I found myself in a situation today that caused me to reflect back on my time spent studying Spanish at Arkansas State University. There have been a lot of times where I am in a situation and I think, "I know I learned that word in class at some point. Why don't I remember it now?"
I am a clumsy and forgetful person. It took me three trips to the market today to finally come up with all the ingredients and groceries I wanted for the next two weeks. The second trip is what caused the reflection. After shopping for about half an hour I made it to the check-out counter only to find I had left my money in the apartment. I had been shopping online for hotels before going to the market.
So the reflection was about the times in Spanish class when we had to act out a scene or come up with a skit and act it out in Spanish. Never did this scenario cross my mind: forgetting your money while shopping. The good news is although I figured out on the walk home how to say it, I was able to communicate my thoughts in a sufficient manner that we both understood. About 15 minutes later I was standing in the line again with the groceries waiting for me.
Senior year came and went. Of course I remember it the best because it was the most recent, but a lot of noteworthy stuff also happened.
After spending the summer in Washington, D.C., I looked at the credits I had. When I returned to ASU, a week before the semester started, I talked to the Department of World Languages and Cultures. I finally, after three semesters and a summer semester of Spanish classes, declared a second major. It would actually show up; I would get a second diploma.
I would take all of my classes but one, each of my last two semesters, in Spanish. That was 15 hours first semester and 12 the next. One of the classes my last semester was an internship.
In November, I applied for a program in Spain where I would help teach English for a year. By April, I knew that I would be going. I have been working with that for a while and continue to work on the requirements.
In February I began dating Asuka. And in May I graduated with both degrees, from ASU.
Reading, Writing, and Arithmatic... Thats what they say in school, although I may not be the greatest or have the greatest need for the last part. However, I am already using the skills that I learned during my four years in college.
Graduation was one week ago, tomorrow, May 7, 2011. I began my internship at Heifer International's Headquarters in Little Rock, Ark. on Monday, May 9, 2011. The first day I spent in orientation sessions, and when I was not in those, I worked on writing scripts for a video series our team is making from stories from the field.
The second day was better, as was the third. The fourth, Thursday, was probably the best because it was busy. But my responsibilities this far have been editing stories, posting them to the web, writing those scripts, and other tasks. I may have the opportunity to help with multimedia projects as well. I have already used photoshop to resize images for the web and add background color to graphics.
Although it is Internal Communications, I am using the skills I learned at ASU. Although it is Internal Communications, I feel like I am making some kind of difference.
Junior year I was also in NPQ. My Mom and Stepdad had moved back to Arkansas from New Jersey so around the new year sometime, we had a bonfire and karaoke night in Sheridan. We also did a Snipe Hunt. During the summer I participated in an Internship in Washington DC, along with classes at Georgetown University.
My second semester I met a girl who I began to develop feelings for. You might be able to guess who that was, especially if you read my blog in February.
I have had the privilege to be the driver for a friend and her mom (both from Japan) during the first days of Spring Break. My friend speaks English very well. Her mom knows minimal English and it has challenged me to slow down more when I speak. She knows a little bit of English and can somewhat understand some phrases and even speak some.
Of course, with time, it all gets better. I always say that I learned more the ten days I was in Spain than I did three years of Spanish classes. I am sure her English improved the past three days. But tonight, well its after midnight so yesterday, I was cooking Spaghetti. I cooked most of it before they arrived. However, her mom arrived about five or ten minutes before. Amazingly, we did just fine communicating.
Later my friend arrived and commented about how I was breaking the noodles. She also commented on portions, etc. It is amazing how different cultures can be, even when it comes to the ways we cook some of the same foods.
Big cities have something in common. Something good. Something helpful. Something places like Arkansas don't see much of. They call it something like public transportation. Strange right?
I know that to have a metro system in Jonesboro or any other Arkansas city for that matter isn't a great idea. But an inter-city train isn't such a bad idea. Decent bus systems are not a bad idea. Sidewalks and bike lanes might be the cheapest and simplest idea of all and they are not a bad idea.
Buses: Arkansas has inter-city buses like Greyhound. They take forever to get to their destination. But those buses are not the ones I am talking about. The ones I am talking about are the ones like JETS (Jonesboro Economic Transport System) that take people in the city from one bus-stop to another. It is great that Jonesboro has a service at all; some cities in Arkansas do not have a bus system. However, Jonesboro needs more buses and more bus routes. I remember riding the bus one afternoon from my dorm to the mall. If I drove, it would take about 10 minutes. By bus it took around half an hour or more. The bus comes to each stop every hour or every other hour, depending on the day of the week.
