Hello! I want to dedicate this week’s blog a bit more toward education. Crazy, right? Education occurring at college might be a radical idea, but nonetheless it is important in the grand scheme of things.
Education can come in two forms. The first is the kind of education you can get from going to class and the LRC. This is the type most of us would immediately think of when prompted, but what of the other kind of education? Self-discovery will happen at college whether you are ready for it or not. I, along with a vast majority of my friends, am struggling right now to come up with a major, career and plan for the rest my life. I am leaning toward possibly a Communications or English major, but we will see. Experiences, friendships, actions and choices made at college will be the same ones which shape you into the person you will be for the rest of your life. I feel Georgetown is the perfect place for me to work on getting a degree and also to broaden my base of thinking. For example, in my Foundations 111 course, we are covering a ton of important literature that shaped the way our world developed. The Hebrew Bible, the Apology and the Prince are a few of the many we have read. Taking for instance the piece by Machiavelli, it makes the reader formulate an opinion on the nature of virtues and vices when trying to run a country. Two selections we are currently reading, one by Hobbes and the other by Rousseau, make one address the question of a human being’s nature if left to govern himself. The Foundations and Core Curriculum might be something of interest to you as Georgetown’s version of general education courses. A summary can be found on the website in the online version of the college catalogue. Another example of a topic you might find interesting could be found in recent copies of the Georgetonian. Several people have written opinion pieces over the course of the last month that have particularly peaked the interest of students. I will leave that to you to look up on the Georgetonian’s website, which can be found at georgetonianonline.com. Perhaps a more personal example to me would be something I heard a visiting minister say at morning worship the other day. (This is a NEXUS credit by the way and you need six a semester to graduate. NEXUS is a program designed to expose students to different things such as speakers, art exhibits and events around campus. Each one that you attend and sign your name on a ticket counts toward your NEXUS credits.) Anyway, back to what the pastor said. He pointed out college will force you to decide where you stand on important issues. There are many different beliefs at college and it is easy to be swept away by the majority without a firm stance on things which are important. I am not saying don’t experience new things at college. Get involved and learn more about things you have never known or experienced; just know where you draw the line on certain issues. That being said, Georgetown is a terrific place to spend some of the best years of your life and meet so many great people. Enough of my soap box, let’s talk about something more light-hearted.
This past week was a midterm week for me, meaning I spent a good deal of time in the LRC. One thing that most students here at Georgetown do not know is the library has a third floor. I know, you would think facts like these would be somewhat hard to conceal. It is quiet on the third floor when you need to study, oh let’s say, until one o’clock in the morning when the LRC closes. My Psychology 111 midterm went pretty well by the way. I have not gotten my other tests back yet so we will see.
I went home this weekend. I know, I know, one of the first things you will hear at Georgetown is don’t go home on the weekends. I just couldn’t resist. It was awesome seeing my family for a few days. I also wrote my thesis driven essay as well. Had to take a few breaks over the course of writing my paper to watch Braveheart, but I did get it finished. One thing I will suggest to those of you who, like me, will be making a very long drive here to GC, bring lots of CD’s to play over the course of the drive. Which reminds me, the new ACDC Iron Man 2 CD is pretty spectacular. Overall it was a good week, full of papers, tests and all of the other shenanigans that go on at college with lots of movies, midnight food runs and hang out time sprinkled throughout.
I hope your week has been going well. I am going to leave you to work on a music appreciation paper! Until next time…
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Homecoming Week
Hello everyone! This week has been kind of ridiculous, but in a very awesome way. It was full of rehearsing for songfest, getting ready for homecoming, studying in the little bit of spare time I had left and trying to retain a small portion of my sanity while juggling everything else. I also got to see my parents this weekend! It’s always great to have the opportunity to see them.
