Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Overachieve?

I've been called an over achiever on more than one occasion, but I think I may be living up to that this summer. School is out. No classes until June. No homework. Yet I am still studying. I started a little more than two weeks ago, in effort to not only keep up with what I already know, but also learn more. Spanish. If you don't use a foreign language you forget it. And you forget it fast.

I took three years of Spanish in high school. My senior year I stopped taking the courses. I did not take another course in Spanish until my 4th semester of college. I started back at ground level. Last summer I took a course in Spanish online. This year I am interning in DC for the summer and will not have time to take a Spanish class online. I can only hope to use some Spanish while there.

Instead I have been keeping a notebook. Each day I write down an account of events in Spanish. Then I look up some song lyrics and translate them from English to Spanish, looking up words I do not know, underlining them and writing them on a vocabulary list. On the seventh day of each week I combine the vocabulary list and try to memorize the lists. This is the third week and I am still doing it. Hopefully it helps me remember what I already know, and if I am real lucky, maybe learn something in the process.

I go to Washington, D.C. a week from this Saturday.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Summer Break: Beginning

I spent the end of January filling out paperwork and writing essays trying to be accepted into the Institute on Political Journalism at Georgetown this summer. I was accepted and spent February filling out paperwork and writing essays for scholarships. Most of those I know did not pay off. Oh well.

But now summer break is finally here. I leave in about three weeks and head to Washington D.C. to intern with the Army News Service. I will have two classes at Georgetown, along with three-credit-hours at ASU for the internship. But I have to prepare for that internship. I don't have near the clothes that I will need. The dress-code is business casual. I needed a new wardrobe.

That, sadly, is how I have spent a lot of my vacation thus far: shopping. Shopping for shirts. Shopping for pants. Shopping for other supplies that I am going to need. But there have been a few breaks. I went swimming at Beaverfork lake the other day with friends. It was back to preparing today.

Pack for coming home. Unpack when I get home. Pack a lot of stuff back up for DC. Unpack some stuff I put up already that I wasn't taking because I find I need it. Pack it. Then of course comes the unpacking in DC, the packing up in DC the unpacking at home again, the packing to go to Jonesboro and the unpacking when I get there. So maybe the best way to sum up this summer is "pack and unpack."

Friday, May 7, 2010

Summer Move-Out

I thought I hated packing everything in my dorm and moving it to my car. That is fun compared to the unpacking it from the car and trying to find a place to put everything over the summer. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. But this year I have an internship in Washington, DC. I have to go through everything and gather the things I will have to have while there.

I took a lot of stuff to my room. I have sorted that out. But there is still a lot of stuff to go through, and some stuff I still don't know where to put it. As many college students know, when we go to college our family takes over what used to be our bedrooms. My closet is full of my dad's girlfriend's clothes. Along with multiple shelves she has in there stacked to the ceiling. I have a little bit of room under my bed. The rest has to be put in the storeroom outside, hung at my grandmothers, left in the middle of the floor or taken to the storage unit in Conway.

The good news, I am not as nervous about my internship. I look forward to it. But it seems like forever away too. It is about four weeks away. I guess that means I should look up some friends in Conway and Little Rock before going. Hopefully they will want to hang out.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

3/4 bitter 1/4 sweet

It is such a bittersweet time of the year. It is awesome to feel the accomplishment of another semester behind. But what sucks is the semester is at an end. Everyone is packing and heading home. I go home tomorrow. Don't get me wrong I love my family. But I hate leaving my other family.

I've never been good at it. When I would go to youth events such as lock-ins, or even overnight school trips where you spend a lot of time with a group of people, it is never easy when it is over. I hate it. Even more so, I can't help but think about how I only have two semesters left before I graduate my first time. Then I come back but only for another semester probably. It hurts.

At college, it seems I spend almost every waking moment with friends. We eat together. We study together. We spend free time together. We go to Wal mart together. Practically everything, we do together. Sometimes we even take classes together. So much time spent together and then we have to go home for the summer.

