First of the Lasts

As you all begin your Senior year of high school, I am beginning my Senior year of college.  Scary. I know.

So I am writing this post to re-introduce myself to the new readers to the blog as well as give some general advise for our transposed lives we are in. (I am in your place exactly four years later, get it?)

As you have probably realized I am Kim, a Senior, studying Political Science with a focus in Public Policy and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. (I don't know if you can study anything with a longer explanation than that.) I am involved in the Student Association, Voices for Choices, Student Global AIDS Campaign, as well as House Staff.

This year is going to be one of the best years of your life.  You rule the school, know all of the teachers, and are looking forward to college.  Cherish these moments with friends.  You will soon be having your last homecoming, your last football game, and you already have had your last first day of high school.

Before Senioritis kicks in, it is important to do your research about schools to apply for (which I feel like I don't have to tell you if you are reading this blog).  But be sure to ask questions, visit, and take advantage of any contact with a school you can have.

Now I know that sounds intimidating, but it is actually a lot of fun to look at all of the crazy options for schools.  Who knows, maybe you never thought you would travel more than 3 hours from home and you will end up across the country.

I hope you return to read the blogs!  I will be sure to post interesting happenings on campus and document my senior year.

If you have any questions please email me at kwollner@gwu.edu!

Kim

The Global Language Network

As promised, here's a brief but hopefully useful explanation of the Global Language Network at GW!


The GLN is a non-profit founded in 2005 by a GW student hoping to expand the linguistic horizons of himself and his fellow students, and to share his talents with others.  The organization has expanded since then to offer over 50 languages (originally only 7) at multiple learning levels.


This semester, I hope to take Beginning Farsi through the GLN.  The catch is, if you register for a course, it's not guaranteed.  Some are more requested than others, so there's a lottery if more people than can be accommodated register for a course.  But that is usually for more popular languages like Spanish, French, German, etc.  But you can register for up to three at a time, so if you don't get your top pick, you'll surely get one of your top choices!


But the absolute greatest part of GLN courses is that THEY ARE FREE!!!  You pay a $100 deposit at first, but as long as you miss no more than three of the weekly classes, you get your money back!  It's fantastic!  FREE yet effective language courses right on campus!


Here's the info, try a course if you'd like!  What do you have to lose?


The GLN
Fall 2010 Schedule




I love reader emails!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu
~~~ Shireen

Changed My Schedule for the Umpteenth Tiime!

I don't even know why I told you my schedule earlier, I should have known it would be changed AT LEAST twice since!  Well, it has.  So here goes:  I dropped Karate and Persian (at different times, of course, adding to the chaos) and added Intro to Soc. and Soc. of Terrorism.  Since I am now a Criminal Justice minor, I've had to incorporate some sociology courses into my schedule, and I figured why not get some done now?  Plus, I can take Persian as a Global Language Network course (I'll elaborate on that in a later post... I feel like I've said that already but I certainly will.)  So here's my new FINALIZED scheulde:

French 3

Intro to Sociology

Sociology of Terrorism

Intro to Logic

Macroeconomics

Taekwondo

Yoga

Fun fact:  I decided to be a Criminal Justice minor after reading fellow blogger Vickie's post on her favorite courses.  I decided I was just so interested in the topics they covered, so I decided to make a minor out of it!  

Now I promise, this is IT with changes.  I bought the books, so I'm definitely not changing now.  I had to buy so many this semester!  Ughhhh expensive.  But it was worth it!  Cause I'm really excited about my courses.  If anyone thinks they have a class with me, let me know!!!  I'd love to have study buddies.  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Lunch with Bill Clinton...

Yeah.  That happened.  TO ME!  As a part of my internship, I got to go to a luncheon with William Jefferson Clinton (and 300 other people) in honor of my congresswoman.  Unfortunately, the congresswoman couldn't be there because she had unexpected votes today for H.R. 1586, the Teacher Aid and Medicaid Payments bill.  (Which passed!  Woot!)

I work on the campaign of Congresswoman Nita Lowey from New York's 18th District, which comprises parts of Rockland and Westchester counties.  Some of you may know/remember that I interned in her Congressional office in DC last semester, and that's how I found out about the campaign opportunity.  It's been a fun ride so far, but this was certainly the highlight of the experience.

The interns (all 10 of us) weren't even sure until yesterday that we'd even be *officially* invited, so it was that much more exciting when we all arrived at the country club where the event was held--even if we did have to arrive at 8:30 to set stuff up.

While I didn't get to meet him, I was about 3 feet away, which is cool enough for me.  My one friend stuck his arm out over a bunch of people and somehow finagled a handshake from Bill, and I was super jealous.  However, after that I shook my friend's hand, so by the transitive property I shook Bill Clinton's hand.  I SHOOK BILL CLINTON'S HAND!

Someone passing over this page may just read that line in caps and be enthralled.  Haha, psych.  But he gave a rousing speech that got much applause, a lotta sincere nods, and some laughs!  He mostly talked about how the Dems aren't done yet and let's keep 'em in Congress and Nita's awesome so don't stop voting for her and IT'S THE ECONOMY, STUPID!  Ha.  He didn't actually say that--only in my dreams.

So, I guess those were the highlights.  It was quite an event, and it's one of those things that makes unpaid interning soooooooooo worth it!

I love reader emails!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu
~~~Shireen

