Sunday, December 6, 2009

Traditions

Elmira College is full of traditions and that is one of the things that I liked most about EC when doing the college search. When I was researching schools and looking on their websites I ended up on the page about Elmira's tradtions and what they mean, and I thought that it was really interesting and cool.

This weekend I was able to experience the tradition of Holiday Weekend for the first time. Just like the orientation trilogy, candlelight, and Mountain Day, it was yet another new and exciting experience for me to have here at EC. It started on Friday night with the Holiday Banquet. It was a nice change of pace from the wraps, pizze, omlets, and burgers that have consumed my diet since coming to EC. Being able to eat a wonderful Turkey dinner with stuffing, beans, cranbury sauce, and potatoes was a nice treat when I got there. As well as eating the amazing food it was fun to see all the different professors, coaches, and administrators hosting table and sharing a meal with all of us students.

The tradtitions that Elmira has are something that makes going here even more fun and interesting. they are something that really brings everyone together and gives both the students and staff something to have pride in.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Veterans Day

Veterans day in my family is something special for sure. Service is something that is special and common amongst the members of my family aswell. For generations past, my family has been in just about every branch from the Navy to the Coast Guard, and also the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

For as many generations as we can look back, the Aldens, my mom's dad's side of the family, has served in the Navy. My great-grandfather met my great-grandmother while stationed in Bermuda, and they had my Grandfather. He joined the Navy where he met my Grandmother who was also in the intelligence department of the Navy, stationed on Church Street in NYC. Her father was in the US Army during the first World War. He drove munitions and supplies up to the front at night, and drove back during the day. When he came home, he believed he had used up all of his luck driving during the war and never drove again.

Their third daughter, Mary, enlisted in the Air Force right out of high school. She then proceeded to go to college in Philadelphia and earned her degree. She became a lab tech and was ultimately stationed at McGuire AFB in Wrightstown, NJ. There she met USAF Captain Ed States. He had gone to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Ed was a pilot who flew C-141s at McGuire. The two of them got married a few years later and had me.

Ever since I was a young lad, I have wanted to join the military and continue the tradition that was started many generations before me, and here at Elmira I am getting that opportunity. I joined the AFROTC Det. 520 at Cornell University in September, and on Sunday I marched in my first Veterans Day parade. It was an experience that I found to be sort of emotional. For years and years now my family has marched, led, organized, or attended parades on Veterans Day, and now it is my turn and I feel blessed for the opportunity to do so.

Aside from my family members listed above, I have had a cousin in the Coast Guard, an Uncle in the Marines, a cousin who is a cadet in the US Army battalion at JMU, and a grandfather in the Army. Veterans day is a very important holiday in our family, and it is something that we take with great pride.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween Spooks

Saturday night was the first halloween in college for my friends and I, and it sure was a doozy.

The night started with my roommate and I having the single best costume ever, and the purchasing of the costume starts the saga of Halloween 2009.

We decided, with the help of a friend, to be Brennan and Dale from the movie Step Brothers. On Thursday afternoon my roommate Albert, my friend Will, and I went to the Party Store, Target, Khols and Salvation Army to work on our costumes. Albert and I ended up wearing khakii pants, purple button down shirts, argile sweater vests, and curley haired wigs. To say the least, we might as well have been in the movie ourselves.

At salvation army, Albert made the purchase that may one day save our lives. He found a "Y2K Survival Guide, hosted by Leonard Nemoy". It cost his all of $4 and if used properly might be able to save our lives in 2012 when the Myan callender comes to an end...who knows?

Halloween night was a blast, hanging out with friends and eating massive amounts of candy. The really spooky part of the weekend happened last night in Will's room. According to Will, he woke out of no where, rolled over and saw a mysterious white figure standing there staring at him. At this point he grabbed his glasses put them on, and the white was still there, but kind of blocked out by the light from his window. He then rolled over and said "I don't believe in ghosts" twict and went to bed.

I personally don't believe him because ghosts don't exist. If they did then how come he just went back to sleep? I'd definately want to ask that ghosts a few questions, such as Who are you? What happened to you? How is ghost life? I wouldn't just roll over and go back to sleep.

Friday, October 23, 2009

My Roomate

One of the most exciting things for me before coming to school was finding out who my roomate was going to be. For some people this can be extremely stressful, but for others, like myself, it was exciting. I was counting down the days until I would find out who he is, where he is from, whether he was a Red Sox fan, which he is not, and what kind of music he listened to.

When I first talked to Albert, a big sense of relief came over me. He is in the Army ROTC and loves country music just as much as I do. The one thing that I would change about him if I could would be the fact that he is a Yankee fan. But hey, no one is perfect.

Albert gave me, and our friends, one of the most funny moments since we've been here last week. I was in another friends room playing FIFA and all of a sudden we hear this small thud followed by an even larger one. So my friend, Mike, and I take a look out the door and see Albert rolling on the ground holding his head moaning. We take a walk over laughing at the sounds that he is making, and at the same time our RA comes out. He thought that someone was throwing a lacrosse ball against the wall.

In reality what happen was he ran into my neighbor, Will's room, slapped him on the chest, and turned quickly to run away. In the process of turning while being bent over, he slammed his head on the door frame, and fell straight to the ground. Within minutes of hitting his head, he had a welt on the left side of his forehead the twice the size of a catepillar but in that shape. Easily the funniest moment to be had so far.