Apple Pie Faction and Kon Bon Waaaaaaaa.

2 Days, 1 Post, 30 oz. Coffee.

I was very busy working last night, and simply couldn't muster up the strength to update after finishing up the readings around 3. Wednesday wound up being pretty exhausting, with the introduction of new classes, little time to relax, and the whirlwind completion of our presentation on Kenya for ICONS. It was the first day of real CLASS class for the subjects I had on monday, and it was very exciting to finally dive into discussions, and even the notes and lectures are sooo much more interesting at a college level.

While that was fun (you know, if learning's your thing), I do have one beef with the classes. They can be pretty sizable, and participation in discussions depends on raising your hand and getting called on. I like what our Japanese Culture teacher (Oshimo-Sensei) does: splits us into small groups of 8 or so, then one person reports on the group's conversation. Of course, this lends the teacher less control over the situation, but I think it can be a time-saver and equally effective in stimulating thought and conversation.

Small group times are really best--wing meetings are better than mandatory saftey lectures, going out to lunch (Say...Kiva Han?) with one or two friends (Say...Charna?) totally beats the cafeteria, hanging out in the grassy park for 10 minutes is much more relaxing than standing in a big blob of people outside of your next class. The small groups share ideas, and inside jokes, and food (Thai Tofu Salad yummmm) so much faster. Plus that's how you make those famed PGSE friendships--the ones that last a lifetime? Yeah, that starts by complaining about the lame library tour over cranberry trail mix with a few friends. Or deciding whether the hot dog stand cashier is cuter than the Rite Aid cashier with your suite mates while you should be doing your Civic Engagement homework. Or spending a few minutes taking a longer route to your next class so you can chat with a classmate about the lesson.

The same idea seems to apply with our teachers. Tuesday, I told Sara (ICONS leader and very cool prof. of International Relations) that I would love to have her help with finding resources for researching my grad. project paper, due pretty much ASAP when I get back from Gov School. So we had a little email exchange earlier today, and I made the happy mistake of running into her (while scarfing a clif bar--okay, that was embarassing) between shopping (bought a dress) and ICONS. Sara walks into Provost, headphones in her ears audibly blasting something remarkably UN-professor like. I assumed that those professors hip enough to own MP3 players listen to things like Beethoven's 2nd Violin Concerto on their way to class. This kinda sounded more like Blink 182. I guess I stand corrected. She and I very quickly fell into the subject of my paper, then her job, then Butte Montana, then foreign language--I don't know who messed up while programming my brain, but I get along with teachers so much better than I do with students. Always. So to finally have a talk with someone with that mentor status was a "great exhale" moment for me--I finally felt a little more relaxed and more comfortable around the people I should be concentrating on--the people my own age.

That interaction grows so quickly through things like ICONS. Kenya's presentation went pretty well--I was kinda bummed by all of my "um--uh...urrr..." moments but I guess it happened to a lot of people. Towards the end of the night, We were all surprised to hear a loud crack above us in the middle of a presentation. Yup, there was a thunderstorm rolling through Pittsburgh, reaching its peak as we were all leaving Provost. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people out, and began making my way back home, eyes towards the lightning illuminating the Cathedral of Learning.

Turns out that was a bad idea. I got totally lost and turned around--in the dark--in the rain--barefoot--uphill both ways. Well--it was raining, anyway. I circled around the Cathedral a few times before spotting Towers and realizing how dumb I was. I loped up into our room, dried off, checked in with Molly, and settled into the dorm for a long night's work. Sustenance has included at least 6 of those little Hershey bars, a handful of Special K Red Berry, and--most important--a Starbucks Doubleshot, surely invented just for Gov School Students to drink at 11 PM in order to keep us alive during the graveyard shift of learning...a surprisingly productive time for me.


ps. Advice: break the rules and bring a coffee maker. Living on Starbucks is ridiculously expensive and causes you to debate with yourself for 15 minutes before deciding whether going clothes shopping is a bad idea or not.

pps. Going clothes shopping is a bad idea, for the record.

ppps. 2130 on the SATs! 99th percentile in writing! Woohoooo!

Slacker.

I fear that as the workload increases, it will be absolutely impossible to update this little blog every night. Yes, the actual WORK has begun here at PGSIS (pronounced puh-jesus), and everyone is overwhelmed. Luckily, staying up 'til 3 in the morning and staying (or at least looking) awake simply by drinking a red bull (or, if you're particularly adventurous, a redeye) and applying an extra coat of mascara has not affected the wonderful friendship between the 10 girls in our wing. During one of our pow-wows, Molly talked about the Gov School J-Curve--as time goes on, we like governor's school, then it is the absolute bane of our existence, then we love it again. Most of us are hoping that these first few days are the bottom of the curve and things can only start looking up from here.