The timing is because there are so few buses and routes. If they had more buses, more routes make since. With more routes, the current routes could be shortened to have one overlapping point for transfers. Shorter routes would allow the bus on a given route to run more frequently, maybe every half hour. Also with more buses, there could be more than one bus on each route in each direction. In addition to new routes, a transfer system would be needed.
I learned about transfers quickly in Washington this summer. They had a card with a magnetic chip. Passengers load money on the card and swiped it on the bus. It recorded information about when they got on. If it was swiped again within the next two hours on another bus, it was a free transfer and the time was reset.
Trains: There are plenty of trains in Arkansas. One of the largest companies I know of is Union Pacific. What we do not have a lot of is travel by rail. There are a few AMTRAK stations in the state. Tickets are generally expensive and it is not typically used for traveling in the state. We do not need subways, but a decent rail system would be nice. It wouldn't have to stop everywhere, just major cities. Cities such as Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Texarkana, Fayetteville, West Memphis, Jonesboro, Search, Conway, Russellville, and Fort Smith could be connected by rail.
Rails can run a straight line and require less space than roads. Math tells us the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Yes there may be slight curves in the rail line but, it is still shorter than using multiple roads that go different directions. There would be fewer curves, and less traffic on the rail allowing travel at higher speeds. Between the distance and higher speed it should cut off some time on the trips, although some routes might require a transfer in Little Rock or other "hub."
As long as the benefits outweigh the costs it should be a good idea. I use a full tank of gas when I make a round-trip to Little Rock and back. With rising gas prices the short trip can take a toll on my wallet and bank account. The train-system could be a part of the state government. If there were a charge of maybe $10 for a one way trip from Jonesboro to Little Rock, I think it would be worth it. The trip would be faster and cheaper than driving, not to mention less tiring. And even at that cost, the government should have money to put back into the system, if not even having some left over to use in other areas of the budget.
I honestly feel like the biggest hurdle for this might be getting it started (as with city buses). It would require tax dollars. However, to ease the situation a little, it could be a gradual project. There might even be agreements with railroad companies already in the state to use their tracks temporarily until the state can fund projects to have their own tracks with better routes. In the long run, I think it would help a lot, at least in the future. It would help cut down on traffic on the roads, fuel consumption, and maybe even be a step towards being greener.
Sidewalks/Bike Lanes: Jonesboro is a little behind in this area. Although I think they are a lot better than Conway in many aspects (bus system, parks, etc.), they don't have many sidewalks. I don't think I have even seen a bike lane in the county.
A friend and I walked from the Arkansas State campus, down Stadium Boulevard to South Caraway Rd. Then we took South Caraway back to campus. It was about a 10-mile hike through Jonesboro. Most of that hike did not include sidewalks. During the journey we saw several problems. If we were lucky enough to have a pedestrian light, as soon as it would turn to walk, it would begin flashing red don't walk signs again almost immediately. Without sidewalks, we were often very close to the side of the road. We walked through people's yards many times to avoid being hit by an oncoming car, especially on the busy roads.
ASU has a high international population. Most of those students cannot drive. There are many students from the United States that cannot drive either. Whether it be because they do not have a license or a car, they sometimes have to walk to places they need to go such as Wal-Mart or the Mall at Turtle Creek.
Bikes are another option for transportation but it is dangerous. There are no sidewalks to ride on. There are no bike lanes on the roads to help keep cyclists out of the way of traffic. If the city, county, or state built bike lanes they could even temporarily help pedestrians.
Other statements:
I have picked on Jonesboro in most of these statements. That is because it is where I spend most of my time. But it is inclusive of many places in the state, especially the larger cities. The projects would cost money which might mean increases in state and local taxes, but they would be worth it.
In the long run people can save time, money, the environment and lives with public transportation. It also provides a service to many people who don't have other means of transportation. The creation of the public transportation does not mean people have to use it, but there are a lot of people, myself included, who would use it, especially if it made more sense. I would love to walk more often on nice days, but without sidewalks I am hesitant. With sidewalks I would be a lot more likely to walk, not only saving money, and the environment, but living a healthier life and exercising.
The first day of finals are done and gone. I had three today. The third was for my online class. I missed 24/75 multiple choice questions. That means I got at least a 66% on the test overall.
