The Puck Stops Here

Fall Semester 2008- The Final Days

Fall 2008 is almost over, and I think I'll survive this semester. Only two more papers and five final exams left to go! On the downside, I have an exam the day after my 21st birthday so I won't be able to party that much. I guess I'll just have to wait until I get home to really celebrate.

When I haven't been writing papers, I've been preparing to go to Rome. I applied for my visa yesterday, and surprisingly it didn't take that long. I had all the forms I needed and was told I could pick it up next week. After I get my visa, I need to get a Permit to Stay- the whole process is kind of annoying, but I know it will be worth it once I get there. I think my entire family is planning on visiting me at some point during the semester, which will be really great because then they can all take me out to dinner.

I registered for classes at John Cabot, and I'm taking Italian, Western European Politics, American Foreign Policy, Public International Law, and the Political Economy of Globalization. I was able to look at the syllabi for most of the courses, and they all seem very interesting. The readings and assignments don't seem too bad, so I'm hoping that I'll have lots of free time to go exploring around Rome. The registration process for John Cabot was a bit more complicated than AU's, but I was able to figure it out and I have a great schedule. I have class at 10:30 AM every morning, which will take some getting used to as I haven't had a class that starts before 2 PM all semester, but it won't be as bad as when I had 8:30 AM classes. There are also no Friday classes, which is awesome because then I have a 3 day weekend every weekend.

I don't know where I'm living yet, apparently the school likes to surprise you or something. I have to send them my flight information, then they pick you up at the airport and drop you off at an apartment, and that's when you find out where you're living for the next four months. I checked out the locations of the school and the possible housing options, and they all seem pretty cool. I hope I'll be closer to campus so that I don't have to worry about a long commute, but I'm sure I'll be happy wherever I end up.

I can't believe the semester is over in a week and a half! I'm dreading packing up all of my stuff more than I am of taking my finals- I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. I'm going to miss AU next semester- I kind of wish I could stick around for the Inauguration, but I'm sure I'll be having fabulous adventures of my own.

Preparing for Rome

Well, the fall semester is beginning to wind down- I'll be home in about a month and then I'll be going to Italy in another month. I'm really excited to be able to spend an extended amount of time in Rome, and I hope I'll have enough time to visit other countries. I checked the class schedules for John Cabot (the school I'm attending in Rome), and there aren't any classes on Friday! This means I'll have a 3-day weekend every weekend- I'm very excited.

I don't know what courses I'll be taking next semester because they don't do pre-registration over there. I'm going to have to wait on a line and sign up for courses in person. I really enjoy signing up for classes from the comfort of my dorm room. That's another thing- the apartments that JCU students stay in don't have Internet access. I'm going to have to use computer labs at JCU or bring my laptop to class with me because the campus is pretty much wireless, even though the rest of Rome is not. I'm sure I'll be busy sightseeing, so I probably won't miss the Internet; I'm just worried about writing papers for class.

I'm excited to be living in an actual apartment next semester and to have my own kitchen. I cook in the dorms occasionally, but it's kind of annoying to carry everything from my room to the lounge since I live at the end of the hallway. JCU doesn't have a meal plan, so I'll be cooking almost every day. I'm also very excited for good Italian food- that was the main reason I chose Rome to study abroad (just kidding). My ideal plan would be to eat at restaurants everyday, but I'm pretty sure I can't afford that. I have a basic knowledge of cooking and the food products are really great in Italy so I hope I won't be able to screw up all of my meals.

I'm pretty much all set to go abroad, but I still need to get my visa. There's a bunch of forms you need to bring in and an application to fill out before they give it to you. My pre-departure meeting is next week, so I'll be able to go to the Italian embassy and get my visa soon. I'm very psyched for Rome and I'm sure I'm in for a fabulous semester abroad.