Tuesday started early with a fire drill--Emily, our Fire Marshall, was bedecked in a spectacular hat and badge made by Molly. Apparently, all of the RTAs had stayed up past midnight on monday to make their wings some awesome fire gear. Afterwards, we walked as a giant mass of govies to breakfast at the cathederal, a particularly impressive sight when still veiled by the morning haze. After enjoying (read: enduring) some morning fuel (thank god for Clif Bars), it was off to my first Japanese Language Class.

The immersive environment of the language classes is pretty intimidating. But if you love languages, the class is amazing. We move at high speed through the lessons we've studied in our books the night before, amazingly quickly catching on to greetings and polite expressions. The incredibly small class size does wonders for ensuring everyone's success.

Three language classes combined make up the Japanese Culture class, the teacher of which franknly stated "I won't be teaching you anything. At all." I wasn't sure whether to laugh or curl into the fetal position. He's very into the whole self-teaching philosophy--but unlike some of my former teachers, I have complete faith that he won't use that as a reason to be lazy.

Next was Intercultural Communication with the aweeeeesooooome Dr. Shallenerger, who I definitely want to get close to over the next five weeks. He's very dynamic, knowledgable, and not too opinionated. I love the class, our assignments, everything. It's great. All great.

Of Course, I also enjoyed International Relations with--get this--a professor who we refer to by her first name?! I love it. The class is another one that feels like it should be twice as long as it really is--in fact, I wish I could choose this class as my focus instead of Global Enviro.

Next was Global Environmental Politics. Let me be honest. I'm not in love with the class, but the Prof. is a really good guy who reminds me of Jack Althouse a little. I think the problem is everyone in the class agrees on everything. So discussions aren't really debates, they're just kind of...everyone agreeing--in a very intellectual way, but I need a little more heated debate to stay interested, I think.

I skipped dinner (someone please go make sure my mom's not having heart palpatations, as I totally had some Easymac) to work on homework, then the academic day ended with ICONS. Team Kenya--I'm not going to lie--kicks ass. We all get along great, we're ahead of the game, and our RTA, Nalylee, is awesome and fun. After adding a secret, unwritten article to our constitution (When somebody knocks on the door, hide the food.), we continued to work hard on researching Kenya. As our whiteboard proudly states--World Peace is not a competition...but we're winning.

Suck on that, South Africa.

Twosday

Today was wonderful. Absolutely Nerd-Tastic. I felt like I wanted to learn again--exciting for sure, because with the ending of school I was afraid my brain would drain before Gov School began. I was lucky to have my interest reignited today by a wonderful lecturer named Schuyler Foerster. He opened his lecture (read: discussion) by stating, "We live in a world that is stunningly confusing," and identified with us with such gems as "I'm quite cognisant of the fact that you were born after the Berlin Wall came down Most adults aren't, but that's okay." and "We're all victims of our own autobiographies...mine just happens to be longer." We quickly launched into the most dynamic 90 minutes I have ever experienced discussing American Foreign Policy. The powerpoint we were shown introduced us to the most important global issues facing McCain and Obama as they compete for a place in the executive office. Our group had so many questions and comments, we led Dr. Foerster on quite a few tangents, and had to cut the lecture short at 11:30 for lunch. We were left with "Power is capacity to influence," a new definition that our presidential candidates should pay special attention to. Also: "Get a passport. Do something. Understand the world." While the statement was intended as a jab towards many members of the legislative branch, I think it's an important piece of advice for everyone to keep in mind...

Leah and I, creepers that we are, had to go up and shake Dr. Foerster's hand and tell him how absolutely brilliant the lecture was. The man nearly had me convinced that I wanted to switch my focus again and be a college professor. Intellectuals like him make the world go around, and they ask for little in return (just, you know, book revenues, and no gum-chewing in class). Well, it's something to keep in mind for the future. The lecture was far more dynamic than some of the things we sat through yesterday, notably "Police Safety Meeting," a.k.a. art class, as I spent the entire half an hour doodling all over the front of the safety pamphlet, donating about a quarter of my attention to the nice police officer. Yeah yeah, Utility Card, Blue Light Phones, Walk with a buddy; got it, chief. I think we're all set here.








After lunch, we had our introduction to Japanese Class--one of very few language classes conducted in sweet, sweet english, which I will miss sorely in our immersive environment. Of course, I look forward to the chance to learn a new language, and to try out an asian language before tackling mandarin in the spring. Our homework tonight was to memorize ten phrases often used in the classroom. The book's pronunciation guide? Not super-helpful. I'm glad we don't have to learn written japanese (well, I'm dissapointed, but I have a feeling that takes much longer than 5 weeks), but japanese written phoenetically isn't much easier to understand!

