My first week home from college has been laid back and care free. On Monday I went up to Boston to drop of my uncle off at Logan International Airport. Although I only had two days to spend with him, he promised to send my greetings back with him to Nigeria. While on the way to Boston we drove by the now famous Foxboro, Massachusetts. Foxboro is home to the New England Patriots (if you didn’t know). I am not saying I am or am not a Patriots fan (especially not in Colts country), but since I am back at home and just happened to pass by the Gillette Stadium I just thought, why not point it out.  Once my family and I go into Boston we did what we normally do when entering this city, we sat in traffic. Since the Big Dig project put the highway that runs through Boston underground it seems like it takes forever to get anywhere.  On Tuesday, I went took RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transportation) to go to my once college access program College Vision in downtown Providence, and stop by the library to pick up a book to keep my mind occupied over break. The crazy amount of snow didn’t seem like a problem and it was cool to feel like I was in high school again taking the city bus. After visiting a few places I went to Youth In Action, the youth organization I work at for the past 3 years. My senior year I co-chaired the board of the organization. A few things had changed, but it was nice to see the organization that helped me become a leader still the same.  Wednesday I basically did nothing. Thursday was Christmas, and I was glad my parents got me what I wanted which was money for college books and clothes! I was very surprised at the weather. Fifty degrees on a Christmas day was very odd. So odd that a good majority of the ten plus inches we received a few days earlier melted away.  My mom spent sometime cooking and my grandfather came over for dinner.  Friday was awesome for the most part. I went out with a friend on Thayer Street near Brown University, which can be compared to Broad Ripple in Indianapolis. We walked around and met with her other friends. My evening was my only problem. I waited one hour outside, in the freezing cold for the stupid city bus that was extremely late. Not only that I was really anxious to get home to see my grades from the first semester (which weren’t available to see when I got home!). Hopefully my next two weeks will be this carefree…hopefully.

David Hauck

David has a jolly sprit. From the time I have known him thus far I can definitively say that I have ever argued with him, about something serious. He tries, with various amounts of success, to liven up every situation (seen here singing into the camera during serenades). Although we share very little in common, besides the fact we are pledge-brothers, I still feel like I know him well enough to confidently call him my brother. David went to North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. Currently at Wabash he is on the football team. I know for a fact he is a good runner and hope he comes out for the Track team (hint…hint).   

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend has been action packed.  Friday, after my pledge-brother Donavan finished his paper, we left for Indianapolis, IN.  I had a feeling of relief leaving Wabash and knowing I had 3 weeks of doing nothing ahead of me.  Once we reached Indianapolis, I went out Christmas shopping with Donavan.  His mother asked us if we would like to go to the Pacers game that night.  I knew I would have a great time so I said yes.  The game was in the Conseco Field House in downtown Indianapolis.  During the game a rude Clippers fan decided to get in front of the camera and steal the spotlight from a little kid’s birthday celebration.  Let’s just say he was quickly ejected from watching the game.  That night I spent some time talking to Donavan’s mom and dad (Mr. & Mrs. White) about my Wabash experience so far.

The next day was time to fly back to Rhode Island.  Mrs. White and Donavan decided to go into the new Indianapolis International airport to make sure I got all checked in.  The airport looked very nice and some parts of the airport reminded me of the Charles De Gaul International airport in France which I visited over the summer.  The only problem I had with the airport was the title of International.  The airports size just didn’t seem like it deserved that distinction.  After entering the airport, I waited in the queue until it was my turn to check in my bags.  I did not know that Continental Airlines charged luggage bags.  I was charged an extra forty dollars just for two luggage bags.  In addition to that, since both of my bags were over fifty pounds, the airline wanted to charge me and extra 100 per bag!  This was outrageous.  I would have paid more in fees for my bags than the ticket itself.  A simple solution for this was to have Ms. White take a few things I thought I could do without back home so my bags could make it through. With my bags under fifty pounds, I proceeded to check in and head toward security. After security (which was a lot quicker than I expected) I saw not only another Wabash freshman, but also a fellow blogger, Galib Shishir, heading to Houston, TX to visit a friend. After talking to him for a while, it was time to board my flight and I was off to Cleveland, OH then off to RI. My plane in Cleveland was delayed a few minutes because of the weather but I got home right on time.  That night I sat down with the family and showed them pictures and told them stories of my fraternity and college experiences in general.  I also told them about all of my pledge-brothers and the kindness everyone’s families have shown me during my last five months at Wabash. I finally got to watch T.V where I actually knew what the channel numbers were!

