Hi! Just to introduce myself, my name is Teresa Rice, though people sometimes call me Trice, Teredia and Highlander, or even T-Rex and Basmati, among other things.... yes, they're all long stories. To clarify my position, I have just graduated this past May (2000) from Utica College of Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in English Language (Linguistics). I am currently one of many recently graduated 22 year olds in the United States who have been launched into the air with the task of finding a job (aka "grow wings") before I hit the bottom of the ravine. I keep wondering whether I'm presently floating or falling and in what manner I will begin flying...

-Teresa

[Note: the picture at left was taken in Spring 1997 in my room in Block 7 of Penbryn Halls - Ifor Evans - on the campus of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) by Mark Wilson]

[Here follows some of my past commentary on life's events and adventures. -t]

I’m a 21 year old 5th year university senior (okay, so I always do things the hard/complex way) usually found in Utica, NY, roaming the paths and halls of Utica College of Syracuse University, or rather running along them. As a Political Science major - whoops. they call it Government and Politics now - at UC with a minor in English language, I hardly ever find myself without something to do (or something I should be doing).

As I'm writing this on a cool winter? spring? day in early March, we're in the midst of mid-terms and just coming up to spring break -- that well-known time when all the college students desert their college campuses to go to Florida or Mexico... except for the majority of us who just go home for a week. Personally, I'll probably spend most of next week in the Syracuse University libraries researching religious human rights violations in Sudan for my senior seminar on the International Protection of Human Rights with Prof Ted Orlin. It seems like we just returned from Winter break and we're already half way through my final semester at UC! Time flies... (don't misread that one - it might get dangerous).

So anyway, this semester has been pretty interesting so far. I'm taking 3 political science classes: International Political Economy (IPE) with Prof Nate Richmond and then Civil Liberties and the Human Rights Sr. Seminar, both with Prof Orlin (ouch!). These three as compared to last semester's four, with Orlin's International Law class, Richmond's classes on American Foreign Policy and Political Ideologies, and Prof. Emmert's American Political Parties and Elections class. I'm also taking a second semester of Intro German (Deutsch), reminding myself of all I've forgotten since my sophomore year of high school. Class #5 is Intro to Music, which can be interesting in some ways, but a lot of it is a review of info I learned in 8 or 9 years of school band and choir.

As for what I will do with myself following graduation... I don't know specifically at this point. I'm looking for a position with an international non-governmental organization (ngo), with the hopes of finding one that is Christ-centered, deals with human rights and that might have an opening. Patience is a virtue that we must continuously work at -- this I am discovering more and more each day as the approaching "d-day" (aka. find a job now 'cause you have to start paying your loans back in 6 months) pushes me in the direction of panic. :)

The UC Fencing Club is doing well this semester, and it looks like no worries for it to continue next year. It's kind of strange to think that I've fenced for 5 years now, mostly centered in UC's mini gym, though the faces there have shifted over the year. Someone laughed when I mentioned "the fencing community" the other day, but, as I found when I spent the Spring 1997 semester at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, it truly does provide a connection for people, no matter where they are in the world (okay, you can shut off the sappy music now). I've always found the training of mind and body together, along with the ideals associated with fencing to be some of the greatest highlights of the sport, along with the connections and conversations with other people that it brings.

Signing off for 6 March, 2000.
Blessings,
-Teresa

[the installment which resided here prior to my 6 March entry:]

We just completed the Spring semester of a really strange, revealing and rather exciting (though definitely difficult!) year. It's always strange to see the end of a time you feel will go on forever, so graduation was very strange to say the least...and then, even more strange was the fact that I was watching from the stands as people graduated who I had entered college with and spent 4 years complaining, laughing, venting and discussing with. It was great, but sad in some ways, and, yes, exciting, because I know they will do well in whichever direction they have chosen and wherever life actually takes them... and they're actually starting on a more chosen path now, rather than one that seemed set since kindergarten in some ways.

So what am I doing, now that I've wiped the tear from my eye? For starters, I just switched my major this past spring semester. After 4 years as a Biology major I am now in POLITICAL SCIENCE!!! I suppose the cheer is hard to understand, but then, you probably (unless you're Misty) didn't see me immediately after my last Botany lab - it was so amazing to think that I'd just been in my last biology lab EVER. Hazzah! Now I'm allowed to think about what I'm supposed to memorize and still keep up with the work! oooo, maybe I shouldn't have said that...oh well.

I'm staying in Utica over the summer and keeping myself occupied with 4 classes. I guess the two I'm really focusing on are the "International Studies: Focus on the Middle East" (with Shaw Dallal) and my Independent Study with Professor Cormican on Old English...though our discussions tend to cover a lot more than just that focused area. Me? Focused? It couldn't happen. The other 2 classes are Basic Statistics and ENG 351: Language and Culture - this last should be quite interesting as well, but it doesn't start until the second half of the summer.

Even with the change in major I should be concluding my undergraduate studies in May 2000, Lord willing. I think it'll be interesting, though, to see how the Y2K 'thing' affects the world as well as US society.

Part of the reason for my shift in focus (though I had already realized I wouldn't go on in Biology) was the Spring 1997 semester. I spent that semester in the smallish coastal town of Aberystwyth, Wales at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (UWA) or Prifysgol Cymru Aberystwyth. Crossing the "great pond" is more than a trip!

