The joys of Podcasts in Pandemic Learning

Well hey there reader, are you like me? Are you isolated with your nuclear family for going on a full year now? Are you craving the voices and inflections of people that you aren’t biologically related to or dedicated to living in the same long-term space as?

The solution is simple dear reader!

PODCASTS!

Oh my goodness, thank the Lord for podcasts.

The KCSS website listing many different student-created podcasts
Screenshot taken from kcss.net/podcasts

I fell in love with the audio medium in my job as a janitor where I would spend many hours alone cleaning toilets and taking out trash. Filling the void with comedians, educators, and people sharing their different perspectives and experiences could make an eight hour shift feel like four.

While originally I used podcasts to fill the void, now I find myself using them to tune out the cacophony. News, anxiety, family, virus, vaccine and more can lead me to doom-scrolling through Twitter until my eyes are bloodshot and it’s 2AM. Listening to podcasts has become a vital part of my routine amidst online learning and surviving social distancing in general.

While I listen to professionally made podcasts regularly, filling my ears with the sounds of people comedically watching the same movie every single year until they die, a man hyper-analyzing facets of the human centered life in a personal and subjective way, and three friends making songs out of responses to their tweets, in the midst of the pandemic sometimes I crave something a little less professional and a little more real.

Podcasts aren’t a little secret anymore, they’re becoming mainstream and the world is catching on to it, including Stanislaus!

Radio booth with standing microphone, sound board, and blurry "ON AIR" sign in background
Image by Benjamin Hartwich on Pixabay.com

KCSS, which I’ve talked about on this blog before, regularly offers their students the equipment and teaching of how to launch the pilot episodes of their very own podcast, resulting in actual real Stanislaus students putting out four or five episodes of talking about their daily lives and the issues that are important to them.

In listening to a handful of them, I’ve heard familiar voices, been able to learn more about what students at Stanislaus find important, and gotten to see my home University from a million different angles.

And that’s the true power of the internet if you ask me. Not just finding heavily edited and long researched texts on how people see and view the world, but literally just clicking a few buttons and being able to listen to people directly talking about their experiences.

Curious about LGBT+ experiences in the Central Valley? Check out the Queer Cast!

Want to hear about the BSU and POC presence in Stanislaus? Check out Black at Stan!

Have you always wanted to see the world but were unsure about what Study Abroad was all about? Check out Warriors Abroad!

I love my professionally made podcasts, I really do. But lately, it’s these casual conversations, these normal non-comedians and non-experts talking about their normal lives that have really been comforting me. I miss going on campus, I miss talking to acquaintances and friends before and after class. These podcasts have been emulating that feeling for me,

And maybe they can give you insights into the multi-faceted world of Stanislaus too.

My advice? Put in some earbuds, get up from the computer, mask up, and go for a walk while you listen to regular folks talking about their regular lives. I like to go looking for birds, but that might just be the old man breaking out from within me 🙂

Flags are Cool – AKA: Nathan Continues to fall down Rabbit Holes in Desperate Attempts to Retain Sanity

Flags are Cool.

Circle versions of the flags of (Starting from top left) Russia, The United States, Germany, China, France, Greece, Canada, Italy, European Union, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Sweden)
Image by Sinisa Maric on Pixabay.com

One of my first couple posts in my blogging venture here with the Admissions Department was talking about juggling, and how both learning how to juggle and practicing mindfulness through juggling was able to help me get through the headspace of constant work through online learning.

Here’s the gif, in case you’ve forgotten:

I’m still juggling from time to time, it’s a great way to keep your body busy while listening to an audiobook or podcast, but now that I got over the basics of learning the skill, it’s not quite as engaging, you know?

So instead, what I’ve ended up doing now is something I never thought I would derive enjoyment from: Learning the flags of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations.

I repeat: Flags are Cool.

Symbols in general are awesome (or maybe that’s just the communications major coming out in me), we find ways to take what would otherwise be meaningless images or colors and we turn them into highly charged, contested, beloved, and hated images that have meaning.

Like, if I told you that a circle on a blank slate would symbolize the divine right to rule of an emperor, a connection to the traditional faiths of Sun deities, and that it would help unite peoples from many different island cultures through two-world wars and one of the fastest and most radical industrial and political revolutions in history, it would sound pretty silly.

