Nathan Bode '16

Hey Wallies! Greetings from Greenfield! If you’re surprised to see more blog posts from me, clearly you don’t follow my Twitter account @bodewabashblog. If you haven’t heard, I have proudly accepted a position as the official blogger for the Class of 2016 for the next three years! I’m looking forward to stepping up my blog game during the 2013-14 school year, now as a Political Science and Spanish Double Major (with a concentration in International Studies). But for now, it’s nice to relax at home for a little bit away from Crawfordsville.

As much as I loved being a freshman blogger, it is AMAZING to say that I am now a sophomore blogger. As a sophomore, this now means more interesting classes, more responsibilities, and perhaps most bitter-sweet of all, moving out of the Phi Delt cold dorm and into a house room with mi mejor amigo Joe. It seems like very recently I was typing up the first blog of my career, introducing myself from Greenfield, “where the corn is tall, the mufflers are short, and the points don’t matter.” Brings a tear to the eye. BUT like all good things, freshman year is finally over, and it’s time to approach Wabash in a more mature, responsible way (like last year’s sophomores did…right?).

The big thing I’m doing with my summer is my work as a host/bus boy/chip boy at a local Mexican restaurant, Mi Casa. It’s essentially an internship for a Spanish major (like myself). I get to go entire shifts speaking in only Spanish, and I can tell already after a month that my Spanish skills have greatly improved. But that’s not to say that I haven’t made my share of mistakes along the way, much to the chagrin of my coworkers. Although “Bode” is my most common name on the Wabash campus, “Gringo” is what I respond to at work. This is what happens when you drop a white kid into a foreign foods restaurant. It could be a sitcom, seriously. Most significantly, I get to wear a bandana as part of my uniform each day, so I’ve managed to integrate my own flair into the workplace.

Aside from eating my weight in free Mexican food (25 chicken burritos and counting), I’ve spent my free time running in preparation for Cross Country season, and seeing my friends when I can. Hope your summers are all going as well as mine is! I’ll post again soon.

P.S. I MISS MY PHI DELTS AND TEAMMATES LIKE NONE OTHER. HEY GUYS.

Hugs not drugs,

Bode

So I know I’m horrible at my job and I haven’t posted a new blog in almost a month, but this one is my last.  It’s been a serious pleasure giving you guys a view into my life and all of its adventure/boredom.  Through the studying and the procrastinating, the blog has been there.  Through the partying, pledgeship, and trips back home, it’s been there.  Through Halloween and Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, Chapel Sing and Homecoming, National Acts and Monon Bell, the blog has always been there.  I want to take a moment and thank everybody else who’s been there as well: my pledgebrothers, my fraternity bros, my classmates and professors, my girlfriend, and every person who has taken the time out of their day to give a rat’s behind about what I have to write (especially Mrs. Gallivan, you rock).

Left: August 18th, 2012: One of my first days at Wabash
Right: May 2nd, 2013: One of my final days at Wabash

You stay classy, Crawfordsville.

Joey Weisenritter ’16

Wallies,

As unbelievable as it is, I have finally reached the end of my freshman year here at Wabash College. It is surreal, and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet! And with the end of my freshman year comes the end of my time as a Freshman Blogger. I’ve done what I can this year; I hope I’ve made you laugh, made you think a little bit, and most importantly given you a personal view into the life of a Wabash student. I hope I’ve kept you entertained as well! To those of you who have followed me from the beginning, thanks for your support! I’d like to thank Howard Hewitt, Kim Johnson, and Chip Timmons for the opportunity to blog, and even more importantly for their invaluable support this year (and for Chip’s unfailing patience with my inability to turn in my ESH hours on time). It has truly been a pleasure to use my words to build a connection with so many people.

So for the last time, Wallies,

Hugs Not Drugs,

E.L.E.,

And WAF,

this is Nathan Bode for Wabash College signing off.

April 28, 2013

Holy moly! I’m a sophomore. It’s been a really quick year. I don’t really feel like a sophomore. However, I have noticed that some things about me have changed. It’s been a wild ride, and I feel like I have grown as a person.  I’ve grown in a lot of ways.

