Two Fridays at St. John’s

By Alice Meyer and Anh Do

Alice’s Friday

Everyone loves Friday right?! I love Friday because it means I get to sleep in a little extra before heading to classes. I’m lucky enough to live in an apartment off campus, so I’ll usually wake up and make a big pot of coffee while I review my homework for the day or catch up on emails by my window looking out onto Maryland Ave. (one of the main streets in Annapolis.)

I head to my Math Tutorial in McDowell around 10:10. This semester we spend most of our time on Newton, which is proving to be extremely difficult, but very rewarding.

After Math, I like to head to the gym for a quick work out. I try to do a little something active every day to keep myself sane. Around noon I make my way to the coffee shop to find my friends and eat a quick lunch. I always try to review my Lab homework before heading to class at 1pm but sometimes friends are much more interesting.

1pm means it’s time for Lab! We are currently studying Electricity and Magnetism, which has been really fun. It’s a lot of hands on work, so whether we are generating electricity ourselves, or playing around with magnets and their poles, there is always something fun to do.

Most tutorials last 70 minutes, so at 2:10 I usually run home and grab a snack before I head back to school to set up for the Indoor Quad. The Indoor Quad happens in the coffee shop during the colder months at St. John’s. The Student Activities Office, where I work, created the idea for it, and it is my job on Fridays to get it going. We light a fire, put out snacks, and invite Tutors and students to come gather and hang out before the weekend!

During this time, I usually meet with my fellow Reality Archons. Reality is one of the committees in charge of throwing parties on campus. We have events and parties almost every other weekend, so we meet a lot to make sure the details are all worked out. We’ve done everything from a live auction to a day long Oktoberfest. This semester our biggest event happens the last weekend of school, where we get to throw a weekend long party for all students to celebrate the end of the year! Dinner on Friday is usually snacks from the Indoor Quad, which I am totally content with.

After I clean up the Indoor Quad, I usually head to lecture in the Francis Scott Key Auditorium. Each week is something different, but my favorite lectures are one where Tutors get to present on something they are passionate about. I love lecture because it’s a chance for everyone to come together before they run off to do whatever they do on Friday nights, and that is exactly what happens. We come, we listen, we chat, and then, the weekend begins!

Anh’s Friday

I am in my room, scrolling through the Instagram newsfeed after a busy day.

This morning I had math class at 10.35. We did proposition 37 in Conics by Apollonius, and explored what the section described by the transverse diameter could be. It was an interesting thought experiment as one of my classmates invited us to his innovative take on understanding Apollonius’ conic sections. Today’s math class was one of those moments when my classmates intrigued me with their imagination and challenged me to tackle the problem in a new way.

After class, I went to the Admission’s Office for my lunch with an accepted student from Zimbabwe.  Interacting with such a reserved person from an entirely different culture was so rewarding an experience for me. I love how my lunch partner started to open up a little bit more, making more eye contact and showing me his lovely smile as we talked. Listening to him talk about his ideas inspired by sitting on some of the classes filled me with joy. It reminded me of the reason why I love my job as one of the ambassadors of St. John’s.

After lunch, I had language class at 1.30. Today we continued our discussion on Aristotle’s Categories. We got to explore the question of substance, and what the essence of a being is. Questions regarding the difference between substance and existence also came up, as we attempted to compare Lucretius’ view of substance with that of Aristotle’s. As it often happens, we couldn’t come to one conclusive agreement, but rather opened up more interesting questions to think about.

I came out of language class at 3, and headed to the Admissions’ Office for my work study. At 4.45pm, I made my way to The Cave (the student-run coffee shop) for an art seminar run by one of my classmates. It was a new, exciting experience for me as I joined her art seminar for the first time. We looked at a painting called Evening: The Watch (after Millet) by Vincent van Gogh, and the masterwork it was copied from which is called Winter Evening by Jean François Millet.

I didn’t have much time for dinner as I had to attend another meeting by the International Students’ Association. My friends and I just started the club this semester and we have been working hard to organize a fantastic International Students’ Day in March. When the meeting was over, I came back to my room for some rest.

Around 8.30pm, I went to the FAB studio and danced with a friend for two and a half hours. We have been preparing a duo performance for Dancehibition (an annual college-wide dance event on the Santa Fe campus) coming up in April. Dancing is my weekly exercise and therapy, so I always make time for this special hobby.

Now I am finally settled in my room. My Friday was packed with activities, so my “lazy time” is all the more appreciated. I’ll probably procrastinate for another while and head to bed before a new day arrives with more exciting adventures.