Crimson Christmas

A week ago today, I got to participate in one of my favorite Transy events. Every year around the beginning of December, the Transy community teams up with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Lexington to host “Crimson Christmas.”

Prior to the event, the residence life staff collects money from their residents to purchase gifts for a particular child in the program. Then they shop for gifts according to the child’s wish-list, so they for sure get items they want and need.

The day of the event, several organizations, including most of the Greek organizations on campus, set up booths for the children to come do crafts or play games for prizes. This year there was face painting, gift box making, pin the red nose on Rudolf, and I worked the cornhole game!

Santa visits Transy!

I can’t believe how much fun these kids had. Every one of them had a smile on their face the whole day! After games were played and pictures were taken with Santa, it was time for them to open their big gifts! It felt so incredible to know that the Transy community gave these kids an awesome Christmas, especially since some of them wouldn’t get to have Christmas otherwise. I’ll never forget how one little girl jumped up and down when she opened her Justin Beiber poster and then promptly began to show it off! Two little twin boys had a basketball and football among their gifts and started up a game of catch with some other children and transy students.

This event always reminds me that Transy is a very special community in itself, but we never forget that we are part of a larger community. You can see the dedication to helping that larger community here, and that’s something I’m incredibly proud of.

A photo recap of recent fun things!

A quick photo update on fun things that have happened recently:

I made it to my concert in Cleveland, Ohio a couple of weekends ago! It was absolutely incredible, and it was just what I needed to do for myself to keep myself motivated for the end of the semester. I got to be in the front row! The lead singer of the first band tossed me his water bottle after the show, because I knew all the words to all their songs (they are one of my favorite bands, and they broke up 5 years ago, so not many people in the crowd knew them). The drummer from my favorite band threw me his broken drumstick, and the lead guitarist from the main act gave me his guitar pick! It was so worth the 5.5 hour drive!

Anthony Green- Lead vocalist for Circa Survive!

THE MAN aka Colin Frangicetto- Lead Guitarist for Circa Survive. I was RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM!

My loot!

Phi Mu had a Masquerade Ball on Friday night. All the other sororities also had their winter formals this weekend. It was a lot of fun to hang around and dance with friends, and I had so much fun making my mask!

The members of the new Sigma Tau Delta chapter on campus (that’s the international English honorary, by the way), met for brunch this morning to chat and discuss our upcoming charity event! Doodles is an amazing local breakfast and lunch restaurant, and it is quickly becoming a Transy tradition. Every time I go there I see at least 3 or 4 other Transy groups there.

It's that time again

It’s that time of the semester again! Finals are coming up, papers are coming due, and everyone is getting excited about the holidays. For me, this semester has been eye opening. I have realized that I am about to enter my last semester of college. I have had to juggle my school work, my job and applying for grad school, but it’s all about over. Oh my. Really, this is about how I feel right now:

Exhausted in the Rambler Office

You’ll hit these points throughout your college career, where you’ve done so much, that all you really want to do is just rest for a while. Completely veg out and do something mindless. Remember, though, that something will always come back to encourage you to keep going with school. You’ll read something really interesting in one of your classes (like the book “The Known World” for me in my 20^th Century American Literature class right now) and you’ll be back in the game.

READ THIS BOOK. Really.

I’ve found that the best way to stay motivated is find a way to incorporate your school work into other things you find enjoyable. Take your articles down to Third Street Stuff or Cuppa or Common Grounds (local coffee shops) one night instead of cooping yourself up in the library or your room; take your textbooks home for the weekend and study while around your family; I am about to go run a bath and read there. Take breaks when you want to (not too many); take naps (not too many); and listen to your body when it tells you it’s had enough (but make sure that’s what it is actually saying).

Around the Holidays it’s easy to want to quit, but ya gotta stick with it. It’ll pay off; I promise! I’m walking proof.

Remember yourself!

In college, it’s easy to forget what makes you, you. If you value your education, you could develop a tendency to become a productive, homework-completing, excessive reading, studying machine and forget to indulge in those things that make you unique, those things that make you sane.

My first few years of college, I fell into that. Now, I’m not saying that academic productivity and a deep-valuing of education is in anyway a bad thing, but during that time, I tended to justify denying myself things I enjoyed because “school was more important.” This year, I have allowed myself to enjoy the other things I’m passionate about in my life in addition to school, and I can tell you, I am a lot more psychologically well-off than in previous year.

This week serves as a perfect example. I was faced with an intense literature paper, another paper proposal, my senior seminar research paper and a collaborative project. Luckily, I got an extension on one assignment, but the workload this week has been taxing to say the least.

And yet, this week, I also vowed to engage in activities that had nothing to do with school but which genuinely made me happy. Yesterday, for example, I attended a poetry workshop with several other students and Kentucky poet Bianca Spriggs. Writing poetry is something I genuinely enjoy and find import. In the past few years, though, I have not been able to devote much time to it because of school. The experience last night was simultaneously depressing and inspiring. I realized just how much I had neglected a true passion, but I gained the hope that I can make time for it, even during a week when everything seems to be due for class. I had a fabulous time, and left with the beginnings of several new poems!

Bianca Spriggs performing one of her poems!

