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!!

Now What?

Now that my Honduras adventure is over, my life is going to sound significantly more boring.

It's not that I haven't done anything and I just sit around all day (believe me, I wish I could!).  But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, compares to dat travel lyfeee.  I mean, I went to my cousin Cody's wedding and got to see all my cousins whom I haven't seen in years (boy, did I miss them!).  I went to Peoria with my family to see Daniel Tosh's stand up show (yes, that is the Kaisershot family's form of quality entertainment).  I even went up to Chicago with Chloe, Katie, and Natalie to see a Cubs game and eat way too much.  But none of that compares in the slightest to my time in Central America.

So what is my life now? 

It now consists of babysitting every day from 8:00 to 5:15.  Coming home to say hello to my family for 2 seconds before they leave for Kourtney's softball game or I leave to do crazy shenanigans with the people I call my friends.  Coming home late way too late and waking up way too early.  Working at Mrs. Fields on the weekends.  Trying to squeeze in time to complete my Honduras assignments and read my common reading book for BGR and taking quizzes about it.  Trying to find time just to breathe.

But in those spare moments I have to myself (driving to work, showering, those rare moments when the kids are still asleep when I get to their house), I've been doing a lot of dreaming.  (No, I'm not sleeping when I'm driving to work. Daydreaming, guys.  Come on.)

I am not dissatisfied with my life in the slightest.  Far from it, actually.  I have no regrets, I don't feel like I've missed out on anything huge, and I'm not disappointed with what I've done and where I've been.  But, as is the American way, I want more.  I had a minor freak-out last night when I realized that there are so many things that I want to do that you just can't do when you're in your 30s and are tied down to a job and a family.  And though my meager teacher salary may not feel so hot when it's getting stretched from all the things I want to do, I want these experiences.  (In case you couldn't tell from my freshman year escapades, I'm all about doing things just for the experience and for the story.  Just ask me about my Things I Would Never Expect Myself To Do But I Still Want To Do Them list.)  Plus, if I don't start thinking about it now, it might never happen, and then I actually will have something to regret.  So, since they have been swimming around my brain recently, I might as well spill these dreams and desires on my blog because, if you hadn't noticed, it's like my freaking diary.

A List of Things Kasey Kaisershot Wants To Do Within The Next 10 Years, aka Before She's 30 And Too Old To Do Them

or

A List of Things That Must Be Accomplished So Kasey Kaisershot Doesn't Have A Midlife Crisis

or

A List Of Things Kasey Kaisershot Wants To Do That May Or May Not Be Realistic

1. Graduate college-that's step one.  It's imperative that this happens first because school has always come first in my life, and I can't distract myself with other things before I have that diploma, yo.

2. Own a jeep-yeah, I said it.  I want a jeep whose windows and doors come off so I can blast my music really loud on a nice summer day and go driving with my hair blowing in the wind.  Ahh, I can see it now...

3. Become fluent in Spanish-I mean really fluent.  Like I can actually hold a conversation without stuttering and pulling out Google Translate every other word.

4. Be a waitress-some may say it's lame, but it's something I've just really wanted to do!  I like people (most of the time), and I like food, and I like money, so why not combine them all together?  No, I do not want it as a career (there's no way I'm blowing thousands at Purdue to be a waitress for the rest of my life), but I want to try my hand at it.

5. Live in New York for a year or two-I fell in love with the city when I visited it with my family 2 summers ago.  There is so much going on and it's so fast-paced and it just really piqued my interest.  I want to figure out where the best hole-in-the-wall places to eat are, I want to hang out in Central Park, I want to become a pro at riding the subway, I want to scoff at the tourists wearing "I Love New York" t-shirts, I want Broadway musicals to be my entertainment instead of just movies, and I want to dance at the night clubs. 

6. Teach abroad-more specifically, at Alison Bixby Stone School in Zamorano, Honduras, because I just fell in love with it there.  Also, interning at Jovenes En Camino, the boys' orphanage there, while I'm teaching down there.

