The Study Abroad Epic

Well as I mentioned previously study abroad is key facet of what I see as a true Beloit College education and is in fact required for some majors(like international relations). This was one of the main reasons that I chose Beloit and so I wanted to take full advantage of the opportunity so I applied to go on Beloit's China program in Jinan and Beloit's program in Turkey.

After something of a grueling application process I was very pleased to find out that I had gotten into the Turkey program for the spring semester of next year. However I was disappointed in finding out that I did not get accepted into the China program due the fact that I have not taken enough Chinese or have not done well enough at it.

I am definitely planning to appeal this decision as I believe I have very good reasons to want to go so I have gone and talked to my teachers and gotten them to support me so long as I receive a B in Chinese this semester. Though I have not yet talked to the Office of International Education(as the lady I need to talk to is away) but I am confident that as Beloit is a learner-centered school they will be willing to listen to me and my professors and grant me admittance to the Jinan program.

This is something that I really like about Beloit; that most decisions are not final if you can show good reason that they should be overturned.

The Two V's(Vortex and the Vagina Monologues)

When it rains it pours when it comes to school sponsored events on the weekends.
And it was a flood on Saturday Night.

My frats retreat was this weekend and unfortunately because of the amount of studying and homework that I had to do for midterms I was unable to go.
This is as lame as it sounds but I figure that at some point in my life I will have to start prioritizing. So anyway most of the weekend was spent catching up on reading in my room or studying in the library but on Saturday night I decided to go out as there was a Vagina Monologues show as well as the second biggest school sponsored concert of the year, Vortex.

I had never seen the Vagina Monologues before so I was really not sure what to expect.
I was pleasantly surprised in some respects as it was not the stereotyped shrill feminist production that some has told me it would be.
However I did find it a bit graphic and intense to really say that I enjoyed it, but it was interesting and I thought all of the girls preforming the monologues did a good job.

After the VM's I went to a reunion party for my old dorm and had a great time chatting with some of of the people I used to live with in the 840 basement.
Following that we all headed out to Pearsons(our student union) to see Vortex. Vortex is big rock show with about 5 bands that play for around that many hours.
I missed the first few bands and a rock marching band that was supposed to be amazing but I did get to see the last band that preformed and they were fantastic.
They had two guitarists and two drummers and a great singer(though the levels were wrong so you couldn't really hear what he said) and their original song were pretty good.

All in all a good weekend.