Final Finals

nd thus ends Freshman year. Looking at grades and activities, it could certainly be called a successful one. The grade point average I have managed to maintain leaves many doors open and my newly gained positions on executive boards of student groups should provide a lot of extracurricular excitement in the years to come.

In April, Spring quarter began after my pleasant spring break in California. In this ultimate quarter of the first school year, I have finally commenced my studies in the field of economics, which I would like to add as my second major, and I have continued studying communications and liberal arts, all pretty much according to my long-term plans. In economics lectures, I have learned about an interesting difference between the econ departments at Northwestern and the University of Chicago. Apparently, Northwestern's economics department is much more Keynesian, whereas UChicagoans down in Hyde Park tend to take the neoliberal approach. Personally, I see the latter as closer to my heart, but it never hurts to know both sides of the question.

In Theories of Persuasion lectures, we have explored how people change their attitudes and opinions and what to do to sway that change in the desired direction. Mathematics proved to be less engaging than I had anticipated, and over the course of the quarter turned into more of a necessary evil rather than and intellectually stimulating subject. By taking the third part of the one-year sequence in Spanish, I believe I have reached a decent level of proficiency that makes a good start for eventual deeper immersion.

As for the extracurricular matters, I have managed to become both a treasurer in The Northwestern Flipside, which enables to me to have a say in the long-term heading of the magazine as well as to learn the nitty-gritty of dealing with the Student Organizations Financial Office, and the head of PR and Marketing of the ISA for next year, which should be an incredible opportunity to bring many of my theories and ideas to practice while propagating the organization that I'm really passionate about. I even get a whole committee on my command. Swell.

Well, that would be the summary of the more official parts of my new life in Evanston. Switching to life outside of school, I'm happy to say that Spring Quarter was probably the most pleasant quarter so far, as things have finally started to fall into place, we have even had a couple of sunny days, and all in all I have finally started to feel a lot better in Evanston as the flight home was nearing. What is more, the Chicago Blackhawks brought a certain sense of unity to hockey-lovers on campus by making it to the Stanley Cup finals and later winning the whole thing, so we had something to cheer for. The International Peer Advisor interviews, however, brought me disappointment as I did not manage to get the position and therefore will not be able to prepare a butt-kicking introduction to student life for incoming international students.

As a result, I am coming back to campus before the end of September instead of in the middle of it. What matter, though, is that I am coming back to a place that I love and to people I know and enjoy, to a familiar environment that I now know how to navigate and in which I finally feel comfortable and confident. On the 24th of September, it all starts anew and the adventure of my life goes on.

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