7. Travel-sounds simple enough, but I just want to go everywhere. I want to see the touristy places, but mostly I just want to experience different cultures and meet tons of interesting people and take lots of pictures.  And, call me crazy, but I really want to stay in a hostel.  My mom says that when I'm teaching, I should use the summers as my time to travel since I have them off.  I knew teaching would work out for me ;)

And when all that is over, I actually do want to get married and have kids.  And probably get my masters degree.  And other things along those lines that mean you're an adult.

That's about it at the moment.  Obviously it's not all going to work out how I plan.  That's up to God (although most of the time I'd prefer calling the shots), so I guess we'll see what He has planned for me.

Until next time :)

Photos:

At a grad party

Reunited with my cousins!

Go Cubs Go

Chicago, yo.

Honduras Day 18.

Journal Day 18 May 30, 2013

            Adios, Honduras! 

            We had breakfast early this morning, (pancakes, eggs, etc.) and then it was off to the airport!  And what a pain that was.  Remind me not to travel in a group of 15 ever again!  For some reason, we had to check in as a group, so we handed over our passports and waited “patiently” for the woman to come by and tag our suitcases.  We stood around for awhile when, to our (pleasant) surprise, we saw a bunch of young Honduran men come up behind us.  They were all dressed in periwinkle polos and had duffel bags with them.  Each of them had an interesting hairdo (Mohawks, gelled back, etc.), and each was extremely attractive.  We had Jubin ask who they were, and it turns out they were the 21U National Honduran Soccer team. And they were going to D.C. but were on our same flight to Houston.  What. Good. Fortune. 

            After everyone was checked in and we had filled out our “leave the country” forms, we had to pay our $40 fee to leave the country, so that was another long waiting process.  From there we went through security with no problems except more waiting.  We chilled at our gate for awhile and creeped on the soccer players, picking out our favorites like any group of teenage girls would do.  It was a good way to pass the time honestly.

            When we boarded, there was a woman in my window seat, but I didn’t want to tell her to move, so I was just going to sit in the middle.  However, the guy behind me had seen me talking to Lindsey earlier, so he offered his seat up so I could sit by her and he went up to my row.  It was really sweet of him!  Then Ivy came back and wanted to sit by us, so he asked the guy in the aisle if she could sit with us too.  He was very kind and let her, and the flight attendant joked that she should by him a drink.  She said she would, but he declined. 

            The 3+ hour flight to Houston went smoothly, although we were pretty disappointed that all the soccer players were near the front of the plane.  Some of them walked past us to use the bathroom which was a nice change of scenery.  But here’s where it really got interesting:

            Ivy and I had been napping, and when we both woke up we saw one of the players (probably the most attractive one) come down the aisle to use the bathroom.  Next thing we knew, we saw Laura walking back with him, so we followed her with our eyes to see her sit right in-between him and one of his teammates.  Talk about a heart attack.  We were so confused and proud of her!  I couldn’t wait to get off the plane and grill her for the deets.

            When we were finally able to get off, we rushed into the airport to interrogate her.  She told us that she had been sitting in the back row all alone when the player, whose name is Lesvin, came back to use the restroom.  He saw that she was all alone and said that there was an empty seat up front and invited her to go sit with them!  I was like, you go girl!  So she did, and for the last 30 minutes of the flight, she had a nice chat with him about soccer and other topics.  Apparently the team had a tourney in D.C. and then they were going to come back to Houston and then back to Honduras.  They were here until June 6^th.  Each of the players came from a different team, but this team was the all-star team of sorts and they hadn’t been playing together for long.  He asked her when her next flight was, and she told him not until 7:45.  His wasn’t until 5:45, and it was only around 3:30, so he asked her to get coffee with him at the airport!  He even asked if she lived in Houston and wanted to see their games!

