Once again, I write to you from the Reese Residence Hall lounge where I am currently on duty (nights where I do rounds and are available to assist with any problems when you are an RA). This afternoon we played Hartford in our first home game of the season. Despite cold and windy conditions we won 12-4. It was very nice to see such a large crowd at the game. Students came and cheered with the parents. One fan decided to show his support for the team by going shirtless in the below freezing temps. The game was a lot of fun and the fan support helped us all deal with the cold.

The other night there was an event on campus sponsored by the English and American Studies departments. Two poets, Joy Harjo and Susan Powers came to campus and showed off some of their work in Albright Auditorium. Since we were reading one of Susan's books in a class of mine the teacher offered extra credit for anybody who went and wrote a short reflection about their experience. I am glad that I attended. I had never seen poetry "performed" before and Joy Harjo accompanied some of her pieces with vocals and saxophone. Both women were extremely talented and the focus of their work was on Native American culture and spirituality. It was a very new experience for me and once I became comfortable with the style in which they were reading it was a lot of fun. Academic Departments sponsor events that students can attend. Many of these events are specific to the departments that sponsor them and are particularly interesting to the students majoring in that subject. This being said, all events are usually open to anyone so if you have a variety of interests you can usually find something like this to attend.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The natural sciences and math have never been my strongest suites so I was hoping to graduate from HWS without having to take difficult classes in either subject. By avoiding these two subjects (I thought) I would also be able to avoid labs (blocks of time like extra classes where you do research and experiments). This being said, you can imagine my excitement when I found out that my Macroeconomics class has a lab component. To be honest, the lab has turned out to be a terrific experience!

Each week we go to the library where we are assigned a week long "research project." These projects consist of collecting, analyzing and organizing various data and macroeconomic variables using Microsoft Excel. Learning to use Excel while getting the chance to forecast and analyze the economy has been exciting. I have no doubt that the skills I am developing will be very useful in future internships and jobs.

With that exciting update I am happy to say that things are going well. Today it was about 45degrees, which, for upstate NY in March, is very good weather. However, I know better than to get my hopes up and let myself believe that Spring is really here. We had our season opener against Bucknell this weekend. In a disappointing game we lost 10-9. I am looking forward to playing Hartford for our home opener next weekend. I am sure there will be a good turnout regardless of the weather! Hope all is well for everybody.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a nice but cold winter break things are back in full swing at campus. I returned a few days early to participate in RA training and some pre-season lacrosse practices. Between the two I was happily busy. Lacrosse is in full swing and we are working very hard to prepare for a scrimmage against Colgate next weekend. Fortunately, the weather hasn't been too bad (no 2 feet snowfalls) and we have been able to practice outside a couple of times. The season is fast approaching and our home opener is on March 1st. Lacrosse games are usually a lot of fun. A lot of students attend the games and hopefully their support will help us win more than we lose.

School is going well. I am still putting off declaring my major and minor but I have decided that I will major in economics with a minor in English and something else...it’s still in the works. My classes are actually pretty fun. As a follow up to my Shakespeare class last semester I am taking Shakespeare In/On Film with the same professor. One of the great things about school here is that you develop relationships with your professors and other faculty members that help make the academic load of work more manageable and enjoyable. Hope all is well and I will check in with you all soon!

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Although it’s tough coming back from Thanksgiving break for only a few weeks of school my Professors, for some reason unknown to me, have decided to lighten up the workload before the grind of finals week. I've been able to relax a bit and get out and do a few things. Last night I went to the Barn, an on campus space for events and such, to see one of my friend’s bands perform. It was a lot of fun to see such a big crowd with so much energy there to support them.

Registration for classes went well for me. I was fortunate to get into all of the classes I wanted and am going to be taking several interesting ones. Shakespeare In/On Film is one I'm particularly excited about. We are going to be discussing the ways in which directors and filmmakers choose to make the transition from text and stage to film. Our final class project will be working together to figure out how we would stage a Shakespearean play and why. Along with this I am taking two Economics classes and an American studies one.

I hope everybody is enjoying the Holidays.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am finally home for Thanksgiving break. School has been going well but Thanksgiving always comes at the right time. I just finished up a few tests for a couple of classes and now we have two more weeks of classes before finals week. Things always get pretty crazy towards the end of the semester so it's nice to take a break and eat with family and friends. My finals shouldn't be too bad though. I have a take home exam and a paper for two of my classes.

