That's right, folks, after a summer at home, I'll be spending two full semesters in Germany. The program that I'm going on is called Junior Year in Munich and as you may have guessed, the program specifically caters to German students who want to go abroad for their entire junior year. JYM offers some American-style classes taught in German - mandatory grammar classes; a class on academic writing; survey classes on German literature, art, and theater; classes specific to the city of Munich; etc. - and allows students to enroll in classes at Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität München or the Technisches Universität München. During my first semester (October-February), I'll probably take three classes through JYM and one or two classes at LMU Munich. If that goes well, I'll take most of my classes at LMU during my second semester (April-July). In between, I'll hopefully use the long winter break (a full month longer than Oberlin's winter term!) to travel around Europe.

I was tempted to spring my decision to study abroad on the Oberlin blog community at the last possible minute, until I got to Germany if possible, simply because I like surprising people, but there were a few flaws in that plan:

1. Careful readers will note that I already alluded to the fact that I'm studying abroad in my last post and I'm sure I would've accidentally mentioned it again.
2. I want to write a little bit about the process of applying for study abroad programs, which I doubt I'll want to do when I'm actually abroad (much like I don't want to write about the college application process now that I'm in college).
3. I am really excited about going to Germany and I want to tell everyone about it!

All of this is so absurdly exciting to me that I'm barely feeling scared or pre-nostalgic for Oberlin. It would be a lie to say I'm not feeling those things at all, but the truth is that when I feel fear or pre-nostalgia coming on, I just let those feelings pass and remember how excited I am. I can't tell if this is because studying abroad is such an amazing opportunity or because I'm growing as a person (or both), but either way, I'm down. Of course, I'll probably be a bit sad that I'm not in Oberlin when everyone is starting classes again and I'm still at home waiting for the Wintersemester to start, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I intend to write at least one post about how study away programs work at Oberlin over the summer and to continue posting here while I'm in Germany (Ma'ayan, hold me to this). If you have any study-abroad-related questions, ask away in the comments and I will focus my future posts around them!

Nothing But Treble is Oberlin's oldest all-female a cappella group (the Obertones hold the honor of being the oldest group all-around). Frankly, our origin story is embarrassing. In brief, some Oberlin ladies were into some mid-80s Obertones and started singing a cappella in an effort to catch their attention. But that was in 1985, we current Trebs¹ are focused on using our voices to make awesome music rather than to make guys like us.

At the moment, there are 12 beautiful Treblings contributing to that awesome music. We share a common interest in singing, but we've chosen to specialize in disciplines from politics to dance, math to piano performance, archaeological studies to creative writing. Something I think is special about Trebs in particular among student groups is that we're all involved in very different things outside of the group. I can confidently say that if I didn't do Trebs, I wouldn't have met the majority of the people in the group and that my Oberlin experience has been richer because I met them. But before I get too sappy, it should also be noted that this diversity of perspectives also manifests itself in our repertoire. Like most college a cappella groups, we sing pop songs, but we also perform soul, folk, rock, hip-hop, rap, jazz, and most recently Disney music. (Disney is a genre. Don't question it.)

In addition to singing, we also have a ton of fun together in and out of rehearsals. Conventional wisdom says that when large groups of women come together, they always end up getting catty, but that hasn't been my experience in Trebs. Sure, rehearsals occasionally get a bit tense (after all, we usually rehearse after 10 PM), but most of the time we're much more likely to get distracted by silliness than by an argument. We try to stay on-task during rehearsals, but we've been known to descend into hand-standing, chalk-drawing, break-dancing madness. A Trebs secret: when we're getting too silly, our version of the classic "end of recess clap" is to have someone sing "What do we want?" at the top of their lungs and have everyone else answer with "a girl worth fighting for!"²

But I don't mind that we occasionally lose our focus. In fact, I love that in addition to being members of the same a cappella group, we Trebs are friends, people who support each other academically, personally, and as artists. As a nearly-lifelong "choir geek," I've made many of my most meaningful friendships through singing groups. Some of my best friends from back home are people that I met through my high school's choirs, and I suspect that when I look back on my time at Oberlin, I will be able to say the same about friends from Trebs. Certainly now that I'm faced with a long stretch of time away from Oberlin (more on that in my next post), I'm dreading so many months away from Nothing But Treble. While I'm away, I'll just have to comfort myself with the knowledge that Trebs will be there when I get back, watch lots and lots of old Trebs videos, and (if all goes according to plan) listen to the CD that we're recording over commencement week.

There are more videos from our Parents Weekend and winter concerts as well as some photos on our official Tumblr as well as some slightly older videos on our Facebook page.³ Plus, if you're reading this on the day I publish (May 6) our final concert is being livestreamed here at 9 PM.

¹Trebs, noun \trebz\
1. An affectionate moniker for an all-female a cappella group at Oberlin, the official name of which is 'Nothing But Treble.'
2. Multiple members of the same.

² On the off-chance you haven't seen Mulan, here you go. Actually, you should probably watch "A Girl Worth Fighting For" even if you have seen Mulan. I'll wait.

³ Need incentive to check out our Facebook page? Nothing But Treble is (as far as I know) the only a cappella group with an original song, composed by alumna Maya. The only current recordings of it are Facebook videos (hopefully this will change very soon) and it's freaking amazing so you need to get yourself over to our page to give it a listen. ]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/music_theater_arts/a_cappellove.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/music_theater_arts/a_cappellove.shtml Music, Theater, & The Arts Mon, 06 May 2013 18:01:19 -0500 Dara Lehrer '16 I have had so many absolutely fantastic professors this year who have inspired me in all sorts of ways. My heart is brimming with gratitude and excitement thinking about them all, so I'm going to devote this post to recognizing all of my teachers and mentors from this year.

Beatriz Cobeta

Beatriz was my spanish teacher first semester. She wasn't originally supposed to be teaching the course, but there were too many people in the original class with Patrick O'Connor, so she graciously volunteered to take a small portion of us. There were only 12 of us in her section, and she cared very much for each and every one of us. She is very kind and compassionate, and took a vested interest in all of our lives. She also has extremely adorable little boys, and would often come to class with their toy cars in her pockets.

Jason Belitsky

Professor Belitsky was my chemistry 101 professor. Although it was a pretty big, lecture-style class, he knew our names and did his best to keep up with our personal progress in the class. His lectures were sometimes hard to follow, but he was always willing to answer questions and his quizzes and tests were very fair. It was obvious he spent a lot of time preparing for his classes and thought carefully about what material to present and how.

David Walker

David taught my first year seminar. I've mentioned him in several of my previous blogs, and for good reason-- this man can make any old subject into a thought-provoking, paradigm-shifting labyrinth of philosophy and reasoning. David gave us the best feedback on all of the papers we turned in, and made an effort to get to know us all outside of the classroom setting. He even invited us all to his house at the end of last semester to have a little get together and holiday gift exchange! I don't have him this semester, but I still sometimes stop by his office hours to say hi.

