Ankit Rana

2011-04-24T11:00:00.003-07:00

2011-04-24T11:00:00.001-07:00

1 week of classes, 2 weeks before Graduation and Summer

2011-04-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

Dearest Readers:

Time is flying by fast, very fast. I am still trying to make the best out of college. This week is the final week of classes and yes, I have a final on Saturday.. crazy.. I know.. and its my 23rd birthday on the same day too. I have been occupied, busy, whatever you want to call it. Last week, we had the last meeting of Residence Life department.

I have been involved with the residence life department from the spring semester of my sophomore year. It has been a big part of my college career. Remember the flood during the summer of 2008 in cedar rapids, it had everything to do with me being a part of the residence life department here at Coe. It was raining for couple days without a break and I was working at the computer services office. I was watching the news and all it was everywhere, live coverage of flood from towns and cities around Cedar Rapids. I was just done with my first year then. The rain stopped pouring, but the water level of Cedar Lake kept on rising. All the students living on campus got an email saying there would not be classes or work for the next couple days and we thought everything would be alright. In the news, they were asking for volunteers to help sand bag. Since we, couple research students and I, did not have anything else to do, we went downtown Cedar Rapids and help sandbag. For me it was an awesome experience because I had never done it before. I could cross the bridge in downtown easily and it never occurred to us that almost all the areas that we were walking would be flooded. The day after sandbagging, the water level was still rising, and this time we had to help sandbag physical plant which was 100 yards away from the dorm room I was staying in.

I swear I saw fishes swimming around when we were using all the sand from the volleyball court to save the P. Plant building. Within hours it started raining and all of a sudden we found ourselves evacuated to Cornell College. Again, we had nothing to do there. Coe and Sodhexo took very good care of us providing room and food for free. Laura Schnack, the assistant director of residence life, was heavily involved in figuring out our rooming situation, and helping members of Red Cross find accommodation during the flood in Cornell. Again, since we had nothing to do, we helped Laura out, putting bed sheets and fixing pillows and getting rooms ready for the red cross members. I knew red cross was a big deal, I thought they were troopers, knights in shining armors coming to our rescue from the flood. I found out, they were normal people, just like us, helping people out when needed. But they were warm in heart, very helpful and always smiled.

Coe did suffer some physical damage, but nothing that we couldn't get out of. Laura always told me to keep in touch and maybe she'd have a job for me. During the winter of 2009, I got an email from Laura stating if I wanted to help more people out, being an RA. She said it would not involve fixing beds or getting rooms ready but just helping out my peers. The world "HELP" got to me and I said yes. 2 years later, because of what happened during the flood, I got the job as a Resident Assistant, got promoted to Assistant Resident Director, joined Lambda Chi Alpha, the fraternity for which I was the RA for and got numerous awards for my service to Coe.

I have developed a lot of personal relationships with people from Coe, and that is what I will be missing when I am done. As for now, I know I will be on campus until the end of summer. But I do not have a job lined up yet.

I applied to couple places, but because of my VISA status, I have not been able to find a job and it makes absolute sense. I have a VISA for one more year, where I can apply to work on the field of my major. However, looking at the employer perspective, the turnaround is going to be high if I hire someone only for a year, and would be losing money trying to select another employee in the next year after my term expires. Moreover, getting a work VISA isn't easy either, the employer needs an attorney and has to spend around $5000 extra just to hire an international student. All in all, current American Laws definitely does not help students at all.

The only sad thing is employers are thinking short-term, BIG TIME. They do not see that the extra $5000 can actually bring about more growth and a different experience hiring someone outside the country. The net gain would definitely cross out $5000 that a company needs to spend.

Alright, stating all of that.. this blog has turned to be really long, if you read the entire thing, I thank you. If you have any questions/suggestions please feel free to email me asrana@coe.edu and i'd be more than happy to help you out.

Thanks,

Ankit SJB Rana

Greek Week Barbecue

2011-04-17T08:54:00.003-07:00

Line for the Greek Week Barbecue. I got to meet a lot of my friends.

Happy Joe's Pizza!

2011-04-17T08:54:00.001-07:00

My brother Adam Becker really happy about getting all those tickets. He is about to ready buy some cool stuff with those tickets :)

Rich & Famous

2011-04-17T08:53:00.003-07:00

For Lambda Chi Alpha senior sendoff, we went to Happy Joe's. This is my friend Hoang, getting his fortune read. Clearly, he is going to be rich and famous!

How much did it cost to get a hotel room in the Cow-Boy era?

2011-04-17T08:53:00.001-07:00

In Clarion Hotel Cedar Rapids, I saw an old pricing chart. Check out the prices, they are funny.

Pres. Ball and Delta Formal

2011-04-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Dearest Readers:

This past week and the weekend has been a very busy one. Friday was Pres. Ball, however, the whole week was needed for preparation so that this years pres. ball would be a big success. Dan Scarrow, a close friend, and I were in charge of getting strong volunteers to get the tarp floor and the dance floor setup as pres. ball committee members and it was a lot of fun to work with groups of people who I do not usually hang out with.

The actual night of the ball was a lot of fun. I got to meet with President Phifer and talk about an old business. When I was a first year, and smoking in the campus premises was legal, President Phifer used to host Greene Hall Cigar smoke out. In this event, the President would provide fine cigars to well dressed gentlemen from Greene. Prior to the event, I had never smoked a cigar and the only reason I went to the event was to be able to get to know Dr. Phifer and basically shake his hand. When he offered me a cigar and instructed me to how to smoke a cigar, I was really happy. I know we talked for a while and then everyone was done with their cigars and started heading out. For some reason, I was never informed that cigar puffs should not be inhaled. By the time I got back in my room, I was very sick and learned a big lesson. Dr. Phifer got a good laugh out of this story and put an offer in the table stating I could smoke a cigar with him anytime I wanted. In the ball, I got to catch up with a lot of my friends who I usually do not see around and had couple drinks with them.

After the ball, I went with my friend Dan to E Ave apartments where couple of his friends were just chilling and playing guitar. Tyler, a friend of Dan, was playing his acoustic guitar and was pretty good at it. (Tyler Takes is featured in the picture below playing a guitar). We listened to him play for a bit and called it a night. Overall, it was an awesome night

Saturday was another big night. I was invited to the Delta Formal by Ashley Atkinson, one of the tri-deltas and a friend of mine. It was a lot of fun because we ate good food, danced a lot and again got to meet a lot of my friends.

This week was a lot of fun and stress relieving. I seriously needed the past weekend to get me going and finish the semester. I am finalizing my resume and cover letter to apply at different companies in Cedar Rapids and am already looking forward to summer.

Thanks for reading yet again and have a wonderful week ahead.

Ankit SJB Rana

P.S. Flunk Day is tomorrow!

No matter what the letter, we are greek together

2011-04-05T18:10:00.003-07:00

Greek Week 2011

Greek Week

Tri-Delta Formal

2011-04-05T18:10:00.001-07:00

Kelli along with other deltas singing some Tri-Delta song

Delta Formal

After Pres. Ball jam session with couple buddies

2011-04-01T22:54:00.001-07:00

After Prez. Ball party. He was good with the acoustic guitar

2011-03-31T14:35:00.001-07:00

Attending a presentation by study abroad students about their experience in Japan during the tsunami.

Busy Busy... and more busy

2011-03-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

First of all, I would like to say I have been very occupied (like always) with bunch of stuff going around. This coming Friday, April 1st is Presidential Ball and I have been busy planning it with couple of my friends and staff at Coe.

Basically in Pres. Ball, we have the gym decorated with a particular theme. This years theme is "Red Carpet Affair". Adopted from Hollywood, Red Carpet Affair is supposed to bring out the stars in all the members of Coe Community. On Pres. Ball, there will be band, students performing some fabulous swing dance moves and finally DJ and dance party. The awesome part about this event is that faculty and staff are also invited so we get to hang out and talk with our professors in a different environment. I will be dressing up in a black suit with bow-tie.

Other than that, I have been busy getting documents ready to apply for a position at Great America Leasing, a finance company located in downtown Cedar Rapids. However, I am meeting with couple people and finalizing my resume so that it is targeted for a finance job.

Well, once pres. ball is done, I will get some picture to you or I will actually post pictures from the event itself.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Flunk day is tomorrow!

Ankit SJB Rana

2011-03-29T16:33:00.001-07:00

Pres. Ball coming soon..

Less than 50 days until graduation

2011-03-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Dear All:

I have been very occupied lately, there are always tons of stuff going on around me and I am somehow always entangled with a lot of commitments. I go to classes, work, work out, then I have couple of meetings, plan for Presidential ball, play golf, raise money for Flunk Day, go hang out with my other Flunk Day Committee members and study during the times I am free.

Last week was a special week for the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha, we had out initiation week, where three of our associate members had to go through a week long period of teachings and sessions to become a fully initiated members. The whole is really sweet because you get to reflect a lot on your life and focus on the core values of being a gentlemen. Since we, initiated brothers had to go through the same process, when the associate members go through the process, we remember how it was when we were initiating. Thus, last week brought me some good memories.

