posted by: Zuri

So, I've actually just started being quite busy here. I have two new projects due in the upcoming week. Fortunately, I've finished one yesterday and I'm almost done with the other. Besides, that school is good. The trips are better though. In addition, to attending museums for my History of London class, I've gotten to attend my first installation for my Art in Context class. The artist made a replica of a hotel in an abandoned building. The work is actually called "Hotel" and it's located in eastern London where a lot of immigrants reside. He basically wanted to depict the time when the immigrants first migrated over and were too poor to afford their own housing. Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was quite interesting because some of the rooms included secret tunnels in the walls and floors.

I also got a chance to attend London's Fashion Weekend. It was located in the Natural History Museum and it had over 100 designers selling their merchandise at what they considered a discounted price. I only managed to afford a t-shirt and a necklace though. Spring break is right around the corner as well, so I'm pretty excited for that. My boyfriend's coming to visit London for the first time so I have to a be a tour guide for a week. Until next time.

Zuri

posted by: Nick
The past couple weeks have been pretty busy. About two weeks ago, there was an event held called the Rider Rumba, which was a dance-a-thon to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters. It was a lot of fun. There were dance contests, lots of cool prizes, and lots of food. My fraternity had a team for this event and we raised $200. The entire event raised over $5,000, so it was very successful.

My fraternity also attended a Superbowl party in the Student Recreation Center. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of food and lots of chairs setup in front of the big screen TV for everyone to watch the game. I enjoyed the event, although I must say that I was disappointed with the commercials this year!

This past weekend, I went to Salisbury, Maryland with my brother and sister to visit a friend that attends Salisbury University. It was fun because we celebrated her birthday, and I haven’t seen her since I left for school in September. While I was in Maryland, the executive board of my fraternity attended a regional leadership conference in Washington, DC that was run by our fraternity’s national headquarters. Once we all returned to Rider, I was surprised to learn that I received an Outstanding Senior Award at the conference. I was the only one selected out of all the chapters in my district, so it’s pretty exciting.

Well, I’m off to do some homework and studying. Talk to you again soon!

-Nick

Spring Break

posted by: Nikki

Almost spring break!

Well it is just about spring break and I cannot wait! I am going on a little vacation to Disney World and it should be a lot of fun. As for the weeks that have passed since I last wrote, things have been picking up. I went to see Gross Indecency… BRAVO to all of the actors and actresses in it! They did an awesome job! Also, The Vagina Monologues was great! All the girls did an amazing job! BRAVO to them too! Also, my work has finally gotten started haha. I had to do an oral presentation that went very well. Now I have to write a paper and prepare for my first midterm! Aside from all of that, a bunch of my friends are pledging sororities right now. I am thinking about doing it next semester because they seem to be having a great time! Oh, and I cannot wait for summer to come! I am so sick of the cold and everything that winter brings! Although I will miss being here…. Well that is about it for this week. Hope everyone is doing well!

-Nikki

Random Monday Night :-)

posted by: Katie

And so the busy-ness of senior year continues! I've been working on a package for the television studio with students' opinions about the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" documentary on the Discovery Channel last Sunday. I was around campus interviewing people and what they thought of the matter. At one point, some credible people refused to comment, which made me feel like a real journalist after a story, even if I just wanted opinions. But the package turned out great, and I did a stand up in the end, where I am in front of the camera at a location relating to the story. I have to practice this kind of stuff if I want to become a broadcast journalist one day, and practicing as a correspondent, where I would commonly start off, is helpful.

I've also been working on a documentary that my sorority sister and I are putting together for our classes about international adoption, and assimilating the children into mainstream American culture. Since we are the producers, directors, writers , ect, we've been doing research on the matter, contacting families that we know relate to this topic and searching for authorities with knowledge on the topic for an interview. Since spring break is coming up soon, I will most likely be working on school work and this documentary, than go on a vacation. Sometimes spring break is a good way to catch up on work, and just a much needed calm, slow week.

But there is the occasional fun thrown in there! My chapter had a sisterhood event last Friday, and we went ice skating. We got a group rate, and only paid 5 dollars for a whole night of ice skating. I had a blast, skating with sisters, and I can proudly say I did not fall. I might have crashed into sisters though to stop me.... But overall, I was a good skater. It was so much fun, and I can't wait to go again! We're planning more events, and we might go for laser tag in Princeton Junction, where there is a huge arena for it. I can't wait for that!

