Exciting Senior Year

So, in between my summer adventures I have been figuring out just what to do with my life *AHH!* Senior year is approaching at an astonishing rate. I am gearing up for my new courses which include classes like health , aging and public policy, international politics, microbiology (a prerequisite for nursing school), and a course I never thought I'd take: rhetoric and discourse. Mix these classes in with a hefty dose of nursing school applications, dance rehearsals, club meetings, sorority events, and my job as a head RA and you really start to feel like a liberal artist.

I visited a good friend this past weekend who I haven't seen in about 7 months due to her adventures abroad. It was great to reminisce about past Beloit experiences - first year mistakes, exploring ourselves, and finding an academic field we love - and to talk about how wonderful our senior year will be. We've finally made it. As my last year approaches I have made many goals for myself, and thought it would be nice to see them written down (and that way it may keep me in check):
1) Take the GRE and apply to nursing school (and decide which school to attend)
2) Get involved with Spanish Club, Black Students United, and continue my involvement in the Beloit International Film Festival
3) Go to Puerto Rico (fall break 2008 baby! Here I come!)
4) Attend the American Public Health Association's annual exhibition and meeting in San Diego (this depends on funding... but an excellent goal none the less)
5) Start training again and join the track team in the spring - I ran freshman year, and would love to finish off running as well
6) Go back home to see my parents one more time before I move on to nursing school
and 7) GRADUATE. *whew.*

Putting it all down on, well, this blog gives me some motivation to stay on course. I have a lot of things I want to accomplish, and at the same time I want to enjoy my last Beloit adventures - my last Folk and Blues Festival, homecoming and alumni weekend, Rocky Horror Pictures Show in the Wilson Theater, International Symposium day, my sorority's semi-formal and formal celebrations, Vagina Monologues, Dick Talk, Chelonia dance performance, Spring Day, Bizarro-Beloit, and my last ultimate frisbee championship game experience at Strong Stadium. I suppose it is a little premature to be so nostalgic.

Until next blog, appreciate the experiences you've had and look forward to the good times to come.

A Day In The Life Of...

ME! I've told you all about my adventurous weekends, so here is a little bit about what I do during the weeek...

A typical day for me is work at admissions (like, now) until late afternoon. Then I tend to procrastinate any projects or work I have for an hour or so - watching The Sopranos, Sex and The City, or reading my current book "Mountains Beyond Mountains" - until I decide I'm hungry. I make myself a meal which recently has consisted of crackers, cheese, an orange and milk - but, I just got paid so SPINACH SALAD, pasta, nectarines and wine here I come! Then, I park myself in my desk chair to begin work on my Beloit International Film Festival internship.

I scored this BIFF internship through my advisor Marion (biology professor, head of the Health Care and Society department). My official title is: Intern for the Selection Committee Chair - the chair happens to be Marion's husband. This internship has taught me a lot! I do most of the work from my room - internet research on film festivals from around the world, watching movie trailers, and e-mailing distributors and filmmakers. I have also found some fun animated shorts that are worth checking out:
Sebastian's Voodoo: a story about true sacrifice for one's friends, and
Ken's New Specs: what a vegetable goes through for fashion.

The festival itself is going into its fourth year, and I am very excited. BIFF is the first film event I have been involved with - and I have been going to film festivals and watching independent, foreign films since I was young. It will be taking place this upcoming winter - I know, a little crazy to expect people to wander throughout Beloit, WI in February to go see various movies... but it happens! And people love it! Beloit College hosts a few of the venues used for the festival, along with restaurants, pubs, etc. in the city of Beloit. All very exciting, usually over 125 films come to our border town to be celebrated by the community.

Lastly, I've recently started writing in my journal again. It gives me a chance to reflect on my life, and put together my thoughts for the future - I'll be a senior afterall *AHHH!* and need to get my life (i.e. GRE, applications, location, etc.) together. SOOO... for a pretty typical work week I can be seen working, BIFF-ing, watching TV, reading or writing. Life can't be better than this :)

Fireworks, Large Crowds and Good Music

July has started off wonderfully! As part of my goal to experience the Midwest and all that it offers I have been to Milwaukee twice (SUMMERFEST!), Madison twice (Rhythm and Booms), and survived yet another thunderstorm all in the past two weeks *whew*.

Madison is an incredible city full of young people, fun things to do and great shopping. I ventured there at the end of June for the annual Rhythm and Booms fireworks show (huge show set to music)! I visited my Beloit friends who are living in Madison for the summer and we trucked over to Warner Park before sundown to get ourselves a spot on the grass. There was a carnival, food and lots of excited people decked out in red-white-and-blue. The show itself was amazing; the music was a little hard to hear because of the booms but worth the trip:
Photo 1: Entering Warmer Park in Madison: Nelson, CaitlinBeloit, Jenna, and Nathaniel.

Photo 2: opening of Rhythm & Boom Fireworks show

My next adventure was: Summerfest (finally)! My first attempt to go to this festival failed, and we ended up going Go-Cart racing and Mini-Golfing (see JulieBeloit's blog for pictures) Summerfest is a festival located right along Lake Michigan in Milwaukee. It is 11 days long, with 11 stages of music, and thousands of people - the largest music festival in the world (as advertised) and I believe it! JulieBeloit and I gave in last minute and bought tickets to the main stage (Marcus Amphitheater) and went to see John Mayer on a very stormy day:Photo 3: Me in my uber-cool rain coat in between downpours... we were lucky enough to have brought them, some poor die hard fans were only equipped with shorts and tank tops.

