/rwuexperience/freshman en kpeters250@hawks.rwu.edu Copyright 2008 2008-05-22T20:17:00-05:00 /site/final_days/ /site/final_days/#When:20:17:00Z First off, let me express my frustration. I finished this blog...it was perfect! And then, for some reason, I must have exited out of the window because my blog was nowhere to be found when I went to save it. AAAHHH. I was quite angry when I discovered this. So, the following blog will probably not be quite as amazing as the one that I previously wrote because now I am not as excited to write it. Please bear with me! Well, as opposed to other blogs, I am writing this one from the comfort of my own room...at home! Yes, that means that I successfully made it through the rest of the semester. I had some late nights, but I got all of my projects and papers done, some even ahead of time, which feels great, by the way. I definitely recommend not procrastinating. It is such a great stress reliever! I was busy, busy, busy the last few days. I don’t know how I would have survived if I’d been procrastinating...wouldn’t have been pretty. So now let’s go back in time...back to Spring Weekend, which was the last weekend in April. It was awesome! The weekend started on Thursday, with a concert by Dropkick Murphys and Common. I didn’t go, but a lot of my friends did, and from what I hear, it was a great concert. And it was also sold out! I knew a lot of people that waited too long to get tickets...they wanted to kick themselves when they realized that they’d missed their chance. Friday night was another Chameleon Club, which I must say wasn’t as fun as the first one that I went to. Regardless, I still had a good time, and it gave everyone a chance to loosen up and forget about all the work that they had to do. On Saturday, the lawn between the Commons and the architecture building was transformed into a fair. There was a stage, where a Dave Matthews cover band, a student band, and dance club members performed throughout the day. The fair also had several rides and attractions, Del’s lemonade, hot dogs, cotton candy, and DOUGHBOYS. The line for the doughboys was realllllyy long, but the fried dough that I got out of the deal was well worth the wait. Another thing that you could to at the fair was tie-dye a Spring Weekend towel. Many people participated in this activity, so there were tie-dyed towels hanging to dry all along the edge of the fairgrounds. I went with my roommate and another friend, and we had a great time, even though it was kinda cold. Later that night, everyone gathered on the grass behind the New Academic Building to watch a fireworks display out on the water. The fireworks marked the end of the Spring Weekend festivities, which was a bit depressing. But, all good things must come to an end at some point, and on Sunday, the reality of school set in.  I am now going to tell you what my last full day of school was like… 1. Shower 2. Turned in Critical Writing research paper (that paper was a major pain) 3. Food 4. Talked to IRHA advisors about Late Night Breakfast 5. Finished and turned in Typography project (a Monty Python accordion book) 6. Went back to housing office to meet with IRHA advisors 7. Made name tags for Late Night Breakfast 8. Rushed to room to change for Student Leadership Banquet 9. Went to Student Leadership Banquet 10. Ate food 11. Listened to awards ceremony 12. Slipped out early to go back to my room 13. Quickly put on jeans and IRHA t-shirt 14. Went to Upper Commons to prepare for Late Night Breakfast 15. Served food/oversaw servers at Late Night Breakfast 16. Helped clean up 17. Went back to my room for a short break 18. Ran to Lower Commons with my roommate to get food, only to find that it had JUST CLOSED 19. Searched online to find a food place that was open, but there weren’t any 20. Celebrated the last night at school with my roommate by enjoying a bottle of sparkling grape juice 21. Had a gathering in my room with my roommate and some guys from my unit. They played cards. I watched. 22. Discovered (around 4 AM) that my student ID, bus pass, and debit card were missing!!! 23. Frantically retraced my steps to and from Lower Commons, finding only a few of my receipts. 24. Went to bed, very discouraged. I woke up a few hours later to start packing. My dad soon showed up, and we began loading the car. Around midday, I got a call from the ID office. All 3 of my cards had been turned in!! I was soooo relieved. After everything in my room had been moved to the car, my dad and I had lunch in Lower Commons, and I picked up my cards at the ID office. We left shortly after, and I said a silent goodbye to the campus, my home away from home. It turns out that I passed all of my classes with flying colors, and now I am no longer a freshman! So, this is my last blog entry. BUT, that doesn’t mean that you can no longer email me. Don’t be afraid to write to me with any questions that you might have about RWU. I will be happy to answer them! To all of you high schoolers, I hope you all come to RWU so that you can have the same experience that I’ve had. And to all of you future freshmen that are coming to RWU...see you at orientation! Ciao, Katie You didn’t think that I’d leave you all without posting pictures, did you? First comedian from the stand-up show that now seems long ago… Aries Spears! (the second comedian) Spring Weekend decorations Same (note the poles) Self-explanatory Ready for Chameleon Club! Scenes from Spring Weekend… Student Leadership Banquet We stole pie from other tables at the banquet, so we had quite a collection going A final word to everyone… HAVE A FANTASTIC SUMMER! 