Monday, September 29, 2008

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!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

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 :)

Monday, September 22, 2008

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...

Monday, September 15, 2008

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

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

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.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

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 :)