More About Exeter

I am going to continue my previous post about Exeter, because there is so much to talk about! This is probably the first time all year that I've had a clear subject to blog about. There is so much to share about Exeter. It's going to be an amazing experience. I've had it bundled up inside me since September and now I can finally talk about it openly!

I'm started my Exeter discussion on the topic of classes and teaching methods. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Exeter is their method of teaching called “The Harkness Method”. At Exeter, students don't sit in rows of desks while the teacher lectures them, they sit around an oval table. Every single classroom, for all subjects, has a Harkness Table. The table seats one teacher and twelve students. The belief behind the Harkness Table is that if you can explain and discuss a subject than you understand it. This is going to be a major change coming from a public school where there are 30 kids in a class. At Exeter I will have the opportunity to be the driver of my education.

Another amazing aspect of Phillips Exeter is their courses. I recently received the Courses of Instruction packet. It's 70 pages long! The classes they offer are unreal. Next year I am planning on taking classes like Human Physiology, Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, Genetics, Modern India, Pre-Colonial Africa, and Anthropology, just to name a few. Kennedy doesn't offer courses even close to Exeter's range. At Exeter you don't take AP classes either. They not believe in teaching to a standardized test. They tell their students that if you want to take the AP test on this subject you have to study and prepare on your own.

At Exeter I will also have the chance to play hockey for my school. Right now I play in St. Louis but at Exeter I can have both school and hockey in the same place. I have never, ever had this before. I will practice six days a week and play two games a week. We play other prep schools in the area. The competition will still be high and I can't wait to wear the big red letters E-X-E-T-E-R across the front of my jersey.

This is the end of my rant about prep school. I am both excited and nervous, mostly excited though! GO BIG RED!!!! EXETER LIONS WOHOOO!!  (407)

From a Cougar to a Big Red

   After close to seven months, plus years of hard work, I have reached the top of this mountain. I'm going to Phillips Exeter Academy! I still can't believe its real. Every time I remember that I actually made it, a rush of excitement, relief, and fear comes over me. I beat the odds. I made a leap and landed on the other side.

   Phillips Exeter Academy is the Ivy League of prep schools. It's considered the 6^th best high school in the nation. They never let you forget that! Anyway, I'm an on cloud nine that I get to attend this wonderful school. After I was accepted I kept thinking “Why me?” “Why do I deserve this?”. More time has passed and I know that I was picked for a reason. The admission committee knows what they are talking about. They look for students that are more than just grades, they look for students that are mature, passionate, and hard-working. I am not the smartest kid at Kennedy but I work hard for every grade I get while being a competitive athlete.

   As I was on my on-campus interview at Exeter I felt that feeling. The feeling of “This is the place for me” and I was meant to go to this school. It's destiny! I am made to move away and go to prep school. I was born to do it. Moving away doesn't scare me. I love meeting to new people and experiencing things I would never get the chance to experience if I stayed in Iowa. Iowa is a great place to grow up but I'm ready to move on. The one thing that has always bugged me about Iowa is that most people just don't ever leave. It is something I will NEVER understand. Only about 30 kids of a graduating class at Kennedy will go to an out-of-state college. This is just sad. I'm sorry but there is so much more of the country, and the world, to see. Challenge yourself and don't do what everyone else does. Don't follow that boring path of going to a state school and than just settling down here.

   The fact that everyone just stays here is why I have to get out. I need to get out fast before I get sucked into the flow of the common Kennedy Grad. Everyday I become more grateful that I get to go to Phillips Exeter and I am truly blessed to have the chance to leave. John Green once said, “It is so hard to leave – until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamn thing in the world.” I will always be an Iowan and a cougar at heart but it's time to start a new chapter in my life.

   Soon I will be sitting on a plane as I get my last glimpse of the rows of corn. At that moment, I'm not sure how I will be feeling but I know I will be flying away towards a new life, a new chapter.  (512)

Facebook and Relationships

                Social media has taken over the internet and what seems like the whole world.  According to Facebook, they have over 500 million users. That means that 1 in every 13 people have a Facebook. This number is both impressive and astounding. A little bit scary too. This means that 499,999,999 other people can look you up and find information about where you live; go to school, and who you are in a relationship with.  Before Facebook only your friends and family knew your relationship status but now close to 500 million other people can too. Social media, especially Facebook, has made relationships more public.

                “John Bob is now in a relationship with Mary Jane”

                This is what pops up on the news feeds of both Mary and John’s friends. According to Facebook, an average user has at least 200 friends. This means that once a relationship is posted, 400 people instantly know about it. Most of those people don’t interact on a daily basis with John or Mary but yet they still know who they are dating. This is what Facebook as done to our society. We know so much about people’s lives. Before the days of Facebook, relationships were more private and were only known by those who talked about it. It used to be “Hey, did you hear Mary and John were dating” but now it’s “Hey, I saw on Facebook that Mary and John were dating”. This has changed how we look at our own relationships and those of others.

