Ghost Bike

Okay, so another week is down.  Let's see if I can remember everything that happened!

First of all, I guess I will say that I'm still dancing a lot.  The Spring dance show is coming up in a little less than two weeks and I feel pretty prepared for it.  Rehearsals are all going very well and I'm excited to perform them on stage (I think I've already said this before).  I've gotten the chance to do a contemporary routine this year, which is awesome for me because I love contemporary.  And the dance that I am in deals with the different stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance).  So, not only is it a physically tiring dance, but it's also kind of emotionally tiring.  The reason I'm telling you this is because I attended Carthage's play this weekend and it also dealt with loss and grief.  First off, the play was great!  It was called Ghost Bike and it was the story of a girl "who refuses to let go of her best friend Eddie after he is hit and killed by a car while riding his bike." (Here's a link to an article about the play:  Playwright offers students instant feedback) It was a pretty intense play and the way it was staged was amazing.  Also, for me, it showed that when you lose a loved one, you really would give anything to just see or talk to him/her one last time.  I'm not going to lie, the end brought tears to my eyes and it obviously got me thinking about all the loved ones that I have lost.  Anyway, it was really interesting to watch the play after knowing the stages of grief from the contemporary dance that I am in.  If you want to learn about the five stages of grief, go here.


Anyway, on to a less depressing subject... I helped my sister and her husband move in to a new apartment this weekend.  I don't really think I did much, but I was happy to see my family!!  Also, it's cool to see them start a new chapter in their lives.  Love you both!


Okay, on to school, thesis, homework stuff...  Classes are still going well.  I'm keeping busy with a lot.  My thesis isn't really coming along yet, but I'm going to start researching this week because we have to have four pages written by next week.  Also, I have my first 'exam' in Jazz II, which consists of performing a short routine in the style of Bob Fosse (choreographer of Chicago and Cabaret). :)  Other than that, all my other classes are going well.  I have a lot of big projects and all the due dates are making it difficult to keep track of everything, but luckily, I'm fairly organized.  Also, I'm meeting with a tutor four times a week to continue practicing Spanish.  So that's been great way to practice considering the United States isn't a Spanish-speaking country so I'm not speaking it everyday like I was in Peru.


Well, I have to get back to homework now.  I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Finde en Chicago

So I had an awesome weekend!  It started with spending time with my awesome college friends on Friday night and on Saturday I had two dance rehearsals, but the best part was going to Chicago to surprise one of my High school friends for her birthday.  Her fiancé was awesome and arranged for a ton of her friends to stay in a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel and we all made it a surprise for her!!!  The big surprise was actually on Friday, but since I had rehearsals on Saturday, I had to go late.  I was sad I missed the big surprise, but I'm glad I got to extra surprise her because she had no clue I was coming still.  I hopped on a train on Saturday and got to the Hard Rock Hotel just in time.  The whole group was getting back to the hotel from dinner when I showed up and I just jumped on the elevator with them!!  She was surprised to see me and I was happy to be there, too!!!!

Me and my six best friends!!

We just hung out at the hotel all night and it was great.  The next morning, we slept in and then everyone headed out.  It was a short lived weekend, but still so much fun!  My train didn't leave until the afternoon so I got to hang out with Jess for a little bit longer before I left.  We walked around Chicago and ate Panera and, most importantly, we took public transportation.  Man, I haven't taken public transportation or been in a city since Peru and let me tell you...it's really different and I kind of miss it.  Chicago public transportation and the traffic is so boring. :)  Where were the micros and the cobradors and why were the buses not packed full?  And what's up with using a prepaid card to get on the bus?!  I miss the soles.  And where was the Spanish music in the background or why were there no vendors coming on to the buses selling who knows what?!  Why was the sun out and why did it not have that Lima smell?  Needless to say, Chicago and Lima are two very different, but amazing cities!!  I love them both!  Both are unique in there own ways!!  Anyway, that's my weekend in a nutshell.  I guess I'll leave you with another picture from the city! :)

View from the 34th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel

Más Cultura

Last week was our last Iluzion performance at a basketball game for this year.  We usually have other performances throughout the semester, like going to perform at local elementary schools, but we don't have any of those scheduled yet.  However, I do have a video of last week's performance, so here it is!!!!