But of course, I’m talking about the flag of Japan, the Rising Sun, which is both a unique and pretty cool looking flag:

Rising Sun
Flag of Japan, image by OpenClipArt on Pixabay.com

Flags mean things. Flags represent peoples. If you know what you’re looking for, in one flag you can see history, philosophy, ideals, and beliefs of a group of people. Flags are cool dude.

For instance! Take the flag of the Philippines:

Flag of the Philippines
Flag of The Philippines, image by Clker-Free on Pixabay.com

It’s a pretty cool looking flag, right?! But did you know that it’s one of the few flags of the world that’s actually intended to be reversible??

If the flag is flying blue stripe up, it means that the nation is at a time of peace. If the flag is flying red stripe up, it means that the nation is in a time of war.

How cool is that!? The answer: Super Cool.

I’m an American, born and raised, and privileged enough to not have spent my childhood worryingly learning about different nations and peoples because I was afraid for my own safety. That’s a good thing, and I’m incredibly thankful for it, BUT, it can also lead me down a path of ignorance if I’m not careful.

Learning flags of the world is potentially a meaningless gesture. It’s small, it doesn’t do much. It’s not even really helping anyone other than my own pandemic-sanity.

But it’s the first time in my life that I’m learning about certain peoples and places. Every time I learn a new flag or people, it’s a small, tiny way of me being able to say: “I see you. You exist. You are important. I see you.

It’s the beginning of being able to learn more. I can’t possible commit to learning every single aspect of 193 countries, in fact, as I’m writing this post, I still haven’t learned more than maybe 120 flags. But it can be the first step of acknowledging the greater world around me, and how I am merely an extra in this stage and all it’s players.

Recognition is the first step to knowledge, so besides being just a fun challenge to keep my brain occupied in the whirlwind of doom-scrolling, vaccine-waiting, and online class workloads, it’s also a small way that I can open my brain up to learning more in the future.

Maybe one day, for instance, I’ll be able to talk to someone from the Ivory Coast, and instead of sheepishly having to ask them to define their existence to me because of my ignorance, I can jump straight into meaningful conversation with a person as a person.

Flag of the Ivory Coast, Orange, White, Green
Flag of the Ivory Coast, image by Clker-Free on Pixabay.com

Just to be clear, I’m not urging everyone to go out and learn 193 flags. Heavens no, I’m lucky that this has been as interesting and fun for me as it has been. What I am saying, is that maybe what your brain needs in the middle of 8 hours of screen time a day, is a fun quick diversion into learning about something that will make you grow in small and easy but meaningful ways.

Hang in there! The end of this long night is near!

Talking to your Professors (It’s a good idea!)

Hello, hello all and good morning, afternoon, or evening that you find this post!

I found that one of the big differences between college and high school was the importance of talking to my professors.

There were a few rare cases of high school teachers that I liked, that talked to me like an adult, or that worked with me enough for me to come in their classrooms at lunch time and get extra help or brainstorming with them. But, I found that there are way more college professors willing to work with you than high school teachers!

The differences are many.

In high school, first of all, teachers are more likely to know your name. This isn’t a jab at college professors so much as an observation of events. In high school you go to class every single day, you go to the same school for four years, and the teacher is part governmentally-appointed baby sitter in addition to instructor.

In college, the impetus is on you to learn your professor.

Masculine-presenting figure in formal clothing and leather satchel holding book
Image by Pexels on Pixabay.com

That may sound like a scary prospect, but I actually found it incredibly freeing! Instead of going to school because you’re legally required to, now you’re going to school for you. You’re going to get to learn what you want to, you can put in as much effort as you want to, and you are responsible for whatever outcome you want.

All that to say, it’s not the professor’s responsibility to make sure you’re doing the work.

Stanislaus is nice in that we have such small classroom sizes, so that you actually can get to know the professor if you want to, but even then it’s not like the professor will hunt you down if you don’t show up to class, don’t turn in any assignments, or don’t ever speak up in class. They’ll just fail or drop you.

So, what you can do instead, is show up to their office hours.

