Six Flags?! Not This Year...

Ever since Six Flag's Fright Fest ended in October and I was unable to go due to my extremely busy volleyball schedule, I wrote down in my calendar when the amusement park reopened in the spring (April 16) so that I could plan a fun-filled day with my friends just as a did last year in late April/ early May. Because of everyone's finals schedule and when people leave, unfortunately we are not going to Six Flags, which greatly disappoints me since it was so fun last year. Hopefully, we can squeeze in a day in October. But even if we can't, thankfully there is a Six Flags on the Wisconsin-Illinois border, only about 40 minutes away from my house, so I can get my fix of roller-coasters during the summer (I love, love, love roller-coasters). Here are a few pictures from last year's adventure:

The Joker's Jinx

Six Flags America is near DC is in Baltimore, Maryland, which is between 40-65 minutes away from campus. It is an extremely easy trip there, just take the metro towards Maryland all the way until the end of the line and then catch one of the buses (I do not remember which exact one at the moment) for a 10-20 minute drive and then the bus drops you off directly in front of Six Flags America. Last year, tickets were on sale, with some deal like buy one, get one free or something similar so we were very pleased to save money since we are poor college students. Each Six Flags usually has different roller-coasters and this particular Six Flags had a lot of really good ones, much to my satisfaction. In case you have been there or go there in the future, my favorite coasters were Superman: Ride of Steel and Batman's Batwing.   If I had to choose just one, it would for sure be Superman. I would definitely recommend spending a day there if you love roller-coasters. Here is the park's website if you want more info: Six Flags America.

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Battle of the A Capella Bands!

My favorite event EVER was Thursday!  And I have videos to share with you!
As always, Class Council did a great job pulling the University's A Capella groups together for a wild night of performances!  All 8 groups got up and sang 3 songs, plus their own version of Justin Bieber's "Baby."  I have posted 3 videos below so enjoy!  Also, I will be putting up pictures from the chalk-in that was Tuesday, sorry I am a bit behind, there is soooooo much going on!

 

Don't forget to email me if you have any questions!!

Kim

Finals Time is the Perfect Time for Coloring!

With final exams occurring, now is the time when stress relieving methods really come in handy. My personal favorite, one that I discussed last semester around finals time, is coloring. Yes, for me reverting to one of my childhood pastimes is an effective method. Well, that and watching coverage of the Royal Wedding that is on every major news channel. But back to coloring, while I was home for spring break, I discovered an old and never used Beauty and the Beast coloring book. Needless to say, I was excited, especially given my love for Disney movies. So, while taking breaks from writing an 8 page research paper for my writing class, I have been coloring, which for me, is a very mind-numbing thing. It does not require any heavy thinking, which is exactly what I am looking for. I also have a friend who is likewise an avid Disney and coloring fan and she was so jealous that I found this at my house, that I tore out some pages and gave her a little present on her door. She was obviously excited when she found them.

my stress reducer

As for my actual final exams, I am done with 2 out of 5 at this moment. Both my Violence and the Family class and Criminology class had the final exam on the last day of class, which in my opinion, is the greatest idea ever. As we speak, I am in the middle of writing my final exam research paper/ essay for Dance History (due this coming Tuesday, May 3) and it is slow going, aka lots of coloring breaks. My last 2 exams, Latin and Classical Mythology, are scheduled for May 5 and May 9 respectively. So I am out here in DC until the 10th. Unfortunately, both of my roommates and all of my teammates are done with exams and leave earlier than me. In fact, one of my teammates has been completely done and on summer vacation since Monday morning (all of her classes had the final exam on the last day of class)! So not fair! Oh well. 10 more days until I am officially on summer vacation!

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

April = (Free) food

I love when April comes around because it is the time of the year where every student organization decides to have free barbeques and food at events. For example, GW's Program Board is currently throwing a free cook-out for all students to celebrate the end of the semester. Yesterday there were $3 Chipotle burritos for sale. Tonight there's an Asian night market in Kogan where tons of Asian student organizations are selling food for between $1-5 dollars! On Sunday, Greek life will even be giving away free Georgetown Cupcakes. How can one not get fat and gain the freshmen 15 during this time of the year?! All of these events are great because I'm not wasting time in the kitchen cooking dinner, and most importantly, I'm not spending any money! Too bad there aren't many days left where I can be gluttonous at these sorts of events!-Serena

DC Free Movie Screenings!

I just got back from the advanced screening of "Something Borrowed" based on the best-selling novel, "Something Borrowed" by Emily Griffin. It's a chick flick starring  Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, and John Krasinski. Krasinski was my favorite and most lovable character because his role was entirely used as a comic relief throughout the movie. I've been to nearly four free advanced film screenings this year and is one of the fun perks of living in a city! The movies often take place at either the Georgetown or Chinatown theatres, but today I went to the E Street theatre (typically shows independent films) which I haven't been to in a while. I find out about these screenings through various GW student group promotes or through friends who work at local marketing agencies that promote for films (today I went with GW Women in Business). It's always nice to take a 2-3 hour break from studying, but now I must get back to work so I can spare some time in the morning for the Royal Wedding!

