Applications, applications, applications, and other activities

If you want to become an International Student Organization cabinet member, student assistant, pre-orientation meeting leader, or live in a language house, February is the time to deal with applications, motivation letters, and interviews. Luckily for me, February is almost over and the results are slowly being announced. So far, it seems that all of my efforts were certainly worth the time.  

Besides securing extracurricular activities for next year, I focused on taking advantage of the opportunities that Grinnell has to offer. For example, my two weeks of spring break will begin at a three-day nation wide University International Student Organization Conference that will take place at the Iowa State University. After that I will leave for an Alternative Break trip to New Orleans, where together with seven other students I will be cooperating with non-profit organizations that have been working since 2005 on removing consequences of hurricane Katrina and rebuilding communities.

This semester I am broadening my involvement on campus as well. I am a photographer for the school’s newspaper Scarlet & Black, which is a very interesting job because it allows me to attend meetings, events, and committees that a regular student does not get a chance to go to. I started cooperation with the Alternative Langue Program and in the next few weeks we will create a syllabus for Czech classes that will take place during the next academic year. The last activity that I added to my schedule is Gourmet Cuisine Society. The lack of possibilities to cook at the school led me and my friend to the idea of starting a club focusing on international cuisine. We wrote a proposal, got approved by the Student Government, secured funding for ingredients, and have begun to hold lessons every Sunday that are open to all students and faculty. Our efforts seem to be very successful because the limited spots for each meeting have been filled within few hours.

The largest portion of my time, however, takes up the curriculum itself. I am again incredibly excited about my classes. This semester they include: Spanish, Latin-American Studies, Human Rights, and Introduction to Studio Art. Our midterm exams begin next week, but after that the already mentioned spring break takes place. I hope that along with gaining new experiences and obtaining information, I will also have some time to rest, so that I will be ready to start the second half of the semester filled with energy.