Yesterday we got our first real snow fall.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Things have been going well. Halloween just recently passed and it was... interesting to see everybody dressed up. The Colleges hosted a handful of activities to celebrate, including a pumpkin drop on the Quad. This past weekend was a great one for sports. I got to see the conference semi-finals and finals for girls soccer. The championship game was close, but we won in the last few minutes of the game. It was great to see a lot of students fill up the hill to watch the game.

The weather is getting cold and there is definitely a feeling that winter is right around the corner. I am already starting to look forward to the spring! I think a little bit of snow will be nice though. Hopefully I will be able to get out and go skiing a couple of times this year since I didn't get the chance to last winter. There are a couple of nice places to go around here and we usually get plenty of snow. Anyways, things are good and I hope you are all enjoying the fall.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fall break was amazing! I got all of my work done before going home so I managed to spend the four days relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. We had our fall lacrosse tournament on Saturday against Nazareth and Colgate and it went really well. It was a picture perfect day, which is very surprising considering its mid-October in upstate New York. We ended up winning both games after a slow start, so everyone was happy and able to enjoy the tailgate afterwards.

Even though we only had 4 days off it was tough getting adjusted to classes and work. Luckily, the teachers took it easy on us and I haven't had much homework to do the past couple of days. School is going well, President Gearan had a reception at his house where some students gathered to eat and talk with Chris Myers Asch, the guest speaker for the President's Forum series. Periodically, President Gearan will invite speakers to the Colleges to give lectures dealing with important and interesting topics. When these speakers come, the President (and Mrs. Gearan) holds an informal reception at their home with students. These are usually a lot of fun for several reasons: good food, interesting conversation and you have the opportunity to get to know President Gearan and his family. Mr. Asch spoke about his plans to develop the first Public Service Academy. I wasn't able to make it to the lecture, but the informal reception at the President's house was very interesting.

Hope you all have a happy Halloween!

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am actually writing this blog to procrastinate from working on my take-home Shakespeare's tragedies midterm (so if it is a little longer than usual, don't be alarmed). These past few weeks have been crazy. I am convinced that the teachers organize test schedules so that our tests all fall in the same week. I had my business law midterm yesterday and hopefully I did well on it. I'm conflicted because I am really enjoying the class, but it's difficult so I really have to work at it.

Things are going well though. I made it home this past weekend for my grandparents’ 60th anniversary. It was a nice break from the grind of test week. Fall lacrosse ends this weekend. We have a tournament at Colgate where we will be playing them and Nazareth. It should be a lot of fun to compete with some other teams after having spent the past month just having inter-squad scrimmages. I'm really excited for the spring so that we can get into our real schedule. Home games are a lot of fun and we have our big games (Syracuse, Loyola, Cornell, etc.) here. Usually we get pretty big crowds so it’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I should get back to work though. Wish me luck.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So it's Friday night and I am doing my RA duties in the Reese common room. I am on duty tonight (which means walking around our side of campus making sure people aren't getting in to trouble). I know that this sounds like a ton of fun but to be honest with you, it is kind of boring. It has been pretty quiet tonight though, so 2AM (when we get off) seems pretty far away.

On a much happier note, it's Friday! After a long week of tests and papers I finally get some time to relax. If I am lucky, I will spend most of my weekend playing the newly released Halo3, which is absolutely amazing. Hopefully the weather will clear up a bit. Oddly enough it hailed this afternoon. Yes, it is still September and technically summer did end only around a week ago- but hey, that's upstate weather for you. Classes are going well and I'm finding that I really am having to work pretty hard to keep my grades up. Should be interesting to see how the next couple of weeks work out. Talk to you next time.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite the fact that I am only three weeks in to my sophomore fall semester, I feel as if I've been back on campus for months. Although returning to campus on August 15 for RA training might have had something to do with this, I'm sure that my new schedule has something to do with it as well. At the end of last year I felt as if I was not involved in many of the things that I really enjoyed in high school. This year, I decided to try to get back to those things that I enjoyed so much and it has really paid off. My jazz sax lessons are going well (despite a total lack of skill and 3 years of not touching the instrument) and lacrosse try outs just ended. Between that, working with admissions and classes I have been happily busy. Tuesday night is the informational meeting for study abroad programs so that is marked on my calendar as well.

Thanks for reading. I am looking forward to a very exciting semester consisting of music, lacrosse, giving tours and figuring out where I am going to study abroad next fall (Ireland or England?... Maybe, eh, I don't know). Life is good.

Posted by Kevin Curtin at 9:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)