Jen Shults

Jen taught my favorite class that I've taken so far at Oberlin. It wasn't offered through the college, nor was it taught during the school week. Every saturday last semester, me and a handful of other students and community members went to her house to sip homemade tea (I mean the real deal-- no tea packets, just straight plants and hot water mixed together) and learn about alternative medicine in the comfort of her living room. Jen is a chiropractor in town, but her knowledge about health and wellbeing extends well beyond the scope of straight chiropractic work. She has served as one of my main role models and sources of inspiration here. Some describe her as a mystical being because she is so insightful and intuitive. I'm hoping to take her class again, because it was that good.

Ann Cooper Albright

Ann is the wackiest teacher I've had by far. She is the chair of the dance department and is known for teaching Contact Improv (which I'm taking next semester). This semester, I took her class called Somatic Landscapes. Whenever anyone asks me what my most exciting class has been I immediately respond, "Somatic Landscapes!" to which I am met with the inevitable question, "Uh...what is that?" I generally say that it is a class in experiential anatomy and connecting with your environment, which includes both your own body and the greater landscape we call earth. Ann is super cool and zany and true to herself. She is a straight shooter and sometimes calls people out, which can be a little scary, but is ultimately rewarding. I agree with most of the opinions she has expressed to our class about bodies, technology, writing, spirituality, connection, food, and well being. Her most memorable piece of advice is to eat a peppermint patty before taking a test or writing an essay because it will make you smart. Last week for May 1st, she insisted we all meet her at a nearby pond at 6 am to watch the sunrise. Then we went to her house and had berries and tea. Not surprisingly, she has many cats and related paraphernalia (pillows, mugs, bowls, etc.). One eccentric similarity we share is that we both collected a wasps' nest and brought it to our respective homes at one point or another.

Elesa Rosasco

This woman is dynamite. She taught my contemporary dance class this semester, and dance we did. She is so dynamic and full of energy all of the time. Elesa is great at giving feedback to all of the dancers and creating an engaging environment where everyone wants to do their very best. She is rather petite, but don't let that throw you off-- she's got a very commanding voice.

Rebecca Whelan

Professor Whelan intimidates me by how cool she is. She double majored in Chemistry and English, so basically she's good at everything. She is crazy smart but also very approachable and can break any concept down into layman's terms. She never talks down to her students, no matter how basic the question or how many times she is asked to repeat herself. She always thinks the absolute best of her students, which makes us all that much more eager to succeed. She even cracks jokes in class, and her demonstrations are awesome (check out the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction and Resonance Squares on YouTube).

Eric Stewart

Eric was my yoga teacher for half of my first semester. I wrote a different blog about that, which you can read here. He's a very kind, and sometimes unexpectedly funny, man. I enjoyed his class a lot, and I still enjoy going to his yoga studio every week to man the sign-in station for classes and just hang out in the studio. It's definitely become one of my all-time favorite spots.

Deb Vogel

Deb is my advisor, which I'm thrilled about. She is very much a kindred spirit to Jen Shults, but she resides in the world of academia. She teaches in the dance department, but most of her classes are more geared towards body awareness and functional anatomy. Every single person I've ever talked to about her not only likes Deb, but LOVES Deb and attests that she has absolutely changed their lives. I feel very honored to be her advisee, and I can't wait to take her Body Re-Education class next semester.

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The only people I have left out are my psychology professors (because the class was fairly large and I never really talked with either of them) and my archaeology professor, because I actually didn't like her at all. Needless to say, she was only a visiting professor and I was in the last class she taught before she left the school forever.

I want to say that I've been extremely grateful to have encountered all of these amazing professors/role models/mentors over the course of this hectic first year of college, but that in having done so, I have not been at all lucky. That is to say, you don't need luck to do well and to find the people who are going to help shape your time at Oberlin College. You'll definitely find them, luck or no. And when you do, they'll be just as excited and eager to help you find your way as you will be to be finding it.

We all come to college with certain expectations about what we'll do and who we'll become, but I think my favorite part of coming to Oberlin this year has been realizing which things I do regularly now that I could never have predicted I would enjoy. Physical exercise, for example. So without further ado, here are the top 6 things I didn't expect to love in college!

1. Blues dancing

If you haven't been to any of OSwing+Blues' events this year, make yourself promise to check out a dance next semester, because the days of the awkward shuffling of middle-school slow dancing and the PG-13 moves of high school are far behind us. So far behind us that we've brought back your grandparents' Lindy Hop.

I'll be honest with you, dancing is hard. Unless you pick up moves at the impossible speed of the "Dancing" number in Hello, Dolly!, you're going to spend your first few Blues and Swing events awkwardly eyeballing the talented people cutting a rug in the center of the dance floor and being too afraid to approach anyone lest you break their toes to the beat of "Jumpin' Jive." And that's okay! Be brave. Be unafraid of stepping out of rhythm and missing your partner's cue and turning in the wrong direction every time. Be bold, and if you put your heart into it then people will be filling up your dance card like it's 1899.

(And if nothing else, you'll be able to critique the inevitable overzealous musical numbers in Luhrman's upcoming Great Gatsby.)

2. Cleaning

Ugh. I know that my mom is going to read this post and gloat about it, but it's finally happened: I clean my room of my own free will. More frequently towards the beginning of the year and more thoroughly when I feel a bout of procrastination coming on, but yes, I vacuum, straighten, and dust--dust!--until I rediscover the chair beneath that lump of clothes in the corner. I'm still pretty bad at getting dishes done in a timely manner and my bed is more often unmade than not, but before you start pointing fingers I dare you to take a look around your own dorm room first. Yeah, that's what I thought.

3. DeCafe smoothies

Before this fall, I had only tasted one smoothie in my lifetime: a strawberry-banana concoction blended by the father of a fourth-grade classmate who was teaching us something about cooking. I don't remember the lesson very well but I remember the smoothie being gooey and full of chunky strawberry seeds, two nasty textures that I couldn't reconcile. Until this fall, smoothies to me were the drink of preppy teenagers in Clique novels or the lifeblood of super-athletes.

Then I realized you could put mangos in them.

I have been out of Flex Points for two months running now because within the first two weeks of March and April, I drank enough smoothies to run them dry. I honestly don't know what's come over me. Perhaps it's because I've figured out which fruits make up my ideal ultra-tangy blend or maybe it's my taste buds longing for variety outside of the typical dining hall apples/oranges/bananas, but whatever the reason I think I need to see a twelve-step program before I'm left alone with my wallet this summer. Worrying evidence: over spring break I ran some errands with my mom, and every time we stopped for food I requested a smoothie. "Didn't you just have one yesterday?" she asked. Yes. Yes I did.

4. Fencing

I've made two posts already about how much I love hitting people with swords, so I won't say much more in this section. But I'm sure my gym teachers would laugh outright if I told them I exercise three days a week now, and six self-motivated hours no less. I think my parents still aren't quite over the shock. To all the other lazy, unathletic former-high-school-art-nerds out there: you do have an inner jock, and all you have to do to unlock them is pick up a weapon, put on a cloth version of armor, and run at another person with the intent to kill--I mean score. Your name was Inigo Montoya all along.