2008-05-22T20:17:00-05:00 /site/classes_coming_to_a_close/ /site/classes_coming_to_a_close/#When:06:14:00Z Sorry for not writing sooner, but this has been, by far, the busiest time of this school year, and that’s saying something. I have had a lot due, as well as tests in abundance. Today (or should I say yesterday, since it’s past 2 in the morning right now) I wrote an 8 page paper and put together a presentation for my Aesthetics class. BLAH. I am ready for everything to be over. However, tomorrow (or should I say today) I am going to finish a 12ish page research paper and work on a design project. Despite all of this work, the end is definitely near. I leave on Wednesday, but I’ll definitely be busy up to the last second, including Tuesday, which is the day of the Student Leadership/Involvement Banquet and Late Night Breakfast, a program that I happen to be helping plan (basically it’s breakfast from 9-11 PM in the dining hall...TONS of people come). I know that I haven’t put up pictures for a long time, and I even have a lot more to say, so I promise that I will fill you all in AND post pictures when I get home. However, right now, I need to finish work for my Lit/Phil class and then perhaps get some sleep. Ciao, Katie 2008-05-04T06:14:00-05:00 /site/two_weeks_to_go/ /site/two_weeks_to_go/#When:05:44:00Z It’s hard to believe that I’m going to have to give up my position as Freshman Blogger soon because I’m not going to be a freshman anymore! The end of the semester is drawing near...I have about two more weeks of classes to go! My last day of classes is May 6th. And, I am fortunate enough to have absolutely NO FINALS! So, I am leaving on the 7th, which is just around the corner. Even though I don’t have any finals, I have a lot to do in the next few weeks. To make up for not having a final, each of my teachers has instead assigned either a project or a paper, so I have a lot on my plate. To make room for all of these assignments, I have been finishing up other work that has to be done by the end of the semester. In the past few days, I’ve written four papers! Not fun...but I feel very relieved to have them all done. I think my life would turn into a nightmare if I saved them for last minute. I would have to find time to work on them on top of all of my final assignments. One of my friends from home came to visit me this weekend. It was so much fun! We found a lot to do in Providence. Our only regret was that she wasn’t able to stay longer. Then, we could’ve spent some time at a beach and maybe even walked around Newport. Oh well. There’s always next year. Besides, the weather was fantastic! Speaking of weather, it’s been amazing lately. The temperature has been rising, and it seems like all I’ve been seeing is sun. As I’ve said before, winter at RWU might not be the greatest, but summer is amazing. Spring Weekend is coming up next weekend. Dropkick Murphys and Common are coming to perform, and there will also be Chameleon Club and a fair-type event (King Roger themed this year...so I think it will be kind of medieval?). I will be sure to write about it when it’s all over. I will also post pictures of it, although that might not happen until I find a lull in my workload. We shall see...but anyways, that’s all for now. I always seem to write late at night, so now I need some sleep. Ciao, Katie 2008-04-21T05:44:00-05:00 /site/warm_what/ /site/warm_what/#When:04:28:00Z Let me start by saying that today was BEAUTIFUL. The sun was shining...it wasn’t the least bit cloudy...and it’s now the middle of the night, and it still hasn’t dropped below 50!!! Seriously, it was sooo warm...must have been mid 60s...absolutely GORGEOUS. I celebrated by wearing a skirt and flip flops and a t-shirt. It felt so freeing to not have to throw on a jacket. Lately, it hasn’t been able to stay in the 50s. We’ve been having a lot of mid 40s days. However, things are looking up! The next week or so is looking slightly warmer, although maybe not as warm as today. You might be thinking, wow. Why on earth is this girl going on and on about the weather...? Well, when you have to walk everywhere, often a fairly long distance, you care what the weather is like. Anyways, I have been busy as usual. I know...I still haven’t gotten to those pictures of the stand-up comedy show...but I swear that I’ll get around to posting them eventually. Last weekend, I again wandered around Cedar with one of my friends. It has become a bit of a tradition. I’ve met a lot of new people that way, and you have no idea how fun it is, lame as it sounds. Really, we just walk around the halls, stopping from time to time at people’s rooms to say hi or have a little chat. On Tuesday of this week, I attended the Spring Dance Show for Dance Club. It was a lot of fun, but I forgot to bring my camera, so sorry...no pictures. Any girls (or boys...boys were in it too) who like to dance (any kind...including hip hop), Dance Club would be perfect for you! You might even have the opportunity to choreograph a dance, which can be very satisfying. I am also excited to say