I am also allowing myself two more pleasures this week! Tonight at midnight, I will join the masses at the movie theatre for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. The Harry Potter series was an integral part of my childhood, and so I am allowing myself to take a break from research to go enjoy this event with sold-out crowds.

What I am most excited about, though, is my trip to Cleveland, Ohio this weekend, to see three of my favorite bands perform in concert! Music is also a huge passion of mine, and has been for years. In college, however, I did not have time to keep up with it like I used to, and I even went whole days without listening to any music because I had too much work. Honestly, that shouldn’t be an excuse! That’s why I’m allowing myself to make the 6 hour drive to see my dream concert! No more –always- passing on valuable non-academic experiences in favor of work.

It is possible to be completely dedicated to your education while still enjoying those other things that make you happy. So, when you come to college, don’t forget yourself!

Newspaper Conference!

A couple of Saturdays ago, Transy funded my trip to the Student Media Advisor’s conference at the Galt house in Louisville, KY. I went to represent our newspaper, The Rambler, which I have rambled about before (It’s late. Forgive a terrible play on words).

Now, at Transy, we don’t yet have an official journalism program, so everything we do at the Rambler is completely volunteer and everything we learn about Journalism, we have to teach ourselves or learn from our WONDERFUL advisor, Terri McLean. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to go to this conference free of charge to learn more about the practice of journalism.

I arrived bright and early at 8:00am to drive around Louisville and to find parking, and I arrived at registration at 8:30. So some people might think I’m crazy for getting up that early on a Saturday to go to a conference, but I can actually say it was invigorating, inspiring and informative! I loved it. The first session I attended was called “First Amendment Reality Shows” during which I learned all about the rights of the student press and networked with some lawyers that could help us out if we ever ran into conflicts.

The Galt House Hotel in Louisville! It was so nice!

I also attended other energizing sessions that gave me all kinds of cool ideas to the paper. I attended a session about writing sex columns, a session about Nelly Bly and her ground breaking journalistic techniques, and a session about “Where to Find News.” I was so happy to bring all of these ideas back to my fellow staff members so that we can keep improving our paper. No doubt, with continued support like that which I received to attend this conference, student media on Transy’s campus will continue to flourish!

A lot of know what we want to major in even before we come into college. A lot of us, however, do not. On Tuesday, I worked the Psychology table at Transy’s annual Major/Minor fair, just one of the many ways Transy tries to give you as many opportunities as possible to explore your options!

I had so much fun, I thought I’d tell you about it! Generally, some seniors and juniors from each major get together to work the tables. There is food, candy, science experiments, music, mini theatrical performances, cool artifacts, and even people in costume!
At the Psychology table, we had an actual operant chamber (aka “Skinner Box”) at the table, optical illusion cards, a mirror maze, and some other awesome gadgets we frequently use or study in the department! First years and undecided sophomores could not only get information about the major, but interact with current majors and participate in hands on activities that we sometimes do in class. They can also talk to recent alumni to see what kinds of opportunities exist for each major after graduation.

Me, proud of my psychology table

Psychology wasn’t the only table to have neat stuff like this, though. Nearly every program had something unique at their table! Religion had pictures and stories from people who had studied abroad in Israel, Anthropology had artifacts, Latin American Studies even made cupcakes!
I remember when I attended this even my first year. I thought for sure that I had decided on a Biochemistry major, but at this event I remember talking to some passionate English students, and it eventually contributed to my decision to switch.

Bottom line is—if you think you might have varying interests at all (which, if you’re at or considering a school like Transy, you should), attend as many of these events as possible. Talk to as many students in different departments as you can about their experiences! Even if you don’t change your mind about what to study like I did, you can at least meet some pretty cool folks and learn a thing or two about something you might not have known anything about previously.

Weekend of Service!

Community service is something that is incredibly important to me, though I often don’t get a chance to do it because of my crazy school and work schedule.

Last weekend, though, I was able to participate in not just one awesome service project, but TWO, and other members of the Transy community were at my side for both.

On Saturday, Psi Chi (The Psychology Honorary), had a craft day at The Florence Crittenton Home, which is about a 5 minute walk from campus. It is a mostly a home for teenage girls who are pregnant or have children. We hung out with the girls and some of their precious babies for a couple hours making picture frames and thank you cards, eating cookies and chatting. They were so appreciative, and their crafts turned out incredible! On the way back to campus, something equally cool happened. We passed one of the neighborhood houses, and 3 children were running around the yard. They spied our picture frames, and began asking questions. We were able to not only give the girls at the home a fun day, but also to make the day of these neighborhood children by giving them the rest of our picture frames. What a cool experience to make so many people smile in a day!

Team Phi Mu at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k

Sunday was even more humbling. It was the 2010 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5k. Every year Transy has a strong team that participates in the walk and raises money for breast cancer research. It’s an issue that’s close to me and my family, and I had not been able to participate in previous years, so I was super excited to get the opportunity this year. I raised 165.00, walked/ran with some beautiful and inspiring people—survivors of breast cancer, their families, and those who were just generally supportive. I don’t even have words to describe the emotions I felt being a part of this event. It was AWESOME! People gave each other high fives after turning the first corner; smiles were abundant; it truly made me proud to be a part of the Transy and Lexington community.

