It's almost Christmas, which means it's almost the new year, which means that I've had this blog for about half a year which means I'm bored. With a lot of things.
Hence the new blog layout. Awhile ago I posted a poll asking who would want me to change the layout of my blog. I got a total of 3 responses. And guess what they all voted? I don't care. And you know what? I realized that I didn't really care if you cared or not, so I was going to do whatever I wanted anyway. Perhaps that's selfish. And I apologize for that.
Well, anyways, I did change my layout, if you hadn't noticed yet. I realized it's quite girly, so to my male readers: embrace your feminine side. Equal rights and all that jazz.
Anywho. You're probably thinking, "Oh, she said she's bored with a lot of things. Either she's exaggerating, or she hasn't told us the other things she's bored with."
Ding ding ding. You're one smart cookie, reader.
I am bored with other things. Namely, my room.
It's been about 4 months since I've lived in my little dorm room, and I've about gotten tired of its monotony. It's the typical dorm room. But I want something different. So this Thursday, it will be different. It will happen. My new roomie wants her bed un-lofted, so me, Jess, and whoever else is brave enough will attempt to do that ourselves. Because we're women gosh dang it, and we are going to make it happen whether you like it or not.
I apologize again for my sassy-ness. Totes uncalled for.
It's just that I have a renewal of energy right now. 4 of my finals have been completed (Hallelujah) and I only have one more left, which isn't even until Friday. Meaning I have 1 and a half days to do whatever the heck I feel like. (Yes, it will include some studying. But mostly not). It's exciting. For like the first time in 4 months, I have nothing I need to do. It's exhilarating.
And that's what break will be like. 3. Whole. Weeks. Of pure relaxation. (Okay, that's a lie. I have to work and stuff. But still.)
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
In other news, I realized that I've trained my body that about 6 hours of sleep is sufficient. Because this week I've been getting a lot of sleep since none of my finals start until 10:30. And I've been getting a solid 8 hours the past couple nights. But last night...I couldn't sleep. It was as if my brain was on overdrive. Or my bladder. I just really had to pee. Anyways, I met Alyssa in the bathroom, who was taking a break from her studying. We were both bored, so we decided to explore. Which meant we wanted to find out what was behind all the closed, locked doors on our floor. We looked up how to pick a lock with a bobby pin (thanks Google) but to no avail. We didn't get a single door opened. We also went to the basement to find out if we could unlock any of those doors and if we could find the secret underground tunnel between Shreve and the neighboring residence hall, Earhart. Again, we couldn't find anything. Boo. We went to bed instead.
I meet with my research professor for next semester again today. Remind me to tell you about that project. Because I'm PSYCHED about it. I think. We'll see after our second meeting today.
13 days until Christmas.
Purdue
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
"Studying."
Click HERE if you want to see an awesome video.
Yes, this is what we do instead of studying for finals. Have a very Merry Christmas :)
Yes, this is what we do instead of studying for finals. Have a very Merry Christmas :)
One Down, Four To Go.
One final down.
Four to go.
One more tonight.
One tomorrow.
One Wednesday.
One Friday.
Gimme a second while I let that sink in. I still can't believe my first semester as a college kid is almost over. I'll be home in a matter of days. I can do this. Just keep pushing through.
Excuse my self-motivational speech there.
My Spanish final this morning was slightly more difficult than everyone had expected. Which kind of stunk. Nobody wants a difficult final; no way no how. But hey, it's over now. Thank goodness. I have my EDCI Educational Technology final at 3:30 which will consist of my BSing a lot of stuff, because that's what most of the class was. Heck, they should just call it BS 101 so I can say I got an A in BSing! That'd look good on a resume, right?
Found out that my mom has been sick :( Shout-out to my mama! Hope you feel better soon!
Guess what? 15 days until Christmas! I'm listening to the Christmas Pandora station as we speak. I think the fact that I don't really listen to the radio much here and am not constantly listening to Christmas music makes it that much more special when I do listen to it! Which, as Jess and I decided, is the way it should be.
I'm really in the mood for some snow too! It would just make the Christmas season that much more real.
Gotta study! Adios!
Four to go.
One more tonight.
One tomorrow.
One Wednesday.
One Friday.
Gimme a second while I let that sink in. I still can't believe my first semester as a college kid is almost over. I'll be home in a matter of days. I can do this. Just keep pushing through.
Excuse my self-motivational speech there.
My Spanish final this morning was slightly more difficult than everyone had expected. Which kind of stunk. Nobody wants a difficult final; no way no how. But hey, it's over now. Thank goodness. I have my EDCI Educational Technology final at 3:30 which will consist of my BSing a lot of stuff, because that's what most of the class was. Heck, they should just call it BS 101 so I can say I got an A in BSing! That'd look good on a resume, right?
Found out that my mom has been sick :( Shout-out to my mama! Hope you feel better soon!
Guess what? 15 days until Christmas! I'm listening to the Christmas Pandora station as we speak. I think the fact that I don't really listen to the radio much here and am not constantly listening to Christmas music makes it that much more special when I do listen to it! Which, as Jess and I decided, is the way it should be.
I'm really in the mood for some snow too! It would just make the Christmas season that much more real.
Gotta study! Adios!
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Christmas Spirit.
18 more days.
Every room on my floor has this number somewhere. On a dry-erase board. On a mirror. On a calendar.
Christmas will be here soon, and we here at Purdue are getting into the holiday spirit...
...With decorations...
The giant gingerbread house in the Memorial Union! There is also one in each of the dining courts.
The giant Christmas tree in the Union
...And with food.
The holiday dessert buffet from Wednesday. The line was ridiculous.
Some other news...
SQUIRRELS!
In preparation for finals, our floor has decided to turn our mirrors into Positive Reflection boards. We have a bunch of dry erase markers and dry erase crayons to write inspiring messages to each other. And yes, that is Ryan Gosling in the corner.
I had my last class of the semester today! Crazy to think that my freshman year is almost over!
Tonight is Battle of the Sexes, our floor, 4E vs. the guys side, 4W. Good thing I suck at trivia.
So for those of you who may not know, Purdue is a huge engineering school. In my residence hall (Shreve), several of the floors are Honors Engineering Learning Community floors, so it is not unlikely to see engineering groups working on their projects in the study lounges here. Most recently, they had to complete a project where they had to build a robot that did different tasks. It was quite amusing to see these little robots rolling around on the floor everywhere in Shreve and seeing Engineering groups fight for the best study lounge spots. I honestly don't understand half of these references, but all the engineers here think it's hilarious. I myself just think it's awesome because I love school-related videos.
(Just some Purdue references for you: the fountain they are singing by is the Engineering fountain--how fitting. The rooms and lobby are in Shreve, and one of the guys sitting on the futon playing video games is a guy I know from the 5th floor!)
I hope all is well with everyone at home/elsewhere! To those with finals coming up: good luck!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Bipolar Weather, Three-Person Raves, And Other News.
