Long time, no post!

Well, school has started. But this year, school is wonderful! I just started my freshman year at Coe College on Monday (unless you count orientation... then LAST Monday). I absolutely love my classes, my three roomies, the random professors I've met briefly and still remember me (yay History department!) and everything about the busy college life: cross country practice, intriguing homework, trying to squeeze in meals, nighttime school-sponsored events..... the works. :)

This term, I am taking classes that I really enjoy. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays I have my First Year Seminar. The topic is "Monsters, Freaks and... Others." My teacher is a joy: a little strange and wholly endearing. Everyone in the class, mostly, is open in discussions and presents really good ideas. We're going to be reading really fun books and watching a ton of movies and I'm really looking forward to all the FYS things we're doing this term.

On Mon, Wed and Fri only, I have a religion class (Belief & Unbelief) which is really fun. The readings are dense but everyone really brings them to life in the discussions. The professor is bubbly and excitable and really has a passion for religion, which is always fun. Then on Mon, Wed and Fri afternoons I have History of Western Civilization I, which isn't the most fun but is still interesting because I'm a nerd that way. The teacher is really nice and makes the lectures/discussions interesting. The only thing I don't like is that we will have POP QUZZES. :(

My only class on Tuesdays and my only class besides FYS on Thursday is Introduction to Gender Studies. This class is going to be really interesting. There are around 15-20 people in the class, only 5 boys. One is gay. All the boys seem to come from different backgrounds. The rest are girls. The only thing that would make the class perfect would be to have more than just white people represented in discussions. But the readings are interesting and I enjoy doing the response/reflection assignments because it makes me really think about the material in a different way.

But besides all this boring (to you) school stuff, I have been doing fun things with my time. Cross country practice is usually fun (not the running, just the parts before and after with my team mates). But last night there was a small concert in the P.U.B. on campus which was amazing.

Ari Herstand came to play at Coe, and I hadn't heard of him before I saw signs up around campus. I checked him out on Youtube and immediately recruited my friend Emily and my roommate Bekah to go with me. He was an amazing performer, recording live loops that would play during the song which made him as a solo act sound like a 5-piece band. It was really unique. He had great stage presense and, of course, sounded great. (I bought a CD and a shirt because I'm a sucker like that.) I would definitely recommend checking him out on Youtube, Myspace, etc. He's really good, with a really mellow (most of the time) Jason Mraz/Jack Johnson/Death Cab for Cutie sort of sound.

All in all, I am loving college. It's a blast. I'm busy and loving every second of it. :)