12.07.2011

Studying Hot Spots // by Monica


In the spirit of dead week and finals, I thought it may be helpful to share my top 5 study places on campus…

5. Your room

Pro: No planning ahead or moving your laptop, notes, or 20 lb. books required, and comes complete with desk.

Con: My bed, which is only 2 feet away, looks more and more comfortable with every page I study… Studying here is really only good for an hour at a time before napping kicks in.

4. A friend/teammate’s room

This year, I tend to venture to Cassie’s room (i.e. upstairs) for a change of scenery. Studying with someone definitely cuts out the naptime, and can help you focus

Con: Our study breaks occur every 5 minutes, and often last longer that the studying themselves. What can I say, YouTube videos + Cassie = way more fun than studying

3. An off campus study spot, such as a coffee shop

Pro: One word- caffeine. No problem focusing here

Con: One word-caffeine. Good luck getting sleep tonight

2. The library of whatever subject you’re studying (ex: for chemistry, try venturing to Swain Chem Library… Have a public policy paper to finish? Head over to the Law Library!)

Pro: If you were ever that kid who thought sleeping with your history book under your pillow somehow caused osmosis to move all the info from the book into your head for an upcoming exam, think of this study place as an updated version of that.

Con: Getting a table at any library on campus during dead/finals week is a near impossible feat.

1. The Mausoleum!!!

Pro: What better way to get the thinking flowing that spending some quality time with our school’s founders? I mean, it is “dead” week, isn’t it?

Con: Zombies, everywhere.

12.05.2011

Go Big or Go Home! // by Kelsey


The final week before Thanksgiving break was SO epic! On campus, we call it Big Game week and that’s because on that Saturday we play Cal in football as well as some other sports, like Men’s Polo. The entire campus is flooded with spirit. Here are some photos showing how we get ourselves pumped up!

Here's a shot of the fountain in Old Union. All of the fountains on campus get dyed red for the entire week.

There's also the tradition of the "Bearial" where we "sacrifice" a stuffed bear at the top of the Claw sculpture in White Plaza
 
And then there is the LARGEST sign I have ever seen. It covers the entire face of Meyer Library!






























As you can see, we get REALLY into this rivalry. There's also the fight over "The Axe." Whoever wins Big Game gets to keep The Axe until the two teams meet again. There’s a story behind the Axe and our rivalry with Cal—click here to check it out!

This year at Big Game, all the returners on our team were presented with NCAA rings that we earned last spring. We had been waiting for this day for what seemed like FOREVER! As you can see, the wait was well worth it…

We got to go down on the field, and at half time all of our names were announced and we saw some bling for the first time! Melissa and Annika, who are currently taking the year off to train for the 2012 Olympics, and one of our graduated seniors Amber were able to make it and go through the ceremony with the rest of the team. I loved having all of them there! Of course our other seniors and captains from last year, Kim and Kimbo, were there in spirit. The freshmen were able to go down to the sideline and watch us, but hopefully next year they will be out on the field getting a ring of their own! Fingers crossed (: Click here to watch the whole thing! (Can you tell we were just a tiny bit excited?!)


Rewind about 2 hours from the time us returners got our rings, and the freshman were involved in a presentation as well… only this time WE were presenting THEM to the rest of the Stanford students! Every year, the freshman class puts together a half time show for one of the Men’s Water Polo games. This year, the upperclassmen chose Big Splash (Stanford vs. Cal). There was a huge crowd of rowdy Cal fans, and although our boys couldn’t quite pull out a win, the freshman still got our own Stanford fans pumped! Me and Cassie choreographed the land part of the dance to Dirty Pop by N’Sync and were SO proud of how they did! I hope they had as much fun with it as I did when I was a freshman (: Watch them do their thaaang – Class of ’15 Synchro Routine.

Big Game week never fails to be even better than the year before. Can’t wait to see what Stanford has in store for us in 2012!