Be prepared.
I'm about to dump quite a bit of information on you. This post will contain tidbits about my past week that may perplex you, but only because there are so many of them. And for organization purposes, I'll label each tidbit with some key words so you know ahead of time whether you want to read it or not. Also, there aren't many pictures. I'll try to relieve your eyes from the endless stream of text every so often with some random pictures.
Tidbit Numero 1: Frappacinos. Starbucks. Yum.
College isn't college if there isn't a Starbucks nearby. And Starbucks isn't a Starbucks if there isn't a constant line of people waiting anxiously for some caffeine to amp up their system.
Welcome to the Starbucks at Purdue Memorial Union, where you never wait less than 15 minutes for coffee. There's always a huge line. But it's always oh so worth it.
In fact, I've found a new love. When the air changed and got crisper and cooler, (wait, no it didn't. Who am I kidding?) Starbucks decided to rid themselves of one of my favorite drinks: the pumpkin spice latte. I don't think so, Starbucks. It's still technically fall. Bring me back my pumpkin. I was distraught. I cried in my bed for days. I boycotted Starbucks and protested in the front of the store. None of the last three sentences are true. But despite my disappointment, my life had to go on. Instead, I got a salted caramel mocha frappacino. And oh my goodness, cue chorus of angels and rainbows and unicorns and butterflies. That drink was incredibly delicious. I highly recommend it, if you don't have any other vices that already add a little too much to your daily calorie count.
Tidbit Numero 2: Pinterest. Addicted. Obsessed. Accident.
I really didn't mean to. I promise! But it happened: I love Pinterest now. I've had an account since about a year ago, but only last night did I discover the true wonders of the website. Boy, do I wish I had more time. And money. And a car to drive to Hobby Lobby to buy the necessary equipment for the endless number of projects I want to make. Why, college? Why?
Tidbit Numero 3: Late. Shorts. Snow.
That awkward moment when you wake up at 9:20 and your class is at 9:30 and it's 10 minutes away and you're looking like a hot mess so you still need to get ready and that takes 10 minutes so already your class has started and you haven't walked out the door so you throw on some shorts even though it's 30 degrees because they're the most comfortable attire to speed-walk to class in and when you get outside you see snow on the ground from last night's flurries and you're cold and you get to class in record time and you walk in and it's already started and there's a presenter and your teacher pardons you from your tardiness because someone told her you were sick, which is slightly but not really true.
Tidbit Numero 4: Weather. Bipolar. Skipping winter?
So that last story involved snow. And yesterday I was wearing shorts again, but this time it was actually warm out. As in 65 degrees warm. Can we please pause and acknowledge the fact that it was December 3rd? And now it's raining. Okay, Mother Nature.
Tidbit Numero 5: Official. Large and in charge.
Remember how I told you I was elected Vice-President for Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA)? Well, I daresay it's official now. Because I got the actual binder. The binder with all you ever wanted to know and more about being VP of PSEA. It's crazy and it freaks me out but I'm really excited.
Tidbit Numero 6. Potential. TA.
I sent in my application to be an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) for my EDCI 27000 Educational Technology class next semester. It's a paid position. That's pretty sweet if you ask me. We'll see if I get it!
Tidbit Numero 7. Science. Skit. Soap opera. 5 hours.
Last Wednesday. Where do I begin?
6:45: Arrive at McCutcheon residence hall to begin project.
6:50-6:55: Explore the building a little. Creepy bathrooms. Creepy hallways. Creepy.
7:00-7:10: Chat with the group. Sit there. Get stuff out.
7:10-11:00: Work on stupid project for Biology class the next day. Come up with a script for our soap opera skit. Practice our skit. Twice. Take pictures in our costumes for the opening entrance music (General Hospital). Make video. Look up informational videos. Come up with class activity. Consult rubric. Refrain from ripping hair out in frustration.
Finally perform skit without a hitch on Thursday. Only to have to get together again last night to work on another project that is due in an hour. Only to have to take an exam on Thursday. Only to have to take our final next Friday. Get. Me. Out.
Tidbit Numero 8: Relief. Hooray. Jumping for joy. Weight off my shoulders.
Did you know about the honors contract I've been "working on" all semester for Bio? (Just another project to add to the never-ending list from above). It's done. As in finished. As in I never have to look up another research article, write another notecard, sit at my computer trying not to smack my head on my desk, ever, ever, EVER again. At least until next semester.
I thought I had been able to pride myself in my time management skills. Ha. Guess not. I've had this project for a semester...and entire semester...and finished it the night before it was due. I wrote out the entire 9 and a half page paper last Monday and also a 4 page summary about the analysis of the survey I conducted the night before. I'm honestly pretty proud of it though. I think I do my best work last minute when it comes to things like this. It puts the pressure on. I did it junior year in high school too...a paper we had a month to write and I wrote it the weekend before it was due. Teehee.
Needless to say, it's such a relief that it's over. I don't know if I ever said in previous posts, but I had to do this project outside of class to get honors credit for it since I wasn't able to fit an honors course into my schedule this semester. I did it with my EDCI 27000 class too, so I should be getting 6 honors credit hours this semester!
Tidbit Numero 9: Music. Christmas. Awesome.
Saturday was the Purdue Music Organization annual Christmas show! It was so awesome! I went with 6 friends and I knew one of the girls in the show. It was amazingggg.
Tidbit Numero 10: Please. No more. Spare me.
Next semester...oh boy. More research. But this time, it's with a professor. This is for my DeVito scholars class. Not only do we get to go on fun field trips next semester, but we also get to do this research. I found out my professor a couple weeks ago...Dr. Servaty-Seib. She studies how children deal with grief, which I think will be pretty interesting. I meet with her tomorrow to see how I can help with the work she is currently doing. So, despite my somewhat complicated relationship with research, (I hate you. Wow, this is interesting. I'd rather be sleeping. Woah, I never knew that! Papers suck. I'm so proud of the result!) I'm excited to be a part of it. I think.
Tidbit Numero 11: Dance. Rave. Where is everyone?
Friday. Time to relax. Time to unwind. Time to go to a 3 person rave?
Friday night, I joined Laura and Kristen (from my DeVito class) in quite an interesting experience. Kristen said Wiley, her residence hall, was having a rave that night at 7. So we went. Except we couldn't find a rave. Anywhere. We scoured that residence hall, searching for some music, some lights, a group of more than 2 people...anything that would indicate a crazy rave like we experienced during Dance Marathon. Instead, we found a sign that said it wasn't starting until 9 now. Great. So we went to Kristen's room and watched TV for awhile. We made a list of Kristen's dream guy qualities. (No, Kristen. Straggly beards are NOT attractive). Then we went back down for the rave at 9.
Dark room. Red and green laser lights. Glow sticks. Fog machine.
10 people in the room.
