Thursday, August 30, 2007

The first week of classes

The first week of classes is almost over. Good! The first week is always kind of dumb. It's a lot of syllabus review and stuff. And A MILLION "don't plagiarize" speeches. Oy... That gets really old, really quickly. But, as a journalism/English major, it's only natural I get those special little talks.

Here's a list of my classes and how I feel about them so far:

J91 - Magazine Staff Writing: LOVE IT! The class is TINY! There are only six of us in the class which means we all get loads of attention, it's easier to participate in class, and we can all get to know each other better. We're talking about the structure of magazines and how to find your style of writing and all of that cool stuff. This is the first actual magazine class I've taken so far and it's sooo cool! I'm definitely in the right realm of journalism!

POLS 001 - American Political Systems: Completely indifferent! I took AP American Government in high school. I got a three on the exam, but that's just not good enough for Drake, IS IT!?!? NO!! I'm still a little pissed about it, actually. Taking the class isn't the end of the world. It's pretty much identical to the class I took in high school so I should mostly be review. But, it is a three-day a week class which means for the first time in college I have a Friday class! :(

J40 - Pre-professional Workshop: LOVE IT! It's a once-a-weeker! It's only one credit and it's pass/fail. Plus, we only meet five times. The class revolves around preparing your resume to get internships and stuff so that's really awesome. We get lots of tips and tricks on how to make our resumes sound impressive and get some jobs!

H75 - US History to 1877: It's decent. I like history, generally. Especially this time period. We've already learned about the conquest and stuff. And I bet you didn't know that pretty much the whole reason the African Slave Trade was even brought to the US was because the explorers wanted sugar! They saw that the Muslims had it and they wanted it. And apparently it's super hard and super dangerous to cultivate so they made the slaves do it.

J59 - Intro to Visual Communications: LOVE IT! I was born to take this class. It's all about using Photoshop, InDesign, and Dreamweaver! Plus, we get to do quite a lot with photography! I love it! We get to learn all about design and stuff and that's just awesome!

M20 - College Algebra: It's alright. You know, it's as good as a math class can be. I took AP Calculus BC in high school, but didn't pass the exam so I decided to take College Algebra to get the math credit. So far we're still reviewing what functions are. It's all really basic stuff which is good because I can keep up really well, but it's a two hour class and when we're reviewing concepts I've been familiar with since eighth grade, it's kind of boring.

That's it. That's my fall semester. It shouldn't be too brutal. One thing's for sure, though. I don't think I'll be skating by without any finals this year!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Back to life

Being here for so long, and consentrating so hard on RA training and my residents has really driven the academic side of Drake life from my mind. But, I realized with a start today that classes start up again on Monday. Soon, I'll be having to balance my RA duties with the responsibilities of being a full-time student.

That's what kind of gets me down about Drake sometimes. The social side of life... like living in the residence halls and doing fun things on campus, is so far separated from the academic side... like going to classes and doing homework.

In high school it was different. Obviously, none of us lived at high school (although, it certainly felt that way sometimes). We go there for seven hours and then we go home. But high school was very social. Classes were social, lunch was social, after school activities were social.. It was all one and the same.

Drake tries to integrate residence life and academics through the First Year Seminar. Basically every freshman has to pick a First Year Seminar and they're roomed with and around other people from that Seminar. Then they're grouped up based on that for Welcome Weekend activites and, of course, they all have class together when school starts.

It's a really smart plan, really. I really, really bonded with my FYS during Welcome Weekend. And it was awesome to have class with them all twice a week since they weren't all on my floor. But, after that first semester, we were all still close and everything, but that whole academic part was completely lost because the class was over.

I'm not sure how to fix it, but there's a creative solution somewhere, I'm sure.

But, I must say, I'm really looking forward to classes starting again (even though I forgot about it). I like having some of my time scheduled out like that. It gives me structure for my day. And it makes me feel as though I accomplished something. Not to mention I like learning things. It sounds weird, but I do. I makes me feel like I've grown or something....

And I guess it's a good thing I like it I guess, because ready or not, another year is upon me.

