Extra Credit-A History of Truffles

I attended A History of Truffles with Bryn at McCutchen House. I figured ooh truffles, you know, the tasty chocolate ones. Turns out, truffles are a member of the fungus family. Although the presentation dragged a bit in the middle, I found it to be very interesting, especially considering I had no clue what an actual truffle was. I learned that there are Summer truffles which are reddish brown and black Winter truffles (which Chef Pernell prefers). Also, large female European pigs were used to hunt for the truffles up to a couple years ago. It’s very important that the pig is a female though because the scent of the truffles serves as a kind of aphrodisiac to them. Now, dogs are more commonly used. Any dog can be trained to hunt for truffles but it’s a very tedious process, so truffle dogs are very expensive. Truffles are also very expensive. Chef Pernell’s students even prepared truffle soup and chocolate truffles for us. The chocolate truffles were very thickly covered in messy cocoa powder, so they did not taste that good to me since cocoa powder isn’t very appealing. The truffle soup was absolutely amazing though! I am really glad that I went to this presentation. I really learned a lot. And I can now say that I know what an actual truffle is.

Personal Challenge

At first, my personal challenge was to go skydiving. It’s always been a dream of mine and joining the club here made me realize that I can fulfill it fairly easily. I was planning on going with my roommate and our other friend but I ended up taking the Carolina Convoy with my boyfriend to go to the Alabama Game that weekend for, one, the Alabama game, and two, one of my best friends goes to Alabama. Missing that weekend, I was then going to go on the next and last one for the semester. However, I missed the meeting where we had to pay our deposit. So, I cannot go skydiving until next semester. The next personal challenge I had lined up was giving blood in the annual Carolina vs. Clemson blood drive. In high school, I was always too young and thin to give blood. Gaining muscle playing lacrosse last spring, I surpassed the minimum weight to give blood. I have always loved the idea behind it. If you give blood once, you can save three lives! But there’s one thing…I’m terrified of needles. I always have hated shots. It’s not that they hurt; I just get really freaked out before they stick me. Also, for my lacrosse physical, I had to get five shots and blood taken in one day. Ouch. And the doctor couldn’t find my vein to take blood. She stuck me EIGHT times. And then proceeded to tell me that I have “rolling veins,” meaning that my veins roll away from the needle. How convenient. So I decided that I’d finally give blood and get over my fear. Once I convinced myself that I could do it, I went over to Russell with my roommate. Upon reading the booklet, it said to see someone if you were under 19 or under 5’6” as a female. I happen to be both. The lady informed me that since I’m 18 and 5’4”, I have to be 124 lbs to give blood instead of 110 lbs at 5’4” when I’m 19. So again, personal challenge fail. My next personal challenge was to ace all five of my last Latin quizzes. Latin is my hardest subject this semester. I performed dismally on the first couple, so I vowed to do well on all of the remaining ones. I succeeded.

Conversation-Stephen Garcia

I thought it would be really interesting to hear Steven Garcia present on the Capstone Scholars’ motto of, “Dream Big, Impact the Community, and Leave a Legacy,” however, I was a little disappointed. Upon receiving the email noting the change of location to Dreyton Hall due to anticipated high attendance, I made sure to get there early. It wasn’t packed at all. Also, the email had said that Garcia would only be talking for fifteen minutes! I was a little skeptical. As it turns out, Stephen Garcia had not planned out ANYTHING to say and instead asked for questions. Cop out. To be fair, I would not want to lead a Capstone Conversation either, especially not to my peers. Garcia did not really say much anything of substance, only to learn from his mistakes, do as he says not as he does…oh, and that he thinks tennis is a little “gay.”

Cinema & Extra Credit-Jamaica

I attended the alternate Capstone Cinema on the Journalism’s class service trip to Jamaica in Russell House Theatre. I actually really enjoyed it. The speakers were a tad dull but I found the video to be very inspiring. I have never been on a service tri, mission trip, or anything of the sort but I have always really wanted to go. I actually really enjoy helping people and interacting with little kids, like the people on the Jamaica trip did for a bit, is my absolute favorite. The video was really cute and funny; it really made me want to just up and take a trip to Jamaica or anywhere in need really. I also thought it was really cool that Russell House had a showing for the movie they made as part of their class and that they opened it up to professors, parents, students, anyone. I am glad that I chose to attend this one.

Social Event-First Hot Cookie Friday

The Capstone Social Event that I attended was the very first Hot Cookie Friday. At the time, I was not at all worried about the Capstone Scholars requirements; I am pretty sure the idea of hot cookies and socializing just enticed me. I went with my roommate Shelley and the Capstone Study Shack was absolutely packed. We had to wait in line just to get up the stairs and sign it. It was also pretty hot that day and all of those bodies packed into such a small area of course made it even hotter. When we finally got up, all of the cookies were gone. We had to wait for another batch but they were so delicious. There was also ice cream although neither Shelly nor I ate it. We talked to some people and introduced ourselves to Dr. Hickey (for what felt like the eighth time) and chatted with him a bit. Shelly and I even placed stars on our hometown on the map on the wall. Overall, it was a pretty interesting experience.

U101

For me, University 101 was the one class that I didn’t really mind coming to. I really liked everyone in the class and class discussions were always interesting to say the least. I feel like u101 helped to make the college transition easier for me, although at times it was a bit tedious. Whenever I didn’t forget to do my blogs or it wasn’t over a break, blogging was always beneficial because it helped me to reflect on my week. I have always enjoyed writing, even just to clear my head, and to be able to do so in such an informal manner was relaxing. I always ended up going off on various tangents and sometimes my blog posts were much longer than necessary, making it evident that blogs feel more to me like leisure than assignment. It’s just freeing to be able to type your stream of conscious every once in awhile.

Mentoring Conversations

Engaging Aliyah in conversations about academic success and involvement was incredibly easy and effortless. I feel like everyone has a preset of answers made up for questions like these too since you are asked them so often. Aliyah replied that she was interested in orchestra, softball, and math. She also said that she was doing well in school and that currently, she wanted to ace tomorrow’s history quiz. So, to prepare for it, I showed Aliyah a way that I learned to review vocabulary by yourself that I learned in eleventh grade Spanish that I still use today for Latin. We ran out of time completing the game, so she told me she’d complete it for homework and use it as her study guide that she had to show her teacher. My plans for saying goodbye are pretty loose. I want to be able to do whatever Aliyah wants to do and just talk with her about her day and maybe her friend drama. Also, this week, Aliyah told me about the Hand Middle band, orchestra, and chorus concert on Wednesday that she’s playing Cello in. She told me that she really wants me to be able to come and see her play. So after our final mentoring session next Tuesday, I will attend the concert on Wednesday to support her. I feel like attending her concert is an appropriate and fitting end to our mentoring relationship.