An Update from a Pumpkin Spice Latte Addict...
Whew, haven’t written in here in quite some time…Things are going well, just back to being busy 24/7…
Been back here at UMW for about 2 weeks now after a wonderfully relaxing break, and since then I’ve gotten settled in classes. One of my professors had a family incident over Winter Break - apparently while on a cruise her husband had a massive cranial hemorrhage, but they didn’t get him to a hospital for 24 hours (ya know, being on a ship in the middle of nowhere, and all) so it’s a real crisis situation. She hasn’t been to classes since the semester began and 2 other professors are running it for now. It’s really uncomfortable not knowing how your professor grades, since you’ve never met her, but the other professors are reassuring us that she’s being lenient since she hasn’t met most of us yet. But the tricky part is, the first two weeks have been a nightmare while the classes get increasingly larger…another professor had to go on sabbatical for the semester because she is having brain issues of her own (I think it’s brain cancer, or something similar), so her classes were cancelled (including a Senior Seminar - so a few of my friends are going through hell to make sure they can even graduate!), so all of her immigrant students have started getting displaced into our classes, increasing the English class average from 25 to a resounding 45 (unheard of here at UMW)…ugh…
My German teacher is like my grandmother, but in tennis shoes and addicted to caffeine. I think I’m the only one that is able to keep up with her in class, she jumps from topic to topic so quickly there’s barely any time to write anything down, but I have to feverishly scribble down notes or else I won’t have anything to stuffy from. I’m convinced she wears tennis shoes so that if you try to escape from the room she can chase you down. Bryan and I are toast… Bryan (Tom’s roommate) sits next to me in German, and last semester we were comfy cozy with our sloth-like progress, and I was content with curriculum that reminded me of 8th grade German. But even the classroom is uncomfortable now - there are new people that try to get into our jokes, and it’s just ridiculous trying to make jokes without them hearing and without interrupting the class…I can’t learn without jokes, people…
The first day of Modern American Fiction, I danced the Charleston in front of my class. So needless to say, I’m in my element when I’m dancing foolishly in front of 30 strangers.
I don’t want to start Swing Dance practices. I’m just tired…tired of it all…We’ve taught all we can, and I always want classes to be much more fast-paced, so I am getting frustrated with myself, and I know that people want to learn more but honestly I don’t think they can handle what we know. Tom and I do lifts, aerials, flips, drops, all sorts of crazy things, but I’m so fearful of what these kids will do when I teach them these skills. They have to practice on mats for at least 2 months before I’ll let them go it alone without a mat, but I know that they’ll try, and all I can imagine is the head of the gym coming into the Dance Studios while I’m nursing broken bones and mopping up blood…So I don’t want to start practices yet. There.
I’m worried about depression. Bryan said something to me last night that caused me to struggle not to cry right in front of him and Tom, and I haven’t felt that way since Senior year, when I was struggling with a lot more than I am now, which leads me to believe that something is awry. I don’t think I need to talk to anyone about it yet, but it feels good to at least admit to myself that something is up and I need to keep an eye on it.
But other than that, I’ve been good to get to the gym recently. Tom and I go at least 3 times a week, we meet there and then he drives me back to my room, so it’s a nice setup. It’s good that we’re working on it together. We’re also in Volleyball class together, which might not be good for our naturally competitive natures, but it could also be a good opportunity for us to eliminate that part of our personalities. My arms are killing me, though…there are little blue-green bruises all over my arms, and after class there are constellations of little blood-spots all over my forearms…ouch…
Last Sunday was my 21st birthday, which was a ton of fun. Mom and Jenni got me a bunch of Redskins stuff, a necklace that matches the ring Tom got me for Christmas, a new iPod since mine is broken, and lots of great stuff. Tom got me a pretty necklace, and he and Bryan threw me a party at their apartment!!! It was a joint party for me and another guy that turned 21, so it was fun. We all went out with a bunch of our friends to Buffalo Wild Wings, and we ordered our first beers, and then headed back to the apartment for Beer Pong, and general merriment. Jenni and Miguel even came down for the party!!! It was really great, I couldn’t have imagined a better way to celebrate my birthday.
I just got accepted for an internship that bumps me up to 19 credits (1 over the maximum allowance for UMW students, which means I had to go through a bunch of paperwork, which sucked tremendously), and I get to do Event Planning here at UMW!!! I get to plan a lecture series called Great Lives, the Fredericksburg Forum (San Donaldson is coming here to speak to UMW and the community in March), and the President’s Inauguration is in April, and I get to help!!!!! I’m really excited, it should be fun to see this aspect of event planning, since it’s what is most utilized by all companies, and even in a terrible economy there will be lectures at Universities. I start on Monday, and have to get 150 hours under my belt throughout the semester, and then I’ll have 1 internship down, and who knows how many more to go…On the upside, I work 3 days a week from 2:30 to 5:30, so I am always going to go to Starbucks before going back to campus...YAYYY!!!!!
