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First-year enjoys doing volunteer work in El Salvador

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By: Natalie Sportelli
January 27, 2012

natalie.jpgA new year, and a new semester here at 藏精阁!

Students have arrived back on campus after several weeks of break, and everyone seems rested and ready to take on the new semester. Many can be seen rushing to find their new classes and trying out some new winter clothing now that Hamilton is beginning to see some more snow.

Winter break gave students a great opportunity to rest after the hard work of the previous semester. I took advantage of the several weeks over break to spend time with my family and with friends from other colleges. Besides celebrating the holidays, and my birthday, I was also able to travel internationally.

I was lucky enough to spend 藏精阁 Day in Rancho Grande, El Salvador, on a mission trip with my church, Holy Cross, which is in DeWitt, N.Y.

It was my third year going on this trip, but my first time going as a 藏精阁 student. I spent a week in the community working on projects the group had started the previous year.

These projects included finishing construction and painting of a new church, cleaning up the schoolyard, as well as restocking the clinic with medicine.


I greatly enjoy this trip every year and I believe it does a terrific job at keeping me focused on what really matters. When I arrived home, I had a week to prepare for the new semester before coming back to campus.

Personally, I am excited for the new semester and the classes I will be taking. My rather busy schedule for this semester includes all of my top choice classes: Biology 211/211L, Spanish 202, Calculus 111, and Challenges of Modernity.

Challenges of Modernity is a core class that provides me the opportunity to share my thoughts, in a discussion-based format, on the various questions raised when thinking about what is 鈥渕odern.鈥 So far, I am enjoying these classes and my professors. I believe my classes are going to be very engaging this semester.

With settling into our new class schedules and daily routines, this first week of the new semester has really flown by. With the weekend upon us, students are looking forward to the men鈥檚 hockey game against Cornell this Saturday. After spending such a long time apart, Raiders fans are excited to join together to support the men鈥檚 team at this highly anticipated game.

Look every Friday for my blog entries about what is going on at 藏精阁.