This week has been busy with assignments, meetings, lunch/dinner dates with friends, and a little bit of work. Though I have not officially started tutoring in the writing center, I tutored one of the students from my freshman group (over Orientation weekend) on her English paper and read scholarship letters at thank you letter writing workshops on Wednesday. This coming week, I get to observe my friend/writing assistant mentor, Moon, at work before I start tutoring. I am excited to get my feet wet, though I am a little nervous that I might lead a student in the wrong direction.
Speaking of writing assistant related activities, I got to interview one of my English professors on Tuesday. This interview is an assignment for my writing assistant training class, and each of us has to interview a professor in one of our disciplines that we will be tutoring in to find out to educate non-majors about writing for that subject. I had this professor for my literary studies class in the spring, and he had some great insights about writing. I have to type a summary of my findings and present them to the class in a week.
Thankfully, I was able to have fun this weekend! On Friday night, I went to a reunion at the home of a friend/coworker who was in London the same time I was. She was in a different program, but we were in London together for four weeks. I was the only person from my program (humanities) who was invited, but I am friends with some of the people from the core program (the core/bio groups lived together), so they invited me. This was my first off campus party, complete with Shandys, biscuits, and London inspired decorations. On Sunday afternoon, my friend Caitlin and I went to a nearby Thai restaurant in the St. John's area, the neighborhood near UP. I really enjoyed spending time with her and not having to eat in the Commons for a change.
London inspired decorations and biscuits
Oh London...how I miss thee
Caitlin, Jen, and I
Lizz, our wonderful hostessUntil next week!
I just got back this afternoon from COLTC (Clubs and Organizations Leadership Training Conference). As the president of the English Society, I learned about student activities policies (fundraising, copyright laws for showing movies) and strategies for effective leadership. Being president is a big responsibility, so I am glad I have more knowledge about student activities policies and effective leadership strategies.
Last night I went to hear a band called Five Times August. Several times a year, the campus program board (CPB) brings in lesser-known bands to campus. I liked the music, and free food and coffee was another plus. You see, as a college student, free food is THE reason to attend clubs and other social events. Tonight I am planning on attending grocery store bingo, where the Residence Hall Association (RHA) leads a bingo night and gives away free grocery store items. Also, I am going out with a friend to Niccola's. Niccola's is my favorite pizza place here in Portland; the admissions office gives us free pizza coupons for hosting prospective students and I had dinner there with my friends freshman year. Though some of us may not get excited about going to restaurants as I do, eating dorm food for pretty much every meal makes you excited to take advantage of restaurants and home-cooked meals.
On another note, I found out on Wednesday that I did not get the NUCL internship. Though I was highly qualified (according to the professors who co-chair the conference), they wanted people who had not gotten a chance to be involved. Though I understand that the professors wanted to reach out to people who had not gotten a chance to get involved with the conference/English dept, I did not feel that this reasoning applied to me as I did not get the internship last year. However, with nine people applying for only three spots, getting the position was also a long shot. Hopefully, I can do the internship next year and that I can submit a paper and/or be a panelist.
Well, I have five hours until I am going out tonight, so I should probably start reading the article for my history paper due on Thursday. More later!
Though the adjustment has been slow, I am starting to get back into school mode. Luckily, I had some fun events to balance out my workload. The English Society had it's annual "meet and greet" on Tuesday. New and returning students got acquainted, and several professors came as well. Right now, I am trying to find a day that would work for monthly meetings. I also visited the workshop class (with whom I helped out over Orientation weekend) and talked about the writing center. Friday evening I went to a pizza party for FISH, the fellowship I just started attending. I enjoyed free food and good conversation. Saturday night I went out on a date with one of my guy friends. We went to a fish restaurant and came back to campus where we got gelato and hung out with his housemates.
Today I am interviewing to be a NUCL intern. For those of you who do not remember, NUCL (Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature) takes place in March and allows students from several Oregon universities to present their papers. Last year I was a panel chair, which means that I introduced the students presenting their papers and initiated discussion. While I applied to be an intern last year, I did not get the position (most likely due to being a sophomore and my lack of NUCL experience). Keep your fingers crossed for this year!
The year is just starting to get busier. Therefore, I must conclude and put those final touches on my literacy narrative.
Hey All!
Sorry I have not written here for a while. I had an incredibly busy weekend with Orientation-related activities and adjusting back to school. Classes are going well, and I am relieved to be taking only taking 12 credits this semester. I dropped my social psych class because there were four tests (including the final) and no papers; four tests is a lot for an upper division class and I am better at writing papers. I switched into a theology class, but dropped that because the material was not interesting and the reading load was heavy (the reading for both my history and satire classes are dense). I replaced my theology class with jazz dance, which should be fun, a great stress reliever, and an easy A. The best part of my schedule is that I only have three "academic" classes because my group voice class is one credit and my dance class is two credits. Anyways, here is the rundown of my classes this semester.
Group Voice: Our class is down from 12 to 7 students, which allows us to get to know each other better and have more personal attention from the instructor. We have to learn and perform 2-3 songs, which I am excited about, as I have never sang a solo (aside from auditions for shows in high school).
Composition Theory and Practice: I know the name sounds sophisticated, but the class is simply the one I have to take to be a writing assistant. I don't actually start working in the writing center until the end of the month. Right now we are reading about writing centers and what makes strong writing. Our first assignment is to write a literacy narrative about how we became writers.
Modern France: History is the one of three remaining core classes I need to take. History has never been my favorite subject, but I really like this class so far! I love pretty much any and everything having to do with France, and my professor is excited about the subject. The reading is dense at times, but the workload is manageable. For example, our first assignment was to bring in an article about an issue in France for 25 points. Basically, I get to take a short visit to France two mornings a week (without leaving UP). :)
Jazz Dance: I start this class on Tuesday, so I will write more about that next time. Regardless, I'm excited about this class!
Satire: This is the class I have been looking forward to the most. We are currently talking about the genre of satire; the articles we have to read are not the most exciting, but we will read more interesting books soon. We watched a YouTube clip in class about the Iphone 4, and are watching Bananas next week. Oh yeah, I think it is safe to mention that this is my third class with Herman and it just keeps getting better!
Now that my reduced credit load allows me to have a life, I am excited about several nonacademic activities on the horizon. Yesterday was the Activities Fair, which is where clubs have booths set up around the quad and for people to check out. As the president of the English Society, I was able to get a good number of people to sign up for the mailing list (and hopefully get a good number to come to events). I am excited to start working at the Writing Center, and am also hoping to do some occasional babysitting for one of my professor's kids.
More later!