If service is something that you hold close to your heart, then you can always find a way to get involved at Transy. Check out our office for community service and civic engagement: http://www.transy.edu/campus/comm_service.htm

When you think about a class, you might think of a typical set up—you come to class, take notes, discuss readings, write papers, and take tests. All of this will mostly take place in the same class room with the same people every day, but one of my classes at Transy this semester is challenging tradition.My 20th century American Literature class examines American literature after 1945 while considering the historical and cultural context. We spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to be an American presently and throughout the time period. To help us consider this more deeply, our class has paired with the Photography 1 class in the art department to do a creative project, which will define America.
Now I know what you must be thinking—it’s exactly what I thought when I heard about the project: “Why on earth would an English class work with a photography class, and how is that going to help us better understand the literature we’re reading.” The answer is that it inspires collaborative thinking, something that many classrooms don’t allow for. Having the perspective of the art students helps us better explore the meaning of America, which gives insight into the texts we read.
We just completed our first collaborative project yesterday. We had to spend 5 hours with our partner, getting to know him or her in order to produce a photographic and narrative portrait of one another. Honestly, I was dreading it at first. I barely have enough time to spend 5 extra hours with myself, let alone with someone else. In the end, though, it was an incredibly cool project. I got to learn about the values, priorities and history of someone I didn’t know very well before hand, and as it turns out, we’re pretty similar.

The portrait my partner took of me! Supposed to revel something about me you couldn't gather from a short conversation.

Our photographs turned out really well, and the narratives we wrote accurately portrayed us both.
Even in my senior year, I’m still constantly surprised by the ability of Transy professors to come up with new ways to approach education. It keeps me engaged and fuels the passion I already have for learning. Not to mention, the chance to be creative is super refreshing in the midst of strictly academic research.

So, funny story, I actually wrote this blog last week and when I went to post this week’s, I realized that I wrote it, but didn’t actually post it. Chalk it up to a disorder I like to call “senior scatter brain.” Anyways, here it is:

I’m not going to lie, when I was still on the meal plan at Transy, it was a little tough when it came to eating healthy and finding vegetarian things to munch on. The quality of the food wasn’t bad, but there weren’t a whole lot of vegetarian choices and it was hard to keep track of your caloric intake.
I am happy to write today, though, that Transy has since become 100 times better in both arenas. I even find myself walking over to campus to eat on days when I don’t feel like cooking!
Here are some of the biggest and best changes I’ve noticed:

1.) The 1780 café, our late night diner, used to serve all kinds of awesome but bad-for-you items. Consuming a ton of calories super late at night has frequently been cited as a reason for weight gain, and certainly the 1780 contributed to many Transy students’ freshman 15. This year, though, the 1780 has been updated! Not only do they serve healthier (and still equally satisfying) items, but they also list the calories of each item right there on the menu! I was so excited to see this change, because it gives me more control over my diet. Even though I may want that 700 calorie flat bread pizza at midnight, I can opt for the healthier 400 calorie wrap if I so choose.

2.) MORE VEGETARIAN OPTIONS! It used to be that I would go to the cafeteria and have the choice of salad bar, pasta, or cheese pizza for dinner and lunch every day. The options for vegetarians were limited to say the least. We might occasionally get a tofu dish, but it would not be the best. This year, though, the food service staff has made a ton of progress toward offering a more diverse array of meat-free options, and they’re great about identifying which dishes do and do contain meat! A couple weeks ago, I had a fantastic Mediterranean pita pocket with eggplant and other veggies and just the other day I had a DELICIOUS vegetarian Reuben sandwich!

3.) The staff is completely open to suggestions. I have seen more food service surveys go out this year than in previous years. They actively seek to bring us the best dining experience possible and constantly work toward improvement.

Needless to say, the food and dining experience at Transy is the best that it has ever been!

A great week!

Hi, friends! SO much has happened in the past week or so! I’ll try to keep the run-down as short as possible, but it’s all exciting stuff!

First and foremost—I AM DONE WITH THE GRE. For those of you who have no clue what the GRE is, good—you shouldn’t have to worry about it yet. However, when you too get to be a senior in college, you may find yourself to be crazy enough to want to enter graduate school. The GRE stands for the Graduate Record Examination, the standardized test required for entry into most graduate programs. Imagine the SAT on steroids. It’s about a 3 ½ hour test consisting of two writing sections, a verbal section and a quantitative section. I studied for this test all summer, and on my first try, I think I got a score good enough to get me in to the schools I want (at least, I hope!)

Aside from that, though, the World Equestrian Games have come to Kentucky, and with it, downtown Lexington has been hopping! The beauty of being at Transy at such a time is—we are literally a 5 minute walk from it all! On Saturday, some of my friends and I headed out to one of my favorite local restaurants, Natasha’s Café, to enjoy some dinner. After dinner (a pesto pizza with no meat, but extra mushrooms!) we walked around and looked at some of the art being showcased around town during the games. Later that night, a band called Here Come the Mummies played in a park downtown. While they were mildly inappropriate, I found them humorous, fun and incredibly talented. I can’t wait for more events next weekend!
Friends and I (I'm in the brown) at Natasha's Cafe!

This is a terrible picture, but you can kind of see that the band were dressed as mummies!

