Almost 1/4 Done With College :0

As March comes to an end and my last month of Freshman year begins, it’s crazy to think that in a few short weeks I’ll be home, and ¼ done with college! March seemed to zoom by, and now I have only 2.5 weeks of class and one week of exams left! My schoolwork is like the giant constant of college…it’s always there on the to-do list, just waiting until I finish my meetings and other commitments. It seems to say “Come on, Mitchell…you know you have to get me done. Just sit down and finish me!” My day seems to always end with me looking over my homework list and wishing I had finished more. I understand the equal importance that co-curricular activities play in my college education, but still – what my parents are paying for is my classes, and when I’m not able to get everything done, and I have to stay up way too late to finish reading or homework problems, it’s frustrating! When thinking about next year’s courses, I caught myself thinking “well, I might not have time for 18 credits if I’m going to be president of South Quad…” which seems out of place when the main reason I’m here is to get educated. I can’t emphasize enough how important the word “balance” is to college – if you use your time exclusively on schoolwork, being social, or activities, you’re missing out. Sometimes, it’s hard to balance those three appropriately, but it’s essential to know when to focus on one or the other.

I had been forgetting about the fact that one also needs to balance sleep into their schedule, and was getting 6 hours consistently for several weeks. I think that contributed a lot to the fact that I now have mono. Granted, you don’t get mono from lack of sleep, but it definitely suppressed my immune system, and so when I shared a drink with someone who had it, I just got it immediately. Throughout high school, I never liked to share drinks or food with anyone, and as soon as I relaxed about that a little bit in college, I got mono! Moral of the story? DON’T SHARE DRINKS! Anyway, once I found out I had mono, I went through my calendar and started crossing things off. (The only cure is getting lots of rest). There are some meetings I can’t miss, so I haven’t been literally going to class and then sleeping, but I’ve had to miss a lot. That has been really frustrating for someone who thrives on being busy and having a full schedule, and it’s been difficult to accept the fact that I simply won’t get better for several months unless I really think critically about each thing I am involved in and decide what I can and can’t miss.

If I didn’t have mono, I would be telling you about my trip to Chicago this past weekend, which my friends who were able to go reported as “amazing.” I would be telling you how excited I am to walk in the Relay for Life this coming weekend. I wouldn’t be talking about how behind I am in schoolwork, and instead would be talking about all the fun parties I had gone to. But, alas, everyone has to get mono at some point in college. I guess the timing was pretty good…like I said, we only have a few weeks left of school, and my various involvements have definitely slowed down a bit. But nonetheless, it’s still a drain on my energy!

In other news, I have 4 papers, a performance of a Shakespeare scene, and 3 exams coming up in the next few weeks. At the same time as I’m not looking forward to freshman year ending, getting through all of that and then having a nice long break is going to be very nice! I’m very excited for my trip to Israel with Michigan’s Hillel in May. We had a meeting for my group last week, and it was really cool to meet all of the people that I will be going to Israel with. It’s really neat that I was able to do the trip through the University of Michigan Hillel, as next year, I’ll be able to maintain the connections I form on the trip!

This weekend was the Honors Charity Ball, which is an annual event put on by the Honors Resident Advisors. I was the disc jockey for the event, and it was really fun for everyone who came! South Quad events never fail to be fun, and despite mono, I was able to dance and have a good time! The 4^th is my birthday, and a group of friends and I are going out to dinner together, so that should be really fun. Turning 19 is really freaky to me, but I’m definitely excited to enter the last year of my teenage years!

I also bought my football tickets for next year…I’m going to be sitting with a few of my really good friends, so that should be really fun!

I’m terribly sorry that I don’t have more exciting things to report, but I’ve been trying to take it easy the last few weeks to get over the mono as quick as possible! I definitely don’t want to be sick for my trip to Israel!

Remember, if you have any questions at all, I’d love to help! Academics, activities, social, personal – you name it, I’ll answer it!

mitchc [@] umich.edu

GO BLUE! Don’t share drinks!

Big Fish in a Big Pond

Wow! What an incredible night I’ve just had! We had the elections for South Quad Hall Council’s Executive Board for 2008-2009, and I won President! I’m thrilled and am really excited to continue my involvement with Hall Council next year! My good friend Lizzi is going to be Vice President, so it will be fun to work with her and continue putting on great programs for all of South Quad!

What else is new? Well, last week I was working really hard on Casino Night, an event put on by the South Quad Residence Staff. We finished up all our decorations and set up Wednesday and Thursday nights, and the actual event was held Thursday night. We had four areas set up in the cafeteria, each resembling different hotels in Las Vegas. We had the Circus Circus hotel, the Luxor, Treasure Island, and Caesar’s Palace. Each of these areas had their own unique decorations, and one type of casino game was present at each one. I was in charge of decorating and running the Circus Circus area, and we did some cool stuff! We bought a big tent over which we draped yellow and red cloth to make it look like a Circus tent. We had red, yellow, and blue balloons, Christmas lights, and a blown-up monkey! We also had a cool clown! All of the decorations really made the night special…the Treasure Island area made an entire ship out of tables and cardboard boxes! Besides the decorations, all of the RAs who worked as dealers wore suits, and we had a whole multicultural area which featured casino games from around the world. There were some really awesome prizes, including 3 iPod shuffles and DVD sets of casino-themed movies (like the Ocean’s 11, 12, 13 series). Overall, the event was truly fantastic, and I had serving as the DJ. I mostly danced around with friends during the event, and didn’t play too many of the games because I was so busy schmoozing and running the music.

