soon everybody asks what became of you

I only have 2 weeks left as a student at PBA. It’s kind of hard to imagine graduating. Graduating is a bittersweet thing for me. It’s an exciting time, because the future is open to me. I can go wherever I want from here. I’ve been praying that what I want is also what God wants for me. I want to follow God’s plans for me, and be ok if His plans don’t line up with exactly what I have planned for myself. It’s easier said than done, but in the end I know it’s worth it and God’s plan is always better than mine.

I have applied to be a Language and Culture Teaching Assistant in Spain. I will find out next week if I was selected and where I will be living in Spain. Earlier this semester I received a brochure from my Spanish profesora about grants that are offered to students in North America and Canada to go live in Spain and teach English. I’m really anxious to find out, and I’m praying that whatever the outcome I will be content.

Today was my last day at my internship with the Lake Worth Herald. I only have one more article that is due on Monday. It was a really great experience and I’m kind of sad that it’s over. My editor was a really cool man, and I learned a lot from him. I am glad that I was able to finish before final exams though, because it was a lot of work and I know that I’m going to be busy with final projects and papers next week. I am the “queen of procrastination,” and am really good at waiting last minute to work on things! As for now, I am going to be a busy body for the next two weeks, but I plan on making the best of them.

It's been a long time...

Hello all,
So it’s been a while since I’ve posted some new delights for you all to read…I guess now is as good a time as any. So not too too much has happened since last time; Easter break was this past weekend. I went to my roommate Anna Grace’s aunt and uncle’s house in Marco Island, Fl. Her family has graciously invited me into their home for the past 4 Easters. They are so great—I love them so much!

This picture is from when Anna Grace, Alyssa, and I (r-l) were dyeing Easter eggs.

Another weekend is upon us, not that I’m going to really be able to enjoy it that much. This past week I had many assignments due for my night class, regular homework, a project due yesterday and a paper and a presentation in another class today. I didn’t go to sleep last night. I did sleep from 6:30-8:00 this morning though. My roommate and I are in the same class, so we both stayed up all night to work on our papers. We are throwing our engaged roommate a bridal shower tonight, so that should be lots of fun before the work weekend of all work weekend begins! I have 2 papers and a project due on Monday, not to mention all the other projects due later next week. But that’s what I get for taking 18 credits….but graduation is the reward, so I know it will be worth it all!

Well, I have to go and start cleaning my apartment for the party for Anna Grace!
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Until next time…..

A Much Needed Vacation

I am going home, to Orlando, tonight. Why you may ask? My classes are canceled tomorrow. Now, if I went to another University, and not PBA, I would have class on Good Friday – but luckily I do not. Just getting those two days off of school is pretty legitimate, but because PBA is awesome, we also get the Monday following Easter off of school. Cool right? Most definitely. I am very excited to get to relax, sleep in and spend quality time with my family at home. Mostly just sleep though, sorry Mom and Dad. Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays, first and foremost because of the messages of hope and peace that are found in the Resurrection. You may think it weird but I also rather enjoy the marshmellow Peeps® and I love the Reeses® chocolate and peanut butter eggs. Hopefully I have not grown too old to wake up to an Easter Basket outside my bedroom door Easter morning. Maybe I will fill some Easter Eggs and hide them in the yard? Or maybe I will just sleep the whole break.



This Easter Break is exactly what I need after the week that I have had. Up to this point, my week was not totally bad, just a whole lot of hard work. I had a 12 page research paper due on Monday for my Honors class. I spent ALL of the weekend in the library preparing, researching and writing. It would have been nice if there was torrential rain or if it was cold out all weekend, but it was not. It was beautiful, and everyone else I know was able to go to the beach, without me. I guess I should not feel bad because I am in college to learn, I guess. No really, I feel good about it my paper. I spent enough time and had good research and decent points to bring up.

Compared to the rest of the week, that paper was the easy part. This morning I had two difficult exams in Human Anatomy and Organic Chemistry. I had to memorize countless chemistry equations, and pretty much most of the human internal anatomy. I guess I got what I signed up for, but it always seems that my hard exams always fall on the same day. University life always keeps you on your toes and that is part of the reason why it is so great. You never know what to expect around the corner.

Twitter!

Lately I've become addicted to a website called Twitter. You can ask Amy. She rolls her eyes whenever I get excited and tell her about some new way I’ve discovered to use the website.