5. Naps

I am a notoriously terrible sleeper. I don't mean that I have a sleep disorder or wake up at the sound of someone breathing too heavily; instead, I put off sleep for as long as possible during the week before crashing and waking up at two in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday mornings. But though I can sleep through practically any amount of noise, it's impossible for me to fall asleep in under an hour, and naps just weren't a feasible option unless I was dying of flu. I was the kid who spent kindergarten squirming on her mat in the dark during naptime, hoping the teacher wouldn't call my bluff.

If only my kindergarten teacher could see me now. I've napped in lounge chairs, on blankets on the quad, and of course in my own bed. I've yet to conquer napping in a womb chair, but trust me, it's on my list. Last Wednesday I made the terrible mistake of napping for too long, but messing up my circadian rhythms badly enough to feel wide awake at 4 am just meant that I had more excuses for fix-it naps on Thursday and Friday. After all, why not? The average human spends about 30% of their lifetime asleep, and we might as get a head start on those twenty-some years we'll spend snoring through our lifetimes. Maybe if I sleep enough in college, I'll have an awesome night life when I'm eighty? Only time will tell.

6. (Going) Outdoors

A campus of under five thousand students doesn't sound big on paper, but when you meet about 3/4ths of them on Wilder Bowl when the sun makes its first appearance in late March you realize how many people that actually is. You wonder where they all came from. There definitely weren't this many people here in the fall, were they? Where were they all winter? Clustered for warmth in an underground nuclear fallout shelter? Why didn't they invite me?!

If you're a prospective student reading this, I mean this with all sincerity: visit us in May. Stroll underneath the flowering trees and have a picnic in Tappan Square and eat some ice cream from Gibson's or Cowhaus while you windowshop on Main Street. For every shivering Californian that bemoaned why they picked a school within reach of the lake effect, going outside this month feels like how manna must've tasted to Moses in the desert. The warm weather reminds you of all the friends you've made and all the things you've done since the last time it was fun to go outside in the previous fall. It's beautiful everywhere you go, and it's all too easy to stretch out on the nearest grass-covered surface and watch your worries about finals drift away with the breeze.

...Which reminds me that I should probably stop writing this blog post on the porch and hit the books.

Thanks for a truly fantastic first year, everyone! I can't wait to catch up with you next fall!

The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure, defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful. "But," says one, "you do not mean that the students should go to work with their hands instead of their heads?" I do not mean that exactly, but I mean something which he might think a good deal like that; I mean that they should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end. How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?

Truly, how better could one spend the time than by living, instead of studying and/or waiting for "real" life to begin?

Although I didn't take a gap year, many of my friends did. I think that it is a very valuable experience, and one that lends itself to a certain maturity and sense of purpose that is generally left unknown to those who go straight from one school to the next.

I asked several of my friends why they took a gap year, what they did during their gap year, and what personal value it has had to them. Here is what they had to say:

I decided to take a gap year largely because an opportunity came up that I didn't want to turn down. This was the opportunity to travel in Europe for two months with a traditional world music chorus. We traveled from Corsica up through mainland Europe to England and Wales, staying with host families the entire way, and singing concerts most nights. It was truly an awesome way to travel and meet new people.

After the tour, I hadn't made any firm plans for the rest of the year (although I knew that I'd be going to Oberlin in the fall), and so had to buckle down when I got home and find a productive way to use my time. I started working part-time as a dishwasher in a restaurant and also as a substitute teacher in the public schools. These were both very different experiences, but in terms of life experience, two of the most important things I've ever done. From the former, I gained an appreciation of the value and importance of work for work's sake; not necessarily work that I needed an education for, but work that was hidden from any glory and yet vital at the most fundamental level. In other words, I learned to work my ass off for minimum wage for 8 straight hours and come back the next day and do it again. From the latter, I had to learn about being extremely open-minded and being flexible. Being in a new school every day, with a new set of students, in a different grade level, with a different subject was sort of like going to work everyday with a blindfold and taking it off once I got there and being told, figure it out.

Then in March I started working at a local farm, and worked there until I came to school. It was then that I finally found my stride. I loved working outside every day and feeling like my work was accomplishing something tangible (and often edible). This was maybe the time in my life that I have felt the most free. Although I have many conflicting ideas as to what "freedom" is, I believe that having the opportunity to rise with the sun, to get myself to work everyday (via a 12-mile bike ride), to be outside every day in the sun, rain, and wind, and use my mind along with my body was the closest that I have come to achieving freedom.

All in all, after high school, I'd been in school for at least 13 straight years. It was all I'd ever known and I'd become quite good at it. Life without school however was new and at that time had the potential to teach me more than another year of it. This year of alternate learning (a.k.a. life learning) has made my return to school much more informed. My appreciation and value for labor is especially important coming back to academia, which sometimes ignores the importance of the jobs that hold day to day life together.

I decided to take a gap year because I was not ready to go to college, for many reasons. Instead of pushing through the feelings of being torn away from my family, which I knew I would probably get over, and forcing myself to jump into another stressful four years of school, I decided to go with my gut feeling of "I'm not ready!" My family and I had been discussing my taking a year off since I was a freshman in high school, probably because both of my parents, as well as many of their peers, were never given a choice. College is often just seen as what you do after high school, but it isn't for everyone, at least right away.

I spent the summer before the gap year technically started at a summer study program in Colorado where I took a few classes (Psychology, Wellness, Writing) for no credit and had a blast. Then I went back to Colorado and lived with an Obie friend and her new baby for two months, spending half of the time in her studio doing ceramics, and the other half nannying for the baby. We travelled to Kansas City and installed a solo show at the Kemper Museum.

I spent the rest of my time at home in Philadelphia applying to college with this year's freshmen, learning to drive, cooking, doing circus arts, hanging out with my family and cats, and working with a nonprofit organization called Fresh Artists.

One of my big worries was that after the gap year I would still feel connected to "my class" of 2011, and be unable to integrate into "the grade below me." Unlike high school, all bets are off in college, and that has completely been a non-issue. Now, I feel like I have an emotional leg up on this year's freshmen. I have been mulling over this whole college thing for a year, whereas I can imagine it is jarring to only have a few months off then be thrown into the crazy world that is college. Taking a gap year was the best decision I have made so far in my life, and I truly feel that it changed me as a person for the better.

I took a gap year under the pretense of figuring out what I wanted to do with my life, and while I did get some insight, it was really just an excuse to have fun for a year. To some extent it seems like the time in your life where you can take a year and do literally whatever you want. I'm not really sure where I got the idea, but certainly some of the influence on my decision came from my cousin taking a gap year two years before me. I spent four months in South Africa working with animals, mostly penguins, but also monkeys and other endangered species. I then came home and spent two months training for an outdoors program in Chile. It was a NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) semester in Patagonia that included a month of sea kayaking and a month of mountaineering. I cannot even begin to describe my experiences, but it was probably the best decision I ever made, and I learned a tremendous amount about myself over the course of the year. It's hard to realize what impact it has had on my life since the things I was doing are so far removed from my life now. I do know that I am a much better person because of it, and I definitely wasn't ready for college. My gap year enabled me to actually want to go back to school and have the motivation to do well. Most importantly, though, it really put things into perspective and gave me invaluable experiences that I would be unable to gain in any other context.

