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Dear Readers, Our bloggers have left for the summer. We’ll start back up again in the fall with our returning bloggers and a few new ones to tell you more exciting stories of what life is really like at New College. In the meantime feel free to catch up on reading some of the past blogs and be sure to join our Facebook group “New College of Florida Admissions.” Thanks for your support! Sincerely, Mitch Finer
Agne’s Blog
Stress of course comes from having to study for finals, write papers, finish anything that has been lingering on my consciousness, but that I have been avoiding… I am done with all of that now. I wrote equivalent of a short thesis in the last couple of weeks, I studied for my Spanish and history exams, I read and wrote and read and wrote… Besides academic stress, there are also a couple of questions that have been on my mind: ‘what are you going to do this summer,’ ‘what is your thesis going to be,’ ‘do you have all of your forms turned in.’ The answer is: I better talk about something more exciting. The exciting part of the end of the year is that everyone feels festive, loving, and wanting to share all of good feelings that have been hiding, while writing and stressing. Many of my close friends and people that I genuinely appreciate having as a part of my life have left or are about to leave to start a new chapter in their lives. We had to celebrate the chapter that we spent all together. First part that I attended was at the house of Hannah Brown and Annie Ferrell. They both graduated this year, but Hannah is staying to work as a 4winds manager. That party was full of mysticism, rituals, and nostalgia. We had a gathering on their porch where we drank potion, cut our hair and said the things that we were grateful for. After we left the house and walked to Sarasota Bay to dance to drum circle. Then, there was Nina’s house party. There were about four cakes, I think… I was so happy to spend time with all of the people that I love and I wish they stayed one more year to keep me company. Nina is moving to New York to do Teach for America (Congratulations again!), her roommates Alice and Lauren received Fulbrights. Lauren will go to Germany to teach English and Alice will be in Spain doing research in astrophysics. I made sure to finish my work before Thursday when Nina’s and Kim’s parties were going on, so I can relax and enjoy myself. Kim’s party was also quite nostalgic. She spent here an extra year to be a 4winds manager and now is moving to Chicago. Then, on Friday there was graduation. I spent most of my day with Nina drinking champagne, chatting with her parents and her boyfriend Camillo. It reminded me of last year when Adele and Lee Ellen were graduating… I don’t know how am I going to survive this next year of thesising and having my closest friends far away.. Yikes! But enough of that self-pity. I enjoyed graduation quite a bit. Our president Mike Michalson is excellent speaker! He made everyone laugh multiple times. Our commencement speaker was William Dudley, a 1974 graduate of New College with a concentration in economics, who now is the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. After snacks and chats of graduation, around 10pm Graduation Palm Court Party (PCP) started. Its theme this year was legendary PCP. In my experience it was one of the best PCPs since I came to New College. The decorations in Palm Court were very interesting but simple. They had projectors and white cloths all over palm court where they had old New College videos, cartoons, and films playing. Music was very good too. Ingmar, who graduated last year and who has been DJing in Czech Republic, came for gradation and PCP and his music was a hit! Now, most of the people are gone and campus is very quiet. Nostalgia is creeping around..
Have a great summer and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. -Agne Agne’s Blog
This year was no exception. Just when I could start feeling finals tensing-up my brain muscles, it was dance tutorial weekend. Like every year, on Friday after the performances, there was a delicious reception and art happenings. Unfortunately, I was still in Connecticut ‘enjoying’ my immigration naturalization interview. However, on Saturday I was excited to come back to actually enjoy and relax watching fun and entertaining performances. I enjoyed all of the dances, and my favorite ones were Anna Hamilton’s thesis survival dance, Chrissy Martin’s solo dance, and Lady Gaga creation by Katlyn Bobek. Anna Hamilton used her thesis recording to create a dance about thesis survival year. In order to graduate, New College students have to write a thesis. Usually, fourth year in college a student starts writing her thesis, which ends up being about 60-120 pages, which then is defended during bacc in front of 3-4 professor committee where they ask writer questions about the material. So, being so creative, Anna used her thesis recording to create a dance about thesis writing survival. Chrissy (who also blogs for admissions) is a performance guru at New College. She is in every singe performance show there is, with dance tutorial not exception. She is graduating this year and created her beautiful and inspiring solo dance. Since I have been watching her performances and participating in some of them with her, I was incredibly impressed by her improvement as a performance artist. Her moves were polished, sophisticated, and pleasure to watch. The last dance was a spicy Lady Gaga tribute by Katlyn Bobek, who has become my New College guru. She is everywhere: playing with Letter Sweater band, putting Diamond Expose all by herself, and dancing like there is no tomorrow. Katlyn had other lady gagas, who all embodied different lady gaga. It was entertaining, life changing, and head spinning. I laughed and almost cried! Great job, everyone who participated and made it happen.
