Get connected!

Congratulations to our first accepted students to the Oxford College class of 2014! We are excited to add you to our wonderful Oxford family! I encourage you to sign up for one of our Spring for Oxford Events that are coming up in April. These events include a tour of campus and a student panel, and really give students a look into all that Oxford has to offer. Register for one of our Spring for Oxford events by clicking here. I also encourage you to interact with current Oxford students and other accepted students by joining the Oxford College of Emory University Class of 2014 group on Facebook- check out our group! Here you can post questions and introduce yourselves to fellow future classmates. There are many other ways to interact with current Oxford College students and get connected with the Oxford community. Happy Holidays!

Winter break is so close!

Only 3 days until I return home. The only things standing in my way from heading back to the Big Apple are two finals: Genetics and Calculus. I still have some studying to do for both, but I have been feeling well about both finals.

Of course, I have the last final this semester (no, really, I have the very last final slot). Some students have already gone home for the winter break. I'm a bit jealous, not going to lie. Once these two finals are done, I have winter break to look forward to!

So, over the next few days I shall be studying, cleaning my room and packing for winter break.

Happy Holidays!

Peace and love,
Lizzy

December Notes

Finals are here and our students at Oxford are studying hard! The holiday break is coming up which means decisions for Early Action applicants are coming out soon. You may view your decision online via your OPUS account tomorrow. For instructions on how to log in, click here. Congratulations to our first accepted students to the Oxford Class of 2014!

A group of students will be returning to Oxford early for Dr. McQuaide's Social Problems class, which examines various societal issues in the Atlanta area. Some of the places the students visit are a battered women's shelter, a homeless shelter, a geriatric facility, a waste water treatment plant, and they also have the opportunity to ride along with a police officer in one of the most dangerous areas in Atlanta. These experiences in the field allow them a first hand look into the different social problems that are right in our backyard.

Check back for more information about the Social Problems class and other happenings with Oxford students during the holidays!

Finals week!

This morning I took my first final: Chemistry. I felt it went well. Now I only have two more exams (on of my classes doesn't have a final - Thank you, Dr. Stutz!!). My next two finals are not until next week, so I have ample time to study for both of them.

And then, after my last final, I'll be heading home!! Yay! So excited! I'll be going to visit my high school and spending time with friends and family. And sleeping! Lots! Haha.

I just discovered this great website. Perhaps the college bookstore cannot take back your textbook, because the professor is using a different edition. Or you know you will not be keeping the textbook after this semester. Well, no fear! www.chegg.com is the answer!

www.chegg.com/buyback/ They’ll pay you top dollar for your books, like $40 each – and no lines because it’s online. Chegg even pays the shipping and plants a tree for every book you sell.

How about the fact I have a promo code CC107355 that gets you an extra $5 with your order?

Go to www.chegg.com/buyback/, you can get your used textbooks sold now.

Two and a Half Weeks left

There are only two and a half weeks left in the semester - that's it. Well, only two and a half weeks of classes left.

I have finished most of my exams for November (except a take home Anthro exam due next Tuesday), so now I just have papers to write. Yay! -Not really.

This weekend is going to be quite busy - lots of homework to finish up. Other than that, I'll be going to an information session on Genetics Counseling. I am considering a career in it, so I'm quite excited. Then on Sunday, my Anthropology professor is taking some scholars to the High Museum to see Leonardo da Vinci exhibit and get some lunch.

I will definitely blog soon about the information session and the High Museum soon!

Peace and love,
Lizzy

What happened to the fall?

So, I've realized that the fall season is almost over and it is quite daunting. Not too many weeks left in the semester.

This past weekend was enjoyable. Friday evening I had a "Liz night" - just a night all to myself. I took myself out to dinner at the local coffeehouse. Then I returned to my dorm where I watched Ugly Betty and read a book that was not connected any of my academic classes. It was so nice and relaxing. I snuggled in my snuggie (yes, I have a snuggie - it is amazing and reasonably priced when purchased from Wal-Mart) and enjoyed my alone time.

