Thursday, April 22, 2010
NEW BLOG TITLE PICTURE! YEAH!
Just in case you've been following me for the past little bit, I've finally decided to change my blog title picture. This picture is of a bunch of Yoshino Cherry blossoms that we have here on campus, with the smokestack of the Old Laundry Building just blurred out in the background. In the spring, the cherry blossoms open and brighten up the path from the main part of campus down past the ALANA Centre to the Terrace Apartments (senior housing) and Walker Fieldhouse and Fitness Centre. If there is ever a time to visit Vassar, make it in the spring, around the first week of April when the cherry blossoms are out at their best!
"The Beginning of the End" aka "The Countdown" aka...bah, I don't care anymore
So, the countdown to graduation has officially started. Well, I guess it officially starts from the moment you step foot on your college campus, but the inevitability of it really doesn't hit home until the last few weeks of senior year.
As an athlete, perhaps I am more prone to noticing that the end is near (also, please excuse me from sounding like an Apocalypse prophet throughout this piece). Our first race of the season was held two weeks ago in Camden, NJ. The Knecht Cup was a competition I'd only been to once before, as a novice and as an alternate, and did not row. This time, as a varsity rower and captain, and with three countries' worth of rowing experience behind me, I was finally getting a chance to row. The weather was a little chilly, but otherwise perfect. There was a tailwind on the course, making the warm-up row a little tough at times, but made the actual race piece so much sweeter. My first race was in the heavyweight Varsity 4+ with a great bunch of guys, and my novice cox who had come up the ranks with me. We had a great row, but since we weren't the biggest crew in terms of weight or height, we were muscled out of the semifinals by only 7 seconds. In rowing, seven seconds is a lot, but after the race is done, it does seem like something that could have been doable at the time. The second race was the next day with the Varsity 8+ when, once again, we were muscled out of a medal. Once again, our loss was only by about 8 seconds. For a first race, we put in some good effort, and we could see where we needed to work.
I remembered being a sophomore novice, and looking at the seniors that year and the way they looked at the water. I remembered how they looked when they pushed off the dock, the focus and determination they had to make this last season their best. Graduating with me will be my co-captain, Nick Perry, and I think having two seniors on the team really brings the focus that we want this season to be our absolute best.
Sign two that the end is nigh came this past Monday when I turned in my thesis. After spending the last half semester or so writing my about the British territory of Weihaiwei during November to March 1911, it is finally off my hands. The History majors celebrated our great milestone with cake outside Swift Hall, the History building, and thought about what we would do with our time now that we were finally free.
Unfortunately, I still have one more senior project to go. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am THAT international student. You know, the one that sits at the back of the class and works hard to answer correctly all the time, goes above and beyond the call of academic duty and strives, if for nothing else, to destroy that curve that may or may not exist in class. Yeah, that's me. Just kidding. As I mentioned before, it's my family history, and it's a labour of love. It's actually coming along quite nicely, so I don't think I'll have too much of a problem, other than getting around that fun Classical Chinese that I've been teaching myself. Alas, the joys and pains of a growing brain.
At this point I am being wrenched from my keyboard to sell sweatshirts of the senior class. We ordered some really cool ones incorporating the Vassar crest with Athena and an old really ivy-ish VC logo. I may get one, even though spring makes it tough to wear. Oh well, it's like a winter clothes sale in the spring. They're cheap! Until next time, faithful readers, and I hope that will just be next week!
As an athlete, perhaps I am more prone to noticing that the end is near (also, please excuse me from sounding like an Apocalypse prophet throughout this piece). Our first race of the season was held two weeks ago in Camden, NJ. The Knecht Cup was a competition I'd only been to once before, as a novice and as an alternate, and did not row. This time, as a varsity rower and captain, and with three countries' worth of rowing experience behind me, I was finally getting a chance to row. The weather was a little chilly, but otherwise perfect. There was a tailwind on the course, making the warm-up row a little tough at times, but made the actual race piece so much sweeter. My first race was in the heavyweight Varsity 4+ with a great bunch of guys, and my novice cox who had come up the ranks with me. We had a great row, but since we weren't the biggest crew in terms of weight or height, we were muscled out of the semifinals by only 7 seconds. In rowing, seven seconds is a lot, but after the race is done, it does seem like something that could have been doable at the time. The second race was the next day with the Varsity 8+ when, once again, we were muscled out of a medal. Once again, our loss was only by about 8 seconds. For a first race, we put in some good effort, and we could see where we needed to work.
I remembered being a sophomore novice, and looking at the seniors that year and the way they looked at the water. I remembered how they looked when they pushed off the dock, the focus and determination they had to make this last season their best. Graduating with me will be my co-captain, Nick Perry, and I think having two seniors on the team really brings the focus that we want this season to be our absolute best.
Sign two that the end is nigh came this past Monday when I turned in my thesis. After spending the last half semester or so writing my about the British territory of Weihaiwei during November to March 1911, it is finally off my hands. The History majors celebrated our great milestone with cake outside Swift Hall, the History building, and thought about what we would do with our time now that we were finally free.
Unfortunately, I still have one more senior project to go. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am THAT international student. You know, the one that sits at the back of the class and works hard to answer correctly all the time, goes above and beyond the call of academic duty and strives, if for nothing else, to destroy that curve that may or may not exist in class. Yeah, that's me. Just kidding. As I mentioned before, it's my family history, and it's a labour of love. It's actually coming along quite nicely, so I don't think I'll have too much of a problem, other than getting around that fun Classical Chinese that I've been teaching myself. Alas, the joys and pains of a growing brain.
At this point I am being wrenched from my keyboard to sell sweatshirts of the senior class. We ordered some really cool ones incorporating the Vassar crest with Athena and an old really ivy-ish VC logo. I may get one, even though spring makes it tough to wear. Oh well, it's like a winter clothes sale in the spring. They're cheap! Until next time, faithful readers, and I hope that will just be next week!
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