Farewell to Freshman Year

May 13, 2013 in Uncategorized

.

Let’s be honest, this will probably be me next year

As finals week goes on, I’m nearing the last day of my freshman year. I’m almost done with my first year here and soon it’ll be summer break. Soon I’ll be on my way to Kansas City for the Enactus national competition (congratulations once again to my team for doing so well at regionals) and after that I’ll be back home, trying to find a summer job.

I don’t want to use up your time with a long, gushy, and sentimental retrospective of my year. To put it briefly, this year has probably been one of the best of my life but I would never want to repeat it. As contradictory as that sounds, it’s the best possible way I can describe it without writing you a really long description.

This past year, I saw and experienced a lot of things for the very first time. Prior to college, I had never spent longer than just a couple weeks at a time away from home. I’ve had my share of workloads in highs school, but it honestly wasn’t quite to the intensity that it is here in college. I had to learn to better utilize my time and to be totally accountable for my actions, knowing that I won’t always have mom and dad to be there to remind me to shape up.

I had a lot of incredibly stressful moments too. Working on projects all night, rewriting an essay that I forgot to save, and being too sick to come to class were some of the less than great parts of my year. But the good definitely outweighs the bad and I can say that I am alive and well so I guess that means I survived!

My brothers at Watermelon Fest ’12

Obviously, my life was pretty different before coming to college. Before coming to Drury, I would have never considered joining a fraternity but now, I see becoming a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha easily one of the best choices I have ever made. At some of my low points during the year, I don’t know how I would have gotten by without the support of my brothers.

Even last semester, I never knew just how involved and active I am now. Whether I’m writing a story for The Mirror, working on a project for Enactus, or going to a fraternity event, I’m definitely going to be pretty active in the coming semesters. I’m almost done with my first year of college but I already can’t wait to start another one.

I want to thank you so much for reading my posts over the past few months and I promise I will be back next year!

Comments

Comments Off

My Life in GIFs

April 29, 2013 in Personal

.

Everyone knows that animated GIFs are the best ways to describe everything in the world. I decided I would dive into my huge collection of GIFs to give you an idea of what my life has been like this semester:

.

Driving to the new Qdoba

.

.

Forgetting to save after typing two pages

.

.

Realizing that due date was pushed back another week

.

.

Finals study sheet

.

.

 Finally coming home after several hours in the studio

.

.

 Engaged Learning Day

Comments

Tags: , , ,
Comments Off

The Amazing Bloggers of Drury Unscripted

April 25, 2013 in Uncategorized

.

Instead of writing about dorm life or how much homework I have, I want to take this moment to do a little bragging on the Drury Unscripted team of amazing bloggers. They’re smart, enthusiastic, and really dedicated to writing about stuff that matters to you. Here are some of the different bloggers and what I like about their writing:

.

Dallas

A fellow freshman on the blogging team, Dallas is one cool guy. He has great taste in music, movies, and just about everything else. Dallas is really active in student life at Drury as runner for the track team, fellow member of the Enactus team, and also just an incredibly friendly and social guy. One thing in particular that I really like about his blog are his countdown lists, including one of my favorite posts: My Top 5 SSLYBY Jams.

You can check out the rest of his blog at blogs.drury.edu/Dallas!

.

Hannah

I thoroughly enjoy reading Hannah’s blog. Her take on life at Drury is funny and refreshing and always keeps me entertained. She’s so enthusiastic and you can’t help but have a little bit of that enthusiasm rub off on you. My favorite post from Hannah’s blog is probably her very first post; you immediately see just what I’m talking about. Check it out, it’s called: It went a little something like this….

Want more? Then go right ahead to blogs.drury.edu/Hannah!

.

Molly

The resident senior of the blogging team, Molly offers a unique perspective in her writing. Wonderfully creative, her personality shines through in all of her posts. She frequently writes about dorm life as an RA, the ins and outs of student life at Drury, and the events that happen here. My favorite post? My best Drury decision: The RA life, it definitely spurred some interest in me to consider applying to be an RA.

