Alex Crossman
Counting Down
Making it to the end of the school year
As the end of the year quickly approaches, there’s a sensation across campus that both professors and students are going into panic. Papers, experiments, projects, presentations, tests and exams are all being rushed in at the very last minute. And if that isn’t enough, one can always worry about registering for next year’s classes and room assignments, finding a place to store your stuff for the summer or figuring out plans for the next few months.
For me, room assignments were nearly as stressful as registering for classes. People are assigned a randomly generated number based on seniority, then amongst themselves sort out whom they want to room with (if they want to room with anyone at all) and whom they want to share a suite with (if they get a double or single that shares a bathroom). The groups with the highest numbers get first pick on which room/suite and which dorm they want. People with lower numbers have to settle with whatever is left.
Pledging Allegiance
The truth about frats and sororities
Everyone has seen or heard of the movie Animal House; if not, they’ve at least seen one movie about crazy college kids partying out of control and failing classes as a result. And when most hear the word “fraternity,” they probably think of wild parties, trashed houses and hazing – that is, forcing a new recruit to do embarrassing and sometimes painful things.
But here at Wake Forest, I’ve found that these negative stereotypes could not be further from the truth. The majority of universities in the US have some form of Greek life – whether it be a fraternity, sorority or service group. The names of these groups are made up of two or three Greek letters (e.g. Phi, Alpha, Beta) and are often national groups with chapters represented at a university. They are brotherhoods, sisterhoods and societies that have initiation processes, requirements and traditions.
Timing is Everything
Strategies for conquering registration
We have all heard the saying, “so much to do, so little time,” and for me, it never rung as true as it did towards the end of last semester. I experienced plenty of sleepless nights full of homework, studying and a steady buildup of pressure with the coming final exams.
Many people have said to me that college life is easy because “we college students have so much free time.” In high school, it used to be that writing a good paper would take me roughly two to three hours. I would sit down in my room, turn up the music and take a go at it. Here at Wake Forest, however, it is not so simple. Writing a paper might take me up to a ridiculous eight hours – not necessarily because we have to write considerably longer papers, but more because when you live just a 10-minute walk from all your friends, distractions are inevitable. Oh, procrastination! If it were offered as a major, I’m sure it would be most popular.
Craving a Taste of Home
New surroundings bring back memories of Beijing
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by my new environment: a new campus, a new climate, new food, new classes, new friends. At times like this, my thoughts turn to home. So this is what homesickness feels like.
Sure, the weather in North Carolina is beautiful, and so is the campus of Wake Forest: luscious green grass – soft and ideal for lying on – and old brick buildings surrounded by magnolia trees full of fragrant white flowers. At night, I look up at an endless sea of stars, twinkling brighter than I have ever seen in Beijing.
