To (less) new beginnings, goodbye to summer days

So this Monday started our first full week of class.

Today I had Ethnic Tapestry (aka ETap) and we talked about what the British identity is and it turns out the British identity is biscuits- a 20 minute discussion on biscuits! IT is NEVER ONE DIRECTION.  We also took a UK citizenship test and guess what... I passed! guess it is alright for me to be in England for another couple months. I like this class the more we get into it. We typically spend the first half doing a lecture and then after a break the rest is more conversational/seminar-like and in turn entertaining.

After class I made my way to the British Museum for my meeting with Barbara Black (my Skidmore advisor). She and I had a great conversation on everything from my childhood to high school to chapter and Heidi to my writing. I told her what Ms. Backman told me last year, which is that I have really strong verbal ideas but they get lost in translation when I write them down. Barbara quickly interjected that after reading all the RAPs (reflections and projections), she thought that mine was one of the strongest ones. After discussing it more, I think that she and I are on the same page and to quote legally blond my writing is going to be "whipped into shape!" I  am really looking forward to working with her more one on one.  Also Skidmore sponsored snacks for every individual meeting for our seminar!

I then sped walked back to IES for my next class. I had Art and Architecture, which is lovingly being called AA or A&A. I got to sit next to Katie, who I am sitting next to while writing this. We had an interesting conversation on FairTrade and conflict materials and how this is repeating itself in history. MamaHarve would be so proud. What was annoying is I got a sign up sheet last for a presentation so I have to go in the middle of November-ohwell.

I then texted with Bot on my whole walk home and I made it without using directions at all! A double win day! I then walked it a TESCO with Heidi- Heidi tripped in the middle of the road but she was totally fine. I then bought some more food and then walked back alone. I made dinner with Rick and Heidi, while watching old vines- dear god I almost peed myself it was so funny.

Then I came down to the study to do some work. As I am writing this there has been a great conversation between Katie, Tova, and Morgan. We ended up laughing so hard that Katie moved away and started crying. Please note we were in the silent study room- whoops! I can't stop smiling as I write this.

OTHER NEWS

• Heidi accidentally broke our toilet 
• TEAM HOT (Heidi, Olivia, and Tova) won free pizza. 

If you want to read it here is my RAP 

Why a liberal arts college? This is a question that I have been asked too many times to count, from the minute I began my college search to now. Every time someone asks me this question, I do actually pause before I answer; however, after the hundredth time being asked, I think that I have found a two-part answer. I chose a liberal arts college because of my value on education and of its ability to let me forge my own path. 

I grew up in a very small district in Littleton, Massachusetts; my graduating class was 106 students and some of them did not even come to graduation. Since my school was so small, a lot of classes that I signed up for didn’t end up running because of budget cuts or changes in staff. This wasn’t really fair and the administration did acknowledge it, the best that they could; they posed this to the teachers and some embraced the opportunity to blend their curricula together. I was fortunate enough to have these teachers and they encouraged me to find the connections between subject matters and share them. These connections varied from Latin and Anatomy to History and Chemistry. One teacher encouraged me, in my college search process, to look at liberal arts schools. She told me that a liberal arts college values education as a whole idea, and therefore every connection that I will find would be enjoyed just as much by me as by those I share it with.

The other advice she gave me was to forge my own path. Since I am coming from a small school, I had limited opportunities in regards to class variety, and I wanted the opportunity to jump around and find my passion. Most liberal arts institutions want you to figure it out for yourself; whereas many other colleges I visited wanted you to pick a path and stick to it. However, that is not how life goes so neither should my education. It is okay for there to be twists and turns and that is something I have learned to value.

These assumptions on what I hope to find are in turn what I hope to gain from studying at a liberal arts institute. If everyone values his or her education as much as I do mine, then the environment is more likely to be a conducive to in-depth discussions. On the forging my own path, people are prone to want to try new things and a liberal arts environment encourages students to explore.  I do not have a way to test the assumptions, except for living in the environment. So I will wait until I arrive to confirm this as true.