House Scholar

ON Tuesday I will finally return to DC to start training for my job as a House Scholar in JBKO (named for GW alumna Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis). It has been a great summer here in PA working at the Human Relations Commission and I am excited to return to the nation’s capital. Being home for a summer is a great time to hang out with old friends and spend time with family. I am grateful to have had a break from the hustle and bustle of the city and now I am really read to go to an event, listen to speeches, and network with all of the interns and employees that populate the nation’s capital.

House Scholars, Proctors, and Mentors are the different levels of House Staff that live in the dorms to help the residents (other GW students) transition into college living and academic pursuits. The job lasts one year, and has great benefits like being part of the larger GW community and free housing! House Scholars live in dorms with sophomores, Proctors with freshmen, and Mentors with juniors and seniors. I can’t wait to meet my residents and I hope that I will have a lot to show them.

I can remember as a freshman how helpful my house proctor was in helping me adjust to college life by providing support and suggesting outlets for academic advancement and extracurricular involvement. I hope that I can follow his model.

-Paul Waters

As always, if you have any comments or questions about anything GW feel free to shoot me an email at pwaters@gwmail.gwu.edu or leave a comment. I can’t wait to hear from you!!!

Schedule for Next Semester!

As part of my attempts to catch up with y'all, I originally said that I was going to elaborate on my cousin's wedding.  Thing is, now it feels like so long ago and all the drama and excitement has passed that I really don't care to write about it anymore.  (And the only wedding anyone seems to care about lately is Chelsea Clinton's, anyway!)  So now I'm back in the present, blogging about my current happenings!

Lately, I've contemplated mixing around my schedule.  Thing is, I'm going pretty light on myself course-wise this semester, because the last was such a whirlwind with demanding classes AND a demanding internship, and I wanted to kinda breeze through (while still meeting requirements and taking useful courses, mind you!)

Here are my courses!  I'm super excited:

Econ 12: Macroeconomics
Persian 3
French 3
Introduction to Logic
Yoga
Karate
Taekwondo

I know what you're thinking--THREE exercise sciences?  Yeah, it's a bit much, but I REALLY wanted to take Taekwondo, but I couldn't fit another class-class if I had that, so I figured I'd fill the rest of my credit hours with fun and challenging physical work!  No one's gonna wanna mess with me in any dark alleys!

I've been getting some absolutely lovely emails, you guys are just so nice to me!  So keep up the FABULOUS work!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

Interviews

It is that time of year again in Admissions where students flood to campuses to see the area, ask their questions, and take those essential steps closer to admission into their top schools.