In the words of Macklemore in "Thrift Shop," what, what, what what??
Where was everyone?
Oh well. More glow-sticks for us. We each had at least 15. We danced crazily. We emerged through the fog in the fog machine. We made glow-stick belts, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, hula hoops, jump-ropes. We stood on chairs. We danced on tables. We were the only three in the room for a time. We were the rave.
Tidbit Numero 12: Anti-Amish, Obama, Catholic. Spaghetti. Country folk.
Sunday night, Laura invited me to her friend from back home's apartment for dinner. There were 6 of us there. We had spaghetti, garlic bread, and apple dumplings. It was delicious.
Albeit slightly uncomfortable.
I've never really been around country people for an extended amount of time before. Woah.
I don't think I've ever met such opinionated people. They were strongly against Amish, Democrats, and Catholics. Oh, and their other roommate. Awkward. I left dinner to go to church. As in the Catholic church. As in they teased me a little.
It was quite the experience, that's all I have to say. Still fun though.
(PS, if you ever notice a lack of toilet paper in Beering, they steal it. And also, don't drink out of the lion fountain on campus for awhile. Apparently they pee in it for fun.)
Tidbit Numero 13: Changes. New People.
Did I mention I have a new roomie? Her name is April and she'll move in next semester. She seems pretty cool and nice, so I can't wait to meet her! She's a civil engineering major and she's 19, a sophomore.
I'm about to dump quite a bit of information on you. This post will contain tidbits about my past week that may perplex you, but only because there are so many of them. And for organization purposes, I'll label each tidbit with some key words so you know ahead of time whether you want to read it or not. Also, there aren't many pictures. I'll try to relieve your eyes from the endless stream of text every so often with some random pictures.
This is me about to dump information on you. Hehe.
Tidbit Numero 1: Frappacinos. Starbucks. Yum.
College isn't college if there isn't a Starbucks nearby. And Starbucks isn't a Starbucks if there isn't a constant line of people waiting anxiously for some caffeine to amp up their system.
Welcome to the Starbucks at Purdue Memorial Union, where you never wait less than 15 minutes for coffee. There's always a huge line. But it's always oh so worth it.
In fact, I've found a new love. When the air changed and got crisper and cooler, (wait, no it didn't. Who am I kidding?) Starbucks decided to rid themselves of one of my favorite drinks: the pumpkin spice latte. I don't think so, Starbucks. It's still technically fall. Bring me back my pumpkin. I was distraught. I cried in my bed for days. I boycotted Starbucks and protested in the front of the store. None of the last three sentences are true. But despite my disappointment, my life had to go on. Instead, I got a salted caramel mocha frappacino. And oh my goodness, cue chorus of angels and rainbows and unicorns and butterflies. That drink was incredibly delicious. I highly recommend it, if you don't have any other vices that already add a little too much to your daily calorie count.
College kids hyped up on coffee.
Tidbit Numero 2: Pinterest. Addicted. Obsessed. Accident.
I really didn't mean to. I promise! But it happened: I love Pinterest now. I've had an account since about a year ago, but only last night did I discover the true wonders of the website. Boy, do I wish I had more time. And money. And a car to drive to Hobby Lobby to buy the necessary equipment for the endless number of projects I want to make. Why, college? Why?
Tidbit Numero 3: Late. Shorts. Snow.
That awkward moment when you wake up at 9:20 and your class is at 9:30 and it's 10 minutes away and you're looking like a hot mess so you still need to get ready and that takes 10 minutes so already your class has started and you haven't walked out the door so you throw on some shorts even though it's 30 degrees because they're the most comfortable attire to speed-walk to class in and when you get outside you see snow on the ground from last night's flurries and you're cold and you get to class in record time and you walk in and it's already started and there's a presenter and your teacher pardons you from your tardiness because someone told her you were sick, which is slightly but not really true.
Tidbit Numero 4: Weather. Bipolar. Skipping winter?
So that last story involved snow. And yesterday I was wearing shorts again, but this time it was actually warm out. As in 65 degrees warm. Can we please pause and acknowledge the fact that it was December 3rd? And now it's raining. Okay, Mother Nature.
Tidbit Numero 5: Official. Large and in charge.
Remember how I told you I was elected Vice-President for Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA)? Well, I daresay it's official now. Because I got the actual binder. The binder with all you ever wanted to know and more about being VP of PSEA. It's crazy and it freaks me out but I'm really excited.
Tidbit Numero 6. Potential. TA.
I sent in my application to be an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA) for my EDCI 27000 Educational Technology class next semester. It's a paid position. That's pretty sweet if you ask me. We'll see if I get it!
Tidbit Numero 7. Science. Skit. Soap opera. 5 hours.
Last Wednesday. Where do I begin?
6:45: Arrive at McCutcheon residence hall to begin project.
6:50-6:55: Explore the building a little. Creepy bathrooms. Creepy hallways. Creepy.
7:00-7:10: Chat with the group. Sit there. Get stuff out.
7:10-11:00: Work on stupid project for Biology class the next day. Come up with a script for our soap opera skit. Practice our skit. Twice. Take pictures in our costumes for the opening entrance music (General Hospital). Make video. Look up informational videos. Come up with class activity. Consult rubric. Refrain from ripping hair out in frustration.
Finally perform skit without a hitch on Thursday. Only to have to get together again last night to work on another project that is due in an hour. Only to have to take an exam on Thursday. Only to have to take our final next Friday. Get. Me. Out.
Tidbit Numero 8: Relief. Hooray. Jumping for joy. Weight off my shoulders.
Did you know about the honors contract I've been "working on" all semester for Bio? (Just another project to add to the never-ending list from above). It's done. As in finished. As in I never have to look up another research article, write another notecard, sit at my computer trying not to smack my head on my desk, ever, ever, EVER again. At least until next semester.
I thought I had been able to pride myself in my time management skills. Ha. Guess not. I've had this project for a semester...and entire semester...and finished it the night before it was due. I wrote out the entire 9 and a half page paper last Monday and also a 4 page summary about the analysis of the survey I conducted the night before. I'm honestly pretty proud of it though. I think I do my best work last minute when it comes to things like this. It puts the pressure on. I did it junior year in high school too...a paper we had a month to write and I wrote it the weekend before it was due. Teehee.
Needless to say, it's such a relief that it's over. I don't know if I ever said in previous posts, but I had to do this project outside of class to get honors credit for it since I wasn't able to fit an honors course into my schedule this semester. I did it with my EDCI 27000 class too, so I should be getting 6 honors credit hours this semester!
Tidbit Numero 9: Music. Christmas. Awesome.
Saturday was the Purdue Music Organization annual Christmas show! It was so awesome! I went with 6 friends and I knew one of the girls in the show. It was amazingggg.
Tidbit Numero 10: Please. No more. Spare me.
