice things to say about it obviously. But I'm going to censor myself because I don't need a bunch of idiots telling me what I should think and making judgments about me when they don't even know who I am. This is partly why I avoid political discussions and I'm glad I've mostly avoided politics in this blog.
So yeah I will definitely be very careful what I talk about from now. Definitely nothing to do with politics! Hopefully my entries about my mundane life are too boring for the idiots to respond to.
Ok back to haunting the library!
Amelie
My Spanish professor who teaches this class is the same guy who was the director in residence while I was in Malaga last year. Anyways it turns out he has a blog too which I found pretty easily after Googling its title. He posted an entry about displays of American patriotism and his thoughts about people taking their patriotic pride a little too far. In the entry, he linked to a specific website to show what he meant by extreme nationalistic pride.
Well it turns out his entry was bombarded with vicious comments and he was sent several emails attacking him and his blog. He read one of the emails aloud to us and not only did it contain several curse words, but the guy who wrote it directly attacked my professor's family, saying ridiculous things such as "you are what is wrong with this country." The email basically amounted to a death threat which is scary enough in itself. My professor was obviously rattled by the whole experience and it just made me realize once again you have to be careful the way you word things online. Tone is not easy to read so people always misinterpret things. My professor was also concerned because it would honestly not be hard to track him down since he has personal pictures online of his family and the blog's URL even has his full name in it.
I'm not going to link back to the website my professor did because honestly I don't need a bunch of hate mail right in the middle of final exams and papers. But honestly the fact that these people take the time out of their (what I'm assuming is incredibly dull) day to attack people they don't even know? That's just mind boggling and honestly I think that is what is wrong with our country... I can vouch for my professor and say he is a mild-mannered American citizen who was just expressing his opinion about a topic. Free speech anyone? You're allowed to disagree but it's not okay to start sending death threats! People need to chill out!
I briefly looked at the website my professor used as an example and well... I have a few choice things to say about it obviously. But I'm going to censor myself because I don't need a bunch of idiots telling me what I should think and making judgments about me when they don't even know who I am. This is partly why I avoid political discussions and I'm glad I've mostly avoided politics in this blog.
So yeah I will definitely be very careful what I talk about from now. Definitely nothing to do with politics! Hopefully my entries about my mundane life are too boring for the idiots to respond to.
Ok back to haunting the library!
Amelie
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Mish-Mash: Halloween, a Ridiculous Day at the Museum, Thanksgiving, New Moon, Carlisle is going to the dogs
So here is my monthly update! I don't really have time for anything more. I think last time we left off I was talking about Halloween and my future and other odds and ends...
Well Halloween was a lot of fun, I dressed up as a French maid (how original I know!) and I pretty much stuck to Megan's side for most of the night (she was a firefighter). We went to a couple of different parties but we decided to stay on campus instead of venturing out to the bars. They were probably crowded anyways and I actually didn't want to walk around downtown Carlisle in a costume. Plus I didn't feel like paying for drinks because I am poor. A lot of people dressed up as the swine flu since Dickinson has been hit really hard by the epidemic. A couple of weeks ago, a lot of people were being sent home to recuperate. However it seems to have subsided for now. I'm actually vaccinated now, Dickinson received a bunch of doses last week and had a free open clinic kind of thing so I'm hoping the vaccine will keep the H1N1 at bay.
Last weekend the Dreamcatchers mentors and mentees went to DC (I talked about this in my last post) to the Natural History Museum. I had already been there this past summer when I visited Megan. Ugh, can I just say this time around the trip was crazy. I had to get up at 7 AM because we had to leave. Well, on the way there, we got really lost because we had the wrong directions (apparently there are two Air and Space Museums, one in VA and one in DC). The bus driver got mad at us for being unprepared and also kept yelling at the kids in the back who were getting antsy. She also had someone on the phone helping her with directions and she kept losing her temper with that person as well. We stopped at a gas station to get directions and of course all the kids had to get out and use the bathroom. We finally made it to DC but by the time we got into the museum, we had to eat lunch first to use the vouchers we had for the cafe. After going into the gift shop to appease the kids, we really only had maybe 2 hours to visit the museum. I love my mentee, she is great, but she has a very short attention span and is very energetic and dramatic. She kept zipping past all the exhibits while I tried to catch up with her so I didn't really get to see anything. The only part she slowed down in was the small exhibit with live bugs such as tarantulas and caterpillars and bees. One museum volunteer had a caterpillar out for kids to see up close and she was letting people put it on their hands for a few seconds. My mentee and I decided to see what it felt like, and while it wasn't slimy, it was very sticky!