While the weekend was a blast, the fun has continued into this week as well. In fact, I just got back from an incredible poetry reading at one of my favorite places in the city--The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, which is right across the street from campus! The reading was completely free (including free food!) and I got to hear some of Kentucky’s most notable poets read their work and even meet with them afterward! Transy’s location really offers endless opportunities to entertain yourself—it’s pretty hard to become bored around here if you get to know what’s within walking distance!

Bianca Spriggs reads her work

Transy Professor Dr. Paden reads his poetry!

This week is off to a great start!

I never actually got to talk about my May Term trip from last year, and a couple of days ago, one of my classmates posted a video from the trip that made me pine for the jungle again.

At a beach in Guyana

I have to say that the trip was hands down the most exciting, taxing, and eye-opening one of my life. Suriname and Guyana are two relatively unknown countries in the U.S.--some of my family thought that I was going to Africa instead of South America, which is really strange considering how much of an impact the U.S. has on these two countries politically, financially, and culturally.
Unlike most of Latin America, these weren’t Spanish speaking countries. Guyana in particular, was English-speaking for the most part, which made it easy to converse with the people there and listen to their opinions about the racial, political and cultural dynamic there. I can’t even begin to describe how much knowledge I gained just talking to the locals and walking around observing. It was fascinating being able to have open dialogues with the locals about their history and the history of their people in the area.

We even got to know the local wildlife

One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to visit a Bush-Negro (that’s what they call themselves) village in Suriname. The Bush-Negros were the former slaves who, before the abolition of slavery in the area, escaped into the jungle to live in isolation. They also called themselves “freedom fighters” because they often attacked plantations to free more slaves to join them. (Interestingly, they still like to be referred to as freedom fighters.) At the village, we got to see how modern technology has affected these people who have lived in the jungle for two centuries. They now have electricity, running water, cell phones, etc. But they still maintain their cultural identity and a strong sense of their culture’s history. I’ve never been more enlightened by a group of people. They even took us on our first jungle tour!

The children at the Bush-Negro village were fascinated by "the white people."

Our last 6 days of the trip, we hiked through the jungle and up a mountain to get to one of the largest single-drop water falls in the world-- Kaieteur Falls. I have to say, this was the most taxing but unbelievable part of the trip. May is rainy season in Guyana, and we were in the rainforest, so you can imagine our experience, right? We were wet and miserable, trying to hike on slippery moss-covered rocks in the pouring rain. I took a couple nasty spills, got bruised and scraped and cut, but nothing will ever quite compare to reaching the top of the mountain and seeing the incredible power of that waterfall.

Kaieteur Falls

I could write about this trip forever. I almost filled up an entire journal while I was there. In the end, I am just thankful that Transy and my professors who planned the trip offered me one of the most unique and greatest experiences in my life. If I hadn’t come here, there’s no way I would have gotten such an opportunity.

Some of the group hiking through the jungle

Aaaaaannnnd We're Back!

Yesterday marked the beginning of another orientation weekend. As a member of Omicron Delta Kappa (a leadership honorary), I was able to help the new first years move their stuff into their dorms all day (my calves and thighs send a huge thank you, by the way). What a good looking and level headed group of Transy newcomers! We get lucky every single year, I tell you! I had a great time meeting the first years and parents and getting to hear (and hopefully help ease) some of their concerns about starting college.

I can’t tell you how stoked I am to be starting another year at Transy! Although, I have to tell you, like many of the first years, I’m pretty terrified myself. It’s all come full circle. You come into college a nervous wreck, wondering what the next 4 years are going to bring. Well, now that I’m a Senior, I’m back to being scared to death. I’m finally at the point where I have to decide what to do with this college education, and it’s daunting.
This year you will hear of the pains of taking the GRE, applying to graduate school, taking on my first big and legitimate independent research project, and wrapping up my final year.

As always, I look forward to sharing the whole process with you!

First years moved in yesterday!

Crazy last couple of weeks!

Okay! So I officially stink at time management. This past month has been killer. I’ve been preparing for my trip to the Jungle for May Term, picking up extra hours at work, and all my huge assignments for my classes happened in the past two weeks. Needless to say, I have barely had time to sleep or eat, let alone blog. I’m so sorry! I missed being able to actually put my thought down.
I’ll give you a run down of the exciting things that happened!

1) I conducted my first official Psychology experiment, and more than that, found my first statistically significant result! I was researching the effect of familiarity with narrative content on “transportation into literature,” which is basically “getting lost in a story.” This is what I’m hoping to research in graduate school—this “transportation into literature” stuff. It’s awesome! Basically, it has been found that a higher degree of transportation leads to a higher degree of story-consistent attitude and belief change. It’s like a perfect combination of English and Psychology! Needless to say, I poured my heart and time into the study for a while, hoping to find something. I found that English majors have a significantly higher degree of transportation than Science majors, which makes sense in hindsight, but I can only speculate as to the reason why. One possible reason is that people who are more highly transported into literature just choose to become English majors, or it could be that transportation could be trained, so to speak! I can’t wait to do a whole semester of independent research on it next year!

2) I acted as the main organizer of a huge service event for Psi Chi National Psychology Honorary here at Transy. Basically, we organized a day of review for local high school students to help them prepare for the AP Psychology test coming up in May. We all organized and led sessions that included lots of fun review games and question and answer sessions. It was incredibly successful, and at the end of the day, the students said it helped them a lot, so I was pretty proud! Here are some pictures!