First of all, I’m a lot more organized. I have everything organized and put together in separate areas where I know where everything is. Everything has an area. I’ve never been OCD in my life, but I am pretty sure that Wabash turned me into an obsessive academic organizer. I consider this a plus.

Secondly, I’m a lot more interested in studying. I’m not trying to say that I wasn’t before, but I used to view some studying as a chore and a bore. Now, I actually enjoy going over my notes. Not only does it make me feel committed, but it is actually interesting reading. I don’t have to force myself to look over notes or do work I am not interested in. I just do it without even thinking about it as a negative anymore. That is kind of liberating.

Thirdly, my mind feels a lot sharper. I have gained a lot more knowledge in many different areas, and I feel that I can contribute to more conversations and provide more insight into things now then I could when I got here. It’s really nice as well.

Finally, I feel more confident. After getting out on my own and already being pretty confident, this has proven to me, as well as my family, that I can survive quite well on my own. My mom and dad got over the “Freshman Worries” pretty quick. I have to admit I didn’t really expect them to. However, after handling my own problems this year, I can understand why they didn’t worry.

A lot of things have changed in one year. I can only imagine what will happen in 3 more. Well, I am off to some well-deserved Finals Week sleep. Have a great rest of the week my friends. We will talk soon. In the meantime, enjoy every sandwich

I’m sitting in Arnie’s writing this blog, at least for now. It’s the Sunday night before my last Monday at Wabash as a freshman. That’s crazy. I swung by to see Howard Hewitt the other day (he’s the guy behind all of this “blogging” stuff), and we reminisced about how it seemed like only weeks ago that I was sitting in his office, interviewing to become a freshman blogger. The idea behind freshmen blogging is a simple one: put your experience as a Wabash freshman into words. Why? Most importantly, so that any young man interested in becoming a Wabash man will have a real, unbiased glimpse into what their first year could be like in Crawfordsville. I like to think I’ve done a pretty good job of staying true to my first year. I haven’t kept you guys from the low points. I’ve exalted the high points! I’ve written about the laughs, and I’ve detailed the struggles. I’ve even written about pure nonsense as a result of having nothing better to write about! All of these represent the real aspects of Wabash College. However, looking back, I realize that there is one MAJOR aspect of the freshman blogger that I have never really written about, possibly the most important part: Why I chose Wabash. I may have hinted at it, but for the high school seniors considering Wabash who have read my blog (IF there are any…), I’ve never really discussed why Wabash was my final choice. This may have been because I wasn’t really SURE myself about what Wabash really was! I’ve been experiencing it for the first time as you read about it. But now with a full year under my belt, I’ll write about my expectations about Wabash, and why it ended up being the perfect college for me.

Expectation Number 1: Wabash is for REALLY smart people.

This is what caught my attention right off the bat. I was introduced to Wabash when Spencer Burk ’14, and Mt. Vernon alumnus, was applying to attend Wabash during his senior year at MV. After checking some of the statistics behind Wabash, I realized that it scored much, much higher all across the board than any other colleges of its size, and many that were much bigger. I decided that if I was going to attend a small school, it would be Wabash. So was I right? Yes and no. Honestly, I have met some DUDS at Wabash. Only time will tell if they make it here or not. However, I have also met some of the brightest students you can imagine, and they have excelled at Wabash. And at the same time, I also feel like I can excel here, and really learn. So academically speaking, Wabash has met my expectations so far.

Expectation Number 2: Everybody Will Know Everybody

From what I heard from alumni, current students, and professors, Wabash formed a community that was pretty exclusive, and once you were a part of it…you were a PART of it. With a student population hovering right around 1000, it is impossible to walk from one end of campus to the other without seeing someone that I know. And I like that. I know that that’s not for everyone, but I have loved it, and I think that’s what makes Wabash so great. The connections you can build here are as important as everyone said. You never know who that kid I just met at Arnie’s (really) will be connected to. Maybe they’ll hire me some day! Not to mention that if you’re a people person like me, it makes living here a lot more fun when you can find friends everywhere you go. On such a small campus, it is easier for students who want to distinguish themselves to do so. Becoming a real leader in clubs and other campus activities is much easier at Wabash than at a school of a larger size, so the opportunities here are available to a wider variety of students. So that’s nice.

