Campus in the Snow!

Campus was covered in about eight inches of snow last week. I had an impromptu snow day on Monday when both of my classes were canceled. It was an exciting surprise and it gave me a chance to catch-up on my school work. I love snow. It may make the walk to class more treacherous but the lovely scenery also makes your treks more enjoyable.

Snow on campus creates a bond between the students. Everyone complains about having to go out in the storm. It is embarrassing when you slip on the icy sidewalks, but is comforting when a stranger stops to help out. Snow creates a beautiful winter wonderland and a renewed sense of campus camaraderie. What's not to love?

A Single Gal's Guide To Valentine's Day

In honor of Valentine's Day, I arranged for my single girlfriends and I to have a Secret Valentine party. Everyone drew names and then got presents for their secret valentines. I thought it would be a fun way to be together and share the love on Valentine's Day.

After we gave out our gifts, we got dressed up and headed downstairs. In the Edmonson Dinning Hall they were having the annual Viennese Ball. Every year, the Viennese Ball offers residents at Collins the chance to get fancy and have fun. The first part of the ball is dedicated to waltzing and features a string quartet.

After 9 p.m. the waltzing stopped, they turned off the lights, turned on the pop music and it became a real dance party. I didn't waltz, but I did devote all my energy to dancing to Lady Gaga. You don't need to be part of couple to have fun on Valentine's Day. You just need a couple good friends and some god pop music.

Fun Forties Night Entertains Snowed in Residents

Lots of people decided not to go out on Saturday night because of the snow storm. "Its so cold and icy, I think I am just gonna stay close to home." said sophomore Samantha Smith. Luckily The Weekend Programmer at Collins was able to help. Junior C.J. Lotz plans activities to do on the weekends for those Collinsites who like to stay in. Every Saturday night she organizes a different program. This Saturday was a Fun Forties Night.

The event featured make-up samples from Mark Cosmetics as well as info sheets about how to do your make-up 40's style. There was also a bar full of all the ingredients to make "mocktails". I had a cranberry and tonic.

Each event usually features some sort of arts and crafts portion. There were sheets of "marble" that you could paint your hand prints on and sign your name. The pieces which resemble hand prints in cement, may be hung somewhere around Collins.

There was also '40s themed trivia games. The questions were about the decade in general and what was going on at IU specifically at the time. One question, "When was the IU Art Museum built?" had everyone stumped. Every year of the forties was guessed before the correct answer (1941) came up. There were more people than usual hanging around on Saturday and the forties night was a fun way to keep them all entertained.

Improv Workshop Provides Laughs

It was a night of on-the-spot fun on Tuesday with an improv workshop in the Collins Coffee House. Samuel Hammersley of Full Frontal Comedy and Max Cutler of Hoos on First, two improv troupes here on campus, hosted the workshop. It helped to show people unfamiliar with improv just how fun and easy it can be. Especially, since auditions for booth improv troupes are coming up soon.

The workshop involved several standard improv exercises like "Three Line Scenes" and "Freeze Tag". I took an improv class last year but I was pretty rusty. Even in the small workshop, I got nervous doing a scene and just couldn't think of anything to say. Otherwise night was a ton of fun and the whole group had a bunch of laughs, we enjoyed "acting up"!