Moreover, as you may already have seen, Charles, Bibhav and I made some momos last night. Momos is a Nepali dish, which looks like wontons/dumplings but is very tasty. Since Bibhav and I are from Nepal and we used to eat a lot of momos when we grew up, we decided that we had to make some. We invited Charles because he was brave to try some hot and spicy food. In the end, the momos turned out to be very tasty and we three ate around 30-40 of them each. It was a good food for my soul and made me miss home a little less.

Well, in the coming weeks I will be looking more for jobs, actually sending my resume and cover letter to some places and buying cap and gown for the actual ceremony. As I mentioned before, I somehow seem to be very busy but life is fun and interesting that way.

I hope you all have a great week and the weather turns awesome too.

Thanks,

Ankit SJB Rana

2011-03-20T16:10:00.003-07:00

After the mix was wrapped by wonton wraps.

Momo Weekend

2011-03-20T16:10:00.001-07:00

Charles making the momo mix

2011-03-04T18:50:00.001-08:00

I bet Charles doesn't have this pucture

2011-02-24T18:53:00.001-08:00

This little champ downed 7 bowls of good food in the cafe. He is a member of coe friends.

2011-02-20T16:47:00.000-08:00

Genghis Grill feasting like a Mongolian king

2011-02-15T17:57:00.001-08:00

My surprise Valentine.

2011-02-14T18:39:00.001-08:00

I made it to the front of Coe College cosmos

Carlos Knows how to rock it!

2011-02-13T11:44:00.001-08:00

My friend Juan rocking the Pink Fender Squire Strat at Guitar Center

February... Loving life

2011-02-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Dearest Readers:

It was been an awesome month so far, the snow is melting, I am spending a lot of time with my close buddies and apartment mates, love is in the air (because its near february 14) and above everything last semester is just going great, except I still don't have a job lined up yet.

First some bragging: I got a 95% in my first Anatomy and Physiology test and on top of that my picture was on the cover page of the Coe College Cosmos. Cosmos is a weekly newspaper published at Coe written and edited by students. I was featured on the cover page because Cosmos was promoting the International Club Banquet and they had a picture of me performing from last year's banquet. The banquet is hosted by international students and the tickets are always sold out. Here is some more information about the banquet.

I have started to lift on top of my runs so I will be getting in shape pretty soon. Once I get in the real world, I need to look real good in a shirt, tie and pant so I need to get in better shape and remove all the signs of the insane amount of pizzas I have downed in the last couple years ;)

Currently I am busy juggling a lot of work ranging from home works, presentations, meetings to studying for tests and I have to try to fit job search somewhere there in the middle, which is really hard to do. However, that is life and it is currently good. In my past 22 years of life experience, I have only one suggestion to you all, live your life as you want it and trust me you will be one of the happiest person ever... thats like guaranteed extra 5 years of lifetime right there because stress/tension/worries and problems are not shortening your lifetime at all.

For now I would like to go outside, enjoy this beautiful day and finish my secret task for tomorrow involving a prank/joke, letter and a flower... if all goes well I will let you know next week.. Wish me luck :)

Live your life!

-Ankit Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana

Is Snow Day a possibility at College?

2011-02-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

Dearest Readers,

This past week was a lot of fun. Monday, I spent some time playing and hanging out with kids from different schools around Cedar Rapids. Children of Promise is an organization at Coe College where kids from local school hang out with College students so that they look forward to going to college someday. These kids have a lot of fun playing games and doing group activities with us, college students. They look up to us, I enjoy this organization a lot because I get refreshed, recharged and I feel like a kid when I am surrounded by 20-30 other kids. : )

On Tuesday the weather forecast was not looking good at all. It was supposed to snow around 12 inches. By Tuesday evening Coe College sent out a text saying school would be closed on Wednesday. It was awesome having my 2nd snow day in 4 years of College. Since Coe is a residential campus, snow days do not occur that often, but a snow day is a snow day nevertheless and it was awesome not having to go to class and playing Call of Duty: Black Ops the whole day with all my buddies.

Wednesday night me and my brothers from Sachem, a men's honorary society, just drank couple beers and talked about our future plans. Coe has a plenty of organizations, fraternities and honorary societies to get yourself involved in. It has been a fantastic experience for me to be a part of different groups and organizations. I feel like being involved in little organizations has helped me develop and mature and just appreciate life as it is.

Finally, on Friday I got to watch the movie "No Strings Attached." Student Activities Committee provides a free movie per month and is open to all the students from Coe. This month was No Strings Attached, and I highly recommend watching this romantic comedy. The movie theatre was crowded and we had a lot of fun watching the movie.

Well, I am looking forward to seeing all the snow melt and start my golf class which begins March 1st. For Superbowl, I am not supporting either teams because I do not know a lot of either teams. I hope your favorite team wins, at least each team has a 50% chance of winning right? ;)

Come back again next week to read more of my adventures!

Thanks again,

Ankit SJB Rana

2011-02-01T16:56:00.001-08:00

Playing with Kids from Children of Pomise.

2011-01-31T16:50:00.001-08:00

New officers for Lambda Chi Alpha being instated.

Keepin' it Busy

2011-01-25T18:32:00.001-08:00

Alright folks,

I hope you guys are living it up and winning it all. After all, Champions Pay the Price.

I am taking 4 classes this semester: Intro to Religion, Anatomy & Physiology, Data Structure and Investment Fund. Intro to Religion and Anatomy & Physiology are for general education, which is necessary to get a degree in Bachelor in Arts. Moreover, I am taking Investment Fund as a practicum requirement for my Business Administration Major because it a special business research class and finally data structure fulfills my computer science minor.

I like going to general education classes because I get to learn a lot of new stuff and get to meet new people. I haven't taken an actual science class since my high school so for some reason I am really happy to be taking Anatomy and Physiology.

Most of my time is spent going to classes, work, playing video games, hanging out with friends and other important club/groups. I have started to run a bit in the indoor facilities that we have and play a lot of racquet sports. I feel like I am a natural with racquet sports because apparently I have a good hand-eye coordination. I do not have class on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I spend the day doing homework, searching for jobs and hitting the fitness center. Senior year's last semester is pretty much completely on the move and before I know it, it will already be beginning of summer.

I am currently working on making a very professional and targeted Resume so that it can land me a "fun" and well paying job after I graduate.

Thank you for reading yet again,

Ankit SJB Rana

2011-01-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

Just another snowy day in Cedar Rapids

Beginning of the End.

2011-01-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Dearest Readers:

It has been an well deserved break for me. I had time to heal myself, live the present without a rush and think about my future.

I had my first surgery during the christmas break and it was quite an experiment. During the end of summer, Melinda, the nurse at Coe had diagnosed me with perforation in the eardrum. After further detailed check up with Dr. Pruzinsky from Physicians Clinic of Iowa, we determined that the hole in the ear drum needed to be fixed and winter break was the perfect time to get the surgery done.

The day of surgery was a very unique experience. I remember everything from going to the surgery room, talking to a half dozen nurses in the operating room, listening to christmas music right before one of the nurses put a mask in my mouth and then all of a sudden I remember getting up 5 or 6 seconds later. That 5 or 6 seconds was actually couple hours. Moreover, the anesthetic is something that should not be taken lightly, it put me down big time. I was groggy form more than 24 hours after the surgery. As my advisor says, every new day is a good day because it is a long term healing process and this would definitely heals with time.

The second part was I had all the free time in the world to do absolutely anything I wanted, as much I wanted and as long as I wanted. I bought a bunch of games for xbox 360 including Halo:Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 1 and 2. So, the remainder of the winter break was achieving high ranks in all of the mentioned games. For new year's eve Joel Hoover, Charles and I played 36 hours straight of Black Ops. We were ranked very low when we started and then by the end of the marathon, all of us were five star generals. I needed the winter break to refresh my mind and to stray my mind away from home, studies and the life after graduation.

Since I had my surgery, I could not go home. Today is exactly a year that I haven't been home and seen my parents in real life. Sometimes it is tough, then I talk to them on Skype and my day gets better. This year, I missed my parents 25th anniversary, couple of my cousin's wedding, and a lot of other fun stuff. I am not whining, but all of us have to go through challenges and tough time, I am really proud and happy that folks from Coe get me going all day, everyday. During my surgery, my friends and colleagues helped me a lot. You all know who you are and I am very thankful for everything you guys have done.

Finally, I have a semester left! Yes, it is time to freak out, scream, yell.. go crazy.. : ) My plans for now is to find a job in Finance or anything Business related for after graduation before I graduate though. I need to get couple years of work experience before I go to grad school for MBA.

I am really happy to start off my Spring semester. I have no business classes, but have a science class and a religion class for my general education class. My goal this semester is to be different, to do stuff that I usually do not do and live it up.

Thank you for reading yet again.

Ankit SJB Rana

Save early! Save more!!

2010-12-06T21:43:00.001-08:00

Dear Readers,

Coe college has gotten some snow in the past week and it looks bright and white outside, just in time for the holiday season. Moreover, there is a week of class remaining before the finals. Right now, almost all the students are working hard to get their papers and projects done so I see fewer friends and students outside.

