This weekend is the last official Dressage show. The team's heading to Lake Erie College and I'm planning on kicking some serious butt. We still have a shot at Nationals, but we have to do extra well at this show because we're down a member. Our captain fell off a horse last week and broke her wrist. She'll be there cheering us on, but she won't be able to ride. My goal is to place in the top three. It will be more difficult than at our home show because I won't know any of the horses. But I'm going to do my absolute best so that now matter what happens in the end, I'll have no regrets.
My Great Lakes Literature class has continued to meet out in the nature center on Wednesdays. It's been a lot of fun, and now that I'm acquainted with the center. A couple weeks ago, I found myself wandering there. After surviving a semester without being thrown from a horse, I finally got bucked off. I wasn't physically injured, but against my rational mind-set, my pride was bruised, and I needed to be somewhere quiet where I could come to terms with being thrown. The nature center did its job, but also made me homesick for my river back home.
I can't believe it's almost Spring Break. Only two more weeks then I'm home for ten days. I can't wait to ride my pony! The weather has been gorgeous up here for the last couple days and I wish I could go trail riding. I did go running the other day and that was fabulous! Though it made me realize I've been doing a horrible job of drinking water. Yesterday, I had a nasty fever and headache all day. I finally stopped by the bookstore and bought a nalgene water bottle. I downed 32 oz during my last two hour class. Clearly, I needed water. Since then I'm being more careful and I'll be drinking a lot of water this weekend.
I am so excited for this weekend. I can't wait to spend two days (and a night) with the dressage girls! And now my focus is gone. Wish me luck for this weekend!
17 February 2011
28 January 2011
Lock-down and Fire drills
The seasonal flu has struck Albion College. We had the same problem last semester, yet apparently it wasn't as big of a deal. As of Wednesday, 100 people on campus were diagnosed with the flu; last night, Student Health Services brought in the CDC and were advised to cancel all college activities. I didn't have classes today, but my lesson was canceled. Basically, the college is in quarantine.
So far, I'm not sick. My hall has been hit, but Alesha and my isolated little corner is still safe. I was thinking about this last night and I'm wondering if it's because we haven't spent much time in the dinning hall. Alesha is off board, so she never goes in there. I'm only going for dinner on Mondays and Wednesdays. The rest of the time I'm never near Baldwin, so it doesn't make any sense for me to go there. In the meantime, I'm upping my vitamin C intake and I'm avoiding sick people.
On top of that my building's fire alarm is either broken or some idiot has decided that there's nothing better for sick people than to stand out in the cold while an alarm blares. Last semester we had one fire drill, but I was elsewhere so didn't get to experience it. In the last twenty-four hours we've had two fire alarms. Just a bit ago the alarm went off again, but only long enough for me to consider whether I really wanted to go outside or not. Alesha's boyfriend thinks that there's probably something wrong with the alarms and it's being fixed. I hope so. I'd rather not become a cynic of the alarms. Maybe alarms are like smoke detectors, when the batteries die, the alarm just keeps going off.
On a different note, classes are going well. I like only having classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last Wednesday, we spent our Great Lakes Lit class at the Nature Center making journals. My creative writing class is evoking childhood memories that are actually turning into decent poems. My history of the philosophy of science class is introducing me to completely new philosophy. I sit in the class and just listen because I'm not fully understanding what's going on. I'm not sure what to think of it. I"m used to going into a class and knowing something about the subject. In this class, the names are familiar, but the text and ideas that go with them is completely different. I'm also having trouble understanding what I'm reading which is meaning that I'm not talking as much in class. Yet another weird thing for me. I'm kind of enjoying it though.
My final class is Victorian Britain. I didn't know a lot about the time period, but the more I read the more I realize that I actually have some experience with the time period. For one, the American Girl doll that I have has stories set in the Victorian era, albeit in America not England. Also, I was doing family history and I was able to track my great grandfathers life back to England during the end of the Victorian period. We also got to watch Blackadder in the last class. Rowan Aitkenson and Hugh Laurie should do more stuff together.
The television is calling, and with my hall and friends sick, my room seems like the best place to be right now.
So far, I'm not sick. My hall has been hit, but Alesha and my isolated little corner is still safe. I was thinking about this last night and I'm wondering if it's because we haven't spent much time in the dinning hall. Alesha is off board, so she never goes in there. I'm only going for dinner on Mondays and Wednesdays. The rest of the time I'm never near Baldwin, so it doesn't make any sense for me to go there. In the meantime, I'm upping my vitamin C intake and I'm avoiding sick people.
