Getting Involved

I took a cue from John Scholl and got involved...albeit a bit late. I wrote my first piece for the Chronicle and am into the full swing of Student Government..having meetings with the General Assembly, the Junior Cabinet, and the Student Awareness Committee each week. And the history club has its first meeting this Friday, kudos to Emily Zwart. My position with SGA came at the expense of John Scholl becoming more involved than he already is. I don't think he minds sharing the experience. Plus, elections for the fall are coming up just two weeks after spring break. I hope to see him running then.

My taekwondo class routinely kicks my ass. Intramural basketball is starting to heat up. We play Co-ed Division 2. Pretty much the bottom of the competitive ladder, but that hardly slows our intensity. Our team, The Frosted Mini Wheats, is 2-4 after starting 0-4. We;re starting to turn this thing around. If we make the final it's played at the TD Bank center. Believe me, I will be flooding your social media with pleas to come support us if we make it.

My point being, like my friend John it took me a while to "get involved". Actually, it took me even longer than it did him. It is well worth it. I didn't think I'd like staying busy, but it's been a nice change. I'm really having a good time with everything. Now if i could just motivate myself to give a damn about my Nutrition class...

Cheers

Jeremy

Spike Lee vs Daniel Taub

Type those names into Google (or Bing, but who the hell uses that unless you still use Microsoft IE and haven't changed the default?). Anyway, I doubt there are any results with both of those names in it. My point is, I went to see both speak this week knowing they were very different. I knew their respective presentations would be much different. I could not have imagined what I got though.

Spike Lee at Burt Kahn Court was pretty much full. The Black Student Union promoted like crazy, and it was a requirement for a lot of classes, mine included. If it wasn't, I would have been at Taylor Mali..that's for a different post though. Spike was so boring. So uninspiring. So cliche. So dumb. I was expecting something really off the wall. Something to provoke like Spike does. Instead his lecture sounded like a bunch of stuff you could read off of inspirational posters in your high school guidance councilor's office. His Q&A was a bit better, and everybody's mood seemed to be saved by his impersonation of Michael Jackson's voice and by the hilarious back and forth with the kid who asked to sit with him at the Knicks game the next day. Still, it was a waste of an evening.

Daniel Taub, the Principal Deputy Legal Adviser of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, talked to a room of about 40 people. About 15 of them were students. About 5 of them were undergraduate students. Not only was the talk less abstract, but had a clear direction, less cockiness in its delivery, and more weight in its message. It was a shame less of the Quinnipiac community was in attendance for it. Mr. Taub often represents the Israeli government on United States national media outlets as well as representing Israel in various negotiations with Palestine. As an interested party in international human rights law, United State and Israeli policy, and government at large, I got way more out of the Daniel Taub talk.

I'm still not sure how I feel about a certain point of Spike's talk. He said by 2035 the US census bureau predicts while Americans will no longer a majority race compared to all other races in the US. Okay, all well and good. Just a fact that shouldnt really cause a reaction of any sort from a person unless they saw life through a racial lens before all else. The BSU cheered.

Intro

Hi all, I apologize for being a little late with the intro. Here it goes: My name is Meghan. I'm from Hudson, New York (it's by Albany.) I am a junior at QU, dual majoring in English and Public Relations. I've been involved with The Chronicle since freshman year, and Quixotic, Quinnipiac's fairly new literary club, since last year. By the way, both are GREAT orgs made up of great people... for those of you disappointed in the cancellation of this semester's involvement fair and still looking for new experiences.

I'm not exactly sure the direction I'll take these posts but I jumped at the chance to contribute because blogging actually helped me get into QU. I had applied late and received notice I was put on the waiting list, but I had fallen in love with the campus and was crushed. So I posted on a blog I had with other students in my journalism classes about my "Quinnipiac Quandry" (I'm into alliteration) and the dean of admissions ended up seeing my blog, commenting on it, and very soon after that I was in! Other than that, I don't have much experience with blogging so I'll ask you to bear with me for a little.

Thanks! More soon.. --Meg

My First P0$T

I was in a similar place as John freshman year. Maybe not hate, but constantly wondering if there was somewhere I would better fit, if I could have achieved admittance to a university with a more established pedigree. It probably took me until the end of sophomore year that I would never be able to give up the friends I have made, and would not change my choice of Quinnipiac for the world.

Freshman year is stressful for a variety of reasons. On the other hand it is important to remember that every year of your life you think you know stress until the next year comes and you wonder how you were so naive to think you didn't have it easy.

There are a couple of important dates that most students become aware of when they arrive at college:
The first week: Honeymoon, everyone is awesome, everything is cool, meeting tons of new people everyday but ipso facto forgetting about tons of people just having met them.
3-5 weeks in: Hell week. Remember those nice people? Did they ever really exist?
Right before thanksgiving: Sorry ladies, Turkey Drop.
Right before winter break: Good riddance college! Finals are really hard when you're grown up, and by now you and your room/suite mates have inevitably had your first real fight.
Winter break: Wondering why you ever wanted to leave college in the first place? Home is just the same old people and everyone is telling stories about people that no one else knows. LAME.
After Winter Break: Relief to see your new, cooler friends, but there is more nagging in your minds with doubts. (On a personal note, I routinely suffer from what I refer to as Post-Christmas depression).
the whole effin' semester: (at a school in New England) Holy Shit winter is long. And the semester is dragging its feet right in turn.
At last! Spring! Wow, this completely redeems the whole year. Its hot, there are plenty of girls and boys showing plenty of skin, hanging out on the quad, the whole school it seems!
Right before the end of the year: Finals are the tough. Their stress adds to the pre-traumatic anticipation stress of knowing you have to leave everyone, including that person you've been hooking up with for awhile. (w/ a bf/gf is different, most of the time, and I honestly cannot say I know how it feels to return to someone after months, but I would imagine it creates a dichotomy between school and home life that must be just as stressful)

And there you go folks, a very general freshman year. Generally, this cycle is repeated to a lesser degree every year of college, because you meet new people in new housing situations, classes, etc.

What can you do to mitigate some of these stressors? Get Involved. Everyone has their own avenues, I too am in a fraternity; Sigma Phi Epsilon. (not sure that was an appropriate usage of a semi-colon) While some people choose to hate on other greek organizations, I have nothing but the utmost respect for ∆T∆ and their members, chapter, and philanthropic efforts. Some of the best people I know are delts. As long as you avoid TK∑ you should be fine! Just kidding, seriously just go with what makes you happy.
Making friends is the most important part of college. I routinely make choices that limit the time I have available for my studies in order to maintain a well balanced approach to my college experience. This is an important thing to realize, and a great answer to why my GPA isn't higher in interviews.
By the way, I'm in Italy, and it is one in the afternoon and I haven't eaten. So I am going to go make some delicious prosciutto di parma e uove fritte.