Images of Dr. Nacoste

It's Already Been 2 Weeks

Sorry I couldn't post yesterday, science took up my entire day. Time has flown by, it's hard to believe its almost been 2 weeks. Monday and Tuesday were pretty uneventful, I hung out with friends and I read 2 books I've been meaning to read for a while. Tuesday we had a speaker come in and speak about the youth in the middle east and about everything that's been going on over there and many people really like him. Yesterday was really busy. We had science class from 9:00 to 11:30 then we left for a field trip at 1:45. We went to the planetarium and the art museum on the UNC Chapel Hill campus. I really enjoyed the planetarium because I haven't been to one since elementary school. It was way more advanced than I had anticipated. The art museum was also really amazing. Since I love taking art class I found it to be really interesting, especially the old German exibit that dealt mainly with woodprints and drawings. We didn't get back to school until 5:45 so I missed an oil painting elective that I really wanted to go to, but I think it was worth it. I signed up for a tye-dye event later this week and my friend Tessa signed me up for the trip to see the new Harry Potter movie. I e-mailed Dr. Nacoste, the speaker we had last week on relationships, the photos I took of him during his presentation and he told me that they were really good and I will put one or two of them on this blog. We gor our dissection materials this morning so we begin our dissection tomorrow mornign and I'm really excited. I just finished a project with my partener Vivi on the differences between the male and female brains and we present it during class this afternoon. We have a speaker tonight by the name of Dave Chameides. I am going to an elective this afternoon at 4:30 that he is in charge of, so I will know a little about what he is covering before convocation. It has definately been a busy two weeks. ~Dawn

First weekend was successful!

I dind't get nearly as much accomplished as I wanted to but the weekend was super fun. I was able to read an entire novel on Saturday, as well as see a speaker on the education gap schools create between children. I disagreed with a lot of what she said, but it was very interesting to hear the other side of the argument and to listen to the case against the meritocracy system. It didn't sway my beliefs, but it was helpful in allowing me to better form my own opinions. Today, I went to ZAIREEKA, which was a very controversial album published by the flaming lips that requires 4 different, specific CD's to be played simultaneously in 4 CD players and the experience was great! It was amazing to just be able to lay down with my friends and listen tot the music for an hour. I was supposed to cover a story for the newspaper about instant dance crew, which takes 25 GSE students and allows them to choreograph their own dances then perform them, but it was rescheduled due to miscommunication. We watched a movie today about the impact of technology on communication and it involved the friendship a man formed on Facebook, theat didn't turn out to be what he thought it was. It was really interesting and it was titled Catfish. I am so happy with my area 1 choice, the natural science students definately have more fun than any of the other groups. Wednesday we are taking a field trip to the planetarium and the art museum so I'm pretty excited for that. I finally heard from my brother so I don't feel as cutoff from the outside world. He's supposed to move to Hendersonville with his friend Brandom within the next few days. I still haven't heard from my parents since Mrs. P dropped me off except for ONE TEXT Mom sent me saying she hoped I enjoyed myself, which infuriated me. Other than that, it's been an AMAZING first week here and Meredith Campus is absolutely beautiful, and everyone here is so friendly. The environment is really conducive to learning and I love my classes so I don't even mind going to class for 6 days a week. ~Dawn

I'm beginning to get a tan...

It's really weird, I havent had a tan in 3 years. I'm just spending so much time outside that it's inevitable. I ordered pizza with some friends yesterday for our friend Red Bear's birthday. We ordered it from Gumbys and it was really great, (although Tessa over tipped the delivery guy by giving him $10.00). I had the option of attending an elective on Criminal minds and profiling criminals yeasterday but I decided I'd rather order pizza to celebrate Red Bear's birthday since his parents weren't there and he didn't get his present from his family yet, and it was a lot of fun. I definately don't regret missing the elective. I am loving natural science. Today, we did observations on fich eggs that we are hatching in pitri dishes and it is so interesting to be able to see their life cycle, from how they grow from tiny little dots to adult fish. We watched two videos yesterday as part of our area 3 class. They are Obedience and My Lai, the last movie was about when US troops massacred a village of Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam war. We are discussing the psychology behind it all tomorrow during class and I'm excited to see the viewpoints some other people have on these films. Today I went with my friend Emily to Ben and Jerry's and we got icecream cones, then we went to rite aid so she could get some cold medicine. We also checked out the whole foods and the book store, but I didn't get anything there except some really yummy tea. Tonight we have a guest speaker at 7:00, he has a degree in sociology and his name is Dr. Rupert Nacoste. I'm excited to hear what he has to say and I think it's really neat that we have the opportunity to see people who speak on a variety of different topics. I think I'm going to go swimming tomorrow and I have to meet my group about my Scilemma project as well as go to a newspaper meeting to get my next assignment. I'm going to start carrying my camera with me everywhere I go so I can get some pictures to put on the blog, I just haven't had the time to do designated picture taking yet. ~Dawn

Super Hectic

It has been really busy recently. I am working on newspaper staff doing an article on advice for all of us who are newly coming in to GSE. In natural science I am doing the biology end first and next week we will dissect the cow reproductive system as well as cow ovaries and possibly, not sure, look at sperm samples. My Scilemma is "Can agriculture feasibly be sustainable?" which is the one I was hoping for. :) Today at 4:30 I am going to an open elective entitled The Undead and Philosophy so I'm super excited and I might go to an open improv workshop at 3:30 but it's undecided. I ran for photography editor of the newspaper but I didn't make it, which is okay because it gives me more time to do electives. Last night I was busy from 7:00 pm to 11;00 pm with convocation, interviews, and then incredibly long hall meetings. We have another convocation, which are ALL required events, at 7:00 tonight with Dr. McElreath and it's supposed to last until 9:00. It seems that all this week we have something that we HAVE to go to at 7:00. At least we get to watch a film tomorrow instead of listen to numerous rules and regulations, which have occupied all meetings in the past 2 days. ~Dawn

FIRST DAY

Yesterday was the first day and it was really long. I twisted my ankle Saturday so moving in was difficult for me with my ankle wrapped, but the staff was super nice and helped us get everything in. I met my room mate about 2 hours after I had arrived, and she seems really nice. She is going for math. I also met my bathmates, and I'm sure we'll get along. The campus here is beautiful, we have access to Meredith Lake (which is actually just a pond but that's what they call it). The lake is full of ducks and huge turtles who will swim right up to you! I think they're used to being fed.

Yesterday was full of meetings but classes started today. I had my first natural science class at 9:00 this morning, we got out early at around 9:45, and I go back at 2:00. We chose Scilemmas, which are projects about certain topics, and at 2:00 they tell us which ones we are assigned as well as which class we take first. The science course is divided up into 3 smaller courses, one chemistry, one physics, and one CSI, and everyone takes all 3, the order depending upon your assignment. I had breakfast here this morning and it was great! It is buffet style, whit so many options. I had oatmeal with fresh fruit in it and a blueberry muffin with strawberry yogurt on the side. They also have regular food like bacon, eggs, and biscuits n gravy. So far my time has gone really well, we played games on the quad last night and there was a hard core game of frisbee earlier in the day but with my ankle I had to sit out. I have my area 3 class at 11:45 today in Joyner Hall, I hope it goes well, I don't know too much about it. ~Dawn