Through my normal routine of reading the Washington Post Metro section I came across this article about how college admission interviews are rising more than ever before.  (GW is even mentioned near the end of the article.)  So I figured this would be a perfect time to explain GW's interview process.

Interviews are not a required part of the GW application.  We have found in recent years, only about 10-15% of applicants actually attend an interview.  However, while they may not be mandatory, they are evaluative.  This means that observations from your interview will be considered with your application/recommendations/other materials while your application is being read. So if you feel like there is something about you that may not jump off a paper, or you are a people person sign up for an interview! It will be a great way for us to get to know you better!

Now there are numerous options when it comes to when/where you interview.  Of course you can come to GW's Foggy Bottom campus and have an interview.  These are often one on one meetings with a senior, such as myself, that has been chosen and trained to give interviews.  You can also request an interview in your area.  We have hundreds or parents and alumni that are helping us reach across the country and the world to interview students no matter where they are.  Often you meet at a coffee shop or somewhere similar and have a chat.  Lastly, we schedule interview weekends across the country every year.  Admissions Directors, Senior Interviews, parents and alumni all come together and perform hundreds of interviews in a very short amount of time.  We usually have these weekends in Miami, New Jersey, New York, Westchester, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and many more places.

It does not matter if you come to campus or stay near home for your interview.  All of the individuals on the other side of the table are trained and prepared in the same way.

Now that I have explained the interview options, I am sure you are wondering how you sign up for an interview.  You can log into the Activity Center  and request an interview in any of the three described places.  The Activity Center is also where you will be able to check your application status so don't lose your login/password.

If you have any questions about the interview process or GW in general please email me @ kwollner@gwu.edu!

ROADTRIP

As I said in my past few posts, I'm re-tracing the major events in my summer, since I haven't been very active on the blog in a while.  On to number three:

Three weekends ago was the long-awaited trip to Pittsburgh!  I know what you're thinking, "Pittsburgh?"  Yes!  My friend Hannah lives there, and she invited a few of us over for the weekend.  It was Jocelyn from Connecticut, Emily, also from downstate New York, and Amanda from Ohio.  Amanda lives about 2 hours from Pitt, so the trip was pretty easy for her.  For Jocelyn and the rest of us, though, it was quite a trip.  7-9 hours both ways, to be specific!  

So here's how it went down: Jocelyn set out from Connecticut bright and early at 7:00 AM on Friday, picked up Emily at about 8:30, then arrived at my house around 9:15.  From there, we set off on a voyage to remember.  Ipods were stocked with "Roadtrip" and "Summer Fun" and "PARTAY" playlists, and we got audiobooks from the library (they didn't go so well...)

We got there in 7-1/2 hours from my house, which really wasn't bad.  Us Northeasterners had no clue what to expect about Pitt, we had never been there or any Midwestern(ish) city before, so it was completely new to us.  And you know what?  I loved it!  We all did!  It was such a pretty city, and it was really interesting seeing this part of the country for the first time.  Did you know that Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other IN THE WORLD?  IN THE WORLD!!!  

Here are some shots I got:

This was along the road--IT WAS SO TEMPTING TO TAKE THAT EXIT!

But alas, we didn't.  And I guess I'll be back in DC soon enough.  I move in the 26th!  YAY!  It was so good to re-charge my GW battery by seeing my favorite girls.  (The Strong Girls, as we're commonly known.  Ya know, cause we lived in Strong Hall this past year.)  We all agreed that this mid-summer reunion enabled us to get through the rest of the summer without missing each other TOO much.  It'll still be hard, though!!!