After an extended period spent in the Cathederal of Learning (meals) and Provost Hall (Lectures), our wing finally got to spend some time on a street other than Forbes Avenue. Molly, our (incredibly sweet) RTA, led us around our boundaries, so we would know the territory we were allowed to wander during our break time. The grand part is that you can see the Cathederal of Learning pretty much no matter where you are in Oakland, so there's really no getting lost. The city is a very interesting mix of old and new, where "old" mostly means "industrial" and "new" mostly means "cultural," with the exception of the original Pitt buildings. We ended the tour (which pretty much killed the effects of the double white mocha I had purchased that morning) with a trip to Dave & Andy's....which is incredibly good ice cream. Finally, we were (wisely) allowed some time to chill out in our dorms between the walk and dinner. Whoever thought of that gets a prize, we really needed that time to relax before continuing with the whirlwind pace of gov school. Chao and I finally broke out the window markers and decorated our dorm windows--our room is definitely becoming our home, slowly but surely.

All too soon, we had to get out of lazy mode and head to dinner, then our first ICONS meeting. The ICONS teams are different from the wings and from the groups in which we are divided for class, so it's a great chance to meet new people. Tonight, our group introduced ourselves and then dove right in to researching some background of the country we represent, Kenya. ICONS is essentially like Model UN, but it all takes place on the internet (except for a few key summits). Very hip. Very Mod. Plus, my group is very cool--we all get along well, we have a good sense of humor overall, we are all equally (read: very) invested in the project.

So at 9, When ICONS ended, Elsa came over to my room so she and I could research Kenya's foreign and domestic policies together. She, of course, was greeted by the beautiful windows...

And I actually broke out my lovely dishes so she and I could enjoy our brain-stimulating microwave popcorn in pretty plastic bowls. Chao came back from her ICONS right around 10 and she and I both got homework done. I've figured out that as long as you keep eating and drinking, you can stay up as late as you need. I'm just drinking water and eating applesauce and pretzel goldfish. Another golden nugget of advice from Shelby: caffeine seems like a good idea. Until it wears off. Then caffeine sucks. You hate it. And you hate everyone around you and you hate what you're doing and...just trust me, K? By all means--pull all-nighters, pep yourself up with some coffee or tea in the morning, but don't become an addict, because coffee isn't always readily available and teachers do not tolerate food or drink in class.

Plus Starbucks is freakin' expensive, 'specially on an out-of-work teenager's budget.

Goodnight (morning?)

End of Day One.

Now that I've been all orientated, I can say with even greater confidence that this is going to be a lot of fun. Of course, not every part of orientation is grand. We still had to do the cheesy icebreakers, we still had to go through the many many many rules of life at Gov School. I'm glad to have it out of the way, for sure. We started off by meeting in "the nook," a little alcove by the majority of our wing's rooms, at 4, then we set off to the second floor courtyard (how do you mean....grass? on the roof?) to play some teambuilding games (two truths and a lie mostly). Then we had dinner at the Cathederal Cafe, which is on the bottom floor of the Cathedral of learning....an absolutely awesome building. Then it was off to Police Orientation (ie doodle all over the safety guidlines time), Ice Breakers (they were succesful in stimulating conversation...about how ridiculous ice breaker activities are), and Residential Orientation, during which all of our RTAs told stories about funny experiences abroad. Finally, we headed back down Forbes Avenue, up to our 4th floor nook to get the last of the logistics out of the way.

So now, it's time to chill, work on homework, and stay up hanging out with Chao (awesome roomie!), preparing for another exciting day in Pittsburgh.

A Scholarly Goodnight to All.

The First Day

Well, I'm moved in and 90% unpacked, quickly adjusting to dorm life. Despite some traffic troubles getting into town this morning, the day has been stress-free. I definitely reccomend showing up as early as possible on move-in day to any future gov-schoolers: parking was easy, the hallways were empty, and I got my pick of bunks, dressers, and desks in the room. Wanna see the place?

Here's my desk...note the batik hanging on the wall. Wouldn't be Shelby's room without a little piece of Africa!

Here's my bed, wonderfully placed right next to our windows.

The dresser, complemented by my favorite picture and a ridiculous amount of food

And the closet, with enough room for any fashionista!

So...that's dorm life. After walking up and down Forbes avenue a few times and finding that there was plenty to do within a three-block radius, I'm beginning to think that the boundaries placed upon us are not as strict as they once seemed. This isn't Souderton, after all!