An RA Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the first I've ever spent away from my home and family. Part of the job of Resident Advisor requires half of us to remain on campus for Thanksgiving and Mardi Gras while the other half stays for Spring and Easter Break. I chose Thanksgiving, thinking I could go back to Russia with the longer springtime break and hence, I'm here.

I thought at first that my Thanksgiving was going to be very lonely. I was worried that without my friends here, I'd really have no place to go. I was invited to friends' houses off campus but because of desk shifts and duty, it was much more convenient to just stay on campus. As part of our programming duties, some of the RAs had decided to have a dinner for ourselves and all of our residents that were staying for the week and we would each contribute a different dish.

I didn't really understand how much time this would take until we actually started shopping and cooking. Three Winn Dixie and one Walmart trip and four hours later, I realized how long I'd spent with my fellow RAs and how much I had enjoyed their company. We spent so much time giggling and laughing over little things as we prepared for our feast.

We ended up having an awesome day together. The guys you see in the pictures- David, an RA in upperclassmen Aron Apartments, Corrina, an RA in Modular Housing, Jenny, also an RA in Aron, and I spent time on Thanksgiving cooking, going to a Housing and Res Life party, and finally, just hanging out.

We ended the night at Corrina's place, where she made us excellent soy milk chocolate espressos. We spent hours chatting, sharing pictures of our families, and discussing books we all wanted to read and borrow from Corrina, an English major with a diverse collection of literature. After that David had a shift at the desk and we all trooped in after him to watch a movie, even though the desk might not have the same comforts as someone's room. The point was we were a band for this one day and we all flowed wherever one of our members wanted to go.

George Burns once said, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city."

All I can say is it was a happy Thanksgiving for me after all.

Exams Week

So this week is MIDTERMS WEEK!!!

Beware incoming freshmen . . . the middle of the semester suddenly creeps up on you while you’re still stuck in “summer mode” and then you’re sitting at your laptop typing notes for a class you skipped all semester long thinking the midterm was far away. There was always a reasonable excuse . . you weren’t feeling that well one day . . . you had a paper due another day . . . you thought you’d go in early to work . . . your friend just got dumped and needed a shoulder . . . . you had to take care of dropping a class . . . . you had to meet with your advisor . . . . this is college, the excuses are creative and endless. It’s very easy to convince yourself not to go to class and then you end up with about half the material you need to know in your notes and the other half in the notes of other people who DID go to class on those days.

Luckily for you, you have good friends and sorority sisters who are there when you need them . . to give you all those notes from all those lectures you missed.
And now, you have exactly two days to learn everything you need to know.

Welcome to college, ladies and gentlemen, because the all-nighter, the cramming, the borrowing notes, the energy drinks to keep you up, and the general lack of sleep pretty much describes it! =)

I promise you guys will hear more from me as soon as my midterms are over!

Sex Signals

So last week my Office of Multicultural Affairs little sister and I attended a presentation entitled Sex Signals- a funny show on college dating. Many others had the same idea- our University Center was PACKED with people wanting to see this show. It was put on by the Newcomb Institute, which is dedicated to furthering women’s education at this school.

The show was HILARIOUS. It asked for a lot of audience participation in terms of pick up lines to start scenes and defining stereotypes. For example, the beginning scene was a guy hitting on a girl at a party. Someone in the audience came up with the winning line, “Are those space pants? Coz baby your ass is out of this world . . .” And the scene proceeded from there. The next scene worked in the stereotypes that often define these interactions, with the women expected to be docile and sweet and the men expected to be macho and tough. Somehow these presenters managed to capture the awkwardness of trying to impress someone of the opposite sex in an intense situation like that and every single person in the audience understood!

But then the show took a more serious turn and started addressing the topic of rape and what exactly constitutes rape. We learned that any slightest lack of consent is all it takes and the legal and social implications are very severe for someone who doesn’t realize that. I was honestly impressed that the majority of the audience, my fellow Tulanians, stayed through this portion of the show. During our Resident Advisor Training we had to attend a seminar on Louisiana laws in terms of sexual assault and rape but this presentation was purely voluntary. The people at my school cared enough to sit there and listen and the presenters did an awesome job informing while at the same time exposing how confusing the issue can be. The Newcomb Institute did well in picking this show to bring to Tulane.

So if you want to go to a school where people will work to guide you even through even the most uncomfortable subjects, Tulane is the one for you. An issue like this has to be addressed and it was frankly amazing the way it was done.

Only at Tulane . . . .

My Little Sisters

So this year I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a big sister through both the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Newcomb Institute and its been a very rewarding experience. My two littles are named Asha and Meg and they are both amazingly smart and talented girls. They really make an effort to hang out with me and I call them and check up on them every couple of days. One of them is working at the desk in her dorm, a very low key job, and is interested in joining my sorority. The other is already pledging for the business fraternity. They are two examples of girls who have made the best out of the opportunities that they have had so far and I’d like to think that they can look to me as an example of someone who also got involved early freshmen year and now is doing well managing all her activities.

(Here is Meg trying on some crazy glasses at Funky Monkey on Magazine Street!)

The best thing about having little sisters is being able to show them all the interesting places to go in New Orleans and on campus. I did have a Newcomb Big but I rarely saw her my freshman year- only when I went out. She answered all my questions on the actual day of the ceremony but never called me to eat or go with her someplace after that. I make it an effort to call my littles when its a new place from which I think they can benefit. For example, we’ve gone to Magazine Street, Target, out for dinner, and tomorrow we’re going to Barnes and Noble. Most of these are things I need to do anyways but having them around always makes it so much more fun!