Another exciting thing from last weekend was my trip to the Dance Marathon to morale some friends! Dance Marathon is an incredible organization, and they are the largest student group on campus. Every year, they hold a 30-hour marathon where participants must stand the whole time. It’s a celebration of all the fundraising they have done throughout the year, and is a really good time! Check out their website here…they are awesome: www.umdm.org

The Michigan Student Assembly elections are starting right now, and they are very intense! The dominant party is MAP, Michigan Action Party, and my good friend Chris is running to be an LSA representative. He has been busy every minute the last week just going around to different residence halls, fraternities, sororities, and organizations to campaign. Every spare minute he gets he goes to the Diag to hand out flyers telling people to vote for him. I’m going tonight to help him campaign, and in two days the elections will be done and we’ll know who all the winners are! It’s incredibly exciting and resembles the current presidential race in that the candidates take it very seriously. MSA’s website: http://msa.umich.edu/

I remember high school student council elections as being a popularity contest, but in college, it’s about who is the most passionate and intent on winning. There isn’t really school-wide “popularity” at Michigan mostly because it’s so big. Of course, within different communities there are more well-known individuals, and there are definitely social clusters around residence halls, frats, sororities, organizations, and social identities. But overall, it’s just a big sea of people! I actually love that I’m able to get the best of both worlds – when I want to just be a Wolverine, I can, and when I want to be with people who know me and whom I love, I can. One thing that really surprised me after about a month of living here was how often I see people I know! Granted, I’m an extremely extroverted and social person, but still, the odds are simply not high that walking across the Diag at any given moment I would see 5-6 people I know. But it happens every day!! All of my friends, extroverted or introverted, report roughly the same thing. I was really concerned about coming to such a big school, and I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to “make a name for myself” or have a presence, like I did in my 1700-person high school. While it’s true that it’s impossible to be known by all 38,000 students (unless your name is Chad Henne), within different social circles and communities, I’ve definitely been able to carve a niche. The great things it that all those communities overlap, and the individuals I have made connections with through those communities are all a part of the larger Michigan culture, so I see them in different contexts and on a day-to-day basis, and honestly – it’s just fabulous!

Feel free to email me with ANY questions! mitchc (@) umich.edu OR friend me on Facebook "Mitch Crispell"

Random Thoughts from a Busy Mind...

I’m back from Spring Break and feel like I just jumped onto a rollercoaster from a dead stop! I did absolutely nothing over our week-long spring break, and already in the course of 48 hours I’ve accomplished so much! I spent 3 hours yesterday just going through emails and taking care of my to-do list! Whew! I’m definitely right back in the groove of college life, and my involvement in different clubs and organizations is at a peak!

First off, a lot of people say “huh?” when I say that I’m on Spring Break in February/March. The way Michigan’s schedule works is a little bit different than many other colleges. We have short winter and “spring” breaks, but a super-long summer break…May, June, July, August…4 months solid! Many schools get anywhere from 3-5 weeks for winter break, but because of our really long summer break, we limit it to a week and a half. I personally like this system better, because there’s no internships or jobs available over the winter break, but over summer break there’s tons of things I want to do! Therefore, having a short winter break is fine because of that four-month block we have in summer!

The really long summer break allows us to do all sorts of things in one summer. For example, this summer I’m (hopefully) going to a Leadership conference for a week, then (hopefully) Israel with Michigan’s Hillel, then (hopefully) working at Gap, then working at a summer camp, and then taking several other smaller trips to visit family and friends in Connecticut and New York. All that in one summer! May is a great month because most students aren’t home from college yet, and we get to snag all the good jobs and internships! Having four months also makes it possible to have both a job and an internship or do multiple different things.

Anyway, enough about breaks! Right now I’m definitely not on a break! I’m working on planning a “Casino Night” for my residence hall, which should be really neat! We’ll have all types of casino games set up with lots of decorations, food, and music, and residents will be able to play the games and schmooze with their fellow residents! It should be great!

Coolest thing that happened to me today: I got tickets to see the Dalai Lama speak! For free! That’s right, the Dalia Lama (the real guy!) is coming to Michigan in April to give several talks, and one of them is free to students. There was a huge line today to get the free tickets, but it was definitely worth it! It’s amazing how many great speakers come through campus and how frequently they are completely free to students!

Something exciting on campus: Right before break, the University opened a café inside the Undergraduate library. The whole thing was a big affair, with balloons and tents and even a small band playing the fight song and alma mater (right inside the library!) The café is great…it’s right in the lobby of the library, so if you’re up late studying you can run down and grab a cup of caffeine-filled coffee to keep working through those textbooks.

Something I’m looking forward to: I’m really excited for a trip to Chicago I’m going on at the end of the month. It’s with a new group called MUNDO Michigan, and I’m on the planning committee for the trip. We are going to do some service for a food-bank in Chicago and see the play “Wicked” while we’re there! The whole thing is just $55 dollars for me, as we got funding from several different sources to subsidize the cost. That’s another advantage to participating in University-sponsored things…they often get funding to make it cheaper (or free) for students! Anytime there’s a lecture or program being held, I check to see if there’s free food, and if so, I’m there! Free food is definitely a big deal in college, as there’s no kitchen for me to go to that my parents keep stocked. Everything I eat is through the cafeteria or paid for from my pocket, so it’s definitely nice to get a free meal!

Well, this entry was a bit of a grab bag of things, which suits my mood well! I’m balancing lots of different things and trying to keep my sanity and social life among it all! But I’m learning every day, and every week is an adventure!

Feel free to contact me with ANY questions at all (seriously – anything!) mitchc [@] umich.edu

GO BLUE!