I decided to take a gap year simply because I couldn't imagine myself in a classroom the next year. Visiting schools felt interesting but disembodied, because I knew that I wasn't yet in a place where I wanted to actually be there.

In September of my year off I moved to a small town on the Oregon coast where my best friend and her family live. I spent three months living with her family and working in a cheese shop and bakery in town. Eventually when I was laid off from that job I began working at a nearby goat farm and the night shift at a grocery store thirty miles up the coast. It was a crazy time -- I was living in a different place for each job, often travelling between the two of them each day. I saved up enough money, though, to travel to Romania for three months in the spring. There I worked odd jobs -- WWOOFing, hostel work, but I also spent a month and a half living in two Orthodox monasteries, which was an unexpected and very intense experience, not being Orthodox myself.

Waiting a year before coming to Oberlin was one of the best decisions I've made. It's helped me to be on better financial footing, it's helped me to have a better understanding and to think more productively about why I'm here. It's had more personal significance that is less related to Oberlin as well -- communities that I became a part of, people who I worked with, others who I met, the time I spent living by myself...

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So there you have it. Reading all of these entries made me wish I had taken a year off of school too, although in truth, I did get to do a lot of traveling and partook in more R&R than I'd like to admit during my senior year of high school. If you're considering taking a gap year, I say GO FOR IT! The great institution of education will still be around when you're ready for it.

Props to my roommate Leal for deciding to take the year off next year and have some crazy adventures of her own!

Click here to be redirected to the official Oberlin gap year website!
(It's not exactly done at the moment, but there are a few useful tidbits to be gleaned from it).

I'm referring to students who converged on the campus about two weeks ago as part of All Roads Lead to Oberlin. Our Admissions Office coordinates this outreach effort for admitted students who've not yet committed to attending Oberlin.

During a roughly two-week period, students from all over the country come to campus for the first time or for a repeat visit to help them determine if Oberlin College is the best fit. Planning features separate but parallel programs for parents and students. The visit often includes dinner or dessert receptions with deans, professors, staff, and students, campus and town tours, classroom visits, panel discussions, info sessions, a concert or other social happening, and, for some, overnight accommodations with a current student.

Admissions also sponsors a program for admitted students of color, who visit Oberlin through the all-expenses paid Multicultural Visit Program (MVP). Part of All Roads, MVP includes tours, student panel discussions, visits to classrooms and labs, plus the annual Vernon Johns celebration.

It is a terrific opportunity for admissions and the campus at large to showcase all that the college and community has to offer aspiring Oberlin students. It's a red carpet-like treatment for families--minus the cameras, celebrity emcees, and plush carpet.

The Admissions Office encourages campus members to be a part of the allure and this year I volunteered. I attended a parents-only dinner at the Koppes-Norris House that also serves as the home of the dean of students. I also had a breakfast and a lunch with families, and called about a half dozen students to congratulate them on their acceptance.

Parents and students often asked what makes Oberlin Oberlin or as some would term it, the ethos of Oberlin. One parent asked what were my favorite places. When I can break away from my cozy yet windowless office, my chill spots include Mudd library, the Science Center atrium, and Tappan Square.

Another parent asked if Oberlin was too much of a bubble because of its size and small-town feel. I told her that unlike other schools in Ohio that tend to admit students from a particular region within the state, Oberlin draws students from throughout the country and abroad. That "All Roads" moniker is true: I met families from Minnesota, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, New York, Florida, Washington, D.C., Maryland, and California. I also met parents with origins in India and Brazil.

One dad, originally from Nigeria, wanted to come here after learning about the college's longstanding commitment to inclusion and social justice and yearned to study in that kind of environment. However, once he became of college age, he said he could not afford the tuition. Now a professor at a Colorado college, and the father of three daughters, he was overjoyed that his youngest daughter was admitted to Oberlin. Yet he had some anxiety.

His youngest daughter was the last opportunity for a member of his immediate family to attend the college he could not. He learned from his experience with his middle daughter, who also had been admitted to Oberlin, not to speak too favorably about a school so as to show bias. His enthusiasm in part, he believes, prompted his middle daughter to choose another school. He's tempered his approach this time, he said, and will accept whatever she decides.

That seemed to be the overall approach of other parents, who have resolved (possibly reluctantly?) to allow their son or daughter to make the final decision.

For some students, the choice is clear: Oberlin has something that a competing college did not. Perhaps it was a type of co-op, the focus on sustainability, community service opportunities, a purely undergraduate curriculum, study abroad, music, music, and more music, pedestrian friendly streets (e.g., no car needed here), foreign language-based housing, and as I explained to one student, a small community with a global perspective.

For others who were still on the fence once their first-hand experience on campus concluded ... I'll be curious this fall to find out how many of them chose the road leading to Oberlin.

Photography by Scott Goldsmith (ball chair), William Rieter (luggage and students)

We'll overlook the fact that I find it hilarious that I'll be lecturing in a class that helped get me to where I am now, but it's a bizarre conundrum. I never thought of myself as a media scholar, not one that lectures on things. I just like to make things! That's why I did my major. I could make movies instead of writing papers, and that's what sold me on cinema studies in the first place. In order to prove that I knew something, I could make something. Good? Yes. For that time, yes. But now that I make things as a part of my job, I am constantly asking myself and out loud, "Why, how, WHY?!" before, during, and after each thing I do. As reticent as I was to admit it at first, I realize that I'm turning to theory before practice every damned time.

My initial thought was that I wasted so much time with my major. I keep on kicking myself for not taking more theory classes in the time that I had, but I don't think I wasted my time. I mean, I didn't want to do theory at the time but what I have from my experience is a strong basis in STUFF — learning, listening, thinking, doing, and (while I am even more loath to admit it then but happily embrace it now) writing, and that means that I'll be okay moving forward. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I would totally revise my academic plans at Oberlin to include more theory classes... but I wouldn't have liked it at the time... so... fate being the way that is, I think I did fine. We can't go back and advise our past selves, but we can help our future selves out. It's okay. I'm comfy with where I am and quite possibly where I could be going (oh, the future!).

In no way does my new-found appreciation for media theory despite my complete avoidance of it up until this past year mean that I can't do this on my own. Libraries and books? Check. Friends and cohorts who do media studies giving me things to read/prompting awesome conversations? Check. A total head-over-heels appreciation for Henry Jenkins? CHECK. I've got things to devour, things to think about, and things to talk about, and it's all informing my work and my life in wonderful ways. This is where the Oberlin liberal arts training comes in: I'm prepared. I can do this!

