Wow! It’s been awhile since I wrote a Life Lately post! Here’s what I’ve been up to the past 2 1/2 months.
Spent… a weekend with with 2 of my best friends from high school and had a great time catching up and hanging out. We watched movies, talked for hours, made dinner together, and went to Barnes and Nobles, where we bought 7 books between the 3 of us to rotate.
Acquired… a lot of new knowledge about theater, acting, ceramics, painting, and Spanish. For acting, we had to do two different duets (with different people) and an additional monologue. Although I doubt I’ll venture into acting again, I learned a lot and was glad I was forced to get out of my comfort zone. Through my theatre class, I learned a lot about the history of theatre and the various types of theatre, something I previously didn’t know a whole lot about. I ventured for the first time in ceramics and loved it! For my visual arts education major, I am actually going to concentrate in ceramics. I learned that painting, particularly for a class and without specific assignments, is not really my thing. And I greatly expanded my knowledge of the Spanish language, including both vocabulary and grammatical structures. This was my hardest class and I really probably should have taken a lower level course, but I made it (I did well, even though it was the lowest grade I’ve gotten so far at college). What I learned definitely helped me when I went to Peru.
Read… Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams and Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline. I really enjoyed both.
Attended… two different theatrical performances on campus: “Last Night of Ballyhoo” and “One Act Plays”, which included three different shorter plays. Both were pretty good.
Received… an award from Phi Beta Kappa honor society for my academics. There was a ceremony and fancy dinner, which my parents and one of my best friends from home came to.
Exercised… quite a bit. Sometimes I went to the gym and used the stationary bike and elliptical, other times I ran, and I also hiked and walked a couple of times.
Finished… my community service requirement at college. It’s amazing how quickly 60 hours go. I did my community service through Circle K, the college version of Kiwanis Club and enjoyed every minute of it.
Took… my first test towards certification for education (the ALST) and passed!
Picked… my new room for next year. I haven’t really seen the room, but it has a window seat! I’ll be rooming with a new roommate, which is also exciting.
Went home… the weekend before spring break (and leaving for Peru) to watch my sister perform in “The Sound of Music”. She was Liesl and did an amazing job! Our family friends and my aunt and cousin also came to see her perform, and it was nice to see them as well.
Performed… in a violin recital. I played “Ave Maria” with a piano accompaniment. Everyone did a great job and was interesting to have a small recital with people at various levels of learning (some who had just begun to learn and some who were very talented and had played for a long time).
Survived… my second semester of sophomore year. I actually did well in all of my classes, even though I took several courses way outside my comfort zone.
Moved… out of my room at college and back into my room at home. I didn’t really get to unpack before departing for Peru, so I had to do that once I got back.
Had… an amazing time in Peru on my school trip! It was truly an amazing trip and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it (getting sick twice was no fun!). I made some great new friends and learned so much about Peru.
Visited… my brother in New York City prior to returning home (I flew into JFK and my family met me there). We spent most of the day in Brooklyn attending the Kickstarter block party. It was fun and really nice to see my brother, but I also really wanted to get home and sleep and take a shower.
Cleaned… a lot once I got home. My room is finally put back together and the whole house was cleaned in time for my sister’s friends to come over for a barbeque before prom this past weekend.
Planted… 250 Christmas trees with my grandpa at his Christmas tree farm. It was pretty hard work, but we made really good time (and he took me out to lunch once we had finished). I also planted a bunch of flowers in our garden and front yard.
Officially finished… my 2nd year of college! I had to write a 5-page paper in Spanish upon my return from Peru and once that was finished, I was done! This is both really exciting and also a bit scary- only 2 more years.
Hung out with… my friends, both at college and at home.
Whew! It’s really been a busy couple of months. What have you been up to?
The Oke Den 