Christmas is coming!

Today is my last day of work before break. I have class tomorrow, but no finals until Thursday and Friday, so I'm going home to do some Christmas shopping and make some presents!

Last night was Joyce to the World, and it was so much fun! We all meet in Great Hall where there's an ugly sweater competition, cookie decorating, ornament making, card-making, and where President Joyce reads us a Christmas story. We all sit on the floor like little kids! It's a womderful escape from the last week of classes and finals coming up.

Today is also the last day of a few of my classes for the semester...Organizational and Business Communication, Speaker's Bureau, and my Mark Twain class. It's also a fairly long day. I had to dig my car out of the snow so that the parking lot can be plowed, I'm at work from 8-10, Org. Comm from 10-12, lunch break from 12-1, Speakers Bureau from 1-2, Mark Twain from 2-4, Communication workstudy meeting at 4, Admissions Christmas party at 5, packing to go home tomorrow, and finally a comedian at 9 (which I'm SO excited about!). So as you can see, it's a long day, but it's also going to be really fun!

I can't wait to go home just to be around our Christmas decorations. The college decorates for Christmas, but I'm so used to our decorations at home! When I leave I'm going to miss sitting by the Starbuck on my comfy couch...next to the fire place and Christmas tree where I can always be found drinking hot cocoa, and reading. That's definitely my favorite place on campus! I think I'll spend some time there tomorrow before I head home for the holidays!

One more week until finals...

This past weekend was really fun! The dance team finished up our season with two performances at the men's basketball games on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night Mark and I went to Oshkosh to "New Moon Cafe" to listen to an accordian player. She was actually really good...and she's from Racine (apparently we went to the same middle school). The communication department also had their annual Holiday Party. Jody always prepares such good food!

It's the last week of classes, and I'm starting to get antsy. It'll be so nice to go home and spend some time with friends, my mom, and Mark. After classes end this Friday I don't have any finals for a week, so I'm currently in the process of looking for things to occupy myself and my time. I can't wait for break...

Ripon College...land of opportunities!

My Speakers Bureau (speech practicum) professor, Jody, just sent me an email asking if I would be willing to fly to Texas (all expenses paid for) in March to speak on behalf of Speakers Bureau and Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE)! I'm so stoked about it! SAVE is one of the national non-profit organizations that the communication department here at Ripon College partners with. Not only does it benefit the organization, but it gives students like me a chance to practice real-world speaking skills for the good of others. Since it's my first semester in Speakers Bureau, I expected that I would have to wait for some of the bigger opportunities like this one. Instead, I've been offered some of the prime speaking egagments our group has had this semester. WOW! That's all I can say!

Thanksgiving.

I spent a lot of time with my family, friends, and boyfriend. Wednesday I got home and my brother, his fiance, my mom, and Mark were all waiting for me. We had a really good dinner and watched "Fred Claus." It may sound corny, but as far as Chrstmas movies go, it was pretty decent.

Thursday it was just me and my mom for Thanksgiving. We still had all of our traditions. like watching the parade, and we still cooked everything: turkey, green bean cassarole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, apple peacan cheescake, etc...we barely made a dent into it. We also saw the movie "The Changeling." It was really good, but very sad and not a very good movie to see on a holiday when you're supposed to be happy. My best friend Ashlee slept over that night.

Friday I woke up at 5 AM to go shopping...I know, I'm one of those. I didn't want to, but at Target they had a really good camera that was like 50% off in the morning only, so I just had to go! The deals really are great at 5 in the morning. Then Mark and I hung out for the night. We went to Milwaukee to a restaurant called the Maharaja. It's really good Indian food.

Saturday I helped my mom put up all the Christmas decorations. It took forever because we went out and bought some new stuff for the house, but it looks so beautiful now! I love decorating. That night, my friend Bri who goes to Boston College had a bunch of people over. She's a Film Studies major and needed some extras for something she's working on. It was a lot of fun. Then around 1 AM Ashlee and I made a stop out at Walmart because I needed some stud earrings so my piercings don't close up. And finally, I went to bed.

