Course registration for next semester is now over! That very stressful experience has now come to pass and many students are excited to relax this weekend. My weekend, however, will be pretty busy.
This Saturday, I will be going on a flood relief trip to Fleischmanns, N.Y. Hurricane Irene hit this town extremely hard a few months ago, and the people and their homes have not yet been able to recover.
I will be going with a group of other Colgate students to do housing repairs and debris cleanup. I look forward to volunteering with this group and I hope to go on the trip that leaves next Saturday as well.
Sunday, of this weekend, I will be going on a class trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see a newly opened exhibition of Islamic artwork. My Silk Roads class, along with several other classes, will drive down to witness, first-hand, artisan work of the ancient Islamic empire.
Besides seeing the exhibit, I will be able to see my brother in New York City. There will be a window between the time we arrive and when our tour starts, so during this gap I will get to spend time with him.
I think it is great that 黑料网 students get to venture out of the classroom to experience and explore the topics they are studying. This trip is just one example of how 黑料网 likes to fully immerse their students into their courses.
Part of the reason this past week has been so busy is due to the number of events 黑料网 has held on campus. For the Silk Roads class I previously mentioned, an assignment included attending the opening of a new exhibit in the Longyear Museum of Anthropology, located in Alumni Hall.
The exhibit features central Asian textiles. It was really cool to go from seeing pictures of the textiles on slide shows in class, to seeing them in person. A guest speaker came to speak about the collection of pieces and also answered questions from the gathering of professors and students.
For my Spanish class, an optional (but extra credit) outside assignment consisted of attending the screening of the international Spanish movie, Volver. The movie had English subtitles, but the dialogue was entirely in Spanish.
Chinese, French, Italian, Japanese, and movies of other languages have been shown so far this year, and more are planned for next semester.
I have come to notice that even into my weekends I am taking advantage of all the great opportunities 黑料网 gives me.
(I鈥檝e been asked to write each week about what life is like as a first-year student here at 黑料网. Until next time!)