Spring at BC

The most amazing thing happened last weekend - it got warm. You have no idea how weird it feels to be walking around outside in a T-shirt after wearing layer upon layer all winter. I'm from Atlanta, and on Friday and Saturday I felt like I was back home every time I stepped out the door.

The really incredible thing, however, wasn't just the weather, it was what the weather did to people. I kid you not, a spontaneous party broke out across campus. Literally more people than I have ever seen on Upper Campus at one time were outside blasting music, throwing footballs and talking with friends. So naturally I threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and ran outside; I loved every minute of it.

You know how on the cover of every college brochure you get in the mail there's a picture of some kid doing homework on the nicest lawn you've ever seen as he basks in sunlight? Yeah turns out those things aren't staged, at least at BC. You will actually see people doing that, and a lot of people at that. The weather is just too good to pass up.

During the winter people never want to go outside, and why should they? So after all that time cooped up in your dorm room, you can't wait to get out. So when that first weekend up spring time weather comes around, tell your work it can wait and put it off until tomorrow, I promise you won't regret it.

-Jake

It's SHOWTIME!

Hey everyone! What's up?

Lately, I've been getting into some new activities which I thought would be fun, besides Parkour of course. The ALC Showdown is coming up soon! It's only about two weeks away!

The ALC Showdown is basically where all the student dance organizations and a couple of culture clubs come together and compete in a dance-off. I heard it draws crowds each year, so yes I am nervous. There are two separate categories: Modern & Culture. Competing in the Modern category are Synergy, Conspiracy Theory, Sexual Chocolate, and more. For Culture, we have the Vietnamese Students Association (for their first year!), Aero-K, and others! Right now I'm training with the VSA to do something amazing! Too bad my body is in pain at the end of each practice. Here are some clips:

Synergy:



Conspiracy Theory (2008)



And: the housing selection process has begun! Except it is going to be wicked hard to get a 4-man in Edmond's (which has a kitchen so I can cook). I don't like the system because there is no way to reward the students who were not written up during the year. It starts tomorrow, so wish me luck! I really want to do some Pho Nights in my 4-man!

PS: I thought this was cool and wanted to bring it to your attention for when it's time to start decorating your room.


PEACE!

Getting Involved

So since this is my first post I thought I would start by introducing myself. My name is Jake Morakis and I'm a freshman in the school of Arts and Sciences. I'm from Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, so coming up to Boston was definitely a huge change of scenery. As of now I am majoring in Political Science with a minor in Environmental Studies and hope to one day become a lawyer.

Let me start by saying I love BC and I am yet to experience a point when I wasn't having the time of my life, but I have to admit first semester was a little slow. I was so concerned about school work and adapting to college that I decided to put off getting involved until second semester. If anyone reading this is a perspective student worried about the college work load, let me be the first to tell you, you have a TON of free time in college. I had so much free time last semester I didn't know what to do with myself. I must have checked Facebook every 5 minutes out of sheer boredom.

The plus side of my "don't get involved in anything" strategy was that I got really good grades first semester and my parents were really proud, but for some reason that felt way to much like high school. Don't get me wrong, succeeding at a school like BC is a great feeling, but I've come to realized that half the fun of college is getting to do anything you want. Toward the beginning of the year there is Student Activities Day, where every club the school has to offer sets up a table in the dust bowl, which gives students a chance to find clubs they're interested in or never even knew about. I'll be honest, I went crazy on club day. I signed up for every club I was even remotely interested in but, as you already know, I didn't actually get involved in any of them. Instead, I just ended up with an inbox full of email messages I didn't care about reading.

This semester, however, I decided to change things. I got involved in the Student Admissions Program (which would explain this blog) and decided to try something completely new and audition for an a capella group. I never sang in high school or anything but I always enjoyed it and figured it was worth a shot. Somehow I ended up making it and I'm proud to say I am now a member of The Heightsmen, the only and best all male a capella group on campus. It's amazing how getting really involved in just a few activities can fill up all that time I would have otherwise spent on facebook.

But getting involved isn't just about filling time, its also a great way to meet new people (especially upperclassmen) and get invited to sweet parties (it's true). So find something you really like or try something completely new, whatever your choice just get involved. You've only got four years of college so make the most of them.

Second Semester!!

Happy Asian New Year Everyone! Year of the Tiger! Rawr! :D

Since last semester, I've been focusing more time in my clubs: Both VSA & CSA, SAP, and, of course, PARKOUR!

So much fun, but it is a lot of work to get better, more fluid in movement. So far, I've been able to finish vaults across railings and low walls (Ex. pictured left). With all the bruises, scrapes, and sweat, they look pretty good now.


Currently, I am working on my wall run which take a lot of conditioning and strengthening of the lower body since that is where you get your momentum (Ex. on the left). What's the wall I want to climb up? The Higgins/Devlin wall on Million Dollar Stair Case!









It's the second wall behind the first one on the stairwell. I think it would be better if you come to Boston College and see it for yourself. Who knows? Maybe you'll see Boston College Parkour (BCPK) group training!

That's all I've got for now! Peace!

David
nguyenec@bc.edu

February Recap

Hey all!

I've had quite a remarkable past couple weeks, for which I want to briefly share some highlights. Moving from the future, backwards:

Tomorrow: I'm going to see The Lion King at the Boston Opera House!

