The languages of Coe.

I was reading in the library last night, trying my hardest to concentrate on The Second Treatise of Government by John Locke. Locke is no easy read and it takes every ounce of concentration to stay focused with the task at hand. Needless to say, I was more than slightly annoyed by a couple pairs of students who were working on projects around me, talking away. While I was trying my hardest to focus on Locke’s views regarding the state of nature, there was an incessant buzz of conversation distracting my thoughts.
Then I just gave up and started listening. Two students behind me were studying for an upcoming macroeconomics test. I recognized the familiar terms about supply and demand and was a little interested. The other two pairs of students, however, I could not understand. It wasn’t because they were taking an advanced course, but rather, they were speaking different languages. I recognized two of them were speaking Japanese and the other two were speaking Nepali. As my thoughts drifted from Locke, I started thinking about how cool it was to sit in a room where three different languages were being spoken.
Coincidentally that night when I went to dinner, I came in to see a couple of my friends sitting at a table with a couple Japanese students. I joined them and introduced myself and ate in their company, speaking to them about Coe, myself, English and our culture. It was a great learning experience for me, and definitely not something I would have ever learned sitting in a classroom.
I checked with the admissions office today and discovered that we have 16 countries represented this year at Coe. I have met a number of these students. I am intrigued by all of them, their backgrounds and their different vantage points on my country and culture. There is so much to be learned here, and once again I find myself learning from my fellow students.

Me and my Famous Friends

With some intense politics going on in the country I thought I'd share some cool photos. Enjoy!


This is me looking on in awe at Barack Obama. He came to Coe in the fall and MTV sponsored a national broadcast with Coe students asking him questions. It was awesome. I'll admit I am a little high on Barack and have met him four times now and even spoke to him on the phone once.


Because it was an MTV event, Sway was one of the moderators. The picture is a little blurry, I know, but I have a picture with Sway, how cool is that!


About a month after Obama visited Coe, then presidential hopeful Rudy Guiliani visited. It was at the end of finals when no students were at Coe, so unfortunately not many people came, but that meant I got a front row seat and even got to ask him a question!
This fall was cool for political junkies like myself. In addition to Barack and Rudy, we had John Edwards (twice), Bill Richardson and Chris Hughes on campus. (Chris Hughes is one of the founders of our beloved Facebook and fellow Barack-lover)

This is me with Senator Tom Harkin on the steps of the capitol building. The spring of my sophomore year I did an internship in his office in Washington D.C. Coe's program there is amazing. I lived 2 blocks from the capitol and went to work in the Senate four days a week -- not too shaby.

Quite the Week.

I have had quite a few experiences since coming to Coe three years ago, but last week was probably one that I will remember for quite some time. This post is just basically going to tell you what happened, but I plan on taking some to dissect the different things I’ve taken from last week. I’ll let you know as I start figuring them out myself.

Monday
If you follow Katie Roger’s blog, you know that the student body President elections were last week. If you follow my blog, you know that I was running to fill that position. My running mate and I started campaigning around Thanksgiving, working to put together a platform, relentlessly publicize ourselves and take place in the debate a week before the elections. Monday was the day where we would find out if everything we worked so hard for was going to pay off. We woke up early to put up a few signs and started waiting. When the results came in we learned that in a three way race we got the most votes with 46 percent. However, the constitution requires a majority (50 percent) to be elected. We started making more signs and tried to get some sleep for another big day.

Tuesday
Once again we woke up early to do some publicity. I was so exhausted and stressed I accidentally slept through my first class. Oops, my first of the semester! Again it was back to the waiting game, which is harder than campaigning. At the end of the day, we learned that we lost the election in the runoff. I was very disappointed, but feel like I did gain something; I’ll let you know when I have that sorted out.

While my fellow students were casting their ballots in the runoff election, I was interviewing for a job as an Assistant Resident Director. This is the position that oversees all the RAs in a residence hall. This was an equally stressful time for me, as I got dressed up and tried to prove myself worthy for a job next year. Back to another night of trying to get some sleep.

Wednesday
The Student Senate meets on Wednesday evenings. While it was hard for me to go to the meeting and not be the president, a pleasant surprise was in store. The President appoints an executive board when they are elected, and I was chosen as the treasurer. I’m excited at this opportunity, because though I’m not the president, I can still do some good for the college in this position.

Friday
After the stress of college politics and job interviews, I was very ready to play some baseball. Our season began Friday, and we had practice that night. It was intense. We threw, fielded, hit and did a lot of conditioning, but I loved it! Because of gym time we started late and didn’t get done until about 11:45 P.M. I didn’t have any trouble sleeping!

Saturday
Baseball started this morning at 9:00 A.M. and was one of the hardest conditioning days we’re going to have all season. It was great to see the team come together and get through something tough! I’m really excited for the season to start shaping up! After resting all afternoon I decided I needed to relax and catch up with a friend, so I finished the week eating a sushi dinner with her at Kaji, my favorite restaurant in town.

(The picture of me at the debate was taken by Megan Valerius)