Last Day of NSO!

Today was the last day of NSO!  Before I go into what we did today, I’ll pick you up where I left off last time. 

Sunday:

I started my day off with a walk around a local lake with GORP, the outdoors program.  It was beautiful although VERY warm!  I talked to a girl from the Czech Republic for most of the hike.  Next came our first tutorial class!  It was mostly filled with registration information and a few ice breaker activities.  My tutorial is on Failure taught be Professor Brad Graham.  He is very nice and I think it will be a really good class!  We had our next Community Values Session on Diversity in the evening.  This was my favorite as they had about 8 speakers from very diverse background and experiences talk about how they view themselves as a part of a diverse community.  I just lazed around in my room that evening, listening to music and talking to my mom J

Monday:

Tai Chi!  I spent an hour taking a Tai Chi class in the morning.  It was really fun and I hope I am able to do more!  Monday was filled with many many seminars.  The first was on strategies for success in your first intro to science and math course.  It provided advice that basically consisted of: do your homework, get sleep, and talk to your professors.  The next session was on the Careers, Life, and Service Center.  I already knew quite a bit about what they do, but it was nice to meet some of the people that work there.  Finally, there was the Community Service session.  It was interesting to hear about all the interesting opportunities Grinnell provides!  In fact, the NSO community service project was moved due to weather to Saturday.  We will be volunteering at the local animal shelter as well as a farm!  Also, I may get a volunteer work study program helping a museum in Des Moines do some research, right from my dorm room!  Our second to last community values session was very important and was on Sexual Health and Violence Prevention.  After, I spent some time in my room just relaxing again.

Also Monday was our Advising appointments.  We met with our advisor (who teaches our tutorial) to figure out what classes we wanted to register for.

 

Tuesday:

There was an Academic Resource Fair and a Reading Diagnostic test.  I was very confused by this test, as some words that I knew that did not have the correct definition.  For instance: the word induce was a vocabulary word.  The definition of “to start, or to cause to start” was not an option….I was very confused….ANYWAYS.  My roommate and I wandered around Faulkner Gallery where a photography exhibit is going on.  It was really beautiful!  Finally our last Community Values session, living in Grinnell, brought to you by some community members.  That evening, my roommate and I wandered around Downtown Grinnell and then I toured the Observatory!  If you ever get the chance to do so, take it, it is so interesting and the professor is really fascinating to listen to! 

And finally today! I woke up this morning a little early just to do Salsa dancing for an hour and a half!  It was lots of fun and I met lots of other people who have absolutely no dancing ability. J We then had a Medallion Ceremony which the roots of are based in Grinnell lore.  Of which I will post about tomorrow because it is getting late and class starts tomorrow! Then we had a convocation where four students presented their summer research projects in conjunction with professors. Next we had “Grinnell Fest”, basically an organization fair, that was a bit overwhelming but really fun.  Although, I went into the day thinking I was going to sign up for the student run ceramics studio, only to have the ceramics students leave right before I got there!  However, someone in my dorm did get to sign up and is going to let me know if she hears anything from them.  For the best part of the day, Grinnell put on a lovely picnic for all students including, you guessed it, Iowa corn!  It really was the best corn I’ve ever had.   Then my roommate and I went to see 21 Jump Street in Harris Cinema thanks to the college.

 

This week has in no way been easy.  I’m not going to lie and say that everything was bows and giggles because it wasn’t.  It is hard being away from home and family.  It is hard not knowing anyone.  It is hard missing friends back home.  But my SA (Student Advisor, kind of like an RA with no disciplinary role) that the first two months feel like you are in a hamster wheel.  You are working hard but don’t seem to go anywhere, and then suddenly you go to dinner without texting a friend or looking around for where to sit, it becomes comfortable.  I know this must be true or no one would ever make it through four years of college!  So it’s nice to know that the loneliness that everyone is feeling is normal!