2008 Election

In case anybody missed it, Obama was elected president! DC was crazy on Tuesday night, though I'm sure Chicago was even crazier. I definitely heard people cheering late into the night from my dorm room. I watched a lot of the election coverage on BBC, which was interesting getting an outsider's point-of-view. I also watched Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's coverage, which was quite hilarious. I didn't catch any of Fox News' coverage, which is disappointing now that I think about it. It would have been pretty entertaining to watch them sulk- I mean the election was over once Obama won Ohio and Pennsylvania. There was no way that McCain was going to win California, which has 55 electoral votes, so once his tally in the East Coast was above 220 the election was over.

Obviously, this election is historic on many levels, and I think it will go down in history as one of the most important elections ever. The whole world was waiting for the results of this election, and I read in a news article online that people around the world are really excited that he is president. For what its worth, I was really impressed with McCain's concession speech, and I appreciated the fact that he stopped his supporters from booing Obama. I thought McCain was a very gracious loser, and I think he came off as sounding very sincere when he pledged to do everything he could to help Obama as president. At the same time, I was veryimpressed with Obama's acceptance speech, and I loved the story about the 106 year old lady. I thought that Obama sounded humble and appreciative, and he seems ready to go straight to work on our country's problems. Of course, many are already doubting him and are speculating that he won't be able to live up to his campaign promises and will end up a one-term president. I'm personally optimistic about Obama, he seems pretty intelligent and capable of leading this country through tough times. I guess only time will tell what will happen.

In other news about the election, Democrats extended their majority in both houses of congress, though a few races are still too close to call. Comedian Al Franken is awaiting a recount for the Senate seat in Minnesota because he only lost by a few hundred votes, which entitles him to a recount. Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska is barely ahead of the Democratic candidate in his senate race, so they are still waiting for all of the absentee ballots to come in. Ted Stevens is also a convicted felon, so if he wins he may have to step down soon after (because, you know, he's a convicted felon!), which means that Sarah Palin will appoint someone to take his spot until another election is held. Yes, there is speculation that Sarah Palin might take over Senator Stevens' spot, so she may end up in Washington after all.

The other major news is that Florida, Arizona, and California all voted in favor of legislation that bans gay marriages. California has gotten the most attention with Prop. 8, as both supporters and opponents of the legislation campaigned all over the country. I was pretty surprised that Prop. 8 passed because California seemed to be the most accepting state of gay marriages, and it also has a large gay population. It will be interesting to see what happens in California now that Prop. 8 has passed, I imagine that the issue will be prevalent for a long time to come.

Anyway, that's about all of the highlights of the 2008 election. I'm really going to miss the debate spoofs on SNL, and Tina Fey's Sarah Palin impression, but I'm also really excited and anxious to see what Obama will do as president.

Fall Break, Elections, and More

I can't believe the semester is half-over already, which means that in a few months I'll be in Rome! I've been really busy at school with midterms, but now that they're over I can relax until finals roll around and all of my final papers are due. The weather here has been really nice, it's been about 60 degrees and sunny, and the leaves are all changing colors. It's definitely a great time to take a tour of campus.
Fall break was last week, and for the first time ever, I went home for the weekend. One of my friends has a car on campus and was going to New Jersey anyway so I was able to get a ride with her. It's really not worth it to fly or take the train both ways for a two-day visit. I mailed my absentee ballot at home and it cost a dollar to mail, which is kind of expensive when you consider the fact that I'm mailing one piece of paper. New Jersey is silly and has two envelopes for the ballot, so the thing ends up weighing a ton. At least I only had to vote for a few people; my suite-mate is from Texas and had twice as many people to vote for. I'm glad the election is almost over- all of the campaign ads are getting rather annoying. Although, the SNL sketches have been incredibly awesome. Amy Poehler's rap was hilarious, and Tina Fey's reaction to meeting the real Sarah Palin was priceless. Honestly, SNL should send Sarah Palin a gift basket; they haven't had ratings this high since 2000.
Anyway, campus has been great- they finished redoing the entrance to MGC, and are making progress with the new SIS building. I'm kind of bummed that I'll have graduated by the time it's finished, but I guess I could always stay here for grad school. It's weird to think that I'll have to find a real job in less than two years. I'm really lucky that I have the Career Center to help with finding internships and review my resume. Halloween's next week- I guess I should think about a costume this year since it's on a Friday and I'll be able to go out without having to worry about going to class the next day.    