So incoming freshmen make sure you remember to sign up for a Big Brother or Sister. You’re going to make some awesome friendships in the process!

(Here are Sangita, Sona, Me, Meg, and Asha out at Reginelli’s on Magazine Street)

The Life of a Leader

Sigh . . the life of a leader is certainly a tiring one!!! So here was my day today:

I got up at 9 in the morning for Cell Biology, to which I was only two minutes late. I then had lunch with a friend and worked on RA stuff for about an hour. Immediately following that I had a one on one with my supervisor (RA), and then office hours at the OMA Office since I’m an Office of Multicultural Affairs Ambassador and we are all required to do one hour a week. And then I had class, then service learning for that class, and then rushed to check in for duty, which I am on tonight.

And then I hosted a meeting at 9, went on rounds with my duty-buddy (basically checked my area to make sure everything was safe and secure) and then rushed to the gym before it closed. I managed to set up my laptop in my lounge to get some studying done . . . and then my friend called.

So now its 12:34 am and I have an 8 am class which I’m determined to attend even if it kills me.

And then I’m going to the medical school for my research job, then I have sorority stuff in the evening.

The life of a leader has me running from place to place . . . and loving every second of it!

Take advantage of your opportunities at Tulane, guys! It’s so worth it!

Habitat for Humanity

So long time no blogging . . . I know! Being an RA is more rewarding and also more difficult than I ever imagined. The not-so-fun part of it is hunting residents down for signatures and paperwork and when you have 55 residents, its more than an arduous task. The fun part is programming, getting to know them, and discovering for yourself what an awesome group you have. Last weekend my residents and I participated in Outreach Tulane at the Habitat for Humanities site. Even though we hadn’t had our first floor meeting, just talking to my residents got 12 of them to show up at 7:30 in the morning and I was so proud of them!

(Here we are working hard!)

(Here is Brian, one of my all star residents! I made him stop to take this picture, he wasn’t just standing around chilling. As you can see, it was extremely hot outside and he was working up a sweat!)

(This is Lauren, another awesome resident. She was in charge of moving siding to the houses on which other students were putting up siding. )

(Here are Laine, Erin, and Richard- they were working on the interior of some houses. This is during our lunch break- I went and found them and made them pose so I could post these pictures on my blog!)

(Here are Tim and Kyle, two of my most enthusiastic residents. They actually got farther in siding their house than any other team and they were very proud of that fact- that’s their house behind them.)

(Finally, here are some of the RAs siding a house as well- the residents aren’t the only ones who get to have fun with Habitat!)

So far, its been a blast being the Leadership Village RA. My residents are enthusiastic and cooperative- we’re planning another service day sometime soon. One of our residents is actually a Habitat staffer, and she helped coordinate this for us during Outreach. We’re planning on programming with freshmen too to include them in all the cool stuff we’re doing this year. With every idea that my residents (all upperclassmen) suggest, I’m reminded of how many interesting things there are to do in New Orleans and on the Tulane campus. We already have ideas for a Halloween service program for local neighborhood children, a barbeque with freshmen dorms, a program to show freshmen how to decorate their rooms to look unique with a reasonable budget, pancake breakfasts, and more. All of these ideas are ones that have been done or resources that are yet untapped here at Tulane.

Only at Tulane . . . .

Life as an RA

So welcome to Tulane to all of those who read my blog and emailed me over the summer. I know it’s more than you anticipated- you’re going to love the four years ahead of you.

Which brings me to the thing that’s been on my mind- my college career is officially half done. In less than two years I’ll be graduating and moving on and that’s a scary thought. This year I’m a resident advisor for Leadership Village and the last two weeks have been a lot of fun with getting to know the other Willow/Aron/Modular RAs and the other RAs in general. I’ve started a new chapter in my life and I’m enjoying every second of it so far.

It’s 2:35 am and I happen to have a desk shift here at the Willow front desk. In the last two weeks I’ve really seen a whole new side of Tulane and gained the respect of an entire new group of people. RAs here really do work hard and they have a LOT of issues to handle. Just today, as an upperclassmen RA, I was handling an erroneous placement that led to girls and boys living together, equipment problems, contractor problems, and more. Other RAs were dealing with pets on campus, switching mattresses and furniture, and irate parents. And this is as upperclassmen RAs.

Freshmen, make sure you thank your RAs because I can guarantee that tonight they have had a million calls while on duty, 3 hour rounds in just one building, and so many domestic disturbances that you would never even think about if you weren’t an RA. I really have a newfound respect for MY past RAs because they handled all my issues and the issues of 30 other residents with confidence and grace. It’s not an easy job but it can be very rewarding when a resident comes to you for help, waves at you from their balcony, or starts to talk to you when they see you on campus. It’s like making a lot of new friends all at once.

Being a resident advisor is going to be very interesting, I think. Tomorrow is upperclassmen move in, so I’m literally on my feet 7:30 AM to 4 PM. Right now is the calm before the storm and it gives me a little time to reflect on my thoughts. Being an RA is a wonderful leadership opportunity and I encourage many of you to think about applying to be an RA this upcoming spring. If you want programming exposure and to be in charge of planning and budgeting you should think about applying to live in Leadership Village.

I’ve already had all those moments I discussed earlier- the smiles, the waves, and the conversation. I already have my favorite moments as an RA with only 1/4 of my residence hall full. I can’t wait for the moments that await.

Welcome back to Tulane on behalf of your RAs!