Songfest is such a rewarding experience! This rich tradition was full of fun, laughter, excitement, highly choreographed song and dance numbers and much, much more. Here are a few basic things about Songfest; it is essentially a campus wide competition for all the residence halls. Each hall puts on a skit that lasts a little less than ten minutes. The halls act out their skit and can insert musical numbers into them. Each hall has been rigorously working, (the sororities much more so than the fraternities,) on their routine for several weeks to get ready for this performance. At the end of Songfest Friday night, awards are given out for things such as best theme development, best music choice, best overall and participant’s choice. All of the skits were incredible. One was a variation on Tarzan and Jane; another on Avatar: Georgetown-style. One of the Fraternities even did their own rendition of “Love the Way You Lie.” I personally was involved in the cheerleading and dance team’s routine at the beginning of Songfest. Dress rehearsal was on Thursday night. If you are a student, you should go to this performance because it is free and only semi-edited. Friday night is the night parents, teachers and alumni come to watch the performance.
Homecoming took place on Saturday as well, making this week very busy but also exciting. Georgetown won the football game against Pikeville 70-58! Homecoming court was announced during halftime along with the winner of freshman prince and princess. Prince and princess were announced on Friday during songfest as well. One of my really good friends, John Presson, won prince by the way! Following the game it was a mad dash for me to get ready for dinner before the PHA (President’s House Association) dance. After racing to my room for a quick shower and throwing on some dress clothes, I drove over to pick up my lovely date before the festivities. About sixteen of us went out to eat in Frankfort before partying like it was the end of the world at the conference center on east campus. Yes, I did just reference that song. Songfest is definitely getting to me. East campus, by the way, is the part of campus where the athletic complex is located along with the conference center and upper classmen apartments. I hung out for a bit then went to one of my personal favorite late night/early morning eating establishments: Hong’s bakery. (The actual name is Donut Express in case you are trying to find it.) Hong’s opens at 2 a.m. so if you are looking for something to do in the middle of the night you should definitely go.
Sunday found me going to hear Tevin preach at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Midway, Kentucky. This was the church we had so much trouble finding earlier in the semester. He did an excellent job! It was very rewarding getting to see one of my friends preach the Word from the pulpit. We all went to eat brunch in the CAF after church. I had a pretty chill day planned for the rest of my Sunday until cheer practice, but something came up. I was hanging out at the Phi Mu house when some of my friends wanted to go to the Red River Gorge. The Gorge is a great place to go hang out for a day or spend a night camping. There are lots of trails to hike, along with tons of extremely high vantage points which you can climb and view the abyss below. Can you tell heights are not my thing? We had a good time though. I will definitely go back. If you are into outdoorsy things like hiking, camping, rock-climbing or just enjoy being outside in nature, the Red River Gorge is a great place conveniently located about an hour outside of Georgetown. After making the descent back to ground level, I was feeling much better about my safety and had a sense of accomplishment. I couldn’t have asked for better people to go with either. It was definitely a great trip.
I should probably talk a little bit about the school part of my college experience as well… I have midterms coming up along with some longer papers in the next few weeks that I am beginning to write in my spare time, (not a lot of spare time floating around, but the work gets done somehow.) Other than that, all of my classes are going very well I think. My Communications 101 class built a bridge out of straws today which was very awesome! My group was fantastic. The point was to study small group communication, but all of us would really like to build the sturdiest bridge as that entails bonus points on our next exam. I will keep you posted on our results. Our bridge does look pretty legit though.
I am about to go to Freshman Seminar so I have to say goodbye. I hope you all have a great week. Be good and I will talk to you next time. I gave out my email to you earlier in case you had any questions, but that was a while back. It is gharned0@georgetowncollege.edu. If you have any questions or just want to talk, shoot me an e-mail.
Songfest is such a rewarding experience! This rich tradition was full of fun, laughter, excitement, highly choreographed song and dance numbers and much, much more. Here are a few basic things about Songfest; it is essentially a campus wide competition for all the residence halls. Each hall puts on a skit that lasts a little less than ten minutes. The halls act out their skit and can insert musical numbers into them. Each hall has been rigorously working, (the sororities much more so than the fraternities,) on their routine for several weeks to get ready for this performance. At the end of Songfest Friday night, awards are given out for things such as best theme development, best music choice, best overall and participant’s choice. All of the skits were incredible. One was a variation on Tarzan and Jane; another on Avatar: Georgetown-style. One of the Fraternities even did their own rendition of “Love the Way You Lie.” I personally was involved in the cheerleading and dance team’s routine at the beginning of Songfest. Dress rehearsal was on Thursday night. If you are a student, you should go to this performance because it is free and only semi-edited. Friday night is the night parents, teachers and alumni come to watch the performance.