The summer of 1998 also brought a change in my life focus with a class I took at Syracuse University. It was a fascinating course on World Cultures - I know it sounds like a huge topic (it is), but we focused on how to analyze situations more closely and develop a deeper understanding of the complex history and relationships that make up a place's identity . . . well, that was part of it anyway (and it's making me reconsider some things). Needless to say it was an interesting class and kept me from spending all my time in a stable or fencing (not that I would have minded that either). . . oh, and I had to earn some money sometime, which is where OfficeMax came in - ask me where anything is in that store (except furniture) and I could tell you the exact location on a shelf! In July I also came back to Utica for a week to help out with freshman and transfer orientation at UC. It was exhausting, but also a lot of fun working with the other Orientation Leaders and meeting some of the new students. I'm helping out again this year - weehee - another year of freshmen minds to mess with. NYAHAHAHAHAHA. *Just kidding* -Really, regardless of Terry Pratchett's theories on anyone who will actually write out a maniacal laugh.

If anyone is looking for me of a Wednesday night during the semester, I'll be found fencing with the Utica College Fencing Club (and no, the scene does not include barbed wire, though you may see some pliers engaged in fixing weapons). I started fencing in my freshman year at UC, so it's been 3 1/2 years so far, and I'm hoping to continue long after I've graduated. The original draw for me was the historical connection, as well as the ideals that lie behind the sport - I don't think I've lost that focus, but I've also gotten more into the skills/technical/competitive aspects of fencing as well. You really can't avoid it when you're in the midst of other fencers - just look at how they end up running a boffing competition and you'll know what I mean. :) My main weapon is foil, but I've done a little epee (a very little!). I haven't done much in the past 2 years because of the lack of an epee instructor of some sort. Oh! And hey, at the last competition I actually learned a something about how to wield a sabre, though I'm not sure how soon I would venture into that arena of competition! Right now we're waiting to find out who the new fencing coach will be since Matt will be moving on. :( It's great to look at the club now and see how many interested people we have. We even converted a journalist from The Tangerine (UC newspaper) when she was writing a story about us. We've got a good core group going now, which makes things a lot of fun. It's just a case of waiting to see what next year will bring and getting as much fencing in over the summer as possible - at least 4 of us will be on campus over the summer, so if you're around Utica and interested, e-mail me and/or check out the club website for meeting times (I'll try to keep it updated).

On Sundays I can be found with the newly founded New Hartford congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. Its pastor, Aaron Goerner, was ordained to its pulpit this year when it was organised into a congregation from its previous status as a Mission of the RPCNA. Aaron has done a lot to help myself and other students establish a Bible study and thus a Christian Fellowship on campus. He teaches the Bible study each week (I have no idea how he finds the time, but he does), and all of us have been thankful for his teaching, encouragement and prayer over the past 3 years.

Last semester I was involved in 2 intramural sports at the same time...by accident (yeah, it happens). The fencing club put together a floor hockey team called the Highlanders (go figure) and I think we lost every game, but we also enjoyed ourselves and the play, so it was worth the time I hadn't expected to spend. I was also on a soccer team with the name UC United. It was made up of some of the people from my team last year and a bunch of others (I know that tells you a lot, but it gets complicated)- always a bit rowdier than some of the other games but it's good to be playing soccer again. AND, can you guess? Oh, go on... :) Okay, sorry, I was just excited because...[drum roll please]...we won the championship and I actually got my first UC Intramural t-shirt, and they're hard to come by, let me tell you!

It was an interesting year...full, as always, and blessed in many ways, both small and great.

Blessings in everything you do.

Oh, and since you've actually read this far (surprising I must say, but gratifying nonetheless!), I thought I'd treat you to a list some of the writers I've enjoyed the most (in no particular order except as they come to mind). It's not complete (that would take a book!), but anyway, here 'tis. I'll eventually get a page up on this alone with links to other pages, but everything has to start somewhere:

Terry Pratchett - DiscWorld series..., the Johny Trilogy, Good Omens
Anne McCaffrey - Dragonriders of Pern, Black Horses for the King
Neil Gaimon - Good Omens, Neverwhere (if there ever was a must read, this is it!!!), Stardust (ditto!)
J.R.R. Tolkien - if you don't know these...you're either sad or haven't been in the English speaking world for very long :D
Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time series...8 and still rolling, this man amazes me!!
L.E. Modesitt, Jr. - The Magic of Recluse and following...haven't read all, very good, but after the 6th book I'm starting to see a bit of a pattern
Anne Tyler - The Accidental Tourist, Saint Maybe, If Morning Ever Comes
Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, Dragons in the Waters, The Moon by Night
L.M. Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables series, Emily of New Moon series, multiple others...
Susan Cooper - Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising series, Seaward
Douglas Adams - The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (that's all 5 books of the trilogy +1), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency...
William Shakespeare - ...he wrote so much so I guess I'll just note some of my favorites+: Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, As You Like It, King Lear, Hamlet (who doesn't like that one?!), Othello
T.S. Eliot - I think I've had Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats memorized since I was 7, there are some others of his that are wonderful...but I can't remember their titles :P
Emily Dickenson - ...