It's actually been the busiest "dead" week I've had so far. I'll leave the actual numbers out - just know its been busy and gone fast; I've spent a lot of time in the library. Things are really just winding down here, on to the final last two days of class. We had our last night of my religion immersion class tonight - I'm really going to miss Dr. Cook - I should have a chance to take one more course of his though. We had our final ZAX session tonight at the fraternity with the seniors and all. I really will miss some of those guys. I really enjoy how we have the ability to get close with seniors and upper classmen in the fraternity - I've had some really good friendships with those guys. Hate to see them leave.

     A week from Thursday I should be done and then back home by Saturday - it's been a long, hard semester, but I made it out alive. I'll make sure to squeeze in another reflection on this year or two before I go - maybe once its all over and I'm smiling. =)

Posted by Jake Ezell at 12:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

    Wednesday ended Rhyneship. I'm really going to miss it. At the end of some of the ritual stuff on Wednesday when most of the Sphinx Club members had left and it was just our Rhyne class standing around laughing about the night and the past 13 weeks for that matter - it really made me miss it.

    We've been through a lot; good, bad, silly, serious, fun: we've about done it all. It's a pretty neat thought to look back at that first Sunday night when we all met at the Chapel and didn't really know each other that well. From that first drive to PU to pick up our greys, to our last air raid, it was a blast and I don't regret a bit of it. I would gladly take every criticism the Bachelor or any other publication prints about us because I know, having been through it, the club is something special.

   More than anything Wednesday night, I thought a lot about the male friendships I have been able to develop throughout Wabash. I remember back to the last chapel talk of the year last year when former President Ford spoke about the lack of male friendships men continue throughout there lives. Then I was thinking and I don't know of another time in my life where I'll be able to do the things I do with the guys I'm good friends with in an environment like this. I don't mean to offend anyone, but really hanging out with just the guys and then hanging out with the guys with girls around are polar opposites. Furthermore, these last two years have allowed me to bridge beyond the typical friendship that men have with one another. Its gone beyond beer talk, fighting, or just making fun of each other. I still remember returning from a test at the end of the Spring semester last year and crossing the football field a senior noticed I was dragging a bit and simply asked if I wanted a hug. Although I denied it, as soon as I walked away it was pretty obvious that was what I wanted. And thats what we have developed at Wabash. It's not gay, its not feminine. It's an independence we develop and the ability to rely on eachother in common bond.

    Rhyneship was a lot like that, as we left Wednesday night, 7 of us piled into a tiny Camry and drove back to campus, smelling fowl and exhausted, although you would have never guessed it. I would say that was about the highest moment of morale we've had. When we split for the night, hugs were prevalent and I can honestly say, if you're a male, I hope you reach a point of comfort with another man that you're able to hug one another. I cherish the friendships I've made at Wabash and attribute that fully to the all-male environment.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     I think we're down to three weeks. Yeah, thats right. Not that I'm counting. This is supposed to be the last week of Rhyneship so immediately beginning next week I should gain back a significant amount of time back, not to mention the two papers and organic test I have due a week from today. So basically after this week my schedule opens up for studying for finals.

     This past weekend our house had the "honor" of initiating some guys from Ball State into LCA. It wasn't awful but out initiation has our own sort of personal feel to it when we're sending our own through it. A certain feel that just wasn't there with this group. It really made me respect and appreciate our initiation process all the better from beginning of associateship to the end.

    The week shouldn't be too bad, the final countdown for Rhyneship, and few other odds and ends, some papers to write, etc. I guess I just would like nice weather - that always makes things better it seems.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     It hasn't been too bad of a week. We ended Pan-Hel tonight with a block party of sorts on the mall. I really enjoyed it. It as a pretty solid turn out and is always good to have professors and students out enjoying a nice spring afternoon, especially when theres only a few weeks left in the semester. I had one of those moments where you stand back and look at everyone interacting in the shadow of the chapel and just sort of let out one of those "ahhh so this is why I came here." Well part of the reason why.

     Our house managed to win the bed race. For those who dont know: shopping cart, mattress, 5 man teams, one rider, one lap around the mall vs. another fraternity house. It's always intense. The Rhynies all dressed up as "mall cops." I modeled my outfit off of Reno 911's Lt. Dangle - maybe I'll get around to finding a picture at some point.

