Hi readers!
Its hard to believe its the second week of school! Between taking the maximum amount of courses, sports, and school activities it feels like ive been here for a while already. Its easy to get caught up in school once it starts. During this summer, i had so much fun and was so comfortable at home that i thought it would be very hard to come back to boarding school again. I also had one year of experience under my belt (so to speak) and had therefore lost the initial excitement and nervousness of not knowing what was going on that i had my first year. The problem was, I thought i knew exactly what was it was going to be like, and the prospect didn't excite me as it had before. Nevertheless, i boarded the plane and came to school. Once here, ive found that my predictions have come true (for the most part), but not in the way i expected them to. Instead of having less fun and comfort, I see my friends every single day, I have a roommate to talk to, and a whole academic support system behind me (math center, writing center, teachers available all day, etc). It was a lot easier than i expected getting used to not being around my family and coming to the cooler PA climate from super hot Texas. Also, with the many new students that have arrived, all grades in Mercersburg are a little less predictable than i factored in. The sports programs keep me busy in the afternoons along with homework at night... at times such as today when i have a game in the late afternoon, i start my homework a little early. Thank god for half-days on Wednesdays! As captain of the JV volleyball team i can say that the team is excited and nervous about our first game today. Wish us luck!
Armine
When it becomes hard to concentrate, and everything seems to happen at once. It usually starts with my birthday in early may, and ends with the last day of school. At this time, all the students await the end of the year. Everybody is unusually jittery and impatient. The days go by slow but the weeks go by fast, and before you know it its exam week. Teachers seem to give you more quizzes and tests than normal. Then there is the "end of the year syndrome" that seems to occur every year around the same time. Subconsciously, your grades start going down. Your mind is on other things. Students have less patience and tolerance towards each other simply because we have been together for a whole school year already.
However, despite these things, the end of the year is a busy and fun time. The first big storm of the spring (which happened yesterday) had a lot of people outside mudsliding and playing in the rain. The last days of spring sports bring fun activities like cookouts and "field day" practices. For me, my first two goals of the lacrosse season this week were very exciting! Around this time of the year, returning students also select their roommate and dorm for next year. Next year's student council for each grade is voted on, and students start packing their belongings, readying themselves to go home.
As for me, I'm enjoying my last few weeks at the Burg, but I'm definitely looking forward to this summer! ;)
Armine
Hi! I'm back again after a long period of absence (oops!).
A few days ago, my english teacher gave us an interesting article from March 2007's edition of "the economist". In it, the article explained how companies such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo amongst others have been scanning books onto the internet in an effort to create an electronic book archive. Google has been estimated to "digitize" about 3,000 books per day. The article went on to pose such questions as " What is the future of books?" and "who would read digitalized books?". An overlaying question, however, was "what exactly ARE books?". One thinks of a book as a material thing, a set of pages bound together. The merriam-webster dictionary defines a book as "a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together into a volume". Yet it also goes on to define it as "something that yields knowledge or understanding". Can something written on the internet be considered a book, then? According to the article, in the future people will be able to publish their writings on the internet. Are those writings still considered books even if they don't have a publisher or an editor, yet they yield some form of understanding or entertainment? And what will happen to fiction novels? While I admit it would be convenient to save a trip to the bookstore and some money, what will happen to publishing companies? Businesses such as barne's and nobles and hastings in addition to libraries would see a diminish in the amount of books people read/check out. Let's not be exaggerated, though. Books will not disappear over the next 100 years, and people aren't just going to stop going to libraries and buying books. But the article still hits on a few questions (what are classes going to be like in the future, with the new technology of "ebooks" available?) and makes me wonder what comes next (first ipods, then ebooks, then....?).
Hopefully you find this question interesting too, and will forgive me for boring you a little with a topic that is a little bit serious. =)
Until Later!
Armine
Hey! I am one of the last bloggers to start posting, but I had to start sometime, so I decided I would start today. My name is Armine (I go by my middle name even though this post is under Paola- which is my first name), and I am here to tell you a little bit about my daily life here at Mercersburg Academy. However, I think the best place to start would be by telling you a little about myself. I am a freshman here at Mercersburg (or M'burg, as we call it when we really don't want to write the whole thing out). I was born in Mexico, but now I live in Texas. This is me:
I participate in several activities in the school. I am in the girl's volleyball team, have swam for the past eight years (even though I'm taking a break this year), and will soon be in lacrosse. My friends here are great! I was suprised to find out how different this was from the "typical" high school, because when I got here, everyone was really nice to me. I was also suprised to find out how many different cultures congregated here on campus. Even though we are all from completely different cultures and backgrounds, my friends and I are incredibly close.
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