Thrifty Relaxation

It was such a great relief to hear my mom offer to pay for me to get a massage sometime this week. As I look at the clock ticking away to the wee hours of the morning, I'm STILL sitting in Fondren studying as much as I can for my overhanging final exams and papers to hopefully ensure some high grades for the end of the semester. A massage would be a wonderful treat to help alleviate some of this horrible stress. Who doesn't enjoy a good spa treatment every now and then? 

While neither my mom, nor I, are frequent spa goers, we both know people that we can label as "spa junkies." They pay ridiculous amounts of money for extravagant treatments like chocolate body scrubs, and simply "can't live" without their weekly spa fix. With the recession having placed such a financial burden on most Americans, however, the number of spa junkies out there has hit rock bottom. Relaxation is just something that can so easily be cut out of a person's budget, and spas across America are definitely feeling the cutback. 

As I thumbed through the "Dallas Morning News," an article about this very topic caught my eye. It provides some great tips on how people can still pamper themselves every once in awhile while still pinching a few pennies. Okay, a $250 massage might be completely out of the question for someone trying to save money at this point, but not all treatments are that expensive. Perhaps a few thrifty spa treatments would help alleviate as much stress for financially burdened Americans as it hopefully will for me during this hectic finals week. Let's get the economy rolling. Check it out! --->

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-spasave_0503tra.State.Edition1.4ac7d4c.html

Almost a Sophomore

Wow, this year has come and gone in a flash. When I moved into my lovely closet-sized dorm room last August, it felt like the day would never come that I'd be packing it back up to end my freshman year. Now that the time has actually come around, that hectic and HOT move-in seems like it was just yesterday. 

Can you believe that we won't be the youngest batch of SMU kids anymore? It's going to be so different labeling ourselves as sophomores rather than the newbies. I bet it'll take a few tries for all of us to get the sophomore response down when the "what year are you" question is thrown out, but I can't wait to see all the incoming freshman during their first few weeks, nervously shuffling around campus like I remember so vividly doing myself. That may sound mean, but I only say it with the upmost excitement for them. Figuring out how to get around and live around campus was great fun. Just think, Facebooking while pretending to listen to professors in giant lectures, double swiping friends in at Umphrey Lee by slipping ID cards through the side window and wiping the X's off our hands at bars in an attempt to mask our under-21-ness are all phenomenal skills that they have yet to discover. 

Frankly, I'm a little saddened that I'll be moving out of my dorm next week, and jealous that two new girls will be living in the hall where I've made so many great memories. All of the girls on my hall have grown so close, and while we may have grunted the entire year about trying to fit our clothes in the closet, being able to walk right down the hall to hang out with one another at all times of the day and night is a practice that I'll greatly miss. 

It'll definitely be funny, too, to see all the new class of 2013 kids out at night. I remember how excited and scared I was walking into my first fraternity party with the handful of friends that I had just met. I was so cautious, as a girl who was interested in joining a sorority, to keep my behavior in check as I didn't want to anger the older, sorority girls who I figured were watching my every move. Now that I'm in a sorority, all of my older sisters tell me how ridiculous it is to see the new girls basically kissing up to them during the first semester in an attempt to form a good reputation for themselves, and I'm pretty interested to see how that actually plays out.  

I've loved and learned so much about SMU and myself throughout this first year. Looking back, my freshman year has lived up to everything that I had hoped for and expected. Evaluating everything from the academics to the social scene and the city of Dallas itself, I couldn't be happier here at SMU, and am hopeful that my remaining three years here will only get better.

Swine Flu Precautions are Legitimate!

I have commented on CC19's interesting idea that the Swine flu is nothing but a government conspiracy. CC19 thinks that the government has made up the disease in order to close schools and save money. While it's certainly a creative idea, I personally think the Swine flu is a true threat. Maybe I'm just a gullible germ-a-phob, but I've definitely been washing my hands more often than necessary, and would be more than happy to miss school for a few days for precautionary measures. 