Nick and Seth teach kids about the biological bases of behavior.

Hillary shows the kids Sniffy the Virtual Rat to review the concepts of learning.

The kids learn about the History of Psychology by playing a speed dating game and guessing which important figure in psychology each of them represented!

I (that's me standing) lead my kids in a matching game competition to review important concepts in Social Psychology, Motivation and Personality!

3) I turned 21! I don’t feel any differently, really, and I couldn’t do much to celebrate because I turned 21 on reading day, which is the first day of finals week here a Transy. It does, however, feel pretty cool to be officially an adult.

Be expecting at least one more post from me this week before I head out to Suriname and Guyana for May term! Ahhhhh! The jungle! I’m so excited! Wish me luck! =D

Beating the Odds =)

Hello, friends! Long Post!

I am here to tell you a little story about accomplishing the impossible, beating the odds, what have you. You’re told before you come to college that two things are for certain—you WILL break up with your home-town sweetheart, and you WILL gain at least 15 pounds. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you those things aren’t true. They both happened to me, but what I can tell you is that one of those things is reversible! Hooray! At my heaviest last year, I weighed 155lbs, and while I definitely wasn’t fat, it was definitely a 15 pound increase from freshman year. A year later, I’m down to 135!

How I lost the Freshman 15 (and even 5 more after that AND counting!):

A) I became Vegetarian
Now I’m not going to tell you to become vegetarian. It was a very personal choice that I made for various reasons. I’m not someone that’s gonna jump in your face about eating meat—in fact I detest people who do that. I just mean to tell you how it contributed to my losing that dreaded freshman 15. Firstly, I educated myself on what a healthy and well-balanced vegetarian diet consisted of. Many people tend to supplement meat with extra cheese and fatty foods when they first become vegetarian, but I knew I wanted to avoid this, so I hit the books. A side effect of this was a general growth in my health-consciousness. I became aware of the caloric and nutritional value of common foods, so whenever I ate, I was aware of exactly what I was putting in my body and how much of it. This began to unintentionally change my self-concept. I became a “healthy eater,” and thus when I found myself wanting to make bad choices, it gradually got easier to talk myself out of them. That said….

B) I don’t always talk myself out of the bad choices

The number one way to epically FAIL at dieting is to deprive your body of what it wants. Trust me. You start depriving yourself of what you want and your body compensates by giving in eventually and indulging 10x more than it would have had you just given it what it wanted in the first place. Now before you call me a hypocrite because clearly I’m “depriving” my body of meat, it’s not deprivation at all…it’s supplementation…getting the same nutritional content that meat provides from other sources. I’m talking specifically about cutting out things like sweets completely. Don’t do it. This whole time I’ve been losing weight, I’ve been eating cookies, chocolate bars, and ice cream. I’ve gone on the occasional Taco Bell run at midnight. The keyword here is occasional. If I have sweets…it’s once a day, and it’s a relatively small quantity. My strategy is to buy one of those HUGE Hershey bars, and eat *one* square a day if I felt so inclined. Or buy a bag of your favorite “fun size” candy and make it last all month.

I'm in the pink being 20 pounds lighter!

C) I never skip a meal
My first two years of college I never ate breakfast, and sometimes I’d get so busy that I would miss dinner too. DON’T DO THIS! When I skipped meals, and my body was constantly hungry, I would way over eat at my next meal. If you keep your body satisfied throughout the day with small but nutritious meals, you’ll end up eating less!

D) I get more sleep
To many in college, you’ll find this impossible. I know I did. I pulled 10 legitimate all nighters one semester. And while I did end up finishing my assignments and making the grades, I paid for it with my physical health. Not only did I get sick more often and stay sick longer, but also I gained weight. Many people will notice weight gain as a result of sleep deprivation, because most people turn to sugary drinks or junk food to keep them energized during these long nights. When you’re asleep, you’re not only rejuvenating your body and keeping your immune system healthy, but you’re also NOT eating. So when I made a pact with myself to always be in bed before 1am and get 7 hours of sleep a night, I noticed more and more weight dropping off! Of course you’ll have to break that some nights, but other nights it’s worth just skimming those last 20 pages to get to bed on time.

E) I did not step on a scale for nearly 6 months
Scales used to be the bane of my existence. Like a lot of girls I was obsessed. I weighed myself nearly every other day when I would try to diet or exercise, and guess what happened? I got discouraged and gave up every single time. When you are weighing yourself that often—even if you’re weighing yourself once a week, you’re not allowing for natural fluctuation or giving yourself essential wiggle room. If one week you’re doing good and you lost a pound, but the next week you gained it back, it’s easy to think that nothing is working and give up. Put it away! That way, you’re not worried if one week you have a birthday party to go to and eat like you’ve been starved—the weight you potentially gained there will come back off once you get back to your normal routine. No need to weigh yourself that week and get discouraged. Leave that scale at home!


Of course these are just the major things I changed, but I thought I’d share my experience with you in case it may help when you make it to college! Feel free to ask me any questions =).

Mary McDonnell!

