University Honors Program Blog
Intellectual Omnivores Unite
TODAY’S RIDDLE:
It’s been around for millions of years, but it is never more than a month old. What is it?
YESTERDAY’S WINNER:
Yesterday’s riddle was “I’m not alive, but I grow; I don’t have lungs, but I need air; I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me; What am I?”
Adriana V. got the first answer right with “fire”! And Sydni N. wins most creative wrong answer with “the Wicked Witch of the West.” Congrats to you both!
TODAY’S RIDDLE:
I am not alive, but I grow.
I don’t have lungs, but I need air.
I don’t have a mouth, but water kills me.
What am I?
YESTERDAY’S WINNERS:
Yesterday’s riddle was:
Lose me once,
I’ll come back stronger.
Lose me twice,
I’ll leave forever.
What am I?
The correct answer was TEETH which was gotten by Cindy Y. (Seriously, Cindy Y is killing it.) The most creative incorrect answer goes to Sydni Nadler with “Luke and Anakin Skywalker’s respective hands.” I cannot pass up a Star Wars reference, as I am sitting here with my plastic Kylo Ren mask that I found in my closet.
Congratulations and a Townhouse Token for you both!
TODAY’S RIDDLE:
Lose me once,
I’ll come back stronger.
Lose me twice,
I’ll leave forever.
What am I?
YESTERDAY’S WINNERS:
Yesterday’s riddle was:
When you need me, you throw me away.
When you don’t need me, you bring me back.
What am I?
The correct answer was ANCHOR, which was gotten by Cindy Y– congratulations Cindy! The most creative incorrect answer goes to Jared Bulla with “My Origins Assignments!” Congratulations to you both.
TODAY’S RIDDLE IS:
My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
I bring joy where e’er I go,
Yet wind is my foe.
What am I?
YESTERDAY’S WINNERS:
Yesterday’s riddle was:
I go around in circles,
but always straight ahead.
I never complain,
no matter where I am led.
What am I?
And the winners are…Bri Mirabile with “wheel” got the first correct answer! And as for the most creative incorrect answer, that goes to Claire Shelby with “A planet traveling in a straight line and only orbiting a star due to the curvature of space time.” Congratulations to you both!
TODAY’S RIDDLE IS:
Feed me and I will live,
But give me drink and I die.
What am I?
YESTERDAY’S WINNERS:
The first correct answer to yesterdays riddle (“what can you hold in your left hand but not in your right?”) goes to Bri Mirabile with “your right hand” (really any part of the right arm from fingertips to just below the shoulder), and the best incorrect answer goes to Jared Bulla with a delightful series of alliterative puns on the Latin word for “left,” sinister. Congratulations to you both!
TODAY’S RIDDLE IS:
What room in a home do ghosts avoid?
As always, tokens are awarded to the first “correct” (i.e. the one we’re looking for) and most creative incorrect answer. Answer in the comments below!
YESTERDAY’S WINNERS:
We actually did not receive the answer we were looking for for yesterday’s riddle (What’s the coolest letter in the alphabet?)! The correct answer was B, because it’s surrounded by AC. But nonetheless, we had some excellent incorrect answers, so we’re going to choose two of them. First we have Sydni Nadler with “definitely not L, it’s 90 degrees!”. And then we have Liz Szafranski with “U, because u are the coolest!”. Congratulations to you both on your tokens!
Check out the following refreshing perspective from UHP Peer Advisor Nicky Cacchione!
72 hours ago, I was sitting in Buenos Aires, Argentina about 5,000 miles from our beautiful Foggy Bottom campus. I had just been on “vacation” (lol all of an abroad semester feels like a vacation… but just go with it) in the province of Salta in Argentina and had seen Las Salinas Grandes, which are these incredible salt flats (seriously look up some pictures it’s nuts!), but all of a sudden, I found my semester abroad turned upside down. Now, I find myself writing this blog, after 24 hours of straight travel, in a friend’s apartment here in DC. To say this isn’t how I expected things to turn out is an understatement, and I know I speak for a lot of people when saying that sentiment probably resonates with you all. However, in the face of all of this uncertainty, tragedy, anger, sadness, and confusion – I want to implore the UHP community to do something that seems almost too hard to do right now: find the silver linings.
I think for all of us, these are incredibly stressful times. Personally, I have no permanent housing until my lease starts in mid-June, I am out thousands in planned personal travel, I can’t see relatives in fear of spreading the virus, I was thrown back into a culture I didn’t think I’d experience for another 50+ days, I had to abruptly say goodbye to newfound friends abroad, and the GW I was forced to come back to is almost completely desolate. To be honest, I can’t, and don’t even feel bad for myself in all of this. There are people dying, losing their jobs, and losing their homes. There are high school and college graduating classes of 2020 that aren’t sure if they will get a proper commencement, and are now positive it won’t be when it was expected to be. There are even other students like myself, who were abroad, who had only been in their respective locations since the first week of March. No matter how bad, or comparatively “okay” your situations are to any of these people, I think now, of all the times in the world, it is time to stay positive and take comfort in the small things.
For me, the first silver lining was reaching out to my business fraternity pleading with someone to let me crash at their place, not expecting anything of it, only to be received with 8 text messages from different people, some who I barely am close with, saying that I could use their apartments. The next was a 6-hour flight home from Panama with a friend that I had wanted to get to know better on my program, we talked the whole way. The others have included unexpected reunions with my best friends here at GW who I didn’t expect to see until May at the earliest, monument runs instead of crowded gyms runs in Buenos Aires, and support of a GW community on my return from abroad (thanks for the free toilet paper guys, I didn’t realize how hard it’d be to find some).
For all of us, it can be the fact that we are blessed with technology. We have the ability to keep in touch with all of our friends through this fiasco via facetime or video games or whatever platform you choose. Or it could be that some of you get to see your families earlier than expected – hold them close even if they get on your nerves, because family is forever. More trivially, maybe you were not having the best semester academically; well now you can choose to take that tough UHP class pass/fail and it won’t affect your GPA. Moreover, do you know how many tv shows and movies and books we are all about to get through? Choose one with a friend and call them about it after every few episodes (if anyone still needs to watch the Marvel Universe movies, your boi is making his way through those as we speak). Regardless of what it is, there are silver linings to every situation: yes, even COVID-19. The process to find them isn’t easy, and they aren’t going to fix the problems that the world has right now at all, but if there is one thing I learned from being abroad in Buenos Aires, it’s to smile in the face of uncertainty, and learn to relax because a lot of things just aren’t in our control. On the contrary, what is always in our control is what we do to try to make ourselves happy.
So UHP, I’m happy/sad (great Addams Family reference right here if any of you get it I already love you) to be back so soon with you all – keep lifting each other up on social media and posting pictures and workout routines because you are all gorgeous and strong, keep drawing fruits and veggies and tagging your friends, and keep on finding the things throughout this that are going to make you happy.
I hope to see you all soon – stay safe and healthy!
Much love,
Nicky Cacchione
Times of global stress and personal isolation can be really damaging for mental health, and in the midst of that, it can be super helpful to have folks checking in with you and making sure you’re holding up alright. Or honestly just being there as a person who *isn’t* your family to talk to! That’s why we’ve established the Digital Townhouse Buddy System! If you’re interested in taking part, sign up below.
Hello UHPers! In an effort to keep the Townhouse alive during the virtual learning period, we are starting a Tik Tok account for UHP-related content! Our username is @gwuhp. While we will be posting some of our own content, we can’t do this alone. Please send us your best memes and renegades and we will be sure to post them. The link to submit a video is here.
