It's Too Easy.

It's too easy.

Much too easy.

Somehow, I have already settled back into the routine of school, and it's only been a week since classes have started.

I'm pretty sure these were my thoughts this time last year, when everything was new and cool:

Can't wait for my next class!

How the heck do I buy textbooks?  Someone come with me so I don't look stupid.

Living with a stranger is really awkward...

Holy cow, look at all the food I can eat at every meal!

Cool, college is like a constant sleepover; all my friends live right down the hall!

Hey, look at that cute guy. *Practices wink and fails miserably

It takes 15 minutes to get to class?  Ugh, that's so far!

Need to straighten my hair and put on makeup and dress nice for the first week!

Woohoo, Syllabus Week!  No homework!

Oh my gosh, where's my map?  I think I'm already lost.

The dramatic difference for this year:

Ugh, I have to go to class.

Textbooks cost $500 this semester?! I don't have that kind of money, college.

I love my roommate!

I'm already bored of the dining court.

All of my friends are living off-campus this year :(

None of these guys are attractive.

Can totally make it to class in 10. #rolloutofbedandgo

How many days in a row is acceptable to wear Nike shorts and a t-shirt?

I already have to read 4 chapter ones in textbooks...Syllabus Week is supposed to be easy.

Oh my gosh, where's my map?  I think I'm already lost. (Some things will never change)

Many of us have marveled over the maturity difference from the first year of college to the second.  You honestly learn so much the first year, both about college and yourself.

But, in case you were wondering, here's what went down the first week of sophomore year. (By the way, I'm pretty sure the more in sophomore indicates more homework.)

The week was, (how should I put this? boring? dry? monotonous? unimpressive?) average.  Nothing particularly bad happened, but nothing particularly good happened either.  My theory?  After the excitement and unpredictability of BGR, how could a week of class compare?  I'm sure for the freshmen, it was great.  So many new people!  So many different professors!  So many new buildings!  Such an adventure!  My life is beginning!  Yay college!

And as I write those "freshmen thoughts," I laugh at myself (in my head of course; Jess would be slightly concerned if I just burst out laughing as I'm typing), because I was the same way, exactly a year ago.  But I guess the novelty has worn off, and instead, I know what to expect from class.

Kasey Kaisershot's Quick Notes on Sophomore Year Classes

EDPS 23500: Learning and Motivation

• Dr. Yough (pronounced Yo, like how cool is that?) is as legit as his name.  He has lot's of energy and seems pretty cool...so far.
• This class is straight up educational psych, and a lot of it is common sense, but I think I'll be able to learn a lot of helpful things teacher-wise.

EDPS 26500: The Inclusive Classroom

• Honestly don't even know my professor's name.  Pretty sure she didn't introduce herself.  She's this short woman with really long, dark hair that she pulls back into a ponytail.  She's really dry and has a snarky sense of sarcasm, but it's not funny.  It's almost demeaning.  And let's talk about the lack of inflection in her voice.  
• What's worse?  We're in the same classroom as the class above, and directly after.  So if our prof. didn't make me look forward to the class, then the fact that we're stuck in the same seats with the same people for 2 hours does it.
• The class itself focuses on students with special needs in the classroom, which will actually be really beneficial.  Even though I'm not a Special Education major, I'll surely encounter students with special needs in my classroom, so I'm glad to be learning about ways to work with those students so they have a meaningful learning experience.

EDST 20000: History and Philosophy of Education

• Yeah, no.
• Boring.
• Both the lecture teacher and recitation teacher are TAs, not even professors.
• Oh well, at least they're cool.
• The class is self-explanatory based on it's name

HIST 10500: Survey of Global History

• The course is required, but perhaps it will be interesting
• I mean, we've talked about the Bubonic Plague, so that's interesting at least.
• My professor is really awesome. I mean, her name is Tithi Bhattacharya.  That's pretty cool.  She's really passionate, which is good.  That means I won't fall asleep during class!