            The sad thing was, as soon as we landed and got off the plane, we were separated from our eye candy because we had to go to the US citizen line while they went to the visitors line.  We all split up between airport destinations (some went to O’Hare, others to Indy, some to Dallas, and even St. Louis), went through customs and re-checked our bags and went through security again, and as soon as those shenanigans were over, we scoped out which gate the team was at so we could find them again.  We found the one we thought was it, and then we went to our own gate to drop off some stuff before scavenging for food.  Even though we were craving some good old fashioned American cheeseburgers, we ended up going to Einstein’s Bagels and Panda Express because it was less expensive.  I was still okay with that, because let’s face it, food is food.  And, better yet, it was American food.  (Yes, I realize Chinese food is not American, but I got a bagel, okay??)  Anywho, we decided to go back to the gate to sit with Jubin and JoAnn because they had been watching the bags and we felt bad.  But after we finished, Laura, Kayla, Lindsey, and I decided that we wanted to go find the guys.  As we were passing the food court area on the way to their gate, we spotted the team eating right where Becca, Lia, and Brian were sitting.  There was our in.  We walked over to talk to our friends, all the while scoping out the males.  Then Laura saw Lesvin and went over and talked to him and some of his friends as we looked on and Kayla took creeper pics.  Before long, they had to say goodbye (but not before they exchanged Facebook information and hugs), and then we went to get ice cream and go visit the O’Hare peeps at their gate.  Turns out their flight was delayed to about when our flight to Indy was because O’Hare shut everything down, and they were livid!  So we chatted with them for awhile, and Kayla told me about how she sat by a Spanish rapper on the plane because she flew first class.  He gave her a CD with his music video on it, so we watched that on her computer. We had never heard of him before, but hey, it makes for a good story!  During our wait, I also caught up on missed texts and SnapChats from the past 3 weeks.

            Finally, after waiting for what seemed life forever, we were able to board our plane to complete the last leg of the journey.  This time I sat by an old man who was really cute, but was, unfortunately, an Illini fan.  I don’t know why I always end up by them; I sat by Illini fans on the way to Mexico too!  But our plane chilled on the runway for what seemed like forever until finally we were able to take off.  I was just very anxious to get home and see my family and friends, even though I was sad the trip was over.

            When I got off the plane, I walked through the airport to see my parents waiting for me!  It was so great to see them and my mom had to take a bunch of pictures of course.  But we got my bag and then headed out.  It was already almost 11 but I was definitely craving a cheeseburger, so my parents, bless their souls, stopped at Steak N’ Shake so I could get a good ole’ American burger and a milkshake.  Heaven, let me tell you.  It was amazing.  Goodbye, rice, beans, tortillas, and chicken!

            We drove home from Indy and didn’t get home until around 2 am.  As much as I liked being back, I already miss certain things about Honduras.  But who knows? I might be back soon ;).

Photos:

My view from the plane!

Soccer team ;)

Breakfast

Espresso Americano, we will miss you!

Honduras Day 17.

Sorry I'm a tad late with putting these last posts up!!

Journal Day 17, May 29, 2013

            Another day to say goodbye!  But this time, instead of saying goodbye to the schools and friends we’d made, we were saying goodbye to the beautiful city of Copan!

            But before we left, we had some breakfast: French toast, fruit, etc. etc.  We got to sleep in a little bit (finally!), and then after we ate we got to hang out in town a little bit.  So naturally, we went to Espresso Americano for our last granitas and mochaccinos before we were subjected to getting Starbucks in America.  Laura and I both got white mochaccinos, just to mix it up a little bit. 

            We left Copan on the bus/van around noon to begin our 4ish hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula, aka the murder/drug capital of the world…or maybe it was just Honduras.  Who knows.  All I know is that we were headed straight for a dangerous city, and most of us can’t speak any Spanish.  So that was good.

            The bus ride was pretty chill; Laura and I just chatted and read and looked out the windows to say goodbye to the gorgeous Honduran mountains.  It’s actually pretty interesting to think about: when I was little, I always had to pack a bag of fun things to do on long car rides, such as books, movies, games, puzzle books, coloring books, etc.  Now I’m just content with looking out the window and stewing in my musings.

