Language Assistants

Hi all. Some of you may not know it, but I will be leaving Pomona College at the end of the month to start a new position at Rhodes College in Memphis, TN.

I have created my own new web space about language learning and technology, and it is the new home of the language technology boot camp manual. I plan to update it frequently in the months and years to come. Hopefully this will be useful for some of you in the future.

It’s been great working at Pomona, but it’s time to move on. Please stay in touch.

Hi,

I have 2 more days left here in Claremont before I leave for Germany. Actually, I just came back from a ranch in Wyoming. I sent pictures to Rita, Luz and many more, and Rita had the idea that I should post some here on our blog. The ranch is called New Haven Ranch, and it’s a family-run working ranch with no more than 5 guests at a time. If you are interested in spending some time there, here’s their internet site: www.thenewhavenranch.com

I went on cattle drives, branded calves, repaired fences, rode horses on scenic rides, fed sheep and goats … there is loads to do!

Enjoy!

 

 

Hi all!

I am so happy to be at last here! It is my hectic schedule that didn’t allow me to turn up earlier – I am sorry.

I have read your introductions and I’ll try to follow the same logic:)

So -my name is Anastasia, Nastya for short, and I am the incoming Russian Resident. I live in St. Petersburg – as they say in guides and brochures, ” the cultural capital of Russia”

Almost two years ago I graduated from St. Petersburg State University, where I majored in linguistics and cross-cultural communication, and since then I am an instructor of English there. Last year I realized that I missed studying, so I ended up doing my Master’s degree in sociology at another uni. (Btw, I am 22.)

I still manage to combine teaching and studying, and I hope to get my M.A. in June! I have also worked for a couple of years as junior editor at one publishing house, and I love that job.

As for other interests – now they all are about my research and final paper, so I am discovering and exploring gender studies:)

I like being completely booked up, and the only thing I regret now is that I have to cut down on the things that I like – going to theaters, meeting up with my friends and attending a fitness center.

Anyway, the idea that very soon I will be in Claremont perks me up! So – I look forward to meet you all in person!

Good luck,

Anastasia

Hi everyone!

I am sorry it took me so long to sign up here and introduce myself .. university has just been very busy the last couple of weeks.. but I am sure you know the feeling =)

So, my name is Svenja and I will be the new German Language Resident at Pomona! I am 23 years old and live in the very north of Germany, in Flensburg. I am currently pursuing my Master’s degree in Education and I am in my last semester now.  During my course of study I spent one semester abroad at the University of Miami in Florida, which was great! But I am sooo looking forward to going to Claremont, getting to know the west coast of the US, and working as a LR at the Oldebourg Center!! I think it’s going to be an amazing experience for all of us =)

As for the moment I am working at the International Office at my home university and am quite busy with our new exchange and ERASMUS students who came to Flensburg a few weeks ago. Next to studying and working at the International Office I love to spend time with my friends and family, travel, do sports, play the piano + guitar, and be outdoors, especially now since Germany seems to be in summer already (we have up to 20° at the moment… amazing!!) =)

Well.. I look forward to getting to know you!!

Take care and ‘viele Grüße’ =)

Svenja

All Oldenborgers are very excited today…. because it’s Room Draw time!!

Every year, students can apply to live in Oldenborg. The Oldenborg staff reviews their applications and based on how nice and friendly these applications are, each student gets a room draw number. A small number like 1 is very good, a high number is not so good. Why? Because the students with the lower numbers get to choose their rooms first.

And that’s what’s happening today. All students meet with us in Oldenborg and then we call them into a special room one after the other, starting with the lowest number. Then each student picks his or her room in the language corridor where they want to live next semester. On a huge map the rooms that are taken will be crossed out so that the students still waiting to be called in know if their favorite room is still “free”. It is really surprising to see how well the students plan this ahead: they have real strategies! They know with whom they want to be roommates, which rooms have a nice view etc. and write all the possible room number combinations down until it is their turn to choose their room.