GW Course Evaluations

At the end of every semester, GW students are given the opportunity to do complete course evaluations of our classes and our professors. Certain professors prefer to have paper evaluations where we get to fill them out in class, with the professor out of the room. Other professors like to minimize the paperwork and opt for students to complete online evaluations. According to GW, "The purposes of these course evaluations are to: provide feedback to your instructor and the department chair about the quality of the course; to inform other students about courses to assist them in their course selection; and to help you and GW assess what you learned in the course."
The evaluations are confidential and the professors only see an aggregate of the comments and our comments would not affect our grades. One aspect of the evalutions that have confused me is the part where the evaluations are used to help other students in their course selection. I don't quite know where other students can see these online results because I have searched for them previously and could not find them online. It would be wonderful if these evaluations were available to students somewhere easily accessible.

Food Trucks: CapMac

I just had such a good lunch from the CapMac truck!  They're parked right outside of the library today on 22nd and H streets, so my friend and I decided to get some good ol' mac & cheese and eat in Kogan plaza.

This is what their regular "CapMac" looks like--SO TASTY!

So we both got the regular CapMac so we could have the original before tasting any other their more gourmet specialties (such as goat cheese with pesto or chicken parm or "reuben" style), and it did not disappoint.  I got mine "balls out", which means it had 4 chicken meatballs in it.  They also sprinkle crumbled cheez-it crackers on top.  So good!  Perfect for a sorta rainy not-so-springy day.  It started to rain a bit while we were eating, so we decided to hide under the dome in Kogan to wait out the rain.  It passed quickly, and actually added significantly to the mood!  Comfort food on a rainy day.  Perfection.

Dome in Kogan!

