Bart: Summer Break is Over, IntRAweek Starts

Three months later the break is almost over. After a quick holiday visit to the French Alps I got back in Middelburg. What to do… I had a job here, so that kept me busy for a while. But still, absolutely no classes, no homework, no papers, it had been a while. Luckily there were more people in Middelburg to hang out with, and with nice beach days, a few visits home, dinners and parties time goes by really quick.

So quick that intraweek is about to start. New people have moved in last weeks, and I realized that that was me a year ago, strange feeling… New students generally means parties, and that is basically what has been going on the weekend before intRAweek. Lots of new people to meet, and remember the names of.

For this intRAweek I signed up to be a parent, but so did a lot of other people, so I was not picked this year. But I can still help out in intRAweek, because I will be a godparent and can help organize the activities. No idea what they will be, since this RASA board is very good at keeping things secret, so I guess I will find that out coming week. Exciting!

Bart, class of 2013, is a Science major. Besides his courses in Mathematics, Earth Science and Politics he enjoys running, swimming, cycling, playing guitar, hanging out with friends and an occasional party.

Bart: School's Out for Summer!

One year seems like a long time, but it's gone before you know it. The feeling of finishing your last paper, last presentation and very last exam is quite great. Especially when you know there will be a three month holiday after. The last weeks of the semester were quite hectic, but looking back at this semester, and my very first year at RA, I am very happy I came here. Besides some hectic weeks in the semester there is a lot of fun to have. From barrel parties, to sports, to a hangout with friends, there is always something to do here.

But the long awaited summer break is finally there. Three months, what to do… Plan a holiday, look for work, go home, lots of options in three months. Enjoy the summer!

Bart, class of 2013, is a Science major. Besides his courses in Mathematics, Earth Science and Politics he enjoys running, swimming, cycling, playing guitar, hanging out with friends and an occasional party.

Bart's Road to Election Night

Having the posters printed it was ready to put them up… everywhere. Yes everywhere, all the RA buildings, all the campus locations, everywhere. It's quite funny to see the walls slowly get covered with posters once more and more people decide to run for some board position.

After I was on most RA walls it was time to actually prepare for a first speech on the pre-election night. It was just a one minute speech, so not that big a deal, but actually quite harder than it seems. You want to have some content in your speech, but only have one minute for it, and preferably do it by heart. But I guess I did manage and after I had done my speech, and got rid of the nerves, I could just listen to all the other speeches. Some were even better prepared than others and it was a great evening.

Next up was the actual election night, for the speeches on that evening we even got half a minute extra than on the pre-election night. There were even more people listening to the speeches that night. My personal best on the amount of people doing a speech for set on the pre-election did not last long. The election night took place in a small church, and I thought there were only people on the floor level, but when I went on stage to do my speech I noticed that there was a balcony which was filled with students as well.  This was quite scary, but awesome at the same time. I did alright but despite the polite round of applause I received my luck stopped there. I was not elected, too bad, but it was a great experience. And who knows, maybe better luck next year.

Leaving all the election frenzy behind I had to actually continue with academic things. With just a few weeks left I still had to hand in assignments, papers and prepare for presentations and exams.

Bart, class of 2013, is a Science major. Besides his courses in Mathematics, Earth Science and Politics he enjoys running, swimming, cycling, playing guitar, hanging out with friends and an occasional party.

My Life as Lisa: Follow me!

No, this is not an advert for twitter. Actually, this is not meant as an advert at all, it is purely an expression of the highest excitement possible. And I am a person that can get reaaaaally excited, so beware!

I am planning a movie. Of course, I have always been a huge fan of whatever CameRA does, but now finally inspiration struck me to complete my own masterpiece (hopefully). I will film our very own Doctor Who Episode! It seemed a bit of a silly idea at first, a whim of the moment, not a real plan. However, the idea haunted me so much (case of inception?) that I could not get rid off it anymore. And after I figured out how to solve some technical problems that would be inevitably linked with this project I thought: Why not? and could not be stopped by any human creature alive.

Anyhow, it was also clear to me that no matter how fantastic I find this idea, a movie is an enormous project. Such a project with RA students that never have time to even help out their closest friends for 10 minutes? How would that ever be possible? Furthermore, it is a Doctor Who Episode, we need a complete soundtrack re-recorded or composed not to violate any copyrights. Yeeeeah, sure, Lisa, dream on. Is what I thought.

I also thought asking never hurt anybody, so I did, expecting to get a. an awful lot of rejections b. no email at all.

Dear reader, you have to understand: As amazing as RA students are, they just do not reply to their emails. Don’t ask me why it is too hard to send a short one-sentence-notice about something very important, but apparently it is for 80% of our oh-so-busy-students (yes, I know we are busy, but so am I, don’t use this as an argument!). So, I wrote this enthusiastic email about how much I want to film this Dr. Who episode and who was willing to help with basically anything. Before I clicked on “send” I asked a friend: Do you think I will get any replies to this? He said: Don’t count on it, please don’t be so sad if not.

1 minute later my mailbox informed me with a little bleep that there was an email. And another one. And another one. And another one! I felt a bit like Harry Potter jumping around all these letters from Hogwarts. So many emails! Replies to me asking a huge favour from people, to give me a lot of their time, a lot of their energy…and they were all willing! Those who would not help out even replied as well, congratulating me to the idea and wishing me good luck with the project.

