Back to the grindstone...

I actually think I'm going to enjoy my classes this semester.

All of them.

That's a first. I usually have a couple good ones and a couple terrible ones, but if the first day means anything, I think they are are going to go well. I haven't had my Monday-only class yet, since this Monday was a snow day (YAY!!) and next Monday is MLK Day (YAY!!!), so I don't know about that one, but so far all my teachers seem great and all my classes seem interesting.

Hopefully it stays that way, because I can not get up for 8 AM class if it's not going to be a good one.

Oh yeah, that's the crappy part of my schedule. I have to be on a bus by 7:30 three days a week or leave to go to an elementary school by 8 am the other two days. I'm going to have to become a morning person. I also get done at 4:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have a night class on Mondays.

This is why I need my classes to be amazing.

But these first couple days of class were really encouraging because for once, I actually felt like I belonged there. I'm so excited for the rest of the semester. All of my classes are Child Development/Family Studies/Education something, so I really feel like I'm finally in the right major. I feel like I'm on the right track and taking my life in the right direction.

And it only took me a year and a half of college to figure that out!

Remembering Haiti.

Today is the one-year mark of the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. The earthquake destroyed much of Port-au-Prince, the capital city, and the surrounding area, killing over 250,000 people. This summer when I went there, there were still nearly 1.5 million people still living in the "temporary" tent cities.

Not exactly the picture of success and recovery.

I don't want to focus on the negatives, I just want to take a minute to think of Haiti and it's people and what it's been going through the past year.

Earthquake, cholera, political instability...it's a lot for the poorest country in the western hemisphere to handle.

But amazingly, they are handling it. I saw nothing but faith, hope, and love among the Haitians this summer. They had so much faith in God, that he would get them through their struggles. They had so much hope for the future, that things would get better, that things already had gotten better. And they had so much love for everyone, even for all the people (like us) who came from the United States and only stayed a week.

I met some of the most amazing and inspiring people in Haiti.

One of the organizations we worked with in Haiti is called Wings of Hope. It's part of the St. Joseph's Family in Haiti, a group of homes and organizations for kids. Wings is a home for special needs children that was destroyed in the earthquake. Many of the children living there had been abused or abandoned, and Wings gives them the only home these kids have ever had. This is Wings of Hope, Haiti: One year after the earthquake.

This is Josephine, a girl who lives at Wings. She couldn't
walk on her own, but is one of the smartest kids I know.
She can speak perfect English. People in Haiti speak
creole, a mix of French and traditional languages.

And while Haiti continues to face struggles and still has a long way to go, life in Haiti goes on. It has to.

Resolutions.

Yes, I realize it's January 11 so I'm a little late jumping on the New Year's resolution bandwagon, but I'm finally getting around to making them and I figure by putting them on here it'll actually make me somewhat accountable so I actually try to stick with them.

That's the idea anyway.

I've never actually made a New Year's resolution, and this year someone told me that I had to make three. I can't remember what the categories were supposed to be, so here's three random ones that I think are good.

Resolution #1: Be healthier. I know it's vague and cliche, but it's a good goal. I'm running a half-marathon in May and hopefully going on another bike trip this summer, so I really need to keep my body up for it. This includes getting (and staying) in shape and eating better. I'm already a runner, but I need to step it up so I can run 13 miles without dying.

Coconut milk is healthy, right?

Resolution #2: Make this semester a damn good one. Another vague one, but I'm still a little bitter that I didn't get to go to France, so I'm going to milk Lincoln for all it's worth. I know it's not going to measure up to a study-abroad experience, but I'm at least going to have a good time.

Resolution #3: Be more spiritual. I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm going to try to figure it out. I have pretty strong beliefs, but I've never considered myself a spiritual person so I'd like to become more so. I'm not really sure how to go about doing this, but it's definitely something to work towards. Suggestions are welcome.

Resolutions start tomorrow (maybe I should have made one to procrastinate less...?), but no resolutions start tomorrow with yoga class. I figure yoga is a perfect way to be healthier, have fun, and I'm sure it can be a spiritual experience. It's not the only thing I'm going to do for my resolutions, but I figure it's a good start.

The Rec has free classes all this week and they have one called Yoga for Runners. Yoga 101 is tomorrow, so I'm going to go to that and hopefully learn a little about it (I don't really know how to do yoga...) and ideally I'll be ready for Yoga for Runners on Thursday. We'll see how it goes.

