Month: January 2009

On “Lost” last night, some of the characters were speaking Latin. Speaking Latin. Now, granted, it wasn’t all correct, but it was still Latin! Just another piece of evidence that Latin is not a dead language!

Everything here is going pretty much the same. I’m afraid that my life is boring right now! I delivered my presentation in Tolkien yesterday; it was about Tolkien as a medievalist scholar. I learned how to pronounce Anglo-Saxon over the weekend (I’m a cool one) to emphasize a couple of points. We’re steadily moving along through Tolkien’s works; we’ll be finished with The Silmarillion by next week. Prof. Mulrooney ended class yesterday by saying, “Well, we’re 22% finished with this semester.” Why must everyone emphasize how quickly this time is flying?

All of my other classes are going well, and I’m really enjoying them. In Ideological Destruction of Art, we’ve just arrived at Hatcheptsut, the female pharaoh, and we’re beginning to examine why her artwork would have been destroyed. In Mathematics and Art, we’re doing experiments with the Golden Ratio and the Fibonnachi numbers. Those numbers are everywhere in nature and art! It’s fascinating because, for some odd reason, those two sets of numbers are just visually appealing to the human eye. Early Christian Literature is going well, too. We haven’t been “baptized” again, though. Even though they’re not as intertwined as last semester, I enjoy every moment of my classes because I learn just such different things in each class.

Sorry for the somewhat boring entry. Because of the weather, my friends and I haven’t really been able to do anything except for study and stay in the dorms. I do love the snow, but the ice makes it difficult to have fun excursions. But, fear not! For entertaining entries shall return soon!

Yesterday was, by far, one of the most interesting classes that I have ever attended. In Early Christian Literature, we’ve reached the point in The Confessions when St. Augustine asks for his baptism. In that scene, he says that he was “seasoned” and “signed” by God. Well, those are both allusions to the ancient baptismal rite, in which both salt and oil were used. As we reached that point in the class translation, Fr. Vodoklys told us all to open our hands. He went around the room and poured some salt onto our hands, and then went into a discourse about how valuable salt was in the ancient world because it preserved food. While our hands were still open, he then went around the room and poured some olive oil into our hands. I don’t think I will ever need to moisturize my right hand again!

Everything is still going well, albeit a little busy. I have my presentation for my Tolkien seminar tomorrow, so I’ll be working on that for the rest of the day today. Prof. Manoussakis, my Philosophy professor last semester, is also helping me edit and revise a paper to turn it into a conference. While this week is busy as anything, I’m really looking forward to the weekend (yes, I do realize that it’s only Tuesday…). My mom is flying in on Friday, and, along with my grandmother, we’re going to see the Dancing with the Stars tour on Saturday.

Well, I’ve got to lead my first tour of the semester now. Until next time!

I have officially started the second semester of my sophomore year. While my classes don’t coalesce perfectly like last semester (admit it, you enjoyed reading about my medieval adventures), they are amazing nonetheless. My first class, mathematics and art, is actually quite fascinating. I know, I know. you probably never expected to see me write that I’m taking a math class. But, I needed a math credit, and this class is awesome. We’re analyzing the mathematical structures of various art movements, and how different mathematical applications make each movement different from the other. Farwell, cosine and tangent equations! Hello, Polykleitous and Raphael! I’m also taking Fr. Vodoklys’ Early Christian literature, which is translating St. Augustine’s The Confessions. Yes, dear reader, that book is back! Just when you thought you were free…muwaha. Anyway, I feel like I’ve analyzed the work enough in English, and I thought that I should tackle it in the original Latin. Plus, St. Augustine has a beautiful command of Latin (as he should – he was the Roman emperor’s grammarian and rhetorician!), and much of his language’s beauty is lost in translation. I’m also taking Professor Mulrooney’s Tolkien seminar. Now, before you all think that I’m really crazy, I promise you that I have never dressed up as any character from Lord of the Rings. Okay, so maybe I have. But that’s not the point. The point is that we’re studying Tolkien in an academic light, which is amazing. It’s intensive reading (we’re reading everything that Tolkien wrote), and I’m one of the youngest in the class. Is it going to be a challenge? Most certainly yes. Am I beyond excited? Most certainly yes. My last class is my Honors seminar, the Ideological Destruction of Art. We’ll be studying the destruction of art in ancient times, whether it was for political or religious reasons, and the class will culminate in an independent research project in which we explore a modern example of the destruction of art. I think I might be leaning toward the French Revolution. But, that paper isn’t due for a while, so I’ll think about it later! So, while I’m going to be reading a whole lot this semester, I am so excited for all of my classes. Also, at the conclusion of this semester, I will be finished with all of my core requirements!

My first regular shift at Kimball was this morning. Most of my workers from last semester returned to work the same shift. I like to think that it’s a reflection of how I’m a captain. Of course, I do realize that it is based upon their schedules. This first day of work was so much better compared to the first day last semester. Unlike the beginning of last semester, all of the workers know how to complete every task. Scarily enough, we’re now beginning the captain selection process for next year. A couple of captains (myself included) already have lists of workers that we think would make great captains. And all of the Kimball magic begins there.

In other (random) news, it is freezing here. No, literally. It is freezing here. It is a whopping 5 degrees, and it’s supposed to drop down to -2 during the night. Last January was most certainly not this cold. This is Eskimo weather! I guess that it’s better than being distracted by nice weather, but still. I don’t think my studies would take a beating if the temperature rose into the double digits, at least!

Happy 2009!

I hope that you all had a Merry Christmas. Christmas was low-key this year; it was just my immediate family. My sister had to fly back to Colgate on the 27th to train with the swim team, so we were unable to spend Christmas with our relatives. For once in my life, something is my sister’s fault! It was actually really nice to spend it with just my dad, mom, sister, and pets. Christmas Mass was probably the highlight of my entire break, as weird as that may sound. I just love waking up on Christmas morning, dressing up, and going to Mass. It really helps me just remember what anchors the entire day. Of course, I do enjoy coming home, rapidly changing into my pajamas, and ripping open presents! The largest gift this year was a Wii and a Wii Fit. Oh my goodness, my family and I haven’t stopped playing it. I currently hold the record for the Hoola Hoops (310, if you wanted to know), and I’m also a champion penguin on one of the balance games. I’ve perfected my ace on Wii Tennis, and I can give David Ortiz a run for his money in Wii Baseball. See, the danger of Wii is that your success on the video game can make you think that you’re actually a good athlete. I’m more than willing to admit that I lack all athletic talent, so I’m living vicariously through Wii.

My family and I also saw the Terracotta Warriors exhibit in Atlanta. I was fortunate enough to see the warriors in their original home, Xian, when I traveled to China a couple of summers ago. My family was subjected to hear me talk incessantly about them, so when we heard that they were coming to Atlanta, my family decided to go. Okay, maybe I dragged them to go, but they all enjoyed it.

I can’t believe how quickly break flew. It was great to go home and relax for three weeks, but it was a little short! I’m not exactly complaining about coming back to campus, though. I’m really excited for my classes this semester. My classes don’t perfectly dovetail like last semester, but all four interest me nonetheless. This is also the first semester during which I’ll be participating in the College Honors program, and I’m so excited for Colloquium to start. Colloquium is basically an extension of FYP Symposia. Ironically enough, a majority of the College Honors members from my year are former FYPers.

Kimball has already started again. My first regular shift will be Thursday breakfast. Nearly all of my workers from last semester will be coming back to that shift. Getting up that early in the morning isn’t always easy, but my workers make it worthwhile.  All in all, it’s going to be another busy semester, but I know it’s going to be fun and worthwhile.