On top of that my building's fire alarm is either broken or some idiot has decided that there's nothing better for sick people than to stand out in the cold while an alarm blares. Last semester we had one fire drill, but I was elsewhere so didn't get to experience it. In the last twenty-four hours we've had two fire alarms. Just a bit ago the alarm went off again, but only long enough for me to consider whether I really wanted to go outside or not. Alesha's boyfriend thinks that there's probably something wrong with the alarms and it's being fixed. I hope so. I'd rather not become a cynic of the alarms. Maybe alarms are like smoke detectors, when the batteries die, the alarm just keeps going off.
On a different note, classes are going well. I like only having classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Last Wednesday, we spent our Great Lakes Lit class at the Nature Center making journals. My creative writing class is evoking childhood memories that are actually turning into decent poems. My history of the philosophy of science class is introducing me to completely new philosophy. I sit in the class and just listen because I'm not fully understanding what's going on. I'm not sure what to think of it. I"m used to going into a class and knowing something about the subject. In this class, the names are familiar, but the text and ideas that go with them is completely different. I'm also having trouble understanding what I'm reading which is meaning that I'm not talking as much in class. Yet another weird thing for me. I'm kind of enjoying it though.
My final class is Victorian Britain. I didn't know a lot about the time period, but the more I read the more I realize that I actually have some experience with the time period. For one, the American Girl doll that I have has stories set in the Victorian era, albeit in America not England. Also, I was doing family history and I was able to track my great grandfathers life back to England during the end of the Victorian period. We also got to watch Blackadder in the last class. Rowan Aitkenson and Hugh Laurie should do more stuff together.
The television is calling, and with my hall and friends sick, my room seems like the best place to be right now.
17 January 2011
Let's Begin Again
It's the start of a new semester. My plan to keep up with this blog failed a bit miserably last semester and I make no promises for this semester except to say that I will try.
First, a recap of last semester. It was my first time living away from home for any significant amount of time. I did have a couple moments of homesickness, and I know that I'll probably get them again this semester especially when Spring begins to show. I always get homesick in the Spring. The first time my family moved, I would become depressed around the middle of April. It took me a couple years to realize why. Spring is the season of gardens and green, and to this day I still miss the garden from my first house. However, this semester I have my car with me so I'll have the chance to go home and soak in the Spring, Minnesota-style.
Being a part of the Equestrian team at school has been amazing. I love the people on the team, the coaches, and the show environment. In my last show, the one I had at Albion, I managed to meet my goal of placing. Better than that, my coach was sure I had taken first place. Unfortunately the three riders that followed me did amazingly and I was pushed back into fourth place. But still, it was exactly what I needed after my disappointment and frustration from the previous show. Now, we have one more show to travel to in February. We head to Lake Erie College and depending on how we do there we may or may not be heading to Florida for Nationals in May. My goal: place in the top three. This will be trickier because I won't be on horses I know, but I think I can do it.
My part in the Equestrian Club evolved last semester. The club members were broken into three committees. I volunteered for the public relations committee and ended up becoming the co-chair. I really loved the position and the people in my group are awesome. This semester I've moved up to becoming the sole chair and I am in the process of coordinating something with the local library involving horses. I'm excited about the idea.
Academically, last semester was a challenge. Two years of community college certainly prepared me for what professors wanted, but I had no social life while I was home. Most of my friends were already away at college. Instead, I worked and had little trouble balancing academics and employment. Here, things are a lot different. I'm involved in two clubs, on a team and have made very good friends with people in my building. Suddenly, my ability to balance everything wasn't working and I had to spend the semester learning how to do it all over. In a sense that's why I'm looking at this semester as a new beginning. I know how to write ten-page papers now. I know that I need to prioritize better, especially with bigger projects and so I've brought a month calendar this semester so I can see at a glance when I have projects and papers due. Now if I procrastinate it's an issue of motivation, not priorities. Hopefully that will make a difference.
Now begins a new semester. Technically, classes begin tomorrow, but I have no classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays. More than a few people have told me I'm insane for clumping all of my classes together, but I like the idea of having two days dedicated only to class and the rest for work and friends. We'll just have to judge my sanity after the first month, but I don't think I'll prove any more insane than I already am.
