Voices – Wesleyan Student Blogs

Oh ducklings. I keep trying to write these posts at a time that isn’t the middle of the night, and then somehow time sneaks up on me and boom, it’s 2 am and I’m thinking, “Hey, you know what I should do? Write a blog post.”

As I write this, I’ve actually just gotten back from a joint bachelor/bachelorette party for my friends who are getting married in June. Quite honestly, I’m not sure whether I’m more amused that they’re getting married in June or that they actually had a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. I mean, isn’t the point of those supposed to be that the bride- and groom-to-be are separate for the evening?

I can’t lie, the fact that I know 21- and 22-year-olds who are engaged and getting married (these two are among a few Wes couples in my graduating class who are getting married this summer, and a few of the kids I knew in high school are not engaged, which is hilarious to me because I knew them when they were titchy and unattractive thirteen-year-olds) is still sort of wiggly-weird, no matter how long I’ve had to get used to it. Not because of the couple, just because — well, marriage. That’s growing up, isn’t it? Marriage is essentially the legal way of saying, “I am going to be stepping into the future hand-in-hand with this person.”

Commitment is a weird thing. I had a hard enough time just deciding what college to go to for four years. Actually, sometimes I have a hard time just deciding what I’m going to eat for dinner.

[Under the Cut: Thesis films, Hamlet in Wonderland, and... I don't know, stuff?]
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Tags: no but for real though Hamlet in Wonderland was GREAT and I loved it, Second Stage, second stage is the best stage, senior theses, theater, thesis films, TV

HELP. we have these are we have the bbq pretzel thin things and the keeblers cheese cracker things…. I can’t stand it… I’m going to eat everything… had to physically remove myself from the house so I can study for my test at the library!

I am home because I am still sick and have no clue what’s going on… I was treated for Lyme and still feel like crap… but I still have to head back to school tomorrow for my last test, and then I will be a free woman!!!

I am going to head to Eric’s graduation after my test, then head to Quonnie for memorial day weekend, and then I will start my summer working in Boston at Harvard School of Public Health (doing a lot of data entry… but who cares) and I get Fridays off so I will be able to visit Eric and Quonnie and friends and all kinds of things And then I get all of August (minus the first week) off. I am so so excited– if I could just move from internship to internship instead of attending school… well I probably wouldn’t but… I love it!

Kate is going to be at Amherst which is so close by and I’ll be in Brookline which is WHERE HANNAH LIVES and some of my friends will be at Wes– we are all so much closer to each other than we were at the end of freshman year, it will be great!

And I will be able to visit High School friends too– already have a date set up to go to my friends barn/house thing in June

And my cousin just invited me to a Kenny Chesney concert in August.. woot woot.

yes please..

ANYWAY

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Studying abroad, though a super terrific wonderful opportunity of almost priceless value, when considering all of the cumulated experiences, awareness, and knowledge, eats into the already short period of time that a typical four year undergraduate program consists of. I came to Wesleyan set on going abroad for a year, because, when I came here, that was my main (more like, one and only) concern I had: utilize the college experience for other country exploration.

Grandparents’ house impossible beauty. And look at that garden.

But.

That was before I had any idea of what I was getting into.

Shortly after starting my studies here, I quickly realized that that was the last thing I would want to do while here, ever. No way am I going to give up a year (a year!) of time with these people. You know that when you hear seniors who are devastated about having to leave, after already being here for four years (and not because they don’t have jobs), that the deal is real.

So, to make up that long time away: I will be here for the summer (!!!). Thank you Green Fund, the wonderful kids who believe in us and make up the panel, and the Wesleyan-enabled opportunity. I will be here for WILD Wes, the student-created and student-run sustainable landscaping group on campus that currently has three projects underway! It’ll be a lot of long, hot  days of manual labor, planning, and productivity, but that’s okay, because that’s kinda my thing. The best part of my weekends are the 12-4PM work days WILD Wes currently has, so I can’t wait for that to turn into my all-day, everyday.

