El fin del verano

Okay, I sit hear wondering how in the world I'm going to catch up on a month's worth of blogs.  Oops, I didn't exactly mean to get so far behind, but that's okay.  So here's what I've been doing for the last month:

-Watching the Olympics and cross-stitching up a storm.  I finished my summer cross-stitch project!

-Visiting my grandma and grandpa.  Also, I got to see my sister, aunt, and baby cousin.  Had such an amazing time and I got to eat a home-cooked meal!  Thanks, Grandma!

-Witnessing the "passing down of the red blazer."  What does that mean, you ask?  For 25 years, President Campbell (President of Carthage College) sported a Carthage Red blazer at different sporting events.  He made that red blazer famous on campus and now President Campbell has retired, but his red blazer lives on as there was a ceremony to pass down the blazer to our new president, Gregory Woodward.  If your interested in learning more about our new President click here.

-Going to the Kenosha Drive-in to see Total Recall with Tim. :)

-Going to the Kenosha Public Museum with Tim.

At the museum

Holding the sloth! (Like I did in Peru) :)

-Getting my school books in the mail..that may not seem exciting, but this is my last semester of college courses, because next semester I will be student teaching..gah!

-Attending/working an event at the Milwaukee Art Museum to welcome and introduce our new president to alumni.  The venue was gorgeous, but I will never have my wedding reception there because it's $10,000 just for the space. :/

-Eating a good share of sushi.  I just started liking it within the past 8 months and am now addicted.

-Going back to my childhood and watched The Iron Giant--such a cute movie!

-Writing and re-writing essays for the Fulbright Scholarship.  For those of you who are unaware, the Fulbright program is "the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."  Pretty much, I am applying (among many other U.S. students) for a prestigious award that will allow me to go to Colombia after I graduate to teach English.  It's a lengthy process to apply, but I'm REALLY hoping I get it!! (Learn more at http://fulbright.state.gov/index.html)

-Starting another application for a English teaching position in Spain (as a back-up if I don't get the Fulbright)

-Finishing my student teaching application

-Moving into my room for the school year (the same room I have had for all four years now) and my roommate, Taylor, is here, too!!!

-Attending/working other events to welcome and introduce Carthage's new president to alumni at Trump tower, Harry Caray's, and in Carthage, Illinois.

View from the 17th floor in Trump tower

Hannah and I at Trump

-Bringing Tim home with me to see my hometown, meet my friends, and meet some of my family--which reminds me, Tim has the pictures from that trip on his camera, so I can't put any up :(

-Going mini-golfing (aka putt putt golfing) with Tim

-Spending a much needed week at home--watching movies, spending time with my family, cross-stitching, working on applications, shopping with my mom, etc.

-Putting up lights in the room (Thanks for the help, Mom!!)

-Seeing a double rainbow over the lake!

-Watching So You Think You Can Dance, Big Brother, Secret Life, and Bun heads, religiously

-Not blogging

-Saying goodbye to summer and hello to the school year

Students are one-by-one returning to campus and by this time next week, the school year will be in full swing!  I hope you all had amazing summers, because I know I did!

What is your favorite memory from this summer?

Reuniones

On this day, one year ago, I was going shopping on the streets of Lima and spending time with new friends.  I still can't believe that that's what I was doing a year ago and although I miss Peru a lot, what I miss more are the people I met!  Fortunately, two weeks ago I got the chance to go to the Wisconsin Dells for the first time to meet up with two friends I met in Peru, Mark and Tonisha!!  If you read this blog while I was in Peru then you know that Mark, Tonisha, and I became very good friends and you know that we traveled all around Peru together!  And now we're fortunate enough to be able to travel together in the states because we all live fairly close.  I absolutely loved spending the weekend with them.  Mark and I went to Mt. Olympus, a water park, together all day and had a blast!!  Tonisha, unfortunately, couldn't join us until later in the night, but when she arrived, it was just like old times!  We spent the night camping, drinking Peruvian pisco, and remembering all the good times we had in Peru...like the crashport we flew out of to see the Nazca lines or that horrible hostel we stayed at in Puno!  It was AMAZING to see them and I loved laughing and talking with two people who experienced the same thing I did. :)  After a night of camping, we spent the next morning playing mini golf and we ate lunch before we all headed in our separate directions. :)  For about fifteen minutes though, we thought it was fate that we not leave each other because when we all got in our cars to leave, Tonisha's car wouldn't start!  None of us had jumper cables and so we went on an adventure to get some of those, then we were off!  Moral of the story, always carry jumper cables with you or just never try to leave your friends. :)

Tonisha, Mark, and I in the Dells :)

*Side note: A girl who attends Carthage College is now in Peru doing the same program that I did!!  If you are interested in reading about her adventures she has created a Tumblr: http://beckybuenviaje.tumblr.com/

Jess, Me, and Amanda outside the House of Blues!

Anyway, the next weekend was filled with even more reunions!!  Come to think of it..I've had an awesome last couple of weeks with my friends and family!  A little over a week ago, I got the chance to see my friend, Ian, dance in a Lady Gaga cover show (for the second time) at the House of Blues in Chicago!  I haven't seen Ian all summer because he is dancing in a show at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania this summer, so it was awesome to finally see him again!  I went to the show with my two friends, Amanda and Jessica, and Tim joined us later in the night!  It was an amazing show once again and as I said, it was great seeing my friends!!

