intermediate program summer site : conversations : second session



	pablo from alabama (8/1) Pablo is a soccer and piano player in his first session ever at Explo and first summer away from Alabama. He has really enjoyed his classes and was excited to try Ultimate Frisbee and curb-ball for the first time. He loves how easy it is to meet people at Explo and is hoping to spend next summer at the Senior Program! How have you liked Explo so far? I love it. Everybody! The staff is so nice. You can just go up and start talking with them. And it’s the same with other students here. Has it been easy for you to meet people then? I find it real easy. Back where I live, it’s kinda hard to make new friends. Here, you can just go up to someone, introduce yourself, just say ‘hi,’ and after talking for a while, you’re friends. What’s you’re favorite part about being a residential student? The chance to be independent and learn to really take care of myself. Have you done your first laundry load yet? [Laughs] Yeah, and I had to talk to my mom about it. She said don’t put all the clothes together and I'm, like, “Mom, they’re telling me it's okay to mix it,” so I just put them all together. Well, the t-shirt you’re wearing looks like it's still white! What classes are you taking? “I Object” and “Cracking the Case”. Tell me a little about those. Well, in “I Object” we’ve been preparing for a case -- it’s a real case, or based on one. Half of the class is the prosecution and half the class is the defense, and we’re going to have a real attorney come in and he’s going to be the judge, so that’s a little intimidating. I’m on the defense; I’m actually one of the witnesses for the defendants. And your other class is “Cracking the Case”? Yeah, so far we’ve just done little crime scenes. Next week we’ll be setting up a larger crime scene to investigate. Half the class will set up the crime scene and half will investigate it. What made you interested in these courses? Well, ever since I started watching the CSI shows, I just got into it. Have you studied it in school before? Um, no. And ironically, science isn’t my best subject, and I’m not usually interested . . . but “Cracking the Case” is just so unique. It’s an applied science, and I’m just really interested in it. Same with the mock trial class? Have you done that before? Law . . . sort of. Well, I’m always arguing with my parents [laughs] and my parents are always saying, "You’d make a great lawyer" . . . and, yeah, I probably would. I’ve always been kind of interested in law and politics and everything. Sounds like you're trying out some new things. Have you tried anything else that's new to you since you've been here at Explo? Ultimate Frisbee. And curb-ball too. Never had I tried those two sports, and I really like them. Do you think Explo is preparing you for high school? I was actually in a Catholic school that was really, really small and private, but this year I’m going into a huge, huge public high school. I’m excited, but then again a little kind of nervous about trying to adapt to it. Like I said, Explo makes it easier to go up to people, be independent. You’re free here, even though you are kinda limited, but you’re more free than if you’re just back at home. I live in a small town and there’s nothing to do, but here you can just do whatever you want . . . just be here and have a good time. What’s your favorite thing to do at Explo? Hmm, that’s a hard one. Maybe just hang out with friends and meet new people. I don’t know -- everything is just great about Explo. Well, what’s been your favorite main event? Main event . . . up to now? I really did like the “Mr. And Mrs. Explo” competition, and I also really liked the Off-Campus Movie Night, with Batman and stuff. What will you miss most about Explo? Probably all my friends and just seeing the beautiful campus. Hopefully, next year I’ll be going to the Senior Program. What were you expecting from Explo? You know, this is nothing like what I expected from Explo. This is much, much better than I thought. I don’t know, I was thinking we’d be in classrooms and just write, write, write and maybe have homework. But, no, they teach the stuff to you in a fun way, unlike in school when you just, like, read a book and twenty minutes later you’re still reading. Here, you can learn the same things in a much better way, in a different environment and enjoy it actually. If Explo had a mascot what would it be? We’ll, I’ve been reading the conversations and I’ve been thinking. I was actually thinking maybe we could have like a huge globe dressed up like Paddy O’Furniture. Like a green globe. An Irish-sort-of-globe, since, you know, Explo is just a melting pot with so many different cultures. My roommate is Korean, there are two French students on my hall, and there are a lot of Venezuelan students as well. more conversations > first session \| second session