But here's the thing, the super important thing: despite all this theory stuff filling my brain, I can not stop making things, and that is still the reason I was drawn to cinema studies in the first place. (That, and the fact that my media-deprived childhood meant that I had to start making up for it at some point.) The cinema studies students I had the pleasure of working with throughout my time as a student at Oberlin (and since then) have this deep-down urge to make stuff. Even the theory kids dabble in production (it's a requirement of the department — everyone has to take one production and one theory class, and then all the rest of the 300 and 400 level classes can be selected according to your interests), but I'm beginning to think that all of us, regardless of what camp we fall into in the cinema department, have a fascination with the other side of things. I started my cinema story with production (middle school), history (summer camp), then moved back to production (high school), then theory (beginning of college), then production (most of college), then pedagogy (end of college), and then theory (right now). And sometimes they're all happening at the same time. And then you start overanalyzing your life and wonder how you ever managed to make any decisions about your future when there's all this cool stuff in this world. Ahhhhh.

Let me tell you: this battle between making and thinking is really really frustrating sometimes. I want to think more, but I also want to do more. They have to play nicely with each other at some point, right?

I had an exchange with fellow cinema studies major Patrick Willems '10 on Twitter Wednesday morning about the creative process:

Patrick: My weekly routine: shoot a video, be excited about it, start editing, hate everything, want to drop it and run away.

Me: This is basically every creative process ever.

Patrick: AND I HATE IT.

Me: Me too. But it's a part of the process. And we keep on coming back for more.

That's me. That's us. We're gluttons for punishment but we also can't not do what what we do. You can't stop the makers from making, but everything within our power is making it seriously hard to do so, specifically, our brains start getting in the way. It's terrible but it's a good good thing. The next time you see a creative type (or maybe you're that creative type yourself, in which case, get thee to a mirror stat), give them a grin. We're probably residing in part of the spectrum between the throes of awesome and crippling self-doubt, with our brains constantly battling the muses of theory and production.

-- e.e. cummings

In honor of spring, I decided to take a few snapshots of the flowers. Being the hipster I am, I took some of the photos at night with flash.

But who could resist the sunshine?

It's spring!

Enjoy!

"Oberlin is the crazy aunt I always wanted."

"Oberlin is a wonderful world - it has provided the space for me to find who I want to be and I've met the most incredible friends who have encouraged me to realize that image of myself."

And my personal favorite: "Oberlin is my favorite place in the world because the weather has a sense of humor, and people run naked through the library when they're stressed."

The biggest theme I took away from my friends' comments was that Oberlin is a place where you can be yourself and do what you want, free of ridicule and judgment. I couldn't agree more. Here's the thing - you will leave this place (actually you will go home for your first Winter Break) a different person than when you came in. There's no escaping that.

When I posed this question, I actually posted my blog on Facebook to elicit more responses. One of my friends from home, who goes to another school, read it and sent me a text message telling me how different his school was from Oberlin. At first I disagreed, how could one liberal arts school be that different from the next? But he wrote back, "The scary thing is that people are so influenced by the environment they're in. So you would probably be a completely different person if you went here."

Yeah, he's right. But what I think makes Oberlin unique, and what these comments revealed, is that there are so many different types of people at Oberlin that you don't have to change yourself to fit in. You're not going to find a group of people at Oberlin who are just like you. This could certainly be frustrating for some, however, I have found it to be a truly rewarding experience. There is no singular Oberlin "type," you won't be molded into an "Obie," whatever that means. Rather, the people here will bring out parts of you that already exist. While it's true that your environment shapes you, and while I do think people leave Oberlin more different from each other than when they came in, it isn't because students are compelled to put on a front here.

But I don't agree with my friend completely. The reason I questioned how different his school was in the first place was because I really believe you can find any sort of niche at Oberlin. Oberlin students simultaneously embody and break every stereotype on the books. While the stereotype that Oberlin students love granola and wear long, flowing skirts and Birkenstocks is true to a certain extent, it wouldn't be unusual to see a student walking around in Nike shorts, running shoes, and sipping a protein shake either. Most students, rather, are some seamless combination of these two overused stereotypes. So I guess what being molded into an "Obie" ultimately means, to me at least, is that Oberlin molds students into individuals. What that means varies from person to person, but for no one is being an individual contrived.

Here are four interviews, which I've edited to 2-3 minutes from conversations that were originally more like 10-15 minutes. These students were very honest with me about the transfer process, and several of them had tough transitions. But please, if you are a prospective or incoming student, bear in mind that each transfer student's experience is different--I have heard transfers say that it took them one month, one semester, or one year to feel like an integrated part of the Oberlin student body. If you are serious about transferring, my hope is that hearing these transfers talk about their struggles adjusting to a new school will not deter you from making the decision, but rather give you insight and support into the process you are about to go through.

Kate, third year. Came to Oberlin after one year at another institution.

Max, fourth year. Came to Oberlin after one year at another institution.

Jay, second year. Came to Oberlin after one year at another institution.

Daniel, third year. Came to Oberlin after two years at another institution.

If you are thinking about transferring and don't know what to make of these interviews, let me break them down for you a bit. Here are some observations and words of advice that I have compiled from the full interviews, as well as from my own experience. However, I want to reiterate that every student's experience is different. While these are things that I and others I know experienced, there are many factors that will affect how you transition from one school to another.

First, some uncomfortable feelings that transfers often experience:

• The feeling of having to prove yourself academically or socially.
• The feeling that people aren't interested in becoming friends because their social circles are so well established that they simply don't need to meet more people.
• The feeling of being out of place, of getting to a school that is theoretically better for you than your previous institution but where you are not yet plugged in to the social and academic circles that fit you.

Second, some advice about how to move from feeling uncomfortable to feeling like an integrated part of the Oberlin community:

• Don't beat yourself up about feeling uncomfortable at the beginning. Several transfers who I talked to said they would advise themselves upon entering Oberlin to just "chill out." As Max said, feeling uncomfortable is an inherent part of being in a new place.

• Think carefully before deciding to live in transfer hall. All students I interviewed did not recommend it, saying that it enforced the idea that they were "transfers," that they were somehow "other" on this campus. Also, look up transfer hall on a map: it is in North, which is located near the gym and the athletics fields, and not at all central to campus. The combination of these factors made the living situation feel isolating to the students who I talked to.
• Strongly consider joining a Co-op. Co-ops are certainly not for everyone (you have to put 4-5 hours of work in a week, and most meals are vegetarian), but they are instant communities of students. At the beginning of the semester, there will be friend groups within a Co-op but also definitely students who don't know each other, so being a transfer student who has few acquaintances will not make you feel as out of place. Furthermore, because Co-ops are set up so you cook, clean, and eat food together, there are many situations where you meet new people and bond over things like eating salad with two knives because all the forks have disappeared, or trying to cook pizza without cheese because the delivery never came (this happened to me last weekend...).
• Work to put yourself in any situation where you can meet new people with common interests, like clubs, intramural sports, and excos. It is exhausting to try to break into a social scene that is already somewhat established, but I can assure you that it is not as exclusive as it seems. My own personal words of advice: people at Oberlin are awkward! They are shy! If someone is not being friendly to you, don't assume it is because they just aren't interested in getting to know you. I had many experiences where I thought people weren't interested in getting to know me because I was a transfer student, and then became friends with them later and learned it was their shyness, as much as mine, that made them come off that way.