Me, Ian, and Tim after the show!

Then, there was another reunion!!  Can you believe it?!  My roommate, Taylor, came to Kenosha and we spent the weekend together!  We spent the day at the beach!!  With the help from Tim and Taylor, I learned how to kind of throw a frisbee and with the help from Tim I got buried in the sand (against my will)! ;)  Then, we spent the night with some more friends!  Had a cookout and watched the Olympics! It was the greatest!

Taylor and I on the beach!

Tim buried me in the sand :(

The next day, we all ate lunch together, but then Taylor had to head home.  I wish Taylor could have stayed for the rest of the day's festivities, but even though she didn't, Tim and I had an amazing day!  We went to the local Renaissance Faire and had a blast!  I really didn't know what to expect when we went, but it was a blast!  We walked around for awhile and just watched all the different shows going on at the faire.  We saw a guy juggle fire batons while standing on a tight rope, we saw a guy hit a block off the top of his head with his own whip, and we watched a group of guys jousting!  Oh and we saw a guy who was getting tomatoes thrown at him (although a lot of them weren't hitting him)!  It was a really fun time and I'm glad we went!  It was the perfect day to go.  Following the faire, we went to the fair--the Racine County Fair that is.  Tim has never seen a demo derby so I was determined to take him to his first derby!  And I did!  We had a blast!  Although I did give Tim a hard time about picking bad derby cars to win the heats...in other words, my choices won 5-1 over his. :P

At the Racine County Fair :)

One last reunion occurred last week, which was the reunion of me with my family.  I got the chance to see my grandma, grandpa, sister, and my aunt and cousins from Texas!  I ate a delicious dinner with them and we gab!  It was nice to catch up with them and see my adorable baby cousin. :)  And it was nice to eat a home-cooked meal. :)  I love my family!  And I can't wait to see them again soon. :)

I hope you're all having amazing summers because I sure know I am!  Until next time...

El lago del diablo

Okay, so it's time to finally try and get caught up on blogging.  After my 4th of July and vacation, I was back to school and working in no time!  Not only was I back to working, but my friend, Amanda, and I started a Pilates class at the local dance studio.  We have it once a week and so far it's going great!  Also, we got to try a new workout called yoga sculpt, it's a fusion of Pilates and yoga and it was really fun.  We've now had three weeks of Pilates and it's great so far so I'm excited to keep doing that all summer.  Anyway, my two days back at work went by quickly and then I was off on another mini weekend vacation.  It reminds me of when I was in Peru and would go on a trip for the weekend!  Which also reminds me...I'm going camping this weekend with my friends Mark and Tonisha, who I met in Peru!!!  I'm so excited to see them because I haven't seen them in a long time!!  I'm sure you'll hear ALL about it when I get back.  Anyway, back to my weekend getaway two weekends ago...I went to Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin, with my boyfriend and friends and it was a blast!!  We spent the weekend hiking, camping out, swimming, and playing frisbee (I didn't really play frisbee because I'm horrible, but I attempted a few times).  It was so great to get away from Kenosha for a weekend with friends and go to arguably the best place on earth.  The hiking was a great workout and it definitely challenged me and Jessica (my friend and only other girl on the trip).  I would say it was difficult, but I don't think I got AS tired as I was while hiking Machu Picchu.  However, the terrain and stairs were different in comparison to Machu Picchu so you can't really compare the two. :)  After hiking on day one we went swimming and jumped off "Jump Rock" into the lake.  Then we set up camp and the boys made some tasty burgers while Jess and I played cards. :)

Jess and I before swimming

The rest of the night was spent playing with our campfire (in the safest way possible) and hanging out.  Unfortunately, somehow all of us forgot that we were camping so the s'more supplies were left at the store, but that's okay because we had a great time anyway.  Also, in the middle of the night we all woke up to the sound of a raccoon opening and shutting our cooler to get to the chips.  That's was good 4 a.m. entertainment. :)  Anyway, the next morning we got up, tore down camp, and we were off to hiking in no time!  We took an interesting route up to the renowned "Devil's doorway" and at the top we had some fun with the camera while resting!

Climbing to the top!

The hiking crew at the top :)

My best friend, boyfriend, and I in Devil's doorway

Overall it was a great weekend and we finished out the trip with some ice cream, which made up for the 'missed out on' s'mores the night before. :)

Another week was ahead of me, which meet a week of work and a week of T.V. and cross-stitching.  Summer is my one of my only times that I am able to cross-stitch because I am sooo incredibly busy during the school year, so I've been cross-stitching my little heart out every chance I get, which is one of the reasons why I am so behind on blogging. :)  However, it's such a good time (for me).  I love it and I'm trying to finish this one piece before the summer ends.  Speaking of finishing pieces.  I finished a piece a little over a year ago and was finally able to get it framed due to a coupon I won for an art's supply store, so here it is...

