SUMMERTIME!

So, I can't believe it, but my freshman year is completely, totally over. I finished my exams Friday, turned in my last paper on Monday, moved out completely on Tuesday and have (almost) everything put away and went back to work today. I don't have any more homework assignments, just lots of free time to spend reading books in the sunshine. I've already finished my first book for the summer (Life of Pi), which, to be fair, I started a couple weeks ago as a free-time-if-I-have-any book. I've started my second book (A Prayer for Owen Meany, recommended to me by one of my professors) and am picking up the fifth Sookie Stackhouse book tomorrow from one of my professors (yes, the Coe professors have excellent tastes in reading material).

I have no idea how I will fill the next three months until I come back for RA training in mid-August besides with sunshine reading and HyVee working, but it is going to be relaxed and summery and awesome. Happy Summer, everybody!

It's the home stretch!

I can't believe it. I only have 8 days until I hand in my last paper of the semester and am free to move back home. I only have 8 days left of my first semester of college. This term went by way, way, WAY too fast! I have a schedule of all the things I have to do in the next week to prepare for finals. It's so surreal. I don't feel like it's time for summer yet. It's 50 degrees, cloudy and sprinkling outside right now. Where's the sunshine?! Where's the heat?!

This last week is going to be filled with study cards for US History and History of Western Civ, reading the Paradiso and writing my last paper for my Dante class, writing a final response paper for Western Civ about Communism and finishing my Novels class plot synopsis.

And in 10 days, it's going to be going back to the humdrum of Hy-Vee, trying to scrounge up as many hours as possible so I can have lots of money for the fall/spring. It's going to be running at 6:30-7:30 in the morning to avoid the heat and humidity. It's going to be reading books in the sunshine and attempting to get tan (but failing). It's going to be seeing friends (AND GOING TO A LADY GAGA CONCERT IN JULY)!

I'm going to be busy with work and friends, but I'm going to miss the busy-ness that I get at Coe from classes, Coe-friends, work study, and all the extra things that Coe puts on just for us. :)

This week!

This week has been so excited/busy/awesome! :D On Monday, we had Flunk Day (I promise I will post pictures at the end of my post), the weather has been nice (well, except a little rain), we registered for classes and I got the 5 I wanted, I saw Date Night for FREE (it was hilarious), I got paid by both of my jobs, and I brought a Future Kohawk with me all around campus on Friday night. FUN. STUFF.

So, as the total nerd that I am, I am super pumped for fall. I am taking super awesome classes and even though the books are going to kill my wallet in horrific ways, it is totally going to be worth it. I'm taking a Middle Eastern history class, a class about Islam, LATIN (!), my last history major survey class and a super important history class that I need-need-need for my major. I am really excited about the Middle Eastern classes because it will be stuff that is all totally new and interesting and incredibly useful to know.

But it is super gorgeous outside, and I pretty much have no homework. So I am going to go and sit outside and read a book (for fun!) / take a nap in the sunshine. :D So I leave you with Flunk Day picture hijacked from Facebook!


One of the rides set up on the quad


AIRBRUSH TATTOOOOOOOS!


Posing on the spinny ride


Even though we could not figure out how to position the camera for all four of us, we were very excited about Flunk Day festivities

Wait, what?!

So I was checking out my calendar today. Putting on this next week's work hours, some due dates, etc... and I suddenly noticed that I only have FIVE WEEKS LEFT OF MY FRESHMAN YEAR OF COLLEGE! That is crazy! I feel like this term just barely started, and we're well past half way done now! Suddenly, I feel like I have a ton to do and not enough time to do it in. Before the term ends, I have to write 2 more papers for my Dante class, 3 more for my Western Civ class, take 2 finals and do a project for my novel writing class. Where is all this work coming from?!

I feel like these last few weeks have really snuck up on me. Time goes by so fast, and I didn't even realize that we were getting so close to the end of the year. I'm just so busy planning for things going on next year/classes(!), or the year after, and managing my time for today and this week just to get my homework done. Soon I won't have any readings to do or responses to write; it's going to be summer!

And with the weather getting really, really nice, I am getting excited for summer. Being lazy outside, here I come!

SPRINGTIME!

For the first time in months, it is legitimately gorgeous outside. You can tell just by walking around campus that spring break and the springy weather have lifted everyone's spirits. Today is a perfect day, in my opinion. 60 degrees, loads of sunshine, basically no breeze... great for doing homework outside and wearing a fun skirt. :)

I'm just sitting around feeling refreshed and motivated to actually work. People are out on the quad playing frisbee. I can hear the choir in Marquis (they must have their windows open, but I don't mind because they sound lovely). I awoke the sounds of birds chirping this morning. Nothing can get me down, not even class!