I was also lucky enough to see The Roots play on fourth of July with a group of friends. This time Milwaukee's weather was much more cooperative and we had sunny skies and 75 degree weather. We were also able to wander the grounds, eat dinner, get lost, find our stage, and take the skyglider across the park:

Photo 4: People enjoying the skyglider while hundreds below get pumped for The Roots performance at one of the many free stages (with Growing Nation opening - local hip hop group).

So, needless to say I am a little tired - my only planned adventures this week are to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday tonight (Happy Birthday!) and to hopefully go see a Brewer's game this weekend. Summertime in Beloit has proven to be a wonderful adventure with plenty more to come!

My Midwestern Weekend

Being a true traveler, I find that I will do almost anything to experience something new and culturally intriguing. So this past weekend I decided to "culturally experience" my second home, the Midwest.

First, I attended a Dairy Breakfast with Julia (see her summer blog for a wonderous photo of me) - milk, cheese, pancakes, eggs AND an ice cream sundae for breakfast, GO DAIRYLAND!

Second, to contrast my experience on the farm I decided to go to the Windy City to have the city slicker experience (Fun Fact! Many people assume that the nickname "Windy City" is due to the weather out here in the Midwest when in fact the name has a three-fold meaning: the weather, boosterism or self-promotion, and the "windy" - meaning talkative/boastful in this case - politicians Chicago has). My good friend Jill who is living in the city for the summer just had a birthday, and since I had not seen her since she returned from her spring semester in Barcelona, Spain I decided it was the opportune time to pay a visit - so I brought two girlfriends with me and we took the Metra train (that goes to the very outskirts of the Chicagoland area) from Harvard, IL to downtown Chicago ($5 round trip for a weekend pass!!). Being true travelers (and not wanting to waste money on taxis) we took the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority - the "L" trains) around town. We ate at a nice Thai restaurant downtown near Millenium Park so that we could go see: Photo 1: THE BEAN! (Fun Fact! The bean is actually called the "Cloud Gate," the opening is supposed to represent a gate into which Chicagoans and tourists can see their reflections in various perspectives).

We were also able to hang out around State street to do some shopping. The girls and I found various additions to the outfits we had brought for our night out on the town - it was Jill's 21st birthday ;) So, after the sun started to set we headed back to her apartment to get ready for a great time in Wrigleyville. We danced the night away in one of my favorite spots on Clark Street - John Barleycorn:

Photo 2: Me, Bridget and Ashley in Wrigleyville

The next morning we were able to catch a nice breakfast and talk about the exciting internship my friend Jill scored with the Schweppe Foundation. This foundation supports biomedical research and allows Beloit College students the opportunity for real world experience! Jill works in a lab in Chicago doing research on genetics; she said it has been challenging but worth the time and effort. YAY JILL:

Photo 3: Jill being a big smarty-pants in Chicago with her internshp (she's excited).

Anyway, the adventures continue this upcoming week and weekend. Summerfest tomorrow (WHOOT!) in Milwaukee and then Rhythm & Booms (fireworks show) in Madison this weekend - let's hope the rain stops for both!

Summer Solstice

...the first day of Summer, and it is going to rain *sigh*.
It isn't all bad news, however, since I will be going out to one of my favorite Sushi places in Rockford, IL tonight (about half an hour away), and then off to Chicago tomorrow for a fun filled weekend with a bunch of friends from Beloit (more to come about the Windy City in my next blog)! Also, now that more friends and students are arriving on campus for the summer - for jobs, class with the Center for Language Studies, or internships - the campus seems alive again! We are already planning on various trips around the area. Summerfest in Milwaukee is coming up - the largest music festival in the world!! Check it out: http://www.summerfest.com/alt/. I am super excited Gnarles Barkley and The Roots are playing, along with other fun bands to check out (and it's only 15 bucks to get in!). Also on the "To Do This Summer" List is attend a Dairy Breakfast at one of the local farms in Wisconsin, Riverfest music festival in Beloit, go hang out in the Dells - amusement parks and general touristy stuff, go hiking at Devil's Lake, and stuff myself at the taste of Chicago :) So much to do and only two more months left before classes start (WHAT??!!??!), but that is not to be worried about yet.
Have a great weekend, and expect pictures from Chicago soon!

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

Hello World!
Welcome to my oh-so-exciting summer life blog. I am Caitlin, an intern with the Office of Admissions, and will be a senior at Beloit College in the fall. Never having done a blog before, this could get ugly... or ridiculously fun*
So far summer has been wonderous. I took a week off from my job at admissions in the beginning of summer and spent some time in Northern California with my mother's family. It was for a wedding at an organic farm with homebrewed beer and fresh garden veggies - ah the Pacific Northwest hippies. Since being back work has been good, and between tornado sirens and downpours I have been able to start a slight tan - and my oh-so-uncharacteristicly-cute freckles are starting to show. Summer in south central Wisconsin has treated me well so far, much different than the breezy Oregon coast. Cheering on the Snappers at baseball games, happy hour at Cafe Belwah, jogging by the Rock River and eating yummy produce from the Saturday Farmer's Market are all activities I've adopted into my routine. This weekend should also be exciting, lots of friends are returning to campus for the summer and it should be a great time!
Until next time, stay cool and live it up!