For us this year it will be really exciting to see who will be in the future Language Residents Corridor…because we know almost all of the students applying to live here. Oldenborg is a popular residence hall (not only because there is aircondition) because every student has a single room and share a bathroom with only one other person!

So, get excited for your hall and for the room draw next year!

When you arrive here, you might wonder what the difference between Flex and Claremont cash is.

Once you are here, you will get your ID with your picture on it. This ID not only opens doors, but is also contains all your meals, your Claremont Cash (CC) and Flex Dollars. You will do your laundry with it as well as check out books from the library.

So what is flex? Flex is invisible money on your ID. Every student with a mealplan gets it. Our mealplan contains 16 meals per week plus $160 Board plus, aka Flex. You can spend those 160 dollars on anything that you can eat or drink. There are many stores on campus that offer food (either packed or fresh) and you can buy it with your Flex dollars. So let’s say you want to get a coffee from Pete’s Coffe Shop in SMith Campus Center, then you order it and when you have to pay, you tell the cashier “Flex please”! He or she will then swipe your ID and the price for the coffee will be deducted from your 160 dollars. Let’s say you are not here for dinner and then you come back to campus, starving. Then you can go to the Coop Fountain (student-run cafeteria) and order a sandwich, french fries, a coffee, a brownie, whatever you like. When you have to pay, you give them your ID again, and say “flex please”!. It doesn’t matter whether you buy a pack of chewing gum or a pizza, you can pay for everything with flex. And 160 dollars are a lot to spend. So start early spending them, because at the end of each semester everything that you don’t spend is lost! When the next semester starts, you will get $160 again.

And what’s now Claremont Cash? CC is also invisible money on your ID. If you don’t like running around with your purse and cash all the time, you can load money on your card. You can do that online or at the Coop Store in Smith Campus Center. You can give the cashier a $20 bill and he will then load that money on your ID. With CC you pay for your laundry, for example. If you want to go off campus into the Village and don’t have money on you, you can pay for food in many stores with Claremont Cash. Many stores have a sign if they accept it, and I think you can find the complete list somewhere on the Internet.

You might notice that your mealplan has 16 meals. In a week there are 19 meals (only 2 on a weekend day), so if you want to go to the 3 “additional” meals you can use your Flex dollars.

I hope that helps….

What’s the weather like? This is LA, and often you hear that it’s warm, hot, and that it “never rains in Southern California”. Well, it does! I hope this post will help you make your packing process a little easier.

It’s true: it gets very hot here during summer. When you arrive in August it is probably between the high 20s and low 40s degrees Celsius. It is almost always sunny, sometimes a little windy, but not nasty windy. When it gets into fall and early winter the sun will set very early (around 5) and then it gets chilly, where you definitely will need a jacket. Sometimes in the winter month we wore our winter jackes with a scarf and gloves. Also, it can rain quite a lot here. That happens usually in december, january, february and early march. I think it depends on the year, but the two “winters” that we all experienced here, it rained more than we ever expected. So you might want to bring a rain jacket……AND Waterproof boots. Whenever it rains here, the ground cannot take all the water so it flows on the surface to the next drainage …. which might be blocked by leaves or other trash. So if you go outside walking to the next dining hall you will definitely get wet feet and you have to jump over huge water ponds. Shoes that are waterproof are an insurance for dry feet…

Also, you will see snow here! Of course not IN LA, but on the mountains surrounding LA. When we look out of our windows we can still see some of it. Pomona College and some other clubs organize ski trips to these mountains, so if you like skiing or snowboarding (or if you want to try it out), bring a jacket that’s warm enough, a scarf, a hat and some gloves. You will also need scarves and gloves and your warm jacket when you like going camping (e.g. during spring break to Grand Canyon or Yosemite National Park), because of their elevation it can be quite cold. When I went there last Sunday with a couple of friends, we had half a meter of snow.

Of course, you should definitely bring your bathing suit! Trips to the beach are worth it, the College organizes some and so does international place (very nice people who take care of all internationals). Also, the College has 2 nice swimming pools.