I adore spring. The first day of spring is this Saturday, on my birthday, so I think that may have something to do with it. But it might also be that for the first time in 3-4 months, the grass is green, the sky is blue and I can go outside without heavy layers on. Campus looks bright and happy and finally looks like itself again.

It is spring break!

Oh man. Spring break is lovely. (Except for the weather. Cedar Rapids is gray and dismal and uncooperative.)

I didn't get scheduled to work at all until Friday, so I've been spending lots of time being a bum, slowly getting homework done for Monday and watching all sorts of TV. I've watched a bunch of Dawson's Creek, Fringe and Dexter (which I just started watching and love!). I've yet to spend an entire day binging on the Sims 3 World Adventures, but I sure plan on it.

Most of my friends have break NEXT week, however, which sort of sucks (but gives me lots of time to be a bum by myself!). So this weekend will be lots of get togthers, and might run into the week days, too.

AND my birthday is next Saturday (the 20th) and that is going to be super duper exciting. I'm crossing my fingers for lots of grocery money. :)

Busy week!

Such a busy week this week! I had a major paper due Tuesday, a midterm today, another midterm on Friday, I had my RA interview this afternoon, study sessions galore... oh boy! Crazy crazy!

On Monday, a guest lecturer, Michael Kessler, came to Coe. Three other religion students and I went out to lunch with him across the street at Brewed Awakenings. It was a pretty cool lunch, very low-key. He was a super nice guy. The lecture was pretty cool; it was called "Should the President Use Religion in War and does the Constitution Permit it?" A lot of it went over my head because I know exceptionally little about politics, but lots of other people who are more up-to-date really enjoyed it. :P

Oh! And last weekend was the big, blowout Prospie Weekend! There was a Midnight Movie, a magician and a spectacular Blindspot show. Though I wasn't hosting a prospie, I can guarantee that I definitely enjoyed all the perks of the scholarship weekend. :) February + Coe = busy, but awesome.

Happy Day-After-Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's Day. I spent most of mine either watching the Olympics or working at Hy-Vee, but that's okay. If I hadn't gone to work, I'd just have been an Olympics junkie all day. Did anyone else find they were entranced by the women's and men's moguls this weekend? Loved it! And figure skating last night was fantastic, as usual, but I didn't like how some of the pairs placed, personally. Hmmph.

Now it's back to homework and classes and yadda yadda yadda for the week. I seriously need to get on it! I've been slacking for the last week, and I've got papers due and tests next week and all sorts of crazy IT'S ALMOST MIDTERM ALREADY stuff. It doesn't help when I fall asleep on the couch watching cross country skiing when I should be reading for my novels class. Oops.

Oh! And this is late, but I need to welcome the 2 new bloggers to the team!

Nancy!
http://spainadventure2010.blogspot.com/

Amanda!
http://amandas-irelandadventures.blogspot.com/

Wow!

So I checked Facebook today, as most college students do on a fairly regular basis, and I found out that a girl I graduated with is getting married this spring!

Now, one of my friends got married this last summer, but her marriage was more one of convenience so she could live with her boyfriend/husband on his air force base. They plan to have a wedding ceremony sometime in the future, when they would have ideally gotten married instead.

This other girl, however, is going to have a for-realz ceremony. Which is just crazy! I can't believe I know someone my age who is getting married already! This is crazy talk! But they've been dating forever, and they're adorable and all that jazz. It just makes me feel older, having soon-to-be-married and already-married friends!

In other news: working for the philosophy and religion department is awesome, Hy-vee is notsome and Netflix is still the best thing since sliced bread.

:)

So, the new term is going really well. I'm totally settled into my new room, my classes are balancing themselves in my schedule really, really well, and the weather has been totally bipolar, as expected.

I am entertaining ideas of being an RA next year; my FYS professor from last term recommended me to the residence life people, and after looking at the RA info/application, it seems like a very appealing choice. The application is due next Friday, so I have a little time to mull it over. I'm going to an information session this afternoon after my 2 o'clock class. Woo!

And if I can make a suggestion to anyone who reads this blog and is a college student/future college student: GET NETFLIX. I went through all last term begging my parents to rent movies from their account so I could watch them when I stop by on the weekend before/after work. Then I realized that getting my own account would only be $9-14 a month. I've been watching TV shows and movies like nobody's business since the first of the year. I've watched three seasons of Weeds, the entire first season of True Blood and am now onto the actual movies I've put into my queue. It's more than worth the minimal cost. I get a movie, watch a movie, send it back, and then get a new one in 2-3 days. It makes getting my mail so much awesomer, because now I actually GET mail!

Now I'm off to class. Having only one class and having that class be at 2 pm is probably the second best decision I made this term. :P

We're back!

