As I'm sure you've been waiting with breath that is bated.... It's been a while since I've posted, but that's to be expected at the end of the semester I suppose.
At least I finished my classes. It ended up being the most difficult end to the semester I think I've ever had. All of my classes had significant portions of the final grade due in the last few weeks. Combine that with RA-ing, RA interviews with next year, CoSO applications that still needed to be finalized, Soundbytes rehearsals and performances, and a few more things I've blocked out, and you get a crazed, sleepless few weeks. However, it's over now, and I guess I did the best I could under the circumstances, but of course I wish I'd done better.
A few pretty cool products came out of the classes I took this semester though. I learned all about how technological change affects economic growth (began to understand national growth models, why Asian countries are doing so well, etc.); designed two websites (pretty awful, but still cool for a newbie); delved into the complex system that is US regulation; made contributions to a class project in philosophy that finished with a website cataloging our efforts to map the philosophical arguments made by Hobbes, Hume, Kant, and others, as well as a book that will be soon published with very limited distribution (and details about the project itself will potentially be published in a high profile philosophical journal); and last but not least, worked on a semester-long project attempting to solve a current policy issue that culminated in a presentation to high-level civil servants in the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, among others (that same project might also be presented to FEMA in January). Not bad for a 21-year-old college student, I'd say. ^_^
Soundbytes' annual Winter Concert also went incredibly well. Each year it has been growing. All the a cappella groups on campus are invited to perform, and last year Soundbytes had hosted it in UC Connan to a packed crowd; people were literally sitting on floor and out the door. This year was The Originals turn to host it, and as the concert neared, it became apparent that Connan just wasn't going to be large enough to hold the number of people we were expecting to attend. Incredibly, we were able to get McConomy at the last minute! While certainly not filled to capacity (as it holds 500), it was definitely over half full by the end of the night, with people milling in and out during the 2-hour concert. When Soundbytes went on, there was a cheer from the crowd like we'd never heard from a CMU crowd before. They LOVED us, and the energy was great, better than anything we've had yet. I got extremely positive comments from a lot of people I knew after the concert, about how much they liked our set, how tight we sounded, how great we looked, and how we not only sang well, but performed too and were fun to watch! It was one of the best CMU concerts we've ever had, I think, and it's about time we moved a cappella to McConomy! Next semester we're looking to have a huge a cappella event, inviting a bunch of groups we've connected with from in and out of state to come and perform. It's been the product of years of discussion and plotting, and I think we have a good chance of it finally happening this Spring. So watch out for that!
I'm really looking forward to a month of chill time at home. I haven't been back for more than a few short weekends since last winter break, and I've really missed it. I'm going to spend most of it with my family (and in the house I expect), but I'm going to Wisconsin for a long weekend in January which I'm very much looking forward to. Another state off my list to visit! However, I can't believe when I get back that I'll be a second-semester senior! It hasn't actually penetrated yet that I am done with my major, and will never take another class in SDS again. All but one of my classes is at the graduate level next semester (one philosophy class to finish my second major), and in about 5 months time I'll be walking to get my degree in my cap and gown. While I'll still be coming back next year for my master's, nothing will be the same.
I won't even be living in the same environment next year either, which is another major switch. I found out today, after several rounds of interviews, that I am being offered an RA position in West Wing/Resnik (exact house to be determined). I wanted to return next year as an RA, knowing that I'll only be here for a semester as I'm going abroad in the spring, so in order to ensure that I got the best chance for placement, I interviewed for a variety of housing types. I was asked back for three interviews, which I think is rather a lot (people love me, I know), and ended up having a stellar interview with the Housefellow for West Wing/Resnik. It'll be a major change though, as I haven't lived on campus for three years, and even New House was farther off campus than West Wing. I've loved living in Oakland, and not having an apartment will be a significant adjustment. Luckily, it's only for a few months, and I think it will be for the best, since I can leave a lot of my apartment stuff at home. It would be a pain to store it in boxes here, or to take it back in December. And I'll also have a single, though I'd be sharing the suite with four other girls.... I'm just so glad I don't have to think about housing next year, either finding it or paying for it, which would be an incredible hassle.
All in all, I guess it was a pretty productive semester. Now I get to relax for a while, be with family, eat too much, get fat, catch up on sleep, and try to find an internship for this summer....
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It is, in a nutshell, amazing. It's about a half-step down from a full-blown digital SLR, and thus much more powerful than a regular point-and-shoot. 12x zoom, image stabilization, dozens of scene settings, the option for manual calibration as well, and lots of other great things about it I'm sure I'm forgetting. It's several orders of magnitude better than my old Coolpix, and probably one of the best cameras on the market for its class. The only real drawback is that it is quite large (about 15 oz) and bulky, so it will be more difficult to take places easily. I waffled on my decision a lot because of this, and almost bought the Canon SX100, a similar camera, cheaper and a bit weaker in features, though about twice as light and more streamlined. However, many of the reviews I read said that it had a long flash recovery time, and that is probably the feature I despise the most about my current camera. It also doesn't have a viewfinder, and while I use it seldom, not having the option was somewhat disconcerting. So bye-bye the SX100 went, and all the arguments I had in favor of the S5 got that much stronger. I think I'll be really glad I got it. I guess I'll just have to get used to lugging around a big camera, and deal with the extra weight while backpacking (a valid concern, but it's not like a backpack that often anyway).