Chances are, if you’re a huge huge nerd (nothing wrong with this), you’ve seen or at least heard of the show Battlestar Gallactica, a cult Sci-Fi series. It’s incredibly popular among a specific fan base, and from personal experience (don’t tell my friends) I can say that it’s pretty good. So I was pretty last week when Transy offered a pretty unique opportunity...

Anyways, every semester, Transylvania invites a prominent academic onto campus to deliver a lecture and visit classes as part of the Kenan Lecture series. Usually these people represent the sciences, the humanities, social sciences or otherwise. Rarely are representatives from the fine arts chosen as lecturers, just given the nature of the series. However, Transy really took a step in the right direction by inviting actress Mary McDonnell, who has acted in Battlestar Gallactica, Dances with Wolves, Independence Day and several theatrical productions, to speak this time around.

Mary teaching an acting class!

She spent last Wednesday and Thursday teaching acting classes, doing Q&A sessions and delivering her lecture. She commented countless times about the incredible level of maturity and tact within our campus’s student body. She said she loved it here and would even love to come back! (See, it’s not just me that sings Transy’s praises!)

I thought inviting Mary to be this semester’s lecturer really showed that Transy values the Fine Arts as part of the liberal arts curriculum, and is taking steps to further promote the arts on our campus. Hooray!

My friend Shannon and Mary!

Open Mic Night

Shannon and I, Featured Poets at Open Mic Night

Hey! It’s been a fantastic spring break, but now it’s time to get back to the grind and give you some updates from the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, Transy hosted an open mic night in honor of women’s history month. I was invited by the writing center to be a “featured poet” and read some of my own works.

I was incredibly nervous. Honestly, my life at Transy doesn’t leave too much free time to write creatively anymore, what with the job and clubs and whatnot; I was afraid the quality of my poetry had suffered as a result and I was scared to share it. I, however, was pleasantly surprised as usual.

The crowd was incredible. Not a seat was left empty, and plenty of people stood at the back to watch the performances. Representatives from all the sororities on campus read works by or about women to celebrate their triumphs over struggles. It amazed me to see that kind of support the student body showed for the creative endeavors of their peers!

One of my really good friends, Shannon, another featured poet, and I took the stage only to meet with eager and friendly faces—completely willing to listen what our poetry had to say, willing to feel what it would have them feel. After we had finished our sets, we received warm applause that let us know that we and our words were safe there.

KIPA Conference

I know I talked about my work on Transy’s newspaper a little bit at the beginning of the year. Well, I’m still going steady as Opinions Editor and regular columnist, and while I devote hours a week to the Rambler, this weekend made it all worth it!

This weekend, Transy hosted the annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association (KIPA) conference, where the staff from college newspapers across the state come together to attend discussions and panels to get ideas about how to improve their papers. As I couldn’t miss class on Friday, I could only attend one session, but it was fabulous and I even came away with a story idea or two! A regular and popular columnist from the Lexington Herald Leader emphasized the importance of steeping yourself in your community to produce the best possible stories, and we had a discussion on the best strategies to go about doing it—what a great guy!

Not only did we have these discussions, we also had an awards ceremony on Saturday morning. A couple months ago, we submitted stories, and even entire issues of the Rambler to compete against those from other colleges, and the Rambler CLEANED UP! We even won first place for overall Opinion pages among all the others! It just really reminded me that our paper is truly respected by other campus newspapers across the state, and renewed my love of working with the paper, even though it adds a good deal of stress to my life on occasion. I wouldn’t give it up for the world, and if you’re at all interested in working for the Rambler when you come to Transy, I can hook you up ;)!

Transy Night Out--Gatti Town!

Oh hey!

So we’re right in the middle of midterms. February has been a tough month for me. I’m in the middle of planning a big service project for Psi Chi (national Psychology honorary), which I’ll probably post about closer to its happening, and my workload has been pretty intense. My weekends have been devoted almost entirely to work this month with only small breaks for a conference (see next post), and a sorority informal.

Transy will always provide a way to take a couple hours off on the weekends, though. At least a couple times a semester, the Student Activities Board will host a “Transy Night Out” on a Friday or Saturday night. In the past, they have provided free admission into movies, UK Hockey matches, ice skating, and most recently, last weekend, they provided free entrance into Gatti Town!
I would assume everyone knows what Gatti Town is, but if not, it’s basically a pizza buffet and huge arcade. And we got in completely free! We had to pay for our own games, but we gobbled up as much pizza as we wanted free of charge. It was a great way to hang out with your fellow classmates, even those which you might not normally hang out with. We all piled into the room where they show sports on the big screen to watch the UK vs. Vandy game, chatted away, and stuffed ourselves so full of pizza they had to all but roll us out!

Transy Night Out is reason number 1000028475 that I love Transy—it’s a wonderful program that helps bring our Transy community even closer by providing opportunities for us to hang out with one another off-campus. It also helps us forget about the stress of having to do homework on the weekends if only for a couple hours.

Procrastination Station!

