Guess School is Really Here!

Dear Readers, Do you ever have that feeling that after that first week of school that you are somehow not in school yet still? I am unsure if it is due to all of the syllabi that professors or teachers hand out or if it is somehow related to the fact that you don't receive much homework in that first week. Well I have went the majority of my life coasting through that first week of school with out learning much more than the names of my classmates and getting some sort of outline for when all of my assignments and projects will be due throughout the year. Well I am happy to inform you hear at Coe you don't typically have that problem, from day one my professors engaged the class with in-depth conversations about the subject material, I received homework which directly applied to class discussion. I knew that I was not just wasting a week of my life but that I would be learning and expanding my mind on different subject matter surrounding the world, and the greatest thing about it is that I didn't have to wait until after Labor Day. Other than that the semester is starting to roll along. The first year students seem to be very comfortable on campus and so does everyone else. I am looking forward to this fall weather that is soon to come and hope that the school year continues to be as wonderful as it has already been. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

Dear Readers, It has been a long time since we last spoke. I am happy to say that I have had a great summer. I spent the entire summer at Coe College working for Academic Computing. It was nice being around this summer since a lot of my close friends happened to be in town. Between finding time to grill out, head to the beach, work on my independent study project, and play some soccer I found that the summer was blazing by. It is now the second week of school and Labor Day just passed. I can't believe I just started my senior year of college. It still feels like I was just a first year student moving into Coe for the first time. Well other than that I am glad to say that I am enjoying the classes I signed up for. Other than that I am so excited for what this semester has in store. There is a new wave of first years on campus and I found myself surrounded by tons of energy and excitement everyday. I have to at some point find time to fill out graduate school applications and figure out my internship for Washington D.C. term through Coe next semester. One of the nice things about Coe is they offer more than just Study abroad opportunities but they also provide study domestic terms where students can go to places like Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, and others for a semester and gain a completely different experiences than they would have received staying on campus for that semester. All in all I am glad to be back and blogging and letting you all know about how my school year is going. I have long anticipated my senior year it is just so weird that it is now here. I look forward to letting you know what interesting and exciting things I encounter this semester. Thank you for your time, Charles E. Cotton III

To Much Fun in Cedar Rapids

Dear Readers,

I come to you today with tons of updates. First off, school is going well minus the fact I have two papers to work on this week that I am not looking forward to. Secondly I have found two new hobbies; Cedar Rapids hockey games and paintball. I had no clue that there are a few paintball courses in Cedar Rapids and after a little bit of research I was able to find a pretty sweet one that me and a few of my buddies went to check out this past weekend.

Besides getting all bruised up from paintball I was able to go to my first ever hockey game. Even though I am from right outside Detroit I have never been to a Red wings game so this was an experience to remember. The cool thing about it was that I got to go to the game with two of my bosses from academic computing on campus. We decide to start off the night with a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings ( which happened to be a great idea) and devour as many wings as possible. After stuffing my face we headed to the Roughriders hockey game were I was given a free shirt and also got to sit 1st row!!! Not second or third but first row right next to the goalie.

To put a proper ending to my long and exciting weekend I decided to take some friends out to the movies to see Cabin in the Woods. Overall the movie was pretty funny and glad I was able to put aside a couple hours to go and check it out. Only bad decision of the night was purchasing the $12 drink and nachos combo (way to expensive). Is it just me or does nachos at the movie theater always taste good even though its nothing special about them besides the price? Well who knows but I do know the movie was great and so was my weekend.

I am looking forward to an exciting week as well that I can't wait to fill you all in on!

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

The Weekend is near and Easter is almost Here!

Dear Readers,

It comes a time in a students college experience when you begin to notice just how fast everything has went by. It is almost Easter weekend of my Junior year meaning I only have like 3 more weeks left before I'm a senior(Crazy I know)! I have already been working on my summer plans and have just finished filling out my application to study off-campus for next year second semester. Don't get me wrong it is very exciting know that I am only 8classes away from receiving that little piece of paper that will allow me to accomplish so many more things in life but at the same time I know it will be bitter sweet.

While at Coe I have had the opportunity to attend 2 graduations thus far and both of those were a great experience. Being able to see some of my good buddies graduate and head off into the workforce or graduate school was pretty cool. The one thing that I never really thought of until now is that this will be me someday walking across this stage shaking the hand of infamous President Phifer, looking off into the crowd attempting to find the familiar faces of my family and friends in attendance. It is sort of mind blowing, but enough of all the sad stuff, I got tons of good news as well. The weather has been great, my car comes down this weekend, I can feel a small roadtrip coming, and also I was selected for the lead role in a play this upcoming fall!

Along with all of this stuff intramural sports have kicked into high gear. I am on a competitive and non-competitive basketball team, and a co-ed soccer team. Hopefully we can follow up this year with another soccer championship accompanied by a basketball one as well. I will keep you all updated on how the season goes.