It's basically a website where you can update your status, like you would on facebook, whenever you want to let your friends know about a cool website you found, or some exciting news you've discovered.

Facebook recently tried to buy Twitter, and was not able to, and then changed their design to be more like Twitter's. I'm pretty sure no one is a big fan of all the changes that keep happening on FB.

Some of my friends try to tell me that Twitter is stupid and pointless, but au contraire I think it is fun and can be helpful. For example, there is a graduate student named James Karl Buck, who was in Egypt doing a photography assignment for his master’s thesis, when he was arrested for being at local anti-government protest. He sent the word ‘arrested’ to his Twitter and a friend got the Twitter, informed the University, and they were able to get a lawyer and get Buck out of jail. Here’s the story ~> http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/05/twitter.maree/index.html

Twitter has grown a lot in the last few months. Pretty much everybody has one these days. You can find any news organization, non-profits, your favorite musicians, and just your plain old friends that have one. I'm following one of my fav authors, Don Miller. Oh, and Palm Beach Atlantic University even has its own account! (http://twitter.com/PBAtlantic)

If you want to keep up-to-date on someone's life, you click can 'Follow' on their page and then you will see every time they update their status on your home page. You can respond to someone’s status by clicking the reply and it will say “@username” before whatever you write to direct the message to them.

It’s a little confusing at first, but it’s not too tricky. I created an account last summer just because it was something new, and then never got the point of it, but now everyone is using it and I’ve kind of become addicted.

Follow me! http://twitter.com/nessievanessie

New Languages and Yay for Weekends

So I read something for my History and Philosophy of American Media class titled "The New Languages" and it was about how with each introduction of a new media (from radio, to TV, to internet) we have to accomodate our languages used to each new medium, or way of communication. I thought this was interesting, because there are such different ways of speaking for every individual medium. It's curious how we are taught these languages and how younger generations just adapt themselves naturally to a new language, but some older generations cannot even "speak" them whatsoever. It made me think about what possibilities there are for new mediums when I am in that older generation and what new methods of communication there will be! Hmmm, it's a thinker.

Well, it's Friday and that is exciting. I'm a big fan of weekends. I don't really know what I'm going to do this weekend, but I don't have class and that is cheerful. I have some papers and other random homework to do, but I would rather just have it done and not have to worry about it anymore! We'll see how much I actually get done come Sunday night. Hopefully the weather will be nice this weekend...which is basically saying, I hope I can go to the beach, even for a little bit. I hope!

Well, enjoy your weekend too! Until next time...

Anatomy and FRAG

Today has been interesting to say the least. My morning started out early for my 8am Human Anatomy class. I had the joy, and privilege, of a wonderful lecture about the male reproductive system (notice the sarcasm). The only thing worse than that would be the lecture I will have Monday morning, about, you guessed it, the female anatomy. I am a Biology major with a pre-health concentration so I do actually care about all of that; it just came unexpected this morning.

Anyways, my day continued tabling outside the Caf in the Rinker Green. I am pretty sure that you are aware of the current economic situation in the world, and if you are not please go outside. Currently all Florida Resident students who go to PBA, and all of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida, get $2850 from the State of Florida per year to help with tuition costs. This money is named the Florida Resident Access Grant. It is actually the 30th anniversary of the grant this year. The state of Florida is pretty much almost bankrupt and this money, that is vital and necessary for most of us to attain a higher education, is in jeopardy this year. Although there seems to be much support for the FRAG in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, almost all programs across the state will see budget cuts. Today we ran a postcard campaign to important and prominent state Senators and Representatives thanking them for the grant and encouraging them to continue it into the future. All Florida Residents and even non-resident students signed the cards that will be mailed in the coming days. Maybe, if we send enough post cards and raise enough awareness of the excellent grant program, we could see an increase in the amount – instead of a huge cut.

Curly Tail Lizards

PBA has curly tail lizards. They're from Cuba or something. I had never seen them before, and then I saw like ten at a Chili's about six years ago. Now they're all over. We saw some guy feeding them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich the other day.

While they are really fast, I have been able to catch three of them. One time, I stayed behind a pole and caught him on the other side. Another time, I trapped one in a field of grass with no holes. The third time, I was sitting on some rocks, and one came up to me.

They're all over South Florida, and I have come to like them. They don't speak English, so I don't know if they like me.