Hi everyone! It’s already 8th week here at Lawrence…yikes! Our ten-week terms go by so fast, and I still feel like the term started just a few days ago! It’s been a really busy couple of weeks for me, but I’ve managed to relax and have some fun too. This past weekend, some of my clarinet friends held a concert for their newly-formed clarinet choir! A lot of us in the clarinet studio have been interested in starting a clarinet choir (basically just an ensemble of clarinets!) for quite some time now, and Kate, one of my clarinet friends, took charge and got it running! Unfortunately, I’ve been a little too busy with other commitments this term to join, but I really enjoyed their concert on Saturday. They performed a few folk songs and ended the concert with “Bohemian Rhapsody!” It sounded amazing on all clarinets! Below is a picture of the clarinet choir after the concert, in height order!
One of the other exciting things I’ve been up to recently is my internship! I am currently interning with the Warch Campus Center, the building on campus that houses our dining facilities and meeting and event spaces, where I am learning about and assisting with event management! I am currently working on one of my first big projects, which is planning/executing an event (in this case, a wedding) from the very start of the process to the very end! This has involved administering the contract, the event summary, and coordinating with the wedding couple to make changes and alterations to the order and logistics of the event. I’ve also served as the on-site manager for a couple of events so far, including a bridal shower a few weeks ago, and an event called “Lunch at Lawrence,” which is a longstanding Lawrence event/tradition in which members of the Appleton community come in for a catered lunch and a presentation by a Lawrence faculty member on a particular topic. This internship has been fantastic so far, and I’ve really learned a lot since it started back at the beginning of the term. I’ve been really interested in event planning for a long time, and I’ve found that event planning skills are very relevant to a lot of different jobs and career paths, so I’m thrilled to be pursuing this opportunity!
The weather outside has been a little variable lately, but now all of the trees finally have their full foliage back, so even though there’s still a little nip in the air, it’s really starting to look like summer! (…Or maybe it’s just my wishful thinking!) The winters here at Lawrence can definitely get cold, but the cold just makes us appreciate and take advantage of the warmth and sunshine while it’s here! I woke up to an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday morning, and despite my busy schedule and long list of things to accomplish, I decided to escape campus for a few minutes and take a walk by the river, on one of my favorite walking trails in Appleton. It occurs to me every so often how the location of the Lawrence campus is truly ideal; we have the bustling downtown district of Appleton right next to us on one side, but we also have incredible natural beauty and serenity on the other side! I really love this combination of urban and natural/scenic (I’m sort of a hybrid between an urban person and an outdoors person), and I think this duality makes Lawrence and Appleton appealing and exciting for all of us in different ways. My favorite trail that I walked on yesterday is only a five minute walk from my residence hall (Kohler Hall), and it begins right next to a beautiful grassy slope by to the Fox River…it’s quite gorgeous! There are lots of other trails around campus (and you can actually see some of the trail areas from the Warch Campus Center!), but this trail is my absolute favorite. While I do love my native climate in Southern California, which is most often quite desert-like, it is so refreshing to take a walk through a lush wooded area! Below are some pictures from my walk:
