I'm home!

I made it through finals and am now back in PA.  I love being able to relax--it's such a wonderful feeling to not have anything I have to do!  During the last two weeks at Houghton there was always something weighing on my mind, a paper to write or an exam to study for, and I would work and work and get one thing done only to have another to start on the next day, but now I'm free!  I think I did fairly well in all my classes; I guess I'll find out when we get our grades at the end of the month.

It's nice to be home with my family and my pets.  We don't have snow here, though, which is sad.  But that also means it isn't quite as cold as it is at Houghton, which is nice.  It's weird to think that people are still there and some still have finals to take; I got really lucky this year, having all mine on Monday and Tuesday.  It's so great to be on break!

Lanthorn update

The party last night went really well.  People actually did come, several staying the whole time (including two professors) and a bunch stopping in for a little while.  The lecture ended before the party, so some people came by afterward.  Almost all of our food got eaten, but not quite all of it, meaning we had just about the right amount.  We had readings from the book, some people reading their own work and some reading other people's.  And everyone told us we did a great job.  People especially seemed to like the cover a lot, so I was pretty happy.  A lot of the books got taken, which was good, and then Adam and I spread the rest (except the black and white ones, which are in a box in our office) around campus.  All the ones in the Chamberlain Center are gone already.  In class today, my Lit. by Women professor congratulated us on it and told us how nice it looked and told everyone they should read it.  So I'm happy with the way things turned out.  Now we just have to do it all again next semester . . .

Lanthorn craziness

So, I asked people if I should keep blogging, and my family and Hanna said yes, but I still haven't been.  Mostly that's because of time, but today I have lots of time for some reason, so I thought I would write a post (and I'm still being lazy, because most of this is copy and pasted from an email I wrote).

Adam and I are having the Lanthorn release party this Thursday.  It's been a crazy process.  First, we couldn't figure out what software we were supposed to use.  The college said they were going to get us new software, but they never did.  There was a layout/design program on the computer in our office, but it said it wasn't the full version and would put a watermark on all our pages.  So I emailed the former editor, and from her I found out that they'd never used that program, but had had access to a different program through the school newspaper.  So we ended up using Microsoft publisher, which worked fine but wasn't the best.

Putting the book together took a lot of time, and then we tried to email it to the print center, but it was too big of a file.  Because the print center lady was going to be going away for a few days, I had to leave a class to go back to my room to put The Lanthorn on a  blank CD and then bring it to her.  And then her color printer wasn't working, so we thought we were going to have to do it in black and white, but after printing 60 black and white copies she got the color to work.  So now they're all printed, but they needed to be folded and stapled, which Adam and I will be working on tomorrow.

We've also had issues with the party; we didn't hear back from the guy in charge of Java 101 (the campus coffee shop, where the party will be) that we actually had it until today, so we only just sent out the campus wide email, and there's some lecture going on at the same time, and everyone we've talked to is either going to that or has other plans already.  So we'll probably have only five people show up to the party.  It'll be okay; the book will still have been successfully published, and even if not many people get them at the party we'll still leave them around campus for people to pick up, but the whole thing has just been way more frustrating than I expected.  Having it done will be a big relief, and I'm sure I'll feel better about it then.  And at least next semester we'll know how to do things better.

Readers?

Should I post on this blog?  Does anyone read it?  I haven't been keeping up with it, but I could; it wouldn't really be worth it, though, if no one's reading.

A disclaimer

I hope I don't come across as complaining in my posts about Europe; I just like to emphasize the unfortunate things that happen because they make good stories. :)

Part of Prague

It was cool driving through Germany and the Czech Republic on the way to Prague.  It was funny, there would be all these signs/ads in German or Czech and then randomly one in English.  Germany had lots of pine forests, France had lots of fields, and when we reached Prague I found that it had lots of cool buildings.  The bus station wasn't in the best shape, though.  Because it had been hard to sleep on the bus, when we arrived at the station, a little before 6am, I was exhausted and couldn't wait to get to Nora's friend's house, where we were staying.  But that wouldn't happen for over an hour.  For one thing, the bus had gotten in a little early.  Worse than that, though, I had told Nora's friend the wrong time to meet us at the bus station.  I had assumed there was a time difference between Paris and Prague, and I didn't find out otherwise until right before the trip.  Consequently, I'd had Nora tell her friend the bus would get in at 7:15, when it was actually supposed to arrive at 6:15.  We had no way to contact her, so we just had to wait.