"Balloon Glow"

I'm so proud of this piece and I'm excited to hopefully finish the one that I'm working on now soon. :)  Other than cross-stitching, working, pilates, and T.V. take up most of my week and my weekends are my time to get out! :)  Last weekend, I was able to visit my boyfriend and his family at his home in a suburb of Chicago!  It was an amazing weekend, we swam at his uncle's pool and cooked out with the family.  We watched part of Ace Ventura and went shopping briefly.  My boyfriend and I cooked dinner for the family and celebrated what was supposedly National Ice Cream Day, which led to a discussion of all the random national holiday's there are.  Oh right, I forgot to wish you a Happy Daiquiri Day and a Happy Flitch Day!  Want to see more National Holidays?...go here.  Anyway, I was also able to go to church with his family, which was a nice experience and then I was back off to Kenosha to start my workweek on Monday.  Again, this week has been filled with my normal routine, but once again, as I said, I'm heading off to the Dells to go camping with my Peru friends, Mark and Tonisha! YAY!!!  Can't wait to include them in my blog posts again!!  Have a great Friday and weekend!!

Familia y vacaciones

So, once again it's been a busy last three weeks and I have lots to talk about. :)  Three weeks ago, I celebrated two of my friend's 21st birthdays!  It was a blast!  I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen since the end of the school year and my boyfriend, Tim, was able to come as well, so it was a great time!  Not only did I get to spend my weekend celebrating birthdays, but I also spent the weekend watching water polo.  Yep, that's right..water polo.  My boyfriend played water polo in high school and loves playing in his free time for club teams, so I spent my weekend watching several games of water polo.  I still don't understand all the rules, but I will say that it is an interesting sport to watch, and I have a feeling that I will be watching water polo in the upcoming Olympic games.  If you've never watched water polo before, I suggest you give it a chance, too.  Although, I will admit that after watching two days in a row of water polo, I was tired! So I can't even imagine what the players felt like after 4+ games.  Also, it really made me appreciate all those times that my parents sat in the stands supporting me (and my sister) at school events.  I mean, I sat through one weekend so, again, I can't imagine the countless hours that my parents spent in the stands.  I know that they enjoyed it (most of the time), but still, that's many hours of achy backs and watching refs make bad decisions. Hehe.  So, all you folks out there that have supportive parents like I do, make sure you thank them right now and even in the future for all they do.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Anyway, Tim and I finished off the weekend by going to see the movie Rock of Ages!!  It was really good and I loved the music!!  I have a feeling that when it comes out on DVD there will be a sing-a-long version and I may or may not be investing in one when it does. :)  For the rest of that "week" (I say "week" because my weekend started on Thursday) I just worked and tried to stay cool in my room!  It was SOOO hot.  I have slept on the floor at least one of the nights and the two fans were always pointed directly at me and I was still baking!  Luckily, I have added two more fans, making a total of four now, and it has also cooled off outside as well.  I'm finally using a blanket at night again and I'm probably way more excited about that than I should be!  Although, it was extremely hot (and I have a feeling the heat isn't over because it's still only July), my friends and I have turned it into fun by coming up with some "You know it's hot when..." phrases.  Here are a few...

You know it's hot when you're excited to go to work because it's air conditioned.

You know it's hot when you've never been more excited to take a cold shower.

You know it's hot when you're sweating even after that cold shower.

And one of my favorites...

You know it's hot when you have to put your deodorant in the refrigerator.

Anyway, at the end of the week (meaning Thursday), I started my vacation by going to Six Flags with Tim.  Who knew it would end up being a record breaking day for the temperature, but we honestly couldn't tell at all.  We were having a blast and staying hydrated!  We were lucky enough to have short lines so we got to slide down a ton of water slides and rode some roller coasters, including the new one called X-Flight.  It was really fun and we also got to see two of our friends dance/sing in the shows that are performed there.  Overall, it was an amazing day, but the day didn't end there because I left that night with my family for Virginia for a family wedding. :)

This would be us on the first drop of Raging Bull - clearly you can tell because I'm terrified.
Glad Tim didn't drop the camera.

In front of the carousel at Six Flags

So, next stop on my vacation..Richmond, Virginia.  We (my dad) drove straight through the night and we arrived in Richmond around lunch time, just in time to eat and take a much needed nap.  Although, if you ask my dad, it wasn't a much needed nap for me because I slept the whole way to begin with. :)  Anyway, it was a wonderful weekend.  The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast.  Best part about the reception, besides the food company was the photo booth!  It was a blast and my sister, cousins, and I had a lot of fun dressing up in silly hats and taking pictures.  Also, of course, it was really fun seeing all of my family because I don't get that many opportunities to see them lately!

My family and I doing the photo booth..clearly we weren't ready for the second picture.
(You're welcome for posting this online)

The next morning we left to head back to Illinois..oh, by the way, gas is cheap on the East coast, but that good price wasn't really useful when a ton of gas stations were closed due to power loss from a storm that went through.  Gahh..no power = no air conditioning and no fans!  Anyway, on that Monday, I was lucky enough to watch my brother-in-law get sworn into a the Elk Grove Village Police Department.  It was cool because they did a small Powerpoint on the department and some of their famous cases they've handled and then we got a tour of the department. :)  I had one more free day with my family before heading back to Kenosha, so what better way to spend it than running errands with my mom and sister and going to see Magic Mike in theaters.  To be honest though, in my opinion, that movie was NOT all it was cracked up to be.  Like I would be okay with never seeing it again, but that's just me.  If you saw it, let me know what you thought.  Anyway, I headed back to Kenosha just in time for the 4th of July.  Although that unfortunately meant that I was missing seeing my mom on her birthday, but I still had a fun Kenosha 4th!  I went to the beach two separate times, went to a cook out, and watched fireworks over the lake with my friends!  It was a great day and I got all rested up that night to start work again the next day after being gone for a week.