First, a recap of last semester. It was my first time living away from home for any significant amount of time. I did have a couple moments of homesickness, and I know that I'll probably get them again this semester especially when Spring begins to show. I always get homesick in the Spring. The first time my family moved, I would become depressed around the middle of April. It took me a couple years to realize why. Spring is the season of gardens and green, and to this day I still miss the garden from my first house. However, this semester I have my car with me so I'll have the chance to go home and soak in the Spring, Minnesota-style.
Being a part of the Equestrian team at school has been amazing. I love the people on the team, the coaches, and the show environment. In my last show, the one I had at Albion, I managed to meet my goal of placing. Better than that, my coach was sure I had taken first place. Unfortunately the three riders that followed me did amazingly and I was pushed back into fourth place. But still, it was exactly what I needed after my disappointment and frustration from the previous show. Now, we have one more show to travel to in February. We head to Lake Erie College and depending on how we do there we may or may not be heading to Florida for Nationals in May. My goal: place in the top three. This will be trickier because I won't be on horses I know, but I think I can do it.
My part in the Equestrian Club evolved last semester. The club members were broken into three committees. I volunteered for the public relations committee and ended up becoming the co-chair. I really loved the position and the people in my group are awesome. This semester I've moved up to becoming the sole chair and I am in the process of coordinating something with the local library involving horses. I'm excited about the idea.
Academically, last semester was a challenge. Two years of community college certainly prepared me for what professors wanted, but I had no social life while I was home. Most of my friends were already away at college. Instead, I worked and had little trouble balancing academics and employment. Here, things are a lot different. I'm involved in two clubs, on a team and have made very good friends with people in my building. Suddenly, my ability to balance everything wasn't working and I had to spend the semester learning how to do it all over. In a sense that's why I'm looking at this semester as a new beginning. I know how to write ten-page papers now. I know that I need to prioritize better, especially with bigger projects and so I've brought a month calendar this semester so I can see at a glance when I have projects and papers due. Now if I procrastinate it's an issue of motivation, not priorities. Hopefully that will make a difference.
Now begins a new semester. Technically, classes begin tomorrow, but I have no classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Fridays. More than a few people have told me I'm insane for clumping all of my classes together, but I like the idea of having two days dedicated only to class and the rest for work and friends. We'll just have to judge my sanity after the first month, but I don't think I'll prove any more insane than I already am.
14 November 2010
For Michelle
I don't know all who are reading this, but I get the most demand for new entries from Michelle, the girl I've been doing projects and such with for the last couple years. So, this one's for her.
I'm not going to go back and touch on everything that's happened in the last month. Needless to say, I've been busy with school work, real work, and friends. Plus, the weekend after my last entry I had my first dressage show.
The show was held in Williamston, MI at a barn affiliated with Michigan State University. It was a nice enough facility, though it--like most barns now--paled in comparison to the Albion Equestrian Center. I think I'm becoming spoiled. It was a gorgeous weekend. I wisely wore layers, but was down to a t-shirt and thin lounge pants by the afternoon. We brought five (?) horses with us, so in the morning I spent a lot of time being a horse mommy. This entailed walking the horse around, putting saddle and bridle on and holding the blanket while he was being rode. It was a fun job and made the day seem not as long. Still, after being out there from 7ish in the morning (being awake since 5) to after 5, I was dead by the time I returned to campus. I'm really glad those shows don't happen every weekend.
My tests went well enough for it being my first show in a long time. My boots didn't fit, so I had to use other peoples and no one on my team has a shoe size even close to mine. It's rather difficult to have any affect on a large animal when you're feet are swimming in leather. I had also forgotten that I freeze up whenever I enter the show ring. My warm-ups would go great, then I'd get in the ring and suddenly I couldn't function. It wasn't that I stopped thinking or anything like that, it's that I tensed up which prevented the horse from relaxing and me from thinking about anything other than the test and the things my old trainers spent several years drilling into my head: corners, rising and falling with the correct leg. I didn't place either day, but my team as a whole did. We got sixth the first day and second the next day. Our next show is this coming weekend. I'm determined to do better. In fact, I'm determined to place. I just have to remember to breath.
I like the show environment. I love spending an entire day with my team and supporting everyone, however, I really hate how I only get one chance. I'm out there all day, but you get in the ring and that's it. If you screw up, you're done. When I showed before I would always have at least three classes. I'd do a group class first. That was my screw up class, my chance to go in and get my nervousness out of the way. In intercollegiate, I don't have that option. So, I have to find a different way to settle my nerves. It doesn't help that I have this weird thing where I can't tell if I'm nervous or not. Oh I'll have butterflies, sweat, and all the other typical symptoms whenever one of my teammates go in the ring, but when I'm up on the horse...nothing. I can't tell, so I can't fix it. This weekend, I'm just going to assume and go with that. We'll see what happens.
Okay, my laundry's done. Time to go to bed. I have a paper I need to write tomorrow (two, actually). I'll do my best to write next weekend when the show it over.
I'm not going to go back and touch on everything that's happened in the last month. Needless to say, I've been busy with school work, real work, and friends. Plus, the weekend after my last entry I had my first dressage show.
The show was held in Williamston, MI at a barn affiliated with Michigan State University. It was a nice enough facility, though it--like most barns now--paled in comparison to the Albion Equestrian Center. I think I'm becoming spoiled. It was a gorgeous weekend. I wisely wore layers, but was down to a t-shirt and thin lounge pants by the afternoon. We brought five (?) horses with us, so in the morning I spent a lot of time being a horse mommy. This entailed walking the horse around, putting saddle and bridle on and holding the blanket while he was being rode. It was a fun job and made the day seem not as long. Still, after being out there from 7ish in the morning (being awake since 5) to after 5, I was dead by the time I returned to campus. I'm really glad those shows don't happen every weekend.
My tests went well enough for it being my first show in a long time. My boots didn't fit, so I had to use other peoples and no one on my team has a shoe size even close to mine. It's rather difficult to have any affect on a large animal when you're feet are swimming in leather. I had also forgotten that I freeze up whenever I enter the show ring. My warm-ups would go great, then I'd get in the ring and suddenly I couldn't function. It wasn't that I stopped thinking or anything like that, it's that I tensed up which prevented the horse from relaxing and me from thinking about anything other than the test and the things my old trainers spent several years drilling into my head: corners, rising and falling with the correct leg. I didn't place either day, but my team as a whole did. We got sixth the first day and second the next day. Our next show is this coming weekend. I'm determined to do better. In fact, I'm determined to place. I just have to remember to breath.
I like the show environment. I love spending an entire day with my team and supporting everyone, however, I really hate how I only get one chance. I'm out there all day, but you get in the ring and that's it. If you screw up, you're done. When I showed before I would always have at least three classes. I'd do a group class first. That was my screw up class, my chance to go in and get my nervousness out of the way. In intercollegiate, I don't have that option. So, I have to find a different way to settle my nerves. It doesn't help that I have this weird thing where I can't tell if I'm nervous or not. Oh I'll have butterflies, sweat, and all the other typical symptoms whenever one of my teammates go in the ring, but when I'm up on the horse...nothing. I can't tell, so I can't fix it. This weekend, I'm just going to assume and go with that. We'll see what happens.
Okay, my laundry's done. Time to go to bed. I have a paper I need to write tomorrow (two, actually). I'll do my best to write next weekend when the show it over.
11 October 2010
The not-so-mighty river
The colors here are gorgeous. I'm not entirely sure when the leaves began to change. A week ago they were green or brown and my friends and I were wondering if it would ever get warm enough to allow the trees to burst into the full spectrum. Then, Saturday, I was walking back from the dinning hall and suddenly I noticed them: yellows, oranges, reds, browns. It's absolutely stunning. I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it.
I spent most of the day inside today, but finally my stomach (and the lack of snack food I have in my room) drove me to the dinning hall. The place was basically deserted. Since I got here, my friends have complained about the food, but until this weekend I thought it was fine. This weekend I think the cooks were trying to scare the stayers away. Definitely leaving campus for all future long breaks--or having better snack food that will last me.
Anyway, after I ate I didn't really feel like going back to my room. It was a beautiful day and there was still at least an hour before sundown. So, I just let myself wander. My feet took me to the 24/7 computer lab where I figured I would be able to go in and print out my dressage test for this weekend. I want to practice it as much as I can this week. However, the vending machine distracted me and when I reached the lab, it was very dark and uninviting. So, I took my Sierra Mist and hit the trails again.