Next semester...oh boy. More research. But this time, it's with a professor. This is for my DeVito scholars class. Not only do we get to go on fun field trips next semester, but we also get to do this research. I found out my professor a couple weeks ago...Dr. Servaty-Seib. She studies how children deal with grief, which I think will be pretty interesting. I meet with her tomorrow to see how I can help with the work she is currently doing. So, despite my somewhat complicated relationship with research, (I hate you. Wow, this is interesting. I'd rather be sleeping. Woah, I never knew that! Papers suck. I'm so proud of the result!) I'm excited to be a part of it. I think.
Tidbit Numero 11: Dance. Rave. Where is everyone?
Friday. Time to relax. Time to unwind. Time to go to a 3 person rave?
Friday night, I joined Laura and Kristen (from my DeVito class) in quite an interesting experience. Kristen said Wiley, her residence hall, was having a rave that night at 7. So we went. Except we couldn't find a rave. Anywhere. We scoured that residence hall, searching for some music, some lights, a group of more than 2 people...anything that would indicate a crazy rave like we experienced during Dance Marathon. Instead, we found a sign that said it wasn't starting until 9 now. Great. So we went to Kristen's room and watched TV for awhile. We made a list of Kristen's dream guy qualities. (No, Kristen. Straggly beards are NOT attractive). Then we went back down for the rave at 9.
Dark room. Red and green laser lights. Glow sticks. Fog machine.
10 people in the room.
In the words of Macklemore in "Thrift Shop," what, what, what what??
Where was everyone?
Oh well. More glow-sticks for us. We each had at least 15. We danced crazily. We emerged through the fog in the fog machine. We made glow-stick belts, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, hula hoops, jump-ropes. We stood on chairs. We danced on tables. We were the only three in the room for a time. We were the rave.
What my Friday night looked like. Minus like everyone in this picture.
Tidbit Numero 12: Anti-Amish, Obama, Catholic. Spaghetti. Country folk.
Sunday night, Laura invited me to her friend from back home's apartment for dinner. There were 6 of us there. We had spaghetti, garlic bread, and apple dumplings. It was delicious.
Albeit slightly uncomfortable.
I've never really been around country people for an extended amount of time before. Woah.
I don't think I've ever met such opinionated people. They were strongly against Amish, Democrats, and Catholics. Oh, and their other roommate. Awkward. I left dinner to go to church. As in the Catholic church. As in they teased me a little.
It was quite the experience, that's all I have to say. Still fun though.
(PS, if you ever notice a lack of toilet paper in Beering, they steal it. And also, don't drink out of the lion fountain on campus for awhile. Apparently they pee in it for fun.)
Did I mention I have a new roomie? Her name is April and she'll move in next semester. She seems pretty cool and nice, so I can't wait to meet her! She's a civil engineering major and she's 19, a sophomore.
How I feel right now. And like all the time.
Monday, November 26, 2012
I Love College, But I'd Rather Be Home.
I missed my mom. I missed my dad. I missed my sister. I missed Smokey and Garfield. I missed my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I missed my friends that I haven't seen in a couple months. I missed my neighbors. I missed my electric blanket. I missed showering without shoes on. I missed having a room to myself. I missed sleeping in. I missed Culver's, Steak N' Shake, and Chili's. I missed my mom's home-cooked meals. I missed the mall. I missed driving. I missed being around people who aren't my own age. I missed the movie theater. I missed being able to leave my clothes all on the floor in my room. I missed Bloomington/Normal.
I missed home.
It was great to be back. Despite the fact that I had to work from 10 pm Thanksgiving night to 6 am the next morning, and despite the fact I had to work on a paper over break, being home was so wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I had a hard time coming back. Not because I was dreading it, but because I wanted to be with my family. It'll be hard spending part of the holiday season without them. Of course, I'll have my friends here. I love them so much, and it was great seeing them when I got back. And I know I only have 3 more weeks before I'll be back for Christmas break. But still.
I love college, but I'd rather be home.
I missed home.
It was great to be back. Despite the fact that I had to work from 10 pm Thanksgiving night to 6 am the next morning, and despite the fact I had to work on a paper over break, being home was so wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that I had a hard time coming back. Not because I was dreading it, but because I wanted to be with my family. It'll be hard spending part of the holiday season without them. Of course, I'll have my friends here. I love them so much, and it was great seeing them when I got back. And I know I only have 3 more weeks before I'll be back for Christmas break. But still.
I love college, but I'd rather be home.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Eighteen Hours.
What can you do in 18 hours?
From my house in Normal, you can drive to Chicago and back 3 times, depending on traffic.
You can probably read the first few Harry Potter books (they're not that long).
You can work, eat, and sleep.
Eighteen hours is a lot of time, but it's not even an entire day. We waste a lot of time in our daily lives doing things that don't matter much.
How did I spend 18 hours of my life recently? By participating in something extraordinary with some incredible people.
Yes, I was a part of Purdue University Dance Marathon, and I stood for 18 hours for the kids that can't stand for themselves.
In my current state (less than 4 hours of sleep, sore, and lazy) I can't even think of the right adjectives to describe what it was like.
Exciting. Entertaining. Crazy. Fun. Inspiring. Emotional. Exhausting.
Worthwhile.
Despite the aching feet, the bruised knees, the sore calves, the sleepiness...it was all worth it.
So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, my PUDM 2012 experience.
Friday night was an early to bed kind of night. I had to rest up my body to prepare myself for the impending doom that was 18 hours of standing for PUDM the next day. When I woke up Saturday morning, I couldn't feel the nerves, but I knew they were there. When had I ever stood for more than a few hours? Waiting in line for a roller coaster at an amusement park is almost never more than 3 hours...this is America! We don't stand ever. We sit. And eat. But that's beside the point.
My floor decided that they wanted to play a volleyball game against the 6th floor guys at 2 (check-in for the marathon was at 3). I groaned, internally and externally. Yes, I wanted to play, but no, I didn't want to exert energy unnecessarily. But, nonetheless, I went to play. I had to pack beforehand since I wasn't going to have time to go back to Shreve before the marathon, which took place in the Dova. So I filled my backpack with the necessities. And when I say necessities, I mean I didn't use half the stuff I brought. Better to be safe than sorry!
We played a couple games of volleyball, but I sat out towards the end to conserve my strength. Then, before I knew it, we were on our way to sign in and then we were in the gym, surrounded on all sides by a horde of other dancers, all sitting around and trying to conserve their last bits of strength.
10 minute countdown.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
DANCE. (I can't help but to hear Ke$ha's voice from the beginning of her song "Blow" when I say this. If you don't know the song, don't worry about it; it's not important.)
I can't even tell you the order of events from those 18 hours. All sense of time was lost. There were no windows in the gym we were in, so the light couldn't direct us as to whether it was evening, night, early morning, or what. We tried as hard as we could not to look at our phones and watches. (A watched pot never boils; a watched clock leads to a never ending marathon.) But still we were constantly reminded of just how many hours were left.