Fireworks over Lake Michigan

Okay, anyway, before this blog post turns into a novel, I'm going to stop it here now.  I realize that I'm only caught up to the 4th, but get excited for the next post because I still have a lot of exciting things to talk about, like camping and cross-stitching. :)  Sounds thrilling, right?!  Goodbye for now! :)

Hace mucho calor

Once again, I haven't blogged in awhile, but come on..it's summer!  I don't want to be cooped up inside writing a blog.  I want to be cooped up inside watching television shows like the Bachelorette, So You Think You Can Dance, and a new ABC family series called Bunheads.  Okay, so that's only half true.  I obviously do want to watch all of those shows, but I get time outside, too!!  I've been biking a little bit lately and I found a really cool bike path that leads to Racine and then around Racine.  I haven't been able to explore the paths in Racine, but I have ridden to Racine and back which is about 12 miles!!  That path is quickly becoming my favorite one to ride, even though it's not the one on the lake.  I'm really excited to keep exploring all of the bike paths around because there are sooo many!  Also, my dad provided me with a very subtly vibrant large orange vest that I've been wearing around on my bike so that cars see me....not really!!  I feel like if I wore it, cars would DEFINITELY see me and they would be so attracted to the orangeness of the vest that they would swerve into me and hit me!

You get the point, right?...

Other than biking and watching T.V. shows, I have also been working, obviously-that's the whole reason that I stayed in Kenosha for the summer.  It's still going great, I love all the people I'm working with and the days go by pretty fast!  The only semi-negative thing is that I get very cold in the office, but that's okay by me because it's SOOOO hot everywhere else, which brings me to the title of this post - Hace mucho calor meaning It's very hot!  It's summer!  Of course it's hot and humid and muggy and sunny and hot!  And the dorm rooms..with no air conditioning...are hot!!  However, while every other person on this campus is non-stop complaining about the heat of the rooms, I'm taking the positivity route and saying "It's not as hot as the Amazon!"  Haha, which is sooo true!  I guess it's true that miserable things can make you appreciate the things you have!  It was unbearably hot in the Amazon, but I'm so thankful for the lake breeze and my two fans that I have now! :)  Anyway, moving back to the subject of work...I've been hanging out with my coworkers a lot so far this summer outside of work.  Last night, I went to a bonfire with them, I've been out to dinner with them, and to the beach!  It's really great!  We also have a summer checklist of things to do.  For example, "Go to Scoops" (supposedly the best ice cream place in Kenosha), which we will check off our list after tomorrow! :)

Also, I've got to see my family a couple of times.  I was grateful to have my sister take me to the ILS closing ceremony this year and shopping.  As a reminder to those of you who have been reading my blog since the beginning, you know that the title of this blog came from a speaker at ILS (Illinois Leadership Seminar), which I attended as a sophomore in high school and returned two years after to be on the staff.  You also should know, after I begged you countless times to vote for ILS in this years Pepsi Refresh Challenge that ILS (and the people involved) is something that I hold close to my heart!  So when the opportunity arose for me to go to this year's seminar closing ceremony (and to see my sister), I took it!!  I was so glad I did, too, because it reminded me of all of the great times I always had with my ILS family!  I was soo happy also to see that many of the people from my original group back in 2007 are still involved with ILS today!  It's such a great non-profit organization and if you want to learn more about it go to their website:   http://www.illinoisleadershipseminar.org/ 

Me with my senior coach and 4 other leaders from my 2007 ILS group

Anyway, I was also able to see my family on Father's Day weekend.  We had a big family reunion and, to be honest, I didn't know a lot of the people because a lot of them were cousins, aunts, and uncles of my dad, but I was able to meet some of them and I did get to see my family that I'm closer to.  It was great, however, a storm did roll in pretty quickly, but it was SO cool to watch it.  As we quickly took a picture outside right before it came, the storm passed over us and then started to rain.  It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  It was raining about 10 feet from us, but then in the other direction (where the storm was still coming from) there was no rain.  And then it started to pour!  So, we finished the reunion out inside, but that's okay because we got to watch a cool video of old pictures that my uncle put together and I was able to look at the family tree (also from my uncle).  Overall, it was a great weekend, I got to see my family, go to my church, and I also got the chance to see my boyfriend's family. :)

Although it's been an awesome summer, unfortunately, I haven't done anything yet that I planned to do this summer: choreograph, work on my education portfolio, and apply for the Fulbright scholarship.  Summer is going by fast, it's already been a month since graduation, so I need to start working on all of these things soon!  So wish me luck!  Thanks again for sticking with this blog and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Trabajo

Okay, so it's been a little over two weeks since classes have finished and so far I'm having a great/busy summer!