I awoke on Sunday morning to my boyfriend with coffee from Starbucks. I used to work there, so Starbucks is one of my favorite things in the entire world. We hung out until I left around 4 to pick my roomate up from the airport. The drive up here was not very fun and took 3 hours instead of just 2. But, we made it back safely in time to watch the Britney Spears Documentary...which I was not very impressed with.

Today there's quite a bit of snow on the ground. It makes me want to jump back into bed! BUT! No-can-do! I have lots of work that needs to be done this week, starting with two presenations tonight for my Speech Practicum class. I'm back to my Ripon friends and back to work for a few weeks as we all finish out the semester!

I've got to catch you up!

This past weekend I went to Minnesota with the dance team to compete! We had so much fun! We went out to eat at TGI Friday's, we sat in the hot tub, and did some bonding activities in our coach's room. Though we didn't place, we raised our score by more than 1/5 from last year and we all felt really satisfied with the performance.

School lately has been kind of crazy, and I'm more than ready for a break. Next week all of my major research papers and presentations for the semester are due, so I tried really hard to get a good grip on everything this week so I don't have to bring it home for Thanksgiving break. Even though I'm sure the week after break will be extremely stressful, it's worth it to me to enjoy some time with family and friends.

I have a french exam today and then I'm heading home to Racine, WI. When I get there my brother David, mom, and boyfriend will all be waiting for me. Tonight we're going out for dinner and then who knows! On Thanksgiving my family and I just chill out. We don't do anything big (we still have turkey, dont' worry) and that's what I love most about it. It's one of the most relaxing days of the year. I've agreed to go shopping on Black Friday with my mom. This will be the first year since I was 16 that I don't have to work it...so from someone who's been on the other side, I'm scared! Other than that, I've kept my schedule free so I can do whatever the heck I want for a couple of days!

A few new things:

The dance team is going to St. Thomas, MN this coming weekend for a competition! I'm really excited not just to compete, but to hang out with the girls for the weekend. Travelling with them is always so much fun. As preparation, we performed our "Viva la Vida" routine at a women's basketball game this weekend. Now we're working out some of the kinks this week in practice, and we should be set to go by Friday when we leave!

I'm also in the process of writing a big research paper for my Mark Twain class. Our assignment was to choose one piece of Twain's work and analyze it in comparison with his life, cirticism of the work, and other pieces he wrote. It may sound boring, but I've been learning about this guy all semester, so I'm looking forward to drawing some conclusions of my own.

I had to take my car in to Cliff's to be worked on. It's going to put me more than $600 in the hole to fix everything (ball joints, tie rods, etc.). It stinks, but I know that I'm not getting ripped off because Riponites, staff, and faculty have all given me good reviews.

It's starting to get colder, and that scares me. Now that I live in the Quads, it's a little bit further to walk to and from class (not that I really have any reason to complain). I think I better buy a warmer hat.

It's 70 degrees and November...I love Wisconsin!

The weather has been very strange here. The past couple of days it's been beautiful, and this weekend it's supposed to snow. WEIRD!

This weekend was a lot of fun! My boyfriend came up on Friday and we watched "The Omen" with a bunch of friends. I hate scary movies, but my roomate told me I had to watch since it was Halloween. Saturday I had a dance performance that went really well. Later that night, my boyfriend and I went to a really nice restaurant in Fond du Lac called Theo's. We had so much fun! It was one of those nights where you can't stop laughing and smiling. Sunday was really relaxing. Mark and I built a fort...haha, I haven't built a fort in probably 10 years! It was awesome!

Today is election day, and I can't wait until it's over. I really and truly care about who the next President of the United States is, but I just want to know already! More than that, I want my roomate to know...so that I don't have to hear about it anymore. She's been doing a lot of work for this election. I can only hope that her choice of candidate wins, not only because I believe in him, but because Sara will be very difficult to deal with for the next couple of months if he doesn't! I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Registration, registration.

This week all students came back from fall break to find registration forms in their mail boxes! I know I'm such a dork for saying this...but figuring out which classes I'm going to take next semester is extremely exciting to me. For the past three semesters, I've gotten into my first choice of classes. So here's what I've got so far...