that I was elected the Public Relations Co-Chair for next year for IRHA (Inter Residence Hall Association), so I will be making a lot of the advertisements and such to promote IRHA events. It’s going to be awesome!! Hopefully I can come up with a lot of cool designs that will draw big crowds to our IRHA events (because they’re always a blast). IRHA is an awesome org, and everyone coming here next year should most definitely join! Well, I hate to say it, but I gotta run. I’ve got laundry to deal with...great thing to do on a Thursday night (oh, Friday morning..whatever), am I right? Ciao, Katie 2008-04-11T04:28:00-05:00 /site/back_at_school/ /site/back_at_school/#When:02:57:00Z Well, I can seriously say that my spring break was pretty boring. Sure, I slept a lot. But, most of my friends had break the week before, so I didn’t really have anyone to spend time with. That and I was too lazy to leave my house. I had wanted to go skiing, but it never happened. I was going to go with my brother and his girlfriend, but they decided that they didn’t want to go, so I was left with nobody to go with. Sorry if all of that sounds depressing...I guess you could say that surprisingly enough, I am happy to be back at school. There’s so much more to do! The air is warming up little by little. The temperature has crept into the 50s several times, which is really exciting. All of us here at RWU are ready for summer weather! This past weekend was beautiful. Sunny and warm (well, not REALLY warm). With the weather came high school seniors and their parents for Accepted Students Days. Figures that the weather would be perfect while they were all here. If only they knew...ok, so I don’t mean to scare anyone. The weather isn’t TERRIBLE. It just can get really windy and rainy. However, I’m surviving, which means you can too. **Note to incoming freshmen: If you bring an umbrella and attempt to use it, I almost guarantee that you’ll break it in some way.** I had a heavy workload this past week. What really messed up my work schedule was a play that I had to attend for Aesthetics called Orpheus Descending. It was on a Wednesday night. I left campus around 7:15 and didn’t get back to my room until 10:45! Luckily, the play was good, but my heart dropped when I realized how much work I had to do when I got back. Let’s just say that I was up until almost 4 in the morning finishing an assignment for Typography. As I look ahead to all of the projects I have coming up before the semester ends, I’m starting to get a little nervous. I have some big, time consuming assignments that I’m going to have to do. I only hope that I’ll have enough time to complete them all.  Friday night was great. My friend and I wandered around Cedar. I kept running into people I knew, and through them, I met some new people, and it was just a lot of fun. Saturday night was also awesome. Aries Spears and another guy came to do some stand up comedy. They were hilarious. I barely stopped laughing. For those of you who don’t know, Aries Spears is a comedian who is on Mad TV, Comedy Central, and in several movies, including Jerry Maguire. He’s also going to be co-staring in a movie with Snoop Dogg! I feel bad that I don’t remember the other guy’s name, but he was really funny too. Time for me to do some work. I will post pictures from the show later. Keep it real, Katie 2008-03-31T02:57:00-05:00 /site/chameleon_club_birthday_and_spring_break/ /site/chameleon_club_birthday_and_spring_break/#When:23:44:00Z Hey, all! A lot has happened since I last wrote (yet again..).  Chameleon Club was the week before last. For those of you who don’t know what it is, Chameleon Club happens four times (I think) a year. It is like a huge dance...I would guess about half the school shows up. There is always a theme. This time, it was the Seven Deadly Sins. Even though Cham. Club had happened twice before this year, I had never gone because I was always away. So, this was my first time going, and I had a BLAST. I dressed as wrath and went with a big group of friends. Altogether, we accounted for all seven sins several times over. However, I made the mistake of wearing heels, and by the time I was walking back to my room, I thought my feet would fall off because they hurt like crazy. My birthday was last week...right smack in the middle of the busiest week of my semester thus far. It was such a stressful day, and I never had a free moment, but somehow it turned out to be an awesome birthday. I got several cards from my friends, including a huge one that was signed by a bunch of people, and everyone sang to me at both of the meetings that I happened to have that day. I felt very loved. Even people I knew that I just happened to walk by remembered that it was my birthday and wished me all the best. Later that night, my roommate ordered pizza, and we celebrated by eating...and eating...and eating some more. Haha. It was a good time! Last Friday marked the last day of classes before spring break. It was quite a relief when I was done for the day and knew that I would be home by the end of the day. Still, I had to get a lot done before I could relax. I had two tests last week, including one for my mass media class...my last class of the day on Fridays! I also had a major design project due. Everything together created a lot of work and a lot less sleep, but I