I only have a bit more than a month left! Ah, so crazy. It really dawned on me over the last couple days, and I started to go crazy trying to plan stuff and pack stuff in before I go. Over the last 48 hours, I’ve booked like 8 plane flights, some busses, and hostels. A ton of planning especially since I have a ton of work this week. Anyways, here is what I have going on before I leave: it’s supposed to be “study” abroad (and I’ve done that, I swear) but I feel like this next month without classes might be a lot less of the study part. Except for my programming languages final, which I’m devoting a full 2 weeks to.

This weekend: Mount Doom

So pumped. Bought a replica of the ring and the chain and may or may not be bringing it up with me.

Coronet Peak Skiing

Got really cheap flights here, which is sick. Queenstown was a blast last time.. the adrenaline capital of the world pretty much has to be that way. So keen to do some pacific skiing. In June. (Definitely won’t be as much snow as in the picture)

Weta-caves

This is right in Wellington, and I can’t believe I haven’t made it here yet. This is the official Lord of the Rings headquarters, production place, and everything else. They have so much cool stuff there, it’s not even funny. The original orcs from the movies and everything. I would love to see Peter Jackson there too! His house is only a bit away from my city, and apparently he still regularly has the entire original LOTR cast come stay at his house. If I ran into Ian McKellan before I left.. my life would be complete. Especially if I saw him on Mount Doom. Some of my friend here either were standins in the movies, or are trying to be in the Hobbit.

Last of all.. Sydney

I booked flights here on a whim during my Europols tutorial. Australia will be a great way to end the semester, and since that’s originally where I wanted to go I figured I should see it. Also, being over here is a once in a lifetime opportunity and hopping over to see some Aussies is no biggie. Right now, I think I’m just going by myself, which is pretty scary but so far I’ve done literally everything with a bunch of friends so I think it’ll be good to do something independently. It’ll be a growing experience. Plus, I’ll have koalas and kangaroos around me so I won’t really be alone. And pythons.

Park outside of Sydney I’m planning on doing some camping around:

I know it sounds like going abroad is like being on vacation, but if you plan it right, it can cost pretty much nothing to do a lot of cool stuff! I’ve been doing a lot of getting coupons, deals, or taking 3 AM busses to save money, and I’ve done a ton of wicked cool stuff without spending much at all. Maybe that’s just how great Middle Earth is.

Nick

Before I came to Colby, around last May, I had to fill out this questionnaire titled “Colby I will be” that would supposedly help my future advisor to get to know me.  At the time, I was still on my gap year and hadn’t thought at all about the fact that I was going to college in a few months.  I always was aware of it – it hung over me every day.  While my friends studied hard for their exams that would determine whether or not they’d get a spot at university, I didn’t really study for mine (or at least not as hard), knowing I already had my spot at Colby.

I didn’t really know what anything I was writing meant, if anything at all.  In hindsight, I don’t think I knew what I was looking for when I was looking for colleges as a junior and senior in high school, so how was I meant to know exactly what I wanted to get out of Colby?  I knew that on my gap year, I had experienced great personal growth, and that I would miss the feeling of being at that school with those friends; I correctly predicted in the questionnaire that I would have a hard time getting back in the groove of being in school and starting anew.  When I had to write about what would make me feel as though my first year at college was a successful one, I wrote, “I don’t know what goals I have” (and then pretended I did and managed to get out a few more sentences).  I’ve struggled a lot with that this year – trying to figure out what goals I have for myself at Colby and beyond Colby.  I kind of put a lot of pressure on myself to know what I’m doing even though a lot of people are in a place where they don’t really know what they’re doing (and the point of college is to have time to figure that out, right?)  I hardly know if I’m making the right choice with deciding what I’m going to do with my afternoons, let alone in trying to consider what I want to do with the rest of my life.

One thing I wrote was that, “I’m hoping Colby will be a place where I can do exactly what I want to do and make my time there as successful as I want it to be; I know I’ll have the tools, I’ll just have to make the best of them.”  I think that’s what being here boils down to.  You can’t know what you’re getting into and it’s an experience every day trying to interpret the people here and where you fit in with them.  But the bottom line is, Colby is a place where there are a ton of opportunities for you to take advantage of.  You can’t take advantage of them all and you won’t take advantage of them all, but it’s important to feel like you did what you could.

