Isabella
Isabella: Thursday night Cat Cabs
Ever been bored on a Thursday night, or needed a good study break? Well Linfield Activities Board (LAB) has thought that through, and every Thursday night there is a cabaret (music concert) at 9 pm. This past week’s group was so awesome that I couldn’t wait to share it with you. Took tons of pictures and I already can’t wait for them to come back next year hopefully!
One of the LAB chairs- the Music & Entertainment Chair, books these weekly musical events. They are a combination of professional and student performers over the course of the school year. This is a student position, so if are interested in contacting artists and booking agencies, than this could be something that you apply for down the road while attending Linfield. Or if you have ever wanted to perform in front of people, than you can either participate in our open mic night, or audition for your chance at the spot light (which you would get paid $50 for if chosen to perform).
This past week we had the professional band, Eclectic Approach. It was their second time coming to campus, and they seemed to be a huge hit. So far they have this tradition at our school where they invite a student musician to come up and play with the band. This year we had 3 current students go up and join in with them, shown in the picture at the right. I wasn’t able to upload a video, but if you’re curious about the band here is one of their songs on YouTube that they performed the other night for us http://youtu.be/cOMhNkjT3ro .
The music each week ranges with each new band, or student that we have perform. They are always a lot of fun, and how can you turn down free, live music every Thursday night at 9 pm in our student space called Fred Meyer Lounge. You can even grab a cup of coffee from our café if you feel like it.
-Isabella
Isabella: Spring flowers bringing April showers
First day back and it was gorgeous, just look at all those blossoming buds.
It’s been exactly one week since I arrived back on campus after enjoying my spring break. Been tough getting back into the swing of things, but the blooming flowers around campus are making it easier, crazy how fast they seem to be changing color- already they have gone from white to pink. I spent my spring break down in California visiting with my family, as well as prospective students from a few different high schools in my area. Though it may have been easier to fly down, I spent 14 hours on the road with a few of my friends. Made for a more interesting and memorable experience. On campus freshman year it was nice not having a car, got my exercise by walking everywhere, and spent my time learning to skateboard. Besides skateboarding, other people ride bikes or scooters around campus. If you don’t have a bike, no worries! Our Bike Co-Op on campus has a bike loan program, as well as offering free bike maintenance. In addition, there is a discounted taxi service for students which our Student Government pays half of the costs for a ride to anywhere in McMinnville, you don’t even need to carry cash since it can be charged to your student account. Finally, we have two U Car Share vehicles on campus as well which you can rent for an hour, or an entire day. If you want more information on these three transportation modes I’m including the link here: http://www.linfield.edu/sustainability/sustainability-at-linfield/transportation/ .
I definitely didn’t need the car my freshman year, but now it has become a necessity just because I decided to try coaching a 4-6th grade soccer team this year. Something that I have wanted to do for the past few years, and am lucky to have had the opportunity to do so up here in Oregon. Besides coaching I spend a majority of my free time volunteering off campus. So far this has included helping out at an elementary school, currently mentoring at a middle school, and starting to volunteer weekly at our local food bank called YCAP. These are all activities in which you don’t need a car to get to, unless your me and packed too many great extracurriculars on top of a work study job and 18 credits worth of classes. In my case, the time constraints from a busy schedule make having a car important. If you do plan to bring a car on campus you would need to buy a parking permit which costs a total of $85 per year, cheaper than some of the other colleges I had been looking at attending back in California. There are no age restrictions either, anyone can bring a car up to campus whether you are a freshman or a senior.
Enjoy the spring weather!
Until next time,
Isabella 
This photo was from Monday, and the picture on the right was from Thursday of last week. They changed colors so fast! Started out with these white blossoms shown above, then before you know it they were pink. Seasons are such a nice change up here in Oregon.
Isabella: Fun Upcoming Campus Event
Hello!
So I can’t wait! There is some exciting news I want to share with you! It may make me sound a bit geeky but there is a fun event coming up next week, and it’s called Pi Day!
Yes, we are college students but we love to celebrate fun days like these still. Ones that combine academics and food; how can you ignore that? Last year, I even made pie for pi day, which I took pleasure in sharing with my friends in my hall. This year there is a fun run/walk that is getting sponsored on campus where you get pie when you pass the finish line after exercising for 3.14 miles, I believe. I will be in class during that time sadly, but I will keep up my college tradition of making pies again, maybe a repeat of last year’s (pictured below). What do you think?
