And the last week of classes begins...

It is hard to believe that this semester is almost over! Everyone says that college goes by fast (all of the seniors these last couple weeks haven't stopped saying it), but I am going to do the cliche thing and tell you that IT DOES! I am halfway done with undergrad already and it seems like I just got here.

Today is the last Monday of the Spring 2010 semester, and boy was it obvious walking to class this morning. Everyone looked sleepy on the way to class at 9:00 am. I could feel the the weight of each student's work load for the week as I, myself, struggled to wake up while balancing my coffee in one hand and muffin in the other! But I made it safely to class and have had a productive day ever since.

I look forward to meeting my friends in the library every night this week and mentally writing and re-writing down my list of "Things to Do Before the Semester Ends." I actually have mixed feeling about leaving OWU for the summer. While I am ready for a summer adventure, I will miss my friends and having everything I need right at my finger tips!

I must keep this simple reflection short and sweet due to the fact that I am attending a Student Athlete dinner later and need to finish an English paper before I can start getting ready!

Ride Data

I don't have a car. Sometimes this is frustrating. Mostly it is not. Mainly because of the Delaware Area Transit Agency Bus, or DATA Bus. (Pronunciation flexible. Dah-tah or daytah, whatever works for you. We don't mock funny pronunciations here, except for those silly people who say ALuMInum instead of aLUminum. Who does that?)

It is common to see this small, chubby, bright yellow bus chug through the streets of Delaware. It is the cutest thing. I've tried running after it to get a photo for you all but it always eludes me. So I give you this, which is not as cute but gets my point across:

The Data Bus is public transportation that shuttles you to different locations in Delaware County via fixed routes. These locations include a variety of grocery stores, 2 Wal-Marts, the main shopping center Polaris, the Delaware County Library, and many more.

How much for a one-way trip?

$1.

No, really, $1!

What's even better is that if you call before a certain time, you can schedule a trip to anywhere in Delaware County for only $2. If I sound like I'm getting increasingly excited, it's because I am. It means more money for groceries, which are vital for a glutton like me.

Sure, it would be better if I had a car. It would be even better if I knew how to drive, period. But for people like me, who somehow can't have a car on campus, the Data Bus is there. When you ride it, you can't help but really notice the town around you. On my last trip, I saw one of my friends walking her dog (which has grown to about ten times the size it was when I saw it last), two girls wearing Burger King crowns, and an elementary school tucked in a part of town I don't often see, where kids throw basketballs bigger than they are. It was a charming picture of town that only a slow moving vehicle (or, uh, heavy traffic) can provide.

Data Bus schedules are located near the Student Information Desk on campus and online. If you decide to attend OWU, I hope you make use of this great resource. (And the people who work there are exceedingly nice).

Recovering from an OWU Filled Weekend!

Before I tell you about my awesome weekend, let me begin by introducing myself:

Name: Mackenzie Conway

Majors: English, Psychology

Hometown: Marion, Ohio

Activities: Tennis and Delta Gamma

Last weekend was a true glimpse into what OWU means to me! I love when the sun is shining here at OWU because I swear it makes everyone so much happier. People break away from their warm beds and shut their textbooks to venture into the sunshine and partake in all sorts of activities.

Bright and early Saturday morning the Women's Tennis Team (that would be me) had a match against Wittenburg. The match started at 10:00 am and lasted until about 1:30pm. It was a great morning for tennis and nice to be playing on our home courts (even if there is a bit of construction in the view). We all fought hard but unfortunately we lost. I love being on the tennis team because it really makes me feel like I am a part of something at this school: I am a doubles partner, a member of the team, and a student athlete! As a tennis team we all get along really well and have a lot of fun when at practice as well as matches.

As the afternoon continued I was torn between heading over to catch the end of the softball game or making my way to the fraternity hill for Kappa Alpha Theta's philanthropy event: Kats and Bats. It is an annual softball tournament for different campus groups and organizations to participate in. I decided the go cheer on my Delta Gamma team with the full intention to make it back to the softball field for the 2nd game which would start at 3:00pm.

I cannot tell you have much I loved seeing everyone outside participating and having fun at Kats and Bats. Theta did a great job with the event and it was fun watching my DG sisters along with friends from other organizations both hits home runs and strike out. Weekends that pull students from different groups together are exactly what everything at OWU is about! Greek philanthropy events are a perfect example of this.

Exhausted from the tennis match, I knew I had to relax for a least an hour before getting ready for my sorority formal that night. I popped in a movie (red box is a college student's ticket to relaxation!) and took a short nap .

Dinner at a local Delaware restaurant (1808)was really fun and then it was off to the dance which lasted until about 12:45 am....it was bedtime for me! Between tennis, a sunburn, laughing with/at poor softball abilities, and a great dinner/dancing date, I was ready to call it a night.

Sunday arrived before I was ready and I headed to a classic Delaware staple: The Hamburger Inn for breakfast. With the upcoming week I planned to study and work on a paper that was due the next morning....but of course the sun was shining! It is so hard to do school work when the weather is nice and I want to be outside having fun with Friends. I ended up not getting to the library until after some evening meetings around 9:30pm. It was time to finish my paper! Late Sunday nights in the Ohio Wesleyan Library! Oh the joys of school.....

