"All bags are packed, I am ready to go..."

Do you know the song "I'm leaving on a jet plane"? It always comes to my mind when I think about the arrival of new students in the summer and my own experience two years ago. A lot of Scotties that will be joining us next year share with me their excitement. I know that many of you are already planning your trip and arrival. This is very exciting and I remember myself making to-do lists and trying to prepare myself well. I realize that it can be a stressful time as well, especially for the international students and really anyone who lives far from Agnes Scott. Please remember that there is a bunch of people working at Agnes to provide resources that will help you with the transition to college. One group is the Orientation Council, who will welcome you as you arrive. Xiaoxuan Liu "Lulu" (class of 2015) and myself will have the pleasure of being the coordinators for the International Student Orientation.

Lulu (on the right) and I can't wait to meet you in August

As you start to think how possibly you are supposed to fit everything in one or (depending on the mercy of your airlines) two pieces of luggage, feel free to use these guidelines that I created based on my own experience.

What is a Scottie dress code?

1. Your favorite, comfortable set of clothes. One of the aspects of American culture is individualism that is prominent for example in the way people dress. This definitely applies to the daily dress code at Agnes. All styles - formal, classy, comfortable - are acceptable and no one will judge you by the way you look. In other words, there isn't a dress code that you will be expected to follow. 
2. Formal set of clothes. There are multiple occasions during school year when festive or formal attire is required. The most fun that comes from the opportunity to dress up is the picture time. Everyone seems to love taking pictures here.

   

   Photo credit: Center for Student Engagement
3. Be prepared for ALL kinds of weather. Coming to Atlanta, I expected the climate to be "tropical" in my understanding. I was surprised though when it started snowing in February. The solution is to dress in layers. Warm jacket, hat, scarf and gloves will be very useful. Shorts, dresses or any other summer clothes are a must-have for sure.

Spring and summer in Atlanta are beautiful. In addition to light clothing, a water bottle is an important accessory. 

"I'm singing in the (Decatur) rain..." 

Seeing snow after a beautiful summer and fall weather was a surprise for all the Scotties, but a nice one.

 

Shopping for personal care items

1. When leaving for the first time, I thought that I should pack the supply of toiletries (like shampoo, toothpaste, shower gel etc.) that will last for as long as possible. Unfortunately, this kind of items weigh the most and after taking just a few, there is hardly space for anything else. My advice: take a travel size bottles of the toiletries. You can buy all the other personal care items here in Decatur. In fact, we will take you on a shopping trip a day after you arrive. Here is what I discovered: most of the products like shampoo or shower gel in the American stores are size XXL. It means that you can buy one thing that will last you for a very long time which is money efficient and simply convenient.
2. Although there is a big variety of products in the stores, I personally prefer to have my favorite items from back home like my make-up. Therefore, this is my recommendation: bring the items that you are most attached to. I am positive though, that with time you will find a great substitute among the many choices offered in the American stores. 

Scottie Study Gear

1. Just like you don't have to worry about packing the personal care items for the entire semester or a year into a luggage, it's not at all necessary to bring notebooks, pens, pencils or other school supplies from across the ocean. There will be multiple opportunities to go shopping and purchase these items before the classes start. Also, did you know that we have our own bookstore on campus? It is one of the places where you can buy paper and other accessories once you run out of them.

   

   Besides books and school supplies, our bookstore sells clothing and accessories with fun Scottie logo on them.

2. Regarding personal computers, it is definitely helpful to have your own. However, it is not required and you can definitely get around without it. In fact, I have been without my own computer for a semester now and I have been perfectly fine using library computers for my assignments and other projects. I also want to share with you that this year our library purchased five iPods for students that we can rent, so there are plenty of resources that you can use even when you don't have a computer.

As I mentioned before, Lulu and myself (your Orientation coordinators) will take you to a shopping district a day after you arrive. There, you'll get to purchase bed linen, reading lamps, cell phones and anything else that you'll need. We will prepare for this trip together before we go, discuss the best deals and our recommendations.

This crazy bunch of Scotties from your Orientation Council is so excited to welcome you to our community! Can you see that red is a dominant color here? This will be a color of class of 2018. 

I hope that you can find some of these tips useful. Thank you for visiting my blog and working with me on your applications throughout the year. It has been a great pleasure to be getting to know so many of you and helping you out on your college search. Right now, I am off to prepare for the final exams and start my summer break, during which I will be travelling around Europe and studying abroad with the Agnes Scott program in Spain. If you need to contact us during summer, please write to admission@agnesscott.edu. Starting in September, I will use a new link for this blog: www.agnesupclose.com. I look forward to meeting you next semester as well as sharing even more of the Scotties' experiences on the blog. Good luck with the rest of your school year and see you soon.