HONR 19900: McDonaldization of Society

• This class seems quite interesting.  We talk about how the principles that McDonald's functions on (efficiency, control, predictability, and calculability) are permeating almost all aspects of society.
• What does this have to do with education?  On the surface, nothing.  It's not a required course for the major, but rather an honors course that's offered here.  But education is actually a McDonaldized subject we discuss!  
• The professor, Dr. La Lopa, is pretty cool, too.  He likes to provoke us to make us discuss things.

EDCI 32500: Literacy in the Primary Classroom

• We basically learn how kids read and write and how to teach them.  So far, it's a pretty enjoyable class since I love reading and writing and want my students to love it and excel at it too!
• My professor is so cool.  Why?  She used to be a first grade teacher, and you can tell.  Some people would say, "I don't want to be treated like a first grader in a college class!"   But the way she doesn't isn't demeaning in the least.  Instead, it's her way of modeling the appropriate actions to take and words to use when in a classroom, so it's cool.  Plus, who doesn't love to have children's picture books read out loud to them in class just for the heck of it?!

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is what my semester will consist of.  I'm pretty excited for the content of most, but unfortunately, the way I will be learning that content is by reading it in the textbooks.  Because here's how many of the classes are set up:

Read the chapter from the textbook, then we'll take a quiz on what you read, and then I'm going to lecture you on the exact same thing that you already read about, with no extra information and sometimes with exact wording from the textbook.  Not ideal if you ask me. But whatever, I'll suck it up.  Or complain on my blog on the daily.  Whichever.

Some other information that you may or may not want to know but that I'm going to tell you anyway:

• I'm done with math classes...FOREVER!!  I mentioned that I took a credit exam last week, and I found out that I passed and don't have to take the last math class required for my major.  Hallelujah, because I hate geometry.
• I got my classroom assignment for my Block II class.  This is the classroom I'll be visiting for 2 hours each week to work with the teachers and the students so I can practice what I've been learning in classes.  My assignment: Kindergarten at Wea Ridge Elementary, about 20 minutes away.  My first thought?  Oh no.  I don't want to work with kindergarteners!  I want to work with the older students, because that's who I want to teach when I'm older!  But I think it'll be a good experience to work with the little guys, and I'm sure I'll come away with lots of stories :)
• On Wednesdays for the rest of the semester, I'll be going to Happy Hollow Elementary to tutor for an hour and a half!  The school has a remediation program to help students with subjects/homework they're struggling with, so I get to volunteer to help them out, which will be very rewarding!
• On Thursday night, I attended the Big Gathering for the leadership conference I'll be attending next weekend.  This was essentially a chance to meet everyone who's going on the retreat and to meet our small groups.  There were actually a ton of girls from the fourth floor last year who are going on this retreat!  I'm pretty excited about it.  We also had to take this quiz thing that assessed our strengths as leaders.  Mine? Empathy, Maximizer, Developer, Achiever, and Positivity.  Also on Thursday night, the fire alarms started going off like crazy, and then we realized it was a fire drill.  So, we all filed out of Shreve a little grumpily, but all of a sudden, we saw a ton of guys run up and they started serenading us.  What???  It was the Glee Club, capitalizing on this opportunity to spread their word about the free show they were having the next night to a bunch of girls who a) love getting serenaded and b) had nothing else to do but listen since we were forced outside.  It was great.
• Friday was busy!  I got to see my friend Annie's apartment and we got Den Pops together.  Also, we had fancy floor dinner where we all dressed up, and then we went to the Glee Club's First-Nighter, which is their opening show, and it was free!  It was really good, and let's be honest, who doesn't want to watch a bunch of attractive guys in bow ties singing to you?  After that, some of us went to Fairway for their first party of the year.  Theme?  PAINT PARTY!!  It was a blast!  We were all outside wearing white and having pant thrown, squirted, and sprayed at us.  We were covered!  It was so much fun though.  We danced like crazy and had a blast.  Me at a dance party?  Who woulda thought?  #sarcasm

Alright, time for me to shut my mouth.  Enjoy this week, everyone!

Photos, yo.

PAINT PARTYYY

The aftermath

Really dark, but Glee Club serenade!!

More Glee Club serenade

Crossing the tracks from BGR...the freshman are now officially Boilermakers!