I have been running a lot nowadays, and racking up distance for Iowa at Nike+.com. With all the snow outside, it is cold and difficult to run outdoors. However, we have not just one but two amazing indoor fitness facilities where students can work out and try to burn calories during winter. I will take couple pictures in the future and post it on the blog.

This winter break, I will not be going home, instead I have a surgery scheduled. During summer, I had an ear infection that led to perforation in my ear, to fix that I have to go get a tympanoplasty done. It is an outpatient surgery meaning I will be in and out of the hospital the same day. However, the cool thing is, my surgery will be done right next to Coe college. How is this possible? Well, there is an awesome hospital right next to Coe, St. Lukes. One of the benefit of being at Coe is that, if there is any medical emergency, St. Lukes is very close by to go over and check out what is wrong.

Finally, Save Early, Save More... what does it mean? I know some of you already have plenty of knowledge and information on finance, but this is a golden rule that you will never stop hearing if you are taking business classes at Coe. But if you do not take a business class or do not know what it means, it is something good to learn. Once you start working or are living it up in the real world, there will be couple golden years when you perform you best. No one wants to work forever, it is just not fun. So what do you do? Plan on retirement as early as possible. The earlier you want to retire, you have to save up more money during those golden years. If you know anything about compound interest and how it works, you know its effect on money. So if you save more money and save early, in the long run, the compounded amount is bigger to help you retire early. Retire early means you can do whatever you want and enjoy living the life without having to work. So think about it.

Well, I have to get going and study or play jetman in facebook.

For next week, I will take pictures of our fitness facilities and post it over here.

Stay warm!

Ankit

Thanksgiving break and the rest

2010-11-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

Thanksgiving break as I had predicted was just awesome. I had free time to do absolutely nothing, which sometimes is so necessary to de-stress and just settle down with so many things going on before the break.

Alright, we have 2 weeks before classes are done for the fall semester. Then I will have one more semester before I finally graduate. I am scared, really scared currently. I want to get an MBA degree sometime, but you need couple years of work experience to get one, so I am really unsure if I will get a job after my graduation, and what type of job it will be. I talk to a lot of seniors and guess what? All of us are thinking in the same way, we do not know what is going to happen after graduation, and trust me the it gets even more scary when you see your friends engaged or having new babies. Phew, I feel like it was just yesterday I came over to Coe and I am nearly done for good.. wow time goes by so fast.

Thanksgiving break started off Tuesday, but mine started on Wednesday. I wanted to complete couple of my work study hours, so I worked from 8 A.M. until around 2:30 P.M. at computer services. After work, Whitney Hu, Joel Hoover, Matt Caldwell, Justine Screws and myself went to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. It was a lot of fun getting to hang out with friends and not to worry about any homework or anything of that sort. The movie was awesome, but watching with those four friends was what made it best.

I invited my friends Juan, Lorne and Boyi for thanksgiving meal. Lorne and Boyi made Turdecken (Turkey, Duck and Chicken). I cooked some Nepali style potatoes and special rice dish called pulau. Lorne and Boyi had to cook the special three in one meat for more than ten hours. All in all, it was one of the best thanksgiving meal that I ever have had, the best one being at Wisconsin Lacrosse at the Thiher's place.

It has been pretty gloomy outside, not a lot going on, but I feel like that we are going to get a lot of snow pretty soon. Life is going great, I am just ready to be done with the semester.

Take care and keep on dreaming so that they come true someday! :)

Cheers,

Ankit SJB Rana

2010-11-28T08:55:00.000-08:00

Kohawks Basketball season has started! :)

Thanksgiving break, remember to put it in your schedule!

2010-11-16T16:41:00.000-08:00

Dearest Readers:

I hope all of you are staying warm, living the life and following coeathletics. The football team is going to the NCAA playoffs second year in a row. I did not miss a single home game this year. Justine Brady and I along with couple other friends were at the Clark Field always supporting our football team and cheering our lungs out.

I made it to D3.com as a super fan, along with couple other friends :)

Moreover, the Men's Basketball team is playing UNI tonight, so that will be another interesting sporting event to look out for.

Alright, the fall semester is at peak right before the thanksgiving break. What does that mean? Well, basically you have a lot of tests, homework and other assignments pouring on you during this couple weeks. I had to take two tests this morning for Business Finance and Operating Systems. On top of that I have a big paper for my Intro to Sociology class due Thursday midnight. Finally, I am in a business research class called Investment Fund, in this class, we invest real money in the stock market. However, easy it may sounds, a lot of time and resource is spent researching for all the data to present to the board so that the reasons they are buying the stock is justifiable. I am really looking forward to be done with the stock investment part of the class because it has taken a lot of my time.

At Coe's little bubble, everything is going great. All of us are really excited for the break and to be done with the semester. With that I will done with my fall semester of the senior year. Gosh time flies by so fast!

Stay warm and keep a big smile on your face! :)

Thanks for reading yet again!
Ankit SJB Rana

2010-11-11T08:49:00.001-08:00

Beautiful

What defines you?

2010-11-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

Definition of Definition: the act of defining or making definite, distinct, or clear

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/definition

Dear Readers:

Have you ever wondered what defines you? Do you know who you are because of what you did? Well, these little questions pop up in my head a lot, specially during my senior year. I question myself, how are people going to remember be at Coe, or how will I be known in the future.

As a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, I know that thinking, reasoning and learning from my past, I try to make my future better. I try to wonder in to my past and think, what I have accomplished, what I could do to make myself better. I am a senior now and am in a phase where I keep myself questioning how did I do in college? as a Human being, as a student, as a son, as a brother... what did I learn, how did I help other people to make the world a better place, what did I get out of all of this 4 years of experience at Coe?

I feel like I have grown and matured a lot. Not just in an academic way, but also has a human being. I have seen a lot of changes, changes in ways how people from home talk to me now. Before I thought of myself as a kid who was in a foreign country trying to get educated and know more about everything. Now I have different conversations with family and friends back home, and trust me it isn't the same as it used to be in the past. Before people used to check up on me, give me suggestions, tell me what to do and what not to do. However, now I talk with my parents, it is totally different, it seems like they want my suggestion and views in making a certain decision. There is a whole new level of respect for me. This change was not drastic, it was subtle and took a long time.

If I hadn't pondered into my past, would I have realized of these changes? Would I have thought how or what is the single most important element that has helped me mature? If you put all the pieces together, I think it is what I have done, who I have hung out with and what have I learned matters the most in shaping me or defining me.

The purpose of this blog is to encourage you to be different, different in a way to make yourself more visible and unique and to show the best side of you. While you are in college you will get several opportunities to make yourself different, and as always YOU have a choice. Will you choose to be unique or different than everyone else and define yourself in whatever way you want? Or will be someone else by choosing their decisions? The question is simple, but the decisions are tough.

This past weekend, there were a lot of events on Coe's Campus. First off was the football game on Saturday where Kohawks thrashed the Buena Vista beavers 44-14. I cheered so loudly that I nearly lost my voice. Then next stop was the international club cultural show, where for the first time I sat in the seat of an audience, retiring from performing in my senior year. Then I volunteered at the Scottish Rite Temple to help clean up their fundraising event. Finally ended my night fulfilling my duties of an ARD.

Do you see the different roles I played in one day? From a fellow Kohawk supporting the football team to a friend supporting the performers in the cultural show to a helpful human being helping out other community members by cleaning up (FOR FREE! :D ) and then being a policy enforcer. Just like me, you will have the option of playing different roles. The chances and the opportunities will be right in front of you and all you have to do is challenge yourself to be different to get to know the real you and its all easy from there.

So find yourself, define yourself and in the end, think if the person you see in the mirror is actually you or someone else? Look in to your past, what do you want to change to make yourself better than yesterday? In the long run, you will see a lot of good changes if you look in to your past and try to make yourself a better person.

Well take care, if you have any questions comment in our posts or email me at asrana@coe.edu. I'll be more than willing to help you out.

Ankit SJB Rana

2010-11-07T08:43:00.001-08:00

Japanese Students performing in the Cultural Show

2010-10-31T09:10:00.001-07:00

Picture of Clear sky and Sinclair Chapel with everything else :)

It is up to you to make it happen!

2010-10-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers,

First of all, thank you for taking time to come online and read the blogs. We do it for good reasons: to be more visible and provide you with more information. Coe has around 70 students from other parts of the globe. For students and family who live close by Coe, you can come visit us anytime and look at the campus and get to know more by being here physically. However, for the students and parents abroad, their only access to getting know more about Coe is through our website, and all the other information like the blogs we post. The online materials help them decide that Coe is the best fit for them.

Recently, a student from Nepal sent me a message in facebook asking me more about Coe. I promptly replied to her with all the details and in the end, I asked her how she found out about me/I went to Coe and she said she found out from Coe's website. What I am trying to say is, we have a lot of information online, there are a lot of people who you can contact and ask for further questions or information if you have any. All the information are there to further assist you so that you get all the information you need. Moreover, please email us or faculty or staff if you have any questions, we will be more than happy to help you.

