I'm Done, It's Over :(

Well. Graduation has come and gone and I am officially a Coe alumnus. Graduation weekend was beautiful with warm, sunny weather and lots of friends and family. My apartment is empty and my roommates are gone. It is all really sad and I will miss Coe dearly. Words cannot describe how much I love Coe and all the people I've met.

I may have lied slightly...I'm not quite done. As I type this I am in the airport ready to travel to New Zealand for May Term! It is a group of 7 seven students off to hike and write about our adventures. I will be updating my travel blog along the way...so be sure to follow me at http://kalirietcheck.blogspot.com.

Best wishes!!

It's Finals Week! :/

Sorry I missed a week of blogging! Man-oh-man has it been busy around here! Today is reading day--a day of "rest" between classes and finals. Really it is one of the most packed days of the year. All those group project meetings, study groups, social group meetings, etc. that have been put off all semester long, meet today. All this among preparing for finals. This year I have 3 finals, two of which are final art critiques. My first is at 8 am tomorrow and I have a lot of work to do! I will be finished on Monday evening, thus giving me 5 days before graduation to pack and hang out with my friends.

Speaking of graduation, I yesterday was my last day of class ever at Coe College. I don't think it has all really soaked in yet, but I know it's pretty sad really. I've loved my time here. Coe has given me so much. I could continue on here, being all sentimental and nostalgic, but as I mentioned earlier, I'm really not prepared for my first final tomorrow. The rest of my day will be spend it the art building. I'll update you next week on my life/how I survived finals!

Symposium Day & My Thesis [the thing that has consumed my life]

So yesterday I presented at Research Symposium Day for the first time ever. I was pretty nervous, but it went ok. Research Symposium Day is an annual tradition at Coe. One day, late in the spring semester, there are no classes, but instead presentations from all of the students who have completed research that year. The idea is, that without classes, all students and professors can attend. There was a good sized crowd and everyone seemed to enjoy my topic.

My presentation was a summary of my senior honors thesis I have been working on since last summer. My thesis is about analyzing the trends of environmental advertising. I'll save you from any further explanation. Or maybe I am saving myself!

I believe I have just finished the final version of my thesis. It is 50 pages long and has taken me forever to write. I will submit it tomorrow to my thesis defense committee. On Monday I will meet with my committee so I can defend my thesis. Wording it this way makes me imagine I will have to fight with a sword or something. I will be using only words on Monday to convince my committee that my thesis is qualified to be labeled an honors thesis. Once/if this is completed I will graduate with honors and finally be able to have a life again! I hope to enjoy the last couple weeks of my college career though I know they will be filled with finals, preparing to move, and all sorts of other things that are not fun. I'm not complaining, it is all just going by so quickly...

Tomorrow is Flunk Day!

Actually, yesterday was flunk day. Flunk day is a unique Coe tradition held every spring. It is one day of the year when the Student body President and Vice President get to call of classes and the entire college spends the day on the quad hanging out together. This year on the quad there was the typical free food, live DJ, beer garden on the patio [for all students 21+ of course], a balloon artist, and airbrush tattoos. AND this year there were real carnival rides on the quad and laser tag in the cafeteria. It was sweet! My friend Aerial and I beat a bunch of boys and laser tag and I attempted not to get motion sick on the spinning strawberry ride with Sara and Josh. The weather was nearly perfect [sunny and warm] until mid-afternoon when some rain moved in. Unfortunately it rain the rest of the evening moving the grill out and live music indoors and canceling the foam party. Flunk day is always a much needed break from classes before the big push before finals and the end of the year. It is kind of sad knowing that it was my last. I have a few pictures I took yesterday:

Here is the line for the airbrush tattoos and balloons along with one of the carnival rides!

Sara and I enjoying the sunny day!

The strawberry ride, bags and other yard games, and other fun things on the quad.

Pictures from Austin!

Downtown Austin

South Congress shopping district

Andrew and Anna walking by the capital building.

The UT Tower

Andrew and I on campus

Longhorn stadium

$5...Prom!

It was a crazy week for me last week. I had a big Business Finance exam, a portfolio due for my Printmaking class, and a lot of work to do on my thesis. I also ended up working at my restaurant 3 nights last week. So, Saturday when I returned from work, it was nice to hang out and have fun and good ol' $5 Prom. This is a dance where every one's outfit has to last less than $5. It has been a fraternity and sorority social for the last few years, but was recently opened up to all of campus. We had a great time dancing and being silly.

This week brings another wave of work. But good news: I'm leaving on Saturday to visit the University of Texas for graduate school. I've already been accepted...it's just time to make my decision :/.

Roomies :)

$5 Prom King and Queen [and my roommate]

Nicki & Kali wearing our funny hats!

Home Sweet Home

Well, I survived Spring Break 2010! We made it all the way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida and back [24 hour drive one way] in one piece. On the way there we drove through a number of major cities like St. Louis, Nashville and Atlanta...many of which I had never seen before.

In Florida the beach was sunny, the food excellent and we all had a great time! That being said, we really only spent time laying on the beach, eating, or playing games. It was really low key and very relaxing! Here are some pictures!

All of the girls laying on the beach

We made Zach into a sand turtle! Lol.

Kim and Kali :)

The entire group at our favorite Pirate restaurant!

We found this sweet fountain with lights and music.

Spring Break!!

It's officially spring break!!! Well, I technically have one class left at 2...but it will go by fast! Me and seven of my friends are in the process of packing up an 8 passenger van for a 26 hour drive to Fort Lauderdale, Florida...ADVENTURE!!! [I think that is the attitude necessary to make this sort of trip!] We will be spending a week laying on the beach and relaxing. That's the plan, anyways. I have [unfortunately] packed my Business Finance book and all I need to work on my thesis. My roommate Nicki is doing the same, so we can have thesis time on the beach. I am also looking forward to frisbee and cards :). Anyways, I still have some packing to do! We should have internet so I'll try to find time in my busy beach schedule to put up some pictures!