My feet took me across the train tracks and into the frontage road beside the athletic complex. Now I knew where I was heading: Whitehouse Nature Center. The 144-acre nature center was one of the reasons I chose this college, but until now I hadn't actually been there. I tried to get there the second weekend I was here, but I ended up going the complete opposite direction. It was nice to finally go there. The Kalamazoo River isn't nearly as impressive as the Mississippi or even Minnehaha Creek, but I could be bias. It was nice being near the water again. I've been so filled with city smells, college smells, people smells. It was nice to be out in nature, hearing squirrels, birds, the water. I forgot how quickly the air temperature can change when you're walking over a marsh. It would be hot to the point of stuffy, then I would pass over a trickle of water and suddenly the air would be downright cold. It was tantalizingly refreshing. I'm going back with my camera as soon as possible. The whole place reminds me of Minnehaha Park and the river.
I finished my walk by sitting at the river's edge and just watching the leaves float by. Then darkness began to creep across the grass. So, I returned to my dorm, not missing home quite as much as I had.
I spent most of the day inside today, but finally my stomach (and the lack of snack food I have in my room) drove me to the dinning hall. The place was basically deserted. Since I got here, my friends have complained about the food, but until this weekend I thought it was fine. This weekend I think the cooks were trying to scare the stayers away. Definitely leaving campus for all future long breaks--or having better snack food that will last me.
Anyway, after I ate I didn't really feel like going back to my room. It was a beautiful day and there was still at least an hour before sundown. So, I just let myself wander. My feet took me to the 24/7 computer lab where I figured I would be able to go in and print out my dressage test for this weekend. I want to practice it as much as I can this week. However, the vending machine distracted me and when I reached the lab, it was very dark and uninviting. So, I took my Sierra Mist and hit the trails again.
My feet took me across the train tracks and into the frontage road beside the athletic complex. Now I knew where I was heading: Whitehouse Nature Center. The 144-acre nature center was one of the reasons I chose this college, but until now I hadn't actually been there. I tried to get there the second weekend I was here, but I ended up going the complete opposite direction. It was nice to finally go there. The Kalamazoo River isn't nearly as impressive as the Mississippi or even Minnehaha Creek, but I could be bias. It was nice being near the water again. I've been so filled with city smells, college smells, people smells. It was nice to be out in nature, hearing squirrels, birds, the water. I forgot how quickly the air temperature can change when you're walking over a marsh. It would be hot to the point of stuffy, then I would pass over a trickle of water and suddenly the air would be downright cold. It was tantalizingly refreshing. I'm going back with my camera as soon as possible. The whole place reminds me of Minnehaha Park and the river.
I finished my walk by sitting at the river's edge and just watching the leaves float by. Then darkness began to creep across the grass. So, I returned to my dorm, not missing home quite as much as I had.
10 October 2010
Friends, exams, and now a break
It's been a while. Since my last entry a lot has happened. First, I spent the weekend at Alyssa's house, I attended and helped out at the college's first jumper show of the school year, I survived the four papers I had to write and mid-terms, and now I have four days completely to myself.
Okay, starting at the beginning. The last weekend in September, Alyssa invited me to come spend the weekend at her house in Clarkston. She was going home to celebrate her birthday with her family. It was a lot of fun. She has three horses right in her backyard (essentially) and the weather was perfect for trail riding. It was so nice to get on a horse and just ride. I haven't done that since I stopped going out to the hobby farm I used to ride at. I've missed the simplicity. After riding, we went to her mom's boyfriend's house for food and fishing. Alyssa's boyfriend was out of town, but his brothers lived nearby and I got to meet them. The way Alyssa interacts with them reminds me exactly of my relationship with the three boys I spent several years babysitting. I've added hanging out with them to my list of must-dos when I come home in November. All in all, it was an awesome weekend, even if I did end up getting a cold. Though I think that cold had more to do with the four papers I had due that Thursday/Friday before. I survived them, despite that the British Literature paper I thought I had until midnight to finish was actually due at 5. So far, I've only had the Faulkner critique returned to me, but I'm not entirely worried about the others. I feel like I did well on them.