I will admit though that I was a little bit of a slacker this week. I was supposed to finish a paper, which I always make sure is done earlier than crunch time, and instead, I had a bunch of my sisters in my room last night. It started watching Deal or No Deal, and then by midnight, we must have had 10 people in my room laughing and telling jokes. That's what I love about college, about Rider, that something unexpected and fun can happen on a Monday night at random. I will miss t hat most of all when I graduate.

~Katie

Preparing for Spring Break

posted by: Nick

Things sure have been busy lately! I've had a lot of exams and midterms in the past week, and I have more this week. But, I'm managing. So far, I've done well on all the tests I got back, which is good. Mom and dad will be happy. I just need to get through this week and then it will be Spring Break! For Spring Break, I'm flying down to Florida with my mom, dad, brother, and sister to visit my Grandma, and of course hit the beaches for a nice tan! Some of my friends are going to be staying in another part of Florida, so I may take a road trip to see them while I'm there as well. I'm tired of winter, so I'm ready for some sun and warm weather, although it’s starting to warm up here too. Rider is more enjoyable in the warm weather because the campus seems much more active. A lot more people hang outside. You'll find a lot of students playing volleyball on one of the outdoor volleyball courts, BBQing on the grills outside the residence halls, or playing frisbee on the campus mall.

A couple weekends ago we had Bid Day, which is when bids (invitations for membership) are given out by the fraternities and sororities to people that they want to join. My fraternity had a very successful recruitment this year. We had 18 people accept our bids, which is the largest new member class we have ever had! My fraternity has a continuous recruitment strategy, so we continue to recruit after Bid Day, but 18 is a great start! All of the new guys seem really great too, so I'm looking forward to getting to know them in the coming weeks. It's good to know that I'll be leaving my chapter in good hands when I graduate in May.

Well, I have some more homework and studying to do, so that’s all for now. Talk to you soon!

-Nick

Luncheon

posted by: Katie

Usually my weeks are very busy, and this past week was no exception, but it was all busy fun! Last week, when I was in New York for my internship, I attended a luncheon at the Princeton Club with featured speaker Anchor Soledad O'Brien from American Morning from CNN. My aunt, who lives in New York, found out about the luncheon since she is an alumni of the college that helped organize the event. So I took a taxi to the Princeton Club, ate a really nice lunch, and spoke to people that were involved in the media. I sat with a woman from the Bravo Network and talked with her a lot during the luncheon, trying to network and talk to women in the business already. But when Soledad came on, I was so surprised at how funny and interesting she was. I almost expected the speaker to talk about how she juggles her career and her huge family, which she did discuss, but she was a great speaker that entertained me while I learned something. I got advice from her during her speech, because I want to become an anchor as well, and I learned how she got her foot in the door in a business that's tough.

Another super fun event this weekend was Bid Day! It's the day that all the fraternities and sororites find out who their new members are, and they run up onto the balcony of the student center, and all the members of each chapter scream and yell below. Everybody screams their chapter songs and chants. It's a huge tradition here at Rider, and it's one of my favorites. It was my last Bid Day too, so it was a little depressing. After the balcony, each chapter goes back to their house on campus, and has a little dance party, or at least we do. We have music and pizza and we give our new members gifts, like picture frames with our mascot on them. We also took a great picture of all the girls in the house that are lettered - meaning that they are able to wear their boyfriend's fraternity letters, which is a huge deal. Even though it was my last Bid Day, I still went to work back home, but came back as soon as I could that night. I'll definetly miss this event when I graduate, along with everything else that I've done here at Rider.

~Katie

Exams

posted by: Joshi

I had two major exams this week for my French and History classes this week. Preparing for two exams can be a pretty daunting task but in college it's one of the things that you have to get used to! The good part about them is that my professors helped me so much in the preparation for the exams. They reviewed all of the material during class and made sure that we weren't confused about what was expected. To help me study I went to a tutor at the Student Support Services (a program that I'm involved in) and she helped me organize my thoughts for the essay in the History exam. I feel pretty confident about my grade on both exams and I can't wait to get them back!