We sat inside the bus station, but it was still cold.  Around 7 the bus station food shops began to open.  I kept watching the people who came in, wondering if each woman was Lucie, Nora's friend.  At 7:30 the real Lucie came, and we took the Prague metro to her apartment (which was on the other side of the city from the bus station).  Once there we ate breakfast; I was so tired I ate with my eyes closed, practically sleep-eating.  Afterward I took a much-needed nap.  A few hours later Nora woke me up so we could go into the city center.  I was still pretty tired, but the sleep had definitely helped.

Lucie had the day off from work, so she took us around, which was good because I at least wasn't up to navigating a new city by myself (Nora was much more awake that day than I was).  Now that the sun was up it was really hot out.  First we went to the castle area, which was a complex of buildings (like a palace and a huge cathedral) and not an actual castle.  It was on a hill, so we had a good view of the city.  Later on we walked across Charles Bridge, which has lots of statues of saints on it.

I don't really remember a lot about that day except walking a lot and being tired, hot, hungry, and thirsty.  Besides Czech Lucie spoke Swedish and English, and since her Swedish was the better of the two, she mostly talked to Nora in that language.  Because I know absolutely no Swedish, I couldn't really follow the conversation, so I didn't always know what we were seeing or where we were headed.  Eventually we went to a pizzeria for lunch.  I was so looking forward to drinking a glass of water--but when the water came, it was fizzy water, which was pretty disappointing.  Apparently that's the norm there, and regular water is pretty expensive.  I swished it around to take some of the fizz out, and that helped, but it still wasn't the same.

After lunch we rode around on trams some and got gelato at one point (I had peach, which was awesome) and later got citronada, which was like lemonade.  At 5-something we headed back to Lucie's apartment.  We got back to her neighborhood after the long metro ride and went to the grocery store.  Although Lucie only got a few things, we were there for a while because the checkout line was so long.  When we finally made it out we went to the post office to buy stamps for the postcards Nora and I had bought in Paris.  Again, we had to wait a really long time, although there we at least got to sit down.  At last we got the stamps and went back to the apartment, around 6:30, and Nora and I both lay down and went right to sleep.

I woke up several times while it was still evening, once because there was a thunderstorm, but I always fell back asleep quickly.  I also woke up a few times overnight and early in the morning, but I ended up sleeping past 10am, and the only reason I woke up then was because there were lots of noisy kids outside (there was a school next door).  I must've gotten over 12 hours of sleep, maybe as many as 13 or 14.  I felt really weird when I woke up, but that wore off, and I felt so much more awake and alive than the day before.

Paris

My flight arrived in Paris only a little late, somehow.  We didn't have to go through customs or anything as far as I remember.  I came out to where all the people were waiting for their friends who'd been on the plane and looked for Nora, but she wasn't there.  I was hungry and tired and in a foreign country, so I freaked out a little.  I just stood off to the side and waited, but all the time I was wondering if something had happened to Nora and trying to think of what I would do if she didn't come.

Then I saw her in the crowd of people, and everything was okay.  She was just late because she'd missed the first train to the airport.  I felt much better, and we went off to our hostel. Nora and the two friends she'd been in Paris with for the past week were staying in a three-person room, and I was in a four-person women-only room upstairs.  I rested a little, and then Nora and I went out to Victor Hugo's house.  It took us a long time to find it, even though we had a map and there were signs supposedly pointing the way.  I didn't mind, though, because I enjoyed just wandering around Paris.  We happened upon a big market and looked at stuff there for a while.  Pretty soon after that we did make it to the house; it was interesting to see, but not that exciting.

