Classic Bev

IS Monday is still a blur, it all happened so fast!!! The march was probably the best part, there was so much electricity and energy. Once the pipers started playing, the crowd went nuts. Dean Garg, our Dean of Faculty, led us around campus in her full academic regalia holding a Tootsie Roll banner and followed by the bag pipers. The best part? Everyone lining the walkways. It was the most surreal experience of my life. All of my friends were there, my professors, all of my coworkers, the entire student body cheering and waving signs…::sigh:: it was amazing. Greatest rush of my life. We walk through Kauke Arch to the south end of the mall and then loop around on our way to Kittridge, which is where the IS pizza party is held. The administration is there, a good number of faculty, plus free pizza, which is always a plus. After that, I’ll be honest, I went to sleep. Most seniors don’t make it past about 8:00pm, the sheer fatigue from working so hard on IS and finally turning it in does most of us in. I woke up at 9 the next morning, so yeah…I was tired. Well-rested now though!

So as I look back to Monday, I can’t even really believe I’m still done. I’m actually in DC right now visiting my sister and brother-in-law with Gump (she’s visiting a Peanut alum). My sister is due in early May so I’m the family ambassador to her baby shower, which was so much fun. I wouldn’t have been able to go if IS had been due this Monday, but with IS over, I’m as free as a bird! (Not quite, but I certainly feel that way) Everyone is getting their assignment dates for oral defenses; I haven’t gotten mine yet, but it’s pretty simple since I only have two professors in my department. The way IS works after you turn it in is that you’re assigned a second reader, who ultimately gives your grade. Most people are getting their assignments now because each department has to sort out second readers and get on top of all of their majors. Classics, on the other hand, only has three seniors and two professors, so it’s a lot easier.

I heard at work that they had an IS celebration here in DC on Monday. I think that’s so cool, I love that IS continues to be a meaningful experience. I was talking to a coworker who is a Wooster alum who said that when he and his college friends get together, they still talk about IS. I hope that’s me in a few years—I loved my IS topic so much and I actually can’t wait to defend it. I know that sounds weird, but oral defense is the part of IS that makes me the least nervous. I love speaking in front of people, I love my topic, and I know it inside out.

In Wooster, they had a big spirit weekend to celebrate IS. There was a huge bonfire on Friday night where seniors got to throw in all of their drafts and any other random IS-related materials. Last night was the Mr. Wooster pageant, our first year for the event and a huge success from what I hear. My friend Alex got first runner-up, so I’m pretty sure there’s some free Chipotle in that prize somewhere. I’ll have to investigate…

I’m off to pack up and drive back to Wooster, there’s a huge admitted students visit day tomorrow and I’m sitting on one of the panels. I hope I get to meet a good number of them, these visit days are how I decided on Wooster. I went to the overnight one during the middle of April and literally sent in my check the next day. Four years later…pretty happy I did

I waited outside the Registrar’s Office like I was getting tickets to an NSYNC concert or something, I was there a solid 40 minutes before it opened, was first in line, and got 164. I think it’s a pretty solid number: it’s below 200, it’s even, and it sounds good. You know what sounds better?! I DID IT. I’ll update even more soon, but right now? Sleep.

So I’ve really bunkered down and spent the last few days on IS solely, stopping only for runs to McDonalds and Starbucks for coffee (yes, I love capitalism. And caffeine. My ulcer Larry enjoys neither of those things. ). So here I sit, Friday night (well, Saturday morning, really) and I think I may be done. 80 pages of pure brilliance, haha. Not quite brilliance, but I don’t think I would change anything about it, unless my sister Caroline or my brother in law Daniel tell me to, in which case I totally will. I sent it off to them and I’m a little terrified of their critique. Caroline was a political science major in college and Daniel’s a classicist, so they are the perfect people to be reading my IS. I hope they like it…and I hope they read this post, so they know to be gentle, haha.

I got a call from my friend Jackie the other night, she was having trouble writing her acknowledgements page because she was getting too emotional. I talked her through it and couldn’t really imagine reacting that way…until I wrote mine a few hours later. Welcome to the waterworks. This project has been such a rollercoaster (which is still not over) and I’m towards the end of the ride, which means I’m excited, tired, and a little nauseated, haha.

UPDATE, SATURDAY, 4:40pm—I just came back from the bookstore from having my IS copies bound. Two go to the Registrar, one is mine, one goes to my mom, and one goes to my grandfather. They’re sitting neatly in a bag on my bed and I don’t even know what to do with myself now. I met some proud parents in the bookstore whose son graduated last year and whose other son is a sophomore right now and they were so excited for me. I love the spirit of IS around campus, you hit such a strange mix of people on the Saturday before IS Monday. Some of us are excited and delirious; others haven’t shaved in days and do not foresee sleeping any time soon. But that’s what makes IS Monday so great—we’re all equals that day and we all celebrate the same. I’ll update to let everyone know what number I got, I’m shooting for below 200…

Hooray for low key birthdays! I went out to dinner with my twin sister Amanda and my mom, spoke with friends and family on the phone, and that was it. It was a much needed break from campus and it was only a day and a half long! Now I’m just finishing up some work, continuing to revise my IS, and watching The Office (one of my many TV obsessions) and random foreign films. Seniors are starting to come back in full force, which I think will do nothing but help me focus on finishing IS (or so I like to tell myself).

PS, I sent out my first resume on Friday as well…real world, here I come!!

So the past few weeks have been so crazy, I feel the need to update. IS kind of consumed my life for about a week until my full draft was due but then I got to sit around and relax. Well, maybe not relax, but certainly focus on a bit that wasn’t class-related. Last Friday President Bill Clinton was speaking here in Wooster along with John Glenn and so I went to see him with some of my coworkers. I asked my advisor to go as well (and to bring her cute kids, because there’s nothing like using kids to get a good photo op with someone, haha) so that she could see if my argument in my IS about his rhetoric is correct. And it is! I was so excited, it was definitely a relief, especially after working so hard to get my draft in. That night, I went to the Jazz Ensemble concert to watch my friend Karl rock the sax and I have to say that it is the most fun I have had in a long time. I made my friend Gump go with me and we were dancing in our seats, it was ridiculous. The theme was “A Night in Havana: Three Generations of Afro-Cuban Jaxx” and the featured performer was a Cuban musician named Chuchito Valdes, who is possibly the funniest man I’ve ever seen. Not only was he amazingly talented, but he found a way to connect to the audience despite his poor English. I used to go to all of the band concerts in high school because my friends were in band, but I haven’t been to one since I graduated and I’m so glad I did.

Now it’s Spring Break and I’m still in Wooster, as are a lot of seniors. Spring Break is two weeks long, specifically so that seniors have time to finish IS without classes distracting them. The sports teams travel, as do the band and the chorus. I’ve been working during the day and spending some quality time with my friends (and my IS) at night. It’s been very surreal, because I got my graduation announcements this morning and it’s my future in a bag! Or at least, that’s what I’ve been yelling at people at work.