The best I can give you is a haphazard list of the things that occurred during the night. I'll try to categorize them as best I can so your brain isn't as jumbled as mine is.
Entertainment:
To keep us all motivated, it was imperative that we had various entertainment acts throughout the night. These included the following:
Dancing:
For a dance marathon, there was surprisingly not as much dancing as one would have expected. But there was a lot.
The two most important aspects of the marathon relating to dancing that you need to know are:
1. We learned a line dance throughout the entire 18 hours, in 6 different parts. Each part had a mash-up of around 8 songs, and each part was between 1 and 2 minutes long, for a total of around a 10 minute dance I'm thinking. Again, I lost all sense of time while I was there, so I honestly couldn't tell you. There will most likely be a YouTube video of this dance up in the near future, so I'll try to post it for you when it comes out.
In the beginning, it was exciting. A choreographed dance with around 1,200 people? How cool was that?? But we soon learned that it was not all that it was cracked up to be. The first 2 parts went well...we were full of energy and super pumped to start learning. By the fourth part, we didn't want anything to do with it. We had thought there were only 5 parts originally, but when we learned there were 6, we wanted to cry. But my friend Dana and I decided that part of our 18 hours of standing should be 18 hours without complaining, so we made a pact that any time one of us complained, we'd slap each other on the hand. What did we have to complain about? We didn't have medical issues like the kids from Riley. We don't have to work to make our lives normal. We don't have children that we have to worry about whether or not they'd see another day. No, we were just standing for 18 hours. We could handle that without complaining.
2. The other awesome dance was the RAVE at 1 am. It came at the perfect time...everyone was starting to get a little worn out, but not too exhausted. We just needed something exciting to keep us going. So, at 1 in the morning, everyone began to crowd together and suddenly we were trapped in a swarm of sweaty, smelly bodies. The techno rave music came on, and we were jumping and yelling and stepping on peoples' feet and elbowing them and running into them and people were crowd surfing and it was crazy. If it wasn't chaotic enough, suddenly, glow sticks began flying at us through the air in all directions, raining down on us and smacking us in the heads. There was a mad scramble to collect as many glow sticks as possible, so we were careful to pick them up, lest we get our hands trampled by jumping people. It lasted a good hour, and it was just the pick up we needed to keep going.
Food:
Awesome meals from:
Riley Stories:
Periodically throughout the night, Riley families came to the stage to tell their stories. It was always an emotional experience because many of them had a difficult time getting through the stories. Which was completely understandable.
I can't even imagine the pain theses families have gone through, but I admire their constant hope and determination. With every story, it seemed like a never-ending chain of problems, one after another after another. There was one family with 3 Riley stories: the mom and the 2 children. There was a young girl with Down Syndrome, who also had cancer. Each story was unique, but they all seemed so strong for all they had gone through. It's amazing how positive these people could be in the midst of such adversity.
For the dancers, we had our own struggles. Each time a Riley family came on stage, we had to take a knee. At first, it seemed like a blessing. Awesome, we get to take a load off our feet and not be technically sitting! ...Yeahhhh, no. After awhile, the kneeling became more taxing on our bodies than the standing was. My knees are feeling it today.
When we registered for the marathon, we each got a hospital bracelet with a child's name and age on it. That's who we were dancing for this weekend. We couldn't give up. We had to do this for them.
Awards:
Shreve actually won an award at PUDM for participation and whatnot. It was pretty exciting to be a part of that!
I hit walls around 4 and 8 in the morning. When there was only half an hour left, we did our final line dance, all 6 parts, all together. It was really neat.
Then came the big reveal of how much money we raised. There was a lot of anticipation. Since PUDM started in 2005, each year has raised a significantly higher amount of money for Riley. And after last year's $303,000 record, we were worried we wouldn't be able to make it. So when they did the big reveal and had everyone hold up each individual number on a giant piece of cardboard, we were dismayed to see that the number read, "$328,564.67." Sure, it was a huge increase from last year, but not what we were expecting. But wait, they said. That's not right. Suddenly, the girl holding the 3 sign left and it was replaced with a 5. $528,564.67 raised?! Incredible! There was an explosion of cheering and jumping and yelling and hugging and screaming and smiles and hooray we can finally sit down because it's 10 am.
The group walked back to Shreve about ready to pass out. And that's what we did when we got to our rooms. I went to bed around 10:30 (Megan was still asleep when I got back) and got up around 2 or so. My legs and feet and knees are so sore, but at least I haven't been feeling sick like some of the other people who danced. I'll probably be feeling it in my whole body tomorrow. Thank goodness I get to see my family in 2 days! I cannot WAIT!!!
Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause for this weekend. All the Riley families were so appreciative, and I am too. I'm so glad I got to be a part of this wonderful experience.
Pictures:
From my house in Normal, you can drive to Chicago and back 3 times, depending on traffic.
You can probably read the first few Harry Potter books (they're not that long).
You can work, eat, and sleep.
Eighteen hours is a lot of time, but it's not even an entire day. We waste a lot of time in our daily lives doing things that don't matter much.
How did I spend 18 hours of my life recently? By participating in something extraordinary with some incredible people.
Yes, I was a part of Purdue University Dance Marathon, and I stood for 18 hours for the kids that can't stand for themselves.
In my current state (less than 4 hours of sleep, sore, and lazy) I can't even think of the right adjectives to describe what it was like.
Exciting. Entertaining. Crazy. Fun. Inspiring. Emotional. Exhausting.
Worthwhile.
Despite the aching feet, the bruised knees, the sore calves, the sleepiness...it was all worth it.
So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, my PUDM 2012 experience.
Friday night was an early to bed kind of night. I had to rest up my body to prepare myself for the impending doom that was 18 hours of standing for PUDM the next day. When I woke up Saturday morning, I couldn't feel the nerves, but I knew they were there. When had I ever stood for more than a few hours? Waiting in line for a roller coaster at an amusement park is almost never more than 3 hours...this is America! We don't stand ever. We sit. And eat. But that's beside the point.
My floor decided that they wanted to play a volleyball game against the 6th floor guys at 2 (check-in for the marathon was at 3). I groaned, internally and externally. Yes, I wanted to play, but no, I didn't want to exert energy unnecessarily. But, nonetheless, I went to play. I had to pack beforehand since I wasn't going to have time to go back to Shreve before the marathon, which took place in the Dova. So I filled my backpack with the necessities. And when I say necessities, I mean I didn't use half the stuff I brought. Better to be safe than sorry!
We played a couple games of volleyball, but I sat out towards the end to conserve my strength. Then, before I knew it, we were on our way to sign in and then we were in the gym, surrounded on all sides by a horde of other dancers, all sitting around and trying to conserve their last bits of strength.
DeVito dancers before the dance!
Before the dance!
10 minute countdown.
9.
8.
7.
6.