Email me!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu
~~~Shireen

GWSB Student Leadership Dinner

Yesterday I attended a dinner held by the GWSB Office of Undergraduate Programs. It was a lovely event held at the Arts Club of Washington, D.C., located practically across the street from GW's campus. The evening began with half an hour of networking amongst student leaders from various student organizations, dinner started shorted after, then we had a keynote alumni speaker, Titi Williams-Davis speak about her experience as a student leader and her current career, the night ended with a series of awards acknowledging a steller student from each year. It was a beautiful event because it allowed everyone to bid their farewells before the craziness of finals set in. I'll really miss the GWSB because it's a huge big family since everyone takes almost the same classes together and are so motivated and involved. 

Seeing Dr. Shirin Ebadi

A week ago, I saw Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi at a day-long conference at the Elliott School of International Affairs!  I realize it's rather late to be posting on this, but it's been on my to-do list all week, really!

For the past 5 (I think...!) years, the Middle Eastern Studies department of the Elliott School has had a spring conference dedicated to an important subject in Middle Eastern current events.  This year, the subject was Iran in Transition, and it hosted a whole host of lecturers from GW as well as other esteemed universities and international relations think tanks throughout the country.  

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the whole conference since I had several classes and a final that day, but I made sure I was there for the keynote speaker, Dr. Ebadi.  It was so cool to see her!  Especially since she was in the documentary I saw recently at DC Filmfest--her ideology and powerful messages were fresh in my mind.  One drawback was that she had to speak through a translator.  Being a partial-Persian speaker, I was able to understand a good bit of what she said, so it was a bit toilsome hearing her say a sentence then having to hear the same thing again in English.  It took away from the time I got to hear her!  (Though I'll admit it was helpful to my comprehension)  And it's so cool that I got to have this experience, I made all my Iranian family jealous!

Dr. Shirin Ebadi, my namesake and a pretty awesome and prolific lady.

Keep emailing me!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

"What are GW students like?"

Hi everyone! I recently got an email from David, an admitted prospective freshman at GW! Here was his question...

"What can you tell me about students at GW? What is student life like? What do you do for fun? Are they the kind of students who just like to party, to stay up late talking about politics, some healthy mix, or something completely different? What would you tell someone like me who has never met a GW student before about GW students as a whole?"


This question was a hard one to answer because there is no way I can generalize about the GW campus!! Students at GW are a mix like at any school/ There are definitely a large amount of people who come from the East Coast, and then a mix of people from everywhere else in the U.S. and abroad. A large percentage of the campus is involved in Greek life (around 25%) which can show more of the "party" aspect of the school at times. But personally, I do not find it to be overwhelming because most of my friends are not involved. My friends are are a healthy mix of fun and serious intellect but most of my friends are in the Elliott School for International Affairs. I think it really depends on your major and who you take classes with!

Student life is great for me because I wasn't interested in coming to a school with a lot of school spirit, truthfully. If you want to be really involved in student life on campus, then it is easy to get involved with campus administration, Greek life, sports events, student organizations, and so much more! I have been involved greatly with one student organization but it is based off campus and then I've been involved with admissions through this blogging position!

For fun, students do anything from going on midnight monument tours, hanging out in dorms playing games/being crazy on the weekends, going out to dinner or clubs, walking around Georgetown, sitting outside on campus when it's sunny, going to movies, volunteering around campus and off-campus, and more. It is really a normal mix of student fun except that we are in a very urban city which leads to a more involved lifestyle with the city for example. 

I hope that answered your question, David, and also you other readers! Email me if you have any other questions! I know it's getting close to your decision deadline so make sure you make an educated decision :) marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa

A Few Pictures from the Chalk In

As my fellow blogger mentioned in her post, today was the chalk in here at GW! Since she is going to talk about it, I will let her go in depth about it (the gist: they block off one of the roads on campus and people go crazy decorating with street and sidewalks with chalk!). But I wanted to share a few of my favorites that I saw before I forget! This year, I did not have enough time to contribute my own chalk drawing, but I did last year and it was so fun. Here are some that I saw today while quickly walking past:

simple, yet sweet

just a funny one (I love Disney haha)

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

Easter/ End of GW Spring Volleyball Season

Happy Belated Easter! I hope you all had a wonderful day! Since Easter was so late this year, my family did not come out to visit me because they will be coming out in a few weeks to come help move me out of my dorm for the summer. This meant that I unfortunately was unable to spend the holiday with them, but I still had fun. I ended up going to mass at St. Patrick's on 10th and G Street, which is a beautiful old church with stained glass windows (I love stained glass windows), with 4 of my friends. The weather was so beautiful that we ended up walking back to campus after mass. Then later on in the day, I went over to my friends' rooms to dye and decorate easter eggs, but they did not turn out very well. Apparently, we should have used vinegar instead of water--at least according to our mothers--but we did not have any and the box said water worked too! Oh well, we now know better for next year. Following this slight disaster, my friend made Easter dinner with steak, baked potatoes, salad, etc. It was delicious! Unfortunately then I had to go back to my room and study for my final exam and finish my term paper which were both due/scheduled for the next day. All in all, it was a wonderful Easter Sunday.

Switching topics, as of Friday, GW volleyball's spring season has come to a close. While we finished our tournaments a few weeks ago, we continued to have both morning practices and conditioning/weight room workouts. This also means that I can sleep in for the rest of the year! Yay! I think everyone on my team is super excited for that fact. haha. It's funny because since Friday, the latest that my body has allowed me to sleep in was 7:40am. My body is so used to getting up early that I will have to train it to sleep in past that time! With the spring training over, it is now time to start our summer workout program (which we do on our own) so we can make sure to stay in shape all summer because preseason in August rolls around really quickly if you are unprepared. My countdown to fall preseason will begin soon! Stay tuned!

Me and a few of my teammates at the Naval Academy tournament this spring

Team in the weight room posing with NEGU bracelets for: http://www.facebook.com/jessicajoyrees

On a side note, GW Men's Basketball is now looking for a new head coach as of yesterday. You can read all about it here: GW Announces Release of Head Men's Basketball Coach Karl Hobbs

Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu

-Christie

2011 White House Easter Egg Roll

Yesterday I was up at the crack of dawn to volunteer at the White House Easter Egg Roll for the second year in the row.

This year I was a exit directional volunteer, so I guided all of the guests to their wooden eggs (see picture below.)

It was great to see all of the kids in their cute dresses or suits with smiles from ear to ear.

Some of the guests were Colbie Calliet, Elmo and the Cast of Sesame Street, Cody Simpson, Greyson Chance, and many more!

The first family made an appearance in the morning celebrating the holiday and urging everyone to GET UP AND GO!


Despite the rain the night before, the sun quickly dried up the lawn and was beating down throughout the day!  I unfortunately got a little sunburned, but nothing a day or two won't cure...

Everyone that volunteers for the Easter Egg Roll is always super excited to be there, despite the early morning wake up call. There are some volunteers that have being doing it for decades! (I hope to continue my volunteering for as long as possible!)

Today is the chalk in!  Hopefully I will take some pictures and post them here!  Also the Battle of the A Capella Bands is Thursday (my favorite event ever!!!) so I will be sure to post  a video or two. Oh and the Admissions end of the year party is Wednesday! So much to do so little time!  I will be sure to keep all of you updated on my happenings!

Email me!!!!

Kim

Crazy Weather in DC!

This week has been a roller coaster here. Each day, I have been checking weather.com to see what the weather will be like because it has been so crazy!

Yesterday, we had a really sunny day followed by a flash flood basically. There was lightning and thunder and I was sitting with my friend on the roof of her dorm eating dinner when we were apprehending by a downpour. The weather previously was expected to thunderstorm all week but today is another hot, sweltering day in DC. I can't seem to get it right so I keep continuing to carry about my umbrella just in case :)

Finals are around the corner so I've been spending a lot of time in Gelman Library finishing up some papers so I can begin to study! Hope you all are doing well, continue to email me at marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu!
- Marisa

Sunny Places on Campus!

I am writing this blog from the 3rd floor terrace of the Marvin Center on a beautiful day! (If you came to an April Visit Day, the 3rd floor terrace is where we had Colonial Celebration with ice cream!)

So with this beautiful day I figured I would share some of the most popular sunny spots on/near campus.

1) University Yard/Kogan Plaza...These are the main quad areas on campus.  There are benches, grassy areas, and plenty of space to lay a towel.  On a day like today you can enjoy an ice cream cone, a tanning session, or even work in the beautiful beams of the sun.

2) Residence Hall Rooftops...a few of our residence halls are lucky enough to have beautiful rooftop access.  Below is a picture of the view atop 1957 E street (an upperclassman residence hall).

3) The Vern!...There is a quad with a fountain where you can lay out a towel or blanket and have a wonderful picnic with friends. Pelham Commons also has seating off of the ground level with tables and chairs and some shade.

4) the National Mall...The mall, including the monuments and all the space in between has its own wireless internet!  While doing work or enjoying the weather you can stop and watch a pick up softball, rugby, soccer, or football game.  You can also take a break from the heat and head inside one of the many museums that surround the mall for FREE!!

Fellow Blogger....did I miss anywhere?? Where is your favorite spot to enjoy the sun?

Email me!!!

Until next time!
Kim

Quick Trips Off-Campus

This morning, I decided to wake up early- but not to study. Every so often, especially in the change of season, I try to figure out a Friday morning when I can travel out to Pentagon City mall. It's on the blue line metro, only a few stops away from Foggy, but you have to time it right so you're not waiting for a train for 10+ minutes. I also like to get to the mall right when it opens at 10 AM so I can avoid the lunchtime/afternoon crowd. The funny thing about the mall is that you can get right off the metro and it puts you into a tunnel directly in the mall- there is no need to go above ground and outside! It's nice when it's raining but also a bit strange.

The mall is huge!!

Today, I traveled out there with two of my friends. Both of them needed formal dresses for their sorority functions (one is in a Greek sorority and one is in a community service sorority). I needed some new shoes as my flats are falling apart (legitimately.. the sole is one third detached. Fabulous). We got lunch at Noodles and Company and then headed back to campus. It was a great little trip and a needed relief from on campus stress!

As always, email me! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Excellence Awards

Every year the university comes together to celebrate excellence in student life.  This includes showing off your university pride, crowning greek fraternity and sorority of the year, commending service learning, student employees, performance groups, and many more!

This was actually the first year I did not have a conflict with the event so I have happy to go and support my many friends and colleagues that were nominated!

President Steven Knapp and Provost Steve Lerman opened the show, watch and see!

Gina even performed with Forbidden Planet Productions as a nominee for favorite student performing group.  The student theater group performed 21 Guns from the Green Day show American Idiot.  It was an incredibly great performance and you did great Gina!!


This is only one of the many ways GW recognizes its student leaders! There are receptions, celebrations, and thank you's all around to the students that make GW the amazing institution it is!

Check out the Hatchet's write up on the event!

Email me if you have any questions! Until next time.

Kim

Details about Study Abroad

As I prepare to study abroad, there are a lot of hoops to jump through and forms to fill on campus to complete the process. I will be going to Arica, Chile in the fall on a public health program! The GW Office of Study Abroad is a great resource (though somewhat of a clunky website) to browse programs, but they also include students' official applications and forms on the website so it is really easy to complete everything.

Some of the things you have to complete once you get approved by your program, including:

• Meeting with my advisor (only necessary for Elliott School and the Business School)
• Pre-departure orientation to get an introduction to language, culture, meet other people going on your programs, etc.
• Participation agreements
• Study abroad approval forms (basically stating you have at least a 2.0 GPA, etc)
• Emergency contact forms
• Financial assistance forms
• Passport details
• And more!!!

While there are all these forms to do, they are all easily filled out online and I know they will be completely worth it! To prop up some other bloggers, check out the study abroad blogs on the GW Office of Study Abroad website. Here is an example of a post from Sydney.

Email me with any questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

Food Trucks: Sauca

With today's beautiful weather, I decided it's about damn time I try one of the several food trucks that frequent our campus any given day during lunch time.  Usually I pass by because of my lack of time, patience to wait on line, funds, or because the weather's yucky.  But today, everything lined up perfectly for me to dig in to some tasty beef schwarma at the Sauca truck!

The sandwich was great by my standards--really good bread and the beef was good quality as well, with great condiments and fixings.  Warning though: if you don't like cilantro, make sure you ask them to leave it off, otherwise they pile it up!  I love it though, so I was all about my schwarma.  Yeah-yuh!

Today the Tasty Kabob truck and this BBQ truck I haven't heard of were also around.  I've decided I'm going to try every DC food truck at least once before the close of the summer (I'm staying here for the summer session!  Yay!).  I'll keep you updated on my progress!  It's quite an endeavor, but I think it'll definitely be worth it.  Yummmmm.

As always, email me with any questions on anything!
~~~ Shireen