WILD Wes Workin’ Hard

In the greater scheme of the greater life of Wesleyan summer life (yes, so much better word choice could have been done for that phrase). I’ve heard it’s a party in a can — lots of kids are on and about campus for summer sessions, research, other on-campus clubs, activities, and sports. Honestly, up until a little bit ago, I had absolutely No Interest in staying on campus for any summers here ever. It’s the people that make this place home for me and so, without the people, it’s just another college campus. However, I have been quite reassured otherwise. I talk to more and more kids everyday about their summer presence on campus, too, and others’ summer experiences here. It becomes an even more tight-knit community because there are less of us here, and, all being here for the long haul, are in it together. So, essentially, it’s like being at Wesleyan without the traditional class work. Not that the work is a huge bummer, but, after all, the break from it is highly necessary. I, and I am sure many other people too, am especially feeling it right now: it’s the last bit of class time before reading period, and the struggles are real.

yeah, sigh, the Red Bull happened today. Serious crash at 3PM, after getting about 3 hours of sleep last night (simply because my body refused to let me go to bed). Unfortunately after consuming the whole thing in about a minute, I still managed to write “doesnz” instead of “dozens”…by hand.

But keeping the summer in mind, it just gets better and better. Motivation! The light at the end of the tunnel! Whatever cliche expression I could [insert here] in my lack-of-sleep, brain-in-every-direction oblivion!

I also will be continuing work with an academic year job through Wesleyan, and also working another job in town, which will help fund the time I’m here and also be a good chance to try out something that I have always wanted to: food service! I love food and people, and so the combination…well, it makes sense, yeah?

if you want some of the best food in Middletown, just sayin’