I don’t know if I did all that I could this year, and I don’t think I’ll know that until I’m older and wiser and am able to look back on my freshman year with much more clarity than I am now, bleary-eyed from finals.  I’ve written this, though, and I’ll have it saved in my folder of all my insideColby blogs from this year to look back on…

Happy summer!

Hey guys

Sorry for most of my posts being about stuff I do abroad! The next couple weeks, I have a lot of Colby stuff going on so I’ll make sure to write about Colby. This week, I thought I’d share one aspect of the IFSA-Butler program that Colby mainly uses as their study abroad program: their competitions! Besides doing a bunch of awesome stuff that facilitates (most) Colby students studying abroad, this program also makes a huge effort to encourage social interaction between students and runs a bunch of friendly competitions. Most have to do with showing how you’ve really became part of the culture, done cool academic stuff, or shown leadership, but their most participated in one is the “iconic images” competition! This isn’t just ran by the New Zealand Butler office, but by their programs in each country or part of the world that they’re based out of. I know a bunch of other Colby students doing this for their respective countries too!

As it turns out, I never actually submitted my pictures for the competition (I missed the deadline.. slacking off as usual) but I did spend a ton of time going through stuff I had so far and organizing them into the competition categories. I still have a month and a half here, so I’ll be doing far more than this: I’ll be doing a multi day hike up Tongariro (Mt. Doom.. it’s active right now. No biggie), a bunch of other great hikes and some skiing in Queenstown! No trees, which is pretty awesome. This weekend I’m rafting, too. So, I’ll definitely have some way better pictures by the end of my trip.

Here is what I submitted (or would have) for the “Off the beaten track” section.

I should have submitted this one, too (current prof pic on Facebook)

Annnnd some runners up

I’d like to think these pictures represent my time in New Zealand, but they don’t.. at all. The whole place looks exactly like Lord of the Rings and most of the cool stuff I’ve seen I don’t have pictures of! Also, I tried to choose more artsy pictures so a lot of cool things (like Fjords) aren’t here.

Here are some pictures that I submitted for the city section:

Those last two got part of the picture cut out. Shoot. Hurricanes vs. Chiefs game tonight, heading out to get some drinks tonight and tomorrow night, and then whitewater rafting with Butler on Sunday! Planning some trips, too.

Nick

Does Colby’s investment policy reflect student values?

This year, a student group has been working to convince the administration that the endowment should match student opinion that there is the need to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Leaders of Colby Alliance for Renewable Energy (CARE) met recently with the Board of Trustees to request that divestment of the endowment from the fossil fuel industry be considered.

Our argument for divestment is simple: as it stands, the college is investing in the fossil fuel industry; supporting it as it permanently and destructively alters our climate.

Climate change is arguably the most daunting challenge ever faced by humans, and to tackle the problem we must end our reliance on fossil fuels. Divestment from the fossil fuel industry is a growing national movement whose hope is to shape public opinion around the idea of moving away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy.

After meeting the CARE members, Colby’s Board of Trustees declared climate change is not a big enough issue to warrant the college’s divestment from fossil fuels.  Unfortunately, the values of the students are not reflected by the Board’s actions.

getting geared up for the rally

However, this does not mean that our efforts will stop. This past Friday members of the Colby community came together to state that we disagree with the Board’s decision to not divest. The rally started in the student center, and from there we marched across Miller lawn to the steps of Olin. Colby’s taiko drummers met us there, and we all made some noise and celebrated our efforts of the past year and hope for future success. Several people spoke about their reasons for being there and got the crowd pumped up to continue our work towards divestment.

Besides showing our support for divestment, the rally demonstrated that we will claim the power to change our school and our futures. Convincing the Board of Trustees that climate change does matter, especially to younger generations who will experience its worst effects, is a fight that we refuse to give up. We want Colby’s investment policy to reflect our opinion that it is time for the switch towards energy for a sustainable future.

I grew up in a small college town, where many people are financially secure.  There is a beautiful, quaint downtown, lovely neighborhoods, and plenty of parks – I think it would be a great place to go to college.  It’s not that no one worries about money, but in general there isn’t a lot of impoverishment, especially when compared to other parts of the country.

When I was applying to Colby, I remember being skeptical about Waterville. During my visit, I only saw big-box stores like Wal-Mart while driving from I-95 to campus.  The town seemed a bit decrepit, and separated from campus.  It just didn’t seem like the college towns I knew.

This perception led me to believe I would be spending my time either on campus or exploring Maine outside of Waterville.

Boy was I wrong.  This year, I’ve been really lucky to connect with Waterville, and the surrounding area.  Despite it’s shabby facade, it’s a really wonderful place to live.

Beyond the fast food strips, there are so many exciting things happening in this area.  In particular, I’ve loved getting to know the local farming community, which is one of the largest, and healthiest, in the country.  The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), is based out of Unity, ME, which is about thirty minutes away.

MOFGA has created an incredible resource base for small farmers in the area, and hosts the Common Ground Country Fair once a year in the fall.  It is an unbelievable old-style country fair, complete with classes on timber framing, sheep dog demonstrations, and delicious food.

Beyond this slightly hidden community of farmers, I think there is real value in living a community that isn’t financially secure.  There is a lot of privilege at Colby and living in a place that isn’t as comfortable as many of the cities students are from is a really great learning opportunity.

There is incredible value in being able to step outside of the liberal arts college world, and into a town that is not as healthy.  This isn’t to say that everyone and everything is perfect at Colby and Waterville is a rotting dump.  Of course that is false, but there is a ton of room for growth in the contrast between the two places.

I spent time this year in local schools through education classes and a mentoring program, and I learned so much interacting with students who come from such a different background than me.

It’s important to live in places that, at first, appear to be out of your comfort zone.  I’m genuinely glad I don’t go to school in a seemingly “perfect” college town.  I think there are so many more opportunities to learn and grow individually in Waterville than in places with picturesque main streets.

If I think about it for too long, I get really freaked out that I’m finishing up my freshman year of college.  I still have a week and a bit left (I’m leaving on May 21, which is like the last possible day underclassmen can leave) but as of now I’m done with my classes.  I had my last Spanish class on Wednesday, which was weird because I’m not taking Spanish for the first time in fourteen years next semester.  Finishing up my other classes was fairly uneventful.  Well, one of my teachers teared up as she did the final role call.  Also, today in anthropology we did a Skype interview with a professor who has been on sabbatical and will return this coming year.  As he described the classes he’ll be teaching, I got really excited to continue with anthropology.   Really, it doesn’t even feel as though my classes are over because I still have papers to write and an exam to study for!

I feel much more relaxed this reading period than I did in the winter.  For one thing, at least it’s spring and I know that I can go home for three months when I’m done.  In the winter it was cold and dark all the time and that just doesn’t help one’s work ethic.  I have three papers and an exam, which makes things feel easier.  I already wrote one paper for Spanish because if we handed in drafts early, our professor would go over it (and how helpful would that be??)  It was hard doing it but I managed to get it done last weekend.  I have two more to do but I’m not tooooo worried about them.  And when I want to take a break from my papers I can study some art (my only exam).

This semester felt better than last semester.  I felt like I was working on stuff I wanted to work on, most of the time.  I loved my art class and my anthropology class, which is good because I want to pursue an art minor and an anthropology major.  I got in the hang of going to the library which ended up being really good for me because I can’t always get work done in my room, and it forced me to look at my room as a relaxation area, so I’d be more motivated to come back and have time to unwind.  In general, I feel like I have a handle on things here, which makes me feel better about coming back in the fall.

Now onto finals week…

Wednesday's Sunset over Johnson Pond

Any tour guide at Colby will tell you how over 60% of our junior class studies abroad in an effort to create a more cultured, educated, and wordly student body and a more open minded graduates. So far for me, it’s worked pretty well: I never realized how weird Americans are compared to everyone else! This week, I thought I’d share some differences between Americans and everyone else here in Wellington. Everyone else consists mostly of Kiwis, but a lot of British, French, Australians and Pacific Islanders too. There are probably a lot of generalizations here, and I know some of this stuff isn’t true for all of one culture or another! Most of these aren’t really my observations, but rather things that you keep hearing over and over from everyone here.. any kiwi has probably heard all of these a thousand times.