After taking the test I did some calculations to see what I needed to get a 80% in the class and what I needed to get a 90% in the class. All I lacked to get an A is 10 points. I would need a perfect score on the test and all 10 possible bonus points to have the A. The funny thing is-- I chose not to do one homework assignment for the class and it was worth 10 points.
Want to walk down the sidewalk from your dorm to the Union? There's a fee for that. Want to go to a single football game? There's a fee for that. Fees, fees, fees. Everywhere a college student turns, there are more fees. They seem endless. Most of them seem pointless. Where is all of this fee money going? Probably not to the wisest places.
Students at ASU are charged an athletic fee. When we go to the games we don't have to pay which is nice, but for those of us who go to maybe a baseball game, and four or five football games the fee is much higher than what we actually use.
Living in an on campus apartment or dorm? I don't think there is a specific fee for laundry, but it is built into room and board. We have a certain amount of money on our student ID to do laundry each semester. It does not roll over from year to year which is unnecessary anyway. There is way too much money to use. I could probably do my laundry and a friends laundry and still have money left over. But I don't get a refund.
Then there is recreation fees and student union fees and the list continues. But one of the fees that I try to make use of is the library fee. It is about 100 dollars each semester. It covers printing for "single, academic copies." Of course some classes require multiple copies, but they are understanding and just tell you to print one copy, then go print a second on another trip. That is fine. But the problem this year seems that the printer is never working.
I make special trips to the library sometimes to print. I have my own printer in my room but I am paying a large fee for printing in the library. I don't want to run my own printer out of ink and paper if I can use the supplies I already paid for in the library. Not to mention I spend more time in the library than my room anyway.
It seems that every time I go to print something the printer is out of order. They finally bought a new printer and they got rid of the other two printers they have had since my freshman year. I wonder what the deal is-- are there more students printing this year? Who knows. I just hope it doesn't continue.
I’ve been having a rough time this semester. Emotionally I have been pretty low lately and there are several reasons why, I think. One is I am having to spend so much time in the library studying for all of my Spanish that I very rarely see my friends. The other is that I am supposed to graduate in May.
I don’t regret double majoring in Spanish. I think it is a good decision and will open doors down the road. The thing is, I am a slow reader in English. When I have to switch over and read in Spanish it takes me hours to get through a page or two. Most of the time I have to study alone to get anything done. Other times I study with a friend and classmate who pushes me to work harder, but it is still too much time in the library.
I don’t mind spending time with my friends in the library, but I miss when I was able to hang out with more than one person there. And I really miss being able to hang out outside of the library. I fear I may lose some friends this semester because I am never around. I miss going to the park. I miss hanging out every night on the weekend. I miss those late night McDonald’s runs. I miss the occasional eating out. I miss movie nights. I miss sitting around the dinner table for an hour and a half.
Then there is the graduation thing. Most people look forward to graduation. They look forward to being done with school and getting started in the “real world.” But I see it a little differently. Don’t get me wrong, I am ready to be done with my studying, but I also see the positive side. I am off on the weekends. I get holidays. I make a lot of friends. And when I graduate I see what I am going to lose. I won’t be able to take classes with my friends anymore. I won’t see my friends very much because we will live in different places, eat in different places and generally be doing other things. Or worse, I will have to move off to find a job. There may not be any opportunities in Jonesboro.
Even if I do stay in Jonesboro to start out, a lot of my friends who are also graduating will move away. The friends who are still in school will eventually graduate and most of them will also move. Many of my friends I fear I will never see again because once they graduate they will probably be on the other side of the world in Africa, Asia, and Europe. I will miss them. I try to tell myself that thanks to technology we will stay in contact, but it doesn’t help. I know from experience that when we go separate ways we begin to lose contact, even with our closest friends. Thinking about not seeing my friends again hurts.
What hurts more is thinking about how many do not know Christ and who I won’t even get to see in heaven. I know the most important thing in the friendship is to share the gospel with them so that they might believe; and pray for them. I want to see them know Jesus.
We are all sinners. There is no one reading this that can say they are not a sinner. Just taking the ten commandments and what Jesus said, I don’t think I’ve kept a single one of them. I have borrowed and not returned (stolen); I have looked at a girl with lust (adultery); I have lied; I have hated (murder), and the list goes on. All it takes to be separated from God is one sin. He is the great, fair, judge. A just judge wouldn’t let someone off the hook when they used the excuse, “I only did it once.” They do the crime, they do the crime.