Wish me luck!

I'm BAAAACCKKK!

Hey everyone.

So this blog was originally intended to chronicle my freshman year of college, but I've developed a bit of insomnia lately so while I was laying in bed awake at 3 A.M. last night, I decided to revive Operation College. See I was going to start a new blog this semester because I was supposed to be studying abroad, but a series of unfortunate events have prevented that. So now that I'm stuck in Lincoln, NE instead of Besançon, France, I figure why not. And though the novelty of this whole college thing has worn off and I'm about to start my fourth semester, I don't know all there is to know. I am a seasoned professional when it comes to dorm life and navigating my way to class, but every day is something different. Everyday you grow a little and hopefully learn something new.

So here it is. The updated, improved Operation College, Version 2.0.

And since the first two days of the semester have been deemed snow days (YAY!!), here's the important things the blogging world has missed out on in the last 8 or so months since I posted last:

• I rode my bike across the state of Nebraska in a week with my Dad. Yep, 490-ish miles, 7 days. It was intense! It was in tents! (We camped).

• I spent part of my summer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti helping dig a foundation for a home for boys that was destroyed in the earthquake last January. With shovels and buckets. Easily the greatest experience of my life thus far.

• I got a boyfriend! Well technically two, but the first one didn't work out. The second one is great though!

• I changed my major. I'm now studying Inclusive Early Childhood Education. Just a little bit different from International Studies, but hey, I said it might change.
• I survived the first semester of my sophomore year.
  

So there ya go. I'm not a stupid freshman trying to figure things out anymore. I'm a stupid sophomore still trying to figure things out.

It's good to be back.

Wrapping Up.

So I made it. I'm officially done with my first year of college, and I have to say I've never been less excited for the end of school. And of course I love summer, but I already can't wait for fall. Living at home is gonna be weird. Not seeing people I'm used to seeing everyday is gonna be even weirder.

It's been an amazing year and I can't believe it's over. It went so fast! (Cliche, yes, but so true).

I'd like to say I learned a lot this year. College isn't just school and homework, studying and projects. It's sand volleyball in the quad, staying up all night, playing cards in the basement, watching movies on laptops. It's living on your own and finding out who you are. It's finding your friends, meeting people who are amazing and some that are not so much. It's fighting the weather to walk to class and fully appreciating days when it's absolutely gorgeous outside. It's growing up. It's learning, but not just stuff from books or lectures.

So that's it. The end. I'm done. My freshman year is officially over, as I just got moved back home. Enjoy summer. Enjoy life.

Goodbye =)

I love college.

So once again, we're at dead week, and this semester, it actually is dead. I literally have nothing due except one 2 page paper on Friday. It's wonderful, because for once I can actually be completely unproductive and not feel bad about it. So far this week has been full of carnivals and soap carving and movies, with coloring, olympics, bike rides and who knows what else coming up in the near future. It's pretty much amazing.

Then I just have 4 finals to look forward to next week...(yeah that's right, I start summer next Friday)

After almost finishing an entire year, I've come to the conclusion that college is great. I mean, where else is it acceptable to Febreeze clothes instead of washing them? (I've actually only done this once, cuz yeah, it is a little weird). And Sunday night, there was just a random carnival in front of the union, complete with ferris wheel, inflatables, and cotton candy (and it was all completely free!) And I bet you all thought that nobody rollerblades anymore? False.

I think I'm going to miss this over the next couple months.

You know it's spring when...

It is absolutely impossible to do homework or anything productive when it's warm outside. Seriously. Why the heck would anyone want to stay cooped up in a dorm room when it's 70 degrees and sunny? There really is no good reason.

We've tried to beat the system by taking homework outside and attempting to do it, but that doesn't really work either. Once you're outside, there is literally zero motivation to do anything productive, and there are so many better things to do. Like sit there and do nothing. It's great.

The only downside to this is that teachers still assign homework in the spring, and especially with finals coming up in a couple weeks, there is a crap ton to get done. So this means that since nothing gets done during the day, everything has to get done sometime at night before class starts in the morning. This is procrastination at it's finest.

Welcome to the season of sand volleyball and late nights. It's absolutely amazing.