Homecoming took place on Saturday as well, making this week very busy but also exciting. Georgetown won the football game against Pikeville 70-58! Homecoming court was announced during halftime along with the winner of freshman prince and princess. Prince and princess were announced on Friday during songfest as well. One of my really good friends, John Presson, won prince by the way! Following the game it was a mad dash for me to get ready for dinner before the PHA (President’s House Association) dance. After racing to my room for a quick shower and throwing on some dress clothes, I drove over to pick up my lovely date before the festivities. About sixteen of us went out to eat in Frankfort before partying like it was the end of the world at the conference center on east campus. Yes, I did just reference that song. Songfest is definitely getting to me. East campus, by the way, is the part of campus where the athletic complex is located along with the conference center and upper classmen apartments. I hung out for a bit then went to one of my personal favorite late night/early morning eating establishments: Hong’s bakery. (The actual name is Donut Express in case you are trying to find it.) Hong’s opens at 2 a.m. so if you are looking for something to do in the middle of the night you should definitely go.
Sunday found me going to hear Tevin preach at Zion Hill Baptist Church in Midway, Kentucky. This was the church we had so much trouble finding earlier in the semester. He did an excellent job! It was very rewarding getting to see one of my friends preach the Word from the pulpit. We all went to eat brunch in the CAF after church. I had a pretty chill day planned for the rest of my Sunday until cheer practice, but something came up. I was hanging out at the Phi Mu house when some of my friends wanted to go to the Red River Gorge. The Gorge is a great place to go hang out for a day or spend a night camping. There are lots of trails to hike, along with tons of extremely high vantage points which you can climb and view the abyss below. Can you tell heights are not my thing? We had a good time though. I will definitely go back. If you are into outdoorsy things like hiking, camping, rock-climbing or just enjoy being outside in nature, the Red River Gorge is a great place conveniently located about an hour outside of Georgetown. After making the descent back to ground level, I was feeling much better about my safety and had a sense of accomplishment. I couldn’t have asked for better people to go with either. It was definitely a great trip.
I should probably talk a little bit about the school part of my college experience as well… I have midterms coming up along with some longer papers in the next few weeks that I am beginning to write in my spare time, (not a lot of spare time floating around, but the work gets done somehow.) Other than that, all of my classes are going very well I think. My Communications 101 class built a bridge out of straws today which was very awesome! My group was fantastic. The point was to study small group communication, but all of us would really like to build the sturdiest bridge as that entails bonus points on our next exam. I will keep you posted on our results. Our bridge does look pretty legit though.
I am about to go to Freshman Seminar so I have to say goodbye. I hope you all have a great week. Be good and I will talk to you next time. I gave out my email to you earlier in case you had any questions, but that was a while back. It is gharned0@georgetowncollege.edu. If you have any questions or just want to talk, shoot me an e-mail.
Monday, October 11, 2010
FALL BREAK!!!
Hello! I hope you all have enjoyed yourself over the course of the week. My week was fantastic. I only had three days of classes then fall break for the rest of the week. I had two papers due on Tuesday and Wednesday so once those were finished I could relax for a bit. My friends and I made a trip to Bowling Green and then Paducah over fall break and that was absolutely great. Also, Georgetown won against Campbellsville University in football on Thursday night. As you can tell, this has been an exciting week to say the least.