Workwise, I have been working full-time in the Alumni Office on campus.  I've had this job since freshman year, but this is my first summer staying here.  It has been great so far and I'm excited to be here in the summer.  Kenosha is already turning into a great summer city! :)  The big events that we have had so far are commencement weekend and a reunion called the Illinois campus reunion.  Commencement weekend was great as always and it was extra special because Carthage's president and his wife "graduated" this year as well.  After 25 years President Campbell is retiring.  He's been a great president to the college and has improve the college immensely throughout the past 25 years.  Speaking of President Campbell and his wife, Barbara...my boyfriend Tim and I got a picture with them at the annual alumni convocation and senior dinner. :)

Unfortunately, it's not actually them, it's a cardboard cut-out and the picture quality is bad because it's a picture of a picture.  Although we didn't get a picture with the real life Campbell's, we still had a great night at the dinner!  It was a blast and I probably ate more food than I should have.  This past weekend, my office hosted the Illinois campus reunion meaning that we had alumni on campus that attend Carthage when it was still in Carthage, Illinois.  Carthage College moved to Kenosha in 1964, so let's just say that there were many elderly people on campus this weekend that shared fabulous stories!!  I got to hear many stories about Carthage.  For example, the girls had "late minutes" when they returned after curfew to their dorms.  The boys had a contest to see who could drive the fastest to Macomb and back for pizza so that it would still be warm.  And I got to hear many "I met my spouse at Carthage and we kissed at the kissing rock" stories. :)  Not only were the stories and people wonderful, but I also made an amazing connection!  I was almost always asked, "What are you studying?" and when I answered Spanish education I usually got a "That's nice."  However, I said this to one man and he immediately started talking to me in Spanish.  Come to find out he lived in Peru for two years while he was in the Peace Corps and he is now a professor at a college.  He sends students to South America all the time to study and to teach English, so I was VERY excited to make that connection!!!

Milwaukee boat cruise

Other great things that I have done this summer so far have been visiting home for Memorial Day, watching the show So You Think You Can Dance (my favorite!), watching the movie Fracture which is a really GOOD movie!  In Kenosha, so far I have gone on a few bike rides (it will soon be many bike rides), had a picnic on the beach, hung out on the beach, gone to Big Star (a drive-in food place), and witnessed a kite festival in downtown Kenosha! :)  I also got to go on a boat cruise for work in Milwaukee. :)  I'm loving the weather and the summer-y atmosphere of Kenosha!  I hope you are enjoying your summer so far too!

Lake Michigan :)

Kenosha's Kite Festival

Es verano!

Okay, so yesterday was the last day of school, meaning that it is officially summer and I am officially a senior in college!  Crazy!!!  I'm sorry I didn't blog last week after my thesis presentation, but I will tell you right now that it went really well, I think!  My final grade isn't in yet, but I do feel good about it and I looked good in my cute new JCPenney outfit, too. :)

My thesis presentation outfit :)

Anyway, classes are all over.  I finished my thesis!  YAY!  I had my Choreography final yesterday  which was fun!  I passed a very important telephone exam, which just made my year!  I had my last Iluzion performance at a middle school last Friday which was really fun, because the kids always love watching us dance. :)  We spend a lot of time giving them our autographs because were celebrities to them, which is just adorable. :)  And now I'm continuing my usual job here on campus as a full time worker for the summer!  I'm really excited for the summer because I like my job plus a TON of my friends are staying here for the summer also, however. I am going to miss being home for the summer. :(  But, I will get to visit occasionally, which will be very nice!!!  However, since my sister lives close now, hopefully I'll see her more than occasionally so at least I'll get to see some family. :)  Like just last weekend!  I was able to see my sister, which was awesome!  Love her! :)  You want to know something that's cooler than seeing my sister though?  Seeing a deer swim in Lake Michigan!!  Not joking!  Did you know that deer could swim...I didn't!!!  Don't believe me?  I have pictures!

Deer swimming in Lake Michigan...still don't believe me that it's a deer?

Here's a picture of it getting out.

This was probably one instance when I said, "I wish I was my dad, because he would have binoculars right now." :)

Anyway, also because it's summer I have picked up my cross-stitching because I have the time to now!  Which is great!!  I actually have a lot on my summer to do list, including cross-stitching, choreographing, working on my education portfolio, and filling out an important scholarship.  It should be a fun and productive summer!  I'm excited!  Also, I'm sitting here watching the finale for Grey's Anatomy and freaking out that it's going to be over this season.  But don't worry!!  So You Think You Can Dance starts next week!!!!  Have a great summer everybody!  I will keep you posted!!!

La semana final

So, this week is the last week of classes here at Carthage, but before I talk about what is coming up this week, let me tell you what I've been up to.

This past week, I've been going to tutoring, working, dancing, and doing homework.  I have finished everything excluding the final draft of my thesis and its presentation, which is great because it means that I can focus on the thesis this week.  For my jazz final, which is this Wednesday, two other girls and I choreographed a dance to the song Domino by Jessie J.  I don't have our dance recorded, however, the song is good so you should still listen to it. :)

I had my practice thesis presentation in class last Tuesday and it went pretty well..I think.  We were only given 10 minutes, but our final presentations will be 15 minutes.  It's funny because I could actually talk for a half hour or about my thesis, so it's going to be kind of hard to shove it into 15 minutes, but it's do-able.  I also had a meeting last week about ways to market studying abroad on a résumé and ways to study abroad after graduation.  There are really good opportunities to teach English in another country after graduation and they are really appealing, however, I am going to research those more this summer.