Ok, I have to translate some German and read hundreds upon hundreds of pages for this week. Everyone have a great week, and hopefully your lives aren’t near as stressful as mine…
More later…
Been back here at UMW for about 2 weeks now after a wonderfully relaxing break, and since then I’ve gotten settled in classes. One of my professors had a family incident over Winter Break - apparently while on a cruise her husband had a massive cranial hemorrhage, but they didn’t get him to a hospital for 24 hours (ya know, being on a ship in the middle of nowhere, and all) so it’s a real crisis situation. She hasn’t been to classes since the semester began and 2 other professors are running it for now. It’s really uncomfortable not knowing how your professor grades, since you’ve never met her, but the other professors are reassuring us that she’s being lenient since she hasn’t met most of us yet. But the tricky part is, the first two weeks have been a nightmare while the classes get increasingly larger…another professor had to go on sabbatical for the semester because she is having brain issues of her own (I think it’s brain cancer, or something similar), so her classes were cancelled (including a Senior Seminar - so a few of my friends are going through hell to make sure they can even graduate!), so all of her immigrant students have started getting displaced into our classes, increasing the English class average from 25 to a resounding 45 (unheard of here at UMW)…ugh…
My German teacher is like my grandmother, but in tennis shoes and addicted to caffeine. I think I’m the only one that is able to keep up with her in class, she jumps from topic to topic so quickly there’s barely any time to write anything down, but I have to feverishly scribble down notes or else I won’t have anything to stuffy from. I’m convinced she wears tennis shoes so that if you try to escape from the room she can chase you down. Bryan and I are toast… Bryan (Tom’s roommate) sits next to me in German, and last semester we were comfy cozy with our sloth-like progress, and I was content with curriculum that reminded me of 8th grade German. But even the classroom is uncomfortable now - there are new people that try to get into our jokes, and it’s just ridiculous trying to make jokes without them hearing and without interrupting the class…I can’t learn without jokes, people…
The first day of Modern American Fiction, I danced the Charleston in front of my class. So needless to say, I’m in my element when I’m dancing foolishly in front of 30 strangers.
I don’t want to start Swing Dance practices. I’m just tired…tired of it all…We’ve taught all we can, and I always want classes to be much more fast-paced, so I am getting frustrated with myself, and I know that people want to learn more but honestly I don’t think they can handle what we know. Tom and I do lifts, aerials, flips, drops, all sorts of crazy things, but I’m so fearful of what these kids will do when I teach them these skills. They have to practice on mats for at least 2 months before I’ll let them go it alone without a mat, but I know that they’ll try, and all I can imagine is the head of the gym coming into the Dance Studios while I’m nursing broken bones and mopping up blood…So I don’t want to start practices yet. There.
I’m worried about depression. Bryan said something to me last night that caused me to struggle not to cry right in front of him and Tom, and I haven’t felt that way since Senior year, when I was struggling with a lot more than I am now, which leads me to believe that something is awry. I don’t think I need to talk to anyone about it yet, but it feels good to at least admit to myself that something is up and I need to keep an eye on it.
But other than that, I’ve been good to get to the gym recently. Tom and I go at least 3 times a week, we meet there and then he drives me back to my room, so it’s a nice setup. It’s good that we’re working on it together. We’re also in Volleyball class together, which might not be good for our naturally competitive natures, but it could also be a good opportunity for us to eliminate that part of our personalities. My arms are killing me, though…there are little blue-green bruises all over my arms, and after class there are constellations of little blood-spots all over my forearms…ouch…
Last Sunday was my 21st birthday, which was a ton of fun. Mom and Jenni got me a bunch of Redskins stuff, a necklace that matches the ring Tom got me for Christmas, a new iPod since mine is broken, and lots of great stuff. Tom got me a pretty necklace, and he and Bryan threw me a party at their apartment!!! It was a joint party for me and another guy that turned 21, so it was fun. We all went out with a bunch of our friends to Buffalo Wild Wings, and we ordered our first beers, and then headed back to the apartment for Beer Pong, and general merriment. Jenni and Miguel even came down for the party!!! It was really great, I couldn’t have imagined a better way to celebrate my birthday.
I just got accepted for an internship that bumps me up to 19 credits (1 over the maximum allowance for UMW students, which means I had to go through a bunch of paperwork, which sucked tremendously), and I get to do Event Planning here at UMW!!! I get to plan a lecture series called Great Lives, the Fredericksburg Forum (San Donaldson is coming here to speak to UMW and the community in March), and the President’s Inauguration is in April, and I get to help!!!!! I’m really excited, it should be fun to see this aspect of event planning, since it’s what is most utilized by all companies, and even in a terrible economy there will be lectures at Universities. I start on Monday, and have to get 150 hours under my belt throughout the semester, and then I’ll have 1 internship down, and who knows how many more to go…On the upside, I work 3 days a week from 2:30 to 5:30, so I am always going to go to Starbucks before going back to campus...YAYYY!!!!!
Ok, I have to translate some German and read hundreds upon hundreds of pages for this week. Everyone have a great week, and hopefully your lives aren’t near as stressful as mine…
More later…