Academic Days, Starry Nights, and Togas.

What the heck is she talking about?  These post titles are getting weirder and weirder...

Hey!  I can hear you, you know...
Besides, I don't have to explain myself to you.  It makes sense in my head.

But I'll explain anyways.

As far as academic days go...
Classes are getting...well...classy.  And I don't mean classy as in fancy.  I mean classy as in it's not so easy anymore, because the first round of exams hit, and a pattern I've noticed in school is that up until the first round of exams, you can kind of breeze by.  But, as soon as that first exam hits, you have to be on your toes for the rest of the semester because it's really easy to fall behind on school work.  So, the first round hit...

...me right in the face.

Okay, it wasn't that bad.  But I did have 3 of them last week, Tuesday through Thursday, plus a project due on Friday, so it wasn't the most fun week I've ever had.  They weren't too difficult though, which was a plus.

Also, my kindergartners are crazy.  They're cute and fun, but when they start dropping their water bottles and they shatter and they start putting their hands in the stamp pads and getting ink everywhere, well...let's just say my patience wears thin.  I understand that they're young and are learning, but I just know that kindergarten isn't for me.  However, it is cool that a lot of the things my students are doing in class correlate to my children's literacy class, so I like being able to transfer what I learn in my class to their class.

Speaking of that class...

We've been discussing the importance of "language experience," a term that refers to giving students exposure to language if they haven't really had it before.  One way to do this is to have a student tell you a story and you as the teacher write it down and create a little book for them to illustrate, and then they can work on reading it.  Well, my professor is the type of woman who teaches us as if we are first graders since she used to be a first grade teacher.  (It's not in a demeaning way, but rather a way to model how we should act in a first grade classroom).  So, she wanted to show the class and example of how to do this.  She knew about my obsession with cats, so she had me be the example and had me tell her about my cat, Smokey, so she could write it down.  I then had to color it and everything, as if I was in first grade.  It was so funny!

As far as Starry Nights go...

Every year, one of the church organizations at Purdue puts on a super hipster art and music festival called Starry Night.  It reminds me a little of the Sugar Creek Arts Festival in Normal, but this one's at night.  The gist is that local artists set up little stands and sell the things they've created, and also some hipster bands play.  Oh, and the Starry Night name is in part because, well, it's at night, but also because they have strings of Christmas lights above it all, making it look really cool and hipster-y.  Jess, Dana, Kristen, and I went together to check it out and listen to the bands (which were pretty good!) and observe the crafts.  It was a good time if you ask me.  And even if you don't ask me, it was still a good time.

On our walk back to Shreve, we saw some guys slack-lining.  Basically, this is a tight-rope type thing that is tied between two trees and you try to walk across it.  Well, it's been on my mental bucket list to try this, so I just went up to these strangers (don't worry, I had other people with me, I wasn't going to get kidnapped) and asked if maybe I could try it.  They were kinda odd people, but they let me!  I mean, I couldn't do it without holding onto people, but I still made it across without falling!  It was a nifty experience.

Starry Night

Roomiessss

Slack-lining!

As far as togas go...

Fairway threw a toga party last night!  So, Dana, Laura, and I donned bedsheets and went to dance.  Granted, it took us a solid 30 minutes or more to properly toga up, what with trying to figure out how to wrap them, how to fold them correctly, how to pin them, what to wear underneath, and how to access the phones in our pockets once our togas were on all the way.  But, it ended as a success, and we had a good time dancing.  We also played some water-pong while we were there (I sucked), and guess what else?

I OFFICIALLY MET MAURICIO, THE ATTRACTIVE ZUMBA INSTRUCTOR.

To refresh your memory, when I took Zumba classes last semester, there was an instructor named Mauricio who was very attractive and a very good dancer and I was kinda sorta in love with him if you could be in love with a guy you'd never spoken a word to before.  I never met him, besides that time I shook his hand during church, but I quietly pined after him all last year.  Well, while at the toga party, Dana introduced us because her friend was Mauricio's roommate!  I almost freaked out.  She didn't know, however, that I was obsessed with him, so she was just casually introducing us.  But I flipped out afterwards and said she should totally hook us up on some double dates.  Uh, yes.

As far as other stuff goes that wasn't listed in the title of this post...

Meow:
My friend Kristen got a cat!  ...Except her apartment complex doesn't allow cats.  So they're keeping it there illegally, but it's super cute! ...Kinda.  It's a Persian, and seriously looks like it ran full force into a wall and its face just went flat, but a cat is a cat and I love cats.  They named it Mochi, and it was Kristen's boyfriend's cousin's cat, but they were moving to Australia and couldn't bring it with.  I decided I was going to be its fun aunt, so I went over and visited it for awhile.  It's so fuzzy!  I love it!

Parade:
Sydney, Kristen, Becca, and I went to the Homecoming parade last night.  The homecoming theme is the '90s, so there were some cool, '90s themed floats.  I got a ton of candy too because I knew a lot of people in the parade...and because I was that lame college student cheering for the Girl Scouts.  Hey, we gotta stick together, even if I dropped out after 6th grade.

Discrimination Ice Cream Social:
Shreve put on this "Discrimination Ice Cream Social" event.  They didn't give many details, but Erin, a girl on my floor, and I went down to check it out, because we were promised free ice cream.  While we were in line, Erin was trying to decide if she wanted chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but the scoopers said chocolate, because you're a girl.  We thought it was a joke at first, but come to find out, it was part of the event.  Vanilla for boys, chocolate for girls.  Caramel syrup for people wearing pants, chocolate for shorts.  M&Ms for those with tennis shoes, none for flip flops and sandals.  Sprinkles for contacts/glasses, none for the rest.  So we then found out what it meant by discrimination ice cream.  They had a debrief after getting your ice cream so we could talk about how we felt and why we shouldn't discriminate and things like that, but we ditched because we just wanted the ice cream.

The Exponent:
I worked my first 2 days as copy editor at the Exponent!  And let me tell you, what an interesting experience that has been.  Guess how many stories I'm able to edit in 3 hours?

3.

Yeah.  I know.  Talk about a speed reader over here...
Haha no, but it's not just reading through a story and making sure it sounds right.  It's reading a story and correcting it for spelling and grammar and style and are the names spelled correctly and are the facts right and are there dangling modifiers and does it even make sense and is it in AP style and is it libelous and holy cow, who knew it could be so tedious?  The sports stories are the worst.  The players and coaches' names must be spelled right, their records must be correct, the dates of the games must be right, and the statistics too.  It's rough trying to look all that up.  However, it's rewarding to see the story published in the next day's Exponent.  I feel pretty proud then.  The other plus is that it's a paid position and there's a real live old fashioned clocking in machine, which a punch card and everything!  It's pretty legit.

Another thing about the Exponent?  Every Friday is what I affectionately call "Nerd Club" where all Exponent staff are welcome to join our news adviser, Carl, in the conference room to fix the ridiculous error-laden sentences he creates.  We literally sit there for an hour and correct sentences.  On a Friday afternoon.  Hah.  But we do get candy for it, and the sentences are funny because he makes them about the staff.  My name was actually in some of the sentences this week!  I was pretty excited to be a part of the "in" crowd, even if the sentence was, "Arnett Clinic welcomes Doctor Kasey Kaisershot, expert on men and other diseases."

Annie Boo:
My friend Annie and I worked on a project together last weekend at her apartment, and since she lives in town, she invited me to her house for dinner with her family!  Hooray for home-cooked meals and steak!  Shout-out to the Dooleys for being so awesome and hospitable!  

Our project was to read a Big Book out loud to each other and film it, as if we were teachers reading to a class of little kids.  It was really funny, and we had quite a few bloopers.  They're on YouTube if you think you wanna search for them...

Family Weekend:
I LOVE MY FAMILY!!  Mama, dad, and sissy came up yesterday for Family Day at Purdue, bringing a huge bucket of cookies, puppy chow, candy, and other goodies.  We went to the NIU vs. Purdue football game (where we lost pathetically) and Kourt stood in the student section with Annie and I and some other friends.  After the game (which we didn't stay for since it was so hard to watch), my fam took Annie, Jess, and I to Chili's for an early dinner, and it was delish!  We hung out for awhile and then went to the Silver Dipper for ice cream.  I would say that I miss them already, except I will be seeing them for the next 2 weekends :)  All in all, it was a good day.  Until...

Sissy <3

Saturday night fiasco:
Since Saturday Night Live was on last night, I was going over to Annie's to watch it with her.  However, as I get in my car, it wouldn't start.  The engine wouldn't turn over.  Crap.  Annie drove over to see if she could help me jump it.  As soon as she pulled up, this is what went down:

Me: How do I pop the hood?  I can't find the latch up front here...
Annie: I can't either.  It's different than mine.
Me: Okay, got it!
Annie: Okay, jumping a car...do you know what you're doing?
Me: Nope!
Annie: Me either.  I'll Wikipedia it.
Me: Okay, I'll YouTube it.