                Now that 7% of the world’s population is on Facebook, many couples have the “Should we make it Facebook official” discussion. This should be changed to: “Want to tell hundreds of other people we are dating?”. This shouldn’t be how love works. Love and relationships should be more confidential than the pictures of your latest vacation. While some people have their settings on private, or don’t put their relationship status up at all, others flaunt their status to their hundreds of friends.

                This raises the question: Has Facebook changed love? It has, and it hasn’t. It has changed the way we look at relationships. They are now more public. Facebook hasn’t changed relationships themselves. People will always like each other, even without Facebook. But information about a couple’s status whether is “married”, “complicated”, or “engaged” is a public advertisement of their life.  So next time you consider changing your relationship status, think twice about how many people you want to know about your love-life.  (416)

Boy Meets World

Boy Meets World is one of the best TV series out there. Its one of those shows thats just straight hilarious and entertaining. Most of us have seen this show because even though the last episode was made in 2000, they still show re-runs. So its been 13 years since it ended and they still play it! Now thats impressive.

Boy Meets World starts when the main character, Cory Matthews, is in the fifth grade. The story follows Cory and his best friend Shawn through the hardships of growing up. Cory's older brother Eric is just a doorknob. And by that I mean he is straight dumb. Eric is one of the funniest characters on the show because of his dumb comments and decisions. Cory also has a little sister, Morgan. Morgan is a cutie. Cory's parents are Allen and Amy, are easy going but also add a lot to the show.

Mr. Feany is the loved teacher and neighbor. He taught all of the kids for many years and always has words fo advice for everyone. Mr. Feany lives next door to Matthews and is always there to make sure the kids, and parents, learn lessons from their actions.

As the series goes on, a girl named Topanga becomes a main character. Cory and Topanga are the ultimate couple. They were dating since they were born, literally. In the last couple seasons the main conflicts of the show were between the relationship of Cory and Topanga. Spolier Alert! They get married in season 7.

The series ends when Cory and Topanga move away to New York. Topanga gets an internship there and they start a new life. Boy Meets World is one of the best shows made, in my opinion. Its humor that everyone can enjoy. (379)

Big Move

My parents probably picked the best house and best neighborhood possible in the whole area of Cedar Crapids. I live on a nice little cul de sac that is surrounded by woods. I live about half way down the street and its great. The reason why I am writing such an odd blog describing how much I love my neighborhood is because we are moving. Yes, moving :( I mean not like moving moving, we are still staying on the NE side, but we are still getting a new house. Its crazy to think that someone else is going to live in my house. I have grown up on my little street since I was five years old. This is the only neighborhood I remember.

The greatest thing about my neighborhood is the people that live in it. I live in the fourth house down the street and in the three houses before me also have girls my age. We have grown up together and they are my very best friends. During the summer I was never alone. We would hang out with each day after day. I probably spent more nights at their houses than I did at mine during the summer. They also had older brothers and sisters who were the same age as my siblings. It just worked out really well because the kids were all friends and so were the adults. We would go on camping trips together and have barbecues.

Now, 12 years later, we still hang out all the time and so do our siblings. Not a lot has changed. This is why moving is going to be so hard. I am not only leaving behind a great home where I grew up, I am also leaving a wonderful neighborhood. Its going to be very hard to say goodbye but I guess that is just a part of life....

The packing has begun and so has the remodeling. Our house is filled cardboard boxes and the the sound of packing tape ripping to enclose the various things in my house. Everyday it seems less and less like home. It think its a good thing because I will slowly ease away from the home I grew up in.  (421)

Staycation 2013

Oh Spring Break, gotta love it. This break in the middle of the trimester really decreases the stress level. For seniors, it’s the chance to go to Mexico, or anywhere else, and get CRAZY. But for the rest of us we get to stay in the beautiful Cedar Rapids and enjoy the wonderful, warm weather as we soak up the dirty snow. As much as I would love to go on a wonderful vacation, its nice to stay home and relax. I'd rather be relaxing on a beach in paradise but what can ya do? It seems like almost everyone went on some form of vacation. Lots of beach pictures. Too many beach pictures. So instead of laying in the beach like the rest of the American population, I laid in my warm bed and watch movies. 

I spent much of my spring break doing nothing, literally nothing. I would wake up at noon and just lay in bed for the whole afternoon. I never get the chance to do that, never. Being a competitive hockey player, I rarely have a weekend off so spring break was my chance to relax. I caught up on one of my favorite TV shows: Boy Meets World. I think I watched at least three seasons. I started to read A Prayer For Owen Meany (thanks Ms. A). I didn't socialized much but I needed to get away from everyone. So I basically went on vacation... to my bed.

