Anyway, not only is today a day of great weather and magical lands, it's also two very special people's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY AND SHELBY!!!!! I love you both SOOOO much! Don't know what I'd do without you! (Well, I wouldn't exist, for one thing, but you know what I mean.) <3
Hello from a rare day of lovely, warm weather! I had a class out in the conservatory (last week's featured room), and later I went for a stroll through the woods. That stroll has convinced me that I'm actually in the village of Wall, and that I crossed the wall into Stormhold. There were snowdrops everywhere! You don't have a clue what I'm talking about, do you? Okay, so go watch Stardust and everything will be alright.
Anyway, not only is today a day of great weather and magical lands, it's also two very special people's birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY AND SHELBY!!!!! I love you both SOOOO much! Don't know what I'd do without you! (Well, I wouldn't exist, for one thing, but you know what I mean.) <3
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Hello from the wrong side of Spring Break! Bah! I’ve been in school a month and I’m already seeking the refuge of time off from school! This doesn’t bode well for the long stretch between spring and summer break… Anyway, my week hasn’t been all that eventful. I did fun stuff like eating lunch with friends and fencing in between stressful stuff like going to class and completing homework assignments. I was also promised snow and got my hopes up for nothing :’(. On a happier note, though, I video chatted with a few of you, which was awesome! Sorry I don’t have much to say, but at least there are a lot of Question Tuesday questions this week (mostly from the aforementioned video chat).
- What’s my favorite smell? Well, chocolate smells pretty great. It probably has something to do with the fact that it tastes so great! Also, this is gonna sound kinda weird, but I really like the smell of strawberry shampoo. It’s just so fruity and pleasant. That’s probably not related to its taste, though. - What would I change my name to? Change my name? But I like Sara… I was actually supposed to be named Heather, you know. But my parents ended up naming me after my Memaw and saving Heather for Heather. Not that that’s in any way related to the question. I guess I’d pick… Emily? Sure. That’s a nice name. - What unnatural color would I dye my hair? Just so we’re clear, I wouldn’t dye my hair an unnatural color. I probably wouldn’t even dye it a natural color, for that matter. But, for the sake of the question, I’ll say that I’d dye my hair purple. Cause purple’s a pretty cool color. Or maybe blue? Or sea green? I dunno, I’d have to see it (I tried editing a photo in Paint, but it didn’t really help…). I’m so indecisive… - Hogwarts student or TARDIS? This is a mean question. HOW am I supposed to pick between Harry Potter and The Doctor?! It’s just cruel… OK, so my answer is conditional. If I get to travel with the tenth Doctor, then I pick the TARDIS. I’d be the first American companion, and it would be so cool! I could go to all the places I want to visit (sans passport) and soooo many more that I can’t even imagine. Plus I’d get to have fun adventures and save people and stuff. And it’d be completely safe- Doctor Who has a strict rule against plot twists that kill off companions :P. And I could pop back home anytime I wanted to! That’s only if I could pick David Tennant’s Doctor, though. It wouldn’t be as fun traveling with any of his other regenerations, they’re just… not the tenth Doctor... So, if I had to go with the current Doctor, I’d have to opt for Hogwarts instead. Cause Hogwarts would also be awesome- magic, castles, secret passages, and the Weasley twins would ensure that life was always interesting. And I’d get to be super lazy- just accio whatever I needed from my cozy chair in the Gryffindor common room! - Which fictional reality would I choose to live in? Well, I’ve already discussed the pros of Harry Potter and Doctor Who, so I think I’ll pick the Avatar world for this one (the cartoon- not the blue people). I could be a water bender, which would be pretty epic. Think about it- I’d never have to worry about carrying an umbrella again! Plus, you know, I could heal people and do fancy martial artsy stuff. But really- no more umbrellas! How