And finally, the rewards of being a transfer student:

• Because you started out at a different institution, you can compare it with Oberlin. If you are happier with Oberlin than your previous school, even if there are some things that you don't like here (and there will be, no school is perfect), you know that there are specific reasons you chose Oberlin and you won't take the school for granted.
• The process of applying to transfer, getting into a new school, and successfully adjusting to that new school can be pretty empowering. Personally, I was wait-listed at Oberlin the first time around. Knowing that I was able to work hard to make changes in my life--do a year at another school, reapply, successfully get in--made me more confident in myself and my ability to make decisions.


]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/transfer/talking_transfe.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/transfer/talking_transfe.shtml Transfer Admissions Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:29:27 -0500 Margaret Saunders '16 Two weeks ago I helped load a dozen backpacks and suitcases, toolkit, medical kit, electrical scoring reels, and two large bags full of swords into a pair of vans and a sedan. This may seem like a standard, even reasonable amount of things to split between three cars, but the first thing I learned about attending fencing tournaments is that your Tetris skills will come in handy.

Multiply this picture by seven and you'll have a better idea of how big our pile actually was.

Yes, I fenced with the Oberlin College Flaming Blades at the USACFC Championships in East Lansing, MI this year! It was my first tournament (ever) and made for quite an exciting weekend, albeit one where I made a new personal record for least amount of sleep.

If you've never been to a fencing tournament before, let me break it down. The ideal number of people on a co-ed fencing team is 18: 3 teams of 3 people (one team for each weapon) for both men's and women's competitions. On the first day, all teams are sorted into pools by weapon (foil, epée, or saber). Your team fences every other team in your pool, and the number of bouts you win individually determines your standing among the whole tournament.







OCFB Men warming up on Day 1

Day 2 is a little more complicated. This is the direct elimination round that determines your school's place. After every round, the scores are calculated and new brackets posted showing which school you will fence next. Unlike a typical direct elimination, like a March Madness bracket, at CFCs you keep fencing even if you lose. Ex: two pairs of teams fence each other; the winners then fence each other to determine who gets first and second place, while the losers fence each other to determine who gets third and fourth.







OCFB Women waiting between bouts on Day 2

But enough jargon for now. You came here for the action shots, right?













And let's not forget the most vital element of any fencing tournament: the napping pictures.













Coach Walt Dragonetti

Overall, I had an utterly fantastic time! Learning to fence and joining the Oberlin club team was one of my favorite things about my first year here. I've made great friends and gotten pretty awesome calves out of the experience, as well as convinced many others to take the ExCo next year! Now if only I could face my professors in combat in lieu of final exams...


]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/athletics/recap_fencing_c.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/athletics/recap_fencing_c.shtml Athletics Sat, 20 Apr 2013 19:31:19 -0500 Emily Wilkerson '15

"Poetry is what gets lost in translation." - Robert Frost

The above quote gets thrown around a lot when people are talking about the virtues of poetry, but after last week I've realized that I'm going to have to disagree with Robert Frost on this one.

On last Monday afternoon, I went to the annual translation symposium, an amazing, fantastic, perfect-for-a-comp-lit-major event that everyone interested in poetry or languages should be required to attend. (Can you tell I'm kicking myself for not knowing about this event until this year?) Between the 22 participants, there were eight languages represented - Chinese, French, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Thai - a pretty wide variety for such a small school. As each student walked up to the front of the room to present their work, I was impressed over and over again.

There was a girl who told the crowd that sound is the focus of her translations, and proceeded to make the Chinese original and her English translation sing in a way I never would've expected. Another student translated a Russian "sonnet" so funny that it made me want to learn the language myself, or at least read a book of his translations. One of my translation classmates put a fresh spin on a long-dead Roman poet by taking an irreverent attitude and reading in a British accent. Most translated poems, but there were a few students who translated short selections from larger prose works and one student who presented a selection from a graphic novel that he translated into Russian!

But it would be odd to talk about the symposium without mentioning that I was one of the 22 students selected to read. As I mentioned in my last post, I'm taking a class on poetry translation so I already had some options ready to submit for the symposium. I ended up submitting two of my translations - the translation of "Spår" by Tomas Tranströmer that I included in my last post (I tweaked it before submitting it, but I'm refraining from editing that post to reflect the changes I made) and a translation of a short Spanish poem by Blanca Varela - and reading both for the symposium.

When the time came for me to read my translations aloud, I became suddenly and unexpectedly nervous, hands shaking and voice wobbling uncomfortably. At the time, I credited my nerves to having to read in Swedish without really speaking the language properly, but frankly, my imitation-Swedish accent was pretty killer. Maybe the nerves came from the high bar set by my previous translators or some desire to represent my poets well.

But all of that aside, something that's become more and more clear over the past semester and was confirmed on Monday is that poetry isn't necessarily lost in translation. I'll be that first to admit that I have to make all sorts of concessions (large and small) while translating, but at the same time, translating can lead to really wonderful discoveries on my part. To translate a poem well, you have to know it intimately, to give it the closest of close readings, and that is certainly a "gain in translation."

There's an important essay by Walter Benjamin called "The Task of the Translator" in which the author makes the claim that in order for a work to be translated, it must have "translatability" or a quality that links the work to a grander, more abstract "pure language." In translating, you unlock this "pure language" that was hiding in the original and attempt to make it more available to readers in your target language. In my opinion, this suggests that poetry is something in between the original and the translation, some quality that goes beyond the words themselves. I'll admit that this sounds a bit hippy-dippy, but the more I think about it, the more that I agree.

But you don't have to read Benjamin to disagree with the assertion that "poetry is what's lost in translation." All you have to do is read a beautiful, translated poem, whether it's the Song of Solomon or "I Love You When You're Silent." If you want real proof, though, I'd highly recommend attending next year's symposium because if it's anything like the one this year, you'll find poetry in abundance.


]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/events/the_oberlin_tra.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/community/events/the_oberlin_tra.shtml College: Majors, Minors, & Courses Events Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:47:56 -0500 Paris Achenbach '13 A while back, Emily wrote a great post on her personal tour of downtown, and included places I've never been to like the yarn shop and the public library (and I'm a senior! Terrible). Anyway, her post inspired me to write my own, especially now that we're the height of Oberlin's tourist season and prospective students are flooding our campus and may need some guidance to our overwhelming downtown. Okay, well that's a lie. But contrary to popular belief, there ARE places to go out to eat or shopping in Oberlin - and some great places at that!


A shot of downtown Oberlin from a parking lot behind the stores.