5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
DANCE. (I can't help but to hear Ke$ha's voice from the beginning of her song "Blow" when I say this. If you don't know the song, don't worry about it; it's not important.)
I can't even tell you the order of events from those 18 hours. All sense of time was lost. There were no windows in the gym we were in, so the light couldn't direct us as to whether it was evening, night, early morning, or what. We tried as hard as we could not to look at our phones and watches. (A watched pot never boils; a watched clock leads to a never ending marathon.) But still we were constantly reminded of just how many hours were left.
The best I can give you is a haphazard list of the things that occurred during the night. I'll try to categorize them as best I can so your brain isn't as jumbled as mine is.
Entertainment:
To keep us all motivated, it was imperative that we had various entertainment acts throughout the night. These included the following:
- The Purdue GoldDusters
- The Silver Twins (Purdue twirlers)
- Another twirling team
- The Purdue Dance Team
- The co-ed Purdue dance team, Dance 2XS
- The IU acapella group, Another Round, formerly known as Straight No Chaser
- The South Six 5, a band of little boys who sounded like men. It was awesome.
- The Mirror Men-former Purdue students who made the "Boiler Up" music video
- The Riley Talent Show-Riley children performed different routines, like singing and dancing and wheelchair tricks, for our viewing pleasure.
- A hypnotist
- The sororities and fraternities had dance performances called Serenades which were really funny to watch
Dancing:
For a dance marathon, there was surprisingly not as much dancing as one would have expected. But there was a lot.
The two most important aspects of the marathon relating to dancing that you need to know are:
1. We learned a line dance throughout the entire 18 hours, in 6 different parts. Each part had a mash-up of around 8 songs, and each part was between 1 and 2 minutes long, for a total of around a 10 minute dance I'm thinking. Again, I lost all sense of time while I was there, so I honestly couldn't tell you. There will most likely be a YouTube video of this dance up in the near future, so I'll try to post it for you when it comes out.
In the beginning, it was exciting. A choreographed dance with around 1,200 people? How cool was that?? But we soon learned that it was not all that it was cracked up to be. The first 2 parts went well...we were full of energy and super pumped to start learning. By the fourth part, we didn't want anything to do with it. We had thought there were only 5 parts originally, but when we learned there were 6, we wanted to cry. But my friend Dana and I decided that part of our 18 hours of standing should be 18 hours without complaining, so we made a pact that any time one of us complained, we'd slap each other on the hand. What did we have to complain about? We didn't have medical issues like the kids from Riley. We don't have to work to make our lives normal. We don't have children that we have to worry about whether or not they'd see another day. No, we were just standing for 18 hours. We could handle that without complaining.
2. The other awesome dance was the RAVE at 1 am. It came at the perfect time...everyone was starting to get a little worn out, but not too exhausted. We just needed something exciting to keep us going. So, at 1 in the morning, everyone began to crowd together and suddenly we were trapped in a swarm of sweaty, smelly bodies. The techno rave music came on, and we were jumping and yelling and stepping on peoples' feet and elbowing them and running into them and people were crowd surfing and it was crazy. If it wasn't chaotic enough, suddenly, glow sticks began flying at us through the air in all directions, raining down on us and smacking us in the heads. There was a mad scramble to collect as many glow sticks as possible, so we were careful to pick them up, lest we get our hands trampled by jumping people. It lasted a good hour, and it was just the pick up we needed to keep going.
This was just a preview of NEON RAVE!!!
Neon raveeeeee
Food:
Awesome meals from:
- Hot Box pizza
- Panda Express
Panda Express panda!
- Qdoba chips and Jimmy Johns
Riley Stories:
Periodically throughout the night, Riley families came to the stage to tell their stories. It was always an emotional experience because many of them had a difficult time getting through the stories. Which was completely understandable.
I can't even imagine the pain theses families have gone through, but I admire their constant hope and determination. With every story, it seemed like a never-ending chain of problems, one after another after another. There was one family with 3 Riley stories: the mom and the 2 children. There was a young girl with Down Syndrome, who also had cancer. Each story was unique, but they all seemed so strong for all they had gone through. It's amazing how positive these people could be in the midst of such adversity.
For the dancers, we had our own struggles. Each time a Riley family came on stage, we had to take a knee. At first, it seemed like a blessing. Awesome, we get to take a load off our feet and not be technically sitting! ...Yeahhhh, no. After awhile, the kneeling became more taxing on our bodies than the standing was. My knees are feeling it today.
When we registered for the marathon, we each got a hospital bracelet with a child's name and age on it. That's who we were dancing for this weekend. We couldn't give up. We had to do this for them.
Awards:
Shreve actually won an award at PUDM for participation and whatnot. It was pretty exciting to be a part of that!
I hit walls around 4 and 8 in the morning. When there was only half an hour left, we did our final line dance, all 6 parts, all together. It was really neat.
Then came the big reveal of how much money we raised. There was a lot of anticipation. Since PUDM started in 2005, each year has raised a significantly higher amount of money for Riley. And after last year's $303,000 record, we were worried we wouldn't be able to make it. So when they did the big reveal and had everyone hold up each individual number on a giant piece of cardboard, we were dismayed to see that the number read, "$328,564.67." Sure, it was a huge increase from last year, but not what we were expecting. But wait, they said. That's not right. Suddenly, the girl holding the 3 sign left and it was replaced with a 5. $528,564.67 raised?! Incredible! There was an explosion of cheering and jumping and yelling and hugging and screaming and smiles and hooray we can finally sit down because it's 10 am.
The group walked back to Shreve about ready to pass out. And that's what we did when we got to our rooms. I went to bed around 10:30 (Megan was still asleep when I got back) and got up around 2 or so. My legs and feet and knees are so sore, but at least I haven't been feeling sick like some of the other people who danced. I'll probably be feeling it in my whole body tomorrow. Thank goodness I get to see my family in 2 days! I cannot WAIT!!!
Thank you to everyone who donated to the cause for this weekend. All the Riley families were so appreciative, and I am too. I'm so glad I got to be a part of this wonderful experience.
Pictures:
The Fantastic Delta Fourth team
Rock on.
...And again.
"We're bringing fanny packs back, yeah yeah." -Justin Timberlake
Alyssa
3 hours in...
6 hours...
9 hours...halfway point!
12 hours...
15 hours...
18 hours! We did it!
Dana, Michael, and I.
HAHAHA this pic is ridiculous.
Zeen!
During Dancer Games, we played tug-o-war...and snapped the rope in half. Guess we don't know our own strength! Someone fell on top of Hannah in the process and she hurt her ankle and had to sit out the rest of the marathon :(
Purdue Pete as a lumberjack?
Friday, November 16, 2012
It Wouldn't Be a Blog Post if I Didn't Mention Food.
