Happy days... or so it seems like.

These past two weeks have been a blur or homework, projects, and tests for me. Due to this I haven’t been out much with my RM group. However, this doesn’t mean that there haven’t been any activities to attend. Just a week ago the RM’s got together the people from both Winn second and third in the lounge on the third floor. They hosted a game of Apples to Apples in the lounge. I walked in for a bit and encountered an air of energy and excitement. Everyone was talking and making plans with big smiles on their faces. The RM’s themselves seemed happy at the large turnout of students that had showed up to play. They were going to set up teams of two and the moment that was announced everyone immediately picked their partner. Sometimes, due to the fact that I have a lot of homework, I tend to be excommunicated from my RM group that I get the impression that everyone else is pretty much the same. Yet, at other times it seems like everyone else is hanging out together having fun and I am the only one sitting in my room doing homework or sleeping when I really need the rest and I have the time for it. This week in particular seemed like the latter. For the past few days after the Apples to Apples game in the lounge the hall has been loud with noise. From the voices I can tell that the students making the commotion are mostly those of my RM group. They have been running up and down the hall screaming and laughing, apparently playing some sort of game. It seems like the game in the lounge not only was cause for entertainment but for more bonding time between hall mates. Even though sometimes the noise seems a little too much to bear it’s nice to have such a close hall group. This is all thanks to the RM’s that inhabit it. It wouldn’t be the same without them.

(Spending time alone in my room)

Meet the Gang!

It is almost the end of the semester and I realize that I have yet to introduce the people in the Huma hall that are in my RM group. Well, I have decided to start with the people furthest from me. Just to avoid any future confusion, everyone in my hall for some reason lives on the right hand side. On the left side of the hall there is the lounge, the laundry, and then the rooms of other people that are not in my RM group. Furthest from me is the room of Mike and Jonathan. Mike is a really nice guy that once helped my suitemates and me go out and take pictures on campus because we needed a photographer. Jonathan is equally as nice and also happens to own right about every house hold item you are allowed to have on campus. Mike’s and Jonathan’s suitemates are Kevin and Richard. Kevin is a baseball player, is extremely funny and sweet, and has traveled to several parts of the world and done things that I can only dream of doing one day in my future. Richard is the more silent, shy type even though I am told he is quite the joker when out socializing. He is also very nice but speaks very little. Next are Shane and Phou. Shane is rarely, if ever, around. You can find him at late hour of the night heading to go get something to eat. From the few times I have talked to him I can say that he is a very sweet guy and one of the nicest in the hall. Phou is somewhat quiet because he claims to not understand what we are saying half of the time. There is this theory in the hall among our group that in reality he does understand everything and that one day he will reveal this secret and laugh at all the outrageous things we say and do. Shane’s and Phou’s suitemates are Ryan and Andrew. These two are so alike that you can describe both of them at the same time. They love to mess around and are constantly playing jokes on people. The one thing that distinguishes Andrew from Ryan is that Andrew seems to be a loud person because his voice carries well in any environment such that it is almost impossible to confuse him from several feet away. Next are Trevor and David. Both of them seem to be very quiet. Trevor exudes an air of maturity such that you are drawn to seek him for advice. David seems to be sugar all around and out of the two of them he is the quietest and shyest. David’s and Trevor’s suitemate is our RM Joe, which if you have been reading my blogs you should know all about him. Next are Jenna and Nancy. Both of them are super sweet. Nancy is quieter than Jena. Jena has a very eccentric sense of humor. Laughter always flows from their room such that you can’t help but want to join in on the fun. Their suitemates are Katarina and me. Katarina is the quiet, serious, very down to earth type of person. It takes a lot to make her laugh because even though she understands the jokes she doesn’t seem to find them as humorous. This is probably due to her deep intellectual mind that seeks more than simple superficial jokes for amusement. I, on the other hand, am said to be sparking energy and laughter all around even at weird hours of the morning when everyone else is drooping with sleep. Next are Abigail and Margorie. I don’t know much about Abigail other than she seems to shift from silence to laughter quite readily and that she seems to like danceable music rather than just that which you listen to. Margorie is very sweet and nice and seems to be somewhat shy although she waves and smiles hello every time she sees someone she knows. Their suitemates are Paige and Sarah. Paige is a very nice young woman that always appears to be very sophisticated even if she happens to be in sweats and a t-shirt. Sarah doesn’t seem to talk much but she always seems to have a smile on her face and on occasion waves hello in a somewhat shy yet friendly manner. Now you know a little bit about my hall mates in my RM group. I apologize for the delay in introducing them but it truly hadn’t occurred to be that in order for you to understand some things that I said some description of them would be needed.

Watch out! Here comes Joe Stieb!