My week began on Sunday with cheer practice by getting ready for Songfest. Songfest is a huge theatrical competition here at Georgetown; all of the dorms participate and perform during homecoming week. After getting our routine together, I began working on my Foundations 111 homework for Tuesday. Monday came and all in all went pretty smoothly. Tuesday found me working on my English research paper that is due before fall break. After slaving away at that for several hours, I went to practice our Songfest routine again. Wednesday brought much excitement as fall break had officially begun. The guys and I hung out that night waiting in anticipation for our road trip the next day. Most people left on Wednesday by the way, but we had to postpone the trip one day so I could cheer at the Campbellsville game. Georgetown won at Campbellsville 52-21. After the game Zach, John, Tevin and I loaded up in the car and headed to Zac’s house in Bowling Green. Our time there was great. We got to meet and hang out with Zac’s family and friends. We ate at several restaurants and hung out at Zac’s house for a while. It provided some much needed chill time. The guitar store and mall were open as well so we walked around those stores for a while. We stayed in Bowling Green for a day then began to drive to Paducah to see my family.
Our trek brought us to Paducah at around 11 pm on Friday night; there is a one hour time change. We said hello to my parents and promptly tried to get some sleep as we were all exhausted. The next day found each of us more refreshed and ready to explore the city. I got up and made omelets for everyone to start the day off right. We then began to go to a few of the local music stores around town. After our trips to Music Zone and Allen Music, we decided to head over to the mall and see what was happening there. In the middle of the mall an organization was trying to set a record for the world’s largest chemistry experiment. Sadly we could not stay. We were filled with curiosity, but hunger soon overtook us. From the mall, we travelled to Harned’s Drive In, Inc. to eat lunch and see my dad’s side of the family. As you can tell already, food was a large part of our fall break experience. After eating lunch, my uncle on my mom’s side of the family called and asked if we wanted to target shoot before the family get-together that evening. Being college guys, we jumped at the chance to shoot stuff. We shot targets for a while out on my aunt and uncle’s farm until the rest of my family showed up to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. It was a good gathering and so awesome to see my family again. After eating, we sang “Happy Birthday” to my cousin. Next, we took full advantage of the water balloon slingshot my aunt and uncle provided for us to shoot pumpkins and gourds. Dozens of pumpkins and gourds later, we decided to head home and watch a few movies before going to bed. The next day came very early as we had to get John back for his basketball game at 1 pm. 6 a.m. is not a pretty sight for me during fall break, but somehow we managed to make the drive back up to Georgetown.
All in all, it was an awesome week. Definitely didn’t get the amount of sleep I had planned on getting but, oh well. That is college life. I wish you all a great week and as always, feel free to email me or facebook me with any questions or comments you might have.
My week began on Sunday with cheer practice by getting ready for Songfest. Songfest is a huge theatrical competition here at Georgetown; all of the dorms participate and perform during homecoming week. After getting our routine together, I began working on my Foundations 111 homework for Tuesday. Monday came and all in all went pretty smoothly. Tuesday found me working on my English research paper that is due before fall break. After slaving away at that for several hours, I went to practice our Songfest routine again. Wednesday brought much excitement as fall break had officially begun. The guys and I hung out that night waiting in anticipation for our road trip the next day. Most people left on Wednesday by the way, but we had to postpone the trip one day so I could cheer at the Campbellsville game. Georgetown won at Campbellsville 52-21. After the game Zach, John, Tevin and I loaded up in the car and headed to Zac’s house in Bowling Green. Our time there was great. We got to meet and hang out with Zac’s family and friends. We ate at several restaurants and hung out at Zac’s house for a while. It provided some much needed chill time. The guitar store and mall were open as well so we walked around those stores for a while. We stayed in Bowling Green for a day then began to drive to Paducah to see my family.