So, we're almost back in the swing of things at Coe. Still haven't had a full week, but I've already gotten into a very efficient homework routine and made official daily to-do lists in various colored Sharpies on notecards. Almost everything gets crossed off every day; the only remaining item on the list tends to be sock laundry. I am down to one pair of socks now, and those are my Halloween socks... so I'd say the situation is getting pretty desperate.

As of now, all of my classes seem very promising. I haven't had more than two class sessions for my MWF classes or my T/Th classes yet, so I'm mostly speculating. But they all seem pretty interesting, if not borderline fun. :P Today, my only class is a topic class on Dante's Divine Comedy, and that's at 2 o'clock. Can I just say how much I love Tuesdays and Thursdays? :)

YAYAYAYAY!

I get to go back to Coe soon! And that means that classes start soon! Which means that my life will again had purpose! I won't have to fill my days with mindless Sims-playing or hours spent exploring Tumblr. I won't have to listen to my brothers play the PS3 all morning! The joys of living somewhere else! :D

Except, I still need to miraculously clean my room and repack the bagillion things I brought home from the dorm. That's gonna be time-consuming and painful. I am pretty sure my floor has disappeared under all the clothes and stuff I have strewn across it. But that's what happens when all you have to put your stuff on is a table because your dresser is full of storage and your parents have made your room into something else. :P

Also: I am working diligently on getting rid of this cold I have. It is basically just my face being congested. For TWO WEEKS. It's driving me crazy. I have no sore throat, nothing that resembles sickness, just a nose that HATES ME. At least I know I'm not contagious, as someone else in my family is sure to have had it in the last two weeks!

EEEEEEEE! I am so ready to return to college life! :)

I'll admit it...

... I miss Coe! I want to come back to school and go to class and do homework and be a nerd again! (Also: I think I am developing an allergy to Hy-Vee because I have been working so much.)

I've been coming down to campus to exercise in Clark because I can't run when it is -12838202 degrees outside AND I can't run anyway because I have patellar tendonitis. Ick. And I drive through campus and I am like, "I want to go live in my dorm and go to the caf to eat mediocre food and sit around in the library and go to class in Hickok even though the bathrooms suck!"

All my textbooks are purchased and sitting, lonely and unused, in my house. Waiting to be put on their shelf in my dorm room and opened and used! :P

But then again... I do get to sit here on my butt, doing nothing except work for 6 hours a day a few days a week... and read lots of books and watch movies on a gorrrrrgeous (and huge) TV and use FAST internet...

Suddenly, I miss Coe a little less. ;)

Merry (late) Christmas!

Oh boy. So a week ago exactly, I left cold, frigid, windy Iowa to come to a slightly less cold but much less frigid Utah to spend Christmas with some of my mom's family. I've hardly been on the computer, but I figured I should probably update on here while I have a down moment. :D

So what have I done since my classes ended almost two weeks ago?

-Skiied in Utah (and was ran over by a kid on a snowboard)
-Played countless hours of the Sims 3: World Adventures
-Ran approximately 49 miles (not all at once!)
-Made friends with my cousin's dog
-Read 2.5 books (The Time Traveler's Wife, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and am reading People of the Book)
-Had two Christmases
-Been on two airplanes
-Spent way more time with my family than necessary ;)
-Bought text books!
-Daydreamed about next term
-SLEPT A LOT

So I hope everyone is having a nice break and had a good Christmas/winter holiday! I'll try to update at least once more before spring term begins! :D

Yay winter!

Yay winter!
Boo finals!

This weekend all I am doing is running, updating my blog and STUDYING LIKE CRAZY. I might eat a few meals. ;)

I am moving to a new room the day after my last final (last final: 11 am Monday, moving at 1 pm Tuesday), so I am double packing. Packing to go home for break and packing for moving all the stuff I don't need to bring home. I've also had to go through all my books from this term decide what to keep or get rid of and decide if I should sell them to the bookstore or sell them on Amazon. It seems like an obvious solution, since everyone rants about how the bookstore gives you no money back. But sometimes, the books you get at the bookstore are in the such bad shape that you can't sell them worth anything online OR the books just sell for cheap on Amazon (like... 64 cents) and aren't worth the hassle. I listed about 8 books on Amazon. No takers yet. ;P

I have found a great alternative to treadmills, however, though. No more Eby cardio room for me! There's an indoor track in Clark. I run in lane 3, which is 230 meters. I ran 4 miles on there today (28 laps). Tomorrow, my dad and I are going to run 9 miles on the track because the streets are too gross to run on. That's 63 laps. We're crazy. We know. But it beats the slush and the hot, hot, boring, boring treadmill! I currently worship that track. It's the only place I've been able to run all week thanks to the blizzard.