Just because you are a college student, doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on all the fun activities that you did in high school. I bet I’m not the only one that has eaten pie on pi day in their math class before.
So mark your calendars, next Thursday 3/14 is Pi Day!!! Doesn’t matter how old you are, you are never too old to enjoy some good old fashioned pie on pi day!
Until next time,
Isabella
I enjoyed baking these two different pies last year on Pi Day. Each hall has a kitchen in which you can cook or bake your own food when you want. You have to have the ingredients and cooking supplies, but the stove and oven are there to use. There is also a mircrowave and fridge in each kitchen. However, both of which you are allowed to have in your room, mini sized of course.
Isabella: Looking back at Residence Life for my Freshman year
As a freshman, I was most nervous and excited about living in a residence hall on campus, and sharing a room with another person. You fill out the housing preference paper with all your interests and preferences, and then you have to wait most of the summer for that one key bit of information with who you are going to be sharing a room with your freshman year. All my nerves went away with that first email that my roommate sent me. It was fun getting to learn more about my roommate, and soon after that my excitement started to build as the summer was coming to an end and college drew ever nearer. Then you pack up your belongings, travel however far it takes, arrive on campus full of excitement (and maybe a few butterflies, like in my case), and you meet your roommate for the first time. It’s a fun new experience, and the first of many that will occur in your residence hall.
I still love my first hall that I was in on campus, and the community that we built within it. I have created many new friendships, through late night study sessions in the hall lounge, sharing baked goods (which most college students seem to love), and participating in fun hall events that your RA’s (Resident Advisor’s) put on throughout the year. I still remember my first hall event. As a group we all walked together to Third Street and got ice cream cones as Serendipity’s. It was delicious, and gave us a chance to meet other people in the hall. Throughout my freshman year, we had many other hall events such as: watched movies together in our lounge, and sharing pumpkin pie while watching Pocahontas in honor of Thanksgiving. These bonding moments are some of my favorite memories that I have created while at Linfield, and I am glad that chose to participate in those hall events.
-Isabella
If you love an old fashion ice cream cone and parlor, then Serendipity’s is the place to go visit on 3rd street. It’s just a short 15 minute walk from campus. Just be warned, the large really is large, so don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach.
Isabella: What’s so special about January?
Hello! Hope you all enjoyed your holidays!
It’s been a crazy busy past two months here at Linfield since I came back up to college after Winter break. I decided to try a Jan term class this year which is a semester’s worth of work in a condensed one month period of time. It’s really intense! It’s not something that everyone does; only about 33% of our students do end up staying on campus during this month. The rest of the students here at Linfield either travel abroad with a professor, or stay home to either relax or work.
Last year, I spent the entire two month long break at home in California. This year I wanted to stay on campus, and get one of my LC’s out of the way. LC’s are Linfield Curriculum classes that all students need to take in order to graduate. What’s so great about them is that you get to choose super fun classes to take that fall under each of these ten categories listed below. So instead of taking a Freshman English 100 level class at some other colleges, here you choose some interesting topic that you want to research and learn about for a semester in your Inquiry Seminar class as a freshman. Mine was Language Matters, and my favorite project was our Names in your Hometown research paper. Our teacher really prepared us with research skills necessary to write a college level research paper, all of which are available in our Library on Campus and through their website.
The Linfield Curriculum includes taking: an Inquiry Seminar, a class in each of the six modes of Inquiry (Creative Studies; Individuals, Systems & Societies; Natural World; Quantitative Reasoning; Ultimate Questions; Vital Past), an upper division course in one of the previously mentioned modes of Inquiry, and two Diversity Studies classes (U.S. Pluralisms; Global Pluralisms).
Anyways, I took Introduction to Mass Communication as my class this Jan Term for one of the LC modes of Inquiry, and that kept me pretty busy. I also spent part of my free time volunteering to help revamp up our student space in Fred Meyer Lounge. If you get a chance to visit campus you should definitely check it out! I’m including a picture a friend took which shows how great this revamp turned out. The new paint color will match our cafe after it becomes a Starbuck’s this upcoming summer.
-Isabella
Over the month of January the Fred Meyer Lounge under went a revamping. The original basketball floor was refinished, with the addition of our spirited Wildcat Willie. Add in the new furniture, 80″ flat screen tv, new paint scheme, and you have yourself a revamped student lounge area.