It is getting colder here in Iowa and KCRGTV9 was saying it might even snow tonight. I have been struggling with a cold and hope it gets better soon. So stay warm, folks in the northern hemisphere, if you are in the southern hemisphere, I wish I was with you right now.

Well, I have a lot of stuff going on this week(like usual) so I will update you next week about this week.

Cheers,

Ankit SJB Rana

2010-10-27T07:06:00.001-07:00

Fall is nearly done with winter approaching faster than ever.

2010-10-27T07:05:00.001-07:00

Sending Computer and parts to recycle.

Homecoming 2010!

2010-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Dearest Readers:

This past week was a very busy week. I had quite a few assignments and tests to finish up before I started the homecoming festivities. Wednesday in particular was a pretty tough day because I had a class Investment Fund, where we research on different stocks that we want to invest in and present on those stocks. My group had prepared a pretty good presentation but according to our professors a lot of important stuff was missing, so it wasn't the best one. Now, this class is super awesome because at the end of the semester, the board gets to approve if they want to buy the stocks that we chose. So basically at the end of the semester, we actually buy the stocks that we researched in, and get to see how it does.

To end the hectic study week, I went out with couple of my friends to de-stress. I really wanted to sing some songs with my friends and just hang out, so we went to sing Karaoke on Thursday night, trust me, it was an awesome start to the homecoming weekend. Friday was spent drinking a lot of water and getting a lot of rest because I was running the homecoming 5k on Saturday. Homecoming 5k was a lot of fun. I used to run a lot back home with couple of my friends who were in the army, but I had not completed a registered longer distance run over here in the USA. Since it was my senior year, and I had never ran a long distance run in the USA, I ran the Homecoming 5K. I ran it under 30 minutes, which is pretty awesome running after 3 years. Yes, I did prepare for it a little but just not a lot. The awesome part is that I got to run with Shane Hickey '94, my boss at Computer Services and David Tominsky '95, the alumni advisor for Lambda Chi Alpha. They had definitely prepared a lot and finished much faster than me. Overall, it was exactly what I wanted. I felt awesome after I was done after the race.

Next stop for my busy Saturday was the food drive hosted by Lambda Chi Alpha in coalition with Rockwell Collins. The brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha went to Rockwell Collins office in Cedar Rapids and volunteered to help them pack food to be donated to people in need. It was an awesome experience working with the staff from Rockwell Collins, they were just amazing people and good at heart.

Immediately after the volunteering event, I had to attend the brat and beverage tent to go and socialize with friends and alumni. I got to meet Kylee's parents. I worked with Kylee during this summer and got to visit her parents house in Clear Lake, which was a blast and her parents we just amazing so I was really happy to have the chance to see them again. Overall, I just felt that all Coe graduates are one of the people I have ever met.

After a little bit of socializing, the much anticipated football game was on the way. Wartburg vs. Coe was not an entertaining game at all, Kohawks ended up losing their first game of the year. We were just outrun by their offense. Last but not the least was the homecoming dance at the Five Seasons Hotel. I got to meet couple Lambda Chi Alumni in the suite we had for the night. Moreover, I got to know more about Mr. Matt Clark, who received the Young Alumni Award this year at homecoming. Again, I felt I wise very lucky to be a Kohawk and a Lambda Chi Alpha to get to represent best of the best people I have seen.

The weekend was exactly what I needed and it was great getting to know and meet all the Alumni.

I hope you are doing awesome! Always remember, Once a Kohawk, Always a Kohawk!

Thank you for reading and have a great week ahead!

Ankit SJB Rana

In ZAX 869

2010-10-17T12:14:00.005-07:00

The Bar area of five seasons hotel during homecoming

2010-10-17T12:14:00.003-07:00

Myself, Andrew Klingler and Matt Burch. Residents of Morris 25

2010-10-17T12:14:00.001-07:00

Once the food was collected, it was sorted and then boxed accordingly

2010-10-17T12:13:00.001-07:00

We definitely collected a lot of food for the food drive

2010-10-17T12:12:00.005-07:00

Lambda Chi Food Drive with Rockwell Collins

2010-10-17T12:12:00.003-07:00

Preparing everything for the food drive

2010-10-17T12:12:00.001-07:00

Singing Karaoke with friends once in a while is pretty fun

2010-10-03T18:23:00.003-07:00

Lucky Charms Burch? Yes please!

2010-10-03T18:23:00.001-07:00

The Many faces of Burch Wall

A weekend full of absolute relaxation!

2010-10-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

This past week was pretty busy for me. I had a test on Tuesday for Business Law I (one of those pretty tough classes) and had around 3 major projects due. By the end of the week, I was exhausted and just needed time to do nothing. Moreover, I was on call duty as the ARD (Assistant Resident Director) so I needed to be laying low and within the campus area. Luckily I had received a copy of Halo 3 limited edition, which I had bought in ebay for $15 :).
On Friday night, I got to spend some quality time with my roommate Matt Burch playing and finish all of Halo 3 campaigns. It took us around 5 or 6 hours, but we got the job done. After slaying all the aliens in the intensive game of Halo 3, Matt and I got hungry and started craving some cream cheese pizza from Pizza Daddy.

I did not get any calls on my duty phone which meant that there was no trouble on campus. On Saturday, I was craving some home food, so I cooked some myself. It didn't taste as good as the food that my mother prepared for me back home, but it definitely made me happy. Another big project that my roommates are working on is called the Matt Burch wall or the many faces of Matt Burch. It is basically a wall full of pictures of Matt, which our friends and visitor fill it up with different characters. The pictures are available in the blog.

This week I have 2 tests and some more assignments to finish, so I need to get going! However you all have a great weekend! :)

Cheers,
Ankit SJB Rana

2010-10-03T17:18:00.003-07:00

Tri-Deltas waiting for their new sisters

2010-10-03T17:18:00.001-07:00

Sorority Running of the Stairs!

This is when the Women decide which sorority they want to join, they come out of Vorhees Hall wearing the letters of the sorority that they are going to join.

2010-10-03T17:16:00.001-07:00

Proud to be a Kohawk!

2010-09-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

This weekend has been a very important one. Families and friends of a lot of students are here at Coe to be a part of Family Weekend. During this weekend, there are various activities and events going on around campus to help parents know more about Coe and help them connect with Coe. One of the highlight of this weekend was a football game between #9 ranked Coe College Kohawks vs. #7 ranked Central College.

The football game took place on a rainy Saturday around 1 pm when the Iowa Hawkeyes had a steady lead over Ball State. Although it was a home game for the Kohawks, Central was taking control over the field during the first half of the game. We were down 20-28 in the first half. From the beginning of the second half, our home crowd got more excited and the players could feel that energy. Now, the Central players were huge and strong, most of the time it took two or more of us to bring one of them down, however, we outsmarted them which resulted us in winning the game. In the second half, there was one play that changed the entire direction of the game. Central had the ball around 30 yards and they made their play where one of the Central player's was near our end zone and ready to catch the ball and score a touchdown. The quarterback threw him the ball and he caught it, he then started running for the touch down and he had maybe 5 yards remaining and just one Kohawk defensive player chasing him. At 1 yard like, Dillon Maleick, the Kohawk defensive player punched the ball out of the hands of the offensive player and prevented a touchdown. So all that action took place right in front of me near the 1 yard line. It was quite an experience. The Kohawks then started scoring more points with couple field-goals and touchdowns, and absolutely prevented the Central team to score any more points. The energy and excitement in the crowd was just amazing.

The best part of the game was that I was with couple other friends cheering for my friends. We didn't even sit in the main field-house, we were on the track, next to the football field where we could see all the excitement. It just felt right in so many ways to be with my friends, to cheer for my friends and to be a part of a big victory against a better ranked team.

Now I have to start studying for couple tests and get back to doing some more homework.

I hope you have a fabulous week a ahead!

-Ankit SJB Rana

Crowd of people ready to see the winners of the game

Happy Kohawks and their family after the big win

Crowd of people immediately after the win

Final score Coe 37 - Central 28

Nate Clear ringing the victory bell after the win

2010-09-26T08:10:00.001-07:00

Kohawk Football

2010-09-26T08:08:00.003-07:00

JV soccer game

2010-09-26T08:08:00.001-07:00

Clark Field House

Canoe Trip & Watermelon fest

2010-09-13T14:43:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers:

College has started off with full speed.. how do I know that? It is because my weekend schedule is very packed with lots of fun stuff to do.

This past Saturday I went canoeing with the International Club of Coe College to Pictured Rocks camp ground. We were blessed with an awesome sunshiny day. As a member of a club or an organization at Coe college, we are eligible to go to various trips throughout the year. Canoe trip is one of the bigger events hosted by the international club. Since I am no longer an executive member of the international club, I wanted to connect with the new batch of international students. Canoe trip was one of the best way to get to know around everyone new. Most part of Saturday we spent canoeing. I even rescued some folks when they flipped their canoes. Overall it was an awesome experience.

As a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, I had to be present for the Watermelon Festival 2010 that took place at Coe on Sunday. Watermelon fest is an event hosted by the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha to get to know students on campus while raising money for waypoint's services. We got around 75 watermelons and made various short games involving watermelon in it. Again, I got to meet a lot of new people and have tons of fun at the same time.

