While preparing for liftoff (which, as of writing, is only two days away, ohgoodnessgollygeewhizcrapIneedtofinishpacking), I've been asked by multiple people, "Why Morocco?" It's a good question: Morocco is hardly the normal study abroad destination. (I'm one of two Whitties spending this semester in the entire continent of Africa.) In fact, ...
Well first of all I’m sorry about the long silence! I fully intended to post right after I got to Spain and tell the story of the travel experience and my first days here- but in a perfect example of the culture shock I’ve been experiencing over the last week, ...
Hindi textbooks? Yes. Malaria meds? Yes. Gifts for host family? Yes. Cell phone charger? Sh*t. Where did I put it? I don't notice how tightly my back and shoulders have tensed until I finish zipping up the suitcase. I begin to feel my heart beat faster, and before I can sit down and take a breath, ...
It’s time. I’m going to India! I can hardly believe it. I feel as though I've spent the past year hopping from place to place—from Walla Walla, Seattle and Los Angeles. But now that I'm finally comfortably settled in at my parents' home in Salt Lake City, the thought of ...
Britney Spears once penned, "I'm not a girl, not yet a woman." She then proceeded to put these words into song, and then had this song featured in her 2002 sort-of-smash hit Crossroads (also starring a pre-Avatar Zoe Saldana). Well said, Ms. Spears, well said. The beauty of Britney's lyrics lie in ...
I am a creature of compromise. It started as soon as I could understand my parents’ dinner-table conversations. Both of them work in human resources, making them among the most politically correct human beings on the planet. In their line of work mediation, collaboration and compromise are the Holy Grail. ...
While Whitman is by no means a large campus, the local lingo and affectionate campus aficionados can be a lot to take in during the first few days, and locations are often critical during the bustle of orientation.
What do you do when you�re broke and need to find something tasty? Don�t worry�The Pioneer has you covered. Here�s our official guide to eating cheap in Walla Walla.
Class of 2016: Welcome to Whitman! There's no doubt that this is a very exciting time for you. It's a time for independence and a time for self-discovery, but sometimes, a little advice from someone who has been there before can help. After all, they say hindsight is 20/20. ...
Like many of my friends and classmates at Whitman, I was a bit reluctant to go home for the summer. After finals culminated in the cathartic joy of Holi and other celebrations, I realized that I had grown even more fond of this school and its wonderful community than I ...
When Jordan Conneely began her first year of college, she signed up to take a year-long first-year seminar class. In this mandatory course, Conneely and her peers discussed texts from several different disciplines in a small class setting and worked to improve their writing abilities. Although this sounds suspiciously like ...
My mom is a talented woman. She is a well-practiced photographer and a gifted pianist, but her strongest talent is her ability to navigate us toward any traffic jam within a ten-mile radius without fail. No matter how hard she tries to avoid them, we inevitably end up crawling down ...
1. What is your favorite summer article of clothing? a. Jeans year-round, baby b. Booty shorts c. Bro tank d. Flip flops 2. What activity would you most likely be engaging in if you were in a park? a. Frisbee b. Laying in the grass c. Running around d. Playing on the playground 3. Which Katy Perry song best represents ...
At an internship working with abuse victims in the wealthiest county in the nation, I expected an abused population disproportionally representative of the large Latino minority and the few women of low socioeconomic status. Where does abuse fit in stereotypical "average American families," let alone in rich, gear-crazy, outdoorsy families?
MMMMOOOVIES were my great escape from working a zillion hours at two minimum-wage jobs lifeguarding and scooping balls at the golf-driving rang. Thankfully, this summer was filled with great flicks. Here's my arbitrary grouping of movies that I saw this summer. Enjoy! Risqué (Shakin’ your junk!): My 16-year old sister dragged ...
To get home, I travel by ferry through Washington's San Juan Islands. On one of these trips home, a man sitting on the ferry bench politely declined my request to take his picture, but a few minutes later, he got up and joined me at my seat, eyeing my Whitman ...
Aries You will finally learn that it takes a whopping nine minutes to reach Olin Hall from the dreaded SoBo, after being late to class every day the first week. Taurus Victory will be yours next week when you manage to get your load through the Jewett laundry room in under four hours. Gemini It ...
Extending 500 miles across northern Spain, walking the Camino de Santiago is anything but the average vacation. Adventurous pilgrims from all over the world hike from St. Jean Pied du Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where legend says the bones of Jesus’ apostle St. James the Elder (Santiago ...
