Welcome to Clara Dickson

North Campus, Ithaca, NY

As many of you know, I took an RA position in Clara Dickson Hall this year, as the live-in advisor for the 70 freshman on my floor, particularly the 36 girls living on my end of the hall. Seem like a lot? Dickson is actually the largest dorm in the Ivy league, holding over 500 students. Now imagine move in day with just 1 elevator-- we like to call it "barely controlled chaos."

Although it required quite a bit of scrambling and frantic packing, I managed to get the phone call offering me the position on a Thursday, accept the position by Friday, and move to Ithaca for training by that Wednesday. Talk about a time crunch. But training is what gives you the chance not just to learn the rules, but also to get to know your staff and your building (Dickson took me a while to learn to navigate, I have to admit), and I'm really glad I was able to make it.

After the intensive week of non-stop trainings, staff bonding, and bulletin board making, the freshmen finally moved in and hit the ground running with orientation week. It didn't take long to settle into the flow of RA life, running programs and being on call every so often.

For those of you who don't know, "on-call" means the Dickson staff takes turns being the designated staff member in the building. You hold the on-call phone, which receives emergency calls from residents, and you walk around the building a couple times to make sure everything is in order. The biggest issue Dickson has to deal with is lock outs-- because there are so many single rooms in Dickson and the doors lock automatically, residents are always locking their keys in their rooms and having to call us to let them back in. So far, every lock out I've had to respond to has been someone who forgot their keys when they went to shower-- bummer for them, locked out in a towel.

Just a few pictures of the set up in my room-- it took me a while to get moved in, but I got there in the end.

Pictures and posters help with the painfully white walls

RAs get free microwaves/fridges. Also note the pirate flag-- a birthday gift. Last year, my suite mates had flags from their respective cultures, but since I'm somewhat of a mutt, I somehow or other ended up with a pirate flag.

I'm really enjoying the position, so much so that I've decided to come back senior year. I hope to be able to stay in Dickson, where I know my staff (many of whom will also be returning) and my advisor, but apparently they can't guarantee that. We'll see.

A Sconnie Summer

Madison, WI, Prairie Du Chien, WI, Elkhart, WI, Minocqua, WI, and Chicago, IL

June 1-August 4, 2010

I know I've been a bit lax about my posting, but my business has no real end in sight, I'm taking this opportunity to have a study break and reacquaint myself with the internet. But before I get to my photo-recap of my lovely Sconnie Summer, allow me to share the inspiration behind my blog title. It's an old fire side song from my days at Camp Black Hawk called "On the Loose" that I've always had a soft spot for. I posted it in the side bar of the blog, so take a peek if you're interested. I also headed it with my favorite picture from this summer-- it seemed particularly relevant.

Before I move on to the pictures, I have to give a nod to the one big part of my summer which I have no photos of. Some of you may know I took an internship as a communications specialist for the UW Madison Veterinary School this summer, writing articles, pamphlets, and press releases for the school. The internship involved interviewing a lot of really amazing scientists and compiling their stories for the Vet School, the university, and to publicize into greater media circles. For a look at some of the stories I wrote over the summer, I've put links in a box titled "Veterinary School Internship Portfolio" at the bottom of the page-- check it out if you're interested.

Now, for the good stuff--

Hillary, digging stuff out from under her bed. Packing up at the end of the year was an interesting process.

Melissa and a floor covered in boxes. We all seemed to have a lot more stuff that we realized.

World's Largest Brat Fest! Kate and I enjoyed the brats, music, and atmosphere, and I even came out of it with a t-shirt.

The Wisco-sonoran Brat Expiriment-- brats, boiled in beer and onions, rolled in bacon, then grilled. Sound delicious??

It was-- here's Jp taking the test bite.

The beautiful Elkhart Lake (at an ungodly hour of morning) for my dad, my aunt Anita, and Laura to compete in the Elkhart Triathlon.

JP wasn't so excited about the early morning-- he has that "You woke the sleeping beast" expression on his face.

Funny how his wife-- about to do an olympic distance triathlon-- looks way more cheerful.

My dad was even jumping up and down. Yes, that's him, waving his arms in the air at the back of the wetsuit-clad crowd.

We got treated to a beautiful rainbow on the drive down to our cabin in Prairie du Chien.

That same night, the sky cleared up just enough for one of the most fabulous sunsets I've ever seen. This picture was taken over the Mississippi River, looking towards Iowa.

A fish boil at the cabin-- everything tastes better when you're the one that lit the fire under it.

I dabbled in a little tree climbing at the cabin, but didn't have all the equipment I needed to take advantage of the fabulous cottonwood in the yard. Next time...

A bald eagle landed in the tree right above our deck, literally 15 feet above us. I don't think we would have even noticed him except that he started screeching.

My dad and I explored the water lilies and scoped out the eagle's nest by kayak. We were rewarded with a peek at some baby birds in the largest nest I have ever seen.

One of my projects for the summer was buying and repainting a new bookshelf for my room, which of course involved a massive reorganization of my books. As they piled up on my floor, I came to the conclusion that I own A LOT of books.

For the Fourth of July, Melissa and Tahra joined me in Mineral Point. We made a cherry pie completely from scratch (and we made it in style-- note the aprons).

It turned out fabulously-- picture perfect AND delicious.

We joined in the traditional Mineral Point parade, brat boil, pie sale, and concert, but we were rained out of the fire works at the end of the night. The thunderstorm provided a different kind of light show.

Kate, Nim, and I went up to Kate's cabin in Minocqua for a weekend. I think Nim got the whole sun-bathing thing wrong here... pretty sure you're not supposed to cover up with towels.

Me, chopping veggies for a stir fry. We did a surprisingly good job of fending for ourselves when it came to food.

Kate introduced me to my first time making bread from scratch-- it was easier than I thought it would be, and it came out delicious.

Tahra invited Melissa, Robbie, and I to visit her in Chicago. Here's Tahra and Melissa playing in the fountain at Millennium Park.

The famous bean-- who's entire purpose in life is for tourists to gather and take pictures. Which we did.

And of course, summer wouldn't be complete without horses. Cowboy spent the summer going English, complete with some dabbling in dressage. Now that he's all of 6 years old (scary!!), he has a new spring in his step, and took to the flashy arab trot quite nicely-- if only I had time to show him.