Hahahaha okay, I know that sounds really dumb.  We both knew the basics (red to red, black to black), but we didn't know the fine details, like which order to start the cars and how long they needed to run.  As we were trying to figure this out, 3 guys came over and saw us struggling and asked if we needed help. What was their first clue...?

They hooked up the cables and were super nice, saying they were in the army and the one guy always works with engines.  However, after it didn't work, they said that it wasn't the battery that was the problem, but something else.  They were really funny and said things like, "See all these parts in the engine?  It could be any number of things wrong with it."  They were really nice and apologized for not being able to help.  

I tried it again this morning with no luck, so I tried to call a towing company to take me to a mechanic, but nobody was open and I was really frustrated.  So now I have to take care of that tomorrow...yay...

Creeper shot of the guys trying to fix my car

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!  My advice to you (and to myself!): Think positively :)

XOXO

Short Underdon't.

What...?

Didja catch that?  "Short Underdon't" is the opposite of "Long Overdue."  Which is, in fact, what this post is.  Okay, yes, that's a stretch.  Obviously "don't" is not the opposite of "due."  Sorry boutcha.

Your thoughts may (or may not) have been:

Did she fall off a cliff?
Did her homework eat her?
Did she drop out of school?
Did she get abducted by aliens?  Kidnapped perhaps?

My thoughts:

Dear goodness, there is so much work to do around here.  I don't have a second to sit down and blog.

But anyways, the reason why I titled this post the way I did is because my feelings are quite opposite of those from my last post.  If you recall, I was already complaining (is that a surprise?) about the monotony and predictability of school.  But, now that I've gotten myself involved in 80+ activities, it is no longer boring.

So, without further ado, let's dive in.

Stuff for classes:

1.  So, for my Block II class, I got my classroom assignment: Kindergarten!  First reaction: uh oh...

Many of you know that I really want to teach the older students (3-5th grades), so it came as quite a surprise to get a kindergarten classroom.  However, I know it will be an adventure, and an adventure it has been so far.

I had my principal meeting 2 weeks ago and then my first classroom experience yesterday.  My teacher, Mrs. Merryman, definitely seems to know what's up.  She is very skilled in what she's doing, so I think I will be able to learn a lot from her.  She's already put me to work!  I ran several errands for her yesterday, and even got to run a reading station where the students practiced filling in the missing letters of the alphabet!  They are so adorable and are always eager to show me what they can do.  I'm definitely excited to continue working in this classroom (every Monday for 2 hrs.) and getting as involved as possible.

2. If you read my previous post, you know that I'm taking an HONR course called the McDonaldization of Society.  So, guess what we got to do last week?  Go to McDonald's!  My professor bought the whole class lunch and pointed out a bunch of stuff about McDonald's.  For example, the back room basically resembles a factory, and there isn't really any smell of food coming from the kitchen!  Also, fun fact: for my class of 20 people to order and receive their food, it only took a little over 8 minutes.  8 minutes!!  It's crazy!  We talked about how the burgers all look exactly the same and that all the employees have scripted responses to questions that customers ask.  It's crazy!  Tomorrow we are going to Triple XXX, a famous family-owned burger restaurant in town, to compare it to chains like McDonald's.  It's really interesting.

Stuff that is sucking up my free time but I love doing:

1.  I honestly don't remember everything I said in my last post, so if I've already told you about this, disregard it.  But I took up a volunteer tutoring position at Happy Hollow Elementary!  Every Wednesday from 2:00-3:30, I work with 4th-6th grade students in an after-school homework help room.  I help them with math, spelling, and any other homework they have.  It's pretty cool, and just another excuse to get in the classroom!

2. Purdue Student Education Association is going great so far!  I'm really excited about this year.  The Education Organizations Board (EOB), which is the president and vice president of all the education clubs at Purdue, held an ice cream social event a couple weeks ago for all education majors.  The event was for students to come out and get free ice cream and learn more about the education clubs.  We were able to spark an interest in a lot of students and had a great turn out at our callout the next day!  We actually have a meeting tomorrow to discuss our fall conference (see It's A Dancing Kind of Weekend), and I think it will be a lot of fun!  Also, Purdue GetInvolved started an initiative this year where all executive board members of a club have to attend these workshops to improve your club.  I went to a goal setting one with our secretary, Kelsey, and we were kinda mad that we had to go.  But we were so glad we did!  We started thinking of all these ways we could make PSEA better for our members, so we're really pumped about this year.