Also, here's a picture of my team.  We're actually missing a few people in this picture, but it's still a good picture and I love all of them.

Okay, so now let's talk about other things that are going on in my life.  I'm still dancing a lot.  Our spring dance show is coming up in about a month and the dances that I am in for the concert are really coming along now.  I'm excited to take them to the stage. :)

Also, my thesis is actually coming along really well already.  We started researching today!  It's going to be an interesting topic and surprisingly, I'm excited to research it more. (I can't believe I just said that)  Actually, it's probably a good thing that I'm excited for it.  I have a feeling that my thesis will go more smoothly if it's something I'm interested in.  So, I guess I should tell you what it is now...

The monolingual teaching practices in the Andes of Peru is contributing to the destruction of the indigenous culture.

So, there's my thesis and what I have to do is research it and try to convince people that it is, in fact, true.  I will do this by writing a 15 page paper completely in Spanish and giving a 20 minute presentation in Spanish.  Although that may sound impossible to you, I'm pretty confident about it.  I mean, I did just spend a whole semester in a Spanish-speaking country.  Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty good about it so far.  We'll see how long this good feeling lasts. :)  Hopefully the whole semester!  If that's the case, then this thesis will be a breeze. :)

My other classes are still going well, too.  Jazz, of course, is awesome!!  Classroom management is obviously teaching me what to do when little Billy is poking Penny in my future classroom. :)  But for tonight's blog, I mostly want to talk about my Methods class.  It's a class that essentially is about how to go about teaching a foreign language (not necessarily Spanish).  In my class, there are 5 students (including me).  Four of us have a focus in Spanish, but the other is a TLE from China.  A TLE is a Teaching Language Expert.  Young adults come from different countries to teach some language courses here at Carthage.  So this student in my class is teaching lower level Chinese classes at Carthage and she just arrived in the U.S. about a month ago.  It's been awesome having her in my class because I know how she feels since I just experienced studying abroad last semester.  Plus, I've already learned sooo much about China and her language, which is really cool!!!

Things I've learned about China:

• They are 14 hours ahead of us in time
• There winters are the same
• When a child is born they say that they are 1 year old and when that child turns 1 (in U.S. age), then they say the child is 2 years old.
• In the language, they don't really have a lot of grammar.  They just add words to make sense of a sentence.  For example, in English we might say "he talked," but in Chinese they would say "he talk yesterday."  It's actually pretty cool.
• Also, I've seen her write in Chinese many times already and she writes SO fast.  It looks so cool.
• Finally, I learned how to count to 10 in Chinese, but I already don't remember.  It's hard and the pronunciations are interesting.

Outside of class, I have also been learning sign language.  Not actually, but I do watch an ABC Family T.V. show that has a lot of sign language in it, so I know some words here and there. :)  Obviously, I'm also keeping up with my other T.V. shows including Grey's Anatomy and Glee. :)  Also, because all of you know that I love movies, I'll tell you that I went and saw the movie The Vow the other day.  It was really good!  However, I will say that the movie theaters here are expensive compared to Peru. :)  And by expensive, I mean, only a few dollars off, but still those couple bills count. :)

Anyway, I guess you could say that my life is going pretty well right now here in the U.S.!  I still miss Peru every once in awhile, but I've been keeping in touch with several people that I met through my program, which is wonderful!  I always love talking to them!

Well, I hope you had a good week!  Keep smiling!