Office hours are just plain magical. The sooner and more frequent students take advantage of their professors’ office hours is directly correlated to how well students score in their classes. The evidence is so clear, in fact, that I’m a bit shocked when I learn how few students will actually visit with their professors and ask course questions.

Showing a genuine interest in the class, being polite, and just having a one-to-one conversation with a professor will sky-rocket you up to memorability. In a college of thousands of students, working with a professor who has perhaps taught tens of thousands over the course of their career, yours will become a name and face that will be remembered.

It’s the first baby step towards having an actual relationship with the person you’re paying to help guide your life. From there, the sky’s the limit.

I’ve had professors that explicitly do not have time to talk with students directly before and after classes but will answer your email at two in the morning. On the other hand, I’ve had professors that will get so enraptured with your after-class conversation that you’ll end up walking all the way to the parking lot and drawing diagrams in the dust of their car’s rear window.

Blurry woman draws lines between boxes and circles
Image by LTD EHU on Pixabay.com

It’s the conversations with professors that I remember most. More than the lectures, the tests, the flash cards, even more than the presentations and projects I did. It’s the talking.

Your professors are genuine people with lives outside of school, and it’s really neat when you can ground your learning with them to someone with actual experience and know-how rather than a figure behind a podium and a textbook.

Talking to your professors, visiting during office hours, participating in class, and generally making yourself as available as your professors make themselves to you, is what will turn the piece of paper of a degree into an actual functioning skillset in your brain.

(And it makes it way easier to get letters of recommendation!)

Talk to your professors!

You got this. I believe in you 🙂

Stanislaus’s Solo Ensemble

Something a little different and quaint this week: a little story.

If I told you that I was a band geek throughout my high school experience, would you be surprised?

If you’re a regular reader of mine, then probably not. My personality alone kind of exudes “geek”.

Nathan leans suavely against a Stanislaus bridge with Saxophone in hand
This suave photo was taken by acrosstheseaphoto.com

Growing up and having my public education entirely through the Turlock United School District, I was really fortunate to not just have music programs at my schools in the first place, but to have ones that were actually pretty good. While I was at Osborn elementary school when I started to learn and play the saxophone, my first real performance was at the CMEA solo ensemble, held at none other than Stan State.

The CMEA, California Music Educators Association, hosted an annual performance “contest” where the focus wasn’t on winning but on self-improvement and collaboration. Students that voluntarily signed up would work for months and months on learning, practicing, memorizing, and performing solo pieces, typically with piano accompaniment.

It was terrifying. It wasn’t just the first time I had walked inside the buildings of the college (a place for big kids, not little old I), it was also the first time I had performed in front of judges, and it was the first time I had performed as a soloist.

If I close my eyes now and think really hard, I can still hear that first, very easy, piece, and move my fingers along with the invisible buttons on my air-saxophone. We have a video of the performance, and it sounds exactly like you would expect a nervous ten year old playing the saxophone would sound like. It’s off-tempo, out of tune, and I think I messed up my end-of-performance bow too.

But in the moment after I finished the last fermata of the piece, it was glorious.

Nathan performing at his first ever solo ensemble
LOOK AT BABY NATHAN!

The judges, who were collected educators from around the Central Valley, including staff from Stanislaus itself, were super kind, encouraging, and forgiving. They gave me a collective “Excellent” rating which puffed up my ego for the subsequent three months, and gave me advice on how to better control my embouchure and tone.

It was a stressful and a great experience. So much so that I continued to perform at the solo ensemble off and on for the next seven years, eventually dragging my high school friends along with me and subjecting them to listening to my “Superior” and “Command” performances. Many of which I’m still very proud of!

I didn’t continue music education after high school, attending exactly two class sessions of Stanislaus jazz band before I realized that it was way more intense and time-consuming than I was able to commit to as a non-music major, but when weird internal politics between the Music and Spanish departments kept me from being in regular band in junior high, I still had the solo ensemble to look forward to.

Stanislaus, long before I was a college student here, was giving me opportunities for growth and performance. And I remember and am thankful for that whenever I find myself walking around the Music Department.