3.  Remember how I did LifeGuides Sunday school teaching at my church, St. Tom's, last year?  Welp, I'm doing it again!  I'm in 5th grade again (which is what I wanted), and I'm actually the lead teacher this year!  I also have 4 awesome co-teachers, and we had our first class last week, which went really well.  I'm pretty excited for this year, although I'm going to miss Hannah, the teacher I worked with last year.

4.  As if all this wasn't enough, I decided to add another activity to my plate: I was just hired as a copy editor for Purdue's newspaper, The Exponent!  I had to take a screening exam (during which I couldn't remember who competed in the 2013 Superbowl, so I just wrote down, "Beyonce performed at half-time" which is obviously more important anyway...) and then I was interviewed and got the job!  It's a paid position and as of right now I'll be working on Wednesdays to edit the articles that the reporters write.  We had a 3 hour training session tonight, where they warned us that we might get sued for libel if we mess up really bad (no pressure).  I just can't get away from newspaper!  After having a blast with it in high school, I thought I'd try my hand at the big leagues (if college newspapers can be considered big league...hey, we're one of the few college papers with our own printing press).

Stuff I do that's stupid:

1.  So like 2 weeks ago, I straightened my hair with my flat iron.  I set it on my chair to let it cool before I stored it back in my drawer.  Well, really smart me sat on my chair, completely oblivious to the fact that I had LITERALLY JUST SET IT DOWN ON MY CHAIR, BURNING HOT, LESS THAN A MINUTE BEOFRE.  Oh my gosh, I'm so dumb.  Hmm, what's that searing pain on my leg?  DUH, IT'S THE FLAT IRON.  So, I now have a nasty burn mark on the back of my upper thigh, which, after concealing it with a bandage, proceeded to have an allergic reaction to the bandage adhesive and now it's all just a mess.  Just like my life.  Sigh.

2.  Rock climbing.  Yeah, it was actually stupid.  So I met some new friends at this conference I went to 2 weekends ago (see below) named Anne and Jon.  Both of them talked about how they enjoy climbing and I told them I had never gone before!  They insisted I go with them to climb at the Co-Rec, to which I stupidly obliged.  We ended up only doing the bouldering wall (which is the short one that is long horizontally and there are different leveled courses you practice), but gosh dang if that wasn't hard!  I did 2 V0 courses (which are the easiest), and even then I couldn't do them.  I was flailing everywhere, considering I have about, oh, negative amounts of upper body strength.  I was able to successfully (can you call it successfully if you cheated on them??) complete the 2 courses I tried.  Unfortunately, I was left with a nasty blister on my hand and calves that were so sore that I couldn't walk down the stairs without limping and actually took the elevator from my 3rd floor room in my residence hall.  #shame.

3. Jess and I have class together at 11:30 on Fridays, and after that we have an hour break before we go to our next class.  So, we usually just hang out together by the Loeb fountain on campus and read the paper and just chat while we wait.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, it was scorching hot.  It was so hot that we (okay, I) were leaving sweat marks on the ledge we were sitting on.  So, what do I suggest?  Let's go on an impromptu fountain run.  So we did.  We only ran through 1 fountain (instead of the protocol 4), but we did it in our school clothes...right before our next class.  It felt good for about 2 seconds, but then we went to class in our sopping wet clothes.  And let me tell you, jean shorts + water = unhappy thighs.  When I got done with that class, there was literally a puddle of water on my chair.  The next kid probs thought I peed my pants.

Stuff I do for fun:

1. So, as I said above, I went to a conference 2 weekends ago.  It was called the Emily Mauzy Vogel Sophomore Leadership Conference at Camp Tecumseh in Indiana.  I was nominated for this conference by my adviser, Janet, last year.  It was actually pretty neat!  There were probably over 100 sophomore leaders there, and there were actually a ton from my 4th floor in Shreve last year!  #FoFloHoRepresent!  