AU Fall 2008

Wow, I can't believe I've been back at AU for a month already! I also can't believe that I'm in my third year of college- I'm now more than half done with my undergraduate career. Anyway, I've been really busy since I've been back with applying to study abroad and all of my classwork. I'm taking some pretty interesting courses this semester: History of US Presidential Elections, Twentieth Century Russia, News Media and Foreign Policy, Foundations of International Communication, and Italian. History of US Presidential elections is especially great because the professor spends some time discussing the current presidential election, so I am becoming a well-informed voter.

Campus is kind of crazy this year because of the election- there are lots of supporters for Obama and McCain, and about a million facebook groups supporting one candidate or the other. I'm looking forward to the debate on Friday, and the SNL sketch that is sure to make fun of it. Tina Fey as Sarah Palin was so hilarious! I almost want McCain to win just so Tina Fey can keep impersonating Palin- she was dead-on. I'm glad that I'll most likely be abroad when the new administration takes office- that way I can see if things are going badly and I just won't come back to the US. Just kidding...

So, I was on the fence between several schools in Europe, but I've decided that I want to do the program at John Cabot University (JCU) in Rome. I finally decided on Rome because it's in a central location, so hopefully I'll get a chance to visit friends studying abroad in Berlin and Paris, and I'll be able to take a few day trips to other cities in Italy. Rome is a great city, and I would love to get a chance to spend more than three days there. Even though I've been to Rome twice already, I feel like there's so much stuff that I haven't seen. I also decided that JCU would be the best school for me because they offer courses similar to ones that I would take at AU, so every class I take there will fulfill a requirement for my major.

I was really torn between doing an enclave program and enrolling directly in another university abroad, because enclave programs plan field trips you can take so that you see more of the country. Enclave programs are also great because you go abroad with a whole group of AU students, so you can meet people before you leave. Because I want to minor in History, I decided to go to JCU because an enclave program wouldn't fulfill enough major requirements. I'm also hoping to get a better international experience if I enroll directly in another institution rather than stay with a big group from AU. I'm really lucky that AU has so many options to study abroad, but it makes it really difficult for indecisive people like me!

Anyway, this year has been hectic so far, but it's also been very enjoyable. I decided not to play hockey this year because I'll only be here for half the season, so I have a little more free time. There's a women's volley ball match this weekend, which is always entertaining. Go Eagles!

Summer 2008

I can't believe I survived finals this year! I had finals in every single one of my classes; usually I have at least one take-home final or some final papers. I guess it wasn't too bad, although I thought my hand was going to fall off by my last final- there was lots of writing. Anyway, I'm really psyched to go home for the summer, but I'm gonna miss all of my friends a lot. Most of them don't live too far away, so hopefully we'll get together over the summer before we go back to school. I don't really have any plans for this summer other than work, hang around New Jersey, and hang out with my high school friends who I haven't seen in forever. I'm also really looking forward to summer movies. Here's my list so far:

Iron Man: This did really well over the weekend, and got really great reviews. I also hear Robert Downey Jr. was really sarcastic and funny. Who doesn't love a super hero movie?

Hancock: Yet another super hero movie, but this one also looks really funny. Will Smith plays a homeless super hero who causes more harm than good most of the time- there's a twist.

The Strangers: I usually don't go for scary movies, and the trailer definitely freaked me out, but I want to know what happens. Masked strangers terrorize a young couple who are at a house in the middle of nowhere with no one else around, and to make things creepier, it's based on true events. If I end up seeing this I think I'll be sleeping with my light on for at least a week.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Who doesn't love Indiana Jones? I was a little skeptical at first because Harrison Ford is kind of old now, but after seeing the trailer it looks like this film will be just as good as, if not better than, the original. Plus, it has the girl from the first movie, which is awesome.