And moving on. The following Friday I had my first midterm (October 1). It was for this reason that I chose not to take my Brit Lit professor's offered extension on the paper. I could've e-mailed him and asked for another week to do the paper so that I wouldn't have four papers due so close together, but I decided I didn't want to worry about writing a paper while also studying for the mid-term. I had never taken a midterm here before and I decided I wasn't going to rely on Century College's midterms as an example because Century is a two year college with a lot lower standards then I'm expecting Albion to have. Anyway, I didn't study a lot for this test because I would just be trying to fill my head with too much information since I had no idea what to expect. I did know that I would have to know the titles and authors of the pieces we read and that there would be vocabulary questions. So, I skimmed and went into the test feeling minorly unprepared. For good reason, it turned out. I knew only two of the five vocabulary questions, but I did get all the rest of the test done fairly well. The reason we had to know the title and author was because the professor put quotes from the different pieces we read and we had to identify their source and explain the context. I nailed that, so that was good. I got my test back last week and got an 85 without the curve, a 90 with it. Not too bad for not knowing what to expect. It did teach me to take better notes in class, though. A couple of the vocab I didn't even have in my notes. Oops.
That same weekend was the first Winter Series Jumper show. A jumper show is pretty self explanatory. Competitors ride their horses over brightly colored fences. The idea of a jumper show is to clear the first round (as the rider does in the video). Riders clear the round if they get over all the fences in the right order (you might be able to see the numbers leaning up against the jumps, these mark the course), then get the best time in what is called the jump off without knocking down any of the poles. The jump off is a shorter version of the original course (and not shown in this video). The show started Saturday morning with cross-rails. Cross-rails are jumps where the poles form an X. These are beginner jumps either for horses or students who haven't done a lot of jumping or as a warm-up for the classes with verticles (like in the video). As the show progresses, the jumps get higher. The rider in the video is probably jumping 2'3''-2'6''. The show I was at ended up at 3'3''-3'6'' by Sunday afternoon. Olympic show jumpers can jump as big as 6'. Next year, when I bring my horse up, I'm going to try to compete in show jumping. I do love Dressage, but there's something about being on a jumping horse that makes you feel like you have wings.
Anyway, at the beginning of the video, you may have noticed the woman running through the course. She was part of the jump crew, which was what I did. The jump crew goes out and sets up any jumps that the horses knock over. I had a really good time, but I'm looking forward to being the girl on the horse for the next show (NEXT WEEKEND!!!!!).
This past week was midterms. I only had two because I did the Brit Lit one the week before and because I don't have one for my Faulkner class. I had a better idea what to expect after Brit Lit, so I actually spent time Wednesday and Thursday night studying. I was most worried about my philosophy one because the history class I'm taking is a first-year class containing mostly freshmen. So, I stayed in the library going back through all my philosophy notes and the handouts I received until 1:30 in the morning. Alyssa kept me company, which was really nice. We chilled in the older half of the library because the lights aren't super efficient and go off every half hour there isn't mass movement. Jolly Ranchers, Oreos (for some crazy reason I can eat Michigan's mini oreos. They don't contain soy or dairy.), Pepsi, and BBQ chips helped keep us going. Alyssa had to move her car before 2, so we ended up leaving before I got all my studying done. Alyssa completed all her homework for the following day, though, so at least I'm a good role-model. : ) I went back to my dorm and found that Alesha was still up, so I stayed up another hour and finished all my notes. I went to bed feeling very prepared for philosophy, but also very happy I didn't have to get up until 9:30. In the end, both of the midterms felt like they went well. I won't know how I did until Friday when grades are due, but I feel pretty confident.
And now I'm on Fall break and the campus is deserted. I've never seen so many empty parking spots in the entire time I've been here. All of my friends have gone home, so I have a huge amount of time on my hands that I've been spending trying to remember what I did before I acquired a social life. For the last three weekends I've had something to do. There was the parade, going home with Alyssa, and the jumper show. I was hugely looking forward to this weekend because I would finally have a chance to sleep in (which I did), but once I woke up I couldn't remember what I used to do. Yesterday, I spent the entire day in my dorm room watching an NCIS marathon. That was enjoyable. I do love NCIS, but the whole time I kept checking my e-mail accounts and Facebook for someone to talk to, and I couldn't stop thinking how much more fun watching NCIS would be if Kate were there to watch it with me. Today, I woke up earlier (not before noon, of course) and absolutely had to get out of the dorm. So, I wandered over to the Student Center in pursuit of snacks. The center was open, but the convenient store and the bookstore were closed. I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was the point of having the center open if nothing inside it was open. From there I headed toward the library intent on raiding the student-card-accepting vending machines, as well as checking out some movies for my history class. Then I sat down here, logged into Facebook and Blogger, and started this post, more than happy to be interrupted by the flashing tab that told me Jemma had sent me a message on Facebook.