But God loves us. He wants us to be with him. None of us have done anything that is too bad for him to forgive, through Jesus. He sent him, he lived a perfect life. He was tempted just like any other human, and then sentenced to die on the cross. He died for OUR sins. After they took him of the cross he was in the grave for three days before he was raised from the dead. He conquered death. He died and he rose again! Through faith in Jesus, we too will be raised. We will have eternal life with God, which is good. Being separated from God would be torture enough, the other stuff of Hell I don’t even want to think about. But Jesus paid the price so we didn’t have to. The world needs to know this.
This morning, God showed me another reason why I felt the way I do. He is preparing me. I keep saying that I don’t know what I will do when I graduate. I say I would like to stay in Jonesboro to work for a while so that I can stay where I actually know people. I don’t want to leave and go somewhere I don’t know anyone. But I also have an opportunity to apply to go to Spain for a few years and help teach English, which is only available right after I graduate. I want to do this. Then there is graduate school, seminary and/or working somewhere outside of Jonesboro and maybe Arkansas. I don’t know what to do.
Well, this morning at church God spoke to my heart. Several missionaries from our church that had returned from the field shared their testimony about what God was doing. The first told us about spending two years in the Journeyman program. (I need to look into that a little more.) She was in France for those two years; sometimes there were teams, other times they tried to build relations with those in the area.
That is when God starting bringing some other scriptures to my mind. He reminded me of those who wanted to go back to bury their family member first to which Jesus responded, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:60 NIV). He also reminded me of the man who wanted to say by to his family. “Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” When I gave him my life, I was giving him my entire life. My life is no longer my own. That means if he calls me to go to a far-off country where I don’t know anyone; I don’t know the culture; I don’t know the language—I am supposed to go. He will go with me. The question is not an if he sends me; it is a where will he send me.
I began studying Spanish so I could use it in missions. It opens up Spain, Central and South America as places I can communicate. But I am willing to go wherever. Through my time at ASU God has placed a lot of East-Asians in my life. We have become friends and I have had the opportunity to get the gospel in many of their hands. There are other opportunities I have missed. But God has really put them on my heart. I wonder if he is not only preparing me to leave all of the familiarity but maybe even calling me to China or Japan.
I will be honest: the thought of going to be a long-term missionary in China, a communist country, scares me. Japan scares me simply because of being a different culture and language. But should I start trying to learn those languages from friends right here at ASU? Which one? God definitely showed me that he is preparing me to leave my friends and my family this morning. I don’t know how. I don’t know where. But I want to do it, filled with joy. Life is a journey. Life is an adventure. It is a good thing that I am not supposed to be the pilot.
Please pray for me that God would ease the stress some and that I could enjoy the friendships while we are right here together. Pray that he would give me the opportunities (and that I would take the opportunities) to share the gospel with them. Please pray that God would tear down the walls in their hearts and that he would grow the seeds. Please pray for me, that God would show me exactly where he wants me to go, when, how and all of that good stuff.
(If you have not seen yesterday's post you can view it here)
Starting college was a very difficult thing for me. It meant living on my own for the first time. It meant leaving my support group at church. It meant leaving all of my friends behind. Those were hard things to do, especially with my timid personality. I had a lot of obstacles thrown at me that first year.
Struggles that I had, became even bigger. I began trying new churches my first Sunday. Again I ran into the issue of finding a church that fit me. I rarely went half of the time because I was frustrated. It took until the end of my sophomore year to find a church I could call home.
I made friends fairly quickly at school. Some were Christians and some weren't. I did my best to try and keep from slipping. Some of the problems I had in high school were past. I had a fresh start. I didn't have to be involved with coarse joking which was a big struggle in high school. It worked for a while. I even had a friend that when I would get involved threw stuff at me. Most of the time I would get up and leave.
But I was not plugged in. I went to the Baptist Collegiate Ministry occasionally. I went to family groups on Monday nights regularly. When I could, I went to TNT. But again, actually going to church was few and far between. I wasn't really growing all that much spiritually. I felt like I had walked backwards. During a few of the breaks I would sit in with the youth group at my "home church" in Conway.
In short I absolutely hated college. I didn't want to go there. I wanted to go home. It wasn't until second semester that things began to change. Around February or March some people came to the cafeteria table where I was sitting with a group of friends. God sent them there. They proceeded to ask us a trick question, one I knew the answer to because I had done it before. They were using tracts from a ministry I was familiar with. I pulled out one of my own and gave to them. They invited me to a student led, non-sponsored, non-denominational bible study group whose sole intention was to reach out to the lost.