     Lilly welcome dinner was a good time - as always. It's almost comical to look back at where I was two years ago sitting in those chairs and just what my expectations and thoughts were. I can't really describe it, its not that I was mislead but just that I was different then. And I think back on like my Honor Scholar weekend and my academic approach to writing and reading and even the sciences and studying and its all different now. I've gained a lot more respect for the power of knowledge and simply learning. I'll stop with the dorkiness now - but really, I've grown a lot.

    CMFK was fun, we ran around the mall wtih the kids and had a sort of fun day and grilled out and tried to raise money for the kids, that whole thing. Um, I also had a really good talk with an alumni this weekend. I don't think he reads this but its those little conversations and interactions that really keep Wabash, Wabash and make this place something special. I can only hope some day I'll be in a position to do the same.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 12:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     This week begins Pan-Hel (Greek week). While it is drastically different from years past, so far we've still had good student participation. Last night was the dodgeball tournament and LCA managed to take first - although my throwing arm is pretty sore today from it. Not to mention my legs - I've been training for a marathon and not done much sprinting lately and while I'm confident in my ability to run a long distance now, my sprinting ability has really suffered an unfortunately, after 10 games of dodgeball, I'm hurting. It was definitely intense though you can imagine how high the testosterone was.

     Tonight was the basketball tournament, I sat this one out. I'm not much of a basketball player. I also finally got my official approval and acceptance to study abroad. That means I officially will be in Athens, Greece next semester. Now I've just got my visa and all that to apply for =). I'm pretty excited, as I said, I've started training for a marathon; in fact, THE marathon. From Marathon to Athens. It's one of the things I really look forward to, everyday about 4 putting in a few miles and thinking about all the crazy things I want to do in Greece.

     This is Lilly Weekend coming up and it's always neat to see those guys around the house - looking forward to it. If any of them read this, I wish you the best of luck and would just know my application if I were you. So I had to have my suit dry cleaned after formal and its in Indianapolis BUT rather than drive back to get it, I'm just going to borrow one of the suits from career services - another perk of being a Wabash student.

That pictures is of my family and my cousins at Easter in case you were wondering - I think it's the only good one we got - turned out all the other ones were "funny"

Posted by Jake Ezell at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     Out of the 6 biology regular semester tests I've taken - Friday's went the best and was the first one I've finished before the hour was up. That felt good - undoubtedly though, I probably did not do as well as I would hope but it is still nice not having to worry so much about it.

     I went home Friday and really just took the weekend off. My brother flew in from Kansas and it was good to sit around and catch up with him. Other than that not a whole lot going on this weekend - really just was good to be with the family. Another 4 weeks and I think I'll be back home unless one of my other summer jobs comes through.

     Big congrats to Joey Niezer for being accepted to IU med.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     First, Dr. Hollander gave a good talk today in the chapel. It seemed to be just the right mix of humor and seriousness. But more importantly I was sitting there thinking about what an opportunity we have at Wabash. I guess I don't really know how many lectures and talks are given at other schools, but I really enjoy being able to listen to my professors elaborate on whatever.

     I remember when I first came to Wabash I had decided to attend every Chapel talk - an idea that quickly faded. It was not until Rhyneship that I actually began to do this and realize how important and unique something like a Thursday Chapel is. I wish it were mandatory and that more students understood the significance and uniqueness of that to Wabash. It's a very unique thing to Wabash that should be just as important to the students as going to class.

Posted by Jake Ezell at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

    I've not updated in a while - I apologize, no real reason other than I sort of forgot? Anyways, last week wrapped up pretty smoothly, I got all my work done and was in a pretty good position for the weekend. College mentors took the kids swimming as the activity and it was a pretty good time - no incidents.

     Friday night was pretty low key around here - there were actually a lot of girls in the house since we had our formal Saturday. They came up a day early. It was nice to have girls around. =) Dr. Baer stopped by for a bit and its always nice to see professors in the house, sort of adds to it and its always nice to sit around and not just talk about classroom stuff with professors every now and again.

     Formal was really nice. We went to Culver Cove and I was very impressed with the accomodations. I'll add some pictures later once the girls put them up on facebook. But anyways, dinner was great, the dance was fun, and the night went off really smoothly minus one small detail. I think most everyone had fun and can honestly say formal is another pro to add to the list of reasons to join a fraternity. I love it.

     This shouldn't be too bad of a week. I'm about ready for Rhyneship to be over - it's just been going on so long it seems. Other than that we've only got like 5 weeks left before schools out. Amazing how fast it goes...

Posted by Jake Ezell at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)