We got pizza for lunch and then went to the Louvre, which is free the first Sunday of the month, exactly the day we happened to be there.  We just wanted to see the most famous things, but we kept making mistakes and going the wrong way (the map confused me), so we ended up walking a lot more than we needed to.  Every time we sat down to rest I started to fall asleep.  But it was cool to see so much famous art, and we really barely saw any of what's there, because the Louvre is such a huge place.  I would love to go back for a whole day sometime when I'm not exhausted.

We went back to the hostel when the museum closed, and I finally got to relax.  My sense of time was really skewed, and it felt like it had been a really long day even though it was only early evening.  I went to bed around 9 and slept pretty well.

The next morning I got up and had breakfast with Nora at the hostel.  After the other two girls came down and ate we checked out of our rooms.  I accidentally left my pajamas in my room, but before we left one of the ladies who'd been in the room with me came and found me and told me, which was nice.  We left our luggage at the hostel and headed off to Sacre Coeur, a big white church, which was pretty close by.  It's on a hill, and the view of Paris got better and better as we went up.  When we reached the top we were so high; it was like we were on top of Paris.  Nora and I looked inside and then walked along the edge of the hill until we could see the Eiffel Tower, which was blocked by trees before.

We walked around Sacre Coeur, and as soon as we left the front area there were practically no other people around, which was nice.  We then met back up with the other two girls and walked around the area, Montmarte, which had nice cobblestones streets and pretty houses.  We got crepes at La Maison Rose, a tiny pink cafe.  The weather was beautiful, so it was really nice just walking around.

Nora and I had to be at the bus station to check in for our bus ride to Prague at 3, so we left Montmarte before long and picked up our luggage at the hostel before heading to the bus station.  On the way we stopped at a grocery store to buy dinner, spending only 4.23 total on drinkable yogurt (which Nora introduced me to and I love), a baguette, an apple, and brie.  We made it to the bus station right on time and checked in, and then we just had to wait till our bus left at 4.

Nora had realized that she'd left her iPod charger in the room at the hostel, so she went to look for a place to get internet (on her iPod touch) to email one of her friends, who was staying at the hostel another night, and ask if she could get it.  I stayed with the luggage and ate some brie on rolls we'd taken from the hostel (it was quite good) and then just waited.

After a while our bus pulled up and people started getting on.  Nora had said she would try to be back within half an hour, so after half an hour had passed I started getting worried, both about whether something had happened to Nora and about missing the bus.  I had a plan to ask the bus driver to wait and then tell one of the bus station workers that Nora was missing if she wasn't back by five of 4.  But then, around 3:50, Nora came in.  She'd had a hard time finding somewhere where she got internet, but she finally had, and then she'd hurried back.  We got on the bus, and pretty soon we were off to Prague.

Airport adventure

So, I went to Europe.  It was my first time flying alone, and after I went through security and left my family behind I felt very independent and a little nervous.  I quickly got way more nervous when my backpack didn't come out of the security scanner and the lady watching the scans called someone else over.  I waited while they talked, wondering what in the world could be in my backpack that could cause a problem.  I'd packed everything I needed for 10 days in Europe in there--clothes, a few small guidebooks, shampoo and toothpaste in 3-ounce containers sealed in a plastic bag.  There was nothing wrong with any of that, was there?

They let my backpack out, and a man felt around inside.  "Do you have maple syrup in here?" he asked, and I suddenly remembered that Nora's mom had sent a quart of maple syrup with me as a gift for the friend of Nora's we would be staying with in Prague.  None of us, not Nora's mom, not my mom, not me, had realized that I wouldn't be able to bring that in a carry-on.  I wondered if they would confiscate it, leaving Nora's friend gift-less, but the man just told me, "Next time, put that in your checked luggage" and let me take my backpack back.

Very relieved that I wasn't unwittingly carrying explosives or illegal drugs, I headed to my gate, where I found that my flight had been delayed.  Even after everyone boarded, it still didn't take off for a while; I actually fell asleep while waiting.  So began my trip to Europe.

It's summer

Hi. I don't even know who still reads this, but I have a random half hour to spend, so I thought I'd just write a quick update.

Sophomore year is over. I was done on Monday the 3rd and came home on the 4th. It's a weird feeling, being halfway done with college. It's just not right. I'm really glad to be done with schoolwork, but I miss Houghton. I would have loved to stay for Mayterm, but it didn't work out with my Europe trip. So here I am, back home. I like being home, but of course there are things I don't like too, which I won't get into. It is good to be back.

