Learning your ABC(D)s

Over the course of this weekend I'll post and share some of my experiences. So here you have it, the ABC(D)s of my weekend: Athletics, Books, Culture and Durham.


I'll unconventionally start with C, culture, because the athletic events I'm hoping to catch are taking place tomorrow and let's be honest, I'm in college and it's a Saturday, so I haven't quite hit the books yet!


Today for my focus program we had the opportunity to go on a field trip of sorts. Since we are medieval and renaissance themed, we checked out a small renaissance reenactment. It's not a big renaissance fair like what you might be picturing, instead think civil war reenactment only a few centuries earlier! It's hosted by an organization called the Society for Creative Anachronism. If you're like my grandparents (Hi, I love you!) and want to learn more about the organization I'll have the links at the end. It was a neat experience. When you arrive they have all sorts of medieval and renaissance garb that you get all dressed up in. Then we just kind of explored. We met the King and Queen (I'm not really sure how all of this works, but I do know that the King wins his kingship in some sort of fight/battle and reigns for six months) and a bunch of other people. Some friends and I struck up a conversation with a blacksmith and watched him craft for a while. When I asked if I could try he said sure, pulled out a new rod of metal and let me go at it. He taught me how to make a sun pendant (basically, a spiral) and let me take it home. It was really quite fun and if I may say so, I wasn't half bad.

Some students and professors all dressed in pre-17th century attire.


His (above) and Her (below) Majesties.

Hard at work blacksmith-ing.

Me and the Blacksmith with my finished necklace pendant (better picture below)

And the links: http://www.sca.org/ (general organization)
http://www.atlantia.sca.org/ (the kingdom which includes North Carolina)


More later...
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Take Two:
As your typical college kid, my plans changed and I did not end up at our fieldhockey or women's soccer games (though we won both!). In light of this, A is now for Art and B is now for Benches...

A is for Art: Durham held it's annual arts and culture fair Saturday and Sunday of last weekend. It was within walking distance of campus so a friend and I decided to go check it out. We arrived to find a number of local artists of all mediums, concession stands, live music and nonprofit and community organizations set up. It wasn't a First Fridays sort of deal, like I was hoping, but I did enjoy myself. I also bought three new buttons/pins for my button covered purse, so all was not lost.

B is for Benches: Benches are staple of East Campus (where Freshmen live) life. Each dorm has its very own bench out front which was made by students who lived in that dorm in prior years. We hope to have the chance to build our own bench later this year. See, it is customary that when (not if; when) Duke beats UNC in men's basketball at home the benches find themselves serving an important role in our bon fires. Until then, though, we have a beautiful newly painted bench. Pictures of the final product below (well, it seems that I'll have to upload them later when the internet isn't being shotty).

To Frisbee or to Rugby, That is the Question

Outside of classes and my basketball commitments I'm getting involved in other aspects of campus life. At the activities fair a few weeks ago I learned about the opportunity to play a club sport here at Duke. I wanted to have an athletic and intense outlet of my own, so I looked in to it some more. They offer the traditional basketball, soccer, softball, etc but also have ultimate frisbee and rugby teams. I didn't want to participate in the cross country one because I'm a little burnt out of all of that and thought it'd be fun to pick something new and a little off the wall. I decided I'd choose between ultimate frisbee and rugby. After going to a practice and looking at the competition and practice schedules of each, I finally decided that I wanted to be on the ultimate frisbee team. The team is called Charkra, which I think is just really cool. It's an all girls team and has players with all levels of experience and who are undergraduate and graduate students at Duke. So far, I'm loving it. My roommate, Katy, is doing it too, so that's fun for the two of us.

Until next time, Chak-raaaaaa!

Staying Classy

So I've fielded a lot of questions about the classes I'm taking and I've decided to dedicate this post to talk about them.

First though, I must say, that my schedule is really fantastic. I'm out of class every day by at least 1pm and most days I'm out before then. I also only have two early mornings with 8:30 classes.

Now on to the actual classes.

Two of my classes are part of the Focus program. Basically (don't hold your breath, this is a lengthy explanation), The Focus Program is a program especially for freshman at Duke. Within the program there are 10 clusters each of which is focused on some topic (ranging from engineering and healthcare to islam, medieval/rennaisance,neurobiology, humankind, etc). In each cluster there are 32ish students and four interdisciplinarian classes. Each student takes 2 of the courses (15ishkids each) and a general discussion dinner with everyone. In addition to these classes, each cluster lives together (but not exclusively...the 32 kids in my Focus are integrated along with the other 120 kids in my dorm). All of that was a long explanation to say that I'm in the Medieval and Renaissance Focus Cluster. Of the four offered classes within my cluster, I'm taking a British literature class which examines writings from medieval times which dealt with the idea of a utopia and a class on music in renaissance England. Both are really interesting and are completely different from anything I've ever taken before or anything I'll take in the next four years.

I'm also taking an intro to econ class, which I love a lot and a sports business class, which provides some insight into what I might be getting myself into in the future.

I guess when we talk about classes, the next question is about the professors, so I'll say this: All of my professors are really fantastic. They're all passionate about their subjects, very knowledgeable and teach well in their respective settings (seminar vs. lecture, etc).

Until next time...go blue devils!

"Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End..."

I've been at Duke for a little while now, but as I become more and more comfortable and acclimated it feels like this has been home for a long time. I moved in two weeks ago yesterday, which is bizarre and things are in full swing. To catch people up, I'll compile a list of exciting happenings...

1. On the second or third night that I was here I went out to dinner with some people I met at this jazz thing. We went across the street to Whole Foods and it started raining. Once it slowed we decided to dash back to the dorms. I continued on to my dorm and continued some more...and some more...and some more. Seems I didn't quite know my way around campus yet, especially not at night in a storm, and with no one out to ask for directions I had a nice tour of the surroundings. I surrendered to the rain and had a good laugh about it with my hallmates when I finally got back. One of many freshman moments to come, I'm sure.

2. I'm a manager for the women's basketball team here. They're a phenomenal squad and we've got our eyes set on the national championship, so stay tuned. You can find the schedule here: http://www.goduke.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=4200&KEY=&SPID=1846&SPSID=22762

3. I've survived my first week of classes...and the first weekend. If you want to see pictures, take a peek at my facebook album, which you can access (even without an account), here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2001210&l=3576d&id=1018950065
I'll continue to update that album periodically as more pictures become available...when it's full and I have to switch to a new album I'll post that link up in a post for you. Right now it has some pictures from orientation week, an 80's themed night out and the first football game of the season (see below).

4. Saturday was the first football game of the season. After a 75 minute rain delay, we won a home game for the first time in 3 years and the season opener for the first time since 2002. I can't say enough about the school spirit here at Duke.

5. Everyone in my dorm is great. We all hang out a lot and do lots of cool stuff together.

6. I almost went out for the varsity crew team, before my hallmates talked some sense into me. Well, they mostly listened and offered some wisdom, but I was crazed for half a day (ask my parents!!).

7. There is always something going on here. The campus is just buzzing with excitement 24/7.

8. I heard Maya Angelou speak. She was the keynote speaker to wrap up our Orientation experience. She's been coming to Duke for over 15 years now, I think. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I look forward to being in touch...shoot me an email if you want: rfi@duke.edu or leave comments to any posts.

I think that sums up the beginnings of college so until next time...GO BLUE DEVILS.