Last Thursday, I went to the Milwaukee Art Museum for my Choreography and Repertory class.  It was really cool!  They had dancers there from the Wildspace Dance Company based in Milwaukee performing in one of the exhibits.  It was really cool to see dancers making art in front of art. :)  Our assignment while there was to observe the dancers and write a short review and also we were told to choose a piece of art in the museum and choreograph our own dance based on the artwork.  I chose a painting called It's Raining Anita Huffington by Larry Rivers.  It's actually really funny that I chose this painting because I googled the name Anita Huffington out of curiosity and it turns out that she was a sculptor who studied dance under Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, who are two very well known choreographers that I have learned about in several of my dance classes.  Anyway, it was a fun assignment and I'm really happy with the painting I chose.

It's Raining Anita Huffington, Larry Rivers

Anyway, on to the non-academic things I did this past week...

I went shopping to buy a new outfit for my presentation and if I do say so myself, it's adorable!  Thank you JCPenney!  Also, I watched Iron Man and Iron Man 2, which are both fantastic movies and I love Robert Downey, Jr.  And no, I haven't seen The Avengers yet, however I heard that it's really good and worth seeing!!  I also went bowling where I got my butt kicked.  Well actually, I didn't do too bad for not bowling in awhile.  I bowled a 102 the first game and a 99 the second game.  Although when you compare my score with the 257 bowled by my friend Ian, who brought his own shoes and two bowling balls with him, my score is pretty pathetic.  However, it was still REALLY fun!!!!

Tim, Ian, and I after bowling!

Anyway, on Saturday, I spent the evening hanging out with my roommate.  We watched the Kentucky derby, where both of our horses lost, we watched The Lion King on T.V., which is just a classic, and we watched Project X, which was showing here at Carthage.  It has recently become a tradition for Taylor and I to watch the Kentucky derby.  We did it last year, so when I heard it was on, we just had to do it again this year, meaning we will probably do it again next year. :)  And The Lion King, well like I said it's a classic and the last time I saw it, I was watching it in 3D in Perú and although I loved it in Spanish, I still don't think it compares to the English version.  And finally, Project X.  Well it was an interesting movie to say the least.  It wasn't too bad, it's your typical party movie to the extreme and to be honest, it's rated R for a reason.  Definitely don't let your kids watch it.  It has horrible morals and not a good lesson.  The lesson of the movie is pretty much that if you throw a party for 1500 people, your dad's car ends up in the pool, and your house gets burned down, then your dad will actually be impressed by your actions and you will receive little consequence and you will be the cool kid in school.  And we all know that that's not true!  However, it was a good non-thinking movie.

Okay, on to this week, like I said, I finished my written paper for my thesis tonight, which is a huge accomplishment!!  I still have to proof and revise it, but I will be meeting with a tutor to do that and then it's due on Sunday!!  My thesis presentation is scheduled for Thursday and that's practically all I have to work on this week!  So I have a couple more days to prepare that and then my semester is practically over!!!  It's soooo exciting!!!!  Well, I will probably talk to you next week and let you know how everything went!!  Wish me luck!! :)  Happy Tuesday!

Mucho!

I don't even know where to begin this blog post.  It's been too long and so much has happened (including the formatting of Google Blogger :/) and I have a few people on me about writing a blog.  So here it is.  Let's start with about four weeks ago, right before Easter... :)

My mom, dad, and I on Easter Sunday

Okay, so nothing really happened right before Easter except I started another class called Concepts of Physical Fitness, which is a required one credit course.  Pretty much it's a class that promotes fitness and wellness after college.  So far in that class, we've walked a mile, did an Insanity workout (which is similar to P90X, if you know what that is), and learned about stress, nutrition, and sleep. :)  Also, we got to see Coach Boone (the coach that inspired the movie Remember the Titans) speak because he came to Carthage.  My favorite thing that he said was this:  "If day breaks and you don't plan to make a difference, take your butt back to bed."  That's a good quote to live by if you ask me!  Anyway, then I went home for a short Easter break!  I got to see my family and go to church and just be home, which is always great!

Once, I got back to school, things didn't slow down at all (hence, me not writing a blog in a month).  I'm still working on my thesis.  I now have 13 and a half pages out of 15 written and the final draft is due in exactly two weeks.  I have a practice presentation this week and then my final presentation is in 11 days.  I can't believe it!  I've been working on this thing all semester and it's almost over!!!  I'm going to be so relieved when I'm done with it.  It really is going well though I think.  I'm becoming more and more prepared as the days press on.  I had a project in my education class that involved making a unit plan (5 days worth of lesson plans) and I knew that I was in the right profession because they were soo fun to make.  I really liked being creative with the assignments, projects, etc. and it makes me excited to be a teacher.  However, we did have students who are student teaching right now come into class and they told both good and bad stories from the schools they're at.  Student teaching is definitely going to be an adventure.  I can't wait until this blog turns into a blog where I tell you all about my crazy student teaching experiences.