great would that be?! - What name do all of you look like? So, since I already know all of you and your names, this is really hard. I have associated your names naturally with your faces for quite some time now, so I think you look like your names. So don’t blame me for these bad answers: Shelby- Eva Amy- Snow Pea Rachael- Yvonne Anna Beth- Abby Jill- Sophie Amber- Natalie Sanaa- Khloe …yes, those were almost completely at random and without rationale. - If you were in the middle of the ocean and the wheel fell off, how many waffles would it take to shingle a roof? Unlimited TV episodes and movies for just $8 a month with Netflix! http://www.strategicmediainc.com/radio-advertising-blog/ … Sorry, that was the best I could come up with. I guess Question Tuesday and jokes don’t really mix. Hey! Maybe someone should have a Jokes Day! You know, someone who’s better at jokes than I am. That would be So Jokes! :D -How rare is it for two people to like each other at the same time and actually do something about it? First of all, I really like the “Oh great wise and wonderful Sara” bit- it’s a wonderful way to start a Question Tuesday question. In fact, can that be a rule, that you have to begin your questions with “Oh great wise and wonderful Sara”? :P Anyways, on to the question at hand. Obviously, there are lots of couples in the world, but they’re kind of limited. I mean, unless you’re a polygamist (which seems to be falling out of popularity in modern society), one person can only be with one other person at a time. That’s one person out of about 7 billion of them on the earth. Clearly, nobody knows all 7 billion of these people, but I think it’s safe to say that everyone knows more people than the one person they are in a relationship with. This means that they have most likely had romantic feelings of some sort (anywhere from a “passing fancy” to a major crush) for people other than their current partners. Some of these feelings will, of course, have resulted in relationships, but think of the percentage of feelings that never amounted to anything. I feel like said percentage is pretty high. Sometimes nothing happens because the feelings are only one way, and sometimes nothing happens because neither feels confident enough to express these feelings and they both just get over it. Whatever the reason, though, I do feel like it is a pretty common occurrence for relationships not to happen, and a much rarer one for them actually to work out. A pastor of mine once said that people don’t like change, and they will avoid it until the pain of staying the same is worse than the pain of changing, and I think that applies pretty well to this subject. People will keep their feelings to themselves until they just can’t stand it anymore, and for some people, that is a pretty long time. Of course, this opinion is coming from an introvert who hasn’t had a boyfriend since middle school, so my perspective is pretty skewed. Still, though, I think that it is much more likely for feelings to remain unspoken or unreturned than it is for anything to happen. Which just makes it all the more special when it does. <3 Hello from the miserable day called Monday. This is my second time writing this blog and because Monday exists to torture me, my blog just became ten times gloomier and more abrupt. Strange occurances that happened today. During Japanese Class, the sensei said have a nice weekend. Chinese class the professor didn't show up( we still had class because he got a student assistant to help). Living in a Roman city, the professor said see you Friday, which would not have been strange if the next day we met was not Wednesday and if we had class Friday. Overall Monday is a day of stress, confusing and burning popcorn. Another thing I want to address, Do you guys ever have strange wounds that you never notice acquiring? Like for example this strange J shape wound on the back of my hand. It's kinda bloody and mysterious, I was wondering if a i and some Ls will follow later to accomplish the strange stalker roommate ploy that i wasn't planning on but might start if it did happen. That's all for today cuz I suck and have to study for a test that I should have study for a long time ago, so I would have more time to do my blog and actually go over it. But this gives Sara and Anna beth something to do and correct :) (you don't have to!)