I'm Baaaaackkkkkk.

Hello hello hello!

After a long summer hiatus, I am back at Purdue, and therefore, back to my blog.  Let's play a quick minute of catch-up:

This summer I babysat 4 awesome kids, I visited my friend Caileigh at Mizzou, spent 4th of July weekend in Colorado with Christian, went to 6 Flags with the fam, went to a Maroon 5/Kelly Clarkson concert with Annie, hung out with my friends and family, and basically just watched the summer fly by before my eyes.  But guess what?  I'm back at Purdue (and have been for over a week), and there's already so much to recap.  Let's dive in.

Weds. Aug. 7:

Move in day!  I spent the entire night before running around and trying to find everything I needed to pack for school.  Little did I know that when I arrived at Purdue, I'd be missing several of the items I deemed necessities.  Oops.  Guess that's what I get for last minute packing.

We hit the road at 8 am with dad driving his car and me driving mine since I was going to keep it at school.  Somehow, we had managed to stuff a futon, a huge refrigerator, a TV, a microwave, a carpet, 2 sets of plastic drawers, 3 plastic bins, and other miscellaneous items in those 2 cars.  It was weird when we arrived because it was so quiet in Shreve!  Compared to last year where it was constantly filled with noise, it was silent.  But that would all change when the new students moved in on the weekend.

Jess, my roomie, arrived soon after us, so we all unpacked and unloaded our stuff and set up the room.  I have to say, I really like it!  There's so much room for activities! (Step Brothers reference).  We all went out to lunch and then to WalMart to pick up some of the stuff I forgot about.  Then, a little later, my parents left and I actually didn't cry like I did this time last year.  I think it's just a little bit easier this year.

Back in Shreve with Jess!

Thurs. Aug. 8/Fri. Aug. 9

Training days!  As Team Leaders (TLs) for our freshman orientation program, Boiler Gold Rush (BGR), we had to do a lot of training things to get prepared to meet our new students.  We woke up early and went to bed late every night, but it was a good time spending with my group and Supervisors. 

What did we do between training sessions? FOUNTAIN RUNS!

XOXO Shrevehart

Shey bay bay

My awesome opossum group: Keith, Lucas, me, and Shey

Sat. Aug 10/Sun. Aug. 11

Move-in days!  All the new students moved into Shreve these days, so it was our responsibility as TLs to help them move in.  If they lived on floors 1-4, we had to haul all their crap, including fridges, up the stairs.  If they lived on floors 5-8, we were able to take the elevator, thank goodness.  We worked from 8 am to 4 pm these days, and although everyone was in a constant state of exhaustion, it was really fun!  Everyone always had a positive attitude, and we also had different cheers for different items we had to move in.  (We saw a mini fridge in the trunk of the car?  "Don't drop that mini fridge, ayyy!  Don't drop that mini fridge.  Don't drop that mini fridge, ayyy!  Don't drop that mini fridge"  And if you weren't sure, this chant was to the tune of "Don't Drop That Thun Thun Thun.")  We also had to decorate the Shreve lobby with our hall team's theme, Kids At Heart in preparation for the new students' arrival.

Saturday night was the Block Party where we all went to Slayter Hill to hang out together.  Does anyone remember my post about this last year?  All the new students who moved in on Saturday, plus the TLs, gathered on Slayter Hill to listen to music and play games and just start to get to know each other.  In short: HUGE AWKWARD FEST.  There are so many people around and nobody knows each other, so nobody knows what the heck to do.  As TLs, we tried to engage the new students and dance with them and play games with them.  We went around introducing ourselves and being the protocol TL crazy.  I felt for those new students, because just a year ago, I was in the same awkward position they were.  But as a TL, you don't even have to be awkward because you actually have friends at school and you know what's going on.

