Work Hard Play Hard

Yesterday started out pretty normal, I woke up to Caroline's alarm and tried to psych myself up enough to actually move from the comfort of my bed and begin my day.

It wasn't too difficult once I remembered that class would consist of one long work session on our ideological criticism of The Hermitage to be present at the end of the day. This was mostly because I really liked my group and was pretty sure we would do a number on the problematic and manipulative rhetoric we saw there. 

By lunchtime, we had managed to finish the majority of our presentation and were feeling pretty good about what we had to do to finish up. Sure enough, we ended up polishing off our presentation not long after lunch, going the extra mile to make the slides pretty as well as complementary to our words. We told the class about our findings from the museum and then patiently listened to the other four groups' takes on the same assignment. 

My group mates, Kate and Clay hard at work.

After class, it was time for stage combat. We slapped each other's hands, kicked the air and looked as cool as possible, all under the guidance of our enthusiastic teacher Eric. By the end of class, my friend Abby and I choreographed a fight scene, and it may not have been convincing, but it was a lot of fun. 

From ACE it was quickly time for dinner, and I had a wonderful and grounding time catching up with friends and sharing about our classes. 

After dinner, we had admissions night where we were given the chance to talk to actual Vanderbilt Admissions officers, including one that would represent us if we applied here. We learned about general admissions practices for entering any college and found out that the admissions officer for the Bay Area, Brandon, will be visiting El Cerrito. It was so nice to be able to pick his brain and those of the other officers regarding the confusing and daunting college admissions process. 

Today was one of those rare days where I woke up completely naturally and even had time to take a shower and be ready with time to spare. I sat in the common room with my friend Julie who had untangled a massive knot of friendship bracelet string over the past few days and was just finishing tying it up into neat bundles so that the string could be enjoyed by all. Julie is one of those people that the world almost doesn't deserve. 

From there, my day moved quickly through breakfast, and class began with some time to work on our final speeches which will be delivered in under a week now. Our morning also included a lecture on the role of the audience in public speaking (spoiler alert, they are the most important part), as well as rhetorical devices that can be employed to make a speech more convincing and powerful. 

My friend Abbey (not from Stage Combat) during lunch

After lunch, we got back to work on our final speeches (mine will be on United States refugee policy) and viewed a historical moment in public speaking with  Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech looking out how he used the rhetorical elements and style in his iconic address.

The long hot walk to my ACE was soon upon us, and once greeted with the cool air conditioning of the Stage Combat class we quickly got down to business. 

Today we learned a choreographed fight scene that ended with my knocking out Abby and her falling to the floor, but despite the gruesome reality of our actions, try as we might we could not stop giggling the whole time. 

An uneventful dinner was followed up by another SOFT night, and another time that I stayed in. Tonight It was fondue and card games with Hawi and Ana.

My night ended with a long and delirious chat with the ever wonderful Julie, and my incredible Proctor Payton, I will certainly go to sleep happy.