Team of international students on the canoe trip

Bibhav and I, the veterans at canoeing

Watermelon Fest 2010 hosted by LCA(Lambda Chi Alpha)

The Tri-Deltas making their Delta Pyramid

ZETA playing live music during watermelon fest

Justine Brady tossing the greasy watermelon

Group of Lambda Chis' discussing with each other

More brothers making fun of each other

Participants taking part in watermelon toss

Watermelon eating competition

And finally, watermelon fight :)

I hope you are having yet another fantastic week!

Ankit SJB Rana

And then comes the Senior Year!!

2010-09-05T21:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers:

I've tried to write the first blog of the 2010-2011 academic year three time already and have not succeeded at all. There are a million things going on my mind. Right now, I am sitting in my chair wearing a t-shirt that says Kohawks Volleyball. About 5 minutes ago I got a text from one of my friends, Abby. Around six months ago, I was on facebook and something popped up in my news feed about a post by Abby Hayes. She had posted a link to a website (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahreiss/journal?jid=6051097) about a student, 22 years of age, who was suffering from cancer.

Then first time I read about Sarah Jean Reiss, I was heartbroken and completely sad about what had happened to her. She was a healthy, outgoing, normal college student, and all of it changed all of a sudden when she was diagnosed with cancer. If you visit her website (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahreiss/journal?jid=6051097), you will be able to read the journey that she and her family has been through. I write this all of you to let you know that this student, it could be any one of us. It could be me, it could be you, any one of us. What Sarah needs the most right now is our prayers, which is free to give. So why not pray for Sarah and her family without losing anything or giving away anything that is dear to you.

My parents always told me, "Ankit, there are millions of people who aren't as fortunate enough as you! So help other people out, help them to make their day better and in return you will be a happy boy." This is completely related to your future. How is that related at all? Helping other people out, will help you understand their problem, in turn you understand and learn more about ethics and principals and will always stick together to the wise and correct path in life. Making better decisions and sticking to the correct path will definitely help you achieve your goals.. trust me on that one!

Alright, now down to business.. this past weekend was the labor day weekend and the first weekend after classes started. Looking in the eye of a first year, I could see that all of them were very excited to spend some time meeting new people and having a ton of fun at the same time. Coe College, as usual, had some of the best things planned for all the students. The night started off with a Coe night out at the Cedar Rapids Kernels game. With so many Kohawks supporting the local baseball team, they were destined to win their game.

The baseball game was followed by water festival hosted by the student activities committee. There were tons of people getting soaking wet at 11 pm on a friday night while it was kinda cold outside. I on the other hand watched super troopers with couple of my friends. At Coe there is is always something or the other going on every week.

I hope you all will be here next week as I will write and post pictures on Canoe trip and watermelon festival!

Have a fabulous week!

Ankit SJB Rana

2010-08-24T07:42:00.001-07:00

2010-08-24T07:41:00.001-07:00

2010-08-24T07:40:00.001-07:00

2010-08-24T07:39:00.001-07:00

First year moving: Athletes and RAs helping students move in.

Coe College Golf Outing

2010-07-12T11:45:00.001-07:00

Participants ready to have a great day!

Finals Week!!

2010-04-30T10:52:00.000-07:00

Dear All:

Just two more days of final and I am done with my Junior year at Coe College.. trust me it is crazy.. and I've had the best times of my life in the past three years.

Today is my 22nd birthday and trust me, it is not as fun as the 21st. Maybe because it is during the finals week but I think I miss my parents a lot right now. However, I am kinda happy because I have around 200 facebook wall post from people who rarely write on my wall so that definitely makes me feel special.

I have three more finals remaining before my summer actually starts. What I have for you today is the actual final digital art project for Digital Art I class. So enjoy this sequence of images and try to get a story out of it.

Thanks for reading,
Ankit SJB Rana

Staying Classy at Coe College

2010-04-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Readers:

How is going? Well, if you are in Iowa, the reply would be "Good, how about yourself?" One of the most amazing thing about Cedar Rapids Iowa is you never feel alone, if you do just look at a random person in the eye and ask "How are you doing", and they will definitely reply back to you. If you are lucky, you will start a good conversation or even make a new friend! Reason # 1million to come to Cedar Rapids Iowa: Really easy to make lots of new friends! :)

Well, last week has been pretty busy but what I remember most is dressing up for multiple events. We had formal for Lambda Chi Alpha, then I had a special lunch at Biaggi's with the Student Affairs Committee and Jay, Dusty and I wanted to be classy so dressed up as VIP businessmen. Finally, day before yesterday was the leadership convocation and I had to be classy for that event too. One thing I like to do is dress up a lot apparently.

So whats new? Classes are nearly done, finals are a week away, first day of finals is my 22nd birthday.. phew.. what else.. I'm just excited for summer.

That is it for this time, I will write another one pretty soon with a lot of details. This weekend I am going to couple art shows, a small get together, senior sendoff for Lambda Chi and something really special on Sunday night. Seems like my weekend is booked yet again, don't worry I'll fit in homework somewhere inside there too :)

Have a great week ahead!

Ankit SJB Rana

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2010-04-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

Summer on the air

The bucket list

2010-04-13T18:00:00.000-07:00

Dear All:

This is a totally random blog. I was walking back from the weight room today and I saw couple students playing and I noticed some of my Coe friends too. The other students were not that young at all, then why would they be playing children's games with students from Coe? I knew it was not the group Children of Promise, then I realized it was most probably Moving and Grooving or something along that level from the students from the Arc of East Central Iowa (http://www.arceci.org/). If you want to donate some money reading their stuff click here:

https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=9903

The Arc of East Central Iowa is an organization that basically helps families with members who have developmental disabilities. How did I know that? Well, I worked with the Arc for my professional writing class. (Hint: that is why you should come to Coe, to get real world experience from the classroom itself.. ). The Arc provides different services including respid care, moving and grooving and bunch of other stuffs to help out the families.

So these kids were really happy, seems like they didn't get to spend a lot of time outside in this beautiful weather. Yes there were couple of really beautiful volunteers from Coe helping out the kids from the Arc but nothing made me happier than seeing my fellow Coe students helping out people, doing selfless services, demanding nothing return from anyone.

Then you know how the mind games come into play, I started wondering about what I would do when I "GREW UP". I mean, I do imagine myself being in a classy suit, flying to important business meetings, but that is not happiness. After that I remembered the movie, "The Bucket List". If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend you watch it, more often if you have already crossed 40. I like the movie a lot because it makes me wonder after I grow up and do my shin-ding, make me some money, get settled and all of that "usual" stuff, will I be happy/live a good life? Or will I look back regret it? It is scary to think like that, but I know I definitely want to help out other people and make the world at least a little bit better than how it already is.

So this is what I recommend you do, make a bucket list, a list that has all the stuff that you want to do. Do not make it too easy or too hard. I think I will make mine and try to work on it in the years to come.

So in this blog, I start off my bucket list with this:

Try to help out someone random.

help (hlp) (source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/help)
v. helped, help·ing, helps
v.tr.
1. To give assistance to; aid: I helped her find the book. He helped me into my coat.
2. To contribute to the furtherance of; promote.

I was in facebook and I saw one of my friends join a group called support Sarah. All the group wanted was its members to pray for Sarah and had the following link:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarahreiss

I read her story and felt that any one of us could be in her shoes. So if you are reading this blog all I want you to do is pray once, twice or how many times you wish for Sarah.

Have a great week ahead!

Keep on living the dream,

Ankit SJB Rana

Flunk Day and Walk a Mile in her Shoes

2010-04-10T12:30:00.000-07:00

Dear Rocking Readers.

I know all of you are doing amazing! If not, get going!

Well, last week was really crazy because a lot of stuff happened. On Monday morning everyone was woken up by the Flunk Day Committee. Just when all the students were getting up to go to class on a Monday morning, FDC made their morning even better by announcing that it was Flunk day. I didn't believe them so I went outside to check the Armstrong/Douglas quad. The committee members were setting up different carnival games and rides which assured me that it was definitely flunk day.

Basically I got to hang out with my friends and bosses. It was a lot of fun because I think students needed that day to de-stress themselves from all the mid-terms and their hectic student life.

Flunk day was followed by a series of paper, tests, interviews and art presentation. I do not want to get you bored by talking about my paper, instead I am posting some pictures for all of you to look at.

Another big event that took place was Walk a Mile in her Shoes. This is an annual event hosted by the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha to help raise funds for waypoint and to help end sexual violence.

The pictures and descriptions are below. To get a first hand experience on all of these, you have to stop by Coe and get to know more about Coe.

Flunk Day setup

El Presidente being interviewed by KCRGTV9

Residence Life staff at Flunk Day

FDC member Strever and Jason

Broskis of Lambda Chi Alpha

Laser Tag..and I am a Viking warrior with a gun! Yeah!

The student and coaches

We WILL make it WORK!

Walk a mile in her shoes

Guys on high heels

The Tri-Deltas supported us

At Waypoint

Have a great week ahead!