            We made a stop at the San Pedro Sula City Mall before going to our hotel so we could eat and shop if we wanted to.  Half of us went to Little Caesar’s Pizza, and the other half Wendy’s.  If you couldn’t tell, we were definitely missing our good ol’ greasy fast food.  I got a delicious calzone and a Coke, which definitely satiated my American food craving, at least for awhile.  We walked around the huge, multi-story mall for awhile, getting lots of looks since we were a huge pack of gringos, but we weren’t really feeling the shopping considering we still had a $40 “leave the country” fee we had to deal with, along with various tipping.  So we picked up Subway sandwiches to take for dinner later, and we were off to the hotel.

            Our arrival in San Pedro Sula was pretty surprising.  It looked a lot like a city in America, although it did seem a little sketchier, but that could have been due to my preconceived notions of the city.  We watched in interest out the windows, trying to see if we could see any sketchy drug deals or anything bizarre like that…but we didn’t.  We were probably better off that way!

            When we finally made it to our hotel, we were surprised to see that it was less of a hotel and more a group of mini apartments, all gated and guarded from the illegal activities outside.  We had the same room assignments as in Copan, so Ivy, Lindsey, and I entered our room (which was on the first floor: hallelujah for not having to drag our suitcases upstairs!) to find a mini living room, kitchen, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms.  I lucked out again and got the single room with the big bed while the other girls shared a room with 2 small beds.  I felt bad for getting the good room again, but they said they didn’t mind.  It was fine with me: I was always up later than them anyways and didn’t want to wake them up when I came back!

            We got settled in, watched a little TV, ate our sandwiches, and showered.  At 8, we all went to Becca, Megan, and Shazia’s room to watch the iMovie video Becca had made on her computer with all the pictures from the trip.  It was really cute!  She had a bunch of pictures and video clips from all the different events of our trip and had it all to music (including Danza Kuduro, the song of our trip!).  It was a good review of all the things we experienced the past 3 weeks, and it made me a little sad knowing that it was over already.

            Afterwards, Lindsey, Laura, Katie, Kayla, and I all went to Laura, Katie, and Lia’s room to have our final dance party.  We pushed the kitchen table off to the side and blasted some tunes and had our last Honduras jam sesh until 1 am.  Katie insisted on pulling an all-nighter, but nobody was really feeling that idea, so we went to bed. It was an awesome way to end our last full day in Honduras.

Photos: (I haven't finished uploading the rest of the photos, but here are a couple from a few days ago that other people took)

Copan

Dancing at Twisted Tanya's!

Overlooking the city of Copan

Honduras Day 16.

Journal Day 16 May 28, 2013

            Today was our last “real” day in Honduras; by real, I mean that tomorrow we are just driving all day to get to San Pedro Sula, and then on Thursday it’s back to the States.  So lucky for us, we went out with a bang.

            Breakfast was at 8:15 and we had pancakes, fruit, eggs, bacon, and other American delicacies.  Nothing like a good, hearty breakfast to start a long, eventful day!

            First event of the day: visit the Copan Ruins!  These ruins were an ancient Mayan civilization: one of the last ones built!  Our toothless guide, Tony, joked and told us that the Mayans just didn’t like Guatemala and Costa Rica and wanted to stay in Honduras.  But we followed Tony around as he told us the history of the different structures that we saw.  There were temples, statues depicting past rulers, such as 18 Rabbit, a ball field, burial grounds, and more.  Most of the structures we saw were the exact structures that were excavated, and they were in the same place as when they were found!  Only a couple were replicas.  We got to climb up some of the structure and see the great view of the city.  And naturally, we took a bunch of pictures.  Additionally, our BGR SOCs asked us to take pictures in Purdue shirts at the different places we are around the world and post it to a Facebook page, so Lindsey, Aidan, and I all took some cute pictures in our Purdue gear and then hopped up on one of the ruins and recorded the BGR Common Bond dance to “Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson!  It was really fun!