I feel fortunate, actually, that I go to school in which I have pretty much everything I could want to buy, food and shopping-wise, AND that 1) I'm not distracted by a large city or fun business destinations and 2) everything here is super-duper cheap. Let's just say that ten bucks goes a lot farther here than it does, say, in my hometown of DC.

But I digress! On to the Oberlin Tour!

Stop#1: The Local


Before I start my day I like to drink a strong cuppa Joe, and though I usually make it myself or use flex points at DeCafe (as a part of my CDS mealplan), sometimes I go to into town. Walk south on Main Street and you'll hit The Local on your left (right beneath the bike shop). I think the best deal is the medium Americano - two shots of espresso with hot water - it's strong and cheap ($2.00). Also, their bagels single-handedly saved Oberlin from the Great Bagel Depression that lasted for approximately 2 years after Beethoven's Bagels closed in 2011. Yay bagels!! I still think they're silly as a concept (I mean, bread and cheese for breakfast? not nutritious) but they're still delicious and only $2.00, so I say go for it.

After you've grabbed your cup of coffee, continue to walk south on Main Street and you'll hit...

Stop #2: Ratsies




Ratsies has to be on the tour; it's the town thrift/vintage/antique shop. You never quite know what you'll find there - sometimes nothing, other times the best ugly sweaters, summer dresses from the sixties and neon whole-piece bathing suits in the world. Great for birthday presents, retro items and costumes. I don't go there too often (hello, college budget) but it's a great spot nonetheless.





Now it's time to turn around, head back north on Main til you hit the old church with the bell tower, turn right, walk through the churchyard, stick to the right and cut across the parking lot and then head left and THEN you'll find....

Stop #3: Kim's Grocery

Part grocery store and part restaurant, Kim's will satisfy your Asian food cravings, from Japanese soda pops to udon noodles to green tea ice cream. If you eat lunch or dinner there, I recommend the vegetarian sushi, kimchi dumplings and the Asian-Mexican-fusion burritos. (Sounds weird to me, but my friend Emiliano claims they're pretty bomb.)


My friend Noah jumping for joy at Kim's sriracha options.

Stop #4: Cowhaus Creamery

I'm hesitant to put another food-related pit stop here BUT I can't refrain myself; this is, after all, an ice cream shop we're talking about here. And Cowhaus is not just any old ice cream shop: their flavors and waffle cones will blow your mind. Recommendations are included, but not limited to: Salted Caramel, Irish Car Bomb, Wabi Sabi and Blackberry Lime Cilantro Sorbet. Wild, right? The ice cream is on the pricier side, but you're supporting a small / local / organic business, not to mention your happy ice-cream-triggered endorphins. Yum!



Stop #5: The Feve!

Okay, last but DEFINITELY not least is The Feve, my favorite restaurant in Oberlin. I wind up there a lot because it's great for brunch, dinner, and late-night drinks when everything else is closed. Any of their signature burgers can be replaced with a veggie burger, and they have TATER TOTS with special dipping sauces and seasonings. Woah. It's also great for brunch on the weekend - they change up the menu every week, so you never know what to expect! My favorite specials were probably the pumpkin-manchego pancakes, the BALT (bacon-avocado-lettuce-tomato sandwich) with wasabi aioli, and their sourdough grilled cheese with homemade chowder. Enough said. I promise I'm not getting paid for this!!



Well that concludes the grand Oberlin tour for now. There are many many more places to explore that I have not included, such as the art museum (GO THERE - it is seriously beautiful), the Heritage Center, the many gardens, oh and Ben Franklin's! I really love Ben Franklin's, aka the town five-and-dime, for its used books, $1.50 mascara, and fairly decent chocolate selection.



Ben Franklin's has pretty much anything random you could ever want.

p.s. I would just like to take a moment of silence for the baller businesses that unfortunately didn't make it. RIP Beethoven's Bagel's, Providence Kitchen, and Yesterday's ice cream shop. You were lovely while you lasted.


Taking photos of downtown through the window of the Conservatory. Note the Oberlin Market and the bell tower in the background. ]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/town/downtown_oberli.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/living/town/downtown_oberli.shtml Food & Dining The Town of Oberlin Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:39:18 -0500 Veronica Burnham '14 My baby sister is about to go to college. She totally rocked the admissions process and is now choosing between her three top choices, NYU and two much smaller universities in D.C. She's leaning towards NYU, though she's going to visit each school once more before her final decision. I know that it's her life and her choices and that I shouldn't butt in too much, but I just want to scream, "CHOOSE THE SMALLER SCHOOL!"

Real talk: NYU is a great school, and who doesn't want to live in the coolest part of the coolest city in the country, but 22,000 undergrads?! Really?! I think of the small ~2,800-student undergraduate community we have at Oberlin and simply want to barf at the idea of going to a school with a student body of almost 10 times that number.

In my hopes to convince her (and you, Oberlin prospies) that small schools are where it's at, I've compiled a short list of just a few of the reasons enumerating why going to a smaller school is the best.

Reason #1 - Student-Professor Relations

At Oberlin, I have never had a professor who didn't know my name. Even when it was in one of the largest classes offered at Oberlin, even when I didn't go to office hours, even when I didn't do particularly well in the class. I've found the professors at Oberlin to be overwhelmingly approachable, friendly, and helpful, and the great majority of them work tirelessly to make sure students can achieve understanding of the course material.

TAs never teach classes. Not ever. Not even a lil'. A lot of university websites say that but they are mostly lying. For example: at a larger college, one of my pals from high school goes to a mid-sized school that claims professors do it all, yet group discussions led by TAs replace office hours and most of your tests and papers are graded by TAs. At Oberlin, there are some TAs which help out in lab courses which are taught by professors, but they mostly wander around the classroom, helping students with their experiments, while the professor teaches and supervises.

Beyond the classroom, each department maintains its own sort of community between teachers and students. In the neuroscience department, we have faculty-student game nights, bowling outings, and fancy-dress soirees (in the Science Center, of course, where else?). I'm on a smiling-hello basis with the entire neuroscience faculty, which is common for a great number of majors.

Reason #2 - You can have whatever you like.

Because Oberlin has such a small student body and quite a bit of money for speakers, student projects, events, and clubs, you can pretty much have whatever you like.

When I wanted to start a science magazine (The Synapse, shameless plug, check out our newest issue here!), Oberlin gave me money. When some students wanted to attend Powershift 2011, a national environmental conference in D.C., Oberlin helped hundreds of us go. When Solarity hosted the first all-campus party, I got a ticket. When Ira Glass came to speak, I got a ticket. When Nobel Laureate and former head of the NIH, Harold Varmus, came to speak, I got a ticket AND got to have lunch with him, simply because I was in a genetics class. I've performed slam poetry in front of performance poet Jared Paul. I attended a neuroscience faculty meeting to give my opinion on candidates for an open tenure-track position. My boyfriend is having dinner with Ron Paul next week, when he comes to Oberlin to speak. My housemate got funding from Oberlin to go to York, England and study really really old music texts, my co-worker has been to at least three improv conferences on Oberlin's dime, my RA is getting credit to teach a class about Vogue-ing, and there are currently eight (count them, eight) pieces of art from the Allen Memorial Museum of Art hanging in my house right now.