xxoo (I always wanted to try this) Hello from loathing the possibility of snow tomorrow! (My cozy bed says, "Hi!" also.) Well, life goes on. I have something to do pretty much every minute of every day. Regimented schedules, boo. I just want to do so much! I never want to let anyone down. For instance, my friend, who lives in Texas, asked me to buy roses for another friend of hers and put them on her chapel seat. She is so sweet; I just couldn't say no to her. There are just a million things going on all the time, and I don't think I have the mental capacity to meet everyone's expectations. I'm about a week behind on internship stuff. I have all sorts of tests and homework. I have a million obligations all the time. They are all things I want to do, and I'm usually good enough at managing my time that everything works out. It's just that my brain is ridiculous lately. I'm constantly trying to hold in my brain a million ideas, and they just fall out. I'm about to tell someone something really important, and then it's gone! I know that happens to everyone, but it's been happening to me constantly. My brain is so full, and my attention span is about half a second. Enough of that rant. Everything is pretty great. Just awesomeness 24/7. I won a competition at work the other night. And I kinda think the pope likes me. I got many valentines. I got the best birthday card in the world from Amma Beff. I had a very healing conversation with my old roomie. I got a gift of 19 cupcakes. I got to tell my testimony on Wednesday to the other SLAs. Et cetera. Of course, there are minor setbacks. I got stood up for a friend date. I got four shots in the arm! (By the way, Tetanus shots are the worst of all shots. If you ever have to get one, you should know that it will hurt for a few days afterwards.) There are several amazing things planned for my birthday week, but I guess I should tell you about them in next week's blog. It does involve: orange leaf, my mom, the pope, my friends, michael and emily, leading worship, the melting pot, copper river grill, skipping a couple classes, and other things that I love. Below: some of my valentine's. Not even all of them! Haha, I'm not bragging. I just love Asbury so much. I made these cupcakes for work on Thursday. Adorable, yes? Does anyone have any other clever ideas for cupcakes for other weeks? I haven't decided yet if I will make cupcakes this thursday, since it's my birthday. I may or may not. I mean, you're not supposed to make your own cupcakes on your birthday, right? But it's kind of fun to make them anyway. I'm very busy though. I usually use all of my free time on thursday with the cupcakes (because I only have about an hour of free time Mon-Thur). I guess I'll wait and see. OH MY GOSH! I must tell you about Valentine's day in the cafeteria. I'm sure you are all aware of my disdain for the caf (have I ever taken you inside?), and it has only been worse this year. The cafeteria is a hateful place, where there is never any food that I want. On Valentine's day, I was greeted by handsome men, who gave me a flower and candy at the door. Then, I walked into the caf to find RIBS and CHICKEN and CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES and PINK CAKE and EVERYTHING! There were a lot of options, but those were all the things that I like! Here's my ribs, flower, and cake! If I am going to accept the WWV internship, it is less than three months until I live in Haiti for three months. Can you believe it? It is also three weeks until I go to Haiti for spring break. OHMYGOODNESS. I've been counting down since like 211 days until spring break. I hardly know how to deal with it now. I guess I'm getting kind of nervous that I won't know what to do or I'll forget to bring something. I am so flippin' excited though! Now, with some pictures I stole from a previous intern with WWV. Well, you know I love you all very much.
Goodbye from watching Anastasia at one in the morning! ‘Ello from the end of my terrible two weeks! Well, the almost end. I still have one last midterm on Monday… studying has taken over my life for the past two weeks, and I cannot wait for a small break from it all. …Which will be today! The Valentine’s Day dance is tonight, and Mark and I are going… and I’m super excited! :) (I think you all got the message that Mark and I are “together” now.) :D I’m still just so happy and blessed that the timing was right, and we both like each other at the same time… As my friend Emily told me, “Do you know how rare it is for two people to like each other at the same time and actually do something about it?” That actually got me thinking about how many people are actually in a situation like that… Would it be just a small