so much for an easy end to the semester

I have been buried up to my eyeballs in schoolwork these past few weeks.. still not quite done, but the worst of it is over with. I've just been trying to finish up and pack all my things to move out of my apartment, which has not been very fun. The fam comes up tomorrow and I graduate the next day.. crazy. I picked up my cap and gown today (and my honors cords, which they also made me pay for.. doesn't seem right!) and it sort of sunk in a little more. It makes me kind of sad. maybe nostalgic is a better word. Wellll, that's enough for now. I'm going to get back to packing.

I think I'll have an easier time keeping up with the blog once everything settles down.. or at least I hope so!

a blizzard and lies

Something blew in, alright.. a blizzard. Okay, so not quite a blizzard by UP standards, but even so. We've gotten quite a bit of snow, and it doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon. Glad I wound up doing my laundry the other day after all.

In other news, I had someone else lie to me about something monumental recently. Trying to come to terms with that on top of attempting to actually graduate has not been easy and as of right this minute doesn't look like it's going to get any easier. I find myself desperately wishing for a thicker skin, for perspective, and for the assurance that these two stupid and clearly very sick girls don't rob me of my ability to trust my friends. Lately I'm bitter and frustrated and completely overwhelmed. Oh, and irritable. Let's not forget irritable. I kind of want to break things.

rain rain go away..

I'm kind of hoping for a storm. It was sunny earlier but something's blowing in, and I really hope it's not just some lame drizzle. I like thunderstorms, as long as A) I don't have to go outside in them and B) there are no tornadoes involved. Either way, I don't think my laundry is going to get done today, given that I am morally opposed to walking to the laundry room in the rain. I suppose I could work on the piles of homework I have, or maybe my TFA hiring paperwork. I had to go get fingerprinted yesterday for that, which was mildly terrifying because I'd never actually been in a police station before. I also had to get a TB test, which wasn't exactly my idea of a good time. All told none of it was really that bad, but I reserve the right to whine about it.. it's my blog and I'll whine if I want to, whine if I want to, whine if I want to..? Sorry. That was kind of painful.

It's kind of disheartening to know that I only have a few weeks left in Marquette. As much as I want to be done and I'm ready to leave, it's going to be hard. I'm going to miss all the girls, and just random little things.. like Rice Paddy. Erin and I had lunch there today and it was absolutely delicious. Aoy makes the best Thai food EVER. I'm still stuffed and a nap sounds fantastic right now, but my neighbor is playing obnoxious music so it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I suppose I should quit rambling and go do something at least semi-productive. Guess I'm off for now.

nuestra casa: la casita

Here are pictures of our little house in Mexico (Guanajuato, summer 2009). We lived with a host family but our part of the house was separate from the rest. We had two stories, with a twin bed downstairs and a double bed upstairs. The bathroom was upstairs as well.

This is our front door, off of the central courtyard.

Here's the view from the door, of Amber's "little" bed (later Jaime's).

our front door

bookcase, with an old picture of our host family

the much-hated spiral staircase

upstairs; the long curtain is covering the door to the big window/balcony.

Note also that we had to walk up more stairs for the bathroom.

my bed! I shared it with Jaime for the first three or four weeks, after which point she and Amber switched places.

Love the Don Quijote bedspread!

the cool brick ceiling, with the strange collection of stuff that was in our room

My side of the bed was closest to the staircase. I almost fell down it on more than one occasion.

view up into the bathroom

our very green bathroom

the window/balcony door.. Volkswagon??

Here's the view from our big window/balcony on one of the many rainy days. I swear it took me the whole time I was in Mexico (to say nothing of Spain) to learn the name of those flowers. (It's bugambilia, by the way.)

rainy day shot #2

just another lame blog post

I haven't really had anything to blog about lately. Mostly I've just been lounging around, knitting, and watching Grey's Anatomy with Erin. It's been years since I watched the seasons, and she'd never seen any of it, so we started from the beginning. So far we've made it through the first two and we're on to the third. I love this show. maybe because I'm dark and twisty?

I'm trying to get this place picked up before my friend Laura comes over for dinner tonight. It's going really well, can you tell? Mostly I've just got to wipe down the kitchen and the bathroom. I should do laundry, too, but that might be a stretch. I really ought to do it while the weather is nice though, since walking to the laundry room in rain/snow is definitely not going to happen. It's gorgeous here-- sunny and 70 =) It's nice to be able to have the windows open again.

I need to buckle down and start working on some papers I have due pretty soon. It's hard to believe that this is it.. I graduate one month from today! speaking of today, anyone else hate April Fools Day as much as I do? cause I tell you what, I really really dislike it. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that I'm really gullible.. aaaand I probably should not have revealed that, but whatever. It's not like anyone reads this right now anyway!

Anyway, I should be off. Maybe I'll actually have something interesting to post soon!

The prodigal blogger returns.. or something like that

Well, I really lost sight of this blogging thing, hey? and apparently somewhere along the line I turned into a yooper. Oh well. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

So, I've returned from my blogging hiatus. It's been a little over six months since I last wrote, much to my chagrin. I really had every intention of keeping up on this but life gets in the way, doesn't it? Last semester really kicked my bum. I'm now in my final semester at Northern.. home stretch or something of that nature. I'm super burnt out and I'm sooo ready to be done with classes, but I know I'm going to miss it terribly once I leave. I am only taking twelve credits this semester (only eight of which I actually need), which is kind of a nice change from the twenty I had last semester... and the semester before that... and before that... and before that... you get the idea. On the plus side, I'll be graduating with a double major and a double minor in four years. For those who don't know, I have majors in Spanish and Sociology in liberal arts with minors in art history and Latin American studies. As it turns out, this is marketable! whoda thunk.

I found out last week that I've been accepted into Teach for America. TFA is a national non-profit organization which seeks to bridge the achievement gap in education in the United States. This wikipedia entry has some good info about TFA. Here is a little bit about their mission, copied from their website:

"Our mission is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting our nation's most promising future leaders in the effort.

We recruit outstanding recent college graduates from all backgrounds and career interests to commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. We provide the training and ongoing support necessary to ensure their success as teachers in low-income communities.

Our teachers, also called corps members, go above and beyond traditional expectations to lead their students to significant academic achievement, despite the challenges of poverty and the limited capacity of the school system. In succeeding with their students, corps members show that students in low-income communities can achieve at high levels, offering further evidence that educational inequity is a solvable problem."

 

I've been placed in Kansas City, Missouri. I'll be teaching in a bilingual classroom, which means that I'll be teaching (most likely) in an elementary school setting, but in Spanish. I am extremely excited. I'm happy with my regional placement, my subject placement, and my grade level placement.. it's like the trifecta! I have to be in KC on June 16th for a few days, then from June 20th to July 24th I'll be in Chicago (!) training/teaching at what's called Summer Institute. After that it's back to KC and I start my job in August! Initially I'll be teaching on a temporary certification, but by the end of my two years I'll have both my certification and a Masters degree in Education from Rockhurst University.. not too shabby, hey?

Now that I'm back, I've no intention of disappearing again.. not that I ever intended to disappear in the first place, but let's move on, shall we? So, I'll do my best to update on what's going on with me, as well as write some posts about what's been going on for the past six months. (I also, embarrassingly, have Mexico posts to put up still. I blame Blogger and the fact that adding photos to blog posts is less than easy, since most of those  posts are pretty photo-heavy.)

Until next time.. arrivederci. And yes, I was definitely thinking of Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds when I said that.