The Dark Night: One of Heath Ledger's last appearances on film, sigh. Anyway, I loved Batman Begins, and I think Christian Bale does a great job. I'm also excited to see that Maggie Gyllenhaal is replacing Katie Holmes.

I hope I won't be working too much over the summer and I get to see all of these!

Next Year at AU

So classes are now done at AU and all I have left to do is study for finals. As much as I love AU, I'm looking forward to going home and relaxing without having to worry about classes for a few months. I'm also ready to start learning new subjects; I'm getting bored with my current ones. Next year I'm taking News Media and Foreign Policy for SIS, which sounds really interesting. I'm also taking a history class about U.S. presidential elections, which should also be lots of fun considering it's an election year. I'm almost done with my General Education courses; I still have to take another science class that I'm in no rush to complete. As an SIS major I'm pretty lucky because most of the GenEd courses count towards the major as well. I originally thought that the General Education program would be a burden, but it's really helpful if you don't know what you want to major in, and you can take a broad variety of courses.

Next year at AU is going to be really different. A lot of my friends are going abroad for a whole year, so it'll be weird not seeing them on campus, and I'm planning on going to Rome during the Spring Semester. It took me awhile to decide which study abroad program to pick, but I think Rome will work best because the school has a lot of courses that I can apply to my major. I originally decided to go to AU because they had a great study abroad program, but when I got to campus I wasn't sure I wanted to leave. I figure that since most of my friends will be abroad during the spring campus won't be much fun. Anyway, Fall Semester should be pretty cool; I'm looking forward to being in DC during the presidential elections. This Fall might actually be my last semester on campus because I'm planning to live off campus senior year. I had a great time at AU this year, and I'm hoping next year will be just as fun. 

Finals 2008

Finals start in one week! As ready as I am for classes to be over, I am not ready to take five exams. I think this is the first semester where I will have to sit an exam in every single class. I can't really complain though- I have a pretty good exam schedule. I have two exams on Thursday May 1, which I have five days to study for, then a French exam on Saturday, and two exams on Tuesday May 6. I also have lots of time to study in between exams on the days when I have two finals.

I'm planning on studying over the weekend a bit, so that I'll have more time to memorize material and key concepts. Also, I'll be able to get a good nights sleep and not have to stay up all night cramming. During midterms, I found it helpful to re-read books and other articles that were assigned, and my notes were very helpful as well. Review sessions are also extremely helpful because you can ask questions about the material you don't know. I also recommend studying in small groups or with a partner because it makes the experience more fun (well, as fun as studying can be) if you have somebody to talk with. Although, working in a group can also be distracting and you may get sidetracked. I prefer to study in my room because I don't have to drag my books over to the library, and I can listen to music and not worry about having to be quiet like when I'm in the library. All of the dorms have study rooms, but it's not a very comfortable atmosphere, although it is very quiet. The library also has study rooms and couches, and less distractions.

Well, I guess I should start studying now...

News update

If you read my last post, I'm sure you can guess that I was pretty bummed last night when the Capitals lost to the Flyers in overtime. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the game, but my roommate went online and we were able to listen to the game. From what I could hear, it sounded like the refs were pretty bad and missed a lot of calls, and also made some questionable ones. If the refs had called some more penalties on the Flyers, maybe the Caps could have scored a power play goal... Oh well, there's always next year. Anyway, the Flyers will play the Canadiens in the second round, and the Rangers will play the Penguins. In the Western Conference the Dallas Stars will play the San Jose Sharks, and the Detroit Red Wings will play the Colorado Avalanche. I don't really follow the Western conference that much, so I'm not sure who I support. I've heard that the Stars and Sharks both have really good goalies, so that should be interesting to see.