Unfortunately, I don't have a job. I applied to five places over Easter break, and I hadn't heard from any, so yesterday I stopped by four of them. The first two said they didn't need me, at the third the girl there said the manager would call me (she hasn't yet) and at the fourth the line was too long to wait in. Since I haven't heard anything, I'm assuming none of them want me. The first two (who said they definitely don't need me) were my best options, so now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. A local McDonald's is hiring, but I really really don't want to work there. Mom was suggesting just looking for odd jobs, which is a possibility, but I probably wouldn't make much money doing that.

So far since I've been home I've been really lazy--sleeping a lot, watching Lost (which some of my friends from Houghton recently got me into), playing games with Joyce, reading for fun. And it has been nice just to be able to relax, but I know it'll get old after a while. Last summer I was really bored and unhappy, and I don't want this summer to be like that. So if I can't get a job I'm planning to volunteer at a local animal shelter, which is something I've wanted to do for years. It'll help them out and keep me busy and get me out of the house, even if I won't be making money.

So yeah, I guess that's pretty much it for now. It's warm here, but not hot yet, and I like it.

Lanthorn editors!

Adam and I are going to be editors of the Lanthorn next year! We applied a while ago, and we found out last week that we got the position! It's really exciting, and also kind of daunting, because we're going to have so much responsibility. But it'll be really cool. We even get our own office, complete with a computer. I feel so official.

The semester is almost over; I'm done with exams on May 3rd, and I'm going home on the 4th. I had all my big papers and projects due last week, so now I just have finals. Only two of them are actual tests, though, and only one is cumulative, so it's not going to be a problem. Tomorrow is geology, the cumulative one, and I haven't done much studying yet, so I'd better do that now. Bye!

Next semester's schedule

I'm home! Spring/Easter break starts today; I came home last night, a day early. It's really nice to be here.

Last Friday was course selection day. Here's what I'll be taking next fall:

French Level 1

Fiction

Literature by Women

Horsemanship 1

Writer's Worskshop

The workshop is something writing majors are supposed to take as seniors, but since I'm planning to go to Australia fall of my senior year, I have to take it junior year instead. I'm a little nervous because it's going to be me and a bunch of seniors, so that's kind of intimidating. I'm definitely going to be doing a lot of writing.

Poetry

I've been meaning to post some of the poems I've written for my poetry class for a while, and now that Mom's reminded me I'll actually do it. So here are a few; they're the ones I like best, and/or the ones that the professor liked.

This first one is, obviously, about the power outage I wrote about in the last post.

Power Outage

Total darkness below,

but above, the stars—

I never knew there were so many.

I could stand and stare forever.

When the lights came back on

most of the stars disappeared

and I can’t look at the night sky anymore

without thinking about all the stars I can’t see.

This one is a villanelle.

An Attempt

I tried to write a poem for you

to let you know how things could be.

(But not a word of it was true.)

I tried to show you something new.

I tried so hard to make you see.

I tried to write a poem for you.

I didn’t put in any blue;

of course there’s none, to you, from me.

(But not a word of it was true.)

I gave you more than just a clue—

I gave you the entire key.

I tried to write a poem for you.

I gave you what I thought was due

so that you wouldn’t choose to flee.

I tried to write a poem for you

(but not a word of it was true).

In this next one, the part about my wanting to go to Australia is true, but although there is a possibility that the program won't be offered until fall of 2012, it should be offered fall of 2011, meaning I will be able to go.

Hope

Turning in the paper

hoping for an A-, at least—

and getting it back with a B+.

Walking into the dining hall, starving

hoping there will be good pizza today—

but finding it a sloppy mess.

Getting excited for Australia

hoping the program will be offered—

then hearing it’s been pushed back another year.

Hearing rapid footsteps behind me

hoping it’s you, coming to apologize—

only to see a stranger stride by.

And one more.

Fog

There’s almost nothing to this fog

but it builds up between us

so that I can barely see you.

Yay! The power's out!

