Heute, ich studiert Deutsch. Am Freitag, ich habe ein Prufung.

Today in journalism class, we did the longest, most painstaking excercise EVER. We fact-checked an article, and that means checking EVERY assertion that anyone makes, every name, every place, every spelling, every claim, every anything, you have to check online, on an official primary source.. gaahh.. for three long, long hours. I came back utterly dead, and slept for 15 minutes or so before dinner. Now I'm studying German (as I tried to say above. :) I forgot how to say 'tomorrow', so I just wrote 'on Friday') for my test tomorrow.

I was in a little bit of a bad mood today until I went out for coffee/sandwiches/milkshakes with Chrissy and Tricia. We have a lot of fun together, the three of us. We joked around, talked, shared, and generally had a good time. We decided that we should make this into a weekly, stress-relieving event. Now the girls of Chapin are playing Dream Phone, which I really should play also, but I am going to review my German words one more time and then go to bed.

AND Rachel's play that she is Assistant Managing, which I went to go see, was CANCELLED due to an unsafe balconey, and will only be shown tomorrow, when I can no longer see it. Sad. 

And Suz and I are perfecting the art of facebook chatting while sitting in the same room, about two feet away from each other..

Studying.

This is what happens when I have no time.. I post my assignments for all to read. :) I actually had fun writing this one, you had to write a descriptive piece on somewhere you had never been before, and I went to the Shakespeare garden on campus- a very quiet and refreshing place. I definitely will go back..

Sandwiched between Northwestern University’s Technological Institute and the Ford Center, there lies a small corner, surprisingly incongruous with the surrounding buildings: Shakespeare’s Garden. Outside, the grey buildings accentuate the dullness of everyday life, but after climbing the concrete stairs into the garden, the world realigns itself into shades of bright green.
 
Tall blades of grass blown flat by the wind surround the path of stone steps that replaces the concrete. Sitting on one of the old, wooden benches, an observer would be tickled by cat tails growing up from behind, while tall, old trees stare solemnly down. It is a sad note to our time that the ground around the benches is littered with cigarette butts and that a blue Northwestern Emergency Light is planted firmly in the middle of the sidewalk.

Following the path around a corner, one comes across a monument erected in honor of William Shakespeare. Three worn, weathered steps lead up to a stand featuring a portrait of Shakespeare and lines from his plays “A Winter’s Tale,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “As You Like It.” Turning around, one is immediately confronted by a multitude of colorful flowers, growing with a wild abandon down a line of neatly trimmed grass.

Pinks, magentas, lavenders and greens all wave in the wind as a leaf flutters to the ground from a berry-laden tree. Tall white flowers shade small, soft red ones and pink roses look up to purple lilacs. In the midst of the wild arrangement, stands a sundial, wildflowers growing around its base. A twittering, red-breasted bird flies up into a tree as the sun sets and the wind picks up.

Taking two steps up and several more forward, the magic of Shakespeare’s Garden is left behind for the stark reality of the harsh, gray-green wall of Tech and a half-full parking lot.

College Moments..

moments that make college worthwhile:

- walking to the beach to watch fireworks, taking my shoes off and wading in the lake, and then walking back to my dorm barefoot with four other girls singing Disney songs
- quoting El Dorado at my computer and missing my brother
- singing the NU anthem every time our team scored (which I now know almost all of)
- getting my roommate to love my TV show (go survivor!)
- spontaneously going to watch the championships of Midwest improv as a study break

and many, many other things..

A LONG Day

Today I:

- learned how to conjugate regular verbs in German
- fell asleep in Art History like always. Studying for my midterm from those notes is going to be interesting...
- sat through Russian class where I learned nothing new
- ate a SlimFast bar in pieces during class
- got my VERY FIRST Medill F. Apparently suing a teacher and suing a school are not the same thing.. go figure.. :) So I'll be re-writing that one.
- received an assignment to write a feature story with Ali on long distance dating relationships. 6-8 sources, 800 words. Due next Tuesday. And Tuesday is my midterm. And we'll have another homework assignment on Wednesday.
- RAN to a speech on environmentalism and global warming. The polar ice cap will no longetr exist in 10-15 years. Yeah. But I recorded a lot of it and took good notes. Will write speech story by Thursday ALSO. And got flirted with by Turkish guy. Very good looking but a little creepy.
- missed dinner because the speech went way longer than it should have
- interviewed for an hour and a half only to have my iPod malfunction and DELETE my recordings. So I wasted my time. And other people's time.
- dashed to CVS to get Rachel something resembling a birthday present (her birthday's the 15th, but since it's college, we all wish each other happy birthday at midnight)
- dashed all the way to Annenburg to a very nice time at RUF
- did German homework, re-interviewed one of the girls, and wished Rachel happy birthday.

And now I've given up all hope of working more and am actually going to bed. I think I'll get up and die tomorrow.

Things About College that Bother Me:

- Feeling guilty about stealing time to read an Agatha Christie
- When "my" shower is busy in the mornings
- Falling asleep in the middle of really interesting lectures and then not being able to read your notes afterwards
- Gaining weight
- People who go to bed super early
- People who don't go to bed at all
- People who never study and just walk around drunk all the time
- Writing on deadline and turning out not-so-great work
- People who stress

Things About College that Do Not Bother Me:

- Barely sleeping
- Not-that-great food
- Studying all the time
- Having classes from 9 until 4
- Walking EVERYWHERE
- Late-night "pretending to do work" in the lounge
- Shifting your schedule about 3 hours later each night than you're used to (things really just get going at 11 or 12... )

Oh, and did I mention today that I love my roommate? I didn't? Well, now I did. 

Goodnight. It's bedtime. :)

I'm back!