English: Poetry Aloud 4 credits
English: Contemporary Literature 4 credits
Communication: American Public Address 4 credits
Communication: Speech Practicum AKA Speakers Bureau 1 credit
Sociology: Intro to Sociology 4 credits
Education: Business, Education, and Economics in Jamaica 2 credits

The last class that I have listed is actually a "Maymester." Right after commencement, a few different departments offer students (regardless of their major) the opportunity to travel for 2-3 weeks to another country. In order to go, students usually have to take a course during the spring semester to gain knowledge about the place they're going. The cost is really minimal (they reand from $300 to $2800...mine is going to cost $1500), and for those students who aren't going to get the chance to go abroad, it's an excellent opportunity to have an experience in another country. I'm really excited about going! Even though I'm an English major, I'm really interested in educational policy. This will be an awesome chance to see what the educational system is like in Jamaica. Also, I'm going to Chicago in the Spring of 2010 for the Urban Studies Program. There I'll be able to supplement what I've learned in Jamaica by interning for someone who analyzes educational policy for a living. These two experiences will hopefully help me deicde what I want to do after I graduate from Ripon...graduate school for educationl policy? I hope so!

Off to do some work!

FALL BREAK!!!!

One of the many perks of going to Ripon? FALL BREAK! I left on Friday, October 17 and just got back last night. It felt really good to be here again. My best friend Ashlee came home for a weekend, and it was really good to have some "girl time." It's been a while since we were able to do that. This past weekend my brother and his fiance came to my hometown as well as my boyfriend's mom. Lots of visitors, but lots of fun!

What was really good about my break happened during the week on Monday and Friday. When I was a freshmen I took Public Speaking and then Advanced Public Speaking. I was then invited to become a part of an elite group called Speakers Bureau. Speakers Bureau is a hands-on class and requires that I set up my own syllabus. That means that I set up my own speaking engagements in the real world, I decide how much of my grade they will be worth, I decide what the criteria for grading is, and I write my own self-assessments. That may sound like "la-la" land, but it's not at all! I'm really passionate about speaking, so I want to make improvements. I think it goes to show that ultimately you have to improve upon yourself...no one else can do that for you. Anyway, one of the events I set up was to talk to two groups of 8th graders while they were one a field trip to a college. After all, who better to talk about college than a college student? Plus, higher education is something that I really believe in and it's one of my interest areas as I look forward at careers. I went to talk to students and they were so much fun! They had some awesome questions and got really involved in the conversation. It's really great to see young kids really examining the possibility of college and how to get there. That was by far the best part of my break.

This week looks preatty busy, but that's to be expected after a long break. Have a good one!

Forgot to show some homecoming pictures!

Homecoming performance! The theme of this year's homecoming was "Wild, Wild Ripon" so the dance team did a routine to Boot Scootin' Baby. It was a lot of fun!

Some of the dance team standing around at our float decorating contest!

My dance coach, Steph!

It's been a while...

The beginning of last week I was really sick, so I didn't do much except for eat, sleep, and go to class. I went to see the nurse here on campus, but I am allergic to all the meds that could have helped me. In a few days a bunch of sleep and vitiman c did the trick.

Then this weekend hit and I was feeling better. On Friday I went to my friend JoAnn's house to see where she's from. We went on a jeep ride through the corn fields and by the river, and we got stuck in the mud. It's so different than where I'm from, but it was so nice to finally see her house and meet her family.

Today is my brithday...I'M 20! It's so crazy to think about. I still feel like I'm 15, don't know how to drive, and that the world is such a big and scary place. I'm not a teenager anymore :( My roomate has been calling me an old fart all morning...got to love her. The two of us were hoping to go out for a birthday dinner, but today is too busy so that's being pushed back until tomorrow.

Everything else is still the same and even though this week is going to be extremely busy, Friday most of us get to leave for fall break!

I had my mind read!

On Friday night my friend JoAnn and I went to see a hypnotist/mind-reader that S.M.A.C. brought to campus. I was really skeptical at first because I don't believe in that kind of stuff, but he was crazy good! He aked my friend to stand up and look at him from her chair, and then he guessed her phone number (all she gave him was the area code) and called it! WHAT?! He also gave me a deck of cards and had me pick one and think about it. Then he looked at my face and guessed my card in the first try! He did a bunch of other stuff too, like refill a soda can that we watched him drink, but they're just too hard to write down and explain on paper.