Crunch Time

Hi everyone! It's getting to that time in the semester where classes are meeting for their final sessions, exam reviews are being planned, final papers are due, and exams are approaching quickly! It's crazy how fast this semester has gone by. I'm also sad as I will by studying abroad in the fall, once I leave in May I won't be returning to campus until next January. It is a really strange feeling but a really exciting one as many of my friends are also going abroad and it will be great to hear about their experiences in the spring when we all live together again.

Last night, I finished working on a 2000 word paper which is the final paper for my United States' Diplomatic History course. It is an option for Elliott school students to take to fill the requirement of U.S. history. This paper is worth 25% of my grade and I am on the edge between two grades right now so I have been working diligently on it for the past week. But like usual, it came down to the wire last night and I didn't get as much sleep as I would have liked. Thankfully, my dad offered to do one last read through of my essay for me which was really helpful to catch the things I was continually looking over! As I waited for him to offer some suggestions, I watched part of a FRONTLINE: "Sick Around the World" documentary which I really recommend and it was a great educational distraction from paper-writing : )

While it is sad that this semester is coming to a close, I am really excited for what is in store this summer as well as in Chile in the fall. I'll keep you guys updated through the next few weeks on my workload, finals, fun distractions, and how the GW campus changes (basically, people who I never knew existed emerge from their dorms and move into the library).