Summarizing: it can get cold and wet during the “winter” and really really hot during the summer. Don’t forget suncream!

Hello, there!

So, first of all, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Juan Pedro (I think I should write another post about my name and the different ways you may call me…), for now Juanpe is ok.

Well, I’m 22 years old and I’m a senior student at my University, where I study Translation and Interpreting studies. I’m a male, as you may have noticed, and I think I’m the only one here (we’re in danger of extinction). I’m from south Spain; my family lives in Murcia (close to Andalusia) but I study in Andalusia itself, in Granada. You are more than welcome to come and visit the city; I’m a good tourist guide

As I said, I study Translation and Interpreting, therefore, I don’t know what I am going to study next year. What subjects would you recommend to a failed jurist, sworn translator good at scientific translation that loves computer science? hehe. Well, we still have plenty of time to decide about these things.

What else? Well, I spent a year in south Germany (Regensburg) also with an ERASMUS grant. I have worked in a tourist office for six months with an internship and right now I’m an intern student at the machine translation department. Something I combine with spending time with friends, traveling home whenever I can and volunteering, and the gym.

I think that’s pretty much my life!

For any farther questions, just ask, I’ll be around here.

I also wanted to thank Tabea for the piece of advice. I’m sure we will have thousands of questions, and it’s really nice of you that you are already answering some of them.

Saludos, Juanpe

Hi Sandie,

excellent idea, we should introduce ourselves.

My name is Tabea, I am 25 and am in my second year here at Oldenborg. I am from Bavaria, the southernmost state in Germany. I study English, Geography and German as Second Language to become a teacher. I am not yet done with university in Germany, so in June I will return and finish my degree in one year. My plans after that are to return to the US and go to Grad School and get a MA in German.

All of the new LRs probably have a lot of questions … like we did 2 years ago. Post them here, email us, skype us, facebook us…. and we will try to answer all your questions. I still remember my time before I came to Oldenborg…. I was really excited and had a thousand questions. Starting with what I should bring to wear, things that I could bring along for my conversation classes, how many bags I should bring (one or 2 or even 3?)….. etc. One thing that I thought I would definitely bring along was a international student ID. I think it’s the same in most countries, there is this agency and they issue you an international student ID and you get discounts on several things. I thought it sounded like a great idea, but to be honest, I didn’t use it a single time!! And besides, it is only valid from Jan to Dec, so by the time you get here and turn around twice, it’s almost the end of the year and then this ID expires. Personally, I wouldn’t get one again, because you really don’t use it and once you are here you have other means of proving that you are a student. The most important thing will be your future email adress, because it ends in pomona.edu, and that gets you most of the student discounts around here, anyway. And then there is the Pomona ID, which will get you student discounts, too.

So feel free to post your questions  here, we are more than happy to answer you!

Lieben Gruss,

Tabea

Hi everyone, I don’t really know how to start this post but let’s try… I am Sandie, I am the new incoming French resident for next year. I am really looking forward to it, but before, since we have this blog opportunity, I think that could be nice to get to know each other before August, and to be able to talk with the current residents who must have a lot to share with us

By the way, thanks Tabea for your advice, you are right, I am already wondering how I’ll be able to move around without my own car, so all that you said is really helpful!

As for the current LRs, I have read your “profiles” on the Oldenborg website, but maybe you could tell us a bit more about yourselves? What are your plans after these two years spent at Pomona College? Are you going back home? I know that the current Japanese LR Miki is coming back in August. And concerning the new incoming residents, we don’t know anything about each other, except our names, so maybe we could introduce ourselves?

So, as I have said, I am Sandie, I am 21 (will turn 22 in May), I live in the South of France, 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) away from Marseilles – to be more precise, next to Avignon for those of you who know the city. I am currently a student at the University of Avignon, in the final year of a masters degree in English-speaking Cultures, and I spent last year in England, in Canterbury, as an ERASMUS student.

Hopefully I will know more about you all soon.

Sandie.