Whitties inevitably will find something to bond over. For those athletic � and sometimes not-so-athletic � types, sports can be the way to go. Whether you are joining your section�s IM football team, pulling on a Whitman jersey for a varsity soccer game, or watching your friends from the sidelines, ...
I started my three-week exchange in French Polynesia with enthusiasm, excitement and an unhealthy amount of ignorance. Tahiti, and the rest of the Polynesian islands, were not given even a cursory glance in my high school history courses and had been relegated, in my mind, to that class of ridiculously ...
Descending to Guatemala’s Pacific coast feels like stepping slowly into a sauna. As the air heats up and becomes heavy with moisture, the land flattens and the crops grow tall until the only perspective available is directly down the road you travel. Our bus, spewing diesel exhaust and splashing through ...
In high school, I was always that weird girl who couldn’t wait for summer to end. As much as I loved camp and days at the beach, some part of me always longed for textbooks and missed sharing my lunches with friends while we traded stories about the more ridiculous ...
When I drove into Wallowa County in early June, I could not get enough of the landscape around me. I leaned forward in my seat and craned my neck to get a better look at basalt outcroppings carved by the Grande Ronde River charging downstream, the green pastures dotted with ...
Before I started my internship at Parenting Magazine’s headquarters in Orlando, Fla., I imagined my experience would be like “The Devil Wears Prada.” In my imagination, I was going to be like Anne Hathaway’s character: running around the streets of Orlando (looking fabulous, of course), getting coffee and unpublished versions ...
When classes get out for the summer, Whitman students embark on a variety of adventures, from internships to travel to simply sitting at home and relaxing. Aside from close friends, however, few Whitties get the chance to share what they've been up to during their three-month vacation. For our first week ...
It is my last day in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, for four and a half months. Everything is packed and ready, so much so that I could sit here right now and list off, without looking, the exact contents of my suitcase and backpack that are sitting six feet ...
How do you feel about e-readers? These newfangled devices that allow you to press buttons instead of turn pages and download nearly any book in thirty seconds? Skeptical? Yeah. I’m feeling that. Maybe I’m just quoting every snobby book purist ever, but isn’t there something to the feel of paper between your fingers? ...
In my last blog entry I set myself a seemingly simple goal—to climb at least one more time before I head back to Walla Walla for school. When I wrote that entry I hadn’t climbed outside for several weeks. While I joked about my goal being easy to accomplish I ...
Today I’m going to talk about one of my all-time favorite summertime beverages: cold-brewed iced coffee. I’m not talking about pouring regular coffee over ice and calling it a day. I’m talking about the glorious, chocolatey-silk tasting iced coffee. The nectar of coffees. This isn’t your give-me-some-caffeine-because-I-have-to-wake-up beverage. It’s so ...
Note: This post was written on Sunday, August 5th. After a relaxing “day off” at a hotel near Narita Airport, I am now waiting for the ticket counter to open so I can check in to my Singapore Airlines flight to Los Angeles, which departs at around 7:30 this evening. As ...
Before we begin the usual shenanigans, let’s make one thing clear: I highly recommend you watch the movie BEFORE reading this book. That’s right. You heard me. I won’t say it again. Before you start throwing anything heavy at me (Wait! No! It’s not really me! It’s your computer! Stop! Don’t throw ...
On Saturday, I traveled by train from Kanazawa first to Shin-Osaka Station, and from there to Kansai International Airport where I caught my fifty-minute flight to the southern city of Kagoshima. At Kagoshima Regional Airport, I was greeted enthusiastically by Mao and her mother, Shinko, who were clutching a homemade ...
Whitman is the 44th best college in the country, according to "Forbes". That's down from 16th in 2010 and 36th last year. "The primary takeaway is that Whitman is among the top ...
I'm so sorry for the delay in my posting, but I've had an incredibly busy week and a half! PII classes ended on Wednesday with the completion of our Spirited Away text. As it turns out, studying the movie only increased my love for Hayao Miyazaki's beautiful story and art. I ...
Last night I saw the preview of Shakespeare Walla Walla’s “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Powerhouse Theatre. Some of the humor needed a little fine-tuning, but all in all I had fun. Three male actors give a very brief run-through of all Shakespeare’s plays. As you can ...
After my first full week break (much needed) from climbing in a while, my muscles felt nice and relaxed, and I enjoyed getting to boulder at Stone Gardens Seattle yesterday. Stone Gardens seems to be doing well for itself lately. In addition to having a great, popular climbing gym in ...
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