            After the ruins, we ate some lunch at the cafeteria there (I had basically the same thing as the night before) and Eloisa even treated us to ice cream cones!  It was wonderful.

            Upon arriving back to the hotel, we had our final class while sitting around the pool.  We discussed our experiences at ABSS and some of the pros and cons of bilingual schools like it.  It was hard to focus though because right after we went horseback riding!  Almost all of us walked down the street to where a bunch of horses were tied up, and we got to pick which horse we wanted.  I unfortunately picked the one named Tortuga, or turtle.  And yes, he did eventually live up to his name.  But anyways, we all got on our horses and began our walk up the mountain trail to visit an indigenous village up there.  The ride was mostly uphill (like I said, mountain trail) and the horses weren’t the biggest things in the world.  I basically felt awful the whole time and thought that maybe I should be the one carrying the horse.  But there were 4 guys with us to make sure everyone’s horse was behaving, and they continually had to click at Tortuga and hit his behind to keep him moving.  In fact, on the way back, I was the last one the entire ride.  But it was really fun because everyone’s horse had some temperamental moments (such as when Jenny’s kicked another person’s), some people had to get off their horses and switch, and some horses had to stop and go to the bathroom and such.  I even had to stop and get off my horse once because my saddle wasn’t straight apparently.  But somehow, I managed to stay on.

            I had mixed feelings about arriving in the village.  It was really cool because we got to see yet another side of Honduras (one that still spokes some of the Mayan language), but it was hard to see, because all the children immediately swarmed us, waving their cornhusk dolls in our faces, practically begging us to buy them.  I felt so guilty for continually turning them down, especially because they were so cute and cheap, but I had already bought some.  Plus, the couple of people who did buy some were subjected to the whole group of the kids surrounding them, wanting them to buy theirs and nobody else’s.

            It would have been nice to stay a little longer and maybe check out the school and some of the buildings or join the kids’ soccer game, but we saw the clouds rolling in, and the last thing we wanted to be doing was trekking down a steep mountain slope on horses who might get skittish with the thunder and lightning.  So we cut our visit short and headed back the way we came.  Since the storm was so close, we were forced to be in a continuous trot, which, if you ask me, is the least comfortable speed a horse can go with a human on its back.  Why, you ask?  Well, you tell me if you’d enjoy a constant bumpy ride with your butt slamming into a hard saddle and your vertebrae smashing together every second.  Yeah, didn’t think so.  But the rainfall started as soon as we dismounted, so we had a nice run back to our hotel.

            We took some time to chill and shower and whatnot, and then it was off to dinner!  Our horse guide recommended a place called Twisted Tanya’s, so we checked it out.  It was a good thing we did!  The bar/restaurant was in a building where you had to go up a flight of stairs to get to the main part.  It was basically a giant covered balcony that overlooked the city streets.  It was really quaint and cute, with paper lanterns and cozy decorations everywhere.  And the best part?  In English!  Woohoo!

            I ordered some quesadillas and a brownie and ice cream for dessert (hey, it was our last real night in Honduras), and we had a blast!  The waiter even let us hook up our iPods to jam!  It was a really fun last night.  We even saw our “friend” there…the guy we met last night who was the New York med student that took our pictures at Via Via.  He had met up with some other travelers and they were eating dinner.  We later saw them again when we all went to Via Via after dinner, and they showed up and sat by us.  The med student began doing personality tests on us too which was kind of fun, albeit random.  We all decided there was something a little off about him.  But I did have a nice conversation with his friends from Switzerland who had been backpacking the past 4 months.  Can you imagine?  Just showing up in a new country and not knowing where you were going or what you were going to do that day?  Crazy!

            When we decided the night was over, we went back to our hotel, which we were temporarily locked out of, until the front desk man came and saved us.  We were very sad that it was the end of our reign in Honduras :( 

Photos:

BGR

BGR

BGR

On top of the world

Copan ruins!!

Macawwww

Horseyssss

Village

Swarminnn

Twisted Tanya's with Katie and Laura

Twisted Tanya's with Kayla

Breakfast

Lunch