Weekend Escapades

As mentioned in my last post, this past weekend was Family/Friends weekend. There were more parents and grandparents wandering around than there are squirrels skittering about campus. Not wanting all the parental units to get bored, Beloit College organized some entertainment venues such as a screening of The Real Dirt on Farmer John and booking Beau Soleil, a band that mixes Cajun music, New Orleans jazz, and blues (with a side helping of a bunch of other related music styles).
I wound up seeing Beau Soleil and holy dang, Eaton Chapel was packed to the gills. (I'm not kidding. Beau Soleil sold out.) I'd never really heard Cajun music before (let alone of Beau Soleil), but it was really enjoyable and it was a good, cross-generational kind of music that everyone can enjoy. And true to Beloit fashion, a handful of crowd members got up out of their seats and started an impromptu dance party off to the side of the stage.

On Sunday night, our old FYIs reunited for a nice dinner at commons (and no, that isn't an oxymoron. we were even given cloth napkins and everything!). For those of you who aren't familiar with the acronym, FYI stands for First Year Initiative, which is a program nearly every Beloit College student enters. Its purpose is to help ease you into life at Beloit College and it basically serves as your training wheels while you move from being a high school student to a college student. FYI carries over into your second year, but swaps out the 'F' for an 'S', becoming Second Year Initiative. SYI is basically your backbone and guide to mapping out the remaining two years you spend at Beloit. I didn't stay long at the dinner, having to run off to work, but it was good to reconnect with my FYI advisor (and interesting to see how everyone in my FYI has changed since we were unsure, newly-minted first-years).

Even though October isn't quite here yet (I wish!), I'm already getting in the Halloween mood. Instead of working on my Japanese homework (or at least pretending to), I wound up swapping ghost stories with a bunch of friends. It's amusing how much your own imagination can scare you. Forget scary movies. Just wander around a dark and silent dorm for a little while. I'm usually pretty difficult to frighten when it comes to that sort of stuff, but even I checked under my bed before settling in for the night.