Our trek brought us to Paducah at around 11 pm on Friday night; there is a one hour time change. We said hello to my parents and promptly tried to get some sleep as we were all exhausted. The next day found each of us more refreshed and ready to explore the city. I got up and made omelets for everyone to start the day off right. We then began to go to a few of the local music stores around town. After our trips to Music Zone and Allen Music, we decided to head over to the mall and see what was happening there. In the middle of the mall an organization was trying to set a record for the world’s largest chemistry experiment. Sadly we could not stay. We were filled with curiosity, but hunger soon overtook us. From the mall, we travelled to Harned’s Drive In, Inc. to eat lunch and see my dad’s side of the family. As you can tell already, food was a large part of our fall break experience. After eating lunch, my uncle on my mom’s side of the family called and asked if we wanted to target shoot before the family get-together that evening. Being college guys, we jumped at the chance to shoot stuff. We shot targets for a while out on my aunt and uncle’s farm until the rest of my family showed up to celebrate my cousin’s birthday. It was a good gathering and so awesome to see my family again. After eating, we sang “Happy Birthday” to my cousin. Next, we took full advantage of the water balloon slingshot my aunt and uncle provided for us to shoot pumpkins and gourds. Dozens of pumpkins and gourds later, we decided to head home and watch a few movies before going to bed. The next day came very early as we had to get John back for his basketball game at 1 pm. 6 a.m. is not a pretty sight for me during fall break, but somehow we managed to make the drive back up to Georgetown.
All in all, it was an awesome week. Definitely didn’t get the amount of sleep I had planned on getting but, oh well. That is college life. I wish you all a great week and as always, feel free to email me or facebook me with any questions or comments you might have.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Random Musings
Hello! It is finally turning cooler here at Georgetown, and it feels great! Fall break is on the way as well. I have big plans for fall break as I will be heading home for the first time since coming to GC. Songfest is also coming up along with homecoming, so be on the lookout for those items in my blog.
This week has been a lot more relaxed. I really needed this break. The homework was beginning to catch up with me. I was able to get more sleep at the end of the week as well. My friends and I watched several movies in the dorm and made a trip to Lexington to see a flick. Just as a side note, the new Robin Hood movie is amazing. You might have picked up on that after reading my last blog, but I just wanted to say that for the record.
I have a friend from high school coming to spend a few days with me here in Georgetown to see if he likes the college. I would encourage any senior thinking about coming here to spend a night with someone in the dorm. The admissions office can hook you up if you would like to do an overnight trip. I would also encourage you to take a campus tour. If you can, you might want to schedule it during a football game or basketball game so you have an extracurricular school event to attend while you are here.
The first home football game was on Thursday. The energy in Toyota Stadium was great. We ended up winning by a lot which is always very nice. My parents were also there. It was great to see them. I have not been home yet since the beginning of the semester. So if someone tells you that everyone goes home on the weekends, I was here for two months in a row without going back home. My parents were also able to bring up my guitar from home. Zach, one of my good friends down the hall in Anderson is an excellent guitar player and has taken me on as a pupil. In turn I have taken Zach as my weightlifting padawan as well. I am excited. I will keep you posted on my progress.
I’m sure I will have an epic tale after fall break, so make sure you find time to read that blog. I hope you have a great week.
This week has been a lot more relaxed. I really needed this break. The homework was beginning to catch up with me. I was able to get more sleep at the end of the week as well. My friends and I watched several movies in the dorm and made a trip to Lexington to see a flick. Just as a side note, the new Robin Hood movie is amazing. You might have picked up on that after reading my last blog, but I just wanted to say that for the record.
I have a friend from high school coming to spend a few days with me here in Georgetown to see if he likes the college. I would encourage any senior thinking about coming here to spend a night with someone in the dorm. The admissions office can hook you up if you would like to do an overnight trip. I would also encourage you to take a campus tour. If you can, you might want to schedule it during a football game or basketball game so you have an extracurricular school event to attend while you are here.
The first home football game was on Thursday. The energy in Toyota Stadium was great. We ended up winning by a lot which is always very nice. My parents were also there. It was great to see them. I have not been home yet since the beginning of the semester. So if someone tells you that everyone goes home on the weekends, I was here for two months in a row without going back home. My parents were also able to bring up my guitar from home. Zach, one of my good friends down the hall in Anderson is an excellent guitar player and has taken me on as a pupil. In turn I have taken Zach as my weightlifting padawan as well. I am excited. I will keep you posted on my progress.
I’m sure I will have an epic tale after fall break, so make sure you find time to read that blog. I hope you have a great week.
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