On the 16th, around 9:45, I was vacuuming up on the fourth floor of Gillette. Suddenly, the vacuum shut off. And all the lights went off too. It was a power outage, the first time that ever happened while I was at Houghton. It was new and exciting.

There were emergency lights in the dorm halls and stairwells, which was really good. I had been planning to meet people in the campus center at 10, so I put the vacuum away (fortunately I had been almost done) and headed out. All the outside lights were off too, of course, and I could see all the stars. It was amazing. I didn't know you could see that many stars. It was beautiful.

I found my friends in the campus center, and we hung out there some and walked around outside more. People were running around all over the place, screaming and yelling. Someone was setting off illegal fireworks, and I heard that someone drove a car on the sidewalk. People also climbed on the roofs of buildings, and the next day graffiti was found in several different places. That really annoys me, because most people were just enjoying the novelty of the power being out and admiring the stars, but some people thought, "Oh, the power's out, it's a great time to do bad things!" Which is stupid.

Anyway, it was an adventure. The Student Life office handed out glow sticks, as if they'd been prepared for this. The lights came back on a little after 11. Apparently the power had been out in several towns in the area, and I still don't know why. But I really didn't mind at all; it was fun and different.

I'm back at Houghton

10:15, Saturday night:

Yeah, here I am, at Houghton again; I've been back for a week, I just haven't blogged at all. This was a semi-busy week for me, at least compared to how the rest of the semester has been. I had a geology test Thursday that I was studying for and freaking out about all week. When I actually had to take the test, though, I knew almost everything and went through it really fast, so it was way better than I expected. I also had two short soc. papers due on Friday, which I put off until Thursday night. That was a bad choice, but I got them written.

And then yesterday was Friday, and I was finally done with everything, and I watched Ratatouille with Adam and Eri after work at the dining hall. Today I went to the college play, Jake's Women, which was really good. Right now I'm watching The Italian Job with some girls on my floor, which is several of their favorite movies, although I've never heard of it. The main characters are in Venice right now, which is where I'm going in June! On Monday Nora and I are meeting for dinner to plan a little more about where we're going and how we're getting there.

2:55, Sunday afternoon:

I stopped writing last night because I got into the movie. It was pretty good, a fun, action/adventure movie. After that Jaela, Alexa, and I watched half of Harry Potter 6. Also this week, on Thursday after my geology test, I watched Where the Wild Things are, which the school showed in the chapel. It really wasn't what I expected; it was sad and kind of dark and even disturbing at times. I think it was good, though.

I also started a new job this week, vacuuming the fourth floor. I do that Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday while my other cleaning job is MWF, so now I'm working every day. It's good; I have the time for it, and I'm making more money.

The weather's been really nice here, which is great. And I guess that's it for now.

I went skiing for real

On Tuesday my ski class took a trip to Swain Ski Area, about 40 minutes from Houghton, so that we could experience an actual ski resort. It was my first time ever going to a real ski place. The hills were so tall. It was a rainy day, so the top was hidden in fog. At first we took the shorter ski lift, which only went halfway up, so we could do some easy hills. I was surprised at how high off the ground the lift was, so although it was fun it was also a little scary. Getting off and on took a little getting used to.

The actual skiing felt really different from skiing at Houghton, because even the short hills were way longer. After a few times the TA had us get on the long ski lift, going all the way up to the top. Everyone was saying how ominous it felt, riding up slowly into the fog. The TA took us down the mile sweep, which was still an easy one, but it didn't feel like a mile because I was going so fast. Every time I went down any slope it pretty much felt like I lost all control, and it was only through luck that I didn't fall. I actually did fall once, when I tried a blue square hill. The whole time I was so scared of falling, and then at the very end it suddenly got really steep and I wiped out. My hat flew off, one ski came off, and I lost my poles too. Fortunately I didn't get hurt at all.

So yeah, skiing was interesting; a very unique experience. By the end I was really wet and cold. I liked it, but I'm really not that good at it, so I don't know if/when I'll go again. But I'm glad I got to try it.

