The caf has taken special interest in the meals this week–many of them are based on what is traditionally served for Thanksgiving meals. I like the fact that they have the holiday spirit, but boy is it making me long for my family’s traditional dishes. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving break, a time to be thankful for family and NO SCHOOL!!!

Hi everyone! My name is Aimee Siebert. I’m a junior at Bethel, and one of your new bloggers here at “Beyond the Green.”As one of the millions of people coming up for air (or falling down for sleep) after the Beijing Olympics, I think I have some bloggable thoughts for this entry that have made it past the sleep-deprived hysteria.Since they only come around every four years–I’m talking summer Olympics for now–The Olympics catch you at different points in your life every time they come around. I like to think I’m a pretty different person at 20 almost 21 than I was at 16 or 12 or 8. I know that I’m a much bigger and eclectic sports fan than I was before, so I think I enjoyed this Olympics more than all of the ones that came before. Read More

Well, talk about sand! Today is our first full day in Kykotsmovi, AZ and we are having a bad sand storm. Welcome to the Hopi Nation in the high desert in the four corners region. Read More

It is not every day that a renowned music group comes to perform at a small college such as Bethel. But yesterday as I was walking through the Fine Arts Center on campus I heard the most amazing sounds of brass instruments warming up in the wings of Krehbiel Auditorium. So I stopped what I was doing and sat down in one of the cushy theater seats towards the back of the room. Read More

If you have ever experienced Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, then you no doubt recall the role of the “First Priest.” The First Priest’s memorable (and only) line, “He is virtuous?” helps to set the tone for Act II, and his several other appearances as an escort for the “lead” characters and a member of the chorus of priests make the role especially important to the overall plot of the show. Fortunately, as a member of the 2008 cast of The Magic Flute at Bethel this week, I am up to the challenge. (Removes tongue from cheek.) Read More

Celebrating Christmas in a different way…I am a foreign exchange student from Germany and I am staying at Bethel for two semesters. I came to Bethel at the end of August, one week before classes started, and I will go home at the end of May. So, I am here for a lot of celebration days, among them Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve, and probably the most exciting: Christmas. Read More

I cannot resist expressing just how much I enjoy Halloween. Maybe it’s the sugar-rush talking, but All Hallow’s Eve is one of my most cherished days of the year!If you have a chance today (if you bother reading this on Halloween) swing by Moundridge and try to find my parents’ house, it’ll be the one with a massive graveyard in front and a skeleton hanging in a cage on the front porch. Read More

So, I thought it would be cool to do a post during Fall Fest, about Fall Fest. That’d be an awful novel, wouldn’t it? As it turns out, Fall Fest kicked my butt, and now I’m writing a post whining about it.Fall Fest, for those who don’t know, is defined by the BetheLingo page on the Bethel website as “An annual festival on campus that features music and theater performances, ethnic foods, craft vendors, alumni gatherings and homecoming athletics events.” This Fall Fest was a special one: due to the fact that our beloved Communications prof John M-J is on sabbatical, the “theater performances” were unable to happen. These were replaced by a Jazz Gala on Friday, featuring Jazz I and a quintet featuring guest artists and our own Jimmy Pisano, and the ridiculously named MUSIC EXTRAVAGANZA on Saturday and Sunday, featuring just about everybody else in the music department. Read More

On Tuesday, September 18, I was able to witness my first criminal trial. My presence had been requested for jury duty. All of my life I have heard people whine and groan when they realize they have jury duty. Not me. I couldn’t have been more excited. I sat there for two hours while the judge excused people who couldn’t qualify as jurors (for various reasons). One man stated that he couldn’t be a juror because the prosecuting lawyer was his wife’s drum instructor. Read More

Today is the first day of classes, so last night the campus community gathered for the opening convocation. There is a new tradition here for the opening of school, which I hope will endure for many years to come. As a part of the first convo, our first-time freshmen students (class of 2011!) are invited to walk across the stage in a symbolic act that prefigures their eventual graduation from Bethel in four years. Not only is this a way of introducing new students to the rest of the community, but also a formal way of welcoming each of them into the community as important individuals. The ceremony concludes with a ringing of the bell and a walk around the green. This “walk of welcome” involves two circles: one involving returning students, faculty, and staff and moving clockwise, the other including any new faces to campus and moving counterclockwise. As everyone files out of the auditorium, the two lines move in opposite directions and eventually meet in front of the administration building where each new person is greeted by each returner. Once everyone has shaken several hundred hands, the ceremony is over and the school year has begun! Read More