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!