Continue to email me your questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

GW Women in Business Conference

Just over two weeks ago I volunteered and attended the 2nd annual GW Women in Business Conference. It is one of the premier  business conferences held on campus that is coordinated entirely by students, particularly the GW Women in Business organization. Several of my good friends serve on the executive leadership team and so of course I was there to help support their hardwork as well as the student group! The conference was held on Saturday and comprised of leaders from various “Fortune 500” companies and start-ups, such as Wal-Mart Inc. and Next Big Sound, who shared their career experiences and secrets to success with GW students and other young professionals. The conference focused on four main themes which students could learn about: social media, entrepreneurship, emerging markets, and business and public policy. There were over 20 panelists, professionals, and professors in attendance and was open to males and females from all majors and universities in the Washington Metropolitan area. I had such a wonderful time attending the conference and was glad to help in the background logistics of the day!

Registration

Panelists!

Tasty treats from Georgetown Cupcakes!

Admitted Freshman Days

Hi everyone! Thanks to all the incoming freshman who came out to the Admitted Freshman Visit Days, I hope you really enjoyed yourselves and it helped you make a choice about our school. It was fun seeing the campus packed with students, parents, and questions about maps.

George and some nice flower blossoms :)

On the other hand, when I visited GW, I didn't enjoy my tour guide as much as I had hoped to and that left me with a strange opinion about GW. I loved the campus, the classes, the major I intended on, and everything- except that my tour guide seemed to be involved in 50 million things and never had any time to relax. Now that I am here at the school, those people still exist, but not within my sphere of involvement on campus. So if you have any questions regarding types of people at GW/strange tour guides/anything else, please let me know so I can clear up any misconceptions!

If you still are unsure as to how to schedule a visit, look here on the Admissions website. You can register online for information sessions and tours of both campuses or choose to schedule meetings with coaches, classroom visits, and overnight stays.

If you are unable to make any of these tours and need an idea of the campus or have other questions, please email me at marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu. I am more than willing to chat with you all about anything!
- Marisa

Sunday was a Beautiful Day for 7 hours of Baseball

This past weekend, my hometown MLB team, the Milwaukee Brewers came to DC to play the Washington Nationals for 3 days straight (Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon). Last year, I ended up going to all 3 games (as you can probably tell, I am not only an avid football fan, but an avid baseball fan as well). This year I was only able to attend 2 out of the 3 games due to commitments for the volleyball team.

So I was originally planning on going to Saturday’s game, but as some of you may know if you live in the area, it was storming all day—tons of rain, thunder, etc. As a result, the game was rained out. So on Saturday I was pretty bummed especially since I had already bought tickets for me and the group of friends that were coming with me (and some of those people could not come with on Sunday). Currently, I am working on getting a refund for those tickets. Because the game was cancelled on Sunday and the fact that the Brewers are not scheduled to come back to DC to play the Nats for the remainder of this season, they decided to make up Saturday’s game on Sunday 30 minutes after the 1st one ended, turning the day into a doubleheader. I was pretty excited about this because that meant an entire day dedicated to baseball, literally an entire day. We left campus at 11:30am and did not return to my room until after 7:30pm. The metro ride to Nationals Stadium is really easy once you know where you are going (Foggy Bottom to L'Enfant Plaza to Navy Yard) and it only take roughly 30 minutes.

The weather was beautiful, roughly 68 degrees, sunny, with slight wind. In the sun it was almost too hot, but in the shade with the wind, it got kind of cold (never satisfied haha). Our seats were really good (reserved bleachers in left field), but when the 2nd game rolled around, we were completely in the shade, so when people cleared out after the 1st, we moved over to the reserved bleachers in centerfield where the sun currently resided. I even got a bit of sun burn on my face, which will hopefully fade into a tan, As for the results of the games, unfortunately the Brewers somehow lost both even though they are considered the better team. Oh well. Everything else about the day was really fun. It was a beautiful day for baseball and it was nice to take a break from the routine of homework currently going on right before the end of classes. This is just another perfect example of fun things to do while in DC!

The outside of Nationals Stadium

One of their president mascots, George!

The group minus one (these were our seats)

Beautiful day for baseball

Crowd doing the wave

After we relocated to center field for 2nd game

(*all photos courtesy of Katie)
Feel free to email me with any questions cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu.

-Christie

Spring Fling

This past Saturday a GW tradition occurred, Spring Fling.  This is a free concert open to all students, usually held in University Yard.  However, this year, because of the rain and wind, the concert had to be moved indoors to the Smith Center, still a great facility for a concert.

In the past, Spoon, Josh Ritter, Regina Spector, and many others have made appearances at this annual show.  This year, Chiddy Bang and Mike Posner rocked out to many screaming GW students. Posner even sported a GW basketball jersey for his encore singing  his hit song "Cooler than Me."