There are tons of small and large music events at Stanislaus, in non-pandemic times there would be a performance of some sort every single week. If you happen to be looking for something to do and support, then maybe you can hang out at Snyder Hall and stumble on a baby-Nathan-performance-equivalent and cheer them on in their first ever “big kid” performance too!

KCSS 91.9 FM – The Valley’s True Alternative

I am consistently flabbergasted at how often there is a small and amazing facet of the Stanislaus community that has just completely escaped my notice up until now in my sunset years as a Stanislaus student.

When it comes to KCSS though, the long-standing ignorance is admittedly my own fault.

Radio booth with standing microphone, sound board, and blurry "ON AIR" sign in background
Image by Benjamin Hartwich on Pixabay.com

KCSS is actually really good at promoting itself, and thank goodness because it is a broadcast station after all. But the cotton in my ears that thought of radio as something that played the same seven songs from the top forty over and over again just didn’t think enough about it to realize that there was something special going on here.

As a Communications Major who needed 120 units to graduate, and as someone who had 118 units, I needed one more tiny class to push me over the edge, so I went scouring over the available classes looking for something that wouldn’t stress my brain into leaking out of my ears, and yet still something that would teach me some new skills for my resume.

I ended up taking Radio Production Laboratory, and I immediately regretted that I hadn’t signed up for the class four years ago.

KCSS is one of the most storied and classically-Stanislaus centered organizations on campus. It really does act as “alternative” radio, taking long-strides to maintain the status of being non-profit, playing music of many different genres, for many different audiences, and being student-run with actual students and interns creating all the radio shows, trivia segments, public service announcements, and pretty much anything you hear over the air from them.

Even in the middle of the pandemic with nothing but a Zoom meeting, Greg Jacquay (the national treasure of Stanislaus radio, as described by Dr. Marcy Chvasta) made it a requirement to meet not just with him individually, but to meet with the student directors and content managers of the radio, pointing out how this wouldn’t be a stuffy class but a community radio station with an emphasis on community.

The class has already marked itself as exactly what I was hoping for – a low stress class that will teach me skills – but I like it so much that I find myself wanting to do more work for the station. So in a classic Nathan maneuver, I’ve ended up doing more work for it than I actually needed to, but I’m doing it because I love it!

Vintage Radios stacked on top of each other
Image by Igor on Pixabay.com

How often do students, or anyone for that matter, get to record themselves and put their voices out on the radio? And with over 45 years of history, KCSS has an actual community based audience, so you’re not shouting into the void like it might feel like with that essay that you spent eight hours on only to have one professor read it.

The radio class is essentially an art class, you get out of it what you put into it. If you want to just do the assignments, you can! And you’ll get a good grade based on the effort you put in. And if you want to get an extra lump of clay and try to make another masterpiece on your own time, but with the support and critique of professionals and experienced peers, you can do that too!

In the few short weeks I’ve been in the class I’ve already learned a great deal of everything from FCC laws regulating what can be said over radio, to the proper microphone etiquette (which will help immensely in the new world of Zoom interviews), to how you can edit your recording to make it sound in the best shape you can get it in!

My call to action for you here is twofold. If you’re a student at Stanislaus, or thinking about going there, look into KCSS. Consider taking a class that will give you experiences and the ability to learn things you’d never have a chance to do otherwise. Trust me, it’s worth it!

And if you’re not a student at Stan, you can still listen to KCSS! Tune in to 91.9 FM from anywhere in Turlock or the webcast here from literally anywhere in the world! Check out The Valley’s True Alternative for great song selection, to support the community and student work, and to maybe even catch my voice on the air waves from time to time 😉

Image used with permission from KCSS.net

I Miss Live Theater

2020 was the first year since 2013 that I didn’t see a single theatrical performance.

Drama!
Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay.com

Now, that has the potential to sound really stuffy and long-nosed as I sip my tea pinky-up and adjust my monocle, so do understand that my definition of live theater is loose. I’m not talking about strictly the opera, I include children’s productions, community theater, high school plays, and the occasional high-brow show as valid live plays to fit my criteria of “at least one per year”.

But,

I had the great fortune of having a sister who did seven plays throughout high school, and the even greater fortune of Turlock High School having a really excellent drama program. So much so that I’ve gone back and watched their shows even now that I’ve graduated. I was able to fall in love with theater at a younger age.