I know that we will all (or most of us) be back next semester. To those whose friendships, leaderships, etc. will live on next year, but in new locations I thank you for it all. I thank you for your willingness. I wish you the best of luck in new jobs and/or in retirement.

For me, as much as it can hurt it paints a picture. God sent Jesus to the earth for us. They were physically seperated for a while then he died on the cross for our sins. Three days later he rose again. He conquered death and would later go back to be with the Father. I know that eventually we will be seperated, but I pray for all of my friends, that they would know Christ and that one day, even if we are not reunited on earth, we will be reunited in heaven.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Top Ten Stories 2009-2010

The school year is officially over. There has been a lot of interesting news from around campus this year. This is a list and description of some of the most interesting and largest news stories of the school year.

 1. Murder at ASU
An ASU student was shot in his on-campus appartment around 1 a.m. Police alerted students to stay in their rooms until further notice. About five hours later another text message was sent saying the situation was under control. He died about 24 hours after he was shot, in a Memphis hospital. The body was sent to the crime lab in Little Rock. UPD is still investigating the case.


2. Rape at a Fraternity
A girl was raped at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Police are continuing their investigation into what happened that night. An alert was sent out to students who are signed up for the text message Emergency Alert System.

3. Bomb Threat at the Library
One Monday afternoon campus police send out an alert through the Emergency Alert System in all caps warning students to stay clear of the library. They found a note in a downstairs bathroom saying there was a bomb in one of the bathrooms. The library remained closed the rest of the day and reopened the next morning.


4. Snow and ice shut down campus
Campus was shut down for several days because of snow and ice. One storm hit before the weekend so students had a long weekend. The snow never fully melted before the second round came.

5. ASU Rugby

 ASU Rugby made it to the top four. They played were scheduled to play another game on April 30.

6. ASU sends aid to Haiti
After a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, many people came together to aid that country. The SAB at ASU hosted a earthquake relief drive where students could bring certain items and they would be shipped to those in need.

7. Alcohol Policy
Various debates occurred over ASU's alcohol policy in the Shared Governance Process. Eventually a bill was adopted that had some specifications for where alcohol would be allowed and under what circumstances.

8. Roadblock
University officials wanted to block off another road on campus. If the plans had gone through Caraway road would run into university loop and end, start at Aggie and end at the north edge of the post office parking lot, and begin at Johnson and run to the south edge of the parking garage entrance.

9. Swine Flu
Swine flu was a major topic around the world. ASU had to make plans on how to handle any outbreaks. Some students did get the virus and had to be quarantined.

10. Faculty and staff honored
Faculty and staff members were honored for a variety of reasons at the Faculty honors convocation. Some received awards for their service, before retiring at the end of the semester. Others received awards for excellence in education, and others for advising.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Storms

Well this post is just a little late but here it goes anyway.

Friday night (part 2, Part 1 will not be explained) we went to rent some movies because the weather was going to be bad. We rented: Free Willy: Escape from Pirates Bay, and Hachi. We get back and are about to watch it when we find out a tornado is supposedly heading our way. We go downstairs to the lobby. We were in for a very interesting night, but it was cool.

When we got to the lobby there were two other people there. We sat down there and more and more people showed up. Five or six international students from Chile were there, along with some other Americans. The Chileans were speaking in Spanish and once I heard them long enough to understand it was definitely Spanish, I said to them, "De donde son ustedes?" A friend with me said they looked shocked/surprised/scared when I spoke to them in Spanish. I've wanted to do that for a while.

Also building 4 of NPQ was struck by lightening. Some students had minor injuries. But one of the international students was videoing the storm when it happened. Half an hour later the fire department shows up with 3 fire engines and 2 regular vehicles. They start shining around the building. I went out and said, "I don't know if this information will help you any but lightening struck that corner of the building," and pointed. They asked if I could tell them a little more. I told them I didn't see it first hand but there was a video of it. They looked at the video. The student became very popular.