Saturday, March 24, 2012

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!!!!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

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. :)

Monday, March 5, 2012

¿Por qué?

So I am sure all of you are wondering what I have been up to lately...see picture...
 ...those would be eleven books for my thesis...only one is in English, the rest in Spanish.  Boy, am I glad at the fact that Spanish doesn't intimidate me.  I'm actually still very happy about where my thesis is headed, which just doesn't seem right.  I feel like something is just bound to go wrong, but, if not, then that's awesome!!!  Although nothing has gone wrong, it is still very time consuming, but, surprisingly, I'm doing really well with that too.  I have to have four pages written for tomorrow and guess what?!  They are already done (I actually have four and a half pages :)).  I'm not going to be staying up until three or four in the morning writing and researching, which is amazing!!!  Anyway, on to more exciting news...one of the books that I am reading was published by Católica, my university in Perú!! See....
I got really really excited when I saw that!!!

Okay, now let's bring it back to Carthage...

The Spring dance show, Imagine, Inspire, Illuminate, is this weekend!  We've been getting ready for it since January and I know we are all ready to put it on the stage and it's going to be an amazing show!  Since this is the week before the show, it's what theatre/dance people call "tech week" a.k.a. you rehearse every night leading up to that first curtain call.  So, tonight, I had my "cue to cues" where the we rehearse and the choreographer figures out how they want the lighting and then later this week, we will have full run-throughs of the entire show with costumes and make-up.  So, I will be busy this week, but it will be a good busy! :)

Okay, now on to last week...

It was the usual week. :)  However, the end of the week was amazing!  It started with skyping Tonisha and Mark (my friends that I met in Perú) at the same time!!!!!  It was AWESOME!!!!  We had a lot of fun talking and catching up and we had a lot of fun with the camera and special effects, too....
Then, on Friday, my friend, Jessica, from Chicago came up to visit me!!!  It was a great weekend!  On Friday night, we saw the musician that came to Carthage, Preston Pugmire.  He was really good and if you don't believe me then watch this...

Then, what else would you do on a Friday night other than play Clue and Scattergories?!  Nothing, of course.  On Saturday, we slept in, big time :), then I had dance rehearsal, but then Jess and I sat down to do some homework, which was nice.  On Saturday night, we went and saw the Carthage play, Oleanna. It was SO good!!!!  Although I saw it, I'm not good at explaining what it is about in few words, therefore, I am going to let Wikipedia do that for me "Oleanna is a two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and on of his female students, who accuses him of sexual exploitationo and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure."  If you want to know more about the play, go here.  Also, there was a talk back after the play, so the audience got to talk to the director and the actors about their parts and the contents of the play.  Then, of course, we ended the night with Clue again!  Yep, that's right.  It was Mrs. Peacock in the library with the rope.


So, pretty much, I can say that everything is still going well!  I hope you are doing well, too!  Also, thanks to all of you who still read this.  I really appreciate it!  Good night!  Have a good week!!!!