Anywho, the procrastination on a paper and two midterms worth of studying cannot continue any longer. Time to gooo.

~~~

As a Side Note: for all of you that are officially enrolled in Wesleyan for this next coming year…
CONGRATULATIONS!
(no, the colored letters don’t spell anything, I was just too lazy to do every other letter.)

Unfortunately I won’t be here in the fall to meet you and weirdly make friends with you (probably a good thing), but in any case: you might not know it yet, but you’ll know it first-hand soon: you just made the best decision of your life.

– Rina

Tags: Food, friends, Green Fund, intern, internship, irrelevant references, job, landscaping, octopus, summer, waitress, waitressing, wesleyan, Wesleyan summer, WILD Wes, work

Hey, kiddos. So classes are done! That’s, um. Exciting! Plenty of time for me to sit around and bake bread and watch hockey and — what was that? Redo my resume and find a job? Hmmm, wait, you’re breaking up on me, I can’t hear you, how odd —

Okay, okay, so I’m actually just typing and can’t pull the “headed into a tunnel, gotta go!” trick. Unfortunately. Still, even though I keep stumbling into discussions about the future, there has to be something else we can talk about! Like the fact that Spring Fling is tomorrow! Or today, actually, since as I type this it is now officially Thursday. Kendrick Lamar is performing! It’ll be in the hockey rink instead of on Foss Hill for reasons of rain and misery! I find this very depressing but will probably try and go nonetheless as long as it doesn’t fill to capacity!

Or we could talk about how it was pouring rain today for precisely the four minutes it took me to get from the library to my house, but not immediately before or after! Or we could talk about how I went to the Star&Crescent this week for the first and the last time ever! Or we could talk about all the performances I went to this weekend! Or we could talk about how I just spent like forty-five minutes trying to remember a random CD-ROM game from the 90s that I used to play! Or we could talk about how I keep injuring myself in really inconvenient ways! Or we could debate about whether any injuries are really ever convenient! (For the record, the answer is yes!) Or we could talk about whether it would be possible to build a tiny castle out of pecan brownies!

…You know, as one does.

[Under the cut: Except I actually already had that particular conversation. Yes, for real. Also, pictures of food!]
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Tags: baking, bharata natyam, cute fluffy things, Food, javanese dance, LOOK I DID THINGS, pictures of food, so many dances, spring dance, spring fling, taiko, true story: I wrote 1200 words of this post and then decided I didn't like it so I rewrote it. Because I want to give you guys a quality blog experience., when I say I never want to look at my thesis again I am not actually joking

What can I say, CLASSES ARE FINISHED. For me. Other people have classes tomorrow but I don’t have any on Wednesdays.

I do have a few essays to write… three to be exact. Religion, Archeology and Farm Forum. But let’s not think about that right now… today was a good day; let’s talk about that.

I woke up at 8:18 (for some reason that’s when my alarm is set)— for better or worse, usually the first thing I do is check my email, and I found out I passed the written part of the test to be on staff at WESU, the radio station and that I have to schedule a practical exam.

Then I actually take a shower before my 9:00 am class. (Let me tell you this is a feat, as exemplified by the its very infrequent occurrence.) So I get ready while listening to radiolab, which I often do, and today I learned about the man who created the heimlich maneuver. His name is Henry Heimlich. And the controversial thing about him is that after saving so many lives by introducing the heimlich maneuver, he began suggesting the maneuver could be used for other things like curing AIDS. And it doesn’t.

10:00—For the first time all year my class gets out early. So I go to breakfast with my friend and eat scrambled eggs wrapped in a piece of lettuce.

10:30—Go to religion class and get my paper back. All is good.

11:50—Go to Wesshop and get a hummus wrap that is better than usual (this is an understatement, it’s actually WAY better than usual because usually they’re bad and today’s was really good). I also buy two chocolate bars because I have so many points leftover and I’ve bought probably 100 dollars worth of chocolate bars. And I give them away. Continue Reading »

Tags: Aaska, Avivalife, english, freshmen, Kendrick Lamar, moose, paper, radio, shower, spring fling, wesu

Hello and welcome to the beginning of the end (is the beginning).

We’re almost at the 2-week countdown and the days are getting warmer. I’m currently lying down in my backyard wearing a new dress and sipping a margarita. I found an old tablecloth to use as a picnic blanket so that I wouldn’t get my new dress dirty. Also, I didn’t want to let bugs have an easier time finding their way into my dress. I mean, I just saw two of them getting it on on my shoe. I hope they made a beautiful baby on my sandal. They should name it after me. (Also if you’re wondering, the title comes from a song sung by the adorable Shirley Temple. Unfortunately, the actual video of her singing it isn’t on youtube anymore, but it’s still so cute).

Backyard bliss.

Anyway, it’s been a while since I last posted, and with good reason. See, I was working on my grant the whole time, and I also had a bunch of other work that I had to complete without fail. I had another anthro paper that I put off until the last few hours–I read 30 pages of the book and wrote the paper in 1.5 hours. And it was probably the most poorly written thing I have ever turned in, on par with my 4th grade book report on In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. For real. I don’t think it even had a thesis. I didn’t even read it over. But I just got it back and I ended up doing better on it than my last paper that I worked on forever lol. Life works in mysterious ways!

But oh! I got my grant. Not the full sum I requested, mind you, but certainly enough to complete my research. I’m not sure if I mentioned what I’ll be doing for my thesis, but here is the gist: I’m going to the Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank I went to in January and I’ll be studying the emotions humiliation, pride, and hope, and comparing them among different generations of family members (like family members who were born before ’48, ’67, etc.). and then I’m going to a Palestinian refugee camp in the south of Lebanon to do the same thing and compare the results. Essentially I want to study the differences in emotions among Palestinian refugees as well as compare these emotions in the same diaspora but different locations. It’s gonna be a complicated process, but I’m very excited for it! Now I just have to figure out when to go. I can’t go to Palestine until after Ramadan, so that means I’ll be going to Lebanon first. So my cousin Léa and I will be taking a side-trip sometime in July, possibly to Greece! I’m excited. I need to get a job for the first two months of summer though, ugh. Even though I already have a job here. But whatever. I’m not gonna be working for ResLife next year (freedom!) so I’ll need some other source of income (besides blogging).

