Bart for AAC Chair

After hours of pondering, should I or should I not run, I made up my mind. I am running for Academic Affairs Council chair. The AAC represents students on all academic matters at RA. After a meeting with the current AAC board it was official and I started my "campaign". This means making a poster, print some and put them all around the RA campus.

Up next: more campaigning, speeches, more speeches and the election night.

Bart – for an approachable, accountable and communicative AAC

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: I’ve been looking for Freedom

For the first time in roughly two months I get up early with a smile on my face (instead of cursing the day) and welcome the sun into my room. The breakfast I buy at the Agrimarkt on the way to the station where I take the train to Antwerp. I don't have a certain plan or goal: I just want to stroll around in the sunshine and enjoy life. Preferably while shopping – hey, I am only human (and female), too. Unfortunately my dear (male) companion ends up exhausted after an hour of me running through different shops, squeaking from joy about every handbag, shoe or jewellery item that I can get into my hands (and put down again with a sad sigh – hey, I am only a poor student, too). I end up staying till 22.30 p.m., allowing myself to have a cool Guinness at the Irish Pub. When I take the train home, I wonder what the next day will bring. The clue about this: I don't know yet and I don't care, it will be amazing anyway.

Those were my two days of ultimate freedom. Two days - makes a weekend. And a luxury RA students usually cannot have. I took this freedom anyway and at this point I can literally feel my teachers and fellow students shaking their heads. But it was Spring BREAK and the week after unleashed-from-hell-midterm-week. I deserved it!!!! I deserved it. I ....didn't I? Here comes the ugly truth about my university. Yes, I deserved it. We all deserve it after working our fingers bloody from typing endless essays, sleep depriviation of 7 weeks (= our semester so far) and a worrying lack of private life. We cannot have it, though. We need to be available 24/7 for all sorts of groupwork crises and assignment related nervous breakdowns from all sides. Even on vacation.

Still I took those days off. Why? Because...well....mere whimsy. Because I can. Because I am cool like that. What a rebel I am, hah! The sun is shining. I can meet my friends again. I see my parents, finally eat good food and actually have the time to catch up on all those TV series I am so crazy about. Flowers are blossoming: spring is on its way. Life is good. Don't get me wrong, I love RA: We are all mad here. Some say you can only survive if you are as mad as a hatter (luckily I am, too, Johnny!). Life at RA is crazy but beautiful (hey, we also have sun and flowers and sometimes TV session here, too). There is this scene in Mona Lisa Smile when the teacher is completely perplexed when all the students have read the entire textbook for the course already. Ever since I can remember I have wanted this. And it is soooo RA.

I love being a student. Therefore I need(ed) those two days off and I know deep inside you all grant me them, even if there is a stench of jealousy. Because now my batteries are reloaded for another 8 weeks of gorgeous insanity. Now I can put all my energy, heart and passion into my studies again. I am ready for the rest of the semester, which, honestly, sometimes can seem a bit scary. But all I can say to this is:

 Bring it on. Challenge accepted!

My name is Lisa Theresa, I'm a Theatre&Media Studies Student, minoring in Statistics merely for the sake of insanity. I am a second year at Roosevelt Academy and apart from work in other committees head of the Campus News Project (www.ra-campusnews.webs.com).

Maud and the Psychological Importance of Spring Break

There is a certain set of questions each RA student should be able to answer whenever, wherever. These questions are, in sequence:

1. So… what exactly do you study?

2. Why Middelburg?

3. Are you on break again?!

The first couple of times you get asked either of these, you try to come up with a decent response. Well, our university uses the American Liberal Arts and Sciences system, which basically means we get to study all the subjects we're interested in, and even get a Degree at the end of our three years here… actually, Middelburg is a pretty nice town, and its tininess only contributes to the sense of community at RA… yes, I am on break again, but the reason our vacations are so long is because we work so hard throughout the semester. No, really. (Or, as one of my neighbors once deftly put it, "Hard work pays off.")

After a while, though, it gets tiring to repeat the same things over and over again – no matter how well-meant the question – and you start cutting down your standard answer template. Nowadays, I tend to just tell people I study "mainly" English language and literature. When they voice their doubt regarding Middelburg's authority as a student town, I merely shrug. And, yeah, I have the week off, and I ain't apologizing for it because it's great.

It's spring break. Half of the semester is behind us; we're half-way through, half-way there, and most of us have built up a buffer of acceptable grades to fall back on in case things go a little sour. Midterms are mostly over. Of course there are always essays to be written and presentations to be prepared, but this week we can actually afford to procRAstinate for once.

I went into this break with the full intention of writing at least three of the five essays I have to hand in this semester. By Monday, I'd finished one and started working on a second one. I was on schedule. I figured I deserved a real break for a day, so on Tuesday I met up with one of my best friends at Starbucks Schiphol. The next day, two of my intRAweek brothers – one of whom was an American exchange student; he was here to visit the Dutch friends he made – came over to my hometown. Coincidentally, one of my intRAweek sisters called me that night and asked what my plans for the rest of the break were.

You can probably guess what happened; I won't have to spell out for you. It is Sunday now, and I am still frantically working on that second essay. I can't even say that I really mind. I spent my spring break immersed in coffee, sushi, sun, good music and even better company. It was a nice week. Yes, essays are important, but so is mental health. And at least now I'm well-rested and psychologically all ready for the second half of the semester…

My name is Maud and I am a second-year student of Linguistics & Literary Studies. These are a few of my favorite things: books, sneakers, loud music, and coffee.