-Ankit

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2010-04-05T08:02:00.001-07:00

Flunk day baby!!!
The setup:

Nearly a Month??

2010-04-04T10:53:00.001-07:00

Dear All:

I hope you are having a fantastic weekend. Coe is pretty much empty because almost everyone is home. I on the other hand have been spending a lot of time for myself trying to just hang in there and survive this semester. This week is going to be hectic yet again because I have two tests, one for my Money and Banking class, and the other for Investment Analysis. On top of that, I have an art project due too. However, the fun part is, Flunk Day is most likely going to be sometime this week! I am really looking forward to Flunk Day so that I can catch up on a lot of my friends whom I haven't been able to meet in quite some time.

As the title of this blog states, there is nearly a month before we are done with school for 2009-2010 year. Since there isn't a lot of time remaining, all the classes are adding a lot of pressure and squeezing in projects and papers so that students can get everything done, talk about living in a fast paced world, just be a college student and you will experience the real world. It is really tough to stay focused during this time of the year, so I thought I had to spend some time for myself and hangout with a couple of my old friends who had graduated from Coe.

So on Friday I called couple of my friends and decided to pay the new Fieldhouse in Cedar Rapids a visit. No one had changed and were still the same as they were at college. All of us came to a conclusion that bars in Cedar Rapids doesn't have dance floors at all. Talking about Bars, there is an awesome new sports bar in Cedar Rapids called The Londoner. The owner of the place is from England and played for Chelsea Football Club, one of the best soccer club in England. So basically, at The Londoner, they show all the soccer games and try to help flourish the culture of soccer in Cedar Rapids.

Check this video from KCRGTV about The Londoner:
http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/89846492.html?video=pop&t=a

Well, this is it for this week, I will try to get you a lot of pictures from Flunk day when it actually happens.

Until then take care and keep on smiling,
Ankit SJB Rana

March Madness on the Air

2010-03-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hey ya all!

I know all of you are doing fantabulous and so am I. Whats the hot fuzz around the campus right now? March Madness baby! Although the Iowan teams are out, everyone on campus has been watching march madness a lot.

Its nearly the beginning of April and you know what that means? FLUNK DAY!! Flunk day is a random day chosen by Flunk Day Committee. On this day, classes are cancelled and a lot of fun events takes place on as well as off campus. Most importantly, FDC raises money for all the events so that students can just relax and chill the entire day. For those students who are of legal drinking age, the college provides free beer and good food. This is a really important day because on this day students do not have to worry about classes or anything and just have a day free of stress and hang out with their buddies.

I have been busy with a lot of academic stuffs right now. Furthermore, I am still looking for summer jobs and writing applications for those jobs. Coming week, I have two projects due to be followed by two exams. It isn't that bad, but it surely does keep me occupied.

On Friday, the Armstrong/Douglas/Kohawk Village residence life staff had a dinner at Red Robin sponsored by my ARD budget. Another leadership opportunity that students can take part in is the role of an RA. A resident assistant is basically a student who has extra responsibilities to look at the wellbeing of the residents on their floor. My RA staff needed some bonding time so we went out for dinner at red robins and had a great time spending time outside of campus.

Finally, after the dinner, the brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha went to a hockey game. Cedar Rapids Rough Riders were playing Stikin' Lincoln on Friday. Since we had around 30 brothers, it was fun to do the chicken dance and YMCA dance in the game. We ended up winning 4-0.

Birthday wishes for Laura C., Ben, Brittany and Laura S.

Ready to order some tasty burgers

Doing the YMCA dance

Lamb Chops

Until next week,

Ankit SJB Rana

Its a Sunshiny Day!

2010-03-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Dear All:

If you are wondering how is the weather at Coe right now, you will be extremely satisfied with the answer. It has been in the 60s the entire week. It has been sunny. Last week was spring break and it rained quite a bit the entire week and the rain took all the snow away. I was here the whole week working for computer services. I know it does not sound a lot of fun, but I had to catch up on a lot of stuff and get some of my work study hours completed.

This post I will talking a little about summer employment options at Coe for students. Students who decide to work over the summer and not do any traveling have a lot of options if they want to stay at Coe. Since I am an international student, it was always better and profitable for me to stay at Coe and work. Firstly, if you want to learn while working, then some sort of research is the best option to go with. At Coe we have excellent physics glass research and Spellman's business and economics research going on each summer. Secondly, if you already have a work study contract as part of your financial aid, then you are lucky because if you request your department to work during summer during early february or march, the chances are you will get to work during summer to make some extra cash : ) Finally, if you go through the career services, they will help you find internship or summer work off campus while living at Coe, which is one of the best deal because you can use all the physical facilities at Coe after you are done with a hard day of work.

I am currently in the process of trying to find some internship or work outside campus because I want to gain new experience. The last two summers I have worked at the Computer Services and it has been an amazing experience. However, I feel that I have already learned almost everything that computer services has to offer so I want to learn something new and get some other experience. Trust me, finding job/internship off campus is not an easy game and it is very frustrating at the same time too. Hopefully I find something in the coming weeks.

Well, I will update with everything that is going on in the coming weeks. In the meantime if you are reading this, then I encourage you to email me any questions you have at asrana@coe.edu. I will try my best to reply to you.

Have a fantabulous weekend!!

-Ankit SJB Rana

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2010-03-11T12:05:00.000-08:00

The snow is nearly gone!!! Yay.

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2010-03-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

What to do during spring break? Cook some yummy chicken curry Nepali style! : )

36th International Club Banquet

2010-03-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

Dear All:

On February 28th 2010 the members of the international club hosted the 36th Annual International Club Banquet. In the banquet, members of the club from around the world prepared various courses of different local origins. The event itself was open to everyone. Since the student senate funds the club for this event, all the funds raised by selling tickets for this event is retuned back to the senate. The event was sold out a week before the actual ticket and also before a lot of press releases were out.

Students prepared amazingly delicious food from around the world and performed as well. We had gentlemen from Vietnam and Nepal singing songs and ladies from Nepal dancing in some traditional tunes. Overall, it was a place to experience culture and traditions from various parts of the world at one venue. I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by reporters of the local TV channel, KCRGTV. The reporters interviewed me for around 5 minutes and were really shocked to know that we were sold out a week before the actual banquet.

Overall, the weekend of the banquet was very hectic but tons of fun at the same time. Since this was the last event for the executive members of 2009/2010 of the international club, I wanted to spend more time on making this event a really big hit. By the end of the event, everybody knew that a lot of time and effort had been put forth in organizing everything. Although I had two midterms the next day, I knew what I had done for the weekend was so much more worth it.

Other big headlines includes Coe College Kohawk Clayton Rush winning the 125 pound wrestling national title and the smell of spring is on the air. Currently it is spring break and most of the students are not on campus. The good thing is that the snow is nearly gone and I am ready to play some soccer out in the sun.

I have been missing out all the action of posting blogs because of midterms and a lot of other projects that I have been working on. I know, it is a lame excuse, but believe me, once you are a college student, seconds/minutes/hours/days fly by really fast. Again, I feel as if I came to Coe just a couple days ago and it has actually been nearly three years now. It is just unbelievable. To end this post, I am posting some pictures from the banquet. Have a great week ahead. :)

Pat, Deanna and Steve. The experienced supervisors who make this event a success

People attending the Banquet

Banquet before performance started

The food line

Vietnamese traditional dress

Reshica wearing Nepali traditional dress and Chef Brandon Blietz

Japanese students making rice-balls

Practice run on the stage before the actual event

Yugo cooking some Japanese soup

Steve, Pat and Deanna making Baklava

Students preparing stuffing for spring roll

More soup cooking action!

Chef Brian helping out students

Myself prior to cutting chicken

Spring roll ready to be deep fried

Chef Brian and students cooking chicken curry

Thank you,

Ankit SJB Rana.

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2010-02-14T13:06:00.000-08:00

A house made up of newspaper. We had to make this for our ARD carousal.

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2010-02-14T13:04:00.001-08:00

BOD Pizza Party during the Half-Time of the Super Bowl

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2010-02-14T13:04:00.000-08:00

Singing Valentine for Juan. This took a lot of planning :)

Time is flying by super fast!

2010-02-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

Dear All:

I hope you are having a fantastic valentine's day and are spending precious moments with your loved one. I on the other hand am spending my day in the library catching up on homework. The last week and the weekend has gone by really fast, but this coming week is going to be hectic and really long. I have a test for Money & Banking on Tuesday and two projects due. One of the project is due tomorrow on Eastern Religion, where I have to write about Religious Diversity. The class is more of a philosophy class rather than a religion class, I wish it was the other way round. The second project is due Thursday for Investment Analysis, now this one on the other hand is going to be fun because we have to research on a company and report how it will perform in the future.