Picture this:
A cold, fall day. Almost all the leaves have fallen off the trees, and it's only a week before Thanksgiving. Students are restless for Thanksgiving break: it's apparent from the fact that there are more and more "missing class from sleeping in" occurrences. No, not from me, don't worry.
Anyways.
You're walking back from the Dova and across the street you see a huge line of people spilling out the doors of Wiley dinning court, anticipation plain on their faces. As you turn the corner and continue down the street, you join your friend and make your way to Hillenbrand dinning court. You're relieved that there isn't a huge line here, but you're taken aback when you walk in the doors to find--you guessed it--a line. The line slowly but surely creeps forward until you finally swipe in and find yourself standing in a big, dimly-lit room. Waiting for you were none other than more lines. So you make yourself over to one of the lines and join the horde of people. Suddenly, you find yourself staring directly at a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, ham, greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls with honey butter, corn, stuffing...not to mention pumpkin pie, dutch apple pie, pecan pie bars, and pumpkin bread!
Such was my view tonight when I experienced my first Thanksgiving dinner at Purdue. They go all out. And I ate nearly everything. But it's okay, because if you noticed from my first sentence above, I worked out right before :)
\
It was so spectacular. I ate like a king. Or queen. Or a pilgrim. Point is, I love food. But it still doesn't compare to Thanksgiving with my family.
Speaking of which...
T-minus 5 days until I get to see my family and friends again! I can't wait! Except that I'll be holed up most of the time working on my 4 projects that are due the week I get back...yay...
In other news, guess who's the new Vice-President of Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA...the club I went to Indy with last weekend)??? You guessed it--yours truly!! Another girl on my floor is the President, and another girl on my floor is the Secretary! Since all four of the officers are going to be student teaching next semester, they can't be officers, so we have to take over for them. Except we've literally been here for one semester and don't know a single thing about anything really. But yay!! We were all so excited when we found out.
Have you ever wanted to dance for 18 hours straight? Wellllll, guess who's doing that this weekend? Again, yours truly. Purdue University Dance Marathon starts on Saturday at 4! It's a tad nerve-racking (18 hours without sitting? my feet might fall off!). But it's for a good cause, so it should be totally worth it. I'm just going to get 0 work done! I'll have to work my butt of tomorrow night to get some stuff done. Anywho, I suppose I should get to bed...I never seem to be able to get enough sleep!
Good night my friends! Thank you all for reading my blog! Last count I had 982 views...I'll hit 1,000 by the end of the week I bet. You guys are awesome :)
A cold, fall day. Almost all the leaves have fallen off the trees, and it's only a week before Thanksgiving. Students are restless for Thanksgiving break: it's apparent from the fact that there are more and more "missing class from sleeping in" occurrences. No, not from me, don't worry.
Anyways.
You're walking back from the Dova and across the street you see a huge line of people spilling out the doors of Wiley dinning court, anticipation plain on their faces. As you turn the corner and continue down the street, you join your friend and make your way to Hillenbrand dinning court. You're relieved that there isn't a huge line here, but you're taken aback when you walk in the doors to find--you guessed it--a line. The line slowly but surely creeps forward until you finally swipe in and find yourself standing in a big, dimly-lit room. Waiting for you were none other than more lines. So you make yourself over to one of the lines and join the horde of people. Suddenly, you find yourself staring directly at a Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, ham, greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, rolls with honey butter, corn, stuffing...not to mention pumpkin pie, dutch apple pie, pecan pie bars, and pumpkin bread!
Such was my view tonight when I experienced my first Thanksgiving dinner at Purdue. They go all out. And I ate nearly everything. But it's okay, because if you noticed from my first sentence above, I worked out right before :)
\
Don't worry, the other tray was my friend's, not mine :)
It was so spectacular. I ate like a king. Or queen. Or a pilgrim. Point is, I love food. But it still doesn't compare to Thanksgiving with my family.
Speaking of which...
T-minus 5 days until I get to see my family and friends again! I can't wait! Except that I'll be holed up most of the time working on my 4 projects that are due the week I get back...yay...
In other news, guess who's the new Vice-President of Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA...the club I went to Indy with last weekend)??? You guessed it--yours truly!! Another girl on my floor is the President, and another girl on my floor is the Secretary! Since all four of the officers are going to be student teaching next semester, they can't be officers, so we have to take over for them. Except we've literally been here for one semester and don't know a single thing about anything really. But yay!! We were all so excited when we found out.
Have you ever wanted to dance for 18 hours straight? Wellllll, guess who's doing that this weekend? Again, yours truly. Purdue University Dance Marathon starts on Saturday at 4! It's a tad nerve-racking (18 hours without sitting? my feet might fall off!). But it's for a good cause, so it should be totally worth it. I'm just going to get 0 work done! I'll have to work my butt of tomorrow night to get some stuff done. Anywho, I suppose I should get to bed...I never seem to be able to get enough sleep!
Good night my friends! Thank you all for reading my blog! Last count I had 982 views...I'll hit 1,000 by the end of the week I bet. You guys are awesome :)
Monday, November 12, 2012
It's A Dancing Kind of Weekend.
Just another weekend at Purdue. But we'll start with Thursday.
Thursday:
After class, I had a Teach Learning Community event where I was in a group with a couple other girls and we had to develop a math lesson (blech) about fractions (double blech). The kids from the College Mentors for Kids program came and we got to teach them the lesson and play an online game with them. We went through the lesson a couple different times with different groups of kids. It was a good experience for learning what teaching in a classroom will really be like.
It was Jess's birthdayyyyy!! A bunch of us went to eat dinner together to celebrate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESS!!!
Friday:
Busy day! Class, meeting with my professor, and tutoring. Right after tutoring, (and I mean right after-I got picked up from the jr. high and I was literally standing outside the school as if I was the student needing to be picked up from school. Talk about a demotion of status in society) we left for Indianapolis for an Indiana Student Education Association (ISEA) conference with the Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA). Acronyms abound! We arrived at the hotel around 5:30 after a significantly awkward hour and a half car ride. (It was me, a girl from one of my classes, a senior who drove us who was really nice, and a freshman guy who was insanely quiet and 1 of only 2 guys that came to the conference). I ended up falling asleep in the car. That's how much of a blast it was. We didn't have time to grab anything to eat, so the girl who drove us, Liz, had her dad, who lived nearby, run to Hardee's and grab us burgers and fries. Thank goodness-we were famished! It was really nice of both of them. We all looked pretty spiffy in our teal club t-shirts. The night began with a bunch of speakers and ended with a dance party!! The good news: we love dance parties. The bad news: since it was an education conference, there were a grand total of about 10 guys. And they weren't cute. Boo. But it was still fun and I went crazy, especially when they played the song I requested: "Yeah" by Usher. Always a classic. I stayed in a room with 2 girls from my floor and the girl I rode up with. We crashed that night.
