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Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

I enrolled for classes for the last time on the STAR system. And I’m quite sad about it.

Not really, actually. See, enrollment has always gone extremely smoothly for me. I’ve been one of those unique lucky students who has enrolled in every single class that I have ever wanted. Sure, I’ve had to get permission to take some of my courses, and my luck might be a result of no one else wanting to take the same courses as me. I’ve heard some horror stories from some of my friends – they can only enroll in one or two classes, and then they have to go ask professors if they can overfill the class, etc (one of the many good things about Holy Cross being so small and exclusively undergraduate is that you can do stuff like that and professors will 9.9 times out of 10 allow you to enter).

So why am I happy that this is my last enrollment? Well, for starters, enrollment is always at 7:00 a.m. Although I usually get up this early anyway (yes, I’m speaking the truth, Mom and Dad!), let’s face it – it’s early. And there’s always that pregnant pause – that awful moment of hesitation in which your computer frantically attempts to successfully enroll you in all of your courses. You sit on the edge of your computer – you’re barely awake, you’re clutching your mug of tea (if you’re me. If you’re the average Holy Cross student, it’s probably coffee), and you’re frantically going through your back up plan just in case your primary choices don’t work out. It’s a frightening five millisecond span.

So what am I taking next term?

This is as of right now. One class might change a bit, and this doesn’t include my thesis meeting – Prof. Kee and I arrange that individually. This also doesn’t include the TS Eliot class that I’m auditing. But, as you can imagine, I’m really happy about this set of classes. It is weird to finally see the term Spring 2011. Stop going by so quickly, senior year!
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For Your Aural Pleasure

After reading my blog for the past four years, have you ever wondered, “Hm. I know how she writes and I know everything about her life, but what does she sound like?” Well – look no further. I’m here to take you into an aural post.

If you click on this link, you can listen to/see the interview that NECN did of me for my ballroom dance thing…stuff, and finally put a voice to my blog entries. You can also see my new haircut more visibly (I think I’m going to change the title of this blog to “The Many Hairstyles of Colleen”), which is obviously more important. πŸ˜›
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Where In the World is Colleen?

Wow. I feel like I haven’t been on here in quite some time. To make up for this and get you all up to speed quickly, this is going to be a photo entry.

First, I was in San Diego, California to present at the 32nd annual Association for Integrative Studies Conference.

I think that the location kind of helped my decision to go to the conference.

At the conference, Professor Matlak and I argued for the establishment of a national honors society for those students with interdisciplinary (or multidisciplinary…however you choose to look at it) majors. Our presentation was well received, and the board is going to review our proposal. Hopefully there will be such an establishment within the next few years!

Then, I went home for a few days, where I made s’mores and slept.

Then I came back to Holy Cross to compete and cheer on the rest of the team at the Harvard Ballroom Competition.

My grandmother and Mom came to watch.

Yes, I have long hair when I compete in ballroom.

Then I came back to beautiful Holy Cross…

…to work on my thesis.

Then I had loads of papers, exams, and applications to do. When I blinked my eyes, it was Halloween.

Yes, I went as Scrabble.

And that’s my whirlwind life for the past month or so!
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Spending October in the Sunshine

Hello from beautiful San Diego!

I’m currently enjoying the 80 degree weather and the cloudless day. This is absolutely gorgeous.

I’m here for the 32nd Annual Association for Integrated Studies Conference, where Professor Matlak and I are presenting the necessity for a national honors society for undergraduates with an interdisciplinary major. The conference received our presentation very well, and we’re now moving forward with the program. I’m going to create a protoype society at Holy Cross to hammer out the Constitution and by-laws for other schools to use our group as a template. It’s all very exciting!

And, now, I’m headed back to Georgia for some rest over this Columbus Day week-long break. But not before I enjoy the San Diego sunshine for just a few more minutes. πŸ™‚
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Thesis = Pizza Parties…?

One of the greatest aspects of the English Honors Program is the community. All eight of us meet in a seminar every Wednesday night, and Prof. Gettleman advises us on how to articulate our research and better define our approach to writing our thesis. It’s honestly just relieving to hear everyone’s experience with the thesis process. Well, tonight, we had…wait for it…PIZZA. Yes, if you are crazy enough to be a member of two honors societies, you are more likely to have free pizza throughout your senior year. It’s not a bad trade off, honestly. πŸ™‚

So now I’m almost finished with my work for this week. I have literally been going non-stop since September 1st. I cannot wait for Fall Break. I’m leaving on Friday for a conference in San Diego, and then I’m leaving San Diego on Sunday (yes, it’s a short trip, unfortunately) for Atlanta. I’ll be home until Thursday, and I plan on sleeping for a majority of my time home. Don’t worry, Prof. Gettleman or anyone else associated with my thesis – I will be working on it. Well, at least a little bit. But now it’s back to my paper!

