Hey, everyone!
I want to welcome my fellow bloggers back to Hunter for a brand new semester of triumphs and tribulations! I also want to welcome the Macaulay Hunter freshmen to college! I hope to see some of the new students blogging here in the coming weeks.
Yesterday was the first day of class, but since I don't have classes on Thursdays, I had my first class of the semester today. I spent yesterday getting a head start on some work and running errands. Today, I had my first session of History of the Jews (History 208), which was great! I'm taking this class because I'm Jewish, and I want to know more about how Judaism came to be what it is today. The professor seems incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. He's also a rabbi, which I think is awesome. He spent today just giving us an overview of the history that we would be covering during the semester. I've already learned a bunch of cool facts like how the Middle East is actually a British term, and how some Sephardic Jews chose to go to the Caribbean to escape the anti-Semitism in Spain hundreds of years ago. I'm looking forward to learning even more.
We have Monday off because of Labor Day, and when I come back to school on Tuesday, I'll have History 208 again as well as my Gene Regulation class.
On Monday, I went to the Community Resources Fair (held during the second day of Macaulay freshman orientation). This fair is an opportunity for the freshmen to sign for clubs run by Macaulay students. Since I'm co-editor-in-chief of The Macaulay Messenger this year, I attended in order to recruit new writers for our newsletter.
The freshmen all seemed sweet, excited, and eager to get involved. We were able to meet many of them, and sign them up to write for us this year. I made some interesting observations as I watched them interact with us and with each other. First of all, I loved that many of them had already made friends. They walked around in groups and signed up for clubs together. Everyone was eager to get involved with something, which is great! As the weeks go on, they'll figure out exactly what they have time for in terms of extracurriculars, and drop everything that doesn't quite fit in their schedules. The important thing for Monday was just to sign up for things that they were interested in and to get themselves exposed to whatever they could.
Although, classes had not started yet, there were already some nerves, which is expected. So much information is being thrown at them right now (in terms of Macaulay policies, their home campus arrangements, dorm life, etc), and they're trying to figure it all out. I think the best thing for them is just to keep their eyes and ears open, and try to get all of the necessary information in terms of graduation requirements and what classes they're interested in and dozens of other things that will come up as time goes on. And also not to panic! This is supposed to be a fun time so it's important to take a breather, and enjoy the beginning of this journey.
Being at the fair on Monday reminded me of the fair that I attended during my freshman orientation three years ago. I felt like I had come full circle. I remember my own nerves, my own questions about the next necessary steps, and my own wonders about how it would all turn out.
I remember signing up to write for The Macaulay Messenger at the fair, and it was so surreal to come back to the fair all of these years later as one of the people who is running it. It just shows how far I've come since then.
I want to wish everyone an awesome semester!
Happy blogging!
S.
Quote of the Week (I think I'll stick with quotes for this semester.)
“Be a student as long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.”
- Henry L. Doherty
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