It was a great way to hang out with friends, hear some free music, and relax on a rainy day.
Program Board, the host organization of the concert partnered with FoBoGro and other area sponsors to provide food, drinks and even free t-shirts for all who attended! They also host a similar concert in the Fall, the first weekend on the academic year.  This past year Wale and Travie McCoy performed and OK Go, Sean Kingston, and many others have been previous performers.

I hope this gives you something to look forward to when/if you come to GW!!

Don't forget, please, please, PLEASE email me if you have ANY questions (admitted students, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, transfer students and anyone in between.)

Until next time
Kim

Gender Neutral Housing

GW Housing is finally understanding of students' wants to live in gender neutral housing. This will be a new option for the coming year and an interesting decision that was made! GNH makes it possible for you to live in an apartment with boys and girls, but only if everyone agrees to this on their housing application (the program has to be mutual.. otherwise that could get awkward!). The rooms available for GNH always have more than one room, allowing for a certain amount of privacy if that is wanted. According to the GW website:

How does the program work? Students interested in this option must

1. Communicate with their prospective roommate group and share RMSIDs.  Students should protect their RMSID as they would their keys and not share this ID number with students with whom they do not desire to live.
2. Complete the iHousing application during their designated application period, answering affirmatively to the GNH lifestyle question and indicating their preferred roommate(s).
3. Students must communicate with GW Housing Programs: All prospective GNH residents will be contacted by a GW Housing Programs professional staff member to confirm their commitment to the gender-neutral rooming option.

You can read the article in the Washington Post or in the GW Hatchet and it turns out we are quite behind on this option. 144 students are taking the opportunity to live in a co-ed environment in the fall! Looks interesting and is a great option for people who are interested.

Questions? marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

English Workshop Classes at GW

This semester, I have been in Introduction to Creative Writing. For those of you wanting to take English or be an English major at GW, I really recommend it! Though I am not an English major, it definitely is my first choice of electives and it has really helped me grow as a writer. I am no longer intimidated to sit down at my desk with a pen or with my computer to outline a story idea that pops into my head or the skeleton of a poem. In this class, we wrote a nonfiction short story, a fiction short story, and three poems.

In this class, the strongest and best part of it has been workshopping people's work. I have enjoyed work shopping my own work as well as the works of others. It has been an amazing transformation for me to watch people move from elementary comments (“I loved your work”) into developed and constructive criticism (“It would be helpful here to add a transition to understand the time shift”). I have enjoyed working with my peers to improve my own writing while helping them focus their thoughts on paper as well.

My biggest accomplishment this semester was feeling empowered enough to submit my work to George Washington University’s literary magazine, Wooden Teeth. Before this class, I would have never thought of trying to write anything for publication and much less even think of submitting my work for others to read. I was empowered through the workshops of my writing and positive comments or suggestions from others to change my work in ways to make it more relatable and understandable. I am ecstatic that Wooden Teeth will be publishing my poem, “Peaches,” in their spring edition. It seems unreal that this could happen so quickly but I am happy for the recognition!

As always, questions are welcome! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa

The Green Wave--DC Filmfest

As previously mentioned, I'm a huge fan of DC's annual film festival, and I try to see as many of the films as I possibly can in the short time span I'm allotted.  On Friday night, I saw The Green Wave, a German-made movie with Persian and English language about the 2009 elections and resulting violence in Iran.  So this was reeee-heee-hee-heally up my alley.  100%.

It was a great film, really mobilizing and impassioning--particularly for someone who was somewhat involved in the crisis, as I was.  Back then, I made a Twitter account solely so I could get updates on the protests and the consequences they would produce.  I deleted it soon after the fervor died; no need for that silliness, in my opinion.  But I really empathized with some of the characters in the documentary, partially because it's hard not to think of what your own feelings would be if you were imprisoned for seemingly no reason, and partially because I remember what it was like when I thought some of my cousins over there may have gone missing, or worse.  A really powerful film that is sad and thought-provoking (as so many Iranian films are!) without sacrificing a shred of hope for the future (as so many Iranian films are NOT!)  Haha.  But definitely a great movie.  It also parallels to some of the uprisings that have been happening in the Muslim world in recent days.

Here's the trailer, tell me that's not powerful:

Sorry it's so tiny, Youtube embedding is being kinda weird.

Let me know what you think!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Some of my Favorite Moments

As a senior looking back on my time at GW, I wanted to share some of my favorite moments throughout my years at GW.  I am not sure how many blogs will be in this series, but stay tuned for more!

The GW Float!

By far, one of my favorite times at GW was building and riding the GW Float during the 2008 Inaugural Parade.  I was able to work with students across the university and administrative leaders to represent GW on the national (and international stage).  We worked together to using our different experiences, resources, and talents to build the best float EVER!!!! We had the longest, bestest (yes I said it), most wonderful float in the parade!

You cannot imagine the layers of clothing I wore while building and riding the float, but despite the below freezing temperatures, it was all worth the pain to be part of such an historical event.  I met so many people I wouldn't have in other situations and have a great story to tell!  Very few people are willing to put the design, building, and staffing of a float like this almost solely in the hands of students.  GW trusted us and it paid off!

I could not have had this experience at any other university and I am grateful to GW for allowing me to have this once in a lifetime opportunity!

