New Year, New Semester

To all of you reading this, Happy Festive Winter Holiday Of Your Choosing and also a very Happy New Year!

Aside from the frenzy of finals week last month, my first semester at Transy was the best experience I could have possibly asked for. Looking back, I've accomplished a lot. I began chemical research as a freshman, was casted in two different theatrical shows, joined a sorority, did well in all my classes, made some of the coolest friends, and even kept up on my laundry. I am officially unable to walk into the Rafskellar without knowing at least one person, and can successfully navigate my way around the Lexington area.

Last year and last semester may be over now, but I'm still loving my time here at Transy.

The break at home was undoubtedly welcomed- I was excited to see my family again, and real food never tasted so good! I built a gingerbread house from scratch, celebrated the holidays (and a new addition to the extended family!) at my grandparents house, and showed one of my friends from school around the Windy City when they came up to visit.

Although I loved being home, by the time January rolled around I definitely started missing my Transy family. I ended up moving back in a few days early to participate in the reconstruction of the Transylvania Sustainability Plan, and I am happy to say I think it is going quite well. We are planning on hosting some open forum dates in case any one is interested in contributing or has questions. Sustainability around campus is a growing concern, and although there is a considerable amount of action being taken already, we hope to do even more. Some of our over arching goals include becoming a zero waste, carbon neutral campus, reducing waste water and water use, building sustainability, and improving the education and culture of sustainable actions. While these goals won't happen over night, I am excited that already this year we have reduced paper consumption by 30%.

Being back on campus also means the start of rehearsals for The Shape of Things (and Aloha Say the Pretty Girls). Both productions should be excellent and I am looking forward to seeing and participating in them this upcoming semester.

Finally, returning to Transy means returning to classes. This semester I've got a full schedule with Calc III, Latin IV, FLA II, and Chem II. I can already tell this semester will be a lot of work, but my professors are all so excited about what they are teaching that it's hard not to be excite about learning it.