Student Blogger: Megan Stern

End of Summer

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like." -Lao Tzu

Finally back at home, which is only ten minutes down the street from Guilford. I'm already missing my campus apartment but I'm glad to also be back pool side where I've already started making up for lost time!

I had been stalking my bannerweb to see my summer grades, and I'm happy to say I made it through with two B's and an A. For some odd reason I do so much better during the summer than the actual school year. But I am going to be ten times more focused this school year since I'm really jumping into my major and working towards continuing my East Asian Studies stuff despite the fact I've completed the minor with 16 credit hours, also I have to start really working on my other minor Communications.

I'm really glad to have some down time before school starts up again, a little less than a month. Still stoked to be a junior, though my junior year is more of a junior semester now. I’m really excited to be a senior in college in the spring instead of the fall of 2012. Those summer classes really do pay off! I will still be graduating with my class however in May of 2013. But that's four semesters away. Right now I'm more excited about my classes for this coming semester.

I am talking my third class with Zhihong Chen which is History of Chinese Women, and it was interesting because I suggested a movie to her and she said it was useful to that class which made me feel good on the inside. Honestly I believe I'll end up having her at least two to three more times before I graduate. I'm also taking Contemporary Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction, and Wonder of Dance. Not sure how I feel about dance, since I'm a horrible dancer, but I'm looking forward to trying something new.

I'm just ready to be back in a dorm room with my roommate and taking classes, and working. Guilford really turned me into the type of person who can't sit still. I feel like I have to constantly keep doing something to keep me motivated and alive. Though I'm sure I'll have my hands full during orientation and my first back at school. Just wish it was next week other than three weeks away.

Well my lovely readers, take care of yourselves, be safe, be well, and be you! Have a good rest of the summer!
_Meg

Aspirations and Thrown Out There Things

"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step." -Lao Tzu

10 Things I'm Excited About: Junior Year

1. Being an Upperclassman!!
2. Working in Admissions again and learning new things.
3. Taking fiction classes.
4. Having my best friend at Guilford as a roommate.
5. Knowing I'll be a senior in the Spring instead of next fall.
6. Working on my second minor Communications.
7. Knowing I have only two more general education requirements to take care of.
8. Working on a proposal project to help student recruitment.
9. Experiencing new things and meeting and working with new people.
10. Starting on a book I actually plan to finish by the time I graduate.

 

The one thing about Guilford College is that it teaches you to think outside the circle. Guilford shows you how to be your own leader and find some sort of inner calling that you my have. So I have this theory that eventually you get it... it might not be something you do forever... but if you're excited about something just do it for the moment and live in it, and if you lose interest in it, at least you can say you did that thing and move on.

Working in two departments and witnessing how several clubs are run, I've come up with an idea that will not only help clubs but the Admissions Office. All I have to do is formulate this proposal and with three weeks of summer break for me, I plan to construct this written proposal. Sadly I can't really say what it is until I finish it and propose it. But again if it was not for Guilford College I would have never cared what went on in Admissions or on campus and what things really stand for here. I never thought I'd love working in Admissions so much. And for the moment, it's something I'm truly excited about. Maybe I will not feel this way forever but for right now I'm just going to stick with my theory.

Also Guilford College has really helped me focus on what I'm truly passionate about which is writing. I really do want to be a screen writer for Asian dramas over in Japan, Taiwan, and/or South Korea. As well as be a young adult fiction writer here in the States. Yes I fell for it, this romance/heroine genre, even wrote about why women are attracted to romance novels for my final English 102 paper my first year here.

There is definitely a market if you know how to understand the dynamics of the genre and what key elements to play on, plus romance novels will always be around but looking at the teen romance genre, there is something I believe that has become lost, and I want to bring that element back to teen romance. People live for the cliché things, because they are noticed and relatable within anything. So my goal to expand on the cliché things within the works I plan to create and Guilford inspired me to again think outside the circle and see creative writing in a different light. I was truly fortunate to have Traci O'Connor as my Creative Writing professor last summer, because something about her class has stuck with me and how I write.

And what brought me to this semi-finalized conclusion and theory besides Guilford is a group called the Wayseers. So I took this quiz and lone and behold, apparently I'm a Wayseer. Now, I didn't quite know what a Wayseer was until just recently. "Wayseers are the change agents of society. Wayseers are the ones who know first, who sense earliest the disturbances in the fabric of human affairs - the trends, the patterns, the fashions, the coming groundswells, the revolutions that are afoot" (I stole this from their Facebook page).

Doing more research on the Wayseers I really believed they were just another "Rebel with a cause for change group" and it'd be more like a cultish thing, but no, I really think the founder Garret John LoPorto is definitely on to something. But I was really inspired by what the Wayseer movement is trying to start and accomplish and it inspired me to go be the visionary I can be. But don't take my word for it check the site out: http://wayseermanifesto.com, it's just a matter of time before I actually join the site fully, but as I college student, money, ha, I'm lacking it. The phrase “College students don't have any money”, one of the truest statements out there. But the Wayseer movement has some fascinating stuff. It fits with Guilford's idea of be the change you wish to be.

So there you have it, what I'm looking forward to my third year here at Guilford College and the aspirations I have for the future. Now I just have to work on the motivation part and stop procrastinating.

 

Alright my lovely readers, take care of yourselves, be safe, be well, and be you! Go out and enjoy the life and art around you!
_Meg

One Busy Week

"Your time to shine. Dont wait in line. Y vamos por Todo. People are raising their expectations. Go on and feed them. This is your moment. No hesitations." Shakira "Waka Waka"

 

Oh where to start for this past week. Okay so I'm a tad bit behind in blogging but I have to say I've been quite busy the last couple of days, I had a piano concert to go to, a midterm to study for and take, and a traditional student summer orientation to help run. Let me say, I survived and I'm glad my best friend and his family (my honorary Brazilian family) cooked dinner last night so I didn't have to cook myself. Chicken Alfredo is one of my all time favorites. Sorry guys USA beat Brazil in women's soccer. 

I'm happy to report to I made an A on my documentary project in my Masterpieces of the Cinema class as well as made an A on my second response paper for that class. Huzzah! I'm so happy. Let me tell you I watched “Citizen Kane" by Orson Welles last Tuesday and I have to say I'll probably never watch it again but I find it to be a very interesting film and I have a deeper respect for black and white film and the effort to create them. I'll definitely never forget the word "Xanadu" ever.

In addition Women in Modern Japan is still going smoothly, any class with Hirakawa-Sensei is always awesome. We are moving on from Geisha and Karayuki-san to business women of today known as Office Ladies. So I'm interested in that. The midterm wasn't too bad. Though I wrote seven pages by hand within a 2 hour time period and I really believed for a moment my hand was going to fall off. The one thing Guilford teaches you is how to be a better writer through typing papers so when you have to write by hand, you realize you're not as trained to write by hand as you were in high school.

Moving on to non-related class things... Guilford College is pretty amazing when you use your resources and take part in campus events.  Every summer Guilford hosts EMF (Eastern Music Festival). Now I've never been to a concert, aside from chorus concerts in elem. and middle school. So when I got an email saying I could get free EMF concert tickets I jumped all over that and was able to go to my first piano concert. It was amazing!! Thank you Guilford for providing fun and free things!

Now for the main thing of the week: Traditional Student Summer Orientation. I was able to meet all sorts of people and get an idea of what the incoming class of 2015 will look like. Only downside of the day was proctoring a two hour Quantitative Literacy Test (Math Placement Test), so to pass the time I bought a Wonder Woman comic from the Guilford Bookstore and read that to pass the time. But overall I think it was a good turn out on Friday with everything and everyone working together. Campus Life rocked!

Later that night a group of incoming freshman stayed on campus in order to go to a student bonding trip to Nantahala through Campus Life. I was able tell the Nantahala crew stories, had some good laughs, and then took them on a field trip through the Guilford woods. They loved it. And I'm glad I was able to bond with them. Then it started to rain again so I took them back to my campus apartment and we continued to tell stories. That group of students was really great to hang out with! We even broke out some salt and made designs using the salt on my kitchen table. Can't wait to see the Nantahala crew and the rest of the freshmen in the fall.

Two more weeks left of summer school. I've become quite used to living in a campus apartment on my own though I do miss my cats, especially my cat Candy. So at least when I go home I can spend some quality time with her some more and work on my tan.  Then I can also work on my resume and look into graduate schools since that's coming up quick. Two more years til I'm a college graduate. I still can't believe it!

Alright my lovely readers, I'll be back in a couple of days, so take care of yourselves, be safe, be well, and be you! Have an amazing week. ^_^

-Meg