I got a really good news last week; I got the position of ARD for the Apartments for 2010-2011, for my senior year. Although I will miss all my Resident Assistants and Laura, my present Area Coordinator. I am forward to next years residence life work because Aaron, who will be my new Area Coordinator, and I play a lot of racquetball and can do a lot of good for the apartments. Senior year will be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work too. Oh, lets not talk about senior year right now, I get really scared just thinking about it. Where did all the time go? Its nearly 3 years that I have been at Coe and it seems like it was just yesterday. However, all the time I have spent has been absolutely worth it, every second of it. I feel that during my stay at Coe, I have made mistakes, learned a lot from those mistakes and I have definitely grown up to more responsible and understanding in the past years at Coe. One thing to never forget in your life is to strive towards making yourself better than before. I will be applying for Clark Merit Award for my senior year, a prestigious award and a grant that is given to 5 deserving candidates every year based on their campus involvement and their commitment to Coe. Every single prayer and best wishes will help me get it, so please help me out.. pretty please :)

This coming week is really important because it is the initiation week for Lambda Chi Alphas. Basically, in this week, associated members get initiated to full brothers. I will not reveal anything more, however, I will tell you this much, initiation week is the the best week for a fraternity/sorority because it is really intense and a lot of activities takes place. Greek life is definitely something that you should get involved with when you are at a college, trust me you won't be disappointed because you will become part of a history and do a lot of good that you never thought about doing and the special bond between brothers/sisters will always be there.

Well, I need to get back to studying and then have a chapter meeting at 4 P.M., then I have to beat my next years Area Coordinator in racquetball at 5.

Have a great week ahead.
As always, be happy and smile :)

Cheers,
Ankit SJB Rana

Gaming it through the semester

2010-02-02T08:15:00.000-08:00

Dear All:

Spring semester is slowly getting faster and faster. We just got done with the first month of classes and it has definitely gone by really fast. All the students over here are still adjusting to their everyday schedule. However, I have been pretty busy with a lot of activities.

Children of Promise has started off for this semester. We had around 30 high school students from around our neighborhood and volunteers from Coe got to hang out and spend some quality time with the students. We took the students to eat dinner in the cafeteria and played some games with them. I really enjoy being involved with this group because it makes me think like a kid and takes me away from the busy and stressful life of a college student. Always remember to make time for yourself when you are in College because you will perform better and will not stress out or burn out.

Another big event that I am preparing for is the International Club Banquet. It is on February 28th and will be held in cafeteria in Lower Gage. We will be selling around 250 tickets which can be bought by anyone. In the banquet, we will have food from around the world prepared by students from Coe and a few acts. I will be singing and playing my guitar in the banquet, however, I haven't decided which song I am going to perform.

Other things in the to do list is to prepare for a Super Bowl event, find a summer job that will help me learn something new and keep on loving life. As you can see in the title of this blog, I have been playing a lot of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. Yes, I know it is a very old game, but I still like it a lot because there is a lot to learn every time. Around 8 of us gather every friday night and head to Hickok hall to play this game 4 Vs. 4. It is a new experience every time we play and always lot of fun.

Well that is it for this week, I hope I get some pictures for next week for all of you.

Have a great week ahead,

Ankit SJB Rana

YAY!! Spring semester 2010

2010-01-24T17:08:00.000-08:00

Dear All:

Spring semester has started off with a bang. This semester is going to be pretty fun because I have two lower level classes and two upper level class. I am taking Eastern Religion and Digital Art I on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and I am taking Money and Banking along with Investment Analysis on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Digital Art I is the lowest level art class which I have been wanting to take from my freshman year but haven't been able to because the class is really popular and a lot of students take it. I like this class a lot because it is not a typical class environment, it is more like I am free and get to create whatever I want to. Professor Thompson encourages us to be creative and explore the limits and challenge ourselves to where we haven't been or aren't used to.

Eastern Religion is the other supposedly easier class I am taking. We have to study about five eastern religions and one of them is Hinduism, the religion that I follow. I wanted to take this class mainly because I wanted to see the western perspective on eastern religions. So far this has been reading intensive and pretty fun because I have a lot of my friends in this class.

For my major, I am taking Money and Banking and Investment Analysis. Money and Banking is basically a class that talks about money supply and how banks and other institutions rotate the money around in the our financial system. Finally, in Investment Analysis, we talk about investing our funds mainly in the stock market. We get to play a game named stockfighter for this class. So far the classes have been very interesting and very informative. I hope it will get even better.

I will try to make the blog more interesting and eventful in the coming days because we just started off with everything. For now I have couple of pictures from my digital art class that I made.

Circle and Squares going in through a tunnel.

Circles and Squares being pulled by a gravitational force in the lower left corner.

Until next week,

Ankit SJB Rana

2010!

2010-01-07T07:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

I have two more days remaining here in Nepal before I leave for Coe. I miss Coe a lot but do not want to leave Nepal either. I do not want to leave because I will miss my family a lot and won't see them for at least another year and I also have to go travel approximately 48 hours before I reach Coe. However, Coe is my second home, so I have to pay my second home a visit too ;) As I reflect upon the past, I have spent two and a half years at Coe. Every single moment I have spend at Coe has been a new and a totally amazing experience for me. I have acquired a lot of knowledge, made a lot of friends, got to meet amazing people everyday and basically got to be myself and do what I wanted to do.

Being back home and spending some time in the nature, I got some free time to reflect on everything that happened last year and how I want my coming year to be like. In 2010, I plan to focus more on what I am involved with and try to enjoy everything I do, because we just get one life so why not make it the best experience and not ruin anything by frowning or being sad over something from the past. I am already involved in different activities at Coe related with Res-life, Student Affairs, Children of Promise, International Club, Computer Services, so in 2010 I want to focus more on what I am involved with and make everything better.

Okay, now the fun part.. As I informed all of you in my last blog, I went to another City named Pokhara for new years eve. I ended up staying there for around 4 days with my family. It was a unique experience because it was peaceful, pure, simple and all natural.

View from the highway to Pokhara

Bank of River Trishuli

Statue of Gautam Buddha in Fulbari Hotel & Spa

View from Sarangkot Hill

View of Mountain Ranges from Sarangkot

More Mountain Range

View from Lakeside

Lakeside Pokhara again

View from the house we stayed at

View from a wire bridge

View of the River

A Wire bridge

The wire bridge can be seen in this picture

Rocky roads with beautiful view

You can see mountain ranges from everywhere...just beautiful

House made up of stone

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.. I just wish you could have seen what I saw with my eyes. Well, next time I am here, I plan to bring couple of my friends from USA and go trekking and even closer to the mountain ranges.

On the last day of my stay, I went to the Casino in Fulbari Hotel and Spa. I played a couple of rounds of black jack and made a profit of around $30. That was the first time I was in a casino in Nepal because Nepali citizens are usually not allowed in Nepali Casinos.

I think I have efficiently utilized my winter break and am ready to go back and learn something in a classroom environment. However, as I always tell you, Coe has changed me a lot and it has absolutely been for the better. I always tell everyone that Coe is my second home and will always be. The people you meet, the friends you make, the things you learn.. basically everything is vital in the most important 4 years of your life. So be wise, take your time and get in to a college you fit into the most. During your 4 years, challenge yourself, do something out of the ordinary, find what you like, discover yourself because these golden years won't come back again.

Okay, now I am off because I have to pack my luggage. I have a long journey ahead waiting for me. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time,

Ankit SJB Rana

I smell Good Food, Childhood and lot of struggle.

2009-12-30T00:42:00.000-08:00

"Namaste!" - The Nepalese way to say hi to someone

Dear All:

First of all, I hope all of you had an amazing and exciting Christmas. I am currently back home, in Nepal! Isn't it exciting? I am really happy and getting super recharged with everything. I finally got to meet my parents and relatives after a year. It has already been 15 days since I have landed in Kathmandu and time is flying by really fast.

Flight from Bahrain-Nepal

Nepal has changed quiet a lot, not for the better though. Sadly I think it is dying. Soaring inflation rates, strikes, shortage of fuel, traffic jams, electricity cuts..etc.. Although it is home, the whole country has changed a lot. In Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) people rarely respect each other because everyone seems to be busy doing something or the other and are always in a rush. It gets frustrating after a while and I have completely stopped driving any vehicle over here because it is too much of a hassle. I feel that every 100 yards, i will either get hit or hit someone accidentally because of reckless driving in the crowded streets.

The first night after I landed, all my close family came and visited me in my house. I got to meet couple of my cousin's Australian friends who were here for his wedding along with his beautiful and friendly wife. I missed my cousin's wedding by just 2 days. It would have been a blast if I was here. One thing I recommend you do is to visit either a Nepali or an Indian wedding because literally the ceremony itself takes more than couple of days and the event itself is really colorful with different types of dresses and tons and tons of fun.

Well I got to see one of the worst strikes immediately after my arrival. The communist party (Maoists) declared a 3 day strike throughout Nepal. Basically no vehicles were allowed to run on the streets and no businesses were allowed to open for 3 days. It was not fun staying home, but I got to go on small walks during the evening and I would see out of the ordinary stuff going on. I personally do not think we can accomplish anything with the strikes. People who declare strikes are harming themselves and the middle class Nepali citizen because people who are already better off do not get affected by strikes, so basically they are making their own lives inefficient and wasting time.. if only we had more educated people to start thinking first instead of acting.