If you see someone singing and dancing through Eleanor, it will be me. I am so happy. All this support that I had never expected but secretly hoped for so much! All this enthusiasm, I am so, so, so glad!

Also, I hereby want to utter a warning:
Be careful. Aliens will invade Middelburg soon. You have three months time to evacuate, or prepare to meet a Timelord and his companion. Watch out for a blue telephone box.

Lisa Theresa is a theatre&media studies student, minoring in Statistics merely for the sake of insanity. She is a second year at Roosevelt Academy and apart from work in other committees head of the Campus News Project  (www.ra-campusnews.webs.com).

My Life as Lisa: Campus News

I cannot end this semester without saying anything about Campus News.
Ever since the committee CameRA, of which I am a proud member, mentioned that this project needs an adoptive parent, I have been working on plans, schedules, scripts and interview questions for it. Campus News, I was convinced, should happen, be, and develop into a really cool little video show that people look forward to every two weeks. I even made my parents buy me a camera to do the required filming – it was certainly not the happiest day of their life when they passed the cashier, but I hope the result makes them a bit proud and happy of their investment.

As the semester ends, so does the first season of Campus News…I call it the first season because there will be another two seasons, for sure. I will not give up on this project as long as I am still a student at RA! I truly hope that when I graduate, I have found an amazing team and someone capable and enthusiastic to take over the project and hopefully the tradition that we have built up until then. Campus News started with an episode about intRAweek, celebrated Valentine’s Day, explored the horrors of Midtermweek, rejoiced life in spring, followed the elections and tried to catch some bunnies. Moreover, there is an awfully long episode about the movie ‘The Successor’, but I particularly like it. I don’t know how I feel about all these viewers being so happy about the introduction of this certain episode (go and check it out if you haven’t seen it yet), but I scripted it, so I try not to take it personally and take it as a compliment.

At the moment I am collecting comments and suggestions for the episodes to come in the next semesters in the Campus News Box in Eleanor. I hope you all have somewhat enjoyed it and in the next semester it will be even more awesome! The first season was a jump into the cold water (quite successfully though, luckily), the second season can only mean even more fun and entertainment to come.

Lastly I want to say that Campus News is more than happy about any new members (just contact me!) and your input! The box will still be up for the last week, so this is your chance! If you miss it, I am sure you will figure out how to find me anyways.

Lisa Theresa is a theatre&media studies student, minoring in Statistics merely for the sake of insanity. She is a second year at Roosevelt Academy and apart from work in other committees head of the Campus News Project  (www.ra-campusnews.webs.com).

Micha goes WWOOFing

So this blog it is finally time to explain what I am going to do this summer. It is completely not university related, however it is always great to see what you can do if you have so much time on your hands.

This summer I am going two months to Sweden to go WWOOFing. No this is not barking like a dog, but than written in capital letters ( however you do pronounce WWOOF like that). WWOOF stands for: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms: WWOOF. http://www.wwoof.org/

WWOOFing basically means that you go to an organic farm, and you work there. Even though it is unpaid, you get a roof above your head and food. So it is volunteer work. The equation is very simple: you donate us your work, and we will give you food, roof, and knowledge about organic farming. If you are not interested in learning some organic farming skills, than don't do this. But if you do, please do so ;-)! So what am I going to do? I am going to take the train to Copenhagen, and than take the train to Malmo, where my journey through Sweden will start. I will first stay somewhere near Uddevalla, which is on the west side of Sweden. Here I will stay two weeks, after helping here I will travel all the way to the middle of Sweden, where I will stay in Mora. After staying there for a almost six weeks, I will travel through the rest of Sweden. Go to Stockholm for example, and some other places I still have to think about.

The picture on the map is absolutely not definitely, but this is the plan as I am thinking of it right now... oh how do I love 3 month long holidays!

My name is Micha, I am a first year student focussing on anthropology and sociology.

Ilse and the End-of-Semester-Blues

As much as I dislike midterms do I like end of terms. Especially the final two weeks in which you buckle down to finish those last bits – polish that last essay before you hand it in, sit down to your last exam, finally finish that course book... two weeks, immense madness and you are constantly reminded of there being 'only two weeks left!'. You are aware of the upcoming deadline and the endless three-month stretch of 'freedom' that lies beyond. You know you will never have to take the courses you don't like but really do need for your major ever again – in my case, anything abstract with numbers – and you will end that awesome course – for which you have suffered through three other courses in the previous semesters just to fulfill the requirements – while thinking 'Week 15? Really?!'. The end-of-semester parties are coming up, all kinds of events, three months of endless sunshine – and it's actually a bit sad. You also realize that you again spent 15 weeks of your life having a marvelous time and it's again over. You think to yourself 'only n semesters left! Oh my, does time fly!'. You know that the three months of freedom also mean three months without RA, three months that are torturously long. It's interesting that we interpret these months as free, since I haven't encountered any student yet that plans on doing nothing. All are going to do some awesome internship, summer course or will work and/or travel et cetera. It's a very double feeling. Pleasant, but saddening. Not really a blues, actually. More like... a big band song in minor key. But that doesn't sound as good.

Ilse is a second year social science student with an interest in law and law enforcement with an interest in many different sorts of media.