I will keep reminiscing on some of my favorite moments at GW throughout the coming month so STAY TUNED!!

Don't forget to email me if you have any questions!

Kim

Beginning of DC Filmfest!

This year marks the 25th anniversary of DC Filmfest!  I'm super excited and already bought 4 tickets (for the price of 3, woot!), and I have a feeling I may see another one or two.  I wish I could go to one every night--but I guess homework and my limited funds are going to squander that idea.

Last night, I saw Gold and Copper (طلا و مس), an Iranian film released this year.  Here's the description from IMDB:

"A Tehran mullah-in-training struggles to take care of his ailing wife and their children in this profoundly moving melodrama. A film of near-universal appeal, it puts a human face on Iran's Muslim clergy with its unusual tale of a man forced by hardship to become a better husband and father. Seyed Reza has just moved with his family to Tehran so he can study the Koran, and he relies on his lovely wife Zahra to look after their two young children and weave the intricate rugs that earn them a living. But one evening Zahra collapses and is taken to the hospital, where she's diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Scarcely able to process the tragedy, Seyed is left to cook, change diapers, walk his daughter to school and take his toddler son with him to his classes, where peers and elders treat him with scorn. But Seyed eventually learns to cope, his prayers and devotional studies taking on deeper meaning as he attends to the hard nightly work of rug weaving, getting through with a heavy assist from friends, neighbors and kind strangers."

Sounds moving, right?  It was.  It was pretty damn touching.  Rather sad, wrenching at times, but with a fairly uplifting ending--enough so that I was satisfied and very much contented as I walked through the GORGEOUS residential areas between The Avalon Theater and the Friendship Heights metro station (about a 15 minute walk, not bad at all.)  The combination of the movie and the quaint walk left me feeling purposeful and part of a bigger picture the rest of the day!

If you'd like to experience the same joy I do at the award-winning films in this year's festival, check out this link.

As always, I'm open to emails!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Bhangra Blowout 18

The Awards for Bhangra Blowout 18

 So this Texan had never heard of Bhangra before he got to GW. However, once I got here I discovered GW had one of the best teams in the country and that a friend and fellow Texan friend of mine, Nadia, was involved with the group. For those of you who don't know about Bhangra, it is a form of traditional dance from the Punjab region of India to celebrate the harvest season that has now been increasingly popularized to incorporate pop music with the traditional saaps and drums.

A portion of the theatre filling crowd

In this years competition, GW performed in exhibition while the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Cornell, Columbia, Drexel, the University of California-Los Angeles, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor  and the University of Virginia competed for over $4,500 and bragging rights. This event was held on Saturday night at the Warner theatre only 5 blocks from campus and below are some pictures. This is a good example of a cultural event here at GW and exemplifies how students are exposed to many different cultures and traditions while at a national/international school like GW. Hope you enjoy and sorry for some of the pictures poor quality. Technology has only come so far and Blackberry's can only take such good pictures.

GW BHANGRA!!!!!!

Nadia and Mama Nayar

If you have any questions about this or anything else, feel more than welcome shoot me an email. I will be posting soon why I chose GW and maybe a bit more on housing. Hope your decisions are coming easy perspective students and hope to see some of y'all at April Visit Days.

Peace, Love and Hippos,

Brandon
brmoore@gwmail.gwu.edu

Buzzing for Change

One of my good friends at GW is a part of a student organization on campus called "Buzzing for Change." Buzzing for Change is a national non-profit organization, started at GW, which raises money for children living with cancer. B4C was founded at The George Washington University in 2002 by Judah Ferst in honor of his mother who was lost to cancer. My friend lived across the hall from his younger sister, Sarah Ferst, her Freshman year. Fundraising culminates in an annual event that took place today where volunteers from Hair Cuttery come to GW and guys (some girls) will buzz their heads to be in solidarity with cancer patients, and girls (some guys) will cut off 6 inches or more of hair. All the hair is given to Locks of Love, an organization that uses donated hair to make wigs for cancer patients. All the money raised goes directly to Camp SpecialLove, a camp for children living with cancer. Take a look at the great organization for yourself! http://www.buzzing4change.org/

President Knapp at the event

Ladies getting buzzed

UMBC Tournament Wrap-up

Today was my team’s (GW volleyball) last tournament of our spring season which was held at UMBC (University of Maryland-Baltimore County). Since Baltimore is about an hour away, it was not a long drive by any means, which was good, since we got to sleep in a little longer and then we were able to return to campus that much faster. Also, this morning on the way to their campus, my team stopped at Panera Bread for breakfast, which is an absolute favorite of mine and another one of my teammates whose is also from Wisconsin. I ordered a blueberry bagel toasted and with cream cheese and it was delicious—so good.

Then we played our first match of the day at 10am against Loyola University Maryland (who we have played before) and beat them in 2 games. Our next match, at 12pm, was against the Naval Academy, who we have also played multiple times this spring season (most teams in the area tend to circulate around the same tournaments in the area during the spring season). This was by far our best match of the day and we beat Navy quite easily in 2 games (25-9 and 25-11—for some reason these are the only game scores I can remember from today, maybe because they are so good). Since we won our pool play, at 2pm we had to play the #1 team from the other pool bracket, which was Delaware. On a side note, our assistant coach from the last 2 years is now one of the assistant coaches at Delaware as of last week, so it was definitely a weird experience to face him across the net since he was our coach until a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we lost against Delaware—probably since Doug knew every single one of our tricks! Haha But seriously, we could have played a lot better and there is always room for improvement so we are using the loss as a learning experience. We left UMBC around 3:15pm and arrived back on campus about an hour later.