The residents

After being here for two long, lonely weeks, I FINALLY have some residents! They moved in on Wednesday and I've been thrilled! Finally there's noise and people on the floor. I go to the bathroom and there are people talking in there! It's the most awesome thing!

And you want to know what's even more awesome? That the residents themselves are fantastic! They're all really, really nice. They're friendly, they respond to me, include me in activities, and they just seem to really enjoy talking to me. And if they do enjoy talking to me, it's nothing compared to how much I enjoy talking to them.

Meeting new people is just so much fun. Everybody has a story and it's so much fun to find out what that is exactly.

You know what else is cool? They're taking pride in our floor. One girl made a facebook group for our floor and they're all just really excited to be living here! They're going out of their way to be friendly to one another! They make it so easy to be the RA on the floor. So far we've had no trouble as far as policy violations (which beat this floor last year whose record was about two days).

They're not afraid to ask me questions or meet people from other floors. They like to pop in on my just to say hi!

They cluster together to color and watch TV. They like to have High School Musical dancing parties! They'll pop popcorn and ask if I want some, and leave notes on my door hoping I'm having a good day!

I love these girls and I couldn't have asked for a better group! They've really given me the confidence to know that this year is going to be so much fun!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

RA Training

It seems like I've been doing a lot of apologizing latley for not keeping up with this as much as I should. And I guess I apologize for that, too -- apologize for apologizing too much, that is. But, it HAS been an incredibly hectic few weeks between moving and RA training. And tomorrow is the big day! Move-in day! So that's going to take hectic to a whole other level.

So far I have to say that there is far more to this position than I expected there to be. When I saw what my RA was up to last year it was always making posters and planning fun programs for the floor and walking around the building closing all the doors at 11pm for quiet hours. But, really, there's so much more than that. You never know what kinds of residents you'll have on your floor and you have to be prepared for EVERYTHING! I'm glad they do it, don't get me wrong, but there were so many situations that I never imagined I would have to deal with!

They train you on everything from rommate mediation to how to handle a suicidal resident. We had to practice removing alcohol from underage rooms, and also talking to students with concerns that their roommate has an eating disorder.

And that was just during the lecture part of training. On top of that we also had to prepare our residence halls for move-in. We had to put lables on the mailboxes, make door decs, put up posters about check-in, decorate bulletin boards, clean, rearrange furniture, plan a program for that first night after moving in, find a place for our first floor meeting, meet with the PMAC who will be with our residents during Welcome Weekend, check each room for damage and check to make each key worked in its door.

It was busy and tiring, but I actually really enjoyed it. It wasn't always great fun or anything but what was great was getting to know the people around you who are also RAs along with your fellow staffmates. There were plenty of bonding opportunities.

One of thee opportunities came when we went to a YMCA camp in Boone. We only stayed for one night, but it was great fun because we got to participate in all sorts of challengeing, team-building activities. We played some games we all know like the Human Knot and then we went up to the low ropes course. We did a few activities there and really had to work together to solve problems which was great. It was basically reinforcing everything we'd been learning that week only while having fun, instead of being talked to.

It was all enjoyable, but boy am I wiped! I think a nap is called for!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

More Questions

More and more questions keep pouring in from new students. Here's another batch of the best questions and my answers.

Question: If on the dorm/roommate sheet I filled out earlier this year, I checked the "loft my bed" box, do I have to send an email requesting that it be lofted?

Answer: Not at all. If it turns out that when you get to Drake and your bed isn't lofted. Let somebody know and someone will be by to loft it for you in a week or so.

Question: I ordered my laptop about a week or so ago and am supposed to get it sent to me on the 23rd of August.  While I just live in Nebraska, getting that to me won't be all that easy since my family doesn't really want to make the trip for the second time in two days. If I were to have the laptop sent to my dorm at Drake, how would that work? Would I have to be present to sign off for it? Will the mailroom even be open by then? Basically I just want advice on how I should go about making sure my laptop gets to me before the first day of school.

Answer: I would ship it to Drake. Drake will recieve it and you will get a little yellow slip of paper in your mailbox, letting you know that you have a package. The front desk person will then get your package and you will have to sign for it then.