Comment on "R U Really Reading?"

I choose to read "Online, R U Really Reading?" and commented on cec's blog post about it. She asked many thought-provoking questions about the article that made me think much more about my paper topic. 

Early Claim for Final Paper & Reason 1

Claim: Too often in their attempts to challenge students' reading abilities and preconceived values, professors' efforts are counterproductive.

Reason 1: Professors choose books that students are unable to relate to because the author's viewpoints are too foreign. By forcing adolescents to trudge through books that would never mirror their own lives, teachers and professors are decreasing the possibility of molding their students into life long readers because students begin to categorize reading as an unexciting task rather than a pleasurable activity. Louis Stover, Chair of the Education Department of the River Gazette, preaches that "...the texts we ask our students to read in school...undercut our efforts to develop [their] passion reading...If the goal is to...create a citizenry of life-long readers, we might be better served by asking students to read (gasp!) a Harry Potter novel. Through the Rawlings books, students can examine themselves and their relationships, learn to negotiate a world that is more often gray than black and white, and come to appreciate and understand the craft of the novel (Stover 9). Instead of trying to picture himself or herself arguing a topic that would only prove necessary in the 18th century, students can draw from their own real-life experiences to create a boost in class discussion with more solid opinions.

Realizing the Oddity of the Twilight Obsession

After reading Meghan's post about the world's new obsession with Twilight, I gained a new perspective on the whole phenomenon. She poses a good argument in question of our culture's new favorite series that really made me step back and think.

Love it, or Hate it, it's a Texas Obsession

When asked about their favorite genres of music, it seems that most people either absolutely love or absolutely hate country music. Here at SMU, it's mostly the costal (California or Florida-born) kids who seem to despise the twangy sound of country music at it's finest, and the southerners who swear by it. While many could argue that this claim is solely stereotypical, I can attest being born and raised in Florida that I definitely was not a fan of country music before coming here. All the songs that I had heard before moving to Texas just sounded so sappy and monotonous. My few friends who loved country at home warned that moving to Texas would make me become a country music lover, but I denied all such suspicions. How could my tastes change so much by simply moving to a different state? Well, they were right.

 

It must be something about living in a state that makes a person prideful of everything surrounding its culture. Having lived in Texas for almost a full year now, I love turning my radio to a country station every once and awhile (a practice I would have never done before). My car radio even has a numbered station set to country, and while it might be a few numbers behind my favorite pop, mix, and hip-hop stations, the fact that I even took the time to set a country station in my car is pretty astonishing. I'm just waiting for the huge "I told you so" grins that will surely appear on my friends' faces who just knew that once I heard more of it, I'd get hooked. 

Maybe I'm one of the only people who's take on country morphed from extreme dislike to moderate enjoyment, but I find that hard to believe. It's pretty difficult to escape the ever-presence of country music here in Texas, even as a stubborn college student. From football tailgates on the Boulevard to dancing the night away at SMU's most popular nightlife spots, country music always seems to be playing. For me, it was only a matter of time before the country songs I heard blaring through the loud speakers became committed to memory. Even though I haven't quite hit the level of obsession with country music that some people have, my new love for it has been a pretty lovely surprise. 

Comment on Chris' Cell Phone Dilemma

I have commented on Chris' post about a day made much more dramatic and tough after locking his cell phone in a friend's car. Having lost my cell phone on numerous occasions, I can definitely relate!

Argument in Favor of the Arts on our Cognition

With all the discussion that we have had recently based on the questionable rise and decline of our intelligence levels due to the Internet, I've started thinking a lot about things in my life besides the Internet that have had a positive impact on my cognition. Since I was three years old, the art of dancing has been my hobby, passion and creative outlet. Now, here at SMU, I am a dance minor, learning from some of the most esteemed instructors and choreographers from around the world. Through such dance instruction, I've not only been able to improve my skill and technique, but have gained a vast education on many of the world's cultures through movement. 