Before we went, we all had to take this strengths finder test to see what our top 5 strengths were as leaders.  Mine were Empathy, Developer, Maximizer, Positivity, and Achiever.  At the conference, our keynote helped us to better understand these types of leadership and how to make them better and how to use them, etc.  But the conference was also pretty fun, too.  We were all in small groups (where I met Jon and Anne) and also had a small group leader.  We did several break-out sessions with our groups, but we also did some fun stuff.  For example, we had to perform a skit with our group and buddy group pertaining to our group names (we were Those Meddling Kids from Scooby Doo and our buddy group was Tom & Jerry) in front of everyone!  It was hilarious!  We also had a mini dance party, as well as a campfire with s'mores.  Problem was, to get to the campfire, we had to walk across the lake on this rickety old bridge in the pitch black.  It seriously felt like we were walking around under the influence or something because we couldn't go straight on this bridge!  It was so wobbly and made us all feel dizzy!  The other problem was they didn't have marshmallow skewers so we had to rough it and find sticks from the woods to use.  But let me tell you, those were some of the best s'mores I've ever had!  And yes, I did say those.  I had more than one.  Judge me.

That night was pretty eventful, too.  We all stayed in these cabins, and right as we were settling into bed, I saw a mouse dart across the floor.  I should have kept my mouth shut since nobody else had seen it, but I was so surprised that I pointed it out, and everyone freaked.  One girl was so afraid that she didn't think she could sleep.  I wasn't too concerned because I think mice are cute and I knew it wouldn't do anything to hurt me or anything.  However, as I was drifting into sleep, the one girl freaked out and said she felt it crawling on her.  She ended up leaving our cabin in the middle of the night to sleep in another one.  But then, at like 2 am, I could have sworn I felt a mouse on my leg.  I flipped out and jumped out of my bed, freaking out.  As I think back to it, I'm pretty sure it was just my imagination, but it still took me a good 5 minutes to even get back into bed, and even longer before I was able to drift into a restless sleep.

Needless to say, I was exhausted in the morning, especially since we had such a busy day.  We had more speakers and got to do an obstacle course, go down some giant slides, and go canoeing!  We also did some low ropes course activities.  It was a good time overall, and it helped me to learn more about my leadership styles.

2. We also had our BGR banquet that Sunday.  Everyone involved in BGR got all dressed up and had a really yummy fancy dinner and listened to a couple speakers and took pictures and watched a memory video, and overall just had a good time catching up.  And, of course, we did the Common Bond dance together, because what is BGR without the Common Bond dance?  A couple days later, the new Student Orientation Committee (SOC, aka the big wigs of BGR) were announced, and I know several of them and am really excited!  My buddy group Super and fellow College of Education ambassador, Brad, was chosen, as well as my friends Mike Fouch and another Shrevehart Super I worked with during move-in, Reece!  It was really exciting.  I haven't yet decided if I want to be a Super this coming year or not.  Supers are one step up from TLs like I was this year...I think it would be really fun, but I have to decide if I can dedicate enough time to it!

(Half of) our wonderful family!

My girlssss

Yayy, Liz's TLs!

Dernerrr

Wut.

Paayal girllll

3. Speaking of BGR, my BGR group had a reunion this Sunday!  We all got together to order pizza for dinner and just hung out and caught up.  I was blessed with such a great group who still likes to hang out together!

Yayyyy pizza!

4. Also, I know this was forever ago, but I got to go home for Labor Day weekend!  My mama and I hung out at the pool on Saturday and got tan (and in her case, burnt) and we got to go out for dinner too.  My dad and sis were in Nebraska to see a football game that weekend, but they came home Sunday night and we got to watch the Great Gatsby movie together.  It was good to see them, as always.  Oh, and my cats :)  It's Family Weekend in 2 weekends too, so they'll be up to see the game, and the weekend after is October break, so I'll have lots of family time in the upcoming weeks!

What is going home without pictures of my cats?

That Monday, I had to head back to school, but not before I went down to Champagne to visit Katie at U of I!  She had been busy all weekend with rush events, so she wasn't able to come home, but I was so glad I got to go down there and grab lunch with her on my way back to Purdue!

5. Purdue put on a free concert at Slayter Hill on Friday night, so Dana and I went to check it out.  I mean, hey, it was free, right?  Her friend Nichol also came, so we sat and watched for awhile.  We were really into the opener, Basic Vacation (and let's be honest, the lead singer was pretty darn attractive), but the main act, Mayer Hawthorn, was sub-par.  We left early because it was pretty boring.  But I did get to chat with my friend Laura there for a little!  And even though this isn't necessarily "fun" per se, I babysat for a 2 year old little boy Saturday morning and afternoon.  He was soooo adorable!  The best part was that he was so polite!  Everything was, "Thank you, Kasey!".  He also recognized the Purdue symbol, so when he saw my Purdue sweatshirt, he said, "Kasey, Purdue!".  It was precious.

Basic Vacation-really love this song!

Yoga makes boring concerts fun, right?

6. Saturday night was the big Purdue vs. Notre Dame football game!  The atmosphere on campus was ridiculous!  There were so many people around, Purdue and Notre Dame fans alike.  Everyone was really geared up because Purdue was incredibly close to beating Notre Dame last year, so we really wanted to show them this year.  I went to the game with Annie and Jennifer Losby and some people from her floor.  Brooke and her sister also met up with us later.  It was CRAZY!!  There were so many people there, and virtually every seat was taken.  We were leading up to half time, and then, unfortunately, we let Notre Dame score a couple too many :(  However, some interesting tidbits from the game:

• At half-time, our band performed, and they glowed!!!  You read that right; they all had these glowing lights on their uniforms and instruments, and it was pretty cool.  They also got into the formation of a motorcycle, and our president, Mitch Daniels, rode out on a motorcycle.  It was pretty funny.
• Several tussles broke out in the stands.  Notre Dame fans and Purdue fans were yelling at each other, and security had to escort several people out for unruly behavior.
• At half time when the band performed, a guy began to run across the field.  He passed the drum (which, fun fact, is the world's largest drum!) and stole one of the guy's mallet and continued to sprint across.  The band member began chasing after him, but the guy, who was presumably drunk, made it to the other end of the field.  He raised his arms in triumph, and the band member caught up with him and pushed him to the ground where security proceeded to handcuff and arrest him.  Quite the entertainment, let me tell you.  

Jennifer!

Brooke and Annie :)

Errrnerrrr

Our band glows!

7. I finally got to see Alyssa!  We've literally been here for over a month and I have yet to see her.  However, we were able to meet for lunch with Jess, her roomie from last year, because it was orange chicken day, and Alyssa and I always ate orange chicken together.  It was so good to see her!  I've definitely missed her, and she said she'd be able to invite Jess and I over to her sorority house for dinner one night!

8.  Pumpkin Spice Lattes are back at Starbucks.  And our Starbucks was remodeled this summer, so now it's super fancy.  Needless to say, I've been there 3 times the past 2 weeks... ;)

9.  I got to do a little bit of crafting here!  I made Annie some canvases for her kitchen in her apartment that match the colors of her spatulas, because her apartment is so white and boring.  I took it upon myself to be her interior designer :)  I also made a Purdue collage on canvases to put in our room!

Annie's canvases! 

My black and white Purdue landmark collage :)

10.  Annie, Jess, and I are working on plans to all get an apartment together next year!  I'm super excited...talk about growing up!  And oh my gosh, I'm having a quarter-life crisis, because I realize I'm turning 20 in 6 months, and there is absolutely no way that I am almost 20 years old.  It's crazy, and I'm pretty sure a lie.

11. My floor this year is definitely not as community-oriented as last year, but I'm starting to get to know some of the girls.  One girl, Erin, asked me to get lunch with her today, and she is so awesome!  She's an El Ed major as well, and she's also a twirler for the Purdue marching band!  How sweet is that?!  But she is so cool, and we have a lot of the same ideas about things (including our dislike of a certain math teacher...), so hopefully we'll get to hang out some more this year.

Stuff about my friends:

1. So obviously Christian is not here at Purdue anymore.  I also don't think I ever mentioned, but I did get to visit him in Colorado over 4th of July weekend this summer, and it was a blast!  But anyways, if you remember me saying in previous posts, he is participating in a Gap Year program now.  So, just a couple weeks ago, he landed in the Dominican Republic, where he will be staying for the semester!  I got to Skype with him for the first time last night, and he said he really likes it there so far.  He really likes his host mom and has made friends with the other Gap Year students.  Plus he has WiFi at his house, so we can still Facebook message and Snapchat and stuff!  He's been taking a couple classes and working on his Spanish and stuff too.  I'm so excited to see where this adventure takes him!

2. Brooke is the editor of a Purdue magazine this year!  I honestly can't remember the name (sorry, Brooke!), but she's been busy with that, but enjoying it!  So happy and proud of her!

3. Annie is doing an honors contract for one of the classes we have together so she can get honors credit, and part of her project is to re-vamp the after-school tutoring program at Lafayette Urban Ministries!  So excited for her to have this opportunity!

If you aren't sick of my rambling yet...well, something is not right in your head.  But thanks for reading, and I'm sorry for all the word vomit.  I hope everyone is enjoying this AMAZING fall weather!!

XOXO

Other (old) pics:

BGR training

SHREVEHARTTTTT

WE'RE NUMBER 1!!

Fancy floor dinner

After Glee Club show

Floor 3 Shes