Done with Finals…

Hey all. After a stressful and sleep-less week of final exams and papers I am finally done. Tomorrow I head back home to New York and then will be going on vacation with my family. I will be back to Bates a little over a week from today to start short term which I am very excited for. 

I will leave you with these pictures of finals week at Bates:

(Batesies hard at work – studying in Pettengill Hall) 

(The study nook with festive holiday lights where I spent my days studying)

(I came back to my room to grab some study materials and caught this nice shot outside the room just after sunset)

Until next time…

Final Week… Final Piece of Advice in the College Process

Hey all. The final week of classes has arrived here at Bates.  Next week is final exam week, the following week is Spring Break, and then it’s back to campus for Short Term.

It’s crazy how fast the semester flew by and I can hardly believe that my sophomore year is nearing its close. I’ll spare you the corny self-reflective blog post and won’t tell you about how I feel I’m at a crossroads in my Bates career etc. I’m sure you don’t want to hear my boring personal story but I will tell you that I have formed a close connection with this school and feel very privileged and lucky to be here.

My final exam schedule isn’t shaping up to be terribly difficult and should be manageable as long as I stay on top of my work. I have one final exam in my Chinese history course, one in-class essay in English, and two final papers for my two American history courses.

I realize that many of you are in the final steps of the college process and presumably, if you are reading this blog, considering Bates. Rather than push anything on you (you’ve dealt with enough of that I’m sure) I will leave you with one piece of advice: think seriously about what you want to get out of four years of education, what type of environment you want to learn in, what opportunities each school offers, and, in the long run, where you think you will be happiest. Ultimately, it is a personal choice and I wish all of you the best of luck in the picking process. There are a lot of great schools out there and I hope you all end up in the school that you feel best fits. You’re nearing the end of the process. Hang in there and good luck. I hope to see many of you at Bates next year. Until next time…

Jazz Band Concert…

Hey all. As some of you readers may know, I play the alto saxophone and am part of the Bates College Jazz Band. We had our second semester concert last night and it was a blast. 

We played songs by Tower of Power, Steely Dan, Pat Methany, Sy Oliver, and more. The concert was free for members of the community and for all Batesie students, faculty, and employees. The band is directed by Tom Snow, a professional jazz pianist and teacher at Bates. He is very easy going, funny, and doesn’t put unnecessary pressure on the band members. He guides us in a relaxed way and helps the band become a unified collective while also allowing all individual students to solo and improvise if they want to. 

I had taken private saxophone lessons in high school but hadn’t played in a school band since middle school but Tom took me right in last semester and now I feel like an important member of the group. Music is a great escape from the homework and stress that is inevitable at the college level.

I’m glad Bates has an accepting music scene and that we have the ability to freely share our musical talents with Bates and the local community. Learn more about the Jazz Band here.

Here’s a clip from our concert in the fall. I apologize for the bad quality of the audio. Until next time…