Saturday the college had an open house and I gave a tour, and I had a dance performance at the football game. We did really well, and we won! Then my boyfriend Mark and I went to Fat Bruce's...I'm pretty sure that's my new favorite restaurant. If you ever get a chance to come here, make sure you check it out!

We started learning a new routine at dance practice for Homecoming. Our theme this year is Wild, Wild, Ripon, so our dance kind of goes along with that...it's really fast! For Homecoming this year the dance team is hosting a parade where organizations from the college and throughout the community get to enter a float and then the team gets to choose a winner. I'm very excited to get the school spirit flowing!

Other than that, not too much is new, except that I really need to do laundry tonight!

Busy? YES!

In my Organizational and Business Communication class we've been putting together cover letters and resumes since school started. We had to find a job that we're actually qualified to apply for and craft our resums and cover letter around the specific job. Yesterday was sort of the culmination of everything we've done in class so far...our professor brought in people from the community and Ripon alumni who interview for a living and had each of us do a mock interview with them! Even though I was nervous, I can say that I honestly to appreciate the opportunity. The last time I interviewed was to get a job at Starbucks, and that was five years ago. It felt really good to have a practice interview, and to see what I'm doing in class applied to something in the real-world.

I also worked in Admissions, had a meeting to come up with ideas for the Comm. Department Newsletter, and went to my English class. Then I went to an Alumni Seminar. What is that? About three times every semester the Communication Department brings back alumni to talk to the dept. majors and minors about their experiences after college and how their degree at Ripon served them well in the workforce and personally. Seminars are always really relaxed and it's good to hear from someone on the other side of college who's made it through! The majors always have lots of questions! Then I went to dance from 7-9. The last thing I did before bed? Sat on the floor and ate pizza with my friends after a long day. Then to my wonderful bed :)

I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing weekend...

On Friday, my roomate Sara and I went to Culvers for dinner. We ended up staying and talking for two and a half hours! Serious stuff, funny stuff....the whole shebang. Sometimes, time just gets away from us :)

This weekend my boyfriend came up! It was the first time I'd seen him in a couple of weeks, so that was really good. We rented a bunch of movies, went to downtown Ripon to see Septemberfest, went for a walk in the prairie, ate at the Red Apple, and of course got coffee!

I'm so tired this morning...my body feels like it weighs about three times as much as it actually does. Hopefully I'll pick up speed. Today I have work and class, bunches of homework, and a meeting about the Urban Studies semester off campus that I'm planning on doing next year.

More updates later...

What a good weekend!

My best friend Ashlee came to visit me from Eau Claire, WI this weekend. We've been friends since middle school and we always have a good time together. She came up on Friday (after getting lost because of a detour) and we ordered pizza and talked to some of the girls on my floor until really late at night!

Saturday my grandparents and mom came up to watch me dance at the football game. It was the first time that my grandparents got to see Ripon and I was really excited to show it to them. I took them to the cookie factory (YUM!) and to Fat Bruce's to eat. Even though it rained pretty much all day, they were troopers and decided they wanted to go on a full tour of the college. I love them! When they left we watched the movie P.S. I love you...and of course we all bawled our eyes out. Another highlight was the Packer game! We all sat in my friend Peter's room and had some queso and chips (well, after we realized that the chips were stale, we ate pretzels instead). What a good second half!

I had a really great weekend, but I have a lot of work to do this week and I miss my boyfriend. We've been together for almost a year and a half (but really for almost two years...you know how that goes). Last year, he was away at school in New York and we had to go months without seeing each other. This year he lives two hours away, and even though I've had to go a couple weeks without him, I just have to remember how hard it was last year when he didn't even have cell phone service because he was so far upstate. And also that he's coming up this weekend! YES!

Off to study for a French exam.

Sarah

Changing my major...

I've officially decided to change my major. Since the day that I came to Ripon for freshmen orientation and met my randomly assigned advisor Jody, I thought I was going to be a communication major. Jody is the chair of the department...all of the professors within the department are wonderful, and the student majors are great too! Still, since last semester I was feeling like I didn't want to major in comm. anymore...because even though I love the people in the department and like the subject matter, my heart really belongs to English.