So yeah we left around 3:30 PM and got lost on the way back again... when we finally got back to Carlisle I was so exhausted, I went to bad at 11 PM. On a Saturday! I really do enjoy Dreamcatchers though, despite the stressful trip. As an end of the semester get together, we are apparently going to watch The Polar Express in 3D with the mentees and their families. I actually really like that movie even though a lot of people are creeped out by the graphics.
And oh of course New Moon came out yesterday and literally everyone I know (well all the girls I know at least) has already seen it! I'm disappointed I wasn't able to go yesterday but I had a paper to email to a professor at midnight (this would be my scary seminar professor who shall remain nameless) so I wasn't able to do much unfortunately.
And of course I've been swamped with papers and projects and after Thanksgiving, it will only get worse because I will have all my final papers/exams/projects deadlines looming. I'm looking forward to going home for a few days and relaxing... but I will probably have to do some kind of work/have a serious talk with the parents about my future. Ugh, I hate growing up! It's so scary and intimidating. Aren't there any self help books about this? Transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood?
Added later:
And as you can tell I'm writing this post on another day because I am actually home now until Sunday! Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we all ate a wonderful meal complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, brussel sprouts (which I did not touch), pumpkin bread... and dessert had pumpkin cheese cake, some kind of chocolate cake, apple pie and yeah we were spoiled! It was low key this year and not very crowded. Mom's sister's family is in Puerto Rico celebrating my aunt's birthday (I think?) so it was just my family plus el primo frances and my mom's brother's family and my uncle's college roommate. Oh and the dog, we brought him along which we probably shouldn't have because he basically feasted all day long on crumbs and kept trying to eat the appetizers on the low table pre-dinner.
In sad news, a family friend passed away last Monday, a day before I came home. The place where we went for the wake was the same place we had the wake for Grandpa 3 years ago so it brought back a lot of sad memories. Nobody likes going to wakes or funerals because if you are directly part of the grieving family, it's obviously hard. If you are a family friend unrelated to the family, it's always kind of awkward because you never know what to say. Asking "How are you doing?" is sort of useless because obviously the family members are mourning. Death in general pretty much sucks. Yet it's still a part of life so it's not something we can ignore either. I know the family will get through this because as they say, time heals all wounds. And while I've always been on the fence in what exactly I believe religion wise, I'm sure that particular family member is definitely in a better place now. May he rest in peace.
Other than that, I've seen a few friends, seen some movies, and been ignoring my homework. I finally saw New Moon and it's definitely an improvement of Twilight! The girl who plays Bella pretty much pouts and stays depressed throughout the whole movie just like in Twilight but it's the actor who plays Jacob, Taylor Lautner, who steals the show. There were literally gasps and whistles when he first ripped off his shirt. The actor is only 17 in real life but that's not stopping me from crushing on him! I've decided Robert Pattinson, the guy who plays Edward, is too moody and emo for my liking. And I obviously will go see Eclipse and Breaking Dawn when they come out in theaters, I am a Twilight fan after all even though I recognize that the books aren't that well written. There are a bunch of other issues as well but for the most part, I've been sucked into the Twilight universe.
In other campus news, not only do we keep getting email updates about prowlers sneaking into student housing, but a girl was attacked in front of the library around 2 AM early Tuesday morning. Some sketchy guy wearing a hoodie grabbed the girl and threatened to kill her. (I swear nearly all student/Carlisle resident altercations involve the perpetrator wearing a hoodie) Around that same time, I was actually at Fast Eddie's (I know I vowed never to go there again however it was nearly devoid of townies on a Monday night) celebrating a friend's 21st bday. I ended up getting driven home that night and it's probably just as well considering the attack. The girl managed to escape and immediately notified DPS/Carlisle police. Honestly this really scares me because the library is a very public, very central location on campus. A lot of the email alerts we get involve students walking to parties off campus/to the bars and getting accosted by sketchy weirdos preying on students, hoping to steal their wallets. However every once in awhile the confrontations get violent and I remember sophomore year a student was "knifed" right by where I used to walk to and from the clay art studio.