Saturday I headed into Atlanta to see the Ad Hoc musical: The Apple Tree. Ad Hoc is the student group on at Emory College that puts on a musical each semester. Anyways, I went to the Atlanta campus to meet up with a friend of mine who attended Oxford last year and is now a junior at Emory College. After the show (which was fabulous!), my friend and I got dressed for Halloween and joined some others to have a little Halloween shindig. We decided to watch Clue, the 1985 film, and eat lots of candy.

Now I am getting ready for lots and lots of work. I have one exam on Friday: Chemistry. Next week I have three exams: Genetics, Calculus and Biological Anthropology. Late nights are definitely in my near future, that is for sure.

But when all these exams are over, Fall Formal at the Fox Theater is on Friday! At least I have something to look forward to at the end of all this stress.

Now I must return to homework and studying...

Peace and love,
Lizzy

Half of the Semester is OVER!

Fall Break is over. Midterms are still going on. Only two months before winter break. It's crazy how fast the year goes by. It's already October 16th! I'll be flying home in two months after I finish my finals. I still have to finish research for my genetics class and write a paper!

Anyways. Last weekend was Fall Break. I went home to visit my parents and relax at home. I did absolutely no work. I figured, "Hey, I've been working my butt off, I could use some 'Liz time.'" I was able to catch up on Gossip Girl and Glee. I also went to pick apples with my parents (a family tradition we do every fall). I saw a Broadway show: Finian's Rainbow. It was good. Cheyanne Jackson was the reason I went - I've seen him in two other productions, he has an amazing voice. Also, I had my favorite sampling of NYC food: Greek, pizza, pastrami sandwich, Druze and Pinkberry!

Next week is going to be a lot more hectic for me - two exams and a paper, plus Oxford Studies event. This weekend will be hectic too! Two visitation days for prospective students, along with Mr. Oxford (I'm escorting a friend of mine) and all the studying!

It's still the weekend, though!

Peace and love,
Lizzy

A New Year!

Greetings!

Welcome to my first official blog of the new school year!

As opposed to the summer, my school year here at Oxford has so far been anything but uneventful. I came back and was instantly thrown into the wild circus that is orientation. I helped move the new freshmen into their dorms, participated in a bunch of the meet-and-greet activities and acted as a ref in the Oxford Olympics. The Olympics were a series of games that pitted each of the residential hall floors against each other. The games included tug-of-war, water balloon tossing, inflatable obstacle courses,and relay races with kids bikes. Basically, the whole spectacle was like a game show from the early days of Nickelodeon (and I mean that as a definite positive--I grew up on that stuff). Overall, the games were a lot of fun and got everyone REALLY excited about Oxford.

In addition to Orientation, I also spent time training for my two new jobs on campus. As a Writing Tutor, I underwent a four hour training session on a Sunday. It wasn't actually as bad as you'd think; we ended up cracking a lot of jokes (Dr. Ivey, our supervisor, is awesome) and engaging in several interesting discussions on what we believed to be the qualities of "good writing." As one the new SAA Coordinator, me and my three colleagues went on a two day retreat (or ADVANCE, as our boss preferred to call it) where we ate great food, went tubing on the lake, and even got to ride a jet ski. Overall, definitely the best Oxford retreat I've ever been on.

After Orientation, we were all through right into classes. This year I'm taking Spanish 101 (to fulfill my language requirements, a religion class focusing on the sacred texts of world religions, a poetry course, and a course in statistics. They are all challenging in their own way and I am never without some form of homework.

Besides my school work and jobs, I'm also participating in our Drama Guild's production of Thorton Wilder's Our Town. We're still in the early stages of development, but rehearsals are demanding and require a lot of time and focus.