Saturday:
The next day we had to dress up in our teacher clothes (can't wait for student teaching and I get to go on a shopping spree for teacher clothes!) and we had a nice breakfast. We had some breakout sessions too to learn about different things, such as "What to expect your first year of teaching" and "How to land your first job" and things along that nature. Right during our final session, the fire alarms go off. "Ha ha ha," said everyone. "Fire drills for teachers." We evacuated with no panic and congregated outside the hotel, wondering what the heck was going on. After awhile of standing around not knowing what was happening, someone decided, hey, it's a good idea to go back inside a building that the fire alarms just went off in. So we did. And we were promptly shooed back outside because apparently there was smoke on the first floor. Nobody was really worried about the building. They were just worried about whether or not we'd get lunch. Then we turned it into a picture event and we took pics by the fire trucks that had since arrived. Silly teachers.
We did end up having lunch and some more speakers and then we left. Again, I fell asleep in the car. When we got back, I was so tired and lazy that I didn't even make it to my room. I dropped all my stuff into Jess and Alyssa's room and just collapsed to the floor. We decided that we wanted to see Brooke in her first ballroom dance competition through, so at 5:00 the three of us and Dana trekked to the Union to see her dance with our friend Michael from the 4th floor. They did so well! They got 2nd, 3rd, and 2 4th place ribbons out of 70+ couples in the newcomer division! It was really fun to watch, and the expert dancers were so cool too. It was just a fun time and we cheered really loudly for them.
You'd think I'd be danced out by now, but you'd be wrong. There was a Neon Rave at Earhart that night, so we hit that up in our neon get-ups, aka I wore a t-shirt and athletic shorts because I was not feeling looking good. We went CRAY. It was a blast and there were a ton of 4th floor peeps there. Some of the music sucked, but overall it was fun. They even had mocktails...they were freakin' delicious! Piña Coladas and Pomegranate Spritzers? Keep 'em coming. I had 3, aww yeahhh. But let me emphasize the MOCK in mocktails.
Afterwards, a guy from the 4th floor, Nathan, and I just chatted 'til 3:30 in the morning. No, do not jump to conclusions. We are not a thing. Chill out.
Sunday:
Lazy Sunday, wake up in the late afternoon...Saturday Night Live reference right hurrr. I got up around 10:30 and had my usual Hilly brunch with MYO pancakes and such. Went to the library to study for a few hours. Worked out. Did P90X abs with Christian. Yadda yadda yadda. Nothing special.
Anyways, gotta finish my laundry (there's nobody down here, holla at yo' girl). Talk lataaa'.
Thursday:
After class, I had a Teach Learning Community event where I was in a group with a couple other girls and we had to develop a math lesson (blech) about fractions (double blech). The kids from the College Mentors for Kids program came and we got to teach them the lesson and play an online game with them. We went through the lesson a couple different times with different groups of kids. It was a good experience for learning what teaching in a classroom will really be like.
It was Jess's birthdayyyyy!! A bunch of us went to eat dinner together to celebrate. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESS!!!
Friday:
Busy day! Class, meeting with my professor, and tutoring. Right after tutoring, (and I mean right after-I got picked up from the jr. high and I was literally standing outside the school as if I was the student needing to be picked up from school. Talk about a demotion of status in society) we left for Indianapolis for an Indiana Student Education Association (ISEA) conference with the Purdue Student Education Association (PSEA). Acronyms abound! We arrived at the hotel around 5:30 after a significantly awkward hour and a half car ride. (It was me, a girl from one of my classes, a senior who drove us who was really nice, and a freshman guy who was insanely quiet and 1 of only 2 guys that came to the conference). I ended up falling asleep in the car. That's how much of a blast it was. We didn't have time to grab anything to eat, so the girl who drove us, Liz, had her dad, who lived nearby, run to Hardee's and grab us burgers and fries. Thank goodness-we were famished! It was really nice of both of them. We all looked pretty spiffy in our teal club t-shirts. The night began with a bunch of speakers and ended with a dance party!! The good news: we love dance parties. The bad news: since it was an education conference, there were a grand total of about 10 guys. And they weren't cute. Boo. But it was still fun and I went crazy, especially when they played the song I requested: "Yeah" by Usher. Always a classic. I stayed in a room with 2 girls from my floor and the girl I rode up with. We crashed that night.
Purdue PSEA
Roomie pic!
Saturday:
The next day we had to dress up in our teacher clothes (can't wait for student teaching and I get to go on a shopping spree for teacher clothes!) and we had a nice breakfast. We had some breakout sessions too to learn about different things, such as "What to expect your first year of teaching" and "How to land your first job" and things along that nature. Right during our final session, the fire alarms go off. "Ha ha ha," said everyone. "Fire drills for teachers." We evacuated with no panic and congregated outside the hotel, wondering what the heck was going on. After awhile of standing around not knowing what was happening, someone decided, hey, it's a good idea to go back inside a building that the fire alarms just went off in. So we did. And we were promptly shooed back outside because apparently there was smoke on the first floor. Nobody was really worried about the building. They were just worried about whether or not we'd get lunch. Then we turned it into a picture event and we took pics by the fire trucks that had since arrived. Silly teachers.
In our teacher outfits.
Firetruck
Conference peeps
We did end up having lunch and some more speakers and then we left. Again, I fell asleep in the car. When we got back, I was so tired and lazy that I didn't even make it to my room. I dropped all my stuff into Jess and Alyssa's room and just collapsed to the floor. We decided that we wanted to see Brooke in her first ballroom dance competition through, so at 5:00 the three of us and Dana trekked to the Union to see her dance with our friend Michael from the 4th floor. They did so well! They got 2nd, 3rd, and 2 4th place ribbons out of 70+ couples in the newcomer division! It was really fun to watch, and the expert dancers were so cool too. It was just a fun time and we cheered really loudly for them.
The Dancing Queen!
Michael!!
Me and the girls
You'd think I'd be danced out by now, but you'd be wrong. There was a Neon Rave at Earhart that night, so we hit that up in our neon get-ups, aka I wore a t-shirt and athletic shorts because I was not feeling looking good. We went CRAY. It was a blast and there were a ton of 4th floor peeps there. Some of the music sucked, but overall it was fun. They even had mocktails...they were freakin' delicious! Piña Coladas and Pomegranate Spritzers? Keep 'em coming. I had 3, aww yeahhh. But let me emphasize the MOCK in mocktails.
Afterwards, a guy from the 4th floor, Nathan, and I just chatted 'til 3:30 in the morning. No, do not jump to conclusions. We are not a thing. Chill out.
Sunday:
Lazy Sunday, wake up in the late afternoon...Saturday Night Live reference right hurrr. I got up around 10:30 and had my usual Hilly brunch with MYO pancakes and such. Went to the library to study for a few hours. Worked out. Did P90X abs with Christian. Yadda yadda yadda. Nothing special.
Anyways, gotta finish my laundry (there's nobody down here, holla at yo' girl). Talk lataaa'.
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