Wow! It’s crazy to think it’s almost February already. I feel like this month has flown by in many ways. This is what I’ve been up to since early December.
December:
Holiday Banquet at college (fancy dinner) – Took my EAS certification exam (for teaching in NY, I passed!) – Selected and decorated a tree with my pastor here in Elmira and youth from the church – Finals week (pulled my first all-nighter and wrote a LOT of lesson plans) – Potluck dinner with people from college church and their friends – HOME! – Babysat three times – Rang the Salvation Army bell with my sister – Made a wreath with my sister – Baked lots of cookies – Went to the “Nutcracker” with my mom and sister (one of the girls we babysit was one of the soldiers and one of our favorite teacher’s daughters was Clara) – Celebrated my dad’s birthday – Held a Christmas party at our house with my siblings and our friends – Celebrated my 21st birthday (nothing too crazy) and Christmas at our house (hiked in the morning after opening Christmas presents, dinner with immediate family plus grandparents and aunt, looked at old photo slides with an old projector) – Hiked a few times – Shortened jeans – Visited with friends from home – Christmas with our cousins – My brother headed back to Long Island (he was only home a few days) – Grabbed breakfast with some old friends, including one I haven’t seen in 3 years, it was great to catch up – Celebrated New Year’s Eve at home with family (pretty uneventful).
January:
Hung out with friends from home some more – Went out to dinner with one of my friends to celebrate my birthday – Completed the gallery wall in my room – Panera/Sweet Frog with college friends – Back to college – Hockey game – Potluck dinner with same folks as before – Skyped with one of my best friends from home – Lots of “Gilmore Girls” – Read (Under the Tuscan Sun) – My parents stopped by and took me out to Dunkin Donuts – Ran for first time since last March-Hockey game again.
Some notes about college:
I’m taking 5 classes this term. Two are education classes: one is in Literacy and the other is in Math and Science. For those, we meet for class once a week and then on Thursdays, we go into one of the local elementary schools and do tutoring in reading and math. So far, I’ve really enjoyed that. It’s nice to work with students again. I’m also taking Ceramics again (I’m in Ceramics III now). So far, I’ve made some bowls, a couple tiles, and some cups (I keep meaning to make mugs, but I really dislike making handles, so they keep end up being cups). I’m taking two other art-related classes: 19th Century Art and Seminar in Art Criticism. 19th Century Art is a directed study, so I only meet with the professor once in awhile and it’s pretty self-guided (I basically have to research the various art movements of the 1800s and write about them). For the Seminar in Art Criticism class (only 3 students, so pretty relaxed), we watch documentaries about art, look at art work, and visit museums and then write about them. I was a little nervous it would be boring, but it’s been really interesting so far. We’ve watched two films/documentaries: “Waste Land” and “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. “Waste Land” was amazing and I would recommend watching it even if you aren’t into art. “Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a Banksy film and is very unique. I’m still not sure what I think about it (plus, many believe it’s a hoax). I’ve also been continuing to work on the Yearbook with the rest of the club. The research group I was working with last term has been taking a break, but we’re about to get started on the next step of that this coming week, so I’m really excited to see where it takes us.
What have you been up to these past couple months? Anything interesting?
The Oke Den 