I finally went back to the site that I B. It was great because I was able to work with some kids that really have this desire to learn. It really inspired me and allowed me to feel good! We worked on persuasive essay writing for the GEPA prep. It was interesting because I hadn't done any of that in so long, actually not since eighth grade! It turned out to be really good practice for me as well because by helping them I was reinforcing things that I learned in writing throughout my life! Well, off to decorate for the Bronc Buffet and I will tell you about that next week!

More news on Tuesday,

joshii!

Volunteering

posted by: Nikki

Hey everybody. I am glad to report that these last two weeks have been pretty average for me haha. By that I mean that my classes are going great and there have been no impossibly hard tests or anything. In the next week I have to start volunteering at Millhill, a school/daycare for kids 2 months to 5 years of age. Some of the kids have learning disabilities and are there for help while others are just there for regular schooling. I think that is great because it integrates the classrooms so that all the kids have an equal experience. I am really excited to be volunteering there since I want to be a special education teacher. Plus, I get to interact with a bunch of cute kids! Also I am going to see Gross Indecency. The director came into my research writing class and talked to us about how the play is going to go. It sounds like it is going to be a really good show! All right, well I know it was a little short but that's all that is going on for me right now. Talk to you soon!

-Nikki

Another busy week has passed

posted by: Katie
Most of it spent in the television studio of course. That's the difference between Communications majors and other majors, my final "papers" are edited projects. Also, I was the producer of the News at Rid er this week, so I spent 4 hours writing a 5 page script for half an hour-not that easy! Now I know how the writers feel when they have to write a half hour script at my internship in New York. But I finished and it made it so easy to read the teleprompter when we were taping, I didn't really have to do a practice run.

This weekend, along with taping it for the news, I went to Protestant Campus Ministry's (PCM) Hugs and Hope for Kids Valentine's Making party. I had to go for the news, but I was so happy that I did! I had so much fun, and stayed until the v ery end, and most of the time didn't even tape. We made valentines for the organization Hugs and Hope for Kids, an organization that has a directory of sick kids that people can write to and send packages to. We made all different kinds, for 2 boys and 2 girls that PCM "adopted." We also had valentines snacks, like heart cookies, and watched the Wedding Singer while we colored and glued valentines. I'm really glad that the news sends me to places that are not just cool to tape, but really fun to be at.

I also went last Friday to the State Museum to do some extra credit for my Mesozoic Ruling Reptiles class. My professor is currently on a dig in Patagonia (the middle of nowhere!) in South America for a week. So he provided an extra credit w orksheet for us to answer, in conjunction with visiting the museum. I liked doing something different from the classroom, and the trip helped when I had the test this past Monday.

But most importantly, the semester is going by so fast! It's already week 4, and I graduate in 3 months. So I make sure to spend a lot of my free time with my sorority, Alpha Xi Delta. Soon, we'll all have to move out of the house we c alled home, apart from my best friends accross the hall, down the hall, upstairs...We try to have a lot of fun, though! One of my sisters bought a Karaoke Machine, and we sang with it this weekend, which is always fun! We've been playing with the karaoke machine a lot lately - we'll just knock on our sister's door and go in and play. I'm really going to miss it all when I graduate!

~Katie

Ice

posted by: Joshi

So, the snow has begun! OR SHOULD I SAY ICE!! I'm on duty tonight for two buildings( because Wright Hall and Gee Hall share duty from Sunday-Wednesday)and that means that I have to walk from Gee to Wright twice in order to do my rounds. The walk over there was really slippery and I almost fell! Anyways, I can't wait until
class tomorrow because we'll be having our first video-conference with students from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. This is truly going to be an eyeopener for many of us because most of us haven't been to the Middle East. Although I have friends that are from the Middle East I have never had the privilege of traveling there. This class will allow me to do just that. The class is called the Student Global Village and we are connected to people from an area that, previous to the beginning of the class, we have no true knowledge of. More on that topic next week!

Tomorrow is also Valentine's Day! The Black Student Union is holding an event called Celebration of Black Love at the Rider Pub tomorrow. We will be having DJ Wes Will, a great DJ that we asked to play slow jams for the evening, and the event will also display some of Rider's poets. People are encouraged to dress up as famous black couples of the past and the present and it would be honoring Black love for Black History Month.

Exams have officially begun. Well not in all of my classes, but, I just had my first exam for my French 496 class (Special Studies: Francophone) and I will be having my next exam on Tuesday for my History 151 class (World History since 1500). Wish me luck and I will talk to you next week!

joshii!