Love, Agne Elizabeth’s Blog
This is sadly my last blog! Also, I know that this summer is going to be a very anxious time for most of you! I think I brought a little too much with me to college. Remember that you can buy things when you get down here. There is a wonderful Habitat for Humanity restore where you can get a chair or table that you may want in your dorm. Remember that you do get furniture in your room and your roommate may be bringing stuff as well, so you guys can start talking about who is bringing what at the start of the summer. You will all be receiving a book- The Omnivores’ Dilemma in the mail soon. Spend some time reading that and check out the “New College of Florida Admissions” page on Facebook, where you can ask questions. Remember you can always email me at elizabeth.crate@ncf.edu as well! Enjoy your summer and I can’t wait to see you all next year on campus! ♥ Elizabeth Elizabeth’s Blog
I am finally done with all my class’s exams and have started the process of packing out my stuff! These last two weeks have been very packed! This is where it is important to organize your time. The Gatsby party happened, as well as, all the exams and papers being due. Many people wanting to hang out at the end of the year too! The Gatsby Party was a fancy event that happened at Old Caples. That is a building owned by our school that is past the Ringling museum and close to the Sail Club. You don’t need to worry about these locations once you get here, you will be given a map that will help you find your way, or you can look online at this site. http://ncf.edu/map-and-directions The Party was figured after a 1920s party, so lots of people dressed up. I wish I would have had a better outfit but it was fun regardless. There was live jazz music from fellow students and the building right on the water set the scene perfectly. I think it is always at the end of the year during exam time, so a suggestion from me is to work ahead of time so you can get work done and not feel guilty during this wonderful event. My exams went well and I was very happy that I wrote my big essays ahead of time rather than waited till the last minute. I was able to concentrate on studying rather than writing. I suggest you start writing ahead of time next year as well!
PS- I have added some pictures from the Gatsby party, I was not dressed in the 20s feel, but look behind me at the beautiful building and others that are dressed!! I hope you all have a wonderful summer and email me at elizabeth.crate@ncf.edu if you have any questions about New College that come up!!! Casey’s Blog
This is my last post on this blog before the summer begins, and I just wanted to thank all of you for taking the time to read my random musings day after day. Also, many thanks for sending in such great questions over the course of the school year — they really get me thinking about why New College is such a great place to go, and Iʼm glad I can share that passion with you. While I may not be blogging over the summer, Iʼll still be available to answer any questions you may have. You can always shoot me an e-mail with any questions you may have, or you can find me on Facebook to get in touch with me there. I know Iʼll have a pretty busy summer, but I will always find the time to write back to you! Again, thanks a lot for reading this blog each week — I hope Iʼve been able to help you on your quest to find the college thatʼs right for you! Yours always, Casey’s Blog
Iʼm really looking forward to next year for a number of reasons — great people, great classes, great atmosphere — and itʼs sad to leave New College behind for even just a summer. However, itʼs nice knowing that Iʼll be back very soon — as an orientation leader, Iʼll be back in the beginning of August! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! Yours, Casey’s Blog
At any rate, Iʼm glad to have my mind free of worrying about papers to write or exams to take or anything like that. Iʼm just glad to be done with everything, you know? Now comes the dreaded packing process — while Iʼve taken a good chunk of things home already, thereʼs still quite a bit here that needs to go back home. Luckily, my parents are coming to help me move things out, which is most appreciated. Itʼll be quite the trek, Iʼm sure. I hope that your exams, be they AP, IB, or what have you are all going well — I remember stressing about my IB and AP exams around this time of my junior and senior years all too well! As always, ask me questions! Cheers, Casey’s Blog
Itʼs a bit weird to move out of your dorm room, really, because for a vast majority of the year, it is your bedroom. It feels cosy and home-like, not unlike your actual bedroom back home. Stripping the walls bare of the posters and pictures youʼve accumulated over the course of the year is a very surreal experience; making it look like it did when you first moved in is even weirder. Next year, Iʼll still be living on campus — in fact, Iʼll be in the same building as I am now, just on the other side of it. Iʼm looking forward to next year, but the summer has a very tempting allure to it. I do know, though, that I will miss my friends and my girlfriend pretty terribly, but hopefully we all will be able to get together before August. As always, ask me questions! Cheers, Casey’s Blog
A lot has changed over the course of the academic year, both at New College and in my own personal life, really. Weʼre building a brand new academic center across from the library, and it is the first purpose-built classroom structure that this place has ever had. Theyʼre also building a new archaeology laboratory, which I am sure will be pretty neat to see. Hamilton Center, our student union, is being renovated and remodeled over the summer, and will look completely different. I know all of the changes will be for the best, but it is still hard to imagine that they are really happening, you know? I know I made friends and lost friends this year, as with any other year, but overall, I think that this has been a pretty amazing year for me. Life here at New College has continued to get better and better, and I am always thrilled that I decided to come here back in August in 2008. If you have questions, ask me! Yours, |
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I hope that you all have a wonderful summer and I will see many of you at orientation this coming year. Don’t be shy about coming up to me. I love to meet new people and I know it feels good to know someone before school starts.