Oh boy. I’m failing at life right now. I owe you two blog posts, don’t I? Well here’s one. One thing you’ll learn to become –fabulous- at in college is procrastination. Chances are you will have already had your run-ins with this disorder, but college has its way of amplifying it to an extreme degree. But you can’t just procrastinate any old way, oh no! There are a few college staple websites with which to procrastinate. If you wish to understand half of your peers, you better get familiar with a few websites if you don’t visit them regularly already:

#5: www.digg.com

Digg basically keeps track of the most popular articles, pictures, videos, etc on the internet. If you’ve ever visited a website and seen a little yellow box with a thumbs up and the word “Digg” underneath, that’s Digg. Basically, when people like a website, video, whatever, or just find it particularly funny or interesting, they can click this little button. The more people that click that button, the higher up that link appears on the Digg.com homepage. Basically it’s a great way to keep up with internet trends, funny memes, or disturbing news stories. Get to know it.

#4: FML/Mylifeisaverage

I grouped these two together because the concept is the same, but the attitude is different. FML stands for fmylife.com (I’ll give you one guess as to what the ‘f’ stands for). It’s a place where people submit their crazy examples of why their life sucks. It’s a good procrastination tool because it allows you to feel a little better about your life on bad days, and also it helps you make sense of all the times you hear people say “eff em ell” on campus. Mylifeisaverage.com is just the opposite—people submit stories from their lives that serve as examples of why their life is completely average. A prime example: “Today, I wore Axe body spray. I wasn't tackled by any women. MLIA.”

#3 Textsfromlastnight.com

This site is a 100% must check every day kind of site if you want to understand why you receive some pretty bizarre texts in college. Most likely, people are trying to get you to send it to this website. It’s pretty funny sometimes; it’s basically people that submit the ridiculous, raunchy or embarrassing texts they receive for your enjoyment. You will get plenty of these in college, so read up.

#2 www.playlist.com

Sorry for all you music pirates out there, but Transylvania’s server blocks Limewire and other downloading clients that allow you to steal music, software, etc. If you still want to create that fabulous party playlist, though, or a study playlist, or any other kind of playlist for that matter, this is the website to do it. It allows you to search for music to add to your playlists for free! No downloading, but you can listen all you want, and their selection is typically fantastic! Sign up today!

#1 Facebook (duh).

We are, afterall, ‘Generation Facebook.’ You probably already have one, but there are some things you’ll need to know before you come to college. Since pretty much everyone is now on facebook, you’ll need to be extra aware of the content that goes on your page. Be classy. Set your facebook to private; make your pictures friends only, and please please please untag pictures where it’s obvious you’ve been up to no good. It’ll make your life a lot easier, I promise.

Now get back to studying!

Living off campus

Hello! When you get to be a junior and senior, many of your friends will start moving off campus. Having your own apartment can be pretty exciting, but there are also some downsides.

Pro: PrivacyOne of the things people are terrified of when they come to college is having a roommate. Especially those of us who grew up used to having our own space that we could escape to when necessary. I'm not going to lie to you, having a roommate isn't easy. My roommate my first two years of college was and is one of my best friends, but living together was hard at times. She had a boyfriend, I kept impossible hours studying all the time, I wanted to nap when she wanted to study, I wanted to study when she wanted to nap--you know how it goes. Living off campus, especially if you opt to live on your own like I did, means no having to work out schedules, no awkward "can my boyfriend stay the night" phone calls, no worrying about waking anyone up if you come home late.
Con: PrivacyAll that said, living off campus, especially at Transy, kinda isolates you. My roommate and I were best friends even though we had hard times living together. On campus, I knew that she would always show up soon if I needed someone to talk to or take a study break with. Now I have to pack up my stuff and haul myself over to campus every night if I want to hang out with my friends that still live there. Also, it distances you some from the social scene. You're not as aware when campus-wide events are going on. Yeah yeah, you can check columns, but sometimes events get lost on there--you don't get to see the posters and advertising tables set up in Forrer Hall, and those are the things that -really- keep you in the know about cool events.
Pro: Having your own kitchen
Having your own kitchen is, in my opinion, probably the best thing about living off campus. Not only have I learned how to cook, I have lost weight and I always know exactly what is going into my food. Now, I'm not dogging on Transy food necessarily, it always tasted good, but the unlimited options in the cafeteria (and that goes for any school) can often lead to over eating and can egg on the freshman 15--I gained it. When I decided to go vegetarian last year, it became harder to find what I was craving in the cafeteria--they always had vegetarian options, but sometimes it just wasn't what I wanted. Having my own kitchen gives me the freedom to control everything about what I put in my body. I know that what I'm eating is going to be healthy, and I have the ability to cook only the exact amount I want to eat. That freshman 15 is gone now!

Con: Having your own kitchen.

Cooking takes a lot of time and planning that most college students don't have to spare. Plus, the cafeteria is hands down the best bonding place on campus, aside from Greek events if you decide to go through recruitment. I made so many of my friends freshman and sophomore year because we just happened to be eating at the same time. The food's nice, but the company is better, if you will. Now, for me, I can't go to dinner. I get off work right when dinner is ending. If you don't have a job, though, and want to make the effort a couple of times a week, I'd recommend eating in the caf every now and again to maintain some of those close friendships and maybe make new ones!

Pro: NO SHOWER SHOES!


Okay, let's face it, having to share a bathroom with an entire hall full of girls can be kinda awkward sometimes. It's weird that you have to wear shoes in the shower, and sometimes you have to wait for an open sink to brush your teeth. This is why having your own bathroom can TOTALLY RULE. No more shower shoes; you know that the hair in the tub is yours, and you know everything is clean because you keep it that way. And hey, if you wanna walk around your place in the buff for a while, no big deal!

