El Empiezo

This is the first time I have been able to write here since I have been in Costa Rica and it feels like I don't have nearly enough space to say everything I want to. Every night I sit down to write out my thoughts for the day in my journal and I am overwhelmed, both in Spanish and in English. My spanish vocabulary is exploding, my life lessons are piling up every hour and new experiences are occuring one after another. Our classes at the Institute are great and our professors are exceptional. Our biology class with Dr. Bartlett is exciting and has allowed me the opportunity to explore the world of Peace Corps and soon the world of rural clinic volunteering as well. Our group from Campbell has seen areas of Costa Rica that even some of the residents of the country haven't seen and in just the last four days we have visited the La Paz Waterfalls, Tortuga Island, the Doka Estate, and Jaco Beach. This weekend we are visiting Monteverde and I can't wait to write about that when we get back.

It's really incredible to me that I can experience all of these things and I feel confident that I will return home with a renewed focus and understanding of the world around me. Costa Rica is a wonderful and surprising place and it seems to me that it is the perfect testing ground for my interest in Peace Corps as well as in the world at large. I look forward to telling everyone about my trip when I return and until then know that I am thinking a lot about you, my family and friends, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

!Buenas Noches!

Remember

It’s incredible, the kinds of emotions old possessions can bring. I have been looking through old papers, pictures, books, yearbooks, awards, pins, projects, letters, cards, thank you’s and certificates for days. I’ve seen things as far back as my newspaper birth announcement, up through my elementary school sports team pictures, letters and pictures from my middle school girlfriend Adria, my conversations with Josh during class (written on Cell Biology notes) just two years ago and the graduation program from this past Monday morning. As I have continued to peruse through these things, I keep thinking of what Zoe, Danielle and Anna say, “I am richly blessed.” I see so many hundreds of smiles, wonderful memories, incredible words and terrific past experiences. Thanks in little part to my own doing and in large part to the efforts of many other people, my life has been extremely enjoyable and my childhood has been incredibly fortunate. I have been very lucky and I owe a great deal to many people.
Over the past few days I thought I would clean out a lot of my belongings to make room for what is truly important in my life, but I am finding that what is truly important to me comes forth out of many of these belongings. I should frame some of these things, laminate others and bind others up in books it’s true, but overall I need to just keep these things, share them and remember them. They are all important and I hope I always remember that.

Plan Your Four Years

Pre-Registration is a challenging experience during orientation where you plan out your classes for the upcoming year. It can be tough but there are some things you can do to help plan for the rush. Before your time for pre-registration, you can begin to get a general idea of what courses you would like to take here at Campbell.

After all we have experienced, we all agree that it’s a great idea to develop a four-year plan. This can be whatever you want it to be and it will always be a plan, not a contract. You might hear a lot of advice about what you have to do and what you ought to do, but this is your education, decide as you wish because you are in control. You can major in whatever you want, you can take any classes for fun that you would like and there are only a few general requirements to complete for graduation (just like high school).

General Requirements

We all found out pretty quickly that students at Campbell have a few requirements to complete called the General College Curriculum. This curriculum consists of 45 - 65 credit hours, varying with your specialized degree. These courses are as follows:

Fine Arts (Art 131, Music 131, or Theatre 131)
Humanities /English (101, 102, 2 Literatures)
Foreign Language (1-3 courses)
Religion (2 Courses: Religion 125 & 200-level)
History (2 Courses: 111 & 112)
Mathematics (1 Course: 112)
Natural Science (2 Courses)
Exercise Science (185 & Activity course)
Social Science (2 Courses)
CUW (4 Courses)

Keep in mind, the previous list is general. A more detailed list with all exceptions and modifications is available in the University Bulletin under General College Curriculum and also on this Campbell webpage.

As you begin to consider these courses, you will see that the exceptions listed are better explained when you know what your major will be. For example, if you are majoring in Biology and working for a Bachelor of Science degree you are required to complete one foreign language course. If you are majoring in Music, however, you are working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree, which requires you to complete two foreign languages. This is just one reason it is helpful to know your major.