I live on the fringe of campus, close to the Carlisle residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, our campus is located smack in the middle of Carlisle, it's not off to the side of the community like a lot of small liberal arts schools. Relations between the Carlisle community and the students aren't that great, to be honest. Dickinson is a great school and if it weren't for the school, there is no way I would ever think to actually live there. It's in the middle of absolute nowhere. The town has gotten better over the years and it's not as bad as you'd think (I've gotten used to its weirdness). However every once in awhile something ridiculous happens and let's just say I'm happy to be getting away from the town once I graduate.
Oh and a professor is suspected of child pornography... yeah it's been exciting at Dickinson. Can't say so much for my hometown though, pretty much the same as ever. And that's probably a good thing. I have to say though, I keep forgetting how big the houses are here! Whenever I come home I keep thinking all the big houses are new when they actually aren't. Houses in Carlisle are smaller and I forget I come from a community of McMansions.
Anyways this was a much needed break. Only a few more weeks of torturous classes and then I am free until the end of January!
Now I'm going to go google image pictures of Taylor Lautner to add to my computer.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and may everybody count their blessings!
Amelie
Well Halloween was a lot of fun, I dressed up as a French maid (how original I know!) and I pretty much stuck to Megan's side for most of the night (she was a firefighter). We went to a couple of different parties but we decided to stay on campus instead of venturing out to the bars. They were probably crowded anyways and I actually didn't want to walk around downtown Carlisle in a costume. Plus I didn't feel like paying for drinks because I am poor. A lot of people dressed up as the swine flu since Dickinson has been hit really hard by the epidemic. A couple of weeks ago, a lot of people were being sent home to recuperate. However it seems to have subsided for now. I'm actually vaccinated now, Dickinson received a bunch of doses last week and had a free open clinic kind of thing so I'm hoping the vaccine will keep the H1N1 at bay.
Last weekend the Dreamcatchers mentors and mentees went to DC (I talked about this in my last post) to the Natural History Museum. I had already been there this past summer when I visited Megan. Ugh, can I just say this time around the trip was crazy. I had to get up at 7 AM because we had to leave. Well, on the way there, we got really lost because we had the wrong directions (apparently there are two Air and Space Museums, one in VA and one in DC). The bus driver got mad at us for being unprepared and also kept yelling at the kids in the back who were getting antsy. She also had someone on the phone helping her with directions and she kept losing her temper with that person as well. We stopped at a gas station to get directions and of course all the kids had to get out and use the bathroom. We finally made it to DC but by the time we got into the museum, we had to eat lunch first to use the vouchers we had for the cafe. After going into the gift shop to appease the kids, we really only had maybe 2 hours to visit the museum. I love my mentee, she is great, but she has a very short attention span and is very energetic and dramatic. She kept zipping past all the exhibits while I tried to catch up with her so I didn't really get to see anything. The only part she slowed down in was the small exhibit with live bugs such as tarantulas and caterpillars and bees. One museum volunteer had a caterpillar out for kids to see up close and she was letting people put it on their hands for a few seconds. My mentee and I decided to see what it felt like, and while it wasn't slimy, it was very sticky!
So yeah we left around 3:30 PM and got lost on the way back again... when we finally got back to Carlisle I was so exhausted, I went to bad at 11 PM. On a Saturday! I really do enjoy Dreamcatchers though, despite the stressful trip. As an end of the semester get together, we are apparently going to watch The Polar Express in 3D with the mentees and their families. I actually really like that movie even though a lot of people are creeped out by the graphics.
And oh of course New Moon came out yesterday and literally everyone I know (well all the girls I know at least) has already seen it! I'm disappointed I wasn't able to go yesterday but I had a paper to email to a professor at midnight (this would be my scary seminar professor who shall remain nameless) so I wasn't able to do much unfortunately.
And of course I've been swamped with papers and projects and after Thanksgiving, it will only get worse because I will have all my final papers/exams/projects deadlines looming. I'm looking forward to going home for a few days and relaxing... but I will probably have to do some kind of work/have a serious talk with the parents about my future. Ugh, I hate growing up! It's so scary and intimidating. Aren't there any self help books about this? Transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood?