Sunday started off weird because church was canceled due to the weather.  We (my family and I) ended up going up to Massachusetts to visit some of my cousins and my uncle who came from Nigeria to spend the Holidays with us.  I haven’t seen my uncle since August when I went to Nigeria so it was good for him to see me without my braces on.  I bought my little cousin a Wabash Baseball t-shirt because I know how much he is a fan of the Red Sox’s and I thought it would be cool if I could get him a little something to let him know his big cousin is proud of him.  After hanging out with family my father and sister wanted to go to a big coat store to find something to keep my sister warmer during these harsh conditions.  I ended up seeing some old people I knew from high school.  One of the guys I met is a Beta Theta Pi alum from the University of Rhode Island.  So it was cool to talk to him about my struggles with pledge-ship and everything else that comes with it.  I also met another friend of mine who I graduated with and we made plans to hang out during the week.  Tonight hopefully I am going to Providence Place Mall (downtown Providence) to hang out with a very cool friend who I ran track with my senior year.

I cannot wait for the up incoming week. I plan to hit the gym, go out with a few friends and read a good book. Well, maybe not the book.

Donavan White

One word to describe Donavan is competitive. He strives for the best in everything he does, even if that means stressing out. He is from Indianapolis and went to the athletic powerhouse, Ben Davis High School. He currently runs on the track team and ran for Wabash during the cross country season. He is most known for telling everyone to shut up when we decide to stay up all night and talk about non-sense in the cold dorm.  What I like about Donavan is that he never complained when we were given tasks to complete as a pledge-class.  Everyone could count on him when it came to doing well on Lore every week. As much as I love Donavan as my pledge-brother, I can tell it is his family who has completed him and made him into who he is.  

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 09:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finals have finally ended and I am ready to head home. Because everyone else is ready to go home the house is a complete mess. Everyone is trying to make it home as soon as possible. Many seniors are sticking around because early next year they have senior comps. Since every semester people change rooms, people are trying to move into rooms where the other people haven’t moved out yet, which increases the mess. On Thursday I went to the bookstore to sell back some books and buy some Christmas presents. Unfortunately for me, the bookstore would only take back one of my books. I only got back $ 1.50 back and I spent over 200 on books at the beginning of the semester. What a bummer! Because classes are over, I am finished packing and cleaning, I finally have time to go on facebook to talk to old friends and make plans when I am back home in Rhode Island. Saturday morning, 10am: I can’t wait!

 Michael Keys

Mikey is a surprisingly nice person. He is my only 6’6 355 pound pledge-brother. Because of his size he might at first come across as a little intimating, but he really has love for everything. He is a member of the football team and played football in High School at Rochester High School in Indiana. Not only was he part of the football team, he also was the captain of his swim team. While being the largest pledge-brother I have he also has a large heart. During finals week he was finished on Monday and wanted to know if any of us pledge-brothers needed help doing our house job. Now that’s having a big heart!