One great thing about staying home on spring break is house sitting those who went on vacations. I've been house sitting my neighbors house for a week and a half now and I'm making BANK. Its easy money and you get to hang out at someone else's house and eat their food! What's better than that? 

So, we are at the end of spring break and I'm ready to conquer the next two months of school. Who ever invented this break is a smart person. Its much needed for everyone. Today is another Sunday of homework that I procrastinated majorly on. Its time to get back into the swing of things. Peace out Staycation 2013, see ya next year. (403)

Smile Every Day

Many people don't think about it, but there is one trait that we all share. We all want the same thing in life, and that is to be happy. I don't know anybody, and I hope there isn't anybody, who does not want true happiness. We need happiness in our lives because that is what keeps us going, keeps us looking for tomorrow. It is a natural human quality. What is happiness? My definition of happiness is to be enjoying every second of being alive.

You can control your own happiness, because only you can control your reactions to whatever life throughs at you. The first key to finding happiness is knowing how to react. No matter how bad an even is there are no set rules on how to react. Your response is the greatest thing in your life that you have control over. Either you can break down and say “I'm done,” or you can suck it up and deal with it. Either way, life goes on. How your life goes on and how happy you are is in your control.

On the other hand, a person cannot be happy all the time. I'm not saying that we should be happy 24/7. There are incidences that will make us question everything; for example, a death in the family or of a close friend. There is just no honest way to be happy about that. At first, you shouldn't be happy about it. A time of mourning essential. But, mourning should not last a life time. To accept what happened and to move on is the cure to heartache. This is where true happiness comes.

I hope you don't think that you can only be happy when your life is what you imagine as perfect, because most likely, you will not reach that point. So, either you can change your ideas of perfection, or accept the fact that true happiness can be felt without perfection.  (395)  

Spring in our Step

Spring time is almost here and in my opinion, it is the best time of the year! In Iowa we have dreadful winter, absolutely dreadful. This year has been especially bad. It seems we have had snowstorm, followed by record low temperatures. Yeah, global warming? I don’t think so. When it’s -30 degrees F outside, your car won’t start, and you can’t feel any of your limbs, it’s not a time that I support the environmental crisis. This week, just when thought we were done with snow for the year, BAM another storm brings six inches. March is not the time for snow! This is just too much. I snow day in March? I ain't about that life. 

Well HOPEFULLY spring will arrive soon. I can already hear the birds chirping. I think that's a good sign. Spring is the best season for so many reasons. After our long winters, the warm (warmer) weather is like a gift. Even 50 degrees feels warm! The snow starts the melt and you can finally see the beautiful, dead grass. Once the snow melts and its gradually getting warmer, the plants start to grow back. Things don't look so dead anymore. 

During early spring, its just so much more pleasing to go outside. The sun rises earlier and sets later. This makes it easier to get up in the morning because it isn't so dark and cold. The sun seems to shine a litte brighter and the animals seem a little happier.  Everything is better. Then as spring goes on the grass is soon very green and the weather is beautiful. In Iowa, our summers are super humid but the spring is so nice. When May roles around, its hot but not too humid yet. 

Spring couldn't come fast enough. This winter has drug onnn and ooooooon. I can't wait to walk outside and not freeze to death. I can't wait to wake up to sunshine and birds chirping. Until then we will just have to suck it up. (410)

I'm a Surviver

We did it fellow students, we survived finals. The worst week and a half of the term is OVER. It feels good, oh so good! I am both relieved and proud that I made it through the endless hours of studying and stressing over final grades. There is no better feeling than hearing the bell ring at 12:05pm, Thursday afternoon. For me, I didn’t feel relaxed until the next day. I woke up Friday and realized that I didn’t have anything to do, nothing at all. There weren’t any concepts to study, math problems to complete, or papers to write. I could just lie in bed and watch movies. It took time to fully relax because I was so wound up from the week but before I knew it I was in heaven. I didn’t care about my grades anymore because I did my best and there wasn’t anything I could change now. What’s done is done.

Looking back at the days following up to finals I was just a big ball of stress. It’s weird how during finals you actually want to study and you want to have more time to do it. This is definitely not the case during any other time of the year. I was so motivated to do well on my tests and projects that I felt like  superwoman; running on little sleep while shoving three months of information into my brain. The motivation to succeed is crucial to survive during finals because it’s the only way you will get everything done.

Finals definitely take days off my life, especially because we have them three times a year. Even though having to go through the hell of it, I’m somewhat glad we have more practice. Compared to schools that go by semesters, we will take four more sets of final exams. This is like having two extra years of practice. In college, finals are the majority of your grade and if you don’t know how to study for them then you will not get the grade you wanted. Practice makes perfect. Well, perfect practice makes perfect.

Many other students would agree with me that it’s so relieving to be done with finals but now another term starts and so does the worrying. We are right back at where we started. To here’s to 3^rd term; may it be all we ever dreamed of. Well maybe that’s stretching it. (403)