Tesis

So I started my second semester last week and it was terrible...haha..no actually it went really well!!  I danced every single day and sometimes two or three times a day!  I had Iluzion practices, I went to two ballet classes that I'm not even enrolled in (which was great!), I had Jazz (which is going to be really challenging, but I'm excited for it), I had a rehearsal for a contemporary dance, and I went to audition at Six Flags!!  All of that was so fun!  I actually auditioned for Six Flags last year, too, but didn't get the job.  However, even if I don't get the job, I love the experience of auditioning.  Plus, I got to hang out with my friends all day that auditioned as well!!  However, Six Flags is pretty dreary in the winter.  All the liveliness is gone, but, luckily, you can still smell a touch of fried food and fun in the air.

Barren Six Flags

As for my classes, they are going pretty well so far.  I have had my thesis class, which kind of makes me nervous.  I'm supposed to have a thesis picked by today's class and I've been brainstorming it a lot, but I'm still not sure about it.  However, I do have a lot of ideas, but I think I'm going to go with something that deals with the education system in Peru.  I'm sure that my thesis will change several times before I settle on something though.  I have also had my classroom management class, which is going pretty well so far, too.  It's a night class, so I only have it once a week and this week I will be teaching a lesson with a group of students on Teacher-Student Relationships.  I have another night class for the first time tonight as well, but I will actually be missing part of it because I have an Iluzion performance at the basketball game!  So watch for another video at some point! :)  The routine we are doing for Iluzion tonight is very high in energy and all of us dancers are out of breath by the time it's over so it should go well and the crowd should get into it!! :)

What else has happened this week?  Oh I went to a Superb Owl party on Sunday and ate delicious chili and hung out with awesome friends!  And the Giants won, which was who I was routing for!!  Also, if you watched the Superbowl, you probably saw some of the commercials, but just in case you missed it, I will share my favorite commercial with you...

Oh, also, I've moved into my old room with my awesome roommate Taylor!!!  I'm so excited about that!  I've had the same room since freshman year and plan to keep it until I graduate.  Plus, Taylor is pretty much the coolest person I know and, since she's my roommate, it makes me look cool, too. ;)  Not that you or I should worry about looking cool anyway, because we shouldn't and that's not what life is about!

Anyway, I'm definitely going to be busy this semester, but it's going to be a good one!  I'm dancing a lot, I have the best of friends, I have a supportive family, I have a job that's making me money, etc.  So, that's pretty much all I have to say for now, but I hope that you are having a good week so far and I will talk to you all soon!!!  Keep looking out for an Iluzion video!!!

Iluzion

Okay, so J-term is over and I have an Iluzion performance under my belt so let's talk a little bit about both.

We had two Iluzion performances this week and they went pretty well.  It was the same dance for both, but the first one was a little rough, but the second was better.  So, for your entertainment, here's the second day's performance...

I hope you enjoyed it.  I look forward to sharing our future performances with you as well.

Okay, now let's talk about the ending of J-term and the upcoming Spring semester.  My J-term class ended awesome.  My group and I gave our lesson this past Wednesday and it went really well. :)  I seriously am so happy with the field I have chosen to go into!  It feels so great to know that I'm doing the right thing.  Anyway, our lesson was one on the Wallace line and it was meant for middle schoolers.  The Wallace line is a line through the islands of Indonesia and on the west side of the line there is completely different flora and fauna than on the east side of the line.  It's actually really interesting and our lesson included making a compass and "traveling" to the different islands (stations) to explore the flora and fauna on each island.  It was so fun and we got a good grade! :)  On our last day of class, we skyped a scientist, which was something that I've never done in class before, but it was fun, too.  Before skyping the scientist, we watched a documentary called Flock of Dodos that talks about evolution and Intelligent Design and the scientist we skyped actually appears in the film.  It was really interesting to talk to him and to hear his opinion on the issue.  We also sent out a survey to students on campus and to international students so it was interesting to see those results because really the United States is supposedly the only country where there is a controversy about evolution.

