(My cat, Diego, is relaxing and being his cuddly self)

Spring break is a time every year when students and faculty get to take some time off and relax for about a week. It's good time to recoup from the stresses of the first half of the semester (as well as midterm exams) and get ready for the second half of the semester. My friend Dave spent some of this week in Florida, my other friend Paco is in San Francisco, and where am I? Cold, snowy Ypsi. I am spending the week to relax a bit buit also get a few extra hours at work, and by a few hours, I mean an extra 27 of them. As much as I'd like to be somewhere warm, I am enjoying the fact that while my friends are spending a good deal of money, I'm making some extra money instead. This week is also sweeter by the fact that I don't have a lot of homework for over the break. Instead I have evenings to have dinner with friends and family, and also time to work on my 1,000 piece puzzle. I'm one hip, happenin' college student, huh!

One thing I am really excited about is that next Thursday I get to have dinner with my former piano teacher from my hometown. Mrs. Franklin was my piano teacher for nearly 12 years when I was growing up, and we both have loads of stories of eachother and our fun times together. Few people outside of my family watched me grow up like Mrs. Franklin did. Once I graduated high school, I stopped taking lessons and a part of me has always regretted it. Although, if I started back up again, I wonder if she'd still give me the same rate of $5 per lesson :) If nothing else, it'll be really fun to see someone who knows me and my family so well. Good girl time, right?

Spring/Summer/Fall 2007 classes are now available to look up online. I realized that with two classes in the spring, one class in the summer, and three in the fall will make me done with classes at EMU. After that is student teaching, then graduation, and then being a full-fledged adult! I've been waiting for this! Well, maybe not the adult part, but I'm ready to see what could be awaiting me in the teaching field. Even though I haven't graduated yet, I feel so prepared to go out there. Way to go, EMU, for preparing your students so well! I'll hate giving up classes, for sure, but I'll also hate giving up my job. All the hugs from Stacy in AVP, leading around Fast Track groups in the spring, lively tour groups, Grilled Cheese Fridays at DC1 (compliments of Friday morning tours), bantering with BJ about my little study abroad trip, and the list goes on. Well, I still have over a year until I really have to be sent outta here. Think they'll be sick of me by then?

Posted by Laura at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first snow of every year is always so mystical. It's the first time in months where you see the delicate flakes floating through the sky and in your head you start hearing jingle bells and carolers. Well, that's usually in December. I was gone for most of December, but from what I saw (and what I was told), December was devoid of snow. Snow now seems like an insult. All you see is blowing snow, icy roads, salt trucks, and all that slush that seems to find it's way up your pantlegs and all over your nice shoes. The nice boots from Spain? Yeah, they're now grey from all the salt. boo. :(

I sent a picture of the ice-covered trees to my intercambio (language partner), Juan, and he replied that the sight of all the ice was certainly unnerving, but what was worse was that he had never seen anything like that in his lifetime. It still seems to baffle me that there are people in this world who routinely miss the highs and lows that winter brings. As much as I hate the damage cold winds do to my poor face and how my car turns into a hockey puck when I'm driving, there's still a quintessential beauty to gently falling snow in the evening. Not to mention the comfy joy you feel when you see 2 feet of snow outside and "Eastern Michigan University" under the school closings ticker in the morning. :) I certainly have to admit that Eastern's campus is one of the most beautiful campuses I've seen, and even in the bitter cold of winter, I still like walking around and seeing the snow-covered buildings and trees.

Even though this week has seen some snow, the more prevalent phenomenon has been the blistering cold. The heat at the Admissions Front Desk has been faulty (currently it's 60.3 degrees!) and the windchills have been in the negative numbers. The weather has been so frigidly cold that my morning walk to campus made ice form on my eyelashes. Yes, ice. It's just part of Michigan, though. We have to get used to cold. If we can't (or if I can't), looks like a teaching job in Arizona might be the best fit for me!

If nothing else, this winter wonderland gets me closer to my favorite time of year on campus: Spring. A walk from Pierce to Welch is always so wonderfully intoxicating walking past those lilac bushes... Until then, I'll be dreaming of making snow angels and hoping that 3 inches of snow is enough to cancel classes."

Posted by TargetX at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)