1. Everyone else is friendlier. Yup, depressing but true. Kiwis are way more excited to meet new people anywhere regardless if you’re “cool” and American or not. Most times in America when you go to a public place – say a subway – people just keep looking straight ahead. Definitely different here.

2. There’s a lot more drama among uni students. Maybe it’s just because I’m used to Colby, which is pretty chill drama wise, but you definitely here a lot more arguments and drama go down here. Us Americans get along great with each other but walking through uni, wow, it’s crazy!

3. People are hipster. It’s more unique to Wellington than the rest of New Zealand, but no one goes to lecture, ever, in anything less than high heels and being really dressed up. Guys are the same, and everyone is a big skinny jeans/fitted u-neck t shirt fan. I haven’t exactly tried to blend in much, I get labeled as an American as soon as anyone looks at me. If you wear gym shorts, sweatpants, a sweatshirt, hat, or flip flops to class you’re so far off the bar it’s crazy. But, people love meeting Americans so they think it’s pretty cool for the most part. No New Zealander would be caught dead in sweatpants. Compare that to 9 AM courses at Colby.. that’s a pretty stark difference.

4. Life is less based around money. I don’t mean that in a cultural way, but rather economic. The distribution of wealth here is much less progressive than back in the states, and generally it’s accepted that one goes to uni, graduates, and gets a regular job. Most universities are at the same academic level and most aren’t really “better” than each other – you don’t get into uni and go through the application process like in the states, just decide where you want to go. While there obviously are less wealthy and more wealthy people, most of the population is in one big middle class pool. Jobs are jobs, people’s lives don’t revolve much around them. Wages for most jobs are pretty similar too, it’s harder to have an “upper class” or white collar job.

5. People are more chill about life. This is both a good thing, and a bad thing. If you’re trying to do business or contact a company, forget it. Representatives of companies are more just friendly people than businessman. I went in to talk to Westpac when I lost my credit card – my bank that represents Bank of America here – and the guy I sat down with, wearing a suit and tie, was pretty informal. He would use the word (f***) pretty frequently (that’s normal for talking to any businessman) as an adjective about everything. (They would wonder why on earth would I have just censored that word in my post?) And he was the manager of the whole bank. It’s not that he was an unqualified manager, it’s just how they talk here. I miss how formal American businesses are, only because they actually get stuff done. Kiwis are too chill in that regard.

But, in social life I love how chill they are. I’ve said words and had conversations here that would be so unacceptable back in the states. Sex and drinking is a huge part of life, and they literally don’t have a stigma on them whatsoever. People have sex here much more freely and when they’re way younger too.. sex is just something you do, like going to the gym. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t drink, and “going out and getting drunk” doesn’t have the same very negative connotation that it would back home. It’s analogous to, say.. I dunno “I’m going to go order pizza tonight.” (It doesn’t even compute that it’s a bad thing to go out and drink. It’s like eating food) Frankly, I get kind of tired of how un-chill the states are – I think it’s the most fun thing ever to go get some beers and fries with friends, or have a crazy party once in a while. Kiwis are flabbergasted when I tell them how you have to hide drinking or you know, try to not talk about drinking on campus tours. It’s not even a bad thing for them!

6. Lots of different words for things. There’s no way I can even come up with all the different sayings, but here are some. Lollies = candy, sunnies = sunglasses, jandals = flip flops, togs = bathing suit, college = high school, uni = university (but as in, that’s our uni, or are you in uni?), ___ as (if you say sweet as, it means really cool. If you say beachy as, it means somethings really beachy. I’ve heard pretty ridiculous ones.. “that kid is Aussie as”)

7. Academics are less work. I remember the first thing we heard from our coordinators at our Butler orientation was how kiwi students “don’t do work”. I didn’t really know what he was talking about but New Zealanders love to acknowledge how little work uni is. I’ve actually kind of miss doing real work back at Colby.. it feels good to learn and I love our Colby system!