For all I love this campus and love studying, I've come to realize with each weekend that consists of my friends going home, I miss my own home. I miss my cats, my dog, my horse. If I had a car up here, I absolutely would've gone home this weekend. I had planned on doing that even when I couldn't bring my car up (the brakes died two days before I left for school), but it takes two days to get home cheaply and I don't have the money to fly. Two days to get home and two days to come back means I'd be spending more time in Union Station in Chicago or on a bus than I would be at home, which rather defeats the point. So, next semester, I'm absolutely bringing my car up so I have a chance to go home.
Okay, starting at the beginning. The last weekend in September, Alyssa invited me to come spend the weekend at her house in Clarkston. She was going home to celebrate her birthday with her family. It was a lot of fun. She has three horses right in her backyard (essentially) and the weather was perfect for trail riding. It was so nice to get on a horse and just ride. I haven't done that since I stopped going out to the hobby farm I used to ride at. I've missed the simplicity. After riding, we went to her mom's boyfriend's house for food and fishing. Alyssa's boyfriend was out of town, but his brothers lived nearby and I got to meet them. The way Alyssa interacts with them reminds me exactly of my relationship with the three boys I spent several years babysitting. I've added hanging out with them to my list of must-dos when I come home in November. All in all, it was an awesome weekend, even if I did end up getting a cold. Though I think that cold had more to do with the four papers I had due that Thursday/Friday before. I survived them, despite that the British Literature paper I thought I had until midnight to finish was actually due at 5. So far, I've only had the Faulkner critique returned to me, but I'm not entirely worried about the others. I feel like I did well on them.
And moving on. The following Friday I had my first midterm (October 1). It was for this reason that I chose not to take my Brit Lit professor's offered extension on the paper. I could've e-mailed him and asked for another week to do the paper so that I wouldn't have four papers due so close together, but I decided I didn't want to worry about writing a paper while also studying for the mid-term. I had never taken a midterm here before and I decided I wasn't going to rely on Century College's midterms as an example because Century is a two year college with a lot lower standards then I'm expecting Albion to have. Anyway, I didn't study a lot for this test because I would just be trying to fill my head with too much information since I had no idea what to expect. I did know that I would have to know the titles and authors of the pieces we read and that there would be vocabulary questions. So, I skimmed and went into the test feeling minorly unprepared. For good reason, it turned out. I knew only two of the five vocabulary questions, but I did get all the rest of the test done fairly well. The reason we had to know the title and author was because the professor put quotes from the different pieces we read and we had to identify their source and explain the context. I nailed that, so that was good. I got my test back last week and got an 85 without the curve, a 90 with it. Not too bad for not knowing what to expect. It did teach me to take better notes in class, though. A couple of the vocab I didn't even have in my notes. Oops.
That same weekend was the first Winter Series Jumper show. A jumper show is pretty self explanatory. Competitors ride their horses over brightly colored fences. The idea of a jumper show is to clear the first round (as the rider does in the video). Riders clear the round if they get over all the fences in the right order (you might be able to see the numbers leaning up against the jumps, these mark the course), then get the best time in what is called the jump off without knocking down any of the poles. The jump off is a shorter version of the original course (and not shown in this video). The show started Saturday morning with cross-rails. Cross-rails are jumps where the poles form an X. These are beginner jumps either for horses or students who haven't done a lot of jumping or as a warm-up for the classes with verticles (like in the video). As the show progresses, the jumps get higher. The rider in the video is probably jumping 2'3''-2'6''. The show I was at ended up at 3'3''-3'6'' by Sunday afternoon. Olympic show jumpers can jump as big as 6'. Next year, when I bring my horse up, I'm going to try to compete in show jumping. I do love Dressage, but there's something about being on a jumping horse that makes you feel like you have wings.
Anyway, at the beginning of the video, you may have noticed the woman running through the course. She was part of the jump crew, which was what I did. The jump crew goes out and sets up any jumps that the horses knock over. I had a really good time, but I'm looking forward to being the girl on the horse for the next show (NEXT WEEKEND!!!!!).