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally finals week is here. On Monday I studied, German, all day! Since I do not have track practice during finals week I basically worked on studying all day long. Since we don’t practice during finals week, I think I put on a few pounds. On Tuesday I had my German final. I think I did better than I usually do on my German test especially on the culture section. That afternoon I went to see my Modern Linguistics professor with a pledge-brother/classmate of mine. We talked about some of the questions I had and what will and will not be on the test. Later that night I went to the gym with a couple of friends of mine from Lambda Chi who are also on the track team. We did a work out in the gym then went down to the pool to do some swimming intensive exercises. I will never forget the feeling of being so tired. In addition to feeling tired,  I still had to study for my Linguistics exam the next day. Wednesday (today) has been a great day. I woke up, studied, and then had lunch. At lunch Dean Raiders spoke with us about the Gentlemen’s Rule and of it’s relevance with the student body. I had to leave early because I was running short on time and I did not want to be late for my exam. My exam went well however. I feel that I had enough to say about everything especially the million definitions that were on the test. That afternoon a few pledge-brothers and  I went to help out the local Boys and Girls Club by selling Christmas trees in the freezing cold. We sold about four trees in about two hours. I think the problem was since the weather has been really off the past few days some of the trees we were selling were less than desirable. But it is always satisfying to do something for the community. I can not wait for this week to be over. Saturday morning is when I head home…finally!

William Powers

William Powers (aka. Billy, Bill, Bill ‘do your house jobs’ Powers, Bill Nye the Science Guy) is a jolly fellow from Indianapolis, Indiana. He went to the (from what I hear) famous Cathedral High School. Bill in addition to being one of my pledge-brothers, he is also a member of the Wabash College Basketball team. He is not only good at playing basketball; he also teaches little kids how to play in his own summer camp. Above all Bill takes pride in doing his house job all the time. He takes so much pride in his job that he even gets on everyone else to do theirs. Sometimes his ways of ‘motivation’ are questionable, that fact still remains that they need to be done and I could really see him as House Manager someday. I think the best part of Bill isn’t himself, it is his mom. Ms. Powers is an avid reader of my blog and is always great to talk to.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend has been without a doubt one of the most boring weekends I’ve had here at Wabash. On Friday, the track team held time trials at practice. I ran the 300 meter in around 38 seconds. Several of our team’s fastest runners ran it in 37 seconds. I guess this means I am not too far off the mark. That afternoon I received a small bag of treats from an alumni named J.B Bachman. With the bag also was a note to stay focused even though I am anxious to go home.  Later that night was a basketball game against St. Joseph Calumet, which we won. Saturday, I took time to study German. I studied for so long I forgot where some of my pledge-brothers were. Saturday night was not any different, with more studying. Sunday I ventured to the library to again study more for my German and Modern Linguistics finals. I guess now all I want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep. On Sunday night, a few older brothers in the Beta house decided to pass down a Beta tradition to us. This tradition is called Beta Beards. During finals week they give us all designer beards and if we do not have enough facial hair they draw beards on our faces with Sharpie markers. The beard that I received was not too bad, but then again compared to some of my pledge-brothers I got off kind of easy.

Jeremy Coons

Jeremy Coons is another one of my pledge-brothers who enjoys belting out a song or two when there is a crowd around him. From Hobart, Indiana he followed in his brother’s footsteps to Wabash and then on to Beta Theta Pi. In addition to that, he enjoys picking his nose and constantly reminding me of how much of a better writer he is. He is good at his house job and is always willing to help someone out, even if it means putting off his own work.  Although most of his jokes are down right not funny, I know I will miss his childish demeanor over Winter Break.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 02:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Over the past few days I have had the same headache, runny nose, and sore throat. This really hurts even more because I have track practice everyday and class. Wednesday was good because we began reviewing material in my German and English class for the final. In addition to that, Track practice was just getting ready for today's time trial. I would like to take this time to congratulate Grayson Stone, Sumit Kovoor, Maycdon Sprowl, and myself for winning the race to become the reps for the class of 2012. Although winning was great, finding out the results was another thing. Wednesday night at mid-night an email was sent out to come to the Chapel steps to hear the winners. The winners were read off in an 'old English' way and it was quite amusing, even in the cold. I am dreading this weekend because I know I will be doing nothing but studying for finals next week. I can not wait for next Saturday at 10am. This is the time my flight leaves from Indy for Providence!