So during my walks in Nepal Bandh (Nepal Strike), I took pictures of stuff going on around my locality.

Left: Employees of the UN being escorted to work/home

Middle: Street sellers selling their product even during strikes

Right: Businesses closed due to strikes

Armed Police Forces getting ready to control any riot

As Nepal was recently declared a Secular State, everyone got a day off in Christmas. I went to one of the biggest shopping centers in Kathmandu and wanted to see the Nepali side of Christmas.

Chinese unlocked Nokia phones for $30.

Fancy a Prada for $20?

Clothes.. less than $25/unit

Want to complete your collection?

A decorated tree

Christmas Tree with Santa Claus

Left: An old mail box with the background of trash in the streets

Right: KFC craze. A long queue of people wanting to taste some KFC!

My usual day starts up waking up late around 9 or 9:30. After I get up, I check my email and facebook for a while. Then its lunch time by 10 or 10:30. I read the local newspaper after my lunch. Around noon, I call my cousins and see if anything is going around. If not, I start playing video games. If there is something going on, we go out, eat somewhere, watch new movies, talk and hang out. Basically there is nothing to do right now other than just to spend days and wait for nothing. For me I try to spend time with my family because that is what matter to me most. My daily schedule is exactly the same like every other Nepali kid of my age this time of the year. It is winter break here and there is nothing else to do other than to hang out and take a chill pill. I really wished we could utilize the educated and skilled human resource to do something. I see this situation as wasting important energy/workforce.

Tomorrow I will be heading to Pokhara, another big city in Nepal. I hope to get a couple of really good shots of the mountain ranges and other areas from there and put it in the blog and celebrate the end of the year.

Have a great New Year.

Thank you for reading,

Ankit SJB Rana

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2009-12-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

Guess what Middle Eastern countries sell in duty free shops?? Porche! Yes a Porche!

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2009-12-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

Airport lights

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2009-12-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

Chicago Airport!

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2009-12-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for the journey back home. I am currently at CID airport.

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2009-12-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Snowfall outside Armstrong/Douglas.

Yes, its that time of the year!

2009-12-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

I know all of you definitely had an amazing thanksgiving break. Although I stayed on campus for the entire break, I too had a very filling and busy thanksgiving break.

I had classes until Tuesday and I was on the weekly ARD duty for Residence Life staff, which meant I had to be on campus and make sure everything was fit and fine. On Tuesday night, FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) organized a fabulous dinner in the Armstrong/Douglas lobby. Since the president of the club was one of my friends, I helped Richard prepare a mouth watering meal for anyone who wished to show up for the dinner. My task for the dinner was to prepare yummy slices of turkey. I'm pretty sure I ate at least five pieces of turkey before we even served it. We as a group prepared mashed potatoes, turkey, different types of pies, ice cream, corn and a lot of other stuff. A lot of people showed up for the dinner and were really happy to see all the good food getting ready in front of them. Almost all the women basketball team was there and it felt like we were supporting them even off the court. : )

Trust me, there were literally less than 100 students on campus. Of the 100, most of them were football players because they had a game the following Saturday. While the entire week was calm and quiet with no students around, I was improving my Age of Empires II: Age of Conquerors skills with Juan. We played Age, an old strategy game almost every night. It was really relaxing and fun winning over Juan in almost all the games because I had been playing it for a longer time. For thanksgiving meal, Juan and I decided to go to an Indian restaurant in town called Taj Mahal. We were really excited to eat some good old spicy Indian food, however when we arrived at Taj we were heartbroken to find out that they were closed for thanksgiving. We still wanted to dine with style and eat food from around the world, so we went to Metro Buffet instead. I was amazed to see the variety of food present over there. They had all the Asian dishes and to top it all, they even had turkey. We feasted like a King and we really happy with our Plan B.

The only thing I missed a lot was being with my family. Juan and I could not go home because we didn't live close by and we had our other duties too. However, holidays bring people closer and refreshes you more than anything else could.

This week is the nearly the last week of classes. I will be done with my fall semester of Junior year within 10 days and will be leaving for Nepal within two weeks. I am really looking forward to going home because luckily I get this chance only once a year. I am pumped for next week to get done with all my exams and start packing up to go home.

Until next week,

Ankit SJB Rana

Go Kohawks!

2009-11-18T21:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers:

I know all of you are excited for thanksgiving, well at least all the college students are. As a student of a residential campus, we tend to miss home a lot! specially during special holidays. Thanksgiving also means, we are really close to the end of the fall semester which means, I can check off my "Junior year falls semester" pretty soon enough from my 8 semesters at Coe.

Last week/weekend was very fun and eventful. Kohawks football team had a local rival game against Cornell College on Saturday. This was a special event on top of being a rival game because Coe Athletics department had made it a blackout event meaning all the Kohawk supporters had to wear a special t-shirt which said "Bleed Crimson, Win Gold". Richard Appleby, the Resident Assistant of Kohawk Village was generous enough to provide us with plenty of freshly grilled cheeseburgers before the game and we got pumped for the game. After a tailgating at Kohawk Village, my friends and I went to watch some quality football. The game was not competitive enough to make it exciting because our lads were much bigger and better than the opposing team. We won the game 56-7 and showed our rivals that we were the better team.

After the win, we qualified for the NCAA DivIII playoffs. This weekend the Kohawks will travel to Collegeville Minnesota and try to continue to their superb season.

I have started going to more athletic events starting this year. The more games I go to, I meet more people and we all support our teams together. Supporting our teams together makes me feel really special because I feel that we are the ones fueling our athletic teams and with our support and Kohawk chants, we can fulfill all our dreams.

That is it for this week, I will try my best to update you all with everything that is going on campus. Have a great break, value the importance of your loved ones when you are with them because once you are away from home, you will miss them more than anything.

Thank you for reading yet again,

Ankit SJB Rana

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2009-11-14T11:41:00.001-08:00

Kohawk football group huddle!! Go kohawks!

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2009-11-14T11:41:00.000-08:00

Kohawk football

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2009-11-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't love Charlie the Kohawk? : )

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2009-11-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

Sunrise above The Gage Union

Month of November!

2009-11-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader:

It is already the month of November, which means the fall semester is nearly finished. Coe's campus is full of leaves that have fallen from the trees. Trees look naked without their leaves and overall, the beautiful fall has evaded us. Amazingly, this past week has been pretty warm and sunny. I did not expect warm weather in the month of November at all so I have been really happy with Iowa's recent weather. I hope it stays like this for couple extra days.

My camera has not been functioning recently so I have not been able to take pretty pictures for all of you. However, I still have been active on campus to let you know what has been going on recently on campus.

First and foremost, we have a second wave of illness floating around campus. Students are suffering either from normal flu or the H1N1, and so far everything has been safe and secure in containing further contamination. Health Services has done a superb job on spreading awareness to minimize contamination for healthy students and taking care of students who are infected. Basically if you are infected, you get the option to go home or stay in your room. If you choose to stay in your room, you get a self isolation kit which consists of all the medicines and other nutritional items to help students recover from the flu as much as possible. Roommates of the infected students are requested to live in some other friends room to prevent contamination as much as possible. I have not heard of any severe case of H1N1 yet on our campus and by the looks of it, it is not a really big deal and is treated just like a normal flu. If you follow simple hygiene, you should be in good shape to prevent any contamination or infection.

Well, enough about sickness. This past friday I finally had scheduled time to catch up with my friends from work and friends from Coe who had graduated. I have been working at the Computer Services from the past two years and amazingly I have loved and enjoyed every single moment I have spent there. My supervisor/bosses are my really good friends and have helped me learn a lot of stuff in the past two years. So past friday we had a get together to just hangout, eat some good food and watch the Rough Riders hockey game. We started off immediately after work on Friday by getting some food at the BWWs. At work, we do this weird challenges things like eating hot pepper, saltine challenge, wasabi challenge, blazing challenge etc.. We talked about the challenges we had done and ordered some blazing wings. If you do not know what blazing wings are, they are the hottest/spiciest chicken wings at BWWs. By the time we finished our wings, we were sweating and panting. After some good food we went to the hockey game. All four of us: Shane, Mike, Tom and I support our local hockey team Rough Riders so we went to the game with our jerseys on and with a couple of cow bells to cheer the team. The game was exciting and very lively, but we got beat up really bad because the Green Bay team was much stronger than our lads. Luckily, I got to take pictures with the Cheer Leaders from the Vikings team. I had never taken pictures with cheer leaders and they were from one of the best NFL teams so I was really happy by the end of the game.

The pictures I took are below in my blog as MMS postings.

It was a really long weekend, but tons of fun.. and I caught up with a lot of my friends about everything that was going in their lives.

You will make a lot of friends as a college student. You will be really busy at the same time too, but remember that good memories are made with friends and loved ones, so never forget to spend time with people who you care for! : )

Well that is it for this week, I will definitely update all of you with something next week, till then.. Adios.

Ankit SJB Rana

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2009-11-06T19:49:00.000-08:00

Cheer Leaders in the Rough Riders hockey game.

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2009-11-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

RoughRiders hockey game