Other than that stuff this week has been a good one, pretty relaxing and full of poetry as well as interesting articles in my African American Studies class. I am looking forward to next week and I can't wait to give you all updates.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Just Another Week at Coe College

Dear Readers,

I would like to start off by saying that I have lived in Cedar Rapids for almost 3 years now and I am still finding new cool places to eat and hangout. For instance just this past Thursday I went out to a local hotel in town and had $3 all you can eat wings (+the cost of a soda)! Following that I decided to go to my show on KCOE radio with some of my buddies. The show didn't end until midnight and right after a few of us thought it would be a good idea to attempt to go see the movie hunger games. Best decision of the night! The movie was great and so was the late night Burger King run after. I also made some Tye die t-shirts earlier that day ha ha.

Following my successful Thursday came a tired Friday, I could not wait to take a nap. After accomplishing my napping goals I got ready to go to a Cedar Rapids Titans indoor football game. I never knew how much fun those were. Coming from Southfield Michigan just out side of Detroit I am use to big sports teams however I found myself having just as much fun if not more at the Titans game. Also on Friday I tried out a restaurant I had never been to with one of my fraternity brothers. The place was called Jersey's and it was located right in downtown Cedar Rapids in walking distance of Coe which was pretty cool I thought. While speaking of dinner however I did find myself making another Burger King run later that night after the Titans game.

All and all it was a fun and exciting week that was relaxing yet full of things to do. This upcoming weekend is admitted student weekend so hopefully some of you readers will be around campus this weekend. Who knows maybe I will even be your host!

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

Oh What a Week Thus Far

Dear Readers,

The weather has been beautiful, everyone seems to be enjoying it so much so that I don't think I was able to go outside one day last week with out seeing a group of people either playing basketball, tanning, or participating in some other outdoor activity. Some people have even been camping out outside which I think is awesome.

I can say that I do not have a lot of homework from last week. I was able to get it all done early which was much needed seeing how busy this weekend got. Friday night I was invited to one of the sorority formal dances off campus, followed by Saturday which was St. Patrick's day and the weather was perfect. I woke up pretty early to go participate in the parade with the Coe College entry. I am glad I was selected to be in the parade seeing how it was something I have never did before.

Followed by a wonderful Saturday came a very productive Sunday. I for some reason decided to fully utilize my time to finish up a lot of homework for the upcoming week which I am happy to say was well planned because I woke up the next morning at 6AM to people running up and down the halls in excitement that Today, Monday March 19,2012 was the 101st Flunk Day at Coe College! If you are curious ass to what Flunk Day is I will be happy to tell you all about it. Flunk Day is an Unknown day on campus where all classes are cancelled and there is a big cook-out on the main quad hosted by our President. Everyone wakes up around 7am and begins to participate in Flunk Day breakfast and all the other events they have out on the quad like, face-painting, photo booth, Foam pit etc. If you want to see a few pictures from this years Flunk Day check out the Coe College Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/CoeCollege.

After Flunk Day came to a close everything returned back to normal around here. We got to rainy days which I am not the happiest about but I can see that the grass is because it is glowing a nice strong vibrant green haha. The temperature has been just fantastic though and I would have to say I am very excited to see what the rest of the week has to offer.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III

What a Wonderful Break (Spring Break!!!)

Dear Readers,

I am happy to chat with you all again. I do not know if you all know this but we are just now returning to school from spring break. I actually started my break a little earlier than most people and left last Wednesday. I decided to go with a buddy of mine out to Wisconsin for a big job fair in Oshkosh. The sweet thing about this was that my professors were very understanding about me having to leave early and they allowed me to either finish and turn in homework or take test early or via email. That really helped out a lot or else I might have had a boat load of homework when I got back.

On our way up to Oshkosh we stopped in Milwaukee to visit a good friend of ours who lives up there now. He took us all around town and showed us a good time which was a nice little break from the road trip. After that we finished the drive into Oshkosh on Thursday morning and everything was history from there. I will say though that the conference/ job fair was a great networking and learning experience and I never really knew just how many people knew about Coe College and the people they have met from here.

The conference ended that Sunday which still left me with a full week of activities. We decided to drive back to good ole Iowa Sunday but first we stopped and had lunch and did some shopping with our old Student Activities coordinator who now lives in Wisconsin. It was great to do some catching up before hitting the road back to Coe for the week.

Once we returned we found Coe pretty empty. It wasn't until Monday morning I found out there were still a few people around to hangout with for the week which was nice. I also decided to work in academic computing the entire week so that I could pay for my little early spring break vacation. I really enjoy working with the people in that department, you never really know what to expect from some of the guys haha.

Besides that I just did a lot of gaming/ hanging out with friends, going out to eat and to the movies and etc. That being said I highly recommend going to see the movie project x it was a pretty good one.

Although I had a lot of fun somehow Sunday crept up on me faster then expected. I had to get a lot of laundry done and catch up on some homework last night before classes started back today. I am happy to say that I am all caught up and am looking forward to my first day of golf practice.

Thank you for your time,
Charles E. Cotton III