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The Bigger Picture

There have been times in the past couple of weeks where I’ve just been running around and trying to get so much accomplished. Between organizing the ballroom team’s intercollegiate socials and competitions, writing my thesis, attending my classes and finishing my work, and applying for fellowships and graduate schools, I’ve been so busy that I’ve forgotten the bigger picture sometimes.

Last night at Ballroom practice, I was off in my own little world. I will admit that I do miss dancing at Oxford simply because of the intense nature of the team; at Holy Cross (or even in America in general), we simply can’t run a program similar to Oxford’s. In the Advanced lesson last night, a sophomore who I didn’t know all that well asked to stay for the lesson even though she explained that she was only Intermediate. My coaches agreed to let her stay since it’s always good to challenge yourself. As usual, there weren’t enough guys for all of the girls, so I acted as a leader (boys are called leaders and girls are called followers). Coral said that she was having difficulty understanding what the coaches were saying, so I attempted to break it down for her. That’s when I realized that Coral is partially deaf. Even for those of you who don’t dance will recognize how difficult it must be to dance without being able to hear the music or the instruction. Right when I realized the situation, it made me step back and take a look at the bigger picture. I’ve got a lot going on in my life right now, but I have always used dance as a release for pent up energy, aggression (it happens sometimes, and jive is always good for that!), or sadness (it happens sometimes too. Not that often, though!). I even just use walking around campus whilst listening to my iPod as a release. I couldn’t even imagine dancing being difficult because I couldn’t hear the music – I don’t know what I would do. After Coral let me know the situation, I started to break it down more for her, and she taught me some helpful bits of sign language that would make it easier for her to understand. By the end of the night, Coral was able to “hear” more of the music and was able to dance the routine throughout. When I told her that she danced extremely well during that lesson, her smile was enough to get me through my late night of applications and essays.

Honestly, welcome to an education at Holy Cross. I always conclude my tours by saying that Holy Cross asks you to be a man or a woman for others and to share your talents with the community. Last night just made me really step back and realize the talents that I have and the opportunities that Holy Cross has given me to use them for the benefit of others.

In some less heavy news, please enjoy some of the photos from the Ballroom Team’s social that was held this past Friday. We held a 1950’s sockhop and we even had a Lindy Hop lesson. We also had a great turn out, and it was great to see so many ballroom teams from New England.
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Hitting The Ground Running

I think I’m speaking for every senior – this is the busiest that I have ever been at Holy Cross, and it’s only the second week of classes. What is going on?

The classes that I am taking are fantastic this term. My Honors Seminar is Apocalypticism Through the Ages taught by Prof. Murphy (you probably remember that name from first semester of my sophomore year). In this class, we’re exploring Apocalypticism from its pre-Judaism roots and moving right up to the current trend amongst fundamentalist Christians. It is absolutely fascinating. I’m also taking Fr. Brooks’ seminar (maybe that’s why I’m so busy…) on Contemporary Christology. In this class, we’re going to select one theologian that we’ll study for the rest of the semester; at the end, we’ll present our theologian and defend our assessment of his/her theology to a panel consisting of Fr. Brooks and three to four outside professors. I think the final exam is the real reason why I decided to take the course! I’m also taking Shakespeare; how can you major in English and not take a class on the Bard? My fourth course is dedicated to my thesis; Professor Kee is serving as my advisor, and Professor Ireland is serving as my reader. I also have about five other professors who are helping me in the topic (I’ll dedicate another post to that one; it’s just too long to get into here!). I’m also enrolled in the English Honors Program’s seminar, Research Methods, although it doesn’t technically count as a class.

Although I’m running around like crazy, there are perks to this academic schedule. I don’t have classes on either Mondays or Fridays. In addition, there are perks of being a crazy student who is enrolled in two honors programs – I have access to the English Faculty Common Room. πŸ™‚ It’s the little things in life…

P.S. In other very exciting (aka…not really) news, Prof. Pierce is sitting at the table next to mine at Crossroads as we speak/type. She’s currently interviewing a Medieval Theologian to join the Theology department. So, for those out there that think that there aren’t jobs in Medieval studies…HAH! Well, those jobs are few and far between. Hm. Maybe I should just become a professional ballroom dancer. My parents would love that… πŸ™‚
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Two Very Long Overdue Announcements

There are sometimes that I feel bad for you, dear readers. When you think about it, all of my posts from last year were pretty much “I LOVE OXFORD” or “I LOVE DANCING!” It’s okay; you can admit it – my feelings won’t be hurt!