There’s a sort of barrier in most stories that fades away in live performance. It feels more authentic, closer, a stronger type of storytelling. Similar to a good book, live theater will make you forget that you’re part of the audience and you’ll start to feel as if you yourself are part of the world unfolding before you.

I told myself sometime in high school that I would try to see at least one play every year of my life.

And uh, that totally flopped, didn’t it?

So yes, in 2020 I did get to watch Hamilton on Disney plus along with the rest of the world, and yes, I did tear up at “It’s Quiet Uptown” (who didn’t?) but it still wasn’t the same as watching it live. I found myself thinking about and reminiscing on all the performances I’ve been to, not the least of which being some of the shows our very own Stan State has produced.

Unlike me, dear reader, you may very well still be attending Stanislaus in a post-pandemic world (Class of 2021 squad up!), and if that’s the case then please let me convince you to check out the productions of the Theatre Department. Listen, some of these shows were super good. Like, here’s two of them that live in my head rent free:

Plane travels around the world, crossing over Africa
Image by Kirillslov at Pixabay.com

Boeing Boeing was a hilarious farce written in the 60’s about chauvinistic men trying to lead on multiple relationships by dating flight attendants that were never in the same place at the same time, until flights get cancelled and the various women all end up in the same spot on the same day, and the men start get their comeuppance.

It was fantastic, frantic, and had me busting a gut more than once ala the movie Clue, anything written by Neil Simon, and The Importance of being Ernest. The director, Stanislaus professor John Mayer, gave a reading pre-performance drawing comparisons between the sexist overtones of the play and the state of political figures at the time, and how in the end blatant bigotry never wins.

Boeing Boeing demolished my idea of college theater being the sort of stuffy “only for the arts” cliché that I had originally thought it had, making me go and drag friends to be able to laugh at Stanislaus shows with me.

Scene of stars with a comet
Image by OpenClipart on Pixabay.com

In the same way that the movie Hidden Figures shined a light on the underrepresented work of women of color in NASA, Stanislaus’s production of Silent Sky, directed by Cynthia DeCure, shined a light on even earlier female contributions to astronomy by following the life of Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and the incessant life-long passion-driven work she conducted only for her work to be taken and claimed by male contemporaries for them to receive the legacy and fruits of her work.

Silent Sky was as heart-breaking, captivating, and eye-opening as only the best stories can be. At the end of my first viewing of the show, I walked away with the curious sensation of feeling so very small, and yet so powerful as well.

I was conscious of the speck of stardust that I was in the face of the Universe, as well as how if I commit myself to work and passion, that I could accomplish so so much like Henrietta Leavitt did.

Oh, and it also had killer costuming and a set that spun around on itself. Did I mention that this play took place at the turn of the Victorian Era? When I watched this show, all of my aesthetic Pinterest boards swooned along with me.

Stanislaus’s Theatre Department has some excellent directors, actresses/actors, and behind the scenes costume directors and stage workers. So good, that these plays I mentioned have twiddled their way into my mind for the last three years since I first saw them.

Today, the department works hard in the face of global pandemic and gathering restrictions to keep the work and the experience flowing for both their students and the art as a whole. While I hope that you’ll be able to catch one of their live showings in a post-pandemic world, in the meantime make sure to check their website https://www.csustan.edu/theatre and keep your ear to the ground so that you can be one of the first ones to catch it when their next event comes.


P.S. There’s great debate about whether it should be spelt “Theater” or “Theatre” so I did my best to use both and appease/infuriate everyone equally.

Ode to Libraries

A wall of bookshelves with the text: "A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library"
Quote by Shelby Foote, image from Pixabay.com

When I was a kid, my mom would take me and my big sister to the Turlock public library once a week where we’d walk out with a stack of bedtime stories so big she could barely carry it to the car, and I didn’t help because I was two. Three days later we’d have read through the entire stack and then spend the next four days vehemently demanding that our parents reread our favorites.

Thank God for patient parents.

I’ve been pro-library for all of my remembered life (as I’d wager to guess most people reading this post are), but I’ve been a library advocate for the last four years. I’ve also been attending college for the last four years. Coincidence? I think not!