Sure, many who are not involved in the arts classify artists as a very "alternative" breed, but I tend to believe that this uniqueness is a good thing, spawning from the learned tendency for artists to look at the world in a deeper way. In dance, for example, we must adapt to the stylistic differences of all types of choreographers.  We not only have to pick up the sequencing at a fast pace, but in order to perform well we must also interpret both the music and the choreographer's intended message to the audience. 

Having been such a huge part in my life, I can testify that art has enhanced both my coordination and my ability to decode the intended messages of other artists and authors. With that said, I feel that art should play a more pivotal role in a child's elementary education because it's an incredible aid to our cognitive development. 

Comment

I have commented on Krystal's post "Spring Break Fever." You can see my comment at Spring Break Fever.

Alcohol: A College Normality at Every Age

As I sat on the plane that was jetting towards my hometown before the holiday break, my mind was filled with joyous anticipation. After the countless hours that I spent staring at books on the hard, wooden study tables of SMU's library, my hometown had become a place where I could only dream to be; an oasis where an alarm clock was completely nonexistent and high school friends were at most 20 minutes away. It was going to be wonderful to see these friends again, all of us having experienced a dip into the pool of independence, now having been launched from the pre-collegiate bubble that surrounded our once closely monitored lives. Unlike many of my fellow high school graduates, who decided to stay within the state for school, I was one of the only travelers half way across America to Dallas, leaving behind every part of the childhood with which I was so familiar. 

Not having seen any of my graduating class since I left town in August, it was truly interesting to see how everyone was acting all together again. While most of my closest friends had not changed an ounce, there were some who made a complete transition from "jock" to "nice guy," and "good girl" to "party animal." Sure I had received multiple overly-talkative phone calls at 4am from some of my school's most esteemed and previously straight-edged students at Stanford, Duke and Georgetown throughout the first semester, but I guess I had completely underestimated the rate at which alcohol consumption rises as all high school seniors morph into college freshmen.

It's truly remarkable how casual drinking becomes for every college freshman dragging their suitcases home for the first time. In high school days, underage drinking was an incredibly difficult task. Since it's obviously against the law, kids had to go great yards to experience the feeling of drunkenness, seeking out houses to play a few games of ever-loved beer-pong where the parents were out of town for the weekend, or taking pre-concert, pucker-faced swigs of whatever someone had the guts to take from their parents. Drinking was mostly for the rebellious during those times. Most high schoolers who drink do it for the yearning to experience one of the only activities that parents place in the no-no box.

I, for one, never really partied hard in high school. My parents were definitely strict about my wellbeing and safety, understandably, and the consequences of being caught or hurt were just too high for me to get drunk and make a fool out of myself for a few hours. Since being at SMU, I've found that college certainly puts a spin on the high school drinking practices, for as a college student, alcohol becomes a clear-cut part of social culture as a way to mingle comfortably with people in an entirely new environment.  While during the first week here, I was worried and curious as to whether SMU was the only school where drinking was a prevalent part of the college culture, I soon came to realize while at home that everyone had now become a "casual drinker" (even those smarties attending Harvard, Yale and Stanford).

 For the most part, parents seem to lighten up about their children drinking underage after a whole semester alone. It's only logical really, for even if they don't relay it to their children, they each remember their days as college freshmen, partying their way through such newborn independence. It was quite liberating, actually, to have the sense that I could be honest with my own parents about going out to drink with friends, knowing that the only thing they may question is how I would get back home safe and sound.

Much controversy lies in the drinking practices of college students. While it's definitely still illegal for most of us freshmen at 18 and 19, why does the instant transition from no-no in high school to understandable in college so easy? Some argue that life would be much easier for everyone if only the drinking age were lowered to 18. Could it really be true that since it's legal for us to vote and go off to war at 18, that we should be able to share a beer or two with our parents as well?