This past week was midterms. I only had two because I did the Brit Lit one the week before and because I don't have one for my Faulkner class. I had a better idea what to expect after Brit Lit, so I actually spent time Wednesday and Thursday night studying. I was most worried about my philosophy one because the history class I'm taking is a first-year class containing mostly freshmen. So, I stayed in the library going back through all my philosophy notes and the handouts I received until 1:30 in the morning. Alyssa kept me company, which was really nice. We chilled in the older half of the library because the lights aren't super efficient and go off every half hour there isn't mass movement. Jolly Ranchers, Oreos (for some crazy reason I can eat Michigan's mini oreos. They don't contain soy or dairy.), Pepsi, and BBQ chips helped keep us going. Alyssa had to move her car before 2, so we ended up leaving before I got all my studying done. Alyssa completed all her homework for the following day, though, so at least I'm a good role-model. : ) I went back to my dorm and found that Alesha was still up, so I stayed up another hour and finished all my notes. I went to bed feeling very prepared for philosophy, but also very happy I didn't have to get up until 9:30. In the end, both of the midterms felt like they went well. I won't know how I did until Friday when grades are due, but I feel pretty confident.
And now I'm on Fall break and the campus is deserted. I've never seen so many empty parking spots in the entire time I've been here. All of my friends have gone home, so I have a huge amount of time on my hands that I've been spending trying to remember what I did before I acquired a social life. For the last three weekends I've had something to do. There was the parade, going home with Alyssa, and the jumper show. I was hugely looking forward to this weekend because I would finally have a chance to sleep in (which I did), but once I woke up I couldn't remember what I used to do. Yesterday, I spent the entire day in my dorm room watching an NCIS marathon. That was enjoyable. I do love NCIS, but the whole time I kept checking my e-mail accounts and Facebook for someone to talk to, and I couldn't stop thinking how much more fun watching NCIS would be if Kate were there to watch it with me. Today, I woke up earlier (not before noon, of course) and absolutely had to get out of the dorm. So, I wandered over to the Student Center in pursuit of snacks. The center was open, but the convenient store and the bookstore were closed. I couldn't help but wonder what exactly was the point of having the center open if nothing inside it was open. From there I headed toward the library intent on raiding the student-card-accepting vending machines, as well as checking out some movies for my history class. Then I sat down here, logged into Facebook and Blogger, and started this post, more than happy to be interrupted by the flashing tab that told me Jemma had sent me a message on Facebook.
For all I love this campus and love studying, I've come to realize with each weekend that consists of my friends going home, I miss my own home. I miss my cats, my dog, my horse. If I had a car up here, I absolutely would've gone home this weekend. I had planned on doing that even when I couldn't bring my car up (the brakes died two days before I left for school), but it takes two days to get home cheaply and I don't have the money to fly. Two days to get home and two days to come back means I'd be spending more time in Union Station in Chicago or on a bus than I would be at home, which rather defeats the point. So, next semester, I'm absolutely bringing my car up so I have a chance to go home.
20 September 2010
I should be starting those papers, but...
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| Courtesy of Kate Sexton |
Something I completely failed to mention Saturday is that I was in a parade! Members of the equestrian club marched in the Festival of the Forks parade. The Festival of the Forks refers to the fact that the Kalamazoo River forks in Albion. Beyond that, I don't know why they celebrate this fact, but it was a fun time. Last weekend (not this just past, but the weekend before), Greer, Alyssa, Kate, and I watched Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Naturally, that gave us clever girls (I think Greer gets most of the credit) the idea of getting coconuts and banging them together while marching in the parade, since we weren't bringing actual horses. It was fun. I'm glad we did it, though carving out coconuts is a tedious task. I think we were quite the hit, because we got our picture in the Jackson Citizen Patriot. I tried to find the picture online so I could post a link to the article here, but apparently it only exists in print. Sorry.
The other thing I didn't say is that I have a job. I'm going to be tutoring at the local elementary/middle/high school. I went to the first training session yesterday, and I'm supposed to start sometime this week. I'm both looking forward to it and feeling a little nervous. High School--real high school--is new to me. It will be good to have money again, though, especially with all the show clothes I still need.
Now I really need to get off the computer and do homework. I'll do my best to report on my very long Tuesday tomorrow.
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