Karolina Klimczak '16

Office of Admission International Fellow

141 E. College Ave

Decatur 30030 GA

globaladmission@agnesscott.edu 

  

"SpARC" Spring Annual Research Conference

This week a lot of Agnes Scott students presented at SpARC, our Spring Annual Research Conference. To explore SpARC, I reconnected with alumna and admission counselor Cara Snyder, who is featured in the SpARC portion of our virtual tour on Agnes Scott website. Feel free to watch a short video below,introducing SpARC and its significance to our community.

I was very curious to hear about SpARC experience from the perspective of the presenters themselves. Dildora Sharipova, an exchange student from Uzbekistan told me about her research "Digital Storytelling with Middle School Refugee Girls": "It was very challenging to carry on a research, you have to be careful about recording all the details throughout the whole process and make sure to keep them safe and organized. At the same time, it was very rewarding. I want to become a teacher so experiencing a relationship of teacher and a student was extremely useful. I learned that letting my students be independent is very important." 

Melissa Easley and Katharina Groeger (class of 2016) are members of a research team that is being conducted with one of our Biology professors: "The preparation for SpARC was very helpful for us to see where we are are at the moment with our project. Sometimes, when we are in the lab it is easy to forget a big picture of what we are doing, so it was exciting to share it once again, this time officially with a bigger crowd of our fellow students and professors. Although it was a challenge for both of us to speak in front of the audience, it turned out to be a perfect practice of our public speaking skills."

"The Pharmacology of Oviposition in Grasshoppers"
Authors: Abigali Vaka, Gifty Affadzi, Anoinette Anderson, Sasha Grant, Zarina May, Allana Thompson  

"Digital Storytelling with Middle School Refugee Girls" These students conducted a project that involved teaching refugee girls from Global Village Project how to create a digital fictionalized, personal story. They truly worked for social justice and were happy to present their research to Agnes audience.
Authors: Nareeja Panchapakesan, Fikella Hill, Alberta Sabree, Dildora Sharipova, Patience Shepard 

"2013 Huber Scholars" The Hubert program supports students to conduct public service projects around the world. Last years, our scholars interned in Harvard Medical School, at Bai Thuong organic farm in Vietnam and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs- a microfinance organization in Decatur. Think about a destination this program could take you one day!

Which presentations would you attend? Check the list and description of all the research this year. Imagine, your name and a project that you are so passionate about can be on this list next! 

Karolina Klimczak '16

Office of Admission International Fellow

141 E.College Ave

Decatur 30030

globaladmission@agnesscott.edu

What happens at Agnes, stays at Agnes a.k.a Scotties in Vegas

This year, spring semester goes by really fast! The snow days that left us out of school for a week (which Scotties didn't mind at all but rather took advantage of this rare weather condition to its fullest extend) and a bunch of activities that have been taking place for the past months kept us busy and will continue to do so for the next couple of weeks. Last week was particularly exciting with a number of events organized as a part of Spring Fling celebration.

Spring Fling happens every year in April and is meant to provide some fun time for our community, celebrating the beautiful weather and the last month of school. As we all know, finding balance between academics and other activities is extremely important to maintain a healthy college routine. Many organizations on campus worked hard to make sure that everyone would find something that they enjoyed doing. Programming Board (ProBo) took charge of most of the events and was very successful in organizing the Spring Fling party and the Spring Festival. ProBo is one of the biggest organizations at Agnes. Maybe after watching Amy Rahimpour's (class of 2015) video and learning what they do, you'll consider joining ProBo next year?

Click here to watch Amy's video on Youtube. 

The theme of last week was "Las Vegas." A lot of activities and the Spring Fling Party in particular were organized around this theme.

Spring Fest

Have you ever celebrated or heard of Holi, a Hindu spring festival, also known as the festival of colors? This was definitely the messiest and most colorful activity during our Spring Fest. Photo credit: Alice Malkova (exchange student from Russia)

Spring Fling

Agnes style weekend plan: get a good group of friends, put on some fancy dresses and enjoy a great time in Vegas-like party. Photo credit: Celeste Whitman (class of 2016). 

5K run

Last week, Agnes hosted a 5K run. Running, walking, volunteering- any form of participation was welcomed.   

Jazz Ensemble and Word Percussion concert

The week closed of with something delightful for our ears. Two music groups at Agnes, Jazz Ensemble and Word Percussion performed a wonderful concert under the supervision of their instructor Emrah Kotan who happens to be a drummer of a famous American singer, India.Arie. Check out our website to read more about this faculty member...

...and enjoy a short extract of the event. 

I can't believe that we have only three more weeks of classes. Good luck to those of you who are also finishing the school  year or getting ready for the final exams. As promised in the previous post, I will soon publish a list of "must-haves for college." I hope this will be helpful once you start planning your arrival to college. Please, don't hesitate to contact me at my e-mail: globaladmission@agnesscott.edu. 

Karolina Klimczak '16

Office of Admission International Fellow

141 E. College Ave

Decatur GA

30030

 globaladmission@agnesscott.edu