Email me?  I'd love it!  Inflate my ego, puh-lease!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen

Concert Slash Upstate Blog

As promised, I'm filling you in on goings-on in my life over the past several weeks, as I've been criminally absent.  I started with the most recent, and I'm tracing back.  Here goes the second installment:
A week ago today, I went to a concert with a good friend of mine in Brooklyn.  We're concert buddies--like how I said Andrea was my museum buddy?  I just always go to concerts with this kid.  So I bought tickets way back in April or May for this concert at The Williamsburg Waterfront.  We were super excited.  It's this gorgeous park on the East River, you can see Manhattan really well from there, and it's just really pretty.  

Unfortunately, it got less pretty when storm clouds started rolling in, and even less pretty when there was lightning and thunder and I was terrified and the concert got cancelled!

We were supposed to be seeing a Modest Mouse concert, but instead we saw their opening act, "Morning Teleportation" (pretty good, actually) and about 4 Modest Mouse songs, before we were forced to evacuate the park.  It was devastating, and not just because I'm a scaredy cat and I hate storms!

There's a rescheduled date for September 14th, but I'll be back at school (WOOT!) and can't make it up to Brooklyn for a random Tuesday night at the beginning of the semester!  So I'm getting a refund, luckily.  But I wish I could have seen them!

View from the park:

___

And that's about all I got to say about that.  The weekend before that, I went upstate (upstate New York, that is) with a group of friends. One of my good buddies has a home up there with her family, and she takes us up sometimes to get a dose of country living.  I always love going up there, cause it's just so pretty, and we always have fun riding around on the quads and hiking and swimming in their pond.  A good time was had by all!

Below, some pictures, of course!

                      

My friends Annmarie, Rosemarie, Ricky, and me

Me, Ricky, and Annmarie's dog Rocci--our dream is to buy a house upstate together so our families can live country lives (on vacations and stuff, of course.  I'm a DC girl.)  But we called this the "family photo."  Cute, no?

Yay!  Keep emailing, keep reading, and keep checking back to our site!  We love thinking we're popular!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

<3 Shireen

The Cloisters

Hey all!

Long time no talk, huh?  I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve become a bit lax about posting lately.  And I started the summer out pretty strong, too!  So I decided that starting NOW I’m going to catch you up on the biggest points in my summer so far.  I’ll start with the most recent:

The other day--Tuesday, to be exact, I went to the Cloisters Museum!  I had been promised to go there numerous times by high school teachers and family and friends, but circumstances always got in our way somehow.  So this summer, I made it a goal of mine to FINALLY go.  And I was NOT disappointed.  I absolutely adored it!  I really felt like I was at an old French monastery—the hoards of tourists (many Frenchies among them) helped that illusion!

I went with my best friend from elementary school, Andrea.  It’s a cute story, actually.  She moved away in second grade, and I didn’t see her until we both realized we were going to school in the DC area.  So last spring, we met at the National Archives and spent the day being touristy, and now we’re good buddies.  Museum buddies, specifically!  And we decided The Cloisters was perfect to add to our repertoire!

For the unacquainted, The Cloisters is a museum run by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (one of my favorite places on earth) that holds a load of art from the Middle Ages.  But what makes The Cloisters really interesting is that it contains cloisters—architectural structures—from five different Medieval French buildings.  It’s absolutely gorgeous and so beautifully done.  We marveled at all of the fantastic old architecture and the arts collections, and how the different pieces all flowed and came together so seamlessly (though you can tell the old architecture from the recreations.  But even if you’re not an art/history/art history nerd, it’s something to see, if only for the awesome views and great pictures you can get from it.

It’s a bit hard to get to—I certainly wouldn’t recommend going on a rainy day unless you take the bus straight there.  By subway, you have to get off the nearest stop, then walk about 10-15 minutes through this GORGEOUS park until you feel like you’re in southern France visiting an old castle.  It’s right on the Hudson River and has beautiful views of the cliffs and water.  Here are some snapshots I took from the trip:

Nice, right?  Yeah, to say the least…

I’ll be back with other updates soon!  No worries—I’m back, baby.

Email me!  Really!  I answer those more often than I post!  ShireenS@gwmail.gwu.edu

~~~Shireen