Even though our tournaments are over for spring, we still have weight room/conditioning from 7-8am and now mini practices from 8-9am every weekday morning for the remaining 2 weeks of classes. Then, we get our summer workout packets to do at home or wherever we are spending our summers!

Go Colonials!

-Christie

Fresh Food for Clean Water Fundraiser!

This is shameless advertising, but this is a common occurrence on campus and if anyone is on campus (bloggers..?), please come out! Usually, campus student organizations will reach out to campus vendors/restaurants and try to get a cut of the profits towards their philanthropy or something else.

If any of you are around, my living and learning cohort (what's that?), The Green House, is having a fundraiser at Campus Fresh (restaurant in the gym) on Monday (tomorrow) from 5-8 PM. All of the profits will be going to the Water Project and is part of our year-long goal to raise money to support clean water for a classroom in Kenya.

Photo from the Water Project

Let me know if anyone visiting campus will be coming to this- I'll be sitting there and would love to chat with you about campus life. If you have any questions, please email me at marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

No Government Shutdown!

Wooooooooooooooooooo!  I'm so happy all the Cherry Blossom events are still happening and nothing's going to be out of whack in this town!  (Or at least, no more than it usually is...!  Haha.)  Plus, next week I'm having an interview/office visit for my job this summer, and it would have been pretty awful if that all got pushed back, it would have forced me to start the job later and everything would have been screwed up!

So today, I'm going to the Sakura Matsuri Festival at Federal Triangle.  I can't wait!  I'll let you know how it is and maybe share some pictures.  I went last year and it was a blast.  And the food was so good!

I won't get into the politics of it all aside from this parting thought: Thank GOD for Speaker Boehner--that noble white knight who rode in at the last minute to save the day... *cough cough sarcasm to the Nth degree*

Sorry I had to get that in there...

If you have questions, comments, or complaints about my blatant liberalism, let me know!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Why Come to GW?

Hi everyone! I've had a few questions lately from accepted students unable to come to April Visit Days. I was one of you, coming all of way from Portland, Oregon, and I wasn't able to make it out to DC to see the school before deciding to come here. It is a leap of faith, but you have a lot of resources here to help you make an educated decision and all of the bloggers here at Admissions are always happy to help you with any question you may have during your decision process!!

Hottie.. without a body

REASONS TO COME TO GWU:

• Well, as everyone knows, it's cool to go to school in the nation's capital
• Our mascot is the hippo, which is way cooler than many schools I know
• Our urban campus is very unique and gives you the opportunity to experience city living while still having a quiet campus on the weekends and access to green space on the mall
• The student body is generally active and engaged in the community/politics/city
• GW hopefully gave you a great financial aid package, because around 70-80% of students receive some sort of package from the school
• We have unique programs such as the Women's Leadership Program, Honors, and Living and Learning Cohorts
• Teachers usually teach on the side while working/doing research in DC, which gives you a unique opportunity to hear about their "real lives"
• GW brings in tons of great speakers, as you probably have seen in past blog posts (recently: Hillary Clinton, IMF director, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and more)
• Great dorms with easy ways to live with friends, your own bathroom, and good apartment living
• Variety of options and encouragement to study abroad in non-traditional places
• Our meal plan is unique in the sense that it is very flexible- we don't have any cafeterias and can use the money towards groceries at Safeway or things you need from CVS
• International student body is diverse and visible on campus
• Student organizations are very involved on campus and in the city and give you awesome opportunities!

Like I said, you want to come here

Always email me if we haven't posted something to answer your questions!! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu
- Marisa

The Impending Government Shutdown

Hello to all,

If you've been keeping up with the news at all, you'll notice we are on the brink of a government shutdown that will seriously impede different services and lives of people nationwide, but particularly in DC.

House speaker John Boehner, who will have a lovely yard full of trash

For example, here are some consequences that will occur from the government shutdown:

• DC garbage services will be postponed for the coming week, check out this article about the facebook event for dumping trash at Boehner's home
• Internships are being severely affected, with "non-essential employees" being cut indefinitely- basically, this includes almost every single person I know on campus who is an intern!
• The GW Crew boathouse is being shutdown even though they have a regatta here this weekend because the boathouse is on National Park land
• The Smithsonian museums will be closing, limiting tourist activities around the city
• Cherry Blossom Parade permits are in limbo which will also severely affect tourism and those profits for the city if the parade ends up being cancelled

You can follow this more on NYTimes but basically the two parties are arguing over ideological issues and that is what is holding back the passage of the budget. The nice thing is that GW students are all very up to date on these issues and it is interesting to talk to other people about it. In particular, the fact that abortion is a major factor that is holding this budget proposal back is a popular issue that has been talked about among students.

As always, please email me with questions! marisaw@gwmail.gwu.edu

- Marisa