Well, I’m sure that there were times that you were dragging through my entries and wondering if my dancing exploits and journey abroad would ever amount to something. Well, I’m quite happy to announce that two really awesome things did come out of my year abroad (well, okay. A lot of awesome things came out of my year abroad, but these are two major events that happened to me). This is the first time that I’m announcing them through my blog because…well…I was trying to be modest and I wanted my blog to focus more on my experience abroad. However, news of both of these awesome events is spreading like wildfire throughout campus, so I thought that I might as well let you all know about it too, since you experienced Oxford with me (in a way).

Firstly, Sigma Tau Delta, the national English honors society, awarded me a $3,000 scholarship to put toward my education whilst studying abroad. Only one of these awards is given out per academic year. I was selected due to my passion for English literature (albeit medieval and you wouldn’t know it was English unless someone told you), the high level of classes that I was taking at Oxford (Paleography, anyone?), and my desire to return to Oxford to complete my graduate studies in English literature there. So, to all of you future English majors: your major can be profitable!

Secondly, I am returning to England over Thanksgiving break to compete in the National ISTD Ballroom Dancing Championships. I won the Latin division in the regional qualifying event, so I was invited back to compete for the national title. This isn’t just a collegiate comp – this isΒ  a much higher standard than collegiate competitions. So, while you’re all eating turkey and cranberry sauce, I’ll be practicing my cha cha lock steps! In addition, at the end of my year abroad, I was also awarded Team Colours, which is very similar to earning a varsity letter in America. Due to my dedication to the team and the high level of proficiency that I achieved in both Latin and Ballroom styles, my coaches and team president awarded me Team Colours. I’m the first visiting student and dancer of my level to achieve this honor in the 60 year history of the dancesport team/club at Oxford.

Unfortunately, the only photos that I have from the qualifying event are professional, so I can’t upload them here. (Thanks to my very good friend from Oxford, John Sinclair, for letting me use this photo!)
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Oh, I’ve missed this!

Since I’ve been back at Holy Cross, I’ve had a couple of moments where I’ve realized how much I’ve missed Holy Cross. Last night, though, was the biggest moment so far. I was lectoring at the 10:00 Mass last night. I was an active member of the Catholic Chaplaincy in Oxford, and the Jesuits there did make me feel like I was part of a community. However, Campus Ministry at Holy Cross is simply a community that cannot be replicated. We are, in a word, crazy. When I arrived at St. Joseph’s last night, we were all running around as usual. I came into the sacristy to see Fr. Lynch and Paul Melley (director of liturgical music) cracking up at some random joke, and then my friend, Bill, almost caught his hair on fire. We all started cracking up around then. Then there was a ridiculously impossible word to pronounce in my reading, so Bill and I started cracking up as we tried to figure out how to pronounce it. And, right before Mass, Paul went over some of the songs to be used in the liturgy, and he started out by saying, “Come on – this song is easy! You all can sing it!” Of course, he sang it in his beautiful liturgical voice. It was then that I just had a moment when I realized how much I missed this particular aspect of Holy Cross when I was away last year (and, no, this realization was not enhanced by the S’mores offered after Mass). Yes, we all take our Catholic heritage and our participation in Mass seriously, but we all have a great time (maybe too much of a good time!) doing it as well.

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This Is It

On Wednesday, I started my final year at Holy Cross/my final year before I hit the real world.*

That’s frightening.

Anyway, one of the questions that most of my friends and professors have asked me since I’ve been back is the following: Is it weird to be back at Holy Cross? To an extent, it is. My daily schedule has changed dramatically (no more 20+ hours of dance a week!), and I have to get used to eating at Kimball instead of cooking for myself. But I thought that I would have the most difficulty readjusting myself to the American way of higher education. Honestly, this hasn’t been that big of an issue. My classes this semester are, for the most part, self-driven and mimic the tutorial system a lot. I’m taking two seminars and a lecture; the lecture operates more like a seminar than anything. I’m also writing my Senior thesis, which is exactly like the tutorial system anyway. You know what has been the most difficult part, though? Hearing a bunch of different American accents and not hearing any British accents. Everyone speaks just like me!

*I realize that some people think that graduate school really isn’t the real world…so, I guess that we’ll just go with that this is my last year at Holy Cross. Sound good? πŸ™‚