Anyway, my J-term was really good.  My last and best J-term. :)  I won't be taking a J-term next year because I will be student teaching!  Now, let's talk next semester...I'm taking six classes and I'm anxious for all of them.  One class is my Spanish senior thesis, which is kind of a big deal (and by kind of, I mean it's a really big deal).  I also have two important education courses.  Then, for fun (and for my minor), I'm taking a jazz class and a choreography class! :)  Then, the last class is a required one and it's only a seven week class called Concepts of Physical Fitness.  I've gotten all of my books and my jazz shoes ordered and I'm almost ready for the semester.  I'm on J-term break this weekend and I start class again next Wednesday!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and stay safe!

Lastly, I want to point out, just in case you don't already know, the new Miss America 2012 graduated from Carthage!  How cool is that?!  Good night! :)

Los Pinzones

Sorry for the late post, even though I really don't have a schedule for when I write yet.  Once second semester starts, I will have a regular routine and I can figure out when the best time for me is to blog (maybe, I hope).

Anyway, one of the most exciting things that happened within the past couple weeks was that Tonisha came to visit me!!!  She came two weeks ago and we had a blast!!  Except for some reason, we forgot to take pictures!  So I have no pictures of Tonisha's first trip to Carthage. :(  But, that's okay because it was so fun!  We went shopping and out to eat at Marina Garden, which is an awesome restaurant here.  Also, Carthage always shows movies on Wednesdays so we went and saw the movie Tower Heist with Ben Stiller, which was really funny!  I was so happy to have Tonisha meet Carthage and all of my friends here!!  I talked about it so much while I was in Peru that I'm sure Tonisha was happy to see and meet people as well!

My class is going really well still!  We had a creative assignment last week where we had to do something creative (write a poem, draw a picture, etc.) and relate it to the book, The Beak of the Finch, that we read.  Well, I like to cross-stitch so I found a cute and small golden finch pattern and I did that for my project which was fun.  I really like to cross-stitch.  It's relaxing for me and I haven't done it for awhile so it was the perfect stress reliever.  Thank you to my mom, grandma, and aunt for passing down such a creative skill that I will someday pass on to my children, too.  For your entertainment, here's the finished product...

So, more about my class, I guess... Last week, we were supposed to go to the Field Museum in Chicago because there is a big evolution exhibit there, but there was a snowstorm and a train derailment so let's just say that we didn't go.  I was actually a little bummed that we didn't go because I don't remember the last time I was there, but I did take the opportunity to stay in bed for the majority of the day and catch up on sleep and relax.  It was awesome!  This week for class we have our final group project due, which I actually am excited for as well.  We get to teach a lesson to the class and my group is teaching a middle school social studies class.  We have some really fun activities planned for the lesson and it's funny because you can really tell that I want to be a teacher when I get giddy about writing a lesson plan. :)

Okay, I think that's it for talking about my class.  Now, let's talk about how I gave a 20-minute presentation on Peru last week in Spanish to another J-term class.  Oh boy was that complicated.  Reason one why it was complicated:  How do you put 4 1/2 months into a 20-minute presentation!  I had so many problems trying to figure out what to talk about.  Reason two:  After one month of not speaking Spanish, I was nervous, but I did well, so all is well. :)  But, really though, I had so many pictures and I actually talked really fast cuz I was afraid I wouldn't get everything in 20-minutes.  It was good practice for my thesis presentation that will be coming up this semester, too.

Other than class and work, I've been spending a lot of time dancing and with friends!  Two of my favorite things!  One of my girlfriends 21st birthday was this past weekend which was really fun and tomorrow is my first Iluzion performance!  Iluzion is the hip-hop dance team here at Carthage!  I'll try to get it taped and put it on so that you can watch it!  Other than that, I get to go home this weekend for J-term break and then I will be starting my crazy second semester next week!  How exciting!  I really am hoping to get some kind of schedule set up for this blog so that you know when to check, but in the mean time, just keep checking randomly. :)  Have a great day!!!!