percentage? I mean, I can remember plenty of times that I’ve liked someone, but it was just a passing crush on the person, and nothing ever amounted to anything. At the same time, I can think of how many people in the world are married or are dating, and that’s a pretty significant portion too. So since I can’t decide on an answer, I’m making it a Question Tuesday Question! Oh great wise and wonderful Sara- In your opinion, how rare is it for two people to like each other at the same time and actually do something about it? My blog this week is pretty short, just because I have to catch up on the work I didn’t get to during this last week… and I’m just kind of in a happy and contented mood. ^_^ One thing I will leave you with is the song “A Thousand Years”by Christina Perri. Monday night I got a text message from Kelsey that she was sick and needed someone to sing with her at chapter on Monday night, so I said yes and learned this song (along with others). Besides it being a music video for Twilight (gasp!) which makes it pretty funny just knowing the context, it is truly a beautiful song, one that can begin to express the extent of God’s love for us, if you interpret it in that stance. Besides all of this, I just wanted to tell you all that I love you. Thank you for all of the support you all have given me through this blog and through our hangouts and facebook messages and just, in general, for being awesome. <3 Christina Perri- “A Thousand Years” Hello from the end of my 6 hour long video chat with Anna Beth. What started as an awesome get together among many friends has ended with two distanced roommates just hanging out for a longer time than we expected. Not much has been going on this week really. My mom and I went to the rodeo Saturday night. Other that being completely frozen on the walk from the car, the event was pretty fun, although not quite as thrilling as previous years. We just happened to pick an off night. My car basically died Sunday, which was a bummer. We had to take poor Sadie to the doctor. Turned out the throttle sensor was malfunctioning and the car immediately turned itself off anytime I tried to put it in gear for safety reasons. But I got it back Tuesday and it wasn’t overwhelmingly expensive to fix, so all is well. I worked the 1040 café at church Sunday and the Mission Meal Wednesday to help raise some money for my upcoming trip. I’ll be working the 1040 café again this Sunday. I was more excited than I should have been that I sort of got to use YouTube to help write an essay for my history class. If you’re wondering, it was actually the video Sara linked to about Mesopotamia in her last blog. It was amusing because Amy looked over from her desk, saw me watching YouTube, asked “Aren’t you supposed to be doing your homework,” looked at the title of the video, and said, “oh, I guess you are doing your homework.” Huzzah for Crashcourse! I didn’t actually learn anything I hadn’t already learned from class, but it was a more entertaining way to review the material. :) My ‘something awesome’ of this week is not another video, although it is YouTube based. My ‘It’s Canada Outside’ hoodie finally came! (Thanks again Rachael and Anna Beth and anyone else who was involved in getting it for me!) I got it in the mail on Tuesday, so it doubled as both a Christmas and Valentine’s Day gift. And since my blogs just don’t feel quite complete unless I link to a video, here are some videos from the people that made the hoodie (Woot! ApprenticeA!):
-Most famous video- -My personal favorite- -Latest Vlog- Until next week, Jill :) Hello from not Spain. I was planning to go to Espana (imagine I know how to insert a tilde) this weekend but airfare was WAY too expensive. It's their big Carnival this weekend, so maybe I'll be fortunate enough to find cheaper tickets on a less popular weekend.
I feel like I haven't written in forever! It has been two weeks since I wrote something in-depth. Once again, thank you guys for my awesome birthday video. That meant so much to me; I was really excited! (Special thanks to you, Jill. I know you edited it. Roomies for life!) I can't wait to do another hangout with all of you on Friday! EEEE! There's so much exciting stuff happening to you guys. See, I'm not the only one having adventures. But speaking of my adventures, since last I wrote I've been to a church retreat in Norfolk, and to Ireland, and to Peterborough. I also ate Chinese food with my British family and sang karaoke on Valentine's Day. It's been grand. Rather than re-cap every moment of every day, I'll hit the highlights: *Church retreat: It was amazing. It was such a powerful worship experience, right up there with the worship services from Camp. Seriously, it