Also, I've had a lot of meetings and tutoring sessions lately.  I found out that all of my credits from Peru transferred back to Carthage which is REALLY good news and means that I will graduate on time!  Also, I decided to stay at Carthage this summer to work which is both good and bad.  I'm soo excited for the summer because I will be making money and a lot of my friends will be here, too, but also, I know I will miss being home.  Anyway, I also had a meeting for everyone that plans to student teach in the spring of 2013, which was crazy.  We got our student teaching applications and it all became a little more real that this time next year I will be in a classroom teaching students Spanish!!!  Also, speaking of teaching Spanish, I went to observe at a middle school here in Kenosha and who would guess that the teacher I would observe was Peruvian!!!!!!!  I was SOOOO excited!!!  I couldn't hold my excitement in that day!  It definitely was a highlight of the semester to meet my first Peruvian in the United States!  Anyway, she of course asked about my experience in Peru and the food. :)  And it was my pleasure to share that I love her country!!! :)

For fun lately, I've been hanging out with friends and watching movies.  The "recent" movies I've seen are How to Train your Dragon, Hercules, and I went to see Titanic again in the theaters!!!  First of all, How to Train your Dragon is such a cute movie, so you should see it!  Hercules is just your classic kid's movie!  And Titanic, well..it's a classic, too!  I was probably a little to excited to see that in theaters, but when it first came out (in 1997), I saw it in theaters.  I specifically remember it because it was exciting to be 7 years old and going to see a PG-13 movie in theaters.  It was a part of history and it was supposed to be a great movie, so my family went together to the theaters to see it.  It was so cool to see it in the theaters again also because the big screen and sound just makes it that much more remarkable!!

Tim and I at the International Dinner

Also, for fun I went to an International dinner held here at Carthage.  It's a dinner that consists of different international foods and entertainment.  It was my first year going and it was really cool, plus all of the proceeds went to a cause called The Girl Effect, it's a really good cause and if you want to learn more about it, click here.  Also, I went to Georgia for a family wedding.  Yep, that's right, Georgia!  That's the first time that I've been to Georgia, so I can mark that state off of my list.  Also, it was really nice weather so I was happy to get that for at least a weekend.  However, the drive down and back was long, obviously.

On the River Walk in Savannah, GA

Okay, a few last things on my fun things I've done list are celebrate a few of my friend's 21st birthdays, I went to my first real sushi restaurant (which was good!), and last night I went and saw The Drowsy Chaperone, which is the musical that was put on here at Carthage this semester!  It was soo good!!  All of the actors did a fantastic job!!!!  Also, Iluzion (the hip hop dance team) started having rehearsals again because we are going to perform at a local middle school in a few weeks.  Obviously, I've been busy, but don't worry because as you can see I've been having lots of fun, too!!! :)

Anyway, I'm really sorry that it took me sooo long to write another blog and I'm sorry that it's long, but I hope it was worth your while to read it!  Hopefully, I will talk to you in less than four weeks!!  Happy Spring!!! :)

ACDFA

So, I got back to Carthage last week after Spring break, but I only had two days of classes last week!!  What did I do for the rest of the week, you ask?  I went to the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) in Madison, Wisconsin, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison!  I was so excited to go not only because I was going to be dancing for four days straight, but also because I had never been to Madison and I was going with my friends!!!  We got there on Wednesday and registered and pretty much had the night to ourselves, but starting on Thursday morning, we were all dancing our hearts out.  I started my Thursday with a Pilates class then went to an awesome hip hop class!  Because I was nervous for the weekend, starting out with hip hop (something that I am pretty comfortable with) was a good idea.  I learned a routine to the song Good Feeling by Flo Rida, which I love so I'm going to put it here so you can listen to it. :)

I also took a jazz class, which really challenged me and a pretty relaxed modern class.  The modern class had live music (a piano and drums), which was a new and cool new experience for me. :)  There was also a series of concerts that all the schools participated in so we saw two shows on this day.  It was amazing to see choreography from other colleges and it really got my choreographic mind thinking as well.  We went out to eat that night and then we watched this Spring's dance show. :)

Out to eat at the Nitty Gritty :)

On Friday morning, I started the day with taking a warm-up class.  The class taught us how to warm up before rehearsals and performances.  The one thing that amazed me about that class was the very first thing we did, which was rub our feet.  The instructor had us rub one foot and then stand up and walk.  The difference in feeling between our rubbed foot and the non-rubbed foot was amazing.  Dancers know to stretch/warm-up our muscles, but I definitely take my feet for granted and didn't realize that they needed warmed-up too.  I then had a rehearsal because our performance was scheduled for the next day. After that, I took a modern partnering class with my friend Amanda and it was AWESOME!!  Probably one of my favorites of the weekend.  We learned a short routine and we lift each other a lot in it. :)  We were both excited about it because we've never choreographed for partners so it was nice to learn some lifts.  We then took a class titled "What is your personality type and how does that fit into dance?"  I learned that I'm a type C personality and that 70% of dancers are type Cs.  Our instructor then told us how to teach dance for the different personality types, so not only did it help with dancing, but it will help me learn how to teach in my future Spanish class. :)  Again, this night, we went out to eat and then watched past dance shows from Carthage. :)

On Saturday, I actually didn't get the chance to take any classes :(, but don't worry, I still got to dance!  I started the morning with a tech rehearsal on the stage.  It was actually kind of hectic because we had to set lighting cues, but we were limited in time, but we got it done and then headed to a coffee shop to relax and eat breakfast.  We then had our performance and in my opinion we did really well, it felt good doing it anyway.  The judges seemed to really like all the little gestures we did along with the music. :)

Before performing

Another really exciting thing is that I met up with a girl who I met in Peru!  She attends UW-M so I texted her when I was there and she came to see the performance!  It was great seeing her and catching up with her shortly.