Requirements For Your Major

Your major decision into what your four years will look like, what direction you will go with your education and what degree you will work toward is entirely up to you. Your first semester at Campbell, you will be working on these general requirements above, for the most part. Knowing what major you wish to pursue can help in choosing these classes for your first semester, but not necessarily. For example, if you are majoring in Biology, you don’t need to be preoccupied with getting two courses in natural science, because you are sure to get them anyway. If you are majoring in History, though, you will need to plan for your natural sciences; you might want to take Basic Biology as a freshman “to get it out of the way.” And if you are undecided, taking these general requirements would be a great idea. So though it might seem stressful and necessary to find your major immediately, it isn’t. You can feel just as comfortable knowing your major as you can in being undecided. Classes like English 101 and 102, PE 185, Religion 125 and CUW are great for freshman year, and there are many others.

Advisors in every department have lots of knowledge about courses and have helped many students from admission through graduation. They can make things much easier and most departments even have Suggested Course Outlines for their majors. These outlines provide a template of general course requirements and major-specific course requirements for four years in one document. You can find these lists for each major on the following Campbell webpage. Click on your department major and try to locate a Suggested Course Outlines. If you can’t find the outline on your department’s website, give them a call. Some departments have hardcopies of these documents available.

The following is a brief list of these departments and their numbers:

Accounting / Finance 893-1380
Biology 893-1730
Business / Economics 893-1385
Chemistry 893-1730
Computer Science 893-1660
Drama / Theater 893-1505
Education 893-1595
English 893-1565
Foreign Language 893-1667
Government / History 893-1480
Mass Communications 893-1520
Mathematics 893-1660
Military Science 893-1580
Music 893-1495
PE & Sports 893-1360
Psychology 893-1630
Religion / Philosophy 893-1675
Social Work 893-1638
Trust Management 893-1385
University Operator 893-1200

*To avoid long-distance fees call 1-800-334-4111 & ask for these extensions.

Operation Beneathus!

To celebrate the end of school and to have one great outing to kick off the summer, the Lost Sea Underground Adventure was planned and codenamed: Operation Beneathus. It consisted of fourteen avid adventurers from all walks of life and every grade level from seniors in high school to seniors in college and seniors in life including: Leighanna, Scott, Matt, Casey, Adam, Samy, Josh, Chase, David, Jodie, Eric, Phillip, Me and My Dad. To complete Operation Beneathus we climbed, hiked, dove, crawled, ran, jumped, slid, scraped, threw, rolled, fell, and filthified ourselves for hours and hours deep underground through tunnels and holes the size of munchkins. We boated and fish-fed ourselves across the largest underground lake in the country. We slept out in a cavern with one-hundred steps on one side leading to the surface and one ninety-foot hole on one side leading to goodness knows where. We covered ourselves in clay and friendship, we filled ourselves with new experiences and fun and may I say, we all left our Operation Beneathus a little dirtier and a little wiser. Congratulations adventurers, you all proved that nothing is above us as the sky is our limit and nothing is beneath us because, let's face it, we've already been down there.

Mission Debriefing

I am pleased to announce that Operation Beneathus has been completed and the mission was a complete success. Our adventurers had a stupendous turnout and plenty of fun and excitement and I had the opportunity to try out my new Casio Exilim EX-Z750 with the help of a few of my photographically talented friends as well. I expect Flickr will see many more precise and carefully had pictures in the coming months thanks to my new technological partner and I look forward to seeing what it has to offer myself. The pictures are great and the audio capture is a nice touch as well. I am working on the video capability and think that might take a while, considering the files aren’t yet viewable on my computer, but hope that works out okay.
Thank you everyone for such a great time this weekend, I look forward to continued fun this summer and tons of excitement in all shapes and sizes. Thanks again!