Right now I'm home on break. It's really nice to be away from school and be with my family and be lazy. I always feel so different when I'm at home from how I feel when I'm at school; at Houghton I have to be organized and responsible and get to places on time, while here I can do what I want when I want and don't really have to worry about anything. It's weird living at such extremes. Houghton feels unreal now.

I went skiing

So, today I had my skiing class, so I skied, and I fell down a lot, and it was really discouraging. But I kept trying, and I actually started to do better. Next week we're going to a real ski place, Holiday Valley. I don't really feel ready for that, but it will be nice to ski on real slopes and to actually have a chairlift; here they just have a tow rope, which is really uncomfortable and hurts your arms after a while. Speaking of hurt, one of the time when I fell I did something to my knee. I didn't really notice it until I was done skiing and was walking around. It hurt and it swelled a little, so now I have ice on it. That's my story for today. :P

I've been watching a lot of the Olympics; figure skating, my favorite event, was really good last night. The Chinese were pretty awesome.

An away-from-Houghton adventure

Yesterday Adam, Steve, and I borrowed Alexa's car and drove to Rochester to see Avatar in 3D. I drove, and no, we did not get lost. There was a lot of traffic as we got close to the city, and there were pretty strong winds, but everything went fine. We got to the theater and watched the movie, which was almost 3 hours long. The story was really cliché, but the effects and the 3D were really cool, so it was worth seeing.

Afterward we went to Adam's house for dinner. His mom made us calzones, which were amazing, and we had real salad, so much fresher than Houghton's, and brownies and ice cream for dessert. It was a delicious meal.

Then it was time to drive back, which was when it really became an adventure. Steve drove, since I'd driven the whole way there. It was snowing a little, and it was dark since it was about 9:30 by the time we left. We made it onto the highway and back off fine and continued to follow the directions I'd gotten from Mapquest. But the directions must have been wrong, because we'd been going for a while and hadn't seen the road we were supposed to turn onto.

Then I suddenly recognized where we were--the tiny town of Short Tract, which was really ironic because Eri and I and some other people had been lost there on the way back from church a few weeks ago. We'd called Dan and he had looked up directions and told us how to get back, so I was pretty sure I remembered. But we'd driven past the road we needed to take, so we had to turn around, and the inside of the car was getting really fogged up and the defrost wasn't working very well, so Steve pulled over so we could clear it up. But he'd pulled onto a side road with a good amount of snow on it, and it turned out to be deeper than it looked. We opened a window and wiped the fog off the windshield, and then Steve tried to pull back onto the road. But we couldn't get out--we were stuck in a ditch.

I definitely had a moment of panic, wondering what we were going to do. Adam and I got out of the car and Steve drove forward, able to move in that direction but still not able to get back on the road. It really looked like we were stuck there. Then Steve tried backing up, and as Adam and I watched the back end of the car pulled up and out of the ditch, and the front end followed. After jumping up and down in celebration, Adam and I got back in the car. Steve turned it around, very careful not to go back in the ditch, and we drove back the way we'd come. We had to turn around several more times because I was confused about whether the road we needed was on the left or right, but we found it, and it was the right one.

It was about 15 or 20 minutes back to Houghton from there. The only other problem we had was that Steve's window wouldn't close--Alexa's car is pretty old and beat up, and the driver's side window gets stuck. There's a special way you have to close it, but I didn't remember what that was, so we had to drive the rest of the way with the cold wind blowing right into the car. I felt really bad for poor Steve!

But we did make it back, finally; it was almost midnight and I'd expected to get back around 11. It was definitely an adventure, with its scary moments, but it ended well and makes a good story. It was great to get away from Houghton for 9 hours and see a movie in a theater and eat a real meal in a house with a family.

***

Right now I'm half-watching the Olympics. The biathlon is on, which is a weird sport. Before that was ski jumping, which was pretty cool. Hopefully I'll be able to catch some of the figure skating tonight.

10 million fireflies

So, now that I don't have Facebook I'm going to try to start blogging more regularly, provided people are actually reading this. So leave me a comment once in a while if you are, so that I know this isn't a waste of time. :)

I started another blog last month, mostly for myself, where I post pictures, poems, and songs/song lyrics that I really like. I wanted to have a place to "collect" all these things, so that I can find them quickly and easily. In case you're interested, it's http://alyshkalia.blogspot.com/. There are a lot of poems on there already, so if you just want to read the ones I like best, go to the right side where it says "labels" and click on "favorites." A lot of them are ones I read in my poetry class this semester.