I took a break from writing this post and had dinner at WesWings with my dear friend Ellie, pictured here:

Asiatique et saphique.

We’re both a quarter Asian and we both went to international schools. So yeah. You could say we’re pretty serious. I tweet most of the things she says (#ses if you’re interested). But I’ve gotta warn you, they’re pretty raunchy. She doesn’t censor. Just the way I like it

But yeah! It was a b-e-a-utiful day outside yesterday! I was on the hill drinking a whiskey sour with some friends and then I napped and miraculously didn’t get burned. It was great. Blue skies!

hi wes

We’re starting the weekend off on a right note too–tomorrow, all the Arabic classes are going to Casbah Café in New Haven for some good Moroccan food and hookah–a tradition that was started my freshman year. I’m stoked. And then Saturday we’re having an Arabic formal cocktail party at Turath, which will be fun.

Today is also my grandparents’ 60th anniversary! We lost my grandma last January, but their love lives on in all of us Caligiuris. What a beautiful couple!

It’s Love, Isn’t It?

And now, my friends, it’s time for a nap, because all work play and no play work makes Carina a sleepy girl. Buenas!

-Carina

Congrats on finally getting an iPhone, debs!

First, before I rant, I feel I should entertain everyone with this picture….

because it is funny and so so accurate. earlier today a wasp landed on me but IT DECIDED TO SPARE ME so I went the fuck home.

My friend Jack has a wasps nest outside his room and he is utterly terrified of wasps and JUST TO SPITE HIM one has gotten INTO his room….. he’s on the list of shit it wants to fuck up apparently…

anyway….

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Hello Class of 2017! I’m sure you’re tired of people telling you what to expect when you come to college. A few of you have probably never visited but are still committed (like I was!) and you’re wondering if you’ve made the right decision. Well, don’t you worry. A person From the Beyond is here to tell you what to expect. I can’t be 100% this isn’t advice you haven’t heard before, but I can say this is advice I wish someone had told me explicitly about attending Wesleyan when I was all googley eyed about becoming member of the Class of 2015. Now, these aren’t in any particular order and I hope you enjoy them and use these tips well! Welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the next four years! It’s going to be one helluva ride for you, I can be sure of that!

First off, CONGRATULATIONS! Wow, look at you! All grown up and graduating from high school. Do you feel like a wise, old elder yet? Do you look back on those sophomores and freshman in your high school and toss your head because you’re so old and experienced and your awesomeness cannot be contained by the four walls of your secondary school so you’re branching out and attending college in Middletown, Connecticut because, hey, why not, right? Well, my dear, here’s something you might not want to hear:

You are still a kid.

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Maybe this is my season? It’s a good time of year. Especially at Wes. Anyways, Aviva does mean spring in Hebrew.

I’m sitting on the ground outside. In the grass. Under the sun. A bug is crawling on my backpack, birds are chirping and a squirrel is climbing up a tree.

I didn’t drink coffee this morning but I feel the way I do when I drink it: slightly tired but jittery and wired. In fact, it seems everyone on campus is feeling the same way. Tired, but energetic.

Thank you Sun.

At the end of this week there will be Sectionals! My Frisbee team, Throw Culture, is splitting into genders this weekend. And girls will go to Saratoga Springs, NY.  One crazy thing is that I have a concert for my choir class on Saturday night so I’ll go on Saturday, drive back to Wesleyan, and wake up super early again on Sunday to compete.

——–

Anyways… I always seem to do this: start a blog post and end up finishing it weeks later. Sectionals was fun…. Soo muddy… soo windy

Yesterday we had another tournament, but this one was behind Freeman (our athletic center) and started at 10am. Sososososo sunny and beautiful.

Then we rushed back to Foss for Holi!!!!! Holi is a hindu spring festival of colors that a student group decided to organize as a fundraiser (they sold white shirts and colored powder).

Basically, everyone stands in a group and all at once people start throwing powder in the air! The powder looked pretty until people started throwing water balloons and splashing water everywhere.

Then all the colors mixed and our entire bodies basically looked brown. THE BEST PART WAS THAT THERE WAS A SLIP AND SLIDE all the way down Foss.

(holi: before)

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Tags: BBQ, birthdays, foss hill, frisbee, gnarly, Holi, jewish community, radio, spring, Student Forums, sun, thrift shops

Good afternoon, ducklings! It’s shaping up to be a beautiful day, although currently I’m sitting inside my living room with the windows closed while my housemates discuss possible day trips we could go on during Senior Week as a house bonding thing.

For the record, in the Palace Theater, you can’t bring your own alcohol inside, nor can you consume that alcohol in the parking lot. Which begs the question of WHY THEY NEED THAT RULE.

There are a lot of unexpectedly hilarious things in New England, though. I have a feeling we’re probably going to find someplace with pretty scenery and just take a walk. (Not a hike. Certain somebodies among us do not like heights, for whatever value of “height” you can find in the alleged mountains of Connecticut.) I also want to see if I can drag them over to Wadsworth Falls at some point, because I’ve never been there before and I feel like I should go before I graduate.

…Okay, now it’s nighttime. IT’S LIKE I TIME TRAVELED OR SOMETHING. Or, you know, like I stopped writing in the middle of the day and then only got back to it much, much later.

(Also, for the record, tossing out ideas soon devolved into looking at our quote wall and seeing how much hilarity we could create by selectively replacing certain words with others. The answer, it turns out, is “a lot.” And I thought that I wouldn’t find stupid things as funny once theses were done!)

[Under the cut: Company, WesBurlesque, Foss Hill, and why my computer is trying to kill me.]
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Tags: cute fluffy things, Food, foss hill, Holi, LOOK I DID THINGS, mentions of delicious food without pictures of delicious food, Second Stage, second stage is the best stage, spring time and the living is eeeeasy, theater, WesBurlesque