Well, that’s all for this week.

Nick

My time in England is coming to an end; my return flight is booked for May 22nd, so I’ve been making the most of my time up until that day. I just got back from a whirlwind week of visiting mainland Europe. (four cities in seven days).  After my last trip to France and Spain, I had three days in London before heading out on my next adventure to Hungary, Austria, and Germany.

First stop: Budapest, Hungary. Besides being completely lost with the language and currency, I was pleasantly surprised with the city. We saw some gorgeous churches and architecture and enjoyed some warm weather that we weren’t used to in London.

Vienna, Austria came after Budapest. We happened to be there on a national holiday, so the city was basically shut down, but we wandered around gawking at the buildings like typical tourists. We stumbled upon Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, & Mozart’s graves in Zentralfriedhof cemetery, which encompassed over 590 acres.

After Vienna we took the train over to Salzburg, Austria, the city where much of the Sound of Music was filmed. I’m a big fan of the movie, as where my travel companions, so we visited as many of the sights as possible.

This is the back of the Von Trapp house!

Recognize this? It’s the fountain where Maria and the children sang Do Re Mi!

I couldn’t help myself… standing where Julie Andrews had once stood was amazing!

Look, Colby is famous! I found this sign in Salzburg and freaked out.

The last stop was Munich, Germany. Though we were in the city for less than 24 hours, we managed to see a lot. We started off our day by watching the giant Glockenspiel in the city’s central square, and then headed over to the market for a traditional German lunch. Lucky for me, some friendly natives helped me order my food, since I am hopeless as pronouncing German. I still have no idea what they ordered for me, but it was delicious! After an afternoon of lounging in the English Gardens and watching the river surfers (yes, they really surfed in a tiny river–more of a stream really), we wandered back to our hostel to prepare ourselves for the Springfest Carnival, where we spent our evening. The next morning we were up at 3:30am to catch our train to the airport.

Seeing 4 cities in 7 days was ambitious and exhausting, but incredibly rewarding. Now I’m back in London with a few spare days before my family comes to visit me, so I am going to attempt to do all the touristy things I never got around to doing during the semester. I must make the most of the time I have left in this wonderful city!

Until next time, Morgan

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place…You’ll not only miss the people you love, but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.” -Azar Nafisi in Reading Lolita in Tehran

A week or so ago, I was chatting with my friend from back home, and she commented that she was on her way to her last Women’s and Gender Studies class of the term. The comment shocked me, given that at that point in my semester, I still had 11 more essays to write and a billion more pages to read before I was ready to start my summer. I had forgotten that, in America, most students are nearly done with this academic year.

As of today, I’m about a quarter of the way through Trinity term, and although I have a ton of work to do, I’m not quite ready to start my summer, so I am actually very happy that I still have about ten essays to write. Spring at Oxford is lovely, and I’m grateful to be here to be able to enjoy it for another month or so. The weather has been surprisingly very sunny, so I’ve been spending time enjoying it by doing things like picnicking with my friends. Yesterday, for instance, the college hosted a picnic for all of its students on the lawn. Besides this, each Saturday, my friends and I complete the “3 P’s”: we have a picnic, we make Pimm’s (a very British beverage), and we go punting (well, I haven’t done this third one yet, but I plan to very soon!). These three classically British activities make for a wonderfully British weekend! One of my friends knows how to play the guitar, and a few others are great singers, so our picnics are also very musical activities. Last Saturday, we had an exceptionally wonderful picnic because we saw a couple taking their wedding photos on the Worcester grounds, which was fun to watch.

Some of us smiling for a photo after completing two of the “Three P’s” this weekend:

Besides Oxford’s wonderful spring weather and the opportunities it offers, I will miss the people I met while studying abroad. My friends are all such entertaining people, and I will truly miss their constant companionship when I return to America. At the same time, I know that an equally warm community of people will welcome me in both Connecticut and at Colby, and it is a real comfort to know that I can now call so many places “home.”

Cheers,
Kristen