It’s definitely a good one, be sure to read the rest of her posts at blogs.drury.edu/Molly

.

Tinsley

Tinsley is funny, entertaining, helpful, and a shameless Justin Bieber fan. Her blog is an honest and open look at what life is like from Tinsley’s shoes. As a swimmer, she also offers a really interesting look at the nationally recognized (and all around incredible) Drury swim team. One of my favorite posts from her blog is her shameless and totally enthusiastic defense of her love of Justin Bieber, read it at What I’m Not Embarrassed to Admit…

Read the rest of her blog (and her other Justin Bieber posts because there are a lot more) at blogs.drury.edu/Tinsley

 

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn definitely has a career of journalism in her future. She isn’t afraid to get down to business is researching for topics and offering content that not only is factual, but also totally compelling. She offers a lot of helpful information about Drury majors, especially in Communication. If you have any questions or would like someone to find answers about stuff at Drury that you’d like to know about, Kaitlyn is your girl. Be sure to shoot her a suggestion for a topic or any burning questions at Ask Kaitlyn!

Check out her other posts at blogs.drury.edu/Kaitlyn

 

The bloggers of Drury Unscripted are all incredibly fun and interesting and offer a diverse and totally real look at what life is REALLY like here at Drury. I highly recommend taking a look at all of their blogs because I know they put a lot of hard work into them. Who knows, maybe you discover that you might want to join this team next year!

Comments

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments Off

The Six Degrees of Drury High

April 22, 2013 in Uncategorized

.

I remember hearing the phrase “Drury High” getting thrown around a lot last semester when people would talk about the small size of Drury’s student body and how it is pretty uncommon not to know someone have a friend who knows someone. Coming from a pretty high school myself, I can definitely relate to this and the longer I’ve been a student here, the more I see that it’s totally true.

I personally think Bacon is a tremendous last name

The degrees of separation between people are astonishingly small here at Drury. For example, let’s say that you pass a seemingly random student on your way to class one afternoon. That student could be dating the best friend of a girl that lives just a few rooms down from where yours is. Or that student could have gone to school with a person that you’re in a club with. You could see this person posing in pictures with your roommate 5 years ago because they both went to school together.

This reminds me of a phenomenon called the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, which is the idea that pretty much 6 different acquaintances separates you from the star of Footloose and Chip Diller (the dude that says “Thank you sir, may I have another?!”) from Animal House.

Another side effect of Drury’s relatively small size is the ease at which information is spread across the rumor mill. I know that I could never get away with skipping class without the Lambda Chi academic chair giving me a stern talking to. How would he know? We don’t share any classes because we’re totally different majors! The answer simply lies in the fact that one person in one of my classes remarks to another that they didn’t see me in Photography or Anthropology and the news gets moved around until eventually it lands on Mr. Academic Chair’s ears.

This rings true with most other information, and the less-than-flattering information especially goes through. My solution? Don’t do or say anything that you would regret or be ashamed of. Take ownership of what you do and what you say and you wouldn’t have to worry about who hears about it. Oh and just go to class, that’s definitely a biggie.

Comments

Tags: , , , ,
Comments Off

Many, many things happening to me at once

April 20, 2013 in Personal

.

I made a video! I talk about all of the many many things that have been happening in my life as of late. I would like to apologize for the incredible awkwardness that I express on camera but hey, at least you know its unscripted!

Drury Unscripted Vlog from Ryan Saunders on Vimeo.

Comments

Tags: , , , ,
Comments Off

The Drury Secret Admirers

April 10, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

A post for the lovely Wallace RA, Erin Barry

Unless you’re a hermit living in a cave or just boycotting Facebook, you’ve probably noticed the rising popularity of the Drury University Secret Admirers page. It allows Facebook users to anonymously post sweet nothings about your Drury crush for all of the world to see.