Oberlin is truly a place of opportunity, and every student can get a piece of that pie. The amazing opportunities are not for the select few, they are for the many (which in Oberlin's case is only 2,800!).

Reason# 3 - And so you can shine!

A result of reasons #1 and #2 combined, at Oberlin, it is exceedingly easy to be recognized for your achievements, both in comparison to your classmates and to non-Obie peers. What I want to tell my sis is that at NYU, it's near impossible to be more than a face in the 25,000-student crowd. At Oberlin, the opposite is true; instead of a blurred, faceless crowd, we're more like a sharp, many-faced bunch. The community that results is one which is all at once diverse, knowable, strange, and inspiring.

It gives you this weird sense of empowerment - I am an individual and I can do anything.

Reason #4 - Research!!!

To be continued in the next blog post, since it needs a post of its own.

Reason #5 - You can't walk on campus for more than 5 minutes without seeing someone you can say hello to. And it's great.

Plus, if you meet someone (at a party, at the dining hall, etc), you will definitely see them again. The same can't be said about meeting people at NYU.

Reason #6 - There are fewer people between you and your administration.

Although you are assigned an ID number (mostly for dining hall and registration purposes), you are more than that to the administration, and your voice can be heard. Over coffee with the President of the college, even, which is open to all students once a month.

Reason #7 - Nobody is mean to you when you work at the dining halls!

I learned recently from some of my big-school friends that apparently student dining hall workers at larger schools often get treated pretty scummily. As someone who has worked virtually every dining hall position in two different dining halls, no one has ever been less than courteous to me, whether I was swiping their ID cards, serving them food, or cleaning up after they spilled salad dressing everywhere. Whether it is because Oberlin students are just all-around great people, or because they know that if they are jerks to me, they will run into me again and I will give them the angry eyes, it works and it's really nice!

In all seriousness, I think that when your community is as small as Oberlin's, it is hard to dehumanize or objectify your peers. Rather than a blurry collective of strangers, the people you interact with on a daily basis are each inexorably connected to you, whether they be a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend, or that guy who always ended up leaving Dascomb for class the same time as you every morning freshman year.

I could go on and on and on, but I think I've provided you with enough "Go Small!" propaganda for now. Although I will willingly admit going to a smaller school has its own drawbacks and limitations, I think that coming to Oberlin was the best choice I could have made for my undergraduate education.

]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/applying/go_small_or_go.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/applying/go_small_or_go.shtml Applying To Oberlin Student Life & Culture Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:49:51 -0500 Ella Isaguirre-Bersola '16 During spring break, I realized that this was that time of the year, when seniors find out where they're going, juniors visit colleges and worry about standardized test scores, and students road-trip and fly here and there to find, or at least have some idea of the place: that one place to call home for four years before having to find your place in the world. My family members, cousins in this position, and friends all had a lot of questions. Where to go? Why? How much? When do we turn this in? What questions do we ask? After giving the best that answers that I could, based on my knowledge so far, I thought back to when my family and I had the same questions and concerns.

So, here is a little bit about how I knew Oberlin was the place for me. Every person has a different story as to how and where they ended up going to college, but some questions that I had during the process are similar to the ones I heard from family and friends.

1. How did you know?

I really wasn't that sure, but as long as you can really see yourself living there and learning more about yourself and as a student, it might just be the right place. As an admitted prospie, I came to visit Oberlin last year, during Easter weekend, and in those few days, I was thoroughly convinced that Oberlin was the place to be for me. I visited many schools and attended a lot of tours and info sessions, and when it came to Oberlin, I ended up going to one or two organized events for prospies and then did the rest of the exploring by myself or with current students. This is different for everyone, but for me, having the opportunity to walk around campus alone gave me the chance to really see myself living in Oberlin.

Even more, spending time with friends who were already sophomores gave me the chance to see Oberlin through their eyes. I got to experience a late night trip to Gibson's for ice cream, saw some of the Conservatory's best at a live performance in the radio station in Wilder, met Professor Yolanda Cruz, stayed with former Professor Bob Pierce and his wife, Barbara, an Obie alum, and attended Midge and Smith Brittingham's incredible Sunday dinner.

Essentially, I was given the chance to really dig deep into everything Oberlin has to offer. But really, it was the people. The people I met and the friends I made during the visit were all part of my decision, I knew that I wanted to be around people like that, that I wanted to someday be just like them. And with that, I knew exactly where I needed to be.




One of my first experiences in Oberlin.

2. What should a student focus on more, SAT/ACT tests, schoolwork, or extracurriculars?

I am quite certain that when I was a junior/ first semester senior, I had not a clue as to what I was really supposed to focus on, but one thing to do is to find a balance and do your best in everything that you do. If there is something you are truly passionate about, make it heard in your application; if you don't quite know what your strengths are, make sure to find equilibrium between all three aspects. Make sure to study the schools that you are interested in and the things that the school looks at the most. This is really a multifaceted question because all schools focus on different things. Some schools want high SAT/ ACT scores, others want 4.0's, while some want a multitude of activities. Even more, some just want it all. But when it comes down to it, schools will choose whom they want, and the best that a student can do is to try and to show the best of themselves, so they know, no matter where they end up, they worked hard to earn it.

3. What advice do you have for juniors and seniors?

• Do your best, trust your instincts about the places you visit (but always be open to new ideas about the place, even if you didn't like it originally).
• Don't let the location of a college scare you (I'm a Californian, but I love Oberlin. The birds chirping, the crickets at night during the summer, the beautiful autumn, and the picturesque snow days really outweigh the depressing grey gloom that Oberlin's sky sometimes prefers).
• Be smart about deadlines because once they pass, well, asking for an extension goes two ways, they say no, or you have that awkward can-I-please-send-this-in-late-I-promise-I'm-not-that-terrible-of-a-student-please-still-accept-me conversation/email.
• Be nice to the people you meet and the people helping you through this process. You never know who you're meeting; for instance, on a trip to Brown, we got lost, and ended up walking back with a former president of the college, who didn't tell us who he was until we got there.
• Don't forget your parents or guardians. Be really kind and grateful to them especially if this is a first for them too. They're learning, you're learning, and they're doing their best to get you to where you want to be.
• Finally, trust that wherever you go, you are there for a reason. As long as you are learning about yourself, growing academically, mentally and emotionally, and really, truly enjoying yourself (productively and otherwise...), you are most likely doing something right.

This is just my experience, and no matter where you end up, you'll be really happy as long as you're true to yourself!



When the seasons change the way they do in Oberlin...why not go here?!

]]> http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/applying/that_time_of_year.shtml http://blogs.oberlin.edu/applying/applying/that_time_of_year.shtml Applying To Oberlin Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:44:10 -0500