Question: Are the Carpenter Dorms part of the new renovation to the freshmen dorms?

Answer: I'm sorry to say they are not. There is some construction going on in Carpenter right now, but it's mostly carpeting and paiting and general reparis. The big rennovation will come next year. Don't worry, though... no, we might not have A/C, and maybe the rooms aren't going to be as nice as the rennovated ones, but you'll be impressed with your ability to adapt. It's still awesome. We just got a brand new 42'' tv for the lobby, plus we're getting brand new washers and dryers for the laundry room. They are coin and card operated so don't worry about running out of quarters. Plus, you get an e mail when your laundry is done. That's pretty cool.

Question: A quick question......I understand that there is not a closet door and I've heard that you can bring a pressure rod and a shower curtain but in some of the pictures it looks like there is a permanent track that the curtain moves in. What is the best thing to bring for a closet door at Carpenter. How long should the drape be?

Answer: There is a permanent track. The curtain that comes with the room sort of snaps into little things that slide. A lot of kids (like my roommate last year) just hung a flat sheet and that seemed to work fairly well. The dimensions of the closet (assuming they're all the same, of course) are 7'7'' by 3'9''. But the tension rod and shower curtain was also a popular choice.

Question: When do we find out our room assignment?

Answer: Although you know which building you're living in, the actual room assignment won't be given out until you check in on move-in day.

Hope this answers some of the burning questions!

Meagan's Top Ten, Part II

Firstly, readers... allow me to apologize for my absence. It's been a hectic week packing and moving to Drake and starting RA training. That's not to mention that until recently, there was no internet in the residence halls. But, I'm back online now and I'm here to pass on a bit of advice to you regarding the move-in process. So, here we have Meagan's Top Ten Moving Tips.

#1. THE FAN GETS MOVED IN FIRST! Today in Des Moines was 87 degrees with 67-percent humidity... which yields a "feels like" temperature of 102. Pack the fan last and unpack it first... plain and simple.

#2. THE FRIDGE GOES NEXT! You're going to want some chilled water bottles or something after hauling things to and fro. There are vending machines but, if at all possible, bring your own water and get it going in the fridge.

#3. ARRIVE AT CHECK-IN EARLY! Halls open at 8am and if I were you, I'd be sitting in front of the building at 7:30. The sooner you can make it through the line and get your key, the sooner you can start hauling things into your room. Plus, it's the coolest part of the day so hopefully discomfort will be minimal.

#4. LET SOMEONE UNPACK AS YOU GO! You'll probably be bringing a few extra bodies for some man power. Might I suggest the student stay in the room while things are being unloaded. That way, things can get put away as they get brought in and you don't have a huge, overwhelming mess of junk on the floor to deal with for the next few weeks.

#5. BASKETS! Baskets are a great tool to use while unloading the car. They hold lots of the little loose stuff like socks and stuffed animals.

#6. TAKE BREAKS OFTEN!!! You're not Superman! It's going to be hot and you're going to be sweaty. Maybe carry in a couple of loads of stuff and then chill out in front of the fan for a few minutes.

#7. STAY HYDRATED! This goes back to the last point. Take a break, and have some water, even if you don't feel thirsty. Nobody wants to pass out on the exciting day!

# 8. COOL WASHCLOTH! Seriously, if you're one of those road trip types and just happen to have a cooler full of ice in your car, dunk a washcloth in the ice water and put it on your face for a few minutes. It cools you off... quickly.

#9. ARRANGE YOUR FURNITURE BEFORE BRINGING ANYTHING IN! Before you even think about unloading your car, go to your room, make sure the key works, and see what you have to work with. If you don't like the furniture, rearrange it THEN bring in your things. This will make it easier... much, much easier.

#10. BE FRIENDLY WITH THE OTHER STUDENTS! Sure, you're hot and sweaty, but they're hot and sweaty too, and this is a great opportunity to at least introduce yourself. Start forging those bonds now!

Get excited! Move in day is in a week!!!!!!!
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