Sunday night was when we got to meet our teams!  I was blessed with 14 awesome new students: Aaron, Justice, Brachston, Kathryn, Linh, Zeynep, Neil, Cody, Jesse, Abby, Danny, Olivia, Nick, and Rachel.  Everyone was really shy and quiet at first (which was totally understandable), so I had to kinda be crazy so they knew they could be comfortable here.  We played a few name/get to know you games and talked about the plan for the week.  At 5:30 we got dinner at the Boiler Bash, and then we went to Elliot Music Hall for the New Student Induction Opening Ceremonies.  We listened to Mitch Daniels, the president, speak, as well as a TL and our keynote speaker, Josh Shipp, who was really funny.  We also did shout outs, which, if you remember from last year, is a giant scripted cheer that the entire hall team does to earn points towards the interhall showdown!  I was in Shrevehart again, which is comprised of the halls Shreve and Earhart.  There is also WCW (Wiley, Cary Quad, and Windsor), HOT (Hilltop, Owen, Tarkington), McHarrison (McCutcheon and Harrison), and OhMT.  

Really awful picture, but our picture from Honduras was up on the big screen at Elliot!

Mon. Aug. 12

Breakfast was early at 6:30 am (ugh).  It was an early start to a busy day!  Some of us taught our new students the Common Bond Dance, which was a dance to the song "Good Time" by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson.  By the end of the week, everyone knew the dance and we all did it in Elliot together!  

Then, the entire BGR ensemble paraded to our football stadium, Ross Ade, for a Boiler Up rally where we got to meet some of the athletic coaches and learn some cheers.  We also all got a free t-shirt and went onto the football field to create a giant block P.  Although everyone was confused the entire time and nobody knew where to stand, we somehow pulled it off and it looked pretty legit!

So I mean it kind of worked...

On da field

We had lunch and then went on a Traditions Walk where we went to all the places on campus that had a significant meaning, such as the Clapping Circles, the Hello Walk, the Neil Armstrong statue and the Purdue University arch, as well as some of the important fountains.  The students also got to "cross the tracks," where they all jump over the set of railroad tracks on campus, signifying their start of a relationship at Purdue.  After graduation, everyone jumps across the tracks in the opposite direction.  

Traditions walk!

Engineering fountain

We had shout out practice and then we went to Elliot for our session.  Today's session was FreeZone, which is really important to Purdue.  Basically, FreeZone is a mindset that you have where you don't judge people when you first meet them, and you recognize that everyone has a story that you should learn.  It's actually a really cool concept.  So, the students got to learn about FreeZone, watch the famous FreeZone skit, and we did a FreeZone REACTION, where we all sit in a circle and answer some prompted questions.

Dinner was next, and then we got to see the Mentalist, Christ Carter.  Oh. My. Gosh.  This guy was crazy.  He did a bunch of card tricks where he was able to know what card people picked from a deck based on how they reacted when he asked them different questions.  He also did this insane thing where he had people write information about themselves on a notecard and questions about their friends in the audience, and then blindfolded himself several times, including with duct tape.  However, he was able to pick people out of the audience based on the cards and answer the questions that they asked about their friends.  It was really funny because he embarrassed a lot of people!

UnionFest was afterwards, which was basically a giant party in the Union.  People could make crafts like waxed hands, dance in the room with a DJ (talk about a rager though), or sing karaoke.  There was a lot to do!

Tues. Aug 13

We got "late" breakfast at 7:30, then went on a Den Pop run afterwards since we had some free time.  For those of  you who don't know what a Den Pop is: the Discount Den is a little store on campus that sells different things like t-shirts and such.  However, they are also known for their Den Pops, which is just soda, but they have like every flavor.  There are different concocted recipes hanging on the wall that people have created, so the tradition is to make one of these concoctions for your 60 cent Den Pop.  It's also tradition that during BGR, the TL buys all their new students a Den Pop, so I did :)  Many of us got the BGR Den Pop, which is blue Powerade (B), Mountain Dew (G), and Red Cream Soda (R).  We had shoutout practice, went to a business fair (which is essentially where businesses around the Greater Lafayette area set up a table to let new students know about them, but the new students, and let's be honest, TLs, only like it for the awesome free stuff that gets handed out), and went to lunch.  Our Elliot session included wellness jeopardy and talks from the police and fire chiefs.  It was slightly boring, and many of us started falling asleep.  Oops.

Their first Den Pop!