was amazing. Partially because it was so different. There were times when everyone was just mumbling their own prayers all at the same time, and we'd just keep singing and singing all these great worship songs. If it was time for lunch and we were still in the middle of an awesome time of worshiping God, oh well. We just got to keep going. There wasn't a tight schedule of activities. There were plenty of great games (including the extra violent chair game!) but the focus was really, really on worship and prayer. It was great. Plus, I got to meet a ton of university students who are ENGLISH (and Irish, and Scottish, but mostly English)! AND I get to see them again because we're having a reunion of sorts in Lincoln in a couple of weeks and eating Mexican food. Can't wait! *My birthday: Ireland, baby! I was on a ferry, and then I was in Ireland, kissing the Blarney Stone. I finally got my birthday present from my parents in the mail (it was a Hunger Games shirt, which I'm totally going to wear when I go to London March 14 to stand outside and stalk the red carpet premiere)! Ireland was fantastic! I want to live there, along with every other place I've been. I was a little disappointed that I didn't have more time in Dublin. We were only there for about half a day. I definitely had a good time there, though. My friends and I found someone's credit cards on the ground and went on a quest to a shady part of town to turn them in at the police station, and then we went to a traditional Irish jam session, where my friend Ellyn played her fiddle! Oh, and before that we took Irish dancing lessons. The musician was attractive and Irish, too, which was a plus. ;) Still haven't found my Irish/British husband though. *Valentine's Day: Despite not having a lovely accent-tastic valentine, I had the least banal Valentine's Day ever (banal is the word of the day, just so you know). Ya know why it was so exciting? I did karaoke, that's why! Granted, I sang with four other people and everyone sang along so no one could actually hear us, but still. At least I did it. And it was quite a party down in the Bistro. It was a lot of fun. But now here's the bad news: When I went to Ireland, I forgot to take the Ireland letter. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!! That was the sound of the world ending. Okay, perhaps I'm being a little overdramatic. After all, I'll be going back to the Emerald Isle when my parents come over at the end of the semester, so fear not. My tasks were to kiss the Blarney Stone (which I did without being asked), to propose to an old man, and to taste Irish beer from a pub. It was also suggested that I find a four leaf clover, ask if there are snakes in Ireland, and look for the end of the rainbow. I didn't do too badly with this list, despite not having it. Blarney Stone--check (or tick, as the Brits would say. They tick the box instead of check it). I also found a four leaf clover. It was inside a glass thing on a necklace. Haha, okay, that doesn't count, but I did at least look for one in the wild. No luck though. I didn't drink any beer and there weren't any rainbows. But next time I'm there, I'll definitely ask about the snakes. Also, it wasn't Leap Day. A woman can't just propose any time! Speaking of Leap Year proposals, I bought a claddagh ring! You know, the kind with the two hands holding the crowned heart? It's so cute! And so Irish! A ton of girls from Harlaxton bought them and I had wanted one since I watched the movie Leap Year. The ring symbolizes love, friendship, and loyalty. The hand you wear it on and the direction the heart is facing indicates your relationship status, which I knew, but didn't really think about too much until my friend Jordan said, "It's like Facebook for your finger." Which is a totally hilarious yet accurate statement. But it occurred to me, "Oh my gosh, I just purchased and am now wearing a ring that's all about defining romantic relationships. That's kind of putrid." It was a fleeting thought, because it's not really that at all. It's an ancient Irish tradition. It's about--as I said--love, friendship, and loyalty. AND it's a really gorgeous ring. So no, it doesn't bother me at all. I love it. I never take it off. But you know, I think in real life I'm the least romantic hopeless romantic I know. It's kind of ironic, actually. In theory, yes, I'm a crazy, cheesy, hopeless romantic. In practice...ehhh...not so much. But that's fine, because I'm a writer. It only matters if I'm romantic in theory. LOL. Well, that's that, I suppose. Until next Thursday, Anna Beth _Hello from New Zealand! What an adventure this trip has already been! So far, the past week has been an endless list of firsts for me.
It has been my first trip to LA and navigating one of the largest airports. My trip to LA from Nashville wasn't that exciting--it was 4 and a half hours, I sat in the aisle seat, and then I decided I like the window seat a LOT more (I could sleep). The most exciting part was when it started snowing when we parked, and when I boarded the plane we were told it would be an extra few minutes so they could de-ice the plane. The only trouble I had when I got to LA was when I was trying to find Quantas airlines so I recheck my bags and get a new boarding pass. I had trouble because there were 2 Quantas airlines (ugh), and I went to the closest one and was told I was at the wrong one. So I had to continue on to the next terminal (a separate big building) and continued on my journey. I then crossed the Pacific Ocean for the first time where I read my first official little blue envelope. Unfortunately, I did not meet my future husband, nor did I have any exciting conversations to tell you guys. In fact, the lady on my left curled up with her sleeping mask and blanket (which they gave to us) before we had taken off. Though I had a middle seat in the middle section of rows and told that our flight was completely full, I thought it would be a great flight because the two seats to my right were unoccupied. I figured that they missed their flight or something...but then an older, larger woman was moved up to the aisle seat next to me. I felt really bad when I had to go to the bathroom because there was NO room between our legs and the seat in front of us, so I literally had to climb over one of the ladies to get out. At one point both of them were asleep and I ended up putting one foot on the armrest and jumping over the woman to my left. So now I was in New Zealand, a whole other continent, for the first time. I took a public bus from the airport to my hotel and checked into the hotel which was almost directly across from the Sky Tower. After cleaning up, I read my second little blue envelope and I couldn't stop smiling as I read it :) the second envelope gave me the courage to explore my surroundings. I gave myself the goal of finding a clothing store so I could buy some shorts (I only brought one pair, but I wanted more because it was warmer and more humid than I thought it was going to be). I walked a lot more than I thought I was going to, I kept seeing shops up ahead and wanted to know what they were selling. I saw that Auckland is full of Asians (I heard Korean and Chinese), Asian restaurants, convenience stores, souvenir shops, and expensive clothing stores. I keep peaking inside of the clothing stores as I passed to see the prices...it wasn't a pretty sight ($79 for jeggings!), but I finally gathered the courage and entered my first shop....a book store. I'll skip ahead to the next day because this is going to be a long blog....I met the rest of the AustraLearn students and learned that there are a total of 4 people going to Palmerston North--most are going to stay in Auckland. Nothing much happened on the first day--we explored the docks and I met Diamond and Phoebe. (Diamond is from Nashville and is awesome at guitar and singing!) At dinner, one of our AustraLearn guides sat near us and made sure he knew our names. Because he kept repeating the names, I soon learned most of my fellow students' names. The next day we traveled to Rotaroa where I am writing this. That afternoon we learned a Haka War Dance (they're different kinds with different words, motions, and stories). For dinner we had a BBQ by the blue lake, a very scenic place. Yesterday (Wednesday), we had our "Day of Adventure." Unfortunately I was the only one to sign up for my package, but I could choose another to go on. I choose the "Wet 'n Wild" package--Ogoing and Rafting! The Ogo is just like Zorbing with another name. When we got there, we were told the best way to roll down the hill was to go in groups of 3 and do the 'wet' ogo (where they put water in with you). It was kind of chilly that morning, and we started to get cold waiting with our swimsuits on...but the water they put in with us was a toasty 104 degrees Fahrenheit...mmmm..it felt nice! We raced the people in the other Ogo next to us and won--twice! Going down the hill was just like a giant water-slide with warm water raining down. Included in our package was the fishtail pipe, another part of the Ogo. We got strapped in a dry Ogo that was attached to a machine that spun us around in place. I liked it because it gave us the sense of going down the 'dry' Ogo. I also went whitewater rafting for the first time. We got wetsuits and got to go down a 7 meter waterfall--the biggest commercial waterfall, which made my first rafting trip a level 5. It started to rain before we got into the river, but it didn't matter because we got soaked anyway. The river was also warmer than I expected, apparently it's the warmest river in the world? I'll put up pictures eventually. Today, my Thursday, I got to go cave diving, on the something-something Toobing. We got back into wetsuits, mine did not fit as well as yesterday's, and put on helmets with little lamps on them. It's called something-something toobing because we got to go tubing in the underground river and look up at the glowworms on the ceiling. They looked like stars--or imagine the "Secret Tunnel" episode of Avatar the Last Airbender :) It was very romantic....we also sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You" as we floated along. I could go into a lot more detail, but this is a very long blog anyway...maybe once we video chat I could go into more details. Goodbye for now! Love, Rachael |
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