just continued to work steadily, and I got everything done. Now I am back in Maine...where there’s SNOW on the ground! At school, it has snowed once in a while, but the snow has melted almost immediately. Here in Maine, there are huge, ugly snowbanks everywhere, and it’s very depressing. Still, it’s nice to spend some time with my family, and my cat and dog are delighted to have me around. I have been doing a lot of sleeping and relaxing, but soon I must get back into school mode. Today, I figured out my schedule for next semester (ALREADY, I know! Time flies!). I am also going to have to write a paper for Aesthetics and start planning a research proposal for Critical Writing. The work never seems to end...but I guess that’s what one should expect in college...and life in general. Anyways, I hope everyone’s week is going well! If you have any questions, just shoot me an email! Ciao, Katie 2008-03-19T23:44:00-05:00 /site/pictures_and_such/ /site/pictures_and_such/#When:04:38:00Z Hey, everyone! I am excited to announce that I got the OA job! Soooo...any high school seniors who are coming here next year will probably see me this summer. Be excited. I did not, however, get the RA job. There were a lot of applicants for a small amount of positions, so it’s not a huge surprise. Still, it’s disappointing, and I wonder if I would have had better luck if the people doing the selecting actually knew me. It’s tough when you are trying to select people based on very limited knowledge of them. I have been working what seems like nonstop on papers and typography projects. What a busy semester! But the work is satisfying. Although I go to bed each night completely drained of energy, I am always happy. I love college. Just wait until you get here...it’s way better than high school. I can’t tell you that enough times. Well, I don’t have much to say. I went up to Massachusetts this past weekend to see my brother and his girlfriend. My family came down from Maine, as well. It was nice to see everyone, and it was right around my little sister’s birthday, so we were able to celebrate it as a family. I think my sister enjoyed that. Oh! I have also started attending power yoga classes. The first time I went (a month or so ago), I was a little skeptical, and I felt ridiculous and laughed a lot...probably a little too much. But I’m used to yoga now, and it’s actually quite a workout, while being relaxing at the same time. I am determined to stick with it, considering I don’t get much exercise apart from it. And now for the promised pictures… Pictures from the Recycled Percussion concert: I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT I WENT TO SEE Will Ferrell’s Funny or Die Comedy Tour at URI a few weeks ago. It was AWESOME. The standup guys were great. The ride home was a little scary, though. The roads were bad because it was snowing quite a bit. Will Ferrell! Will Arnett! Will Ferrell on a Jazzy Nick Swardson! (standup comedian and actor-->ex. Grandma’s Boy) 2008-03-05T04:38:00-05:00 /site/end_of_february/ /site/end_of_february/#When:03:47:00Z It’s amazing to think that I have already been back for about five weeks. Time flies, probably because I am having such a good time. To any of you who were awaiting another blog post (few and far between, I’m sure), I apologize that it’s been such a long time. I am still recovering from my illness, although it has now been reduced to a persistent cough and a stuffy nose. The past week has also been very busy. In the end, though, I’ll admit that I have to take all responsibility for not writing, although I will say that forgetfulness has been an issue. Where to begin? I have so much to cover. Ok, going back to to Friday, February 8, I went to a performance of a group called Recycled Percussion. Two of the guys were drummers who banged on trash, one guy played an electric guitar, and another guy was a DJ. The performance was at RWU, so I didn’t have to go very far to see it, and it was FREE for students! The show was put on by the recycling/green group on campus to kick off the start of RecycleMania. RecycleMania is a national college-level recycling competition that RWU is entered in. We’ll have to wait and see how Roger Williams does...I think we were ahead of URI at one point, which is good considering that we have fewer students. Anyways, Recycled Percussion puts on a great show. I managed to get one of the drumsticks that the group used, and I had them all sign it.  The following Friday, I was starting to feel quite sick. Against my better judgment, I went to the Cheesecake Factory (in the Providence Place mall) to celebrate one of my friends’ birthdays. Despite being sick, I had a great time. I had never been to the Cheesecake Factory before. It has great food, and DELICIOUS desserts! However, you can end up waiting a long time to get in. We were waiting for a table for over two hours! Granted, we had a large group, which was the main reason why it took so long. Last semester, I had very few tests. That has changed a little this semester. I have had two tests already, one in Aesthetics and one in Mass Media. Fortunately, I felt adequately prepared for both. However, I’ll admit that I forgot that I had a Mass Media test until about 1:30 the morning of. My free time leading up to the test was spent furiously going through notes, and it paid off, except for one theorist’s name that was very strange (Shanto Iyengar). How was I supposed to remember that, anyways?  