Added later:
And as you can tell I'm writing this post on another day because I am actually home now until Sunday! Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we all ate a wonderful meal complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, brussel sprouts (which I did not touch), pumpkin bread... and dessert had pumpkin cheese cake, some kind of chocolate cake, apple pie and yeah we were spoiled! It was low key this year and not very crowded. Mom's sister's family is in Puerto Rico celebrating my aunt's birthday (I think?) so it was just my family plus el primo frances and my mom's brother's family and my uncle's college roommate. Oh and the dog, we brought him along which we probably shouldn't have because he basically feasted all day long on crumbs and kept trying to eat the appetizers on the low table pre-dinner.
In sad news, a family friend passed away last Monday, a day before I came home. The place where we went for the wake was the same place we had the wake for Grandpa 3 years ago so it brought back a lot of sad memories. Nobody likes going to wakes or funerals because if you are directly part of the grieving family, it's obviously hard. If you are a family friend unrelated to the family, it's always kind of awkward because you never know what to say. Asking "How are you doing?" is sort of useless because obviously the family members are mourning. Death in general pretty much sucks. Yet it's still a part of life so it's not something we can ignore either. I know the family will get through this because as they say, time heals all wounds. And while I've always been on the fence in what exactly I believe religion wise, I'm sure that particular family member is definitely in a better place now. May he rest in peace.
Other than that, I've seen a few friends, seen some movies, and been ignoring my homework. I finally saw New Moon and it's definitely an improvement of Twilight! The girl who plays Bella pretty much pouts and stays depressed throughout the whole movie just like in Twilight but it's the actor who plays Jacob, Taylor Lautner, who steals the show. There were literally gasps and whistles when he first ripped off his shirt. The actor is only 17 in real life but that's not stopping me from crushing on him! I've decided Robert Pattinson, the guy who plays Edward, is too moody and emo for my liking. And I obviously will go see Eclipse and Breaking Dawn when they come out in theaters, I am a Twilight fan after all even though I recognize that the books aren't that well written. There are a bunch of other issues as well but for the most part, I've been sucked into the Twilight universe.
In other campus news, not only do we keep getting email updates about prowlers sneaking into student housing, but a girl was attacked in front of the library around 2 AM early Tuesday morning. Some sketchy guy wearing a hoodie grabbed the girl and threatened to kill her. (I swear nearly all student/Carlisle resident altercations involve the perpetrator wearing a hoodie) Around that same time, I was actually at Fast Eddie's (I know I vowed never to go there again however it was nearly devoid of townies on a Monday night) celebrating a friend's 21st bday. I ended up getting driven home that night and it's probably just as well considering the attack. The girl managed to escape and immediately notified DPS/Carlisle police. Honestly this really scares me because the library is a very public, very central location on campus. A lot of the email alerts we get involve students walking to parties off campus/to the bars and getting accosted by sketchy weirdos preying on students, hoping to steal their wallets. However every once in awhile the confrontations get violent and I remember sophomore year a student was "knifed" right by where I used to walk to and from the clay art studio.
I live on the fringe of campus, close to the Carlisle residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, our campus is located smack in the middle of Carlisle, it's not off to the side of the community like a lot of small liberal arts schools. Relations between the Carlisle community and the students aren't that great, to be honest. Dickinson is a great school and if it weren't for the school, there is no way I would ever think to actually live there. It's in the middle of absolute nowhere. The town has gotten better over the years and it's not as bad as you'd think (I've gotten used to its weirdness). However every once in awhile something ridiculous happens and let's just say I'm happy to be getting away from the town once I graduate.
Oh and a professor is suspected of child pornography... yeah it's been exciting at Dickinson. Can't say so much for my hometown though, pretty much the same as ever. And that's probably a good thing. I have to say though, I keep forgetting how big the houses are here! Whenever I come home I keep thinking all the big houses are new when they actually aren't. Houses in Carlisle are smaller and I forget I come from a community of McMansions.
Anyways this was a much needed break. Only a few more weeks of torturous classes and then I am free until the end of January!
Now I'm going to go google image pictures of Taylor Lautner to add to my computer.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody and may everybody count their blessings!
Amelie
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