A semester in (humorous) review

I think it’s time to post a little reflection on my first semester at Grinnell.  The semester flew by incredibly quickly, and as I spent hours packing up my dorm room, I felt like it was far too soon to move out.  I was only just settling in to my crazy routine, joining all the groups I was interested in, getting to know almost the entire campus, and becoming almost capable of keeping track of weekend events without undue help. 

Some surprising but real accomplishments:

     1)   Two all-nighters . . . in one week.

     2)   Under 24 hours in California

     3)   Watch all 9 seasons of Seinfeld

     4)   Renew my crocheting and knitting habits

     5)   Sleep literally all day

     6)   Make pancakes at 2:00 in the morning . . . twice

     7)   Eat more jelly beans than I ever imagined possible

     8)   Get drenched to the skin

Now, these warrant some explanation:

1) The first all-nighter was necessary.  See, earlier that week the tennis team was told we were California bound on Wednesday night, and Tuesday night rolled around and I needed to finish a presentation for Thursday (group presentation – had to help my peeps out).  So, I loaded up on caffeine (it was gross) and I successfully pulled the all-nighter AND accomplished everything.  Then, that Thursday we took a red-eye back from Cali (see below), and, while I slept some, it still counts as an all-nighter.

2) In the fall (aka Grinnell-pre-Laura), our tennis team qualified for nationals.  The first part of nationals is regionals, and for some reason our regional match took us . . . all the way to California!!?!?!  Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.  This was during Hell Week, too, so we were all swamped with work and feeling very stressed out, so throwing in a crazy trip to California wasn’t exactly what we wanted.  We left Grinnell at 2:30 on Wednesday, arrived in California at 2 a.m. (thanks to SNOW in Denver).  Then we got our butts kicked Thursday afternoon and were back at the airport by 7 p.m.  We made it back to Grinnell around 12.  Really, a special, special trip.  I bonded with my teammates over food, complaints, homework, and crazy pictures, but in the end, it just wasn’t worth it. 

That’s all for now, folks.  Descriptions to follow in the next few days, as well as . . . information about my summer internship!!  Yes, I begin my first real job tomorrow when I go to Dallas for training.  J

WHY!?

Why is it that the moment you’re actually swamped with work that you find it incredibly difficult to focus on said work?  My response to being in full-panic/stress mode is to think of many other, obviously more important things to do.  For instance:

1.        Discuss summer plans with Mom.  And this makes sense why?

2.       Start packing. 

3.       Check Facebook at least once every ten minutes.  At least.  Also, decided it’s definitely time to compile my favorite quotes and put them on FB.

4.       Convince Dad to show my grandparents how to Skype, and then Skype with me.  I literally have no time to Skype, but this is what my mind tells me I should be doing.

5.       Clean.  (Although this could actually be useful, as it could lead to be happily finding papers I need to study for my finals).

6.       Blog.  Granted, I enjoy blogging, but apparently now is the best time, when I had considerably more “free” time about three weeks ago.

7.       Eat.  A lot.  Especially jelly beans and Smarties.

8.       I suddenly feel compelled to take long, warm showers.

9.       Nap.  Every day.  At least once.  (Although this is primarily due to my complete conversion into a night person)

10.   Fly to California for a day.  Yes, it’s true.  We’re flying out Wednesday, playing a match Thursday, and depending on the outcome, we’ll either stay for Friday or take a redeye back Thursday.  Yippee.

Oh, Saturday night :)

Some things I learned last night:

1.        It takes approximately four views of a YouTube video and six tries before two people can successfully tie a tie (I succeeded!)

2.       It is more than slightly painful to walk from North Campus to South Campus . . . in heels

3.       When faced with not one, but TWO chocolate fountains, my lactose intolerance becomes much less of a problem.

4.       I am entirely incapable of slow dancing/waltzing

5.       With enough patience, you can finally get a good picture with your boyfriend.  J

A True Grinnell Experience

The other day, something very exciting and very Grinnellian happened to me.  I was stuck behind the train.

My fellow Grinnellians know exactly what I'm talking about, but for those of you who don't, there's a train . . . that goes through campus.  Literally.  It divides the campus in two, and if you're not careful, you could be on one side of the tracks when you want to be on the other.  And this very thing finally happened to me.

Usually the trains go by late at night (think midnight) and in the morning, but sometimes the unfortunate student faces a ten-minute long, slow moving delay before class.

Thankfully I live on the right side of the train tracks.  :D

Procrastination the Second

Most people will try to tell you hell week is next week.  Not so for me - mine was last week, and now I'm once again having fun in the happy land of procrastination.  Granted, next week isn't all fun and games (think ridiculous English paper, daily readings, and making an extraordinary effort to stay awake in bio class . . . oh and a tennis match sometime that week), but it's a lot better than the two novels, three papers, and excessive amounts of daily reading of the last two weeks.

But really I want to write about a sign on the Noyce (science building, where I do practically all my homework) door.  It says "No skateboarding or rollerblading in academic buildings."  Seriously, it does.  And naturally, the moment I saw it, I felt this indescribable urge to skateboard through the building, which I would actually consider if a) I had a skateboard and b) I were capable of staying on said skateboard and c) I weren't terrified of skateboarding.  Signs like that crack me up.  I wasn't even considering the idea until the sign so kindly suggested it to me.  

It also makes me wonder what on Earth happened to warrant that sign.

P.S.  Why can't I write paragraphs for my soc paper this easily?  Why!? WHY?!?!? WHY!!!!?!?!??!