The rise in College tuitions disproportionate to the rate of inflation is a real issue, one that merits someone more educated and better researched on the topic to talk about it than I. But, from a student’s perspective, I can at the very least attest to my growing respect for any medium designed to share knowledge for free.

Your local library, whether it be part of the Stanislaus County System, or something grander like the New York or Los Angeles public systems, has been and will continue to fight to keep up with the times and present you with as much convenient access to as much knowledge as is feasible.

And they’re happy to help you personally too!

You should use them!

They will love you!

You should also use your university library.

While my lifelong heart clearly lies with the public libraries and librarians across the world, when it comes to bare bones facts and knowledge, it’s University libraries that win out.

The Vasche Library, Stanislaus’s own building, feels massive. In its pre-renovation state, walking in the first-floor tutoring center and realizing that there were three whole floors to the building was like opening a wardrobe and realizing that there was an entire Narnia out there waiting for you.

The first true realization of, like, my mental mortality, was walking into the Vasche Library and realizing that if I spent the rest of my life trying to read and understand every book in that building, I would die before I even got halfway through the collection.

Which is why I opened up my laptop in the study section and played Minecraft instead.

(My Minecraft Library)

No that’s not a joke, yes it is still funny. A University library has this awesome energy to it, of holding some of greatest collections of human knowledge over the course of all of history, so much so that that we have to choose and use our time carefully within it, which sometimes means researching gender norms in early Amerindian civilizations, and sometimes means playing Minecraft.

Both are valid in their own time!

But most importantly, and what really gives college libraries the edge over public ones is that coveted coveted access to thousands of scholarly articles from hundreds of different peer-reviewed journals that are otherwise hidden behind a superfluous paywall the journals have (one that rarely pays the actual authors/researchers, by the way) and opens the door to you learning about the most recent, cutting-edge research about anything.

The university library lets students bypass the paywalls and obstacles put up to make the access of knowledge difficult. Libraries make it easy. They are the key that opens the lock to the questions about the universe you’ve had burning in your mind since you could first ask “why?”

That is what made me realize that college was special. Not the smart and approachable professors, not the beautiful campus, no not even the friendly cats.

It was the library, and its website.

There are times to sit down and work on that sweet grind mining for diamonds, and then there are times when you can do yourself a favor by literally expanding your horizons and knowledge of the world by surfing the library website. It may sound melodramatic (and we all know I have a tendency for that too) but it’s true!

Your university library is awesome!

Take full advantage of it!

Warriors Abroad (You can Study Abroad Too!!)

On January 10th 2020 adrenaline coursed through me making me toss and turn without a wink of sleep, because within 24 hours, I would have done my first solo trip ever, resulting in me being picked up at an airport and taken to Heredia Costa Rica by a family that only spoke Spanish and I had only exchanged a couple emails with. It was the start of the most memorable and influential two months of my life.

Nathan in swim shirt and bucket hat posing in front of Manuel-Antonio Parque Nacional
This is the most photogenic picture I’ve ever had taken of me. Ever. I’m like a dapper Target kid model.

When I was graduating high school I had lots of preconceived notions about what University life would be like. There’s an ideal to it all, of broadening your horizons, learning more about yourself and the world, and preparing you for career life post-college.

When I got to college, I realized that while all those positive notions were true, there was also a lot of pesky studying and test-taking that I had to do to actually get to the “broadening horizons” portion of college. Who would’ve thunk?

Study Abroad, however, is one of those little nuggets of college that I discovered to be as much “broadening horizons” and as little “peskiness” as possible, and it’s one of the most concrete examples I can point to of how college changed my life and made me into a better person.

I want to emphasize that I give studying abroad the most glowing review I possibly can. For two and a half months (a semester-long venture cut short by the now-infamous, then a rumorous whisper, Coronavirus) I developed more self-confidence, more language skills, and more world-wisdom than I have in any other period of my life.

Hammock in middle-center, a tropical forest behind it
You can’t see it but there’s monkeys and sloths in those trees!

And Brittany Fentress, the Stan State Study Abroad Director, works harder and is more enthusiastic about giving students that experience than anyone I’ve ever met.

I could go on for literal days about my Costa Rica experience, talking about how I made such fast and strong friendships, how I went from an academic to a working understanding of Spanish, or how living with a Tico family gave me a different perspective to view the world. But in the hope of maintaining some sort of focus to this post, I want to emphasize: Studying Abroad is way more doable than you think it is.

Brittany is for real some sort of secret Super Heroine of Stan State.

Pink clouds over a Costa Rican city scape
Gorgeous Herediano Evening!

For me, it was a flyer taped onto a telephone pole. “Want to see the world? Attend a STUDY ABROAD information session!” Others have reportedly gotten the word through professorial endorsements, some through the Warrior Weekly emails, some through Instagram, some through the Study Abroad fair held in the quad.

The advertisements, nay, the invitations, are everywhere. And they’re inviting you.

I went to an information session, and was one of maybe four or five people who sat down with a student assistant, someone who had actually studied abroad themselves, had a nice PowerPoint explaining to us the process, and then some of her own stories.

It was so cool to not just hear the enthusiasm from someone who had actually gone through the experience we were all thinking of, but hearing the other reassurances that:

You can Study Abroad and still graduate in four years.

Studying Abroad can help you get a job.

You don’t have to break the bank to Study Abroad.

After the info session, we were handed a couple little forms that we filled out based on why we were thinking about studying abroad. Questions about what we were most worried about, how much institutional support we wanted, if we wanted to live with a homestay family or in dorms, and all the like.

I then sent that form to none other than the Study Abroad Director herself, who scheduled a personal one-on-one meeting with me. I walked into Brittany’s office, she was kind and formal, sat me down, and said: “Okay, so Costa Rica is perfect for you.”

“What?” I hadn’t even considered the country as an option.

Nathan posing in front of a waterfall
The 2 hour hike to get there was so worth it!!

“Well, you want to work on your Spanish, right?” She said. “You want to have a homestay, and you want a program with a strong support network. I’ve got a couple contacts with Heredia, and they have one of the most involved programs. They’ll take you on tours, field trips, museums, and they even have a Panama trip over Spring Break if you want to sign up for it.”

As the conversation progressed, Brittany’s official position melted away bit by bit as her enthusiasm for study abroad took over. I later realized that she did this for everyone.

Every single student at Stanislaus who studies abroad, gets a personal meeting with Brittany where she takes into account your exact worries, wants, and needs, and gives you advice on the program that is best suited for you, injecting some of her enthusiasm into you as well.

Readers, friends, if you want to see the world, there are people at Stanislaus with official jobs and a literal life passion to get you to do just that.

If my pictures seem really cool to you, if you’ve ever looked at a globe and daydreamt of trotting it, if you’ve ever wanted to get out of Turlock without getting out of Stanislaus, I beg of you, check out one of the Study Abroad information sessions. It might just change your life.

And if you’re not convinced by me (who can only fit so many words into one blog post!) check out some of these resources that are already out there. Follow @stanstatestudyabroad on Instagram for personal experiences and advertisements, read up on the official webpage: https://eie.csustan.edu/office-international-education-study-abroad , or even check out the brand new podcast that the department is starting, which I get to be a guest host on in their episode coming out in April!

You too, with a little bit of gumption, can become a Warrior Abroad!

 

Welcome Back Warriors! (Mini-Post)

See! I told you you would miss me! Oh sweet prodigal reader, we have returned to each other, and it is a glorious reunion indeed!

Pile of scrabble letters spread out on a yellow legal pad and pencils reading out the words: "Back To School"
Image by Wokandapix on Pixabay.com

Since I was on break over Winter, allow me to first and foremost welcome you into the New Year, and acknowledge that 2021, like every year, is going to be hard, fun, opportunistic, heavy, and every emotion in between.

But together, we can kick 2021’s patootie, have an excellent semester, and learn how to make a truly killer Gallo Pinto.

(Or maybe that last one’s just me)


Tune in for the return of regular posts starting Tuesday February 2nd!

‘Tis the Season for Final Testing

Falalalala, lala, la, la.

Though I’m certain that it depends upon your department, I’ve found that as I progressed into upper-classmen years that finals season is characterized less and less by actual tests and more and more by Projects.

