To continue our adventures, we also made a detour to Sam's Club, where I bought more socks (winter is coming!), chocolate (Halloween is my excuse), and Frosted Flakes (my go-to munching snack while reading- Jennifer thinks I can finish the Sam's Club size in 3 weeks). Instead of Halloween parties and the like, Jennifer and I along with a second-year Bonner friend went Trick or Tricking for cans to benefit local charities :) No one answered the door for the first few houses along our route, but half an hour later, our empty backpacks began weighing us down. Some families generously donated over 4-5 cans and many families gave us candy as well. By the end of the route, all three of us were hunchbacked because of the heavy weight of the cans. Here are all of the cans and non-perishables that the three of us collected:
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October 21st marked my 18th birthday and I can now officially vote, get tried as an adult in court, and be bound (and yes, bound is the past tense of "to bind"- I wasn't sure at first) into contracts without a guardian. The joy -_- Anyway, my birthday actually lands on a Wednesday this year, the Wednesday before Fall Break (Thursday and Friday) specifically. Hence, my birthday week was filled with meals at different restaurants :D On Tuesday night, the Bonners decided to get together at have a late night snack at Buffalo Wild Wings. They somehow managed to get me to wear the Birthday Buffalo hat for an hour and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. You gotta love them though! On my actual birthday, many people were busy finishing their midterm papers, so Andrea, the friend who accompanied me to Kyoto Sushi a few weeks ago, and I went to Shish, the infamous Mediterranean restaurant right next to Macalester. I decided to treat myself well on my birthday and ordered hummus and the Shish Trio Kebab, which includes a chicken, beef, and lamb kebab over rice.
Since I'm on the topic of food right now, do you know what's weird? I have been craving Chick-fil-A lately. I can just imagine my grilled chicken sandwich right now... a #8 club grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, a slice of provolone cheese, bacon, and some Chick-fil-A sauce. Yum! Too bad there are only 3 locations in the Twin Cities. I'm determined to go when I visit Mall of America next time; there's one location near that area.
I have also been craving Korean food. The Korean restaurants here cannot compare to the selection in Atlanta, and Korean BBQ is nonexistent since tabletop grills are banned in restaurants :( I must wait until Winter Break to satisfy my cravings. One thing that I really miss food-wise is rice. Cafe Mac's rice isn't cooked Asian style. I need a bowl of steaming hot rice that has just the right balance of rice and water so that the rice isn't too dry or too much like porridge. Wow. I miss a lot of food. (Now you know where my priorities are :D ) Until my next post, Rachel Midterms are finally over and Fall Break begins tomorrow! I can't believe half of the semester has already past and I have survived living in Minnesota for two whole months (although the worst weather has not even begun yet...). What I have realized, though, is that I am 100% not a STEM person. I'm surviving my Calc class pretty decently so far, but I cannot say much for my Geology class (let's just say my midterm score almost caused a stroke). My two most enjoyable classes remain my Spanish class and my FYC. I really like discussing about readings in Spanish and listening to the perspectives of others on controversial issues in my FYC. Aside from academics, I had the honor to attend a concert that is part of the Macalester's New Music Series. The performance, Redemption Songs and Sonatas, by Daniel Bernard Roumain and Yayoi Ikawa showed the infusion of electronic and other modern music influences with classical instruments like the violin and piano. I have always wanted to attend performances by professional musicians and I am glad that this performance exposed me to a whole different genre of music. I was surprised at the sounds that a violin could make when amplified and magnified. However, I do feel that I enjoyed the more classical (and predictable?) pieces more because of its familiarity and how the chords "just fit" together.
I had the opportunity to visit Fort Snelling past Saturday with my fellow Bonners and other students from the Mac Emerging Scholars Program. I went to the historical landmark knowing that it played a role in American history, specifically the Civil War; however, I didn't realize the importance that Fort Snelling holds for Americans and for the Dakota tribe.
Due to its location in Native American land, settlers originally tried to be on good terms with the Dakota people. Regardless, the settlers eventually took over more and more land until the Dakota people decided to ransack the nearby settlements. Even today, Fort Snelling remain as a bad memory in the minds of the Dakota. Despite its location in the North, it was surprising for me to find out that slavery was prevalent throughout the fort. During the 1830s, Dred Scott was brought to Fort Snelling by his owner and eventually married a slave named Harriet before his infamous trial of Dred Scott v. Sandford in 1857 to try to escape slavery. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court upheld the legitimacy of his enslavement and Scott was unable to be freed. Aside from the two distasteful historical events, there is one event that I find rather uplifting(?). When United States finally entered into World War II, Fort Snelling along with Minnesota were the first places to train and send troops into battle. Fort Snelling was also designated as a military language academy at the time, drawing young Japanese men from internment camps to prove their loyalty to the country. Overall, I do believe Fort Snelling is a site with history, whether it's good or bad, that we can learn from. During my visit, the staff at Fort Snelling emphasized on the importance of tolerance and language used to address the Dakota people. They also restated the two-sidedness of Fort Snelling; while it held nationalistic importance during wars, it was also a place of conflict and distrust for the Native Americans. The staff's willingness to state the two sides of Fort Snelling shows the progress that we, as a country, have made in trying to understanding the (shameful?) past and the progress that we have made moving away from the conflict. October has arrived and with its arrival brings midterms.... I just had my Calculus midterm past Friday and I will be having my Geology exam Monday and my Spanish exam the week after. Homework levels as well as stress levels are at a new high and I'm just trying so hard to maintain my 8 hour long sleep each night.
Anyway, Thursday was a very, VERY busy day for me. I had work early in the morning, 2 guest speaker seminars for my FYC and my Spanish class, my actual FYC and Spanish class, and chorus rehearsal. This week, Macalester hosted the annual International Roundtable, a 4-day event filled with student-led workshops and guest speakers. This year's theme is about America's educational system in relation to the summer reading, Hope Against Hope. Since my FYC is about higher education, we attended the lecture by Andrew Delbanco (who also visited our class afterwards). We had just finished reading his book, College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, and it has sparked discussion surrounding the purpose of college and the commercialization of higher education in the twenty-first century. Aside from that lecture, I also sat in on another lecture for Spanish class. "Translating Emotions," a lecture held entirely in Spanish by a famous radio host and author, Guillermo Fesser. He spoke about the lost emotions/expressions through the translating of languages or even the format of storytelling (ex. from book to movie). It was very difficult to understand the entire speech, but I think I got the gist of it. Plus, I got a free copy of the book with his autograph! :) Today marks the 1st day of Family Fest, the official parent's weekend. Highlight of the day? PETTING ZOO!!!!!
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February 2018
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