Pink Week

This week was Pink Week on campus, sponsored by Wheaton's Colleges Against Cancer (CAC). Monday, we posted pink posters around campus with breast cancer facts. Did you know that 212,920 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women this year? And, 1,720 cases in men? Wednesday, was "Paint the Campus Pink Day" and we put pink ribbons up on the trees and doorknobs. We also tried to encourage people to wear pink to spread awareness.

Thursday was a great day. My boyfriend's roommate/my friend Kenny, has been in Iraq for 8 months. The night before we hung up signs around town and on the highway. He left for training last December and since I went abroad and everything, I hadn't seen him for almost a year. It was hard because he had to leave his classes halfway through last fall semester. We were told many times when his battalion would be arriving, but we got there at 6:45am. The 400 Marines didn't end up marching in until about 9:15 and it was the most awe-inspiring experience. They had to stand at attention in front of their families, friends, wives and kids until they were dismissed. Then in one second, there was a rush from both sides towards the middle.

Kenny was very grateful to have all of us there and he was so excited that he didn't even notice that we had written his name on ourselves with duct tape. The newscameras loved Kenny because he had gone over with his two cousins and their grandmother had come to greet them. The first thing Kenny wanted was Dunkin Donuts and he must have told every major news station that. There were some other great stories there, like babies that had been born while their father's were away. The entire event was very patriotic and emotional. There were signs, veterans and crying people everywhere.There was a big party for the cousins after and they even had a police escort. Kenny just wanted to change into sweatpants and be normal.

That night I made it back for our Pink Week Reception that we had at the Cancer Awareness/Prevention theme house. We had invited the entire campus for finger foods and discussion. My favorite part was the pink M&M's. The turn-out was great and some professors showed up too. posted by Coriann at 12:01 PM 0 comments  

Pumpkins!

Friday, the Community Service Council sponsored pumpkin carving in Balfour. It was supposed to be outside, but it was raining. They had over 200 pumpkins and they were trying to get them all carved so they could be donated to the Pumpkin Festival in Boston. Proceeds from that festival were donated to Camp Sunshine up in Maine. The camp is for kids who have terminal illnesses. Some members of the CSC volunteer there every year. I carved a star in my pumpkin.



Boston was going for the world record of the most pumpkins carved and lit at once. Keene, NH had the record before and I have to unfortunately say that Boston broke it this year. I have a lot of NH pride and I loved that we had the record. I know I'm a hypocrite for helping Boston, but I was thinking of it as helping CSC and Camp Sunshine more. There were 30,128 lit pumpkins at once, that must have looked beautiful. I have a friend that went into the festival and she said she spent hours looking for ours, but it was a pretty impossible task.

Sunday night, my club field hockey team had a game against BC. We carpooled up in cars and it was freezing. We had already played them earlier in the season and they are pretty intimidating because they have a guy player who has really strong drives. We only had 2 subs for the entire game, so we all got some good time in the game. Playing on a club team is really fun because there is pressure on you, but only because you are so into the sport. You try your hardest because you love your team and you have fun. We ended up losing 0-7, which actually was an improvement from our last time we played them! We're playing Brandeis this next weekend. posted by Coriann at 11:30 PM 0 comments  

Midterms = Mid-semester

So nothing too exciting happening here. Last week was mostly homework and random assignments. Every Thursday night from 7-9 I have Southeastern Massachusetts Wind Symphony practice. It's made up of community members + Wheaton students, but it's on our campus so it's very convenient. I also get credit, for a class with no homework. We have two concerts a year and this year it's on December 3rd. I'm pretty pumped about our lineup for this concert because it includes "The Nutcracker Suite" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." I play the clarinet so sometimes we get the melody in things and we get some good melodies for both of those. It's always easier for me to play songs I already know so I can tell when I'm messing up!

Friday night, I went over to the BioEthics house for one of their events. Since we don't have fraternities & sororities here (thank goodness) we just have the theme houses. I love everyone over at the BioEthics house because we're all nerds. If we're just sitting around watching South Park or talking about genetic engineering of people, we're always having a great discussion. Hanging out with smart people makes you smarter, I swear. Anyway, we watched Gattaca, which I loved. It has Ethan Hawke, Jude Law & Uma Thurman and it was based in the future where people can be judged by their genetic makeup. I won't give much away, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, along with the apples, popcorn, chocolate and company.

Monday & Tuesday, I had two midterms. Corporate Finance was Monday and Feast & Famine was on Tuesday. I already got my Finance one back and I was pretty happy with it, but I haven't gotten the other back so I don't want to say anything about it. Both exams were either easier than expected or I just over-studied as usual. Midterms make everyone crazy, as my roommate, Steph, portrays as she eats her study-break-caramel-apple.


One other fun thing, was that I entered pictures into the Center for Global Ed Center's "Eye on the World Photo Contest." Every year I have attended and voted but this year I was lucky enough to have good pictures to submit. The pictures had to be blown up and matted, but it was so worth it. I'm really excited to see them up in Balfour. The hardest part was picking 5 pictures in 5 different categories from my 2,759 pictures of Australia. posted by Coriann at 10:11 AM 0 comments  

Ready for October Break.....

The Anthropology class I'm taking is only offered every 2 years and it is cut-throat to get in. The first day of class there were people crowding in the doorway hoping to hear that their name got pushed up off the waiting list. This makes the class mostly juniors and seniors. One event that we do every time the class, is offered is a Gandhi birthday dinner. I have to admit that I barely knew anything about Gandhi before this class and I just knew he was a peace-keeper or something. Of course, I know a lot more now.

Our dinner was October 2nd, which was his actual birthday. We invited interested faculty and staff and then each class member invited one friend. The class divided into different groups to handle tasks of food, hosting, invitations & press and then discussion. The main part of the dinner is the discussion afterwards.

Steph and I decided to be on the hosting committee because we consider ourselves relatively friendly. We made little scrolls with Gandhi quotes to hand out at the door. It was interesting finding out that some really popular quotes were actually by him.

We had some vegetarian Indian food catered for our 70 guests in Beard Hall lounge. Beard is the newest dorm on campus and they have a beautiful lounge with a kitchen next to it. The discussion group put together an informative slideshow and gave the audience a brief overview of his life. Overall, the night was a success and there was even plenty of food to take home.

The rest of the week I spent working on my takehome Abstract exam. We are allowed to use our books and notes and because of the Honor Code, the professors trust us taking our exams home for a week. This may sound awesome having a week to do an exam, but in fact they are 5 times harder and they are designed so you actually need to go into office hours to get over certain steps. I try to block off takehome exam weeks so that I don't need to do or see anything else.

Passing in an exam after a week of stress is the best feeling. After that, my boyfriend and I left for Maine. My family has a tiny cabin on Sebago Lake and I have spent many summers up there. It's really small but it's a nice getaway. It wasn't swimming weather but it was very relaxing and I tried not to think about all the work I had building up. We got back Monday and since we didn't have classes Tuesday either, I did homework all day. posted by Coriann at 8:37 PM 0 comments  

Birthday Week!

Wednesday night, my boyfriend and I drove over to Stonehill College (about 15 minutes away) and watched my sister's field hockey game. She plays for Franklin Pierce and it's nice that I can make it to some away games around here. She's just a freshman, but she has started a considerable number of games (they lost this one though).
Thursday I turned 22. Not as scary as my 20th, and not as eventful as my 21st, but it was a nice day. On my actual birthday, I had my Feast & Famine class, where we all brought in non-perishable food items for a food drive. My class of about 24, we ended up with around 267 pieces or something like that. Later on, I worked and relaxed until we all went out for Thai food. Then everyone met at Sporty's down the street, past CVS.









Friday night, my girlfriends from home came down (and up) from their prospective colleges to celebrate my birthday for a second day.

This weekend was Homecoming/Parents' Weekend. There was a big barbecue in the Dimple and even a Latin band and people dancing. I made sure to stock up on the awesome cookies for my room.

Saturday afternoon, the dance company had a preview performance for all of the parents. My single-mate, Steph, is one of the captains and obviously my favorite. I consider myself one of their biggest fans and I was the typical 'mom' in the front row taking a thousand pictures. They are an amazing group of dancers and they specialize in ballet, modern, lyrical and even Justin Timberlake.

Sunday, my club field hockey team was supposed to have a game at Brown, but it got rained out. So, I just did homework all day.

posted by Coriann at 10:31 PM 0 comments