Con: Having your own bathroom.

Cleaning the bathroom sucks. Even one as tiny as mine. I hate scrubbing the toilet and cleaning the tub more than any other chore besides dishes. I keep it clean, but it's time out of my day that sometimes I don't have. At Transy, we have an incredible staff that cleans up after us, (don't take advantage, though! Their jobs are hard enough as it is--at least clean up to the best of your ability!) If a toilet is malfunctioning, or a sink drain clogged, no need to wait on your landlord, the transy staff will have it taken care of in no time! Also, awkward run ins in the bathroom in the middle of the night are a great way to make friends with people on your hall you never would have imagined getting along with. I can name off countless people with whom I started a friendship in the bathroom. I know that's a little weird and gross, but you'll see what I mean when you get here!

Of course this isn't every pro and con, but these are the biggies--hope maybe it's helpful if you ever consider moving off campus!

Caffeine Addiction

Hi, my name is Amanda (Hi, Amanda!), and I have a problem…

Friends, it’s time to discuss a palpable problem. It’s one that directly affects me, about a bajillion other college students, and will likely be haunting you shortly. Yes, I’m talking about addiction, caffeine addiction.

In college you’ll be exposed to a lot of things. Alcohol, cigarettes, sex, drugs; I’m not going to lie to you, they’re going to be there no matter where you choose to go to college. But the consequences of the above are easily recognizable, and it’s pretty easy to say no if you make up your mind to avoid them. Other problematic behaviors are not so obvious, though, and often it will completely escape you that you have succumbed to them until you’re lying in bed at 3am wondering why on earth you still can’t get to sleep.

Ah, caffeine addiction. It lurks in dark dorm halls and 24 hour study spaces, in the library and in classrooms all across campus. College students face an incredibly heavy workload in addiction to multiple extra-curriculars and perhaps even an off-campus job. Naturally, if we care about our academic performance and find ourselves strapped for time to complete everything, the first thing to go as a priority is sleep (which is bad, bad, bad!). To compensate, some students’ blood flows with Diet Coke (gotta watch those calories), energy drinks, coffee, or, my personal vice, tea.

My "tea corner" in my kitchen.

Now, I genuinely enjoy the experience of a nice cup of tea—the smell of the leaves, how the green/yellow color slowly overtakes the clear water, the bitter bite of the first sip. I love it. But sometimes, especially during a rough week where assignments are never ending, I rely on it, and this is a very bad thing. I find myself with the classic caffeine headache if I’ve gone too long without it. I find myself unable to get to sleep no matter how late it already is. If I only have time to either make tea or eat in the morning, I’ll almost always choose the tea.

It’s hard to break the habit once you’ve started, because it fulfills its purpose beautifully. I always get my work done, but at the expense of sleep and sometimes even health. It’s not worth it, so just consider this a warning for when you begin your collegiate experience. Don’t even let it start! Order decaf!

Break 2009!

Hi, folks!

Another winter break has come and gone and classes will begin again on Monday. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it! This semester I’ll be in for a double dose of each of my majors with Social Psychology, Statistical Analysis for the Social Sciences, Edith Wharton and the 19th Century British Novel. I could stack my books to the ceiling, but it’s going to be so worth it!

Honestly, break was bitter sweet. I had a lot of bad things happen all at once, none of which I had any control over. I spent a lot of break in tears, but some time with books, friends and family eased the pain. This is part of the reason that I can’t wait for school. School is one place I am completely comfortable. It’s something I can pour myself into. I can disappear into my books for a little while, or into a club or committee, and honestly all that other bad stuff goes away, if only for a few hours. I know I’ll be complaining here in a few posts about all the late nights and tests and papers and projects (oh my!), but at the end of the day, it makes me happy, and I think when you take a walk around Transy’s campus, you’ll see that the majority of students feel the exact same.

The books I read this break: Ender's Game, The Theory of Light and Matter, and The Diary of a Nobody

I cleaned up this Christmas. My biggest surprise was having my Dad pay for my upcoming May Term trip to South America. He had agreed to pay for half the trip if I’d cover the other half, but when I opened an envelope that contained a deposit slip for what I assumed was just his half, he had put the full amount in my bank account. I was extremely grateful, as that’s one less concern off my mind for this semester. I also felt extremely silly and officially grown up when I got a new vacuum cleaner and the spice rack and apron I’ve wanted for my apartment. My inner feminist may have cried a little, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love to cook and keep my apartment clean. I vaguely recall jumping up and down when I opened the vacuum. It was only slightly embarrassing. I also FINALLY got a new digital camera (the flash on my old one bit the dust), so I can stop stealing my blog pictures off the internet or reusing old ones! All in all, a good Christmas!

Some of my gifts! Apron, spice rack, make-up mirror, my favorite bubble bath and lotion, beautiful leather gloves and scarf, camera and vacuum cleaner!

New Years was fun as well! I went to Louisville to bring in 2010 with some old friends I hadn’t seen all semester, and it made my break. Now it’s back to work and back to class! Can’t wait to keep you updated this semester!