Last week was a particularly stressful one with tests, papers, quizzes, and assignments galore. I'm glad its over now, but I still feel exhausted by all the work I had to do. I'm taking this weekend to recuperate and try to get an early start on some future assignments so I'm not as pressed for time.

Friday night, I ended up ordering a large stuffed-crust pizza from Pizza Hut and watching a rerun of the first episodes of two new shows: "FlashForward" and "Modern Family." Both were incredible and I can't wait for future episodes. I also rewatched "Double Indemnity," one of my favorite movies of all time. I even rented the first season of "Flight of the Conchords" from the Oxford library. All of this served to give me a weekend filled with laughter and high-fat, greasy fun (thanks to the pizza).

Well, that about does it for me. Until next time!

Shows seen this weekend:

FlashForward-Pilot (8/10)
Modern Family-Pilot (8.5/10)
Wonderfalls (8/10)-a highly entertaining but sadly canceled-before-its-time show from Bryan Fuller (the mastermind behind Pushing Daisies).
Flight of the Conchords (9/10)
Heroes-Fourth Season Premiere (6.5/10)
Glee-(7.5/10)

Summer's End

HOLA!

Well, my summer is coming to a close and soon I will be back at Oxford's campus.

This summer has certainly been a roller coaster of sorts. I spent a few weeks traveling through Mexico as part of a medical mission trip. The weather was surprisingly mild and I was dismayed to return to Louisiana only to be greeted by the miserable, suffocating humidity.

Aside from my little voyage through Mexico, my summer has been fairly non eventful. I've certainly watched a lot of movies and--thanks to the magic of TV series on DVDs--I am now addicted to a whole new range of shows. I watched the first two seasons of "Heroes," the first season of "Battlestar Galactica," the first season of "Breaking Bad," the first season of "Mad Men," and the whole three seasons of "Friday Night Lights" (a show I cannot even begin to sing the praises of).

As for movies, I recently saw "District 9" in theatres. Though it tried to be several styles at once and was a bit too conventional at times, it was an audacious, creative, and gutsy movie that never traded preachiness for entertainment (as I had long feared when I read about it beforehand). I'd highly recommend it (though not for the squeamish).

I hope everyone is having an excellent summer and I will see you at campus!

Retreating in the summer

A few weeks ago I saw an ad for a Young Adults Retreat put together by the Diocese of Palm Beach in the area where I am staying this summer. I was not offered a job in the area and figured I could use some retreat time and signed up the weekend.

It was fabulous. The grounds for the retreat were absolutely gorgeous, the staff were inviting and the food was, well, actually delicious (a strange commodity for retreat centers). I was able to rejuvenate and spend some time with God over the weekend. I even had the 4am-5am chapel shift for adoration, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I met some fabulous people and was able to learn more about my faith, and in turn, myself.

Classes done, real summer now

My one summer class has finished and now I can enjoy summer. You know, driving with the windows down, blasting music, staying up late, going to the beach - the norm.

Overall, Introduction to International Politics was good. The books for the class were interesting. I still prefer classes at Oxford College. I also discovered I could never be a commuter student. I enjoy living on campus too much. I had to commute for 45 minutes each way to class. Sure, I missed the NYC subway from high school, but I did not like commuting to my college class. Dorm life is just too much fun. Why you may ask: 1) living on campus means you are close to all of your classes (especially at Oxford), 2) everyone else is around to study and chill with (all the kids in my class commuted, so we really didn't form relationships because everyone was heading home, work or another class), 3) it's hard to study at home after you leave for college, because all you want to do is hang out with your friends, watch television or sleep -- not study.

So now I'm on the hunt for a job which is very difficult with the economy the way it is. Hopefully something will come up soon!

Two Weeks Down, Three To Go...

I only have three weeks left of my summer class. That's crazy. We're going extremely fast (plus we meet four days a week, three hours each time (well, the professor normally lets us out early because he does not want to lecture for three hours straight, but still!)).

I took my first exam in the class last week. Did pretty well on it. Considering the exam was the antithesis of what the professor said it would be. Next Monday is test two and a pop quiz is coming up this week.

I am really enjoying reading the New York Times everyday. In first semester I only had to read Monday through Friday, but now I have to read the weekend too. Then in class we discuss what is going on in the world that day for 30 to 40 minutes. We find the actors in each situation and how it affects politics.

We just started a new book too! The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Interesting... even though the argument is very general and the facts that Huntington uses to back his argument are a bit sloppy. BUT it does attack Westernization and addresses challenges that the world faced and continues to face in the Post-Cold War.

The book we read last week, Why Nations Go To War by John Stoessinger was my favorite so far. I like Stoessinger's argument that international conflict is created by the individuals in power (egs. Stalin and Hitler = WWII, Ho Chi Minh and five different American Presidents = Vietnam War, etc.). If you can find it at the library (because the paperback costs a fortune, just borrow it from the library), you should read it. It goes into who the individuals were in power and their personalities. Quite interesting! There's a good chapter on the Arab-Israeli conflict and "Afterthoughts: Fifty Years Later" an additional conclusion to the conflict in Korea.

Well, Huntington awaits!

Peace,
Lizzy

Summer, Thus Far...

Well, it looks as though this will be my first blog entry for the summer of 2009.

First of all, school's been out since early May. I really enjoyed my first year at Oxford, but I was ready to get back home and see my family. Of course, after about a week or so of doing nothing, I was ready to get out of the house. Unfortunately,my plan for a summer job fell threw and I had to start reapplying and rapidly searching for any available positions. I wanted to put off this blog entry until something EXCITING actually happened to me. However, aside from watching a few good movies and catching up on a lot of I'll-get-to-that-when-I-have-more-time reading, nothing really notable has happened.

This all changed last week.

First of all, I managed to get a job working on a website for Willis Knighton, a local hospital. I'll also be helping to work on a building project and I'll be helping doctors sort through and examine stacks of legal documents thicker than a manuscript of 'War and Peace' in large print (that part is not so fun).

Then, last Friday, I headed down to Baton Rouge to see a series concert being put on at LSU. There were a lot of good acts, but the one we came to see was Tyler Read, a band from my hometown. In the mood for straight-forward,ridiculously catchy rock songs? Look this band up!

Finally, I am currently writing this entry from a cabin in Jackson, Wyoming. I'll be staying here with my family all this week. Today, we went hiking up through Jenny Lake. Tomorrow, we head out to visit and hike through Yellowstone (hoping to spot Yogi!). We'll also be white-water rafting at some point (one of my all-time favorite activities).

Well, that's all I have for now. For anyone reading this blog, please let me know what your summer plans are!

Lastly, here's a list of the notable movies and books I've finished this summer.

Movies:
Mouchette
Duck Soup
Taken
The Devil and Daniel Webster
Children of Paradise (anyone interested in film MUST see this movie. It's simply incredible)

Books:
The Film Club: A Memoir by David Gilmour
Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose
Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (an amazing book; makes me remember why I want to be a writer)
Old School by Tobias Wolff

First Day of Class

So, I'm taking a summer class at Fordham College this summer: Introduction to International Politics. Today was the first day of class. Syllabus day! I love it. That way I can plan out the rest of the semester (or in this case, the next five weeks). I have a lot of reading to do though... The professor wants the New York Times read, which is not really an issue -- I had to do that for PoliSci 101 with Shapiro and I love to read the New York Times. My high school would supply seniors with free issues everyday -- that I miss from high school. Otherwise, there's a lot of reading to do. I have to read Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History by Joseph S. Nye. I had already started reading it before the class began (I purchased all my books from the class last week - which is also another favorite day of mine during the semester, when I purchased all my books). The book seems interesting so far and to the point, which is good.

Well, I must be off to reading... International Conflict. The State of Nature. Woo! John Locke!