Now that I got the usual stuff out of the way lets get to something a little more humorous. Some of my pledge-brothers have been dogging me about how my blog has become increasingly boring. To curb my boring demeanor, I have decided to start a little commentary after every blog post about one of my pledge-brothers.

Mark DePrez
Mark is an intelligent young fellow who takes pride in making me laugh at any chance possible. He can be described as a colorful character with malicious intentions. Although he is joyful most of the time, there is another side to him most people don't see. His singing has caused a divide within our pledge-class. Mark randomly, belts out songs ranging from the Backstreet Boys to song from the T.V show Doug. Although he is always a delight to have around, sometimes he fail to complete his house job due to laziness. Overall he is one of my favorite pledge-brothers.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dead week is here. I have less work than I thought I would, but still I need to study for finals which are coming up soon (next Week). This week on Monday was my first day back at Track. My knee is just fine and I am 100%. Unfortunately, just as I got better, another track teammate of mine got injured. He will remain anonymous for obvious reasons. That afternoon I realized on my way back from practice that there is no more snow on the ground. This is upsetting because it's December and I would like to get into the Christmas spirit. On Tuesday, I had my final in my freshman tutorial. This final was not like a usual final because it had a different component involved, which was a mock court appeal. My job as respondent in the case was to defend the city of Athens and its decision to have the Ten Commandments on local government property. Tuesday night was awesome because I discovered I am now SICK?!?!? I consider myself lucky because this is about the second time I have gotten sick this bad this semester. All I have is a runny nose and a sore throat. I took some sinus medicine last night along with some Ramen noodles, Cranberry juice, and a throat lozenge. I also disinfected everything from my computer to my cell phone and my iPod. Today (Wednesday) I am still sick and decided to disinfect the cold dorm with the one bottle of disinfectant my mother packed me. I can not wait until this afternoon when the polls close today around 1pm. I hope I won a spot as class representative. I admit I could have campaigned harder but all is done now and I just need to wait for the results. I also have heard from my pledge-brothers that my blog has lost its appeal. My pledge-brothers told me my blog is not funny and is very dry, so I promise next blog entry I make will have an interesting twist. Stay tuned, and please leave a comment on easy ways to get well. I cannot stand being sick anymore.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This weekend has been weird because pledge-ship ended. Usually I have a set place to go and specific thing I need to get done, but now I am on my own, and it is weird. On Friday afternoon my Modern Linguistics class met in Hays Hall, which is the science building on campus, because a student sustained an injury and needed a building with an elevator, which is something Center Hall does not. Unfortunately for us, he didn't show up for class. Friday night I decided to stay in, rest my knee, and watch some T.V. From about 11am on Saturday to around 5pm, I did school work. Everything from typing a paper, preparing for a legal argument, and studying for German was what I worked on. After working on my schoolwork, I headed over to the completely empty Allen Center where I went to run on the indoor track. This was the first time that I ran on my left knee since dislocating my kneecap on Wednesday night. I apologize for sounding so repetitive, but on Sunday I did the same. I studied for a good portion of the day and then took a few breaks here and there to do laundry and eat. Now that I am in college, I find that I am becoming incredibly good at throwing food together to create a tasty meal. Here is the picture: eggs, chicken, wheat bread, and taco sauce. The combination of all these three together tasted kind of funny but it got the job done! Sunday night, a few of my pledge-brothers rearranged the cold dorm and gave it more of a lively appeal to it. However, I do not like the location of my bed because now I'm sandwiched between a wall and a poll. I am happy, my pledge-brothers are happy, everyone is happy. Here is a picture of one of my pledge-brothers Brady Hagerty), who is very excited about his new bed position. The count down is on, two more weeks, then winter break!