Yesterday: I went to the ALC Ball (AHANA Leadership Council) at Copley Plaza Hotel. They bused hundreds of students into the city for quite the night of semi-formal dance-floor mayhem (and lots of really good food)! A popular event every year, it certainly lived up to its reputation as being "like Prom, but in college!". Well done once again, ALC!

Last week: Much of my last week of class is a bit fuzzy in my memory, as between my three exams and a paper - analyzing the use of Goethe's Gretchen in Faust in the lieder (songs) of Franz Schubert compared to that of Carl Loewe, in case you were wondering what it was about - all due in the first half of the week, I slept less than any human ever ought to (mostly due, of course, to my own procrastination). Still, I am loving all of my classes this semester, and I'm starting to feel like an actual college student. I'm not sure when this began, or how or why it is the case, but I'm just going to roll with it. And I'm falling in love once again - with Bapst Library.

Last weekend: An incredibly eye-opening experience at a Kairos weekend retreat. I won't get into details, because in case you ever end up going yourself, this retreat simply does not work if you already know anything about it.

Monday, Feb. 8th: Pretty exciting night, started with hundreds of Eagles packing onto a single T line train (MBTA) - which effectively prevented some of our opponents, the BU Terriers who live down the street, from getting on our train. Getting off in downtown Boston, we had to walk a bit to the TD Bank Garden for the BC/BU Beanpot Tournament Championship hockey game. While the game was incredibly close towards the end, BC held on for the 4-3 win! "We are!" - "B-C!"

Well, that's enough for now, I'll be back later in the week!

Joe M.
mahonjc@bc.edu

The Calm Before the Storm

Hey Guys!

Well it's Thursday, which means the end of the week is in sight and some much needed days of relaxation are almost here. This week hasn't been too bad work wise because a lot of professors have chosen to take this time to review what has been covered because it's that time of the year when midterms are just around the corner. I can't believe that we are pretty much half way through the semester, which means I'm only another half a semester away until senior year. It's a crazy thought, and it all feels like it has gone by in the blink of an eye...

Thankfully, there are still a couple of months before I have to actually call myself a senior. What's even better is that this weekend is looking to be a great sports weekend for Boston College to help get my mind off the work that needs to be done. Saturday afternoon is tip off for BC Men's Basketball versus University of North Carolina. Conte Forum is going to be loud and rowdy around 12:00pm in a couple of days with a bunch of screaming Eagles rocking their Superfan shirts and cheering on the basketball team. School spirit is a huge part of being a BC student, and it's actually pretty cool seeing all of your classmates wearing their own custom Superfan shirt (a new slogan is tagged on the back of the Superfan shirts for each new class year; 2011: For Here All Are One) and screaming BC fight songs....and without question will include "Shipping up to Boston" and " For Boston". It's almost entertaining enough to help me forget that I have a mound of work awaiting to be completed before the weekend is up. It's not that bad though, at least when the next week is over it'll be Spring Break!

This Spring Break I've decided to partake in a pretty cool program BC offers called Appalachia Volunteers. Appalachia is a program that is committed to working with the poverty stricken population of the United States. For the entire week an enormous amount of BC students who signed up gets split into smaller groups and are assigned a job sites throughout the US to help out with. It could be a Habitat for Humanity site in North Carolina or Bethlem Farm in West Virginia where I'm off to. I'm probably not doing this program justice so if you want to read up on it just click here!

All right, looks like it's time to get to class.

Till next time,
Juan

Let's talk about my classes!

(A note to readers, this post will focus on classes, since we're just starting and registering and re-registering during the drop/add period all this week).

Hey everyone!

It's time to begin a new decade, and a new semester! As much as I've debated and argued with myself over the past two years, I think I'm finally settling into a specific area of studies. I just switched my major to Computer Science, and am so far taking just two introductory classes. One that carried over from last semester, Computer Science II, was introduction to Java, and now we're learning about software engineering and data structures. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty intimidating to me. Still, it's pretty interesting and Professor Ames is fantastic at teaching from the bottom, up. The other class I have is Web Application Development, which incorporates building websites and learning the web language PHP. Again, I don't know much about either, so I'm looking forward to "expanding my horizons" (a.k.a. studying like my life depends on it).

The class that I really want to tell you about, though, my music class. I'm trying to complete another major with music, as a means to follow my passion, live the life, etc. etc. Really, I just really love it. So, this semester, I decided to take a Music of the Romantic Era class with the legendary Beethoven buff, Prof. Jeremiah McGrann. Let me tell you, this class is amazing. I've been to three classes, and it has already significantly changed the way I can listen to music. Plus, we've already seen prof. McGrann doing a silly dance to Mozart. It covers everything, really: historical, social, political, artistic contexts, philosophical implications, affect on contemporary life. I'm seriously looking forward to this semester.

The last class I'll talk about is for those of you who are history-oriented. To help me fulfill the liberal arts core required in the College of Arts and Sciences, I'm taking Prof. Schloesser's Transatlantic Modernities class. A huge, ridiculous name, but a truly interesting class. His own creation, it is a class mainly designed around cultural history - music and paintings, philosophy, sociology - in the context of the "what was happening at the time" style history. I've just showed up in the middle of the two-semester course, which isn't a problem, but I might have more to say on it later, when I know more about it.

Until next time,

Joe M.

mahonjc@bc.edu