Now off to study important dead guys from Western Civilization! Yay!

SNOOOOOOOW!

IT IS SNOWING! Just in time for lots of indoors-time while I study, study and study some more for finals. It is the really nice, light, fluffy December snow, too. There's no wind thrusting snow into my eyes, there's no dangerous ice, it's just fluffy, nice snow. It's not even an "OH MY GOD I AM FREEZING!" temperature out yet, so it's a very pleasant walk to and from the library. :)

Here are some pictures. The first ones, I took last week. The second ones, I took this morning. Enjoy!

Dear Eby Weight room/Cardio room...

Dear Eby Weight Room/Cardio Room:

Please turn down the heat. I know it is nice to walk into a warm building when it is cold and blustery outside. But honestly. Running in a room that has basically no air flow when the heat is turned up to probably 70+ degrees? It's nearly unbearable. I prefer not to be drenched in sweat after running a mile and a half, nor do I enjoy having to stop my run 2 miles short because my calves are cramping because it is SO DARN HOT.

Thanks,

Kristine Gift

In other news: FINAAAAAALS! AAAAAAAAAAAGH!

WHERE DID THE TERM GO?!

Thanksgiving Break is over. It was nowhere nearly long enough. It was constantly go-go-go(!) between family and friends and work and running and sleep... but it was nice nonetheless. I got to see a few friends I haven't seen in (what feels like) forever, with promises to see them again come Winter Break, so I'm excited.

But now that I'm back, I have been thrust into the horror of what we call FIRST FINALS OF FRESHMAN YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! It's scary, I know. (Though one friend of mine gets to leave almost a week earlier than me because she doesn't have finals. I'm green with envy!) This week and next is totally crammed with papers, final review sheets, speeches/presentations... ack! I've taken to making step-by-step schedules for every day, including classes, meals, running time/showers, and homework run downs. It's worked pretty well so far (I'm managing to finally blog because it is on the schedule!).

Two weeks from now, and I'll be back home for a month. It's going to be awesome! Christmas is right around the corner (and between study sessions, I'll be doing a lot of online shopping... eek!) and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. :D Winter is almost here!!

PS: If anyone cares, I managed to win National Novel Writing Month! 50,067 words! I finished the 15th of November and neglected my novel the rest of the month. Can you say Decemb-o-wri-mo?

HOME!

I am home for Thanksgiving break! Since my parents live 10 minutes from campus, it's not hard to get here. I come home about every Sunday to hang out with the fam before/after I go to work at Hy-Vee. But now I get to actually come home. Sleep in my own bed for a while, sit on the big, warm couch, watch the big, pretty TV... ah... the joys of home.

It's strangely weird and exciting at the same time to be home. I get to shower without wearing flip flops. I can sleep in basically complete darkness and sleep without worrying about anyone else hearing my morning alarm. But now I have to pack a TON of stuff to... come home? I am so firmly rooted in my room at Coe that it's almost a pain to have to come home. So much clothes, toiletries, power cords... ugh. It's just way to complicated (but welcomed anyway)!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I am really excited to be getting some good, quality food in me. I'll be gorging myself on my great-grandma's fresh bread, lots of turkey, potatoes and gravy, non-dried-out baby carrots.... yum.

And seeing high school friends will be the highlight of my week (shortly followed by my own bed... because that's always awesome). I've already met with two friends who I am meeting up with again this week. It's going to involve a lot of food, a lot of talking, a lot of being awesome and happy and stuff.

Then again, I fear that the end of the week will come to soon and I'll be piling back into my dorm again... ::sigh:: Let's cross our fingers that it doesn't play out that way. :)

Fun week!

This week has been so busy, but in the best way possible. :) I have had a ton of reading to do, but nothing boring, so that's a plus. I've started back up running this week after taking a week off, and the week off helped a ton. I'm running faster on day-to-day runs than I was a month ago.

On Wednesday, Hana Pestle came to Coe. She was amazing. She played a bunch of original songs that you can find on her Myspace as well as some really great covers. She played "Creep" by Radiohead and did a really awesome cover of "Zombie" by the Cranberries, which she finished by mixing it in with "Paparazzi." It was a really fun night, followed by a ton of writing for National Novel Writing Month (nearly at 50k now!)

Then last night, I went to the Coe theater production of "She Would if She Could." It was three hours long -- pretty much on the dot -- but it was really, really entertaining. I wasn't always quite clear on what was going on (or, rather, who was lusting after who). There was a ton of innuendo and between each scene there was a funny sexual song. It definitely wasn't for kids, but watching old men in the audience being serenaded by one of the actresses in the cast was hilarious for everyone in the theater. There are going to be more showings this weekend and next, so I would definitely recommend going; it was a blast.