I cried all Monday morning trying to decide if I really wanted to drop the comm. major. I called my mom, my best friend, my brother, and my boyfriend and they all told me the same thing: "The choice is ultimately yours." The choice was so difficult because Jody has done literally nothing but open up doors for me! I'm currently her workstudy and she's given me speaking opportunities that I thought I'd never have.

I knew I had to finally start to be honest with not only Jody, but myself and what I want out of my education. I knew that I wasn't happy and I needed something to change. On Monday I emailed Jody and said I wanted to talk. She called me later because she thought something might be up. I told her that I really wanted to talk to her in person so she invited me to her house. I sat on her couch and cried and told her how torn I was...that I like her and am so incredibly grateful for all she's done for me, but I'm majoring in comm. because I feel like I should, and I don't think that's a good reason to choose a field to major in. She totally agreed and said something like this: "You're not majoring in Jody, you're majoring in a field. I don't take this personally at all. You shouldn't feel bad, people change their minds all the time! This doesn't change our relationship at all." The fact that I knew that my decision wouldn't change our relationship assured me that I finally had the freedom to choose what I wanted! Even after I told her I wanted to change my major, she still told me what kind of internships I should look at to help me as an English major, how to change my advisor, etc. We talked about minoring in comm. and civic advocacy, which is a great medium for me because I still want to be involved with the department and I still want to speak. The only bad thing that came out of the whole ordeal is that I can no longer be her workstudy because I won't be a major anymore. I'm only staying on until she finds a replacement and I "train" them. I say that it's bad because I've learned a lot from that job. It was my first job that wasn't retail/food related and I loved it! So, while it's hard to give up, I know it's the right decision for me.

Yesterday I met with my new advisor, Professor Schang (he's SO funny!). After talking to him I really started to think about some things...especially studying off campus. With English as my major I have a lot more freedom as to which courses I take and when (in fact, after this semester I'll have 8 English credits. I only have two more required courses for the major, and the other 17 English credits are all elective courses). Anyway, yesterday after I left my meeting with him I started to really map out what the 5 semesters I have left at Ripon College will look like. I saw that I have a lot more academic freedom that I initially thought. While I still don't think I want to go abroad, I think I do want to participate in a program in Chicago focused on Urban Studies. I still have to really look into it and want to talk to one of the students who was in the program last spring, but I am really excited about it!

So, Monday started of not so great. I felt like I was losing myself and not getting what I wanted and expected out of my time at Ripon College. But all in all...I made a tough decision (or as Jody called it, my first "adult" decision), and I know it was right for me. I learned that I should never be afraid to be up front with people about what I want, especially with something as important as what I want out of my education...I say it this way because I finally learned that people should be selfish about the education they're receiving. It should be tailored to you, not the other way around. It should be EXACTLY what you always wanted, and if it's not you should do something about it! I did, and I'm all the better for it.

Some updates...

Tonight I have dance team practice! We had try-outs a little over a week ago and the team is looking great. Our first performance is this Saturday at the Redhawk football game. My grandparents, mom, and best friend are coming to watch and hang out!


Other than that, it's starting to get cold here, and that scares me a little bit!

I'm Back!

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sarah Hopkins and it feels great to finally back in Ripon for my second year of school! After just one week things are starting to really pick up speed. It's strange how quickly this all began to feel like my normal routine again...seeing all the girls who lived on my floor last year and on the dance team is so much fun! When I arrived at Ripon last year as a freshmen it was a huge adjustment for me. To move from Racine, WI which has a population of about 90,000 to Ripon, WI with only 7,600 is a huge change! Still, somehow now that I'm here again it all feels like second-nature...as cliche as it sounds, Ripon has become my "home-away-from-home" and it feels great!

Classes are much harder than I expected, and I'm much busier than I anticipated. I'm a Communication Major, and I'm also an intern for the Comm. Dept. Needless to say, both in and out of the classroom I've been working very closely with my professors! On top of that and the Ripon College Dance Team, this is my first day working in Admissions! So far, this semester is a lot of writing, speaking, and organizing...all of which I LOVE to do! Other than being busy, busy, busy, it's really HOT! Thank God we have four fans in our room :)