I mostly mentioned that because I don't have much else to say right now. Today was an okay day; I went to class, cleaned in Gillette, watched half an episode of the sci-fi series Firefly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)), worked as salad runner during dinner, and not much else. So yeah, pretty boring. Tonight Jaela, Alexa and I are going to watch the 4th Harry Potter movie, which is probably my favorite one (not sure though, because I've only seen it once).

So yeah, I guess that's it. Enjoy the weekend!

I quit

This week I quit one of my jobs, sweeping and mopping floors in the dining hall once a week. I really didn't enjoy it, because it was supposed to take only an hour to an hour and a half, but it always took me at least two hours. And it was a pain, because it's such a big area and it's always really dirty. And it was boring, because I wasn't allowed to listen to my iPod while I worked. So on Monday I told my boss I quit, but I had to work today because he hadn't found anyone to take over. It was utter misery, and I'm really not exaggerating. It took me two hours and twenty minutes, the longest it's ever taken. I was really hot and tired and in a bad mood by the end, but now I'm done forever, and it's such a relief.

I also deactivated my Facebook a few days ago, which probably anyone reading this already knows. Not only did I spend too much time on it, I also was frustrated with the surface-level connection it provides. Status updates simply state what someone is doing, or, if they do talk about anything more serious, it has to be masked by quoted song lyrics. I don't think everyone should be completely honest on Facebook; that wouldn't be appropriate. But that's the point--Facebook isn't meant for deep connection with people. So if I'm not truly connecting with anyone, why bother?

I have other issues with Facebook as well, which I won't get into now. Suffice it to say, I'm very happy it's gone. I actually enjoy getting on my computer and realizing there's no Facebook to check. So that was definitely a good decision. Maybe in the future I'll be back, but for now I'm staying away.

Blah

From an email:

My first week went pretty well, and this week is going okay too, but it feels like time is going by really slowly. I'm tired of school and ready to be done already! I don't have a lot of homework or anything, just reading so far, but I'm not enjoying my classes this semester as much as I did last semester. None of them are bad classes, but it seems like none of them make very good use of class time--for Principles of Sociology we just go over what was in the reading, so it feels like a waste of time because I already learned the stuff, and one of my poetry classes is mostly discussion, so people get to talking/arguing and we don't really get anywhere, and for Physical Geology the professor gives us the powerpoint slides beforehand, and then the lecture is pretty much exactly what's on the slides. So going to all of those classes kind of feels like a waste of time or is boring.

I am enjoying skiing. We just had our second class yesterday, and it was icy because the snow melted some, so it was a little harder to ski on, but it was still fun. I got to ski down the smaller hill backwards, which I thought would be really hard but actually wasn't too bad. It reminded me of backwards roller skating a little.

So, everything's going okay . . . it just seems like this is going to be a really long semester.

A new semester

Email to Mom, January 11 (first day of classes):

I'm a little nervous for my classes--Principles of Sociology has a lot of assignments, Modern and Contemporary American Poetry is just going to be hard because it's analyzing poetry, and for the poetry writing class we have to write a poem a week. We'll also be doing a lot of peer editing, and the professor was emphasizing the importance of reading poetry out loud, so it sounds like we're going to have to read our poems out loud to each other, which of course I don't want to do. But it still sounds like a good class. And the other classes seem good too. We're starting with Robert Frost for the other poetry one, and I'm really enjoying reading him.

Other random things (not from an email):

I had my first skiing class on Tuesday, which was hard and tiring but also lots of fun. I think I'm really going to enjoy it. I'm also working for the first time this semester, cleaning one of the stairwells in my dorm as well as cleaning floors one afternoon a week in the dining hall and being "salad runner" one night a week in the dining hall. The only one I've done so far is the stairwell, and it's really not bad. The whole time I think, "I'm making money, I'm making money," and I feel happy. ;)