Which, in all honesty has its upsides and downsides like everything else in life. So as a technical 16th grader, allow me to offer you my lived experience as I evaluate the pros and cons of each of the two major types of grade-defining assignments.

☆ PROJECTS ☆

Paper with two pencils, pink eraser, and lightbulb on top of it
Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay.com

CONS:

  1. If it’s group work, then you’re going to have to work around other people’s schedules (and pick up slack).
  2. Could require performance.
  3. It’s going to make the penultimate week of classes stressful.
  4. Requires research.
  5. Sometimes your grade is dependent on the bias of your teacher.

PROS:

  1. If it’s group work, then you have the opportunity to network with people you’ve met throughout your class.
  2. Could require performance!
  3. Because projects are often due early, you’ll be done with some of your classes before finals week.
  4. You are going to learn things throughout your research.
  5. At the end of it all, you’ll have created something tangible.

Verdict:

Projects are my own preferred method of examination.

While I’m not the biggest fan of group work, I have actually met and made connections through final projects that have been powerful enough to teach me things and make me friends. I also love performance though I know that that’s a serious con for a lot of people. And ultimately, even though tests examine more concepts more broadly, I find that the in-depth niche nature of a project leads to a better and longer-lasting understanding of one particular class concept.

If I were to grade the theoretical concept of Projects, I’d give it a B.

You’ll actually learn something from it, and there’s potential for it to be great, but the reality of group work and so many uncontrollable factors isn’t great.

☆ TESTS ☆

Hand with pencil works on math test with geometry signals
Image by Tjevans on Pixabay.com

CONS:

  1. Your final week of classes is going to be a marathon.
  2. You’re going to forget over half the stuff you crammed into your head a year after the test.
  3. All of your stress will bubble up to one specific day.
  4. Classes will sometimes charge you for scantrons (which is the most superfluous expense ever, you’re saying my tuition doesn’t account for scantrons?)
  5. Teachers get really finnicky about tests and will tote them around as life-defining experiences (they’re not)

PROS:

  1. More definitive answers, less ambiguity of “am I on the right track here?”
  2. Takes less time (because honestly, how many of us study weeks ahead of time).
  3. You get your grades back quicker.
  4. There’s usually a study guide to help you make flash cards with.

Verdict:

OOF. I thought this was going to be more balanced but my bias is clear here. Maybe it’s the standardized testing that was drilled into me as a kid, or the knowledge that I’ve forgotten over half of the things I was ever tested on, despite consistently getting good grades on my tests. I’m not a fan.

BUT! I do admit, that when I’m assigned a final exam rather than a project, there’s a little part of me that says: “Oh good. There’s less work here.” And the importance of reducing stress during finals season like that cannot be understated. Even if I’m learning less, sometimes mental health is more important than objective learning and academic improvement.

If I were to grade the theoretical concept of Tests, I’d give it a C-.

Passable, but not by much. At least it’s like a band-aid rip: painful, but mercifully quick.


I hope that everyone had more projects than tests this semester, unless you have a completely different viewpoint than me in which case I hope that you had more tests than projects!

But more importantly, of course, I hope that you’ll have a happy set of Holidays, to whichever beautiful set that you do or don’t celebrate!

But unfortunately, I’m out of time! The Stanislaus Student bloggers go on break after this week, and will be returning in February of 2021.

No, it’s okay, don’t cry! I know you’ll miss me, I’ll miss you too.

But it’ll be good for both of us. I promise. Distance makes the heart grow fonder.

I have lots of fun ideas for posts that I want to make, and I think the rejuvenation over break will help a lot in getting me back to tip-top shape to share some truly amazing things with you all!

Did you know that we have a study abroad program at Stanislaus that’s cheap and affordable and that I used? Did you know that we have a set designer on faculty that worked on James and the Giant Peach and other claymation movies? Did you know that we have theater performances that range from the intellectual and important Silent Sky to the hilarious and farcical Boeing Boeing?

If you didn’t, then come back every Tuesday in February and beyond to hear more about Stanislaus State and my experiences with it!

Take care, and know that you’re worthy and lovable.

-Nathan