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On Wednesday afternoon I went to go see a German movie for extra credit. The UPS club was having a Christmas celebration in Detchon Hall. A piñata was at the party and I couldn’t resist taking a wack at it. After a few swings, I noticed that piñatas were made of concrete, or at least the one we had was!

OUCH. Later that Wednesday night something happened to me that was very painful. After the usually heated Pledge-ship meetings, my pledge-brothers had a little brawl to release some anger in the front area of the house. After a while I got in on it and landed on the bottom of a dog pile. A few more people filed on adding to the weight on top of me. I screamed "my leg" but everyone thought I was joking. I felt a sharp pop in my leg and then screamed "my leg!" once more. My knee cap was dislocated! Once people realized I was in real pain a few people freaked out, and a few people wanted to call an ambulance. Good thing one of my pledge-brother’s father is a well known knee doctor and gave instructions on how to pop my knee cap back in place. (I didn't cry!)  After that I iced up my knee and went to bed. The next morning I went to the athletic trainer and started rehab. Thursday night was serenades. I had the fun adventure of driving four of my pledge-brothers all the way up to Purdue University to sing to sorority girls. This adventure was fun for the most part until we began to sing to fast. Later that Thursday night, pledge-ship finally ended. The exact way it ended Ii will keep under raps. For prospective students who may be reading this, you will need to find out how nerve racking it was for me! Today (Friday) is not a bad day. Classes so far are relaxed, although my leg was bothering me a little this morning. This weekend I have so much school work to catch up on. I am trying to go to Indiana University in Bloomington, but who knows.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 04:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week started off slow then gradually picked up. On Monday I went to Ms. Ross in the Dean of Students office to pick up my application for the Student Senate Representative spot. I had 25 people sign it (most of my pledge-brothers) and returned the form later that day. So basically my name will be on the ballot. I think running for Class Representative will be a good experience because back at home I held many leadership positions in my community and feel I can make a difference for the Wabash freshman class. For the past few days, the mood on campus has been much of sadness due to the untimely death of Professor Placher. Although I didn't know him or take any of his classes, from everyone I have talked to it sounds like he was a really great man and will be missed. Tuesday was track practice as usual. Coming off Thanksgiving break, I though I would feel slower, and I do. Basically I need to work off a little turkey still left in my system. Today (Wednesday) so far I've had a great day. I discussed a few topics in my English course, aced a German oral test I studied hard for and am expecting my new North Face backpack to finally arrive. Lately my pledge-brothers have been getting on each others nerves. I believe it is the fact that we've been living with each other for so long. But I have devised a plan to help us bring the spirit of pledge-ship back again. Before Christmas Break I want to hold a little Secret Santa exchange among us pledges just as a little reminder that we love each other more than we show.

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Coming back to school I thought would be a bummer because of all the school work. In fact now that I am back I am in a sense happy to see so many familiar faces. Friday night I played Super Smash Brothers….again and went online to do some school work and order a new backpack hopefully coming in on Monday. Later that night I watched about my millionth movie on break, Déjà vu, and went to bed around 3. Saturday I woke up around 8:30am and went online to check up on my bag and work on a few papers. Later that day I made the venture back to Crawfordsville from Indianapolis. After I got settled and saw a few familiar faces who managed to stay alive while staying at the house, I went to the football game against Wheaton College. Although entry to the football game was only four dollars, I was still angry that my student ID wasn’t enough. After the game at the house I managed to get a lot done that afternoon. I exercised at the Allen Center, took a shower, did my laundry, finish a few assignments, call home and relax! Sunday was a great day even though I work all day except it was a day of work with SNOW! Finally something tangible that reminds me of home. although it was a light sheet, the snow put me in a good mood. What sweetened my mood was that I didn’t have to shovel it. I knew the whole day was going to be filled with school work and in fact it was. Around 3pm I went out go running in the cold. The rest of my day consisted of welcoming back my pledge-brothers and studying. Three more weeks till I go home to Providence, Rhode Island. Cant wait!  

Posted by Andre Adeyemi at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)