Hey OWU bloggers!!

Hey guys, 

This is my first time writing, so I am a little excited. My name is Jae, and I am a junior here at Ohio Wesleyan. To sum up why I love OWU would probably take a long time, so I will just say the people. For example, this past week we had a event called "Love Day on the Jay" where we celebrated the diversity of people on campus. These type of events, put together by the same loving people, will make you love OWU the same as I do. When I first walked on campus, I saw myself fitting in, and hopefully, when you come  to visit, you will feel that way too!

This is #1

Hey everybody...so yeah...I've never really done this before and I have a paper to finish, so I'm just going to give you a short and sweet intro yo! I'm Christina, but everyone calls me Fesz (it's my last name). Everyone always get really excited, with comments like "like the hat" or "I love that 70s show." I'm a sophomore at OWU, and although sophomoric technically means, according the dictionary.com "intellectually pretentious, overconfident, conceited, yet immature" I like to think that my college experience thus far has allowed me to transcend this generalization. I love OWU and will grace these boards with sundry topics pertaining the the school: sports, clubs, food, living options, cool events, the works. So stay tuned for next weeks post, when I actually start to really get into it! Until next time, adios blog followers!

Good Fortune (?)

A week or so ago, the Ham-Will cafeteria set out a big basket of fortune cookies during dinner. I'm one of the few people I know who actually enjoys eating the cookie more than reading the fortunes, so I grabbed a couple.

Text: TeamOWU donors allow our athletes to compete at the national level.

Heyyy, customized fortune cookies. Very sneaky, OWU. But wait -- that's not a fortune. It's a great piece of information, but what about what the future holds for me?!

 Text: Last year, $42M was awarded in financial aid and scholarships.

You can't even end those with "in bed."

Sorry for the grease on that second fortune. I'd decided to risk my arteries that night and have dinner from the Station of Death (aka grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and a few chicken strips). Oh but it was good. And so were the cookies.

95% of students receive some form of aid from OWU. Visit the Financial Aid website for more info.

Slice

Hey, hey readers,

It is a beautiful spring day at Ohio Wesleyan and this beautiful spring day comes before another beautiful spring day which is the day of Slice. Yes, Slice. If you are an accepted senior and if you have not made you college decision yet, we invite you. Come learn about OWU in two days worth of tours, information sessions, classes, and just good old campus fun. This Sunday might be too late for you but no worries, we've got two more: The 18 and Friday the 23. Register on our website.

Have a great one.

All you need is love, love is all you need

Runner up sappy song lyric titles:
everybody's gonna love today, gonna love today, gonna love today
where is the loo-oo-oove?
imagine all the people, living life in peace 


Last week, a couple of OWU students discovered that the Westboro Baptist Church was scheduled to protest OWU's screening of the documentary "Anatomy of Hate." The WBC are known for their demonstrations of hate and intolerance against homosexuals (and "the Antichrist" Obama), often picketing the funerals of gay soldiers. I would link you to their website but I believe they get money from page views and we wouldn't want that, would we?

Anyway, these students were amazing at spreading the word through email and Facebook. They quickly set up a protest to the protest, which they called "Love Day on the Jay."

It would be a peaceful demonstration of the love, tolerance, unity, and diversity that can be found on campus. It would drown out the cries and obnoxious signs of the Westboro Baptist meanies. But most importantly, it would be a big ole dance party!

And as a "subtle" eff-yoo to the WBC, the playlist featured songs such as:

• Mika - Love Today
• Diana Ross - I'm Coming Out
• Lady Gaga - Telephone ("sorry I cannot hear you I'm kinda busy, k-kinda busy...")
• Lady Gaga - Boys Boys Boys
• Okay, lots of Lady Gaga
• Super hyper 80s techno music, which we all know is directly correlated to the SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY

I was surprised at how members of the OWU community were there to celebrate love. 

(Err pardon my thumb.)

Random act of music #64

There was singing (and rapping), dancing, and eating. Burgers (beef and veggie) and hotdogs were sold at $2 and $1 respectively, with proceeds going to GLBT organizations at OWU. Some non-OWU groups showed up to support the cause too.

As for the WBC, well...I didn't see them. Did anyone? We began speculating as to what could have happened. Maybe they were lost. Maybe they were in Delaware, looking for the town of Ohio. Maybe they had been successfully cowed by our show of strength and togetherness (yeahhh). Maybe Fred Phelps had overdosed on too much haterade.

In any case, Love Day on the Jay wasn't about them at all. It was about trying to eradicate hate bit by bit. It was about making yesterday less about the WBC, and more about what it was meant to be about all along: The Anatomy of Hate.

Whether they had shown their angry little faces or not made no difference to what last night's "protest" stood for. It's not every day that the whole campus gets together in such a show of solidarity. Before I end this with a sweeping, heartwrenchingly cheesy summation of What We Learned from this day, I should probably go. And leave you with a conga line.