I decided to go. That semester I went sporadically. It wasn't always a regular thing, but it was better than nothing. The following year, my sophomore year I made some new friends. I continued to attend the bible study and more regularly. Eventually I told a friend about it who also came.
As I attended more and more relationships grew within the group. Finally during my junior year I considered them close friends. These were my brothers and sisters in Christ. I felt a love and trust in that group. The focus has gradually changed in the group. We are still all about evangelism but it has transformed into a different aspect. It is lifestyle yet intentional evangelism. We still invite non-Christians to come. We won't tell them to leave. But that is no longer the focus. The group transformed into one for Christians to come together and go out to our non-Christian friends to share the gospel. Non-Christians feel awkward attending, much like they might at church, so though the door is always open, we no longer ask people to come to learn more. We try to do that in our own relationships with them.
Some of the new things we do are things like Ultimate and Soccer. We get a crowd of people to play a game and then get contact information and build relationships with them. It then gives us an opportunity to share the gospel with them.
Along with the new focus, we became a closer group. Often we split off into guy and girls. That gave us opportunities to talk about what we were going through as men and women, apart from the other sex. Again this helped us build trust and strengthen our relations. I had a major issue just this past year that without the support of one of my Christian brothers in that group could have ended very badly.
Also in January I made a decision to become a member of Highland Drive Baptist Church. That is yet another decision I have no regrets on. Whether I really consider myself a Baptist or not, it is theologically sound. Yes, there will be things I disagree on. If there weren't there would be something wrong there. If a person agrees with everything a preacher says, they probably aren't reading the Bible and spending any time on their own with the Lord. But I have a church home.
Some things come at the end of ever semester though. Bad things in a sense: break!
During the summer the support network is not built up. We all go our separate ways and do not have the accountability. That is something that I need to work on in my life. I need to be able to hold my own, without other Christians around. That is not to downplay the importance of having a network of Christian brothers and sisters. Fellowship will always be important.
I was asked at my internship the other day to count up some of the stuff that I have done on the job. While at my internship I have written about 1 story per week (and rising). I have taken about 10 photos that have been published. I have edited more than 10 stories from reporters around the world.
My photos and stories have been picked up by print and online publications. More than five Army newspapers have run my work. More than six websites (other than army.mil websites) have run my stories.
It has been a great experience. This past week has been very busy. Just this week I have had two stories written and posted. I did an interview today. I also had an interesting time getting the run around in the bureaucracy. I have to tell that story before I continue.
I accept another story this morning and with it I have two source recommendations made to me. I call the first source who says he is not the right person to comment and he referred me to another office. I wrote the name down and called another source. The number had been changed but I called the new number. They told me they were not the correct organization and referred me to another. After going through this a while I feel like my options are exhausted. I call OCPA. They tell me to call the PAO for the Secretary of the Army. I do that. The PAO tells me to call OCPA. That was a lot of help. But it was a funny story to tell. [I found a source, they just wouldn't ever answer the phone so the story is on hold.]
Anyway, in addition to the two that I wrote this week, I am working on three others. One I should have done by Monday afternoon. The other two I just hope to get interviews before Tuesday. Wednesday is my last day but I have a feeling I might work from my apartment some on Thursday and send an email with my last file or two.
I have learned a lot from my internship. It was an amazing experience. I have to write a paper for my school on it and I will post that as a blog in later weeks.
As most people at ASU heard at some point today, there was a bomb threat at our library. The police department used the emergency alert system promptly to warn students to stay clear of the building. I had friends in the building at the time and so I asked if they pulled the fire alarms to get everyone out or what. He told me they used the PA system. I went on Facebook and found a lot of status updates. I got probably 10 text messages within 10 minutes from friends. A little excitement around here I guess.
They ended up having to cancel some classes. The library remains closed until tomorrow morning. All because (most likely) a prank. A stupid prank. A news report in The Herald says someone found a piece of paper on the first floor that had the threat on it. Who knows how long it was there. Again I am sure it is a joke, but they have to take these things seriously. Hopefully they can find the person behind it.
A little humor came from The Herald, for which I am a staff writer. The breaking news story finally showed up about 5 hours later on the website. The headline reads something like, "Bomb threat evacuates library, adjacent building." <-- Oh really? The bomb threat evacuated? How interesting. I figured the people would evacuate.
A lot of people are behind because of canceled classes, after already missing several days previously in the semester because of snow. I know I am needing some books to work on a research paper. That got delayