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
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