Ilse and Sleep

Nine days of spring break, nine nights of proper sleep. Fourteen hours of sleep on the first night, nine on the last with an average of nine (I screwed up that average by deciding to spend one night doing only five – Middelburg is gorgeous at sunrise and there was enough caffeine in my system to keep me going until then) and a median wake-up time of 1 pm. Decidedly different from normal RA hours – the going to bed at 4 isn't that abnormal, getting the full nine hours of sleep is. So I guess I pretty much caught up on my sleep deficit (not entirely, if I am to believe those who say having a sleep deficit can only be solved by getting as many hours of additional sleep as the hours lost, but since I no longer feel like falling asleep every moment of the day I suspect I got rid of most of the deficit). Being woken up mid-day by sunshine and twittering birds is a very nice experience, especially when combined with toast, tea and old tv shows.

Maybe I should introduce myself. Ilse, 20, social science major, rhetoric & argumentation minor, obsessed with a bunch of things (among them Italian organized crime and ancient Egypt), fan of (old) films (The Godfather, Casablanca, Dracula, etc.), fan of reading (I must admit I didn't much like the Dracula-novel, though I loved Frankenstein. Prefer to read Oscar Wilde, though. I find his characters' views on a whole bunch of 'civilized' matters hilarious) and a whole bunch of other things that are not interesting for you to know.

Anyway. I am aware that I should probably have spent much more time on studying for some upcoming midterms (yup, still got some of those to go) and trying to find a place to do an internship this summer but sleeping just felt really good.

I did do some other useful things. I cleaned my Koestraat room, which was nice. Cleaning clears my mind as much as it clears my room, so that's always good. I did some studying but not as much as I'd intended to. And I re-watched many old CSI-seasons, something I am inclined to consider some sort of studying as there are many concepts in there that probably work in real life – if I were a science major.

So now it's all back to class again, midterms, homework, studying. Well, at least I sort of caught up on sleep. That's always nice. Now I can afford to lose a whole lot of sleep again.

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.

Micha and the Flying Time

It has been a while but I have gone back to blogging again. I am now in my second semester. After a very very long winterbreak (6 weeks) we have finally started school again, and we are already on 1/3^rd of the semester again. Time flies when you are having fun! :-). Or being busy.

I am, at the moment, treasurer of SARA (Society Association RA). At the same time I am trying to be an active member of PhoRA (Photography Committee), I also help filming for the CampusNews and at the same time I am also trying to write this blog. This means that I have a lot to do. From making budget proposals, organising meetings, to making films and taking pictures. This ofcourse all a whole lot of fun to do, so I don't mind at all. However sometimes you just don't have time enough to do it all.

For example this week with a stats exam, a paper and a presentation. This is sometimes quite difficult but so far I am managing just fine. That is also one of my tips for new students, just get into one or more committees and have some fun! Through committees you meet a lot of people but you can also do some fun stuff you would otherwise do on your own, for example taking pictures. Student life is not only studying and hanging out with friends but also being active in your community.

Adios and see you next time!

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

Lisa: You want a piece of me

...or not. But you'll get a minimum of ten pieces of me anyway. Let's try to properly introduce myself. After all I want you to return to this blog, and this seems more likely if you know who-the-heck is writing this:

Know thyself, the Oracle of Delphi said, so they did in The Matrix, and now I do this for the Roosevelt Academy student blog, so finally I gave in and tried, hoping that there would be a lot more to me than there is to me.
I am glittery, inquisitive, whimsical, a film-admirer and literature-lover, cute, young-at-heart while actually still not so old in age, lavish, silly, sometimes I’m funny, shiny, pretty darn hot (in my vivid imagination), cheerful, sunny, joyful, only a little depressed when I’m sad,
I surrender to the strawberry ice-cream, eloquently nonsensical, so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying – or maybe just quoting Oscar Wilde too often, nocturnal, I like strawberries, penguins and soap bubbles but not at the same time,  trallalla, formidable, rainbows are more awesome in London and Paris, Smiley Fries make me grin and Disneyland makes me sing, hanging out in the fancy bars with the boys who can play guitar, toodeloo, cosmopolitan, I want everything I’ve ever seen in the movies, curious and curiouser, James McAvoy’s second wife-to-be, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, rare limited edition, oh shucks!, I am not what you think I am – I am GOLDEN: simply me, Lisa Theresa.

Here we go. This is My Life as Lisa and from now on you will be updated live from Middelburg about it. Back to the studio!

My name is Lisa Theresa Kölle, I'm a Theatre&Media Studies Student, minoring in Statistics merely for the sake of insanity. I am a second year at Roosevelt Academy and apart from work in other committees head of the Campus News Project (www.ra-campusnews.webs.com).

Bart wonders: To run or not to run

After this mid-term break the elections for the boards of student bodies at RA will be there. Besides a bit of work, visiting some friends and finding a job for the summer break the main thing on my mind was whether I should run for a board position or not.

The RASA, AAC, HAC and RA council all depend on students actively participating and making sure the coming years at RA will be as much fun as they were last year. It would be great to help out in one of those councils. But which one, what position, do I have time for that, what about campaigning, do I have to put up poster with my face all over RA?

Keep watching the RA blog for the result of this conundrum.

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.