At shoutout practice

Crazy TLs

After our REACTION, we had some free time.  What better way to spend free time than by going on a traditional FOUNTAIN RUN?!  I lead my group and Jess's group on the fountain run (from Engineering fountain, drink out of all 4 lion heads at the Lion fountain, jump in the John Purdue fountain, and then the Loeb fountain), and everyone had a lot of fun!  Fountain runs are a HUGE tradition at Purdue.  Who knows why...but it's a blast!

Their first fountain run!

After dinner, we had a program which was Late Night with Rec Sports.  The CoRec had a bunch of different activities for the new students to participate in.  I did some Zumba and tried my hand at learning to breakdance.  Yeahh....no.  Not pretty.  I also went to the Target Run event with Jess's group and won a $25 giftcard!  Huzzah!

Weds. Aug 14

Last day of BGR!  So exhausted at this point.  We had early breakfast again, which only half the group showed up for, but that was still a lot by anyone's standards.  I took some students on a mini tour of the HSSE library here, and showed them the creepy back room, so we had fun exploring.  There was also a scavenger hunt going on, so my group decided they wanted to be competitive and complete the 5 scavenger hunt clues around campus.  We actually found all 5 locations!  I was really proud of them for figuring it all out!  

The last scavenger hunt spot!

Awkward family photo

We then had the Academic Picnic where everyone separated into their individual schools and met with advisors and other students in their specific colleges.  There was another resource fair, and then we had an academic session in Elliot, where, again, I almost fell asleep.  After a REACTION and dinner and shoutout practice, we had the Send Off Ceremonies in Elliot.  The mayors of West LaFiesta (West Lafayette) and Lafayette spoke, we had our final shoutouts, and the Dating Doctor, David Coleman, spoke.  He's hilarious, and always a hit year after year.  The Supervisors did their tribute dances, which were really funny.  We also did a ton of dancing!  The balconies were shaking in Elliot when everyone did the Common Bond Dance together, and when everyone was dancing to "All The Way Turned Up."  It was crazy how much energy was in one room!  Absolutely amazing!  And then, the interhall showdown results were revealed: SHREVEHART WON FIRST PLACE!!!  There was so much screaming and cheering and I lost my voice and it was awesome!  Everyone was so excited!  We had our final REACTION after that, and I was just so happy because my whole group was in a good mood and was getting along and laughing together.  They all started calling me Momma Goat (because keynote speaker, Josh Shipp, thinks it's funny to end random sentences with "...and a goat"") and they were my little wombats (because I played this wombat mind game with them and refused to tell them the trick until the last day of BGR).  

@ Elliot on our last day :(

When I got back to Shreve, all the TLs were celebrating together for our success and for winning, and we had to tear down decorations.  At around 12:30, my group all signed my minion Boiler Beacon, and we had a wristband cutting ceremony because they no longer needed their wristbands to eat in the dining court.  We stood in a circle saying "Mmm chu, mmm chu, mmm chu" and saying "Cutty cutty, cutty cutty" when chopping their wristbands off.  (There's an ice breaker game we play in BGR called "Bunny Bunny" which we modeled this voodoo wristband cutting after).  Overall, it was just an amazing week!

The awesome buddy groups

My signed minion!

Before the wristband ceremony...

...and after!

Thurs. Aug. 15.

I slept late to get caught up on some sleep, and just caught up on other stuff today that I really needed to do.

Fri. Aug. 16.

I had to get up early again today because I had to take a credit exam for MA139.  If I pass this, I'll be done with math classes FOREVER!  Woot!

I then had my debut as a College of Education Ambassador!  I got my official polo and nametag (which I have been wanting since essentially the first day I set foot on Purdue's campus) and helped give tours of the Technology Resource Center (the College of Education's baby library) to all the new Education students.  It was pretty exciting!  I also got to see Laura and Kayla (friends from Honduras) and we went to Shreve's karaoke night!  It was good to catch up with them all.

College of Education Ambassadors, yo!

Okay, this post is extremely long-winded.  I know I wasn't able to get into much more than the surface level details, but there will be more stuff throughout the year.

SO HAPPY TO BE BACK!!