This weekend we had the opportunity to eat Sabbath lunch at our friend Drew's family's home. His parents are so kind and cook a huge and delicious meal every weekend for a group of college kids. This weekend it they made two different kinds of curry, each very good. It's always so nice to have a home-cooked meal at a nice dinner table with friends after so many mass-produced meals in the caf. Usually after we eat we gather in the living room to play games, read books, or talk. We ended up having a mancala tournament, which I lost by ONE marble to Chris. RaeLea and I also looked through some of the family's old yearbooks from when they went to UC- the same years my dad did! I knew they were friends, so as we looked through I found some shots of my dad his freshman and sophomore years. It's hard to believe he was the exact age I am now. I hope one day my kids can look back at my old yearbooks and be as proud of me as I am of my dad. 
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Freshman Photo
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Some campus group- maybe those who worked for the radio station.
 
Happy Halloween everyone! Although I won't be partaking in any halloween activities this year, I have fond memories of dressing up in (cute, never scary) little costumes as a kid. I remember being a bumble bee, an old lady, Ms. Spider, and, for a high school event, elastigirl. This year tahe extent of my halloween is in this little box- sent from my mother! My cousin is visiting the school for College Days so she sent it along with him. I was expecting a few things I'd left at home—a shirt, a sock—and maybe a few pieces of candy, but this lady went all out! She used her very own line from Lettering Delights and made up a whole package for me. You can also see her blog here. Thanks mom for the care package! I love you and I miss you!
 
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Today I worked more and almost finished my huge project for Ancient Western Lit. I've been so busy this week that it was a nice break to do fun homework. 


Here's a little sneak peak of what I've been working on. I'd love to elaborate more but I don't have the time to get into all of it now. Basically I'm doing a visual rendition of The Odyssey. I'm really excited about it and it really helped me figure out the timeline of the epic.


After I worked on this little project all day, it was time to go work at the career fair for College Days. Humanities had a booth where we had handwriting analysis, face painting, and popcorn. It was really fun and hopefully some of the academy Juniors who are here had a good time. I will have to put pictures of that up tomorrow. 

I also got a halloween care package from my favorite mother ever!! It was the cutest and I will also post pictures about that tomorrow. 

 
This week has been so busy! At work we are getting ready for College Days which includes a career fair on Sunday night, and we have Humanities Student Appreciation Day on Monday. We've been working on decorating, food, planning, posters, you name it. 

I've also been working more on my project for Ancient Wester Literature. I'm so excited about it but I just need time to get it done. I'm sure I'll be posting pictures soon. 

Right now I'm just excited for a relaxing Sabbath before crazy Sunday starts. 
 
It seems like I have just been so busy lately! On Friday night, Mikey and I went camping with the ministry club which was fun, and we came back tired and ready for a shower. Yesterday I worked on a project for class pretty much all day; at least it was fun homework! This week so far seems pretty mundane, no huge tests or anything to worry about. Last week I had an astronomy test, and even though it was really hard I just find it all so interesting! While we were camping (out in the country, although it's never far when you're here) it was really easy to see all the stars (and Jupiter!). There was a meteor shower Friday night/Saturday morning but we were all much to cold and tired to jump out of our freezing little tents to go see it. Lesson learned: Try to camp when the low for the night is at least 55º or 60º and always, always bring an air mattress. 
Anyway, I totally geek out when I'm studying astronomy, and all I want to do is watch Apollo 13 and go work for NASA. How fun would that be? Did you know that a "shooting star" is actually just a dust-sized speck that hits the atmosphere, burning and causing a meteor, which is the incandescent light we see? Or that the actual speck is known as a meteoroid if it never hits the earth, and if it does it's called a meteorite? But usually they don't hit the earth because they are so small that they are completely burned. We can usually see 5-8 of these "falling stars" per hours on any given night. 
Well, enough geekiness for one day. 
 
I'm going to start working on a project soon, and I just wanted to let you know that I WILL be using glitter. I think it's going to be really fun. 
Yes, this is for a literature class.
Don't see the connection? You will.
 
I'm home for fall break! After a brief Arts and Ideas class this morning, I jumped in the car and sped off (ok, drove carefully and painstakingly slowly behind semis on backroads) to KC. Mikey stayed at school to have a "man weekend" and I have family in town while I'm here. It's a LOVELY fall day, the leaves are crunching and the sun is shining. More to come!
 
This weekend we went down to Wichita for Mikey's birthday. What an old man, 21. 
The good news is, Mikey's sister and brother-in-law got him a megaphone. I really cannot describe how thrilled I am about this. He really is though. 
 
Or hardly working? Sometimes it feels like it up here in the Humanities Division, oftentimes because what we are paid to do is so fun it doesn't feel like work! Today I sent out 4 giant cards to our students studying abroad, and now I'm giving short spiel on Humanities and ACA as Preview Days students tour the division. I actually really like Preview Days, it's so much more fun than when I came. Last year they even had a giant game of laser-tag at night around the whole campus lawn for the visiting kids. 
Yes, this is really tough work, but sometimes we manage to have a little fun. In fact, I really just wanted to quote Rachel on my-favorite-thing-she's-ever-said. This morning, amidst our back-breaking work, we were discussing how it seems that every time we log on facebook, someone else has gotten engaged. And this is what she said:
"So many people are getting married! I mean, can you imagine getting engaged right now? I can't! I have to grow my hair out first."
Such wise, wise words. 
 
This semester I'm taking Astronomy, and I have to admit that the nerd within me thinks it is SO COOL. We have class three days a week, plus a once-a-week night lab. When we first started the lab, I just could not believe that by the end we'd be able to name enough stars, objects, and constellations. After only a few nights under the stars, though, I suddenly feel like I know so much more! We've been learning about Mars this past week, and I found this cool picture on the NASA website.
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Photo property of NASA.