In other news: Hillary won Pennsylvania!? Will this Democratic primary never end? According to USA Today, Hillary Clinton won 55% of the vote to Barack Obama's 45%, which is a bigger margin than she was projected to win. Personally, I think Clinton won because she went on the Colbert Report and received the "Colbert bump" (note sarcasm), whereas Obama only appeared on it via teleprompter. Speaking of the "Colbert bump"- did you know that scientists are actually investigating whether or not the "Colbert bump" really boosts a candidate's popularity? I can't believe that people get paid for that!!! Do they have nothing better to do? Check out the article I found online; maybe I'm the only one who thinks people are taking the "Colbert bump" way too seriously.

Anyway, the next primaries are in Indiana and North Carolina, so prepare for more mud-slinging. I have to say, I don't approve of the way the campaigns have been going in the Democratic party- is all the negative campaigning necessary?- maybe scientists should investigate that issue instead of the effectiveness of the "Colbert bump"! And at the end of the day aren't Obama and Clinton on the same side?  I hope whoever loses isn't too bitter and helps support the winner in the general elections. If the Democratic candidates are already so aggressive against each other, just imagine how dirty the general election will be when they're running against someone from the Republican Party. I guess to some extent I admire their tenacity, but I think negative campaigning draws sympathy for a candidate's opponent and makes the candidate less likable.

If Clinton wins North Carolina and Indiana, I think the super delegates will have to be called in, or they're going to have to redo the Florida and Michigan primaries which didn't count. I know in my last post about the primaries I said that Clinton would end up surpassing Obama, but I think he's ahead by too much, unless something is done about Michigan and Florida. Although, I will say that even though Obama has more delegates and a larger percentage of the popular vote, Clinton has won more swing states. When it comes down to the general election, don't the Democrats want the candidate who was most popular in states that could go either red or blue? States like California and New York will be blue no matter what, but states like Ohio and Pennsylvania could easily go red. I guess I'll have to wait and see what happens...

NHL playoffs

I know baseball season just started, but honestly I find it a little boring. Obviously I'm biased, but I'd much rather watch hockey over baseball any day, even in the middle of spring. Anyway, the NHL playoffs started last week and I haven't been able to catch any games yet, but I've been keeping up with the results on nhl.com. Here's what I think so far:

GO CAPS!!!!!- The Washington Capitals started in last place this season and ended up third seed in the Eastern Conference, talk about a comeback. The Caps are playing the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round(boo!) and are currently behind 2-1 in the series. The Caps have a lot of young talent, and I think they can definitely make it to the finals if they stay focused.

Rangers and Devils- I live in New Jersey, so I'm definitely a fan of the Devils, but my family is from New York, so I also support the Rangers. The Devils and Rangers are playing against each other in the first round, and I'm really torn over who to support. I probably won't have to worry much longer- Rangers lead 3-1 in the series which means the Devils are close to being eliminated.

Goaltending- I'm a goalie so I have to comment on this :) I think Martin Brodeur (NJ Devils) is arguably the best goalie in the league and even though he hasn't been doing as well, he's definitely an asset to his team. The Devils don't score a lot of goals, and Brodeur is the reason that they are so successful. Henriq Lundqvist (NY Rangers) is also really good. He kept the Rangers in the playoffs last year, and is pretty consistent. If the Rangers go on, it'll be interesting to see how he does when he has to face more offensively aggressive teams than the Devils. I'm a little bummed that Olie Kozig isn't starting for the Capitals, but Christobal Huet has done really well in the post season.

Overall- I'm facing the fact that the Devils probably aren't going to continue, but I'm hoping that the Rangers and Capitals make it to the finals of the Eastern Conference, where I will once again be unsure of who to support. I'll definitely support the Eastern Conference team in the championship (unless it's the Flyers), because I tend to be regionally biased when supporting sports teams. I'm hoping that the Capitals at least advance to the second round of playoffs so that hockey becomes more popular down here!