Life After Ripon – Kyle Ruedinger ’13

Kyle Ruedinger '13 Chapter 3: Crunch Time and the Holidays

[Editor’s Note: Kyle Ruedinger ’13, Amy Browender ’13, Elizabeth Brown ’13, and Jessie Lillis ’13 are writing alternating monthly entries for the Ripon College Newsletter chronicling their post-graduation experiences. We hope you enjoy their perspectives on Life After Ripon!]

At this point in the semester, two words accurately describe everything for students: crunch time. I know students back home at Ripon and on campuses across the nation are all feeling a new sense of urgency. Just a few more exams, papers, and projects (only exams for me) stand between students and winter break. Of course, we now realize we have borderline grades in more classes than we prefer, so we feel the urge to work harder to earn a few extra points and bump up the scale. It has been done before, and we are hoping for success one more time. To my fellow RC students who may be reading this, you can and WILL do it!

In other news, Thanksgiving is over and we (hopefully) all had at least a day or two of rest and recovery to gear up for a few hard weeks before the semester is complete. Personally, that meant going home to see my dog and enjoying a good meal with the family (note the priority order…!). Of course, I naturally brought back leftovers, so I have no need to cook for the next week—well, for at least a couple days. Here in Madison, we had break on Thursday and Friday to enjoy eating, relaxing with family and friends, shopping, and studying. No, I did not shop, but three out of four still equates to a respectable percentage. I attended the last Badger football game of the year over break (in case you missed it, they lost. It must have been Pac 12 refs again… Coach Anderson DID call a timeout; it was in our end zone!) I also had the privilege to catch up with one of my Ripon College friends at the game! Every time I am afforded the chance to see fellow RC friends I remember the family back in Ripon and am thankful to have had the experiences and opportunities.

In further news, we are now in the fourth month of school, and my 86 classmates and I are catching the swing of things and now managing to bond more over books, among other things. It has snowed here twice (as of this writing), and I was forced to park my bike and ride the bus during our first ‘snowstorm.’ You know, when everyone forgets how to drive in snow in the metropolis of the big city, traffic backups cause busses to be late. A good quarter of our class was at least five minutes late (through no fault of our own) to our 8 am anatomy lecture on cranial nerves. I only missed olfactory and part of optic, those nerves are not that essential after all (just kidding). Thankfully, we have lecture capture, and I am able to watch every lecture as many times as I desire from the comfort of my own home on my own PC with hot chocolate and sugar cookies.

In additional news, my roommate and I finally finished decorating the apartment for the year. We now have a Charlie Brown two foot tall Christmas tree in addition to Bucky propaganda and a Ripon College sign on the wall. My roommate also has a candle, but the wick is not black, so it has not been burned and thus it is not contraband. Finally, I would like to admit that I also thoroughly enjoy Facebook creeping on my alma mater, and here is a big shout out to the ethics bowl team and coaches for bringing home the gold at the Upper Midwest Regional Ethics Bowl competition. Good luck at nationals, keep the legacy going!

Happy holidays to all and well wishes into the New Year.

Until next time,

Kyle Ruedinger ’13
[email protected]

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Posted December 15, 2013 in Alumni.