Best,

Kali

Tuesday = Volunteer Day

My schedule on Tuesday/Thursdays consists of only one class in the afternoon. With this in mind, I signed myself up for a few volunteer projects and am in the third week of these. Every Tuesday over my lunch hour I drive down to Taylor Elementary with my friend Kiley where we are Recess Buddies. :) Basically we play with little kids for an hour or so. This is an elementary school that was flooded during 2008, so their resources as far as playground equipment are fairly limited. I usually end up twirling one end of a jump rope or playing tag. Thankfully in the past couple weeks it has begun to warm up--this makes playing outside so much better!

Tuesday evenings I have begun to drive down to Garnett Place. This is a retirement center where I help call Bingo. There are 6-15 elderly people who play each week. They win prizes like toothpaste and paper towels, or chips and soda. I think it is a lot of fun! I enjoy all of their personalities.

But anyways, I guess I need to grab a quick lunch and then I'll be heading out to recess!

My Week in Review

So, it's been a long week and I have to take you back to last Friday to get the whole picture. Last Friday I spent my time between class, errands, and work. This was all followed by one of the greatest traditions of Coe College--the Presidential Ball! Here Coe students, faculty, staff and alumni all dress to the nines and meet in the transformed Eby Fieldhouse gymnasium complete with a live jazz band. President Phifer could be seen strolling around amongst the tables of food and groups of dancing students. It is by far one of my favorite second semester activities! So I spent the night dancing away to wake up to my parents in town! They drove 11 hours to spend the weekend with me! I really enjoyed the time we were able to spend shopping and hanging out. And they were able to be here on Sunday for the end of the year show for dance team. Sunday was the

second annual Dance Team Showcase featuring solo, small group and team performances. I was in 6 total dances and honored at the end as the only senior on the team. The pictures below are from the show. That night (Valentine's Day night) I had to serve at the restaurant I work at...it was so busy!

The rest of the week has been spent recovering from my eventful weekend in terms of homework and sleep. I have also spent countless hours working on my senior thesis.

The dance team during our state performance.

My parents and I!

Andrew and I!

Semester Outlook

So, here it is almost three weeks into the semester and I have failed to inform you about my classes this semester, much less how they are going! Fail.

This semester I feel like I have it pretty easy. I am taking my last, final credit for my majors: business finance. Beyond this I am enrolled in 2 art classes and my last credit is dedicated to my thesis. Business finance is like an accounting nightmare. All of those ratios I used to know freshman year are all back to haunt me. It is a lot of number-crunching...not what I have been used to lately. My art classes have been great so far this semester. I'm taking Graphic Design: Typography and Printmaking. In graphic design we just had our first critique. We have been working exclusively with fonts and how the font of a word can alter its implications. Eventually we will do ad layouts and such. Pretty exciting! The professor is also really laid back and cool.

When I enrolled in Printmaking, I was not exactly sure what I signed myself up for. I know now...it's a lot of work! The art of printmaking is traditionally misunderstood. A print is not a copy of a famous piece of art as so many people use the term...that is a poster. A print is an original work of art. The process involves either etching or chemically transferring an image to a plate. There are a number of techniques that can then be used to ink the plate. Finally, the plate is run through a press with a piece of paper resulting in a print on the paper. We have spent the last couple weeks learning the basics. It is fairly complicated, so I'll discontinue with my description and spare you the pain. :)

As mentioned above, I am not exactly taking a fourth class, but using my work on my thesis as a fourth credit. My thesis involves a content analysis of past and present environmental advertisements to look for trends and such. I am currently in the process of collecting my data. This unfortunately involves driving down to Iowa City to use the back magazine collection there. The Cedar Rapids library lost all of their back collections a few summers ago in the flood. I was in Iowa City for an evening this past week and am about 1/5 of the way done with my collection.

Ok, ok, enough about my boring life!

Saving Lives!

That's what the Dance Team did today; or helped do anyways. We hosted another blood drive today and had one of our best turnouts ever! We're just finishing up the all-day affair. Eventually we will go out to eat as a team. I'm excited...I'm so hungry! Dance team has been taking up quite a bit of time lately. We have had tough practices everyday [it hurts to take my coat on and off, I'm so sore!] preparing for upcoming performances. Tomorrow we are performing twice at the halftimes of the men's and women's basketball games. Anyone can check out our performances on our Facebook fan page! Just search: Coe College Dance Team!

MLK Day of Service

Classes have commenced though not today. Today classes were canceled to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the spirit of this day, the Service Learning Department hosted a service opportunity for students on campus. I thought it sounded fun, so I went. I ended up being one of nearly 60 students who spend 2 hours bagging almost 7000 meals to be sent to Haiti. There was originally only enough money raised by students to produce 4800 meals, but a couple of different departments on campus chipped in part of their budget to help cover the rest. It was really cool doing something to help the victims of the Haiti earthquake. My job this morning was to add the rice to the bags of food. The rest of my day has been spent catching up with friends and getting ready for the dance team performance at the men's basketball game tonight!

Back to Coe I Go

Well, I feel as if my winter break is over. I am heading back on Wednesday though classes do not start until the 13th. There is quite a bit of work to be done on my honor's thesis before the semester gets started.

My time at home has passed quickly with lots of adventures. We had three days of Christmas seeing both sides of the family. I spent several days fighting a cold. New Year's was spent at home with a few good friends. I also spent a weekend in Denver visiting an old friend and a day shopping with my mom. Little has been completed on my list of things to do so I will spend the next two days scrabbling.

Then back to Coe for my last semester!