Joe Stieb, Winn third RM and Huma peer tutor. He likes to act very serious and tough but in truth he is sweet heart and super nice. Even though very few of our RM group members are actually in the Huma section he is the peer tutor for, he helps us nonetheless at very late hours of the night to proof read and help us form the ideas for our essays. As an RM he is the one that enforces the rules of the hall and also the one that comes up with all the fun activities we get to engage in. For example, just a few weeks ago we went to Jacala and this weekend we will be going to a Tex-Mex restaurant. Also, during our fun games of Apples to Apples and Pictionary he is the provider of cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries. Joe is there for us during both the hard and the fun times of being in Huma and living in the hall. For example, last week during midterms the tension in the hall was tangible. Everyone was in the lounge studying and was being especially loud in their attempts to study as a group. Joe, who is rarely in his room during the day, was seen wandering the halls and helping students almost all day up until the Huma midterm. Conversely, he comes up with the fun topics, such as "If you could have 1 famous person or fictional character as a roommate who would it be?", before every RM group activity that we each give both silly and serious answers to. Overall, Joe is a great RM, extremely helpful and very kind, who I am glad to have met and be my RM.

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Week Before Midterms

It’s the week before midterms. Everyone is sleepy, tired, hungry, and on top of that nervous as well. It has been extremely cold in the hall this week. Everyone tends to be in sweats and sweaters in the building. So far it has been a lot of work. My particular Huma section had an essay due last Thursday, another one on Monday, and yet another one this Thursday. On top of that we have had to finish reading Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War and Euripides’ The Bacchae. Even with the sleepy, tense environment everyone here seems to still make an attempt to get together and have fun. These can include simple late night get-togethers or 3 a.m. trips to Taco Cabana. Everyone seems to be up until at least 1 a.m. doing homework. Midday naps become a necessity and 11 p.m. trips to Coates to get something to eat become a routine. Perhaps due to the fact that everyone here is in humanities we tend to spend a lot more time with each other, usually due to homework. Hence, we all tend to be together all the time. Yes, we do break up into groups but even those groups tend to consist of just students in humanities. Overall, this may be a hard class but it is worth taking and living in the huma hall builds strong relationships with people such that you bond for more reasons than the simple fact that you are forced to live together.

The Basics

Huma Hall is pretty much Winn 3rd and about half of Winn 2nd (which for some reason is called the reject hall; personally I think they simply ran out of room). Winn 2nd also houses most of the Pre-Meds. Huma 1600 is a 6 credit class that covers both the workshop and seminar in one semester and completes the freshman requirement. In my opinion, if you're taking Humanities 1600, Winn 3rd is the place to be. Yes the class is hard and you complain about the load of work over half of the time but everyone else there feels exactly the same way. Also, the kitchen, lounge, and laundry room are all on Winn 3rd. Your hallmates become your study partners and your RM (who just so happens to be a Huma peer tutor) becomes your peer tutor as well. That last part is beneficial in particular when you have a crucial question at 1am and your class's peer tutor doesn't have office hours at that time. Thankfully for me and my RM group, Joe (our RM) is a Huma peer tutor, extremely nice and helpful, and awake until around 2am. Being completely honest, I am not saying that you have all the help you want and can mess around all you want until late just because the RM is also awake. Yes, we do have our fun activities almost every week such as going to Jacala last Saturday with our RM group to eat very tasty mexican food. One the other hand, we have increasingly been getting emails such as the one from yesterday:

Hey guys,

Hope everything is going well thus far.

Two quick things

1) I talked with the other RM's and we agreed that the noise level on the hall was getting a little out of hand. Screaming should be kept to a minimum even when it isn't during quiet hours. Between 11-9, try not to congregate in the hallways for conversation for more than a minute or so. Musical instruments or loud music also shouldn't be played during quiet hours. This was a universal problem on Winn 3rd, so we're not just blaming you guys.

2) We'll be having a program on educational success next week and I'm looking into what food to order. If you guys liked the cheesecake and rice krispy treats we had last time, that's fine. If you want something else, let me know. They have pretty much any kind of dessert, or we could order something like make your own nachos.

Thanks and have a great week!

Joe

From 11pm to 9am it is what is called as the quiet hours in which people are either asleep or doing homework and we are supposed to keep quiet. It is very reasonable to have this rule since it is important to respect others. However, when you're having a lot of fun (like I was last night around 11pm) you sometimes don't notice how loud you are being until you get the oh-so-embarrassing knock on your door from Texas (another RM) asking you to please keep the voices down because you can be heard down the hall. Huma Hall has its benefits and its very fun times in which you get to laugh and play with your hallmates, but it is also important to keep in mind that everyone has their right to peace and quiet at the very least between the times of 11pm-9am.