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Anson at Swarthmore – Third Update

Today is the second day of classes in my second year, but I’ve been on the East Coast for three full weeks now. Over the summer I worked for an environmental campaign in Orange County. We helped to get Congress to pass a federal renewable energy standard, which will commit the whole country to getting 15% of its electricity from clean sources by 2020. Starting back on August 14th, I served as a Student Resource Person for the TriCollege Institute at Haverford College. I spent a couple of weeks facilitating workshops about diversity for first year students starting at Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Swarthmore.

I moved into my apartment (picture) at Swarthmore on August 26th. The college owns about 15 units in this 12 story apartment building. My roommate from last year, Chris, and I share a room and a bathroom. Things are quiet, the view is green (picture), and my room is only a 15 minute walk to the center of campus.

My mom came out to visit, and we did a bit of sightseeing along the East Coast, especially in Scranton, PA and Boston. She didn’t really like the idea of going down into a coal mine (picture), but once we were down there, it was a pretty neat experience (picture). It was nice to get a bit of downtime before classes started.

I’m taking five courses this semester (schedule). As a Writing Associate, I will be peer reviewing a few papers, especially for the mythology class to which I’m assigned. I also plan to work as an intern in the Intercultural Center, sing again in the church choir, and compete in a couple of debate tournaments. Unfortunately, the dojo that provided senseis for our aikido class here can’t work with us anymore, but I’m taking a lifeguarding class instead that is turning out to be enjoyable. Overall, things will be pretty busy but manageable.