Expectation Number 3: Professors Actually Care

I may be biased here, because my first professor at Wabash, and my adviser, was Dr. Hoerl. I’m not sure you can find a professor more dedicated to her students than Dr. Hoerl. From cooking us a homemade Venetian meal to committing all of her advisee’s birthdays to memory, Dr. Hoerl truly cares about her students at Wabash. And almost every professor I’ve had has been more or less as exceptional. Professors here do not let hard work go unnoticed, and that’s a key reason for why I chose Wabash. I truly believed that if I put in the effort here, I could succeed. This blog is getting a little lengthy, so I need to wrap it up. But to any prospective students out there, I hope this gives you a little more insight into my decision to pursue a college education in Crawfordsville.

Good luck at finals, Wallies!

Bode

Whoa. It’s here my friends. The very last weekend of my freshman year has finally arrived. You want to talk about time travel? Well, that’s how I feel right now. Although, I have to admit, a lot of things have changed about me this year. I’ll list just a few.

First, I’ve changed my style of thought. I’ve always questioned things, but now I’m even less afraid of not towing the party line. I now know how to form an effective argument in the Western linear style of debate and narrowly focus my thought. I now know when to be the sledgehammer and when to be the scalpel. I still suck at picking my battles, and I still am much too worried about my principles, but I now know how to defend them accurately and actually express my argument eloquently and leave no loose ends.

Secondly, I have become a bit of a firebrand. I love playing Devil’s advocate in conversations. I love taking the exact opposite side and then finally making people see the one-sidedness of what they are saying. I don’t necessarily enjoy making people angry, but I believe it is important to occasionally slap people to wake them up. I now know how to pick the alternate route in conversations and present it in a way that both provokes new discussion, and excites new avenues of thought in others.

Finally, I have grown as a person. I have actually had my mind grow a lot. I have learned to appreciate many new aspects of intellectual pursuits. I have grown from being black and white on everything to truly living and breathing in the grey area. I question everything and in so doing, I strengthen my faith in everything that I believe. I have developed an increased hunger for answers far and above the massive hunger for answers and knowledge that I already had.

Well, as you all can see, I have grown. I am sure that you have all changed as well over the course of this year. However, not much change can occur without sleep. So, I am off to bed. Goodnight, my friends. Have a great weekend. We shall talk later. In the meantime, enjoy every sandwich.

Hey Wallies! Happy Hell Week! He said with biting sarcasm. Guys, the last week of classes is kicking my butt. I’m struggling my way through the back end of my second all-nighter this week, and I’m just hoping that I’ll be able to go to sleep at a somewhat decent hour tonight (relatively speaking…it’s Wabash). Between the reports to type, presentations to prepare, and papers to outline, not to mention all of the other STUFF I somehow find time to fill my life with, I’m starting to get a little overwhelmed. But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a good week. There’ve been some fun fraternity activities I’ve gotten to participate in, the weather is starting to pick up, and President White’s Chapel Talk, as well as the luncheon afterwards, were great to be a part of. However one group of people has really stood out this week; the senior Phi Delts.

The seniors in our house are great, and it’s going to be hard saying goodbye to them. They are great role models, great friends, and I’m very proud to call them my brothers. So besides the other “end of the year” things we’ve done this week that make it seem so real that the senior class will be leaving soon, I made another great freshman year memory during my first all-nighter this week, on Monday.

What started out as a simple Spanish question on Monday night led to a 10-hour bro-down with my pledge “grandfather” Jordan Dulaney, who was also bogged down with a full night’s worth of homework. Because focusing on homework for 10 hours straight is just not natural, the night was intermixed with some great conversations about all sorts of topics, from the house, to future plans, to family and jobs. Spending the night working with a senior who I’ve looked up to so much was a great way to start the wrapping-up process of my freshman year, and gave me the opportunity to reflect how much I’ve changed this year, and how much I’ve learned. Dulaney is a great mentor, along with the rest of the senior Phi Delts, and it will be with a heavy heart when we all say good-bye to them for the summer.

Anyways, stay strong and work hard this next week Wabash! Only one more day of classes! That’s hard to believe.

I should be able to squeeze one more blog in this year, so keep your eyes peeled! Have a good one.

Bode