Mi regreso y evolución

So I have returned to Carthage for J-term.  For those of you who don't know, J-term stands for January term and here at Carthage it's supposedly the best time of the year.  What happens during J-term is that you take a class for three hours a day everyday for the month of January and you usually get 4 credits for it.  How great is that?!  In my opinion it's a great way to get those extra credits in during the year and it's the best way to either have fun with your class or take a class that you don't want to take for an entire semester!!  So what's my class this year do you ask?  Teaching Evolution Theories!  What the heck is that?  Well, it would be a class that combines both Biology and Education.  It deals with evolution, the controversy of evolution, and how/if it should be taught in schools.  I wasn't really looking forward to taking the class at first, but surprisingly I have really enjoyed it so far!  For the past week, we have been learning about evolution and I read a book called "The Beak of the Finch" in a matter of five days and it was actually a pretty good book.  It talked all about studies that have been done on the finches and their evolution on the Galapagos Islands (near Ecuador).  I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Oh no, Andrea is going to start believing that we evolved from apes and all of that non-sense!"  Well, if you actually take the time to learn about it that's not what evolution is at all.  Evolution just deals with the changes and development of species and according to science it is a fact.  Also, come to find out, evolution doesn't say we evolved from apes because if that were true then there would be no apes on the earth today.  It just says that we have common ancestors.  Well, I know that this may still conflict with some of your religious views, but no worries.  Tomorrow, we are starting our "Controversy" section and we are going to begin discussing Evolution vs. Creationism so I will be able to fill you in on that more later.  Anyway, I guess the jist is that I'm really liking my J-term class for the first time in the past two years and it's cool to learn about something that I've never really bothered to learn before.  My first test is tomorrow so wish me luck!

Anyway, although I like my class, this has been an interesting week.  I didn't really experience culture shock when I first returned to the U.S., but coming back to Carthage it kind of hit me that I wasn't in Perú taking Católica classes with all of the wonderful people I met there.  I had a few days of missing Perú, but I'm kind of over it.  But, of course, there will always be a part of me that loved Perú and all of the things I experienced there.  Also, Tonisha is coming to visit me this week which is beyond exciting!!!  I'm sure I'll blog about our adventures in Kenosha at a future date!

Okay, now on to the not-so-depressing "I miss Perú" spiel.  Let's talk about the great things that have been happening to me since I've been back.

1. Tonisha is coming! :)
2.  My roommate, Taylor, and I got to sit down and watch Grey's Anatomy together and we will also be watching Glee tomorrow night!
3.  I went shopping with three of my best friends and got a new skirt and dress that I don't really have a use for yet, but that are super cute!
4.  I got the chance to eat dulce de leche ice cream which is similar to manjarblanco in Perú!
5.  I become thoroughly excited every time I hear someone speaking Spanish, which has actually happened more than I thought it would (especially at the mall).
6.  I got the chance to talk to some of my fellow study abroaders who studied in Spain last semester.
7.  I have come to really like sushi and we have it on campus now so I am usually satisfied with the food I'm eating, even though it's no lomo saltado.  Oh, by the way, I have made lomo saltado once since I've been back.
8.  I have been dancing...A LOT!!  This is probably my number 1 favorite thing about being back!  Remember my New Year's Resolution workout... Yea, well I've only done it once because I decided that I would only do it on the days that I don't dance.  I mean I have missed two days of the workout, but come on!  I have dance practices/rehearsals for five days out of the week!  And guess what?  I'm not complaining at all!  I LOVE IT!!  I love being back on the Iluzion Hip Hop dance team and I'm loving rehearsing for two of the pieces that I will be in for our Spring Dance show!

So pretty much although it has been a little difficult getting back into the swing of things, it's been great being back, especially because of dance.  No matter what negative feelings I may be having at some points in time, whether it be stress, reverse culture shock, sadness, etc., I always feel better once I'm dancing. :)  Which is just perfect!  Do you have something that you like to do to relieve stress?  If not, you should find something! :)  Also, having friends helps!  That's another thing, I have loved being able to catch up with all of my friends!  Anyway, I hope you are all having a wonderful week!  I'm sure I will talk to you soon!!