<p>Sorry I have been off CC...I know college decisions are being made so if you have any questions to ask about Hendrix, just post them and I will try and answer ASAP!</p>
<p>Valerie</p>
<p>What are the best things and the worst things about your experiences at Hendrix? How is Hendrix for a Jersey girl?</p>
<p>Well being a Jersey Girl (yankee? lol) on campus gets me a lot of attention...I like it though because people get a kick out of my accent (New Joisey, Hawt Dawg, gotta go to Cl-ASS, jimmies on my ice cream?) and a lot of people think its pretty cool since most of Hendrix is southern. I think the best part of Hendrix is that the professors care, the students are close knit, the weather is usually nice and warm (minus the tornados), and that overall everyone works hard...I am very involved on campus with student government and other organizations so I am pretty impressed with all the dedication and time put into events on the student's part. I think the campus is pretty and I personally have enjoyed learning about the south. Downside is that picking courses can be annoying because they offer certain courses every other year etc. Another thing with courses is all of the requirements...You have to take a lab science, a science, a social behavior class, a historical perspective, 2 foreign language classes, Quanitative reasoning class, values and ethics class, CW credit, W1 and W2 credit, expressive arts, literary studies, etc. Now I know I chose a liberal arts school but unlike most schools, the average course load in 4 courses not 5, so its hard to double major if you dont plan right...the requirements take up a lot of space. Anyways, sometimes the administration gets on the students nerves (they have been cracking down on our parties) but we have a pretty vocal student body who fights against dean bailey on a daily basis lol other then that, i love it here and think its a great experience...all of my "yankee" friends back home are jealous that i have learned so much new stuff</p>
<p>I just wanted to thank you for all your great info!
:-)
ArkansasMom</p>
<p>Valerie, congratulations on your dorm presidential election. I am glad that things have worked out for you and that you will be staying at Hendrix. I do have a question for you. When we were there near the end of February for the Hays weekend, we came in kind of a back way and passed many houses that had storm shelters. Having been through a couple of tornadoes myself, that is a concern for me for DD. Are there basements in the dorms? Do y'all have warning sirens there? What is the procedure when severe weather is looming? Thanks so much!</p>
<p>lol....wow....I've never been near a Tornado in my life....and I've lived in Arkansas for 12 years....</p>
<p>But the thunderstorms can be doozies....</p>
<p>we have had tornados...although even though we get the warnings, we usually dont get hit and its more for precaution....someone explained this to me geographically, something like the location of little rock/conway is either on a hill or a little below so that tornados usually go around (i.e. texarkana) anyways the tornado warning is a siren set off by the county. all of the people in the dorm go to the first floor and sit in the hall, away from the windows, crouching down in a ball.RAs knock on every door and force you to come down (no option) If you live in Martin or a dorm where you can go "underground" you can, but usually a student is okay just sitting in the halls on 1st floor. They baracade the doors in the lobby and will only let everyone leave when they are given notice by a higher up (the RAs that is) I was so scared at my first tornado...I was driving home from Chillis with my friend and we were driving through the storm. Chillis was about to have a lock down but we left anyway...my jersey ass gets my mom on the phone and im like "Oh my gawd mom im in a tornado!!" lol and my mom is born and raised in philly and she was like "jesus crist valerie what are you doing driving from chillis...is this like what was in the movie twister???!!!, get the hell outa there, <em>vito!!! valerie is in a tornado oh my gawd oh my gawd</em> lol (yes my dads name is vito)" and i heard the county siren at this time but because i didnt know they played sirens as warnings and someone had once told me that a tornado sounds like a high pitched wailing noise i screamed in the phone "OMG mom i can hear it!" my mom almost died lol and then my friend who is driving is like "Valerie! its the siren!" So to make a long story short, that story has spread around campus "The jersey girl who claimed she heard a tornado in Texarkana" lol but it was pretty funny. I wouldnt worry about safety though..Conway/Little Rock usually get the storming (humidity, wind, rains), but the actual twister never comes through.</p>
<p>Lol....uhh...texarkana is very, very far away from conway. Like...by Texas....a tornado wouldn't just "miss" conway and hit texarkana...unless it was a several hundred miles miss...</p>
<p>valuable1212 - I loved the tornado story!!! I was ROFL! :-)</p>
<p>SplashMom - I've lived in Arkansas all of my life and I don't recall ever hearing about a major tornado hitting Conway. You're right, there <em>are</em> lots of storm shelters in certain rural areas of AR. I think that's because in those areas, many people live in wooden houses and trailers that would not be safe.</p>
<p>I've been relatively close to tornados in Little Rock a few times in my life. Once, when I was very young (about 40 yrs. ago), I actually heard the noise. Sort of like a locomotive sound. (Not high-pitched, more of a roar.) I was in my grandparents' basement at the time. I still remember that!</p>
<p>OH BOY... and all we had to worry about were earthquakes and fires in California! This tornado thing is a trip...well hopefully the freshmen will be well trained in tornado drills in their dorms. I wouldn't know what to do if I heard the siren here in Texas...probably run into the stairwell..kids, dogs, and DH! These kids will definately learn survival skills in college ;)</p>
<p>SplashMom, I saw that there were killer tornados near Nashville last night. I hope you're ok!</p>
<p>Thanks, ArkansasMom! We are okay, but the tornado sirens have sounded several times today and we had some torrential rain and hail. We are about 20 minutes south of Nashville. Sadly, several people were killed by the storm and there was quite a bit of damage on the north side of Nashville. We have had warnings on and off since 3:00 this afternoon and I'll be happy when it's all over. Thank you for your concern.</p>
<p>Splashmom, I'm so glad you are OK. They can be very scary.</p>
<p>I've been in several tornados. As a child I lived outside of Topeka and we could watch them drop out of the clouds on a summer night and dance around a bit and then pop back up. One time a neighbor's house was picked up rotated and set back down on its foundation , while our farmhouse was untouched. I've been in a tornado while traveling in a car. Twice. That's a trip. We have had one on the ranch within the 11 years we've owned it, although the weather service continues to say it was a straightline wind. Uh-uh.The trees were twisted off with the stubs still standing. That's a tornado. </p>
<p>They are nothing to take lightly and most deaths seem to occur in areas where the populace discounted their power. Be aware. They can be quite a bit outside tornado alley.</p>
<p>SplashMom, it's good to hear that you are ok! I hope the bad weather continues to pass you by as these storms move through.</p>
<p>Thank you curmudgeon and ArkansasMom. Having experienced two tornadoes in my younger days, it's something I prefer not to experience again. Everything is pretty calm today.</p>
<p>SplashMom, I am relieved you are alright and that things are calmer today.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, fireflyscout! Now, if only DD would decide upon a school, the world would once be right again. :)</p>
<p>splashmom,</p>
<p>glad you are ok.</p>