What I really really like about it is that it allows people to just say nice things about a person without all of the awkward tension or potential embarrassment of telling it in person. It allows the person posting to make their message heard while not worrying about it coming from them.

A post for the one, the only, Jay Gulshen

It provides the recipient of the message a pretty good confidence boost, knowing that someone out there really appreciates them enough to write a public message about them. It might be a good laugh among friends when some guys write an exceptionally risqué message writes about one of their buddies.

It might help the victim of unrequited love finally get the chance to speak their mind and not worry about the awkwardness that typically ensues with that kind of honesty.

I really reallly like this one

Of course, you can never replace good old fashioned person to person conversation, but there is always an aura of awkwardness that surrounds one whenever the topic of how you might truly feel about a person is revealed. I say that as long as these messages continue maintaining the good-meaning and sometimes humorous approach that they currently have, good for them!

I hope you can enjoy it as much as I do. Who knows, maybe someone will write something flattering about you someday!

Check out the page and write something for your special someone at facebook.com/DrurySecretAdmirers!

 

Comments

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Comments Off

How it Felt

April 9, 2013 in Uncategorized

 

You probably know by know that the Drury men’s basketball team won the NCAA Division II championship in Atlanta, Georgia. I had the incredible opportunity to actually be at the game and to say that it was probably one of the most intense, nerve-wracking, and unbelievably satisfying game I’ve ever seen.

The Panther fans were the loudest, rowdiest, and most dedicated by far. Once the clock ran out with the score 74-73, the entire audience was in complete shock. Not only were we trailing almost the entire game, but we won by a single free-throw thrown with only 22.8 seconds left.

The saying goes that a picture can tell a thousand words and as old and cliche as it is, it’s totally true. Here are some pictures that tell a pretty good story:

[Photo taken from the Fanthers Facebook page]

[Photos taken by Chloe Robinson]

Comments

Tags: , , , ,
Comments Off

An Open Letter to Future Drury Freshman (part 3)

April 4, 2013 in Uncategorized

Dear Future Drury Freshman,

I’m back with more tidbits of collegiate wisdom! I have a few more tips to help you out as you enter your first year at Drury University.

Perfectionism can only take you so far

I have discovered that when I work on projects, essays, and other assignments I obsess over trying to make sure all of the little details are as good as possible. Unfortunately, this quality just uses up time and energy that I don’t have. So here’s an alternative: let’s say that you have two projects due on the same day. Instead of working for a perfect 100% on one, using up too much time working on it, and only getting an 80% on the other, how about consolidate a little of your time and work for a 90% on both.

You still get an A and you can maintain a good grade in both of your classes. Oh and just a clarification, if you strive to maintain a perfect 4.0 GPA, this tip probably won’t help you out quite as much as the Average Joe but I can imagine that you are familiar with this concept already.

You’d be surprised what you can find in the bookstore

Despite the name, the Drury bookstore doesn’t just sell books. It has office supplies, specialized Drury apparel, art supplies, and even some food like Pop Tarts and Ramen. I know it’s a little bit more expensive than most stores but if you’re like me and you need a drawing pad, 3 rolls of film, and a few tubes of paint for your classes that are one right after another, then the bookstore is your friend.

Make some time for you

I know in the past I have recommended being active and involved in extracurriculars – which you totally should – but it’s also nice to kick back and have some alone time every now and then. Its been proven that a person needs alone time to relax and collect their thoughts on a regular basis.

It does wonders with dealing with stress and anxiety, things that I tackle quite a bit. Take a nap, watch your favorite tv show, read a book. Anything to recharge your battery so you can be 100% when you get back to the world.

I hope you found these informative or at least amusing. Good luck next year!

Sincerely,

Ryan

Comments

Comments Off

An Important Announcement…

April 1, 2013 in Personal

I have truly enjoyed the past few months I have been enrolled a student here at Drury but I believe that I have reached a point in my life when I need to tackle a personal goal of mine. The way I see it, life throws a lot of stuff at you and it’s up to you to decide what you go with and what you let go. While I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for Drury Unscripted, I believe that it’s my time to go. Next month, I plan on dropping my studies at Drury and pursue my dream of sailing around the world’s oceans on my houseboat, the S.S. Queen Marge, and film a documentary on the mating habits of the Macaroni Penguin.

I plan to disembark on my journey in mid May, gathering a crew of retired carnival workers and unpaid interns and setting course from the Gulf of Mexico and working my way to the Arctic Peninsula, where I will find the majestic Macaroni Penguin. Once there, my crew and I will establish a camp near the Macaroni Penguin’s territory.

We will spend the next several years filming the penguins. My goal is to capture their complex and sophisticated social structure and their mating rituals and to compile them in a series of documentary films titled, The Life Arctic with Ryan Saunders.

I appreciate the love and support of my vast numbers of fans and readers over the past few months and I know that you will continue to support me as I enter into the next chapter of my life.

Please stay tuned in the next few years for my documentary films to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray, or available for digital copy on Amazon.

Thank you all and I hope you have a wonderful April Fools Day.

Comments

Tags: , , , , ,
Comments Off

Mid Year’s Resolutions

March 27, 2013 in Personal

Hello readers (and individuals who accidentally stumbled upon this webpage)! As you know, everyone is back from spring break and has started class again. The way I view this point in the year is an opportunity to start fresh, a spring cleaning for all aspects of your life, if you will.

It’s almost Easter, it’s warming up (sort of), and we’re on the final stretch of the school year; why not go through a nice refresher to help get you through it all? I made a list of goals, (a list of Mid Year’s Resolutions, you might say) that I’m going to work hard to achieve the next few weeks of this school year and here are some of the big items on that list:

  1. Reorganize my desk – Now I know this might seem relatively unimportant, but to me, it’s a HUGE deal. My desk has slowly turned into a swirling vortex of papers, folders, packets of gums, paper clips, and dozens of other arbitrary objects trapped in this coffin of clutter. Being the (relatively) organized and clean person I am, I’m surprised at how I’ve managed to let it get this messy.
  2. Work harder on staying healthy - I’ve fallen into the trap of letting myself fall behind on my sleep, healthy eating habits, and overall wellbeing. Near the end of last semester and several times during this current one, I’d only sleep about 6 hours a night. On top of that, I’d eat pretty crappy junk food on a regular basis. From this point onward, I’m going to work harder to get some more sleep, eat right, exercise, and all that other cliche health stuff.
  3. Properly balance a functional social life and maintain academics - The goal of all college students. Since I apparently seem to be following a theme of cliche items, why not throw this one in. I like to think that I’m a relatively hard worker when it comes to academics. I work hard to study and to take notes and to stay on top of my classes. However, whenever I dedicated all of this energy into academics, my social life and abilities fall to the wayside until I’m not seen or heard from for days at a time. As much as I enjoy being a hermit while not being in class, I’m still need to spend time with my friends and enjoy myself for once and a while.
  4. Finish a project that I’m actually proud of - This one will be tough for me, but I know it can be done. Whenever I work on projects, especially for art classes, I work and work and work and I never feel like I’m making an substantial progress. I get into the thought process that I’m just digging myself into a deeper hole and when I’m actually finished with the project, I just notice all of the mistakes. Regardless of whether or not the professor actually notices as well. I’m going to take pride in my projects when I work hard on them and I can feel satisfied with them when they’re done.
  5. Finish a book - One thing I always used to enjoy doing back when “free time” was a thing, was read. I’d download books onto my handy dandy eReader and devour books whole. Lately, I have yet to actually read the last page of any book. I miss that, and I’m going to fix that. I picked up a couple good ones with the intention of finishing both.

Well there are some of the highlights from my list, let’s hope I can tackle these! Wish me luck!

Comments

Tags: , , , , , ,
Comments Off

← Previous Entries