After having some trouble with the Blog Police (I truly have no idea why), my blog is again authorized, and I'm ready to write!

Highlight of my week: YACHT CRUISE on Friday. The Res Colleges had a formal on a yacht this year! It was awesome to get dressed up, to see all my friends dressed up, and to go on a yacht.. there was an incredible display of fireworks at the beginning: I had forgotten how good American fireworks actually are! We had a great time dancing- it was better than all the other dances because now we actually know each other, as opposed to having just met, during Welcome Week. So we were able to have a lot more fun. Pics will soon be on Facebook as soon as I get Tricia to give me them. It was a blast!

Wettest moment of the week: On Tuesday, it was literally pouring down raining, and Rachel, Tricia, Chrissy, Suz and I made a mad dash to the building where they were having a free dance lesson. It normally seems very close (3-4 min?), but this time it seemed SO far. There is a street with a light that you have to cross on the way there and, when we stopped at the light, a car went zooming by through an enormous puddle and absolutely literally drenched us all. I really thought that only happened in movies. 

Fun and relaxing moment: on Friday afternoon, after my 2 *yay* morning classes, I had lunch with Julia, a freshman from RUF, and then I went out to coffee with Randi, the RUF intern. It was actually a lot of fun and I was proud of myself for maintaining friendships outside of Chapin, something that everyone is trying to do, but I'm not exactly sure why. ;)

Most different moment: my job! (I work at the Evanston Day Care Center, 10 hours a week- I help out in a classroom of 3-5 yr olds) I love my job because, even though I get tired doing it, I feel incredible, because it's a completely different kind of tired. My mind is thinking about kids and families, instead of classes and people my age. So I actually do rest while I'm there, even though I'm always doing something. Helpful tip: Don't forget to wear gloves if you're serving food!

I have a lot more thoughts on the week, but some friends called me to play Loaded Question in the lounge.. we're so good at putting off studying.. (only joking, I'm actually studying a lot- one of the guys in my dorm said he never saw me doing anything BUT studying which, though grossly untrue, I took to be a complement :))

THIS is what I want to do with my life!

Today I had an incredible moment, affirming me in my choice to become a journalist. We had a Medill meeting with the lady that wrote our summer reading. It was Sunday, I really, really didn't want to go. That morning, dragging myself out of bed, having to skip church, and going to school on the weekend, I thought, "What a colossal waste of my time!" But when I got there, and the lecture started, I was absolutely spellbound. Susan Casey is a reporter who writes books. My dream! Hearing her talk about what she did, how she reported, how she found stories.. it was amazing. I really and truly felt like THIS is what I was called to do, this is what I'm supposed to do with my life. I don't even truly know how to explain it, but Northwestern and Medill both really speak to me and make me feel like I've never felt before. I am so pleased to be here and so excited about what I'm going to learn in the next four years! 

Anyway. And then we had a Big Bite Night, which is when all the restaraunts of Evanston give out free samples to college students, and so we (as Chapin of course) walked around Evanston collecting free food. It was pretty awesome to get exotic food (Indian, Thai, etc), and to get away from the dining hall.

AND, to top it all off, I had my first major interview this evening with a girl from my dorm who spent the summer in Uganda. We have to do a profile article by Tuesday, and I had to set up my iPod and my sound recorder for the interview. AND I've now transcribed all of it also- I never though I could type so fast. But it was really fun, she had an amazing story and I'm so excited to get to write about it. I guess this sounds really nerdy, but I LOVE Medill, I love everything we do, I love all the freakin' hard work that they make us do and how we have to put hours more into it than any other regular Weinburg student. But the more I get into it, the more I feel like this is what I am made to do. 

Today was a good day..

Reporting and Debating - what a journalistic day!

Most exciting moment of today: interviewing people for my journalism class! We got to class today and actually had to go out and TALK to REAL people, and take notes on what they said. I decided to do something about cellphones because of a recent train wreck in California that happened because the engineer was texting while driving the train. I chose that because I reeeeally didn't know enough about politics to do either the bailout or the VP debate. So. I went and talked to people. Definitely a big adrenaline rush!! "Excuse me, do you have a second to answer a few questions about cellphone usage in today's society?" Dad, I definitely saw you in a couple of the men I tried to talk to.. :) :) :) But I ended up getting a variety of sources and then writing an article on deadline. I felt like a real reporter, it was SO fun. I love Medill.

Most controversial moment of today: watching the Vice President debate. I actually don't really like Sarah Palin.. like, at all. McCain did a much better job, but.. man. She seems like a really nice person, but possibly not the most coherent Vice President. Anyway. Interesting moment of the debate- neither candidate said that they support redefining marriage as being equally either heterosexual or same-sex. Which I thought was cool. But some of the listeners in our media lounge did not.

Hooray for Yahoo maps!

Best moment of today: I walked in to the dining hall this evening and it was MEXICAN night! yayy, we got chips with salsa. haha. everyone went crazy-excited, which is a definite "you know you're in college when" moment.

Most surprising moment of today: after German this morning, I found my way ALL the way to the YMCA, which, I'll have you know, is a good 0.63 miles from my home! Yup, I'm really cruising now. Of course, the only way I had any idea where I was going was because I punched in my address and the address of the place I was going, but then I followed the map and walked ALL the way there! I am quite proud of myself for improving my navigational skills in the past couple of weeks- I have not once gotten seriously lost! And only one time did I take the "scenic route" to somewhere I was going. So contrary to my preconceptions of myself, I'm doing quite well.

Biggest accomplishment of today: writing my first full-length article for journalism class! I still have to finish editing it to turn in tomorrow, but I felt like an actual journalist, compiling sources, using quotes and paraphrasing people. It was a lot of fun.