This weekend has been extremely busy. I went on a retreat for SOAR, which is a leadership development program here on campus. The retreat was at a YMCA camp in Sandwich, MA. Nobody wanted to go because of the snow (and because it was a weekend). The buses went to the wrong summer camp. Why do bus drivers never seem to have a concrete sense of where they’re going? Anyways, we finally managed to find the RIGHT camp. Throughout the night and the next day, people’s restlessness and poor attitudes about missing a weekend began to melt away. Everyone actually started to have fun. We did a lot of activities that led us to question our values and beliefs. Also, there were a lot of group activities that allowed us to get to know one another, so we all made some new friends. The remainder of the program this semester will take place on Wednesdays. The goal of this stage of the program, Emerge, will be to help us understand more about ourselves. It should be really interesting. Today was spent at Baypoint, one of the off-campus housing options. I was there for OA group processing. Everyone who was applying to be an orientation adviser was there. We were put into groups, and we performed activities where they observed how we worked in groups. We also had personal interviews. Of about 60 applicants, only about 45 will get accepted. I hope I’m one of the lucky 45! Oh! I forgot to say that two weeks ago, I went through a similar process for becoming an RA, except that there are fewer RA spots available and a lot more applicants! So, please keep me in your thoughts! I want both positions...a lot. I will apologize now for not putting up any pictures right this second. I am very tired and have had a sleep-deprived weekend. I need to finish my homework and go to bed. BUT, I promise that when I have a little free time, I will put some pictures up. Ciao, Katie 2008-02-25T03:47:00-05:00 /site/long_weekend/ /site/long_weekend/#When:00:25:00Z Hey, everyone! I apologize for not writing sooner. I have been quite sick, and I am still not over whatever it is that I have. Basically, I haven’t left my bed for a while, so I haven’t even felt up to sitting at my computer. One could say that the downside to dorm life is catching every bug that passes through because living in close quarters exposes you to a lot of germs. I have been fortunate. This is really my first time being sick, not counting a brief cold that I got a few weeks ago. Anyways, I need to continue resting. So, I will write again in a few days. I have a lot to share! I just would not be able to write about it enthusiastically in my current state. -Katie 2008-02-18T00:25:00-05:00 /site/super_bowl_xlii_and_other_things/ /site/super_bowl_xlii_and_other_things/#When:00:49:00Z I had an awesome week last week. One of my classes was canceled three times in a row because my professor was sick, so I didn’t have that class the whole entire week! The extra time allowed me to eat lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when I normally would have had to skip lunch or have a really late lunch due to back-to-back classes.  I am really enjoying my typography class. I started off not knowing anyone in the class. All of my friends in design had registered for typography at another time or with another teacher. However, I am starting to get to know my typ. classmates a little better, and we are having a lot of fun. Our first project is due on Thursday, so hopefully I’ll be getting a sense of the teacher’s grading soon after. The weather here has been interesting. It was really cold and windy a couple of times and snowed once. Then, on Friday, it was cold, rainy, and very windy. Walking all the way to north campus was miserable! My pants got soaked, and they were icy cold. Luckily, one of my friends picked me up after class and drove me back to my dorm. Otherwise, I would have had an awful time walking back. Yesterday, on the other hand, was gorgeous! The temperature was in the mid 40s, and the sky was a brilliant blue. So, I guess fluctuating weather is just something that comes with the territory.  My weekend was fantastic. I went to Providence and then to Wheaton on Friday night and saw one of my friends from home. We saw Enchanted, which is a really cute movie. I spent the night in my room, but then I went back to Wheaton on Saturday and saw my friend dive against Bates and Tufts. Swim meets are really fun to watch, so I had a great time.  Sunday was spent thinking about the upcoming Super Bowl. I went to a nearby dorm to go to a party and watch the game. My friends ordered too much food, so we had tons lying around afterwards. That was one of the worst Super Bowls I have ever seen. I was so angry! How could the Patriots blow their perfect record like that? Job NOT well done. To all you Giants fans...congrats. At least I like Eli, so I guess the Pats loss wasn’t all that bad. No, actually it was. I screamed and yelled and generally looked murderous last night. Ok. That’s all for now. Ciao! -Katie here are some super duper Super Bowl party photos.. one of the multiple tables of delicious junk food. the tv.. before we knew the Pats were going to lose… not very happy about the outcome of the game.. 2008-02-05T00:49:00-05:00