Katie (Girl I met in Peru) and I 

We then all went to a Mediterranean restaurant and ate gelato and the best thing about this was that Carthage paid! :)  Yum!!!  We then went back to the theatre for the final concert, which was a concert put on by the faculty.  It was really cool to see some of the instructors that we had had in class actually dance on stage.  On the way back to the hotel, my friends, Seles and Amanda, and I took a ton of photos just playing/dancing around on the UW-M campus!

Fun at UW-M!

Unfortunately, we didn't make it into the Gala concert, however, I did see several of the dances that did and they were well deserving!  On Sunday, I took my last three classes:  ballet, contemporary master class (one of the adjudicators instructed this class), and an Afro-Latin fusion class.  My feet were killing me by the end of the day and I was happy/sad to head back to Carthage.  Overall it was an amazing time and I hope that we go next year, although it's possible that I won't be able to due to student teaching.  Other than ACDFA, I ended the weekend back at Carthage and working on my thesis.  :)  I now have 10 of 15 pages of my thesis and the due date and presentation date are coming up fast.  I hope you all have a great day!!  Happy Easter!

Carthage at ACDFA!!!

Las vacaciones de primavera

Well, spring break is coming to a close!  I'd say my break was pretty good.  I didn't really do much of anything.  Just relaxed, saw some family and friends, and did some homework! :)  From my last post, you know that I started off my break by going to a Lady Gaga cover show.  It was so good and the perfect way to start out my break.  On Sunday, I got to go to church with my family and then I went to my grandma's for Sunday dinner, which I have been doing ever since I can remember.  It will never get old. :)  My Monday was great as well because I slept in, sat in the sun, and worked on my thesis.  I actually got a lot of research done on my thesis.  I probably didn't do as much as I should have, but I'm still happy with the work I did get done.  Every little step counts, right? :)  I'm also pretty proud of myself because I ran twice this week outside and I did a small daily workout with stretching, too!!!  My dance instructor always says strength and flexibility is important! :)  Also, I'm going to a dance conference this week (which I'm SOO excited for) so I figured I should at least do some sort of activity to get ready for it! :)

I also was able to go to lunch with some friends from high school!  We always enjoy being around each other and we always get some good laughs in. :)  Also, I watched some good movies with my mom and dad:  Mr, Popper's Penguins, The Blindside, and Courageous.  All good family movies and, of course, I am going to suggest them to all of you! :)

Okay, so this is going to be a short blog, but I just wanted to tell you that my break went well!!  I know that all of you adults out there don't get week long breaks from work, but just remember to take time for yourself every once in awhile! :)  You should be hearing from me next week about the amazing dance conference I'm going to!  Can't wait to tell you about it!  Have a good week!!!!

Imagine, Inspire, Illuminate

Okay, so I have been up to a lot lately, but right now it's Spring break so I'm going to catch up on blogging and tell you what I've been doing for the last two weeks.  Well, last weekend was our Spring dance show, Imagine, Inspire, Illuminate and it went sooo well!!!  I danced everyday that week because we had our tech rehearsals so it was a busy, but awesome week leading up to opening night.  Every show went soo well and the audiences really seemed to like it!!!  Plus, I got to see so many people that I care about!!  All of my friends from Carthage came to see the show, plus two of my friends from high school, my mom, dad, grandma, and sister all came to see me dance!!  It was an amazing weekend full of dance and family!!

My grandma, sister, and I after the show

"Rooms" - taken by Bailey Mounts

Amanda, Seles, and I (two of my dancer friends!)

Kelly, Hannah, Amanda, Kaitlyn, and I (cast of "Staging Reality")

So that one week ago and I'm already sad it's over, however, it does free up my time a little bit now.  This past week I was pretty busy with just getting everything done before break.  Professors seem to give you more homework before and during break.  I still haven't figured out why.  Also, this past Thursday I observed at Bradford High School, a high school in Kenosha.  I am required to do observation hours for my Classroom Management class, so I observed two Italian classes and a Spanish class.  It was actually really interesting watching the Italian classes because it is similar to Spanish.  I recognized several words because of the similarities to Spanish words, however, there were some that I had no clue what they meant.  It was an overall good day and I saw both good and bad things in the classroom.  There are some concepts that I will want to use in my future classroom and others that I don't want to use.  That's really why we observe: to figure out what works and what doesn't.  Plus, it's a good way to make connections with teachers.

Okay, so I know I said I was busy this week, but I really don't have a lot else to talk about, so it seems that I was lying, but I wasn't. :)  Anyway, like I said it's Spring break now, so I'm at home, but last night before heading home from school, my mom, sister, and I went to a Lady Gaga cover concert in Chicago because one of my good friends is a back-up dancer in the show!  It was sooo good!!  I'm so glad we went!  I'm not sure when the show will be in Chicago again, but when it is...if you like Lady Gaga's music, then you should go to the show!!

My back-up dancer friend, Ian, and I :)

Here's a news report done on the show, too. :)

http://www.wgntv.com/news/middaynews/middayfix/wgntv-midday-fix-lady-gaga-show-bad-romance,0,2851573.story