day 202

Today is officially SPRING BREAK! The weather was gorgeous today, which was perfectly appropriate for the beginning of a beautiful spring break. We don't leave for Hilton Head until Sunday, and after I left the CYC at 5:30 I found myself with the weird feeling of having absolutely nothing to do. So obviously, I organized our nail polish collection. What else would you do on your first hour of break?

Think we have enough nail polish?

day 201

Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate, my friends and I went to a bar to do karaoke! We look good in green don't we?

(you can thank me later for posting a picture and not a video. I think we probably look better than we sound)

day 200

Happy Day 200!! I'm so glad you're here to celebrate with me :)

I have a giant sociology midterm tomorrow, so I spent part of the day studying here in the beautiful CSPAC (Performing Arts) Library. It's so much quieter than McKeldin, and there are just rows and rows of single cubicles so there's nothing to distract you! Somehow I always manage to find something to distract me anyway, but I definitely get more work done here than anywhere else!

day 199

Today I had a meeting where I was told, "Next year will be the best and the worst year of your life." grrreaaatttt!

It was a meeting about the logistics of our senior year "Blocks Methods" and Senior Internship program. I'm torn between being incredibly terrified (of student teaching, of waking up before 7 every day, of GRADUATING!) and being extremely excited (for student teaching, for graduation, for finally getting to be a teacher!). I think for now the excited feeling is winning the battle, but check back in with me in a few months and see what I say then!

day 198

Tonight Christine and I rented a movie from Redbox that I've been dying to see - Waiting for Superman. It's a documentary made about the public education system in America and it totally hit the nail on the head. It was a little depressing to see how obviously messed up our education system is right now, but at the same time it got me really fired up and excited to become a teacher. I can't wait to get out there and help fix these problems. You should definitely watch this movie - it was well worth the time (and the homework that I didn't do while watching it...)

day 197

Today was the start of daylight savings time! It was a little bit rough having to go into work an hour earlier than my body was ready for, but it made up for it to see this beautiful sunset at 7pm! I love when it stays light later - it means that summer is coming!

day 196

Most of today was spent relaxing (read: recovering) after last night's Ultrabar festivities. We went out to breakfast at the College Park Diner and of course I forgot to bring my camera, so today's picture is of my new best friend: allergy medicine. Hopefully this paired with my neti pot will solve whatever's going on inside my head.

(when did my life get so boring? am i really blogging about allergy medicine?)

day 195

We had our biggest SHH fundraiser tonight! We chartered a Maryland bus to take us and 60 of our closest friends to Ultrabar in downtown D.C. It was a really fun night - although I'm not sure which was more fun, the actual night or rehashing all of the events that took place the next day. Lots of funny stories :) This picture is of me and some of the UMD girls I went to Honduras with. I love getting together with them!

day 194

it POURED today. I thought it was never going to stop! My first class was canceled, and I thought the rain served as a good excuse for missing my second (and third...) classes. I literally spent the entire day in bed with this as my view. Lazy? Whatever.

day 193

If you've never used a neti pot, your life is not yet complete. I was stuffed up and congested and feeling yucky all week, but as soon as I started using this guy, my life improved 110%. If you want specifics on how it works...let me know. (I feel weird talking about snot on a blog.)

day 192

It was a little chilly out on the playground today, so I brought the Orange Room kids inside and read them "The Rainbow Fish." I'd totally forgotten how much I love that book! It's a sweet story with beautiful illustrations and a great lesson. (Sorry for the camera phone pic!)

day 191

I made 30 of these beautiful chocolate covered pretzels tonight for the upcoming SHH bakesales. They're so fun and easy to make, and a nice alternative from the traditional brownie/cookie/cupcake bakesale options!

day 190

I think I've mentioned my friend Kevin who works in Hershey this semester? Well we finally got him to stop bringing bags and bags of candy every time he visits (since they were disappearing way too quickly). But instead, this weekend he brought us Hershey's newest product...Hershey Air Delight. It's an aerated chocolate bar - to be honest I have no idea what that means, but it was delish and I'm always willing to sample new kinds of candy :)

day 189

The best part of March is arguably the fleeting appearance of the Shamrock Shake on the McDonald's menu. Katlyn, Ashley and I got our first Shamrock Shakes of the month today...something tells me it won't be my last!

day 188

Tonight I hung out with friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was such a fun night! (And if you've never played Thumper, you should definitely try it sometime!)

day 187

Today I had lunch with someone who has faced challenges in his life that I can't imagine ever having to deal with. I've only known him for a short time, but I can already tell that he is also one of the most positive people I've ever met. It's clear that he chooses to appreciate everything that he does have, instead of doing what so many other people would do and focus on all of the challenges and hardships. I don't know about you, but I could definitely do a little more of that in my life.

He actually used the phrase, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade," at lunch, and I couldn't help but think about how fitting that was for the way he lives his life. I didn't take a picture at lunch, so this will have to do :)

day 186

This is the entire contents of our kitchen cabinets piled on top of the kitchen table. The management office slid a note under the door saying that Connor's Pest Control was coming to exterminate all of the apartments and that we needed to empty all of our kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Easier said than done...this was a huge pain. I guess it was worth it though to have a bug-free apartment!

day 185

Today in my Principles and Methods of Teaching Class, we talked about something that sort of blew my mind. (I took a picture of the thought in my notebook, since I think after yesterday, I've taken enough creepy classroom pictures for the week!)

Our professor pointed out that the kids who we'll be teaching will be starting kindergarten in 2013, graduating from high school as the class of 2025, and will be retiring in 2075. The main question of the class was, how can we prepare students for the world they'll be a part of when we have no idea what that world will be like? I had never really thought about it, but it's kind of a crazy thought.

day 184

Today was my first exam of the semester. It was in Ed Psych, and I creepily took a picture during the test which is probably so illegal, but whatever. Hopefully I did well...

day 183

My mom and sisters came to visit today! I haven't seen anyone in my family since the semester started, and it was so so good to see them. We spent the day hanging out around campus and took the obligatory picture with Testudo.

day 182

Ashley and I wandered around campus a little bit today to get out of our apartments and breathe some fresh air. This campus is so fun to take pictures of :)

day 181

You know that expression "the heavens are opening?" Like when there's going to be lots of rain? Well today's weather forecast called for severe thunderstorms, and all morning it looked like the heavens were threatening to open with dark, ominous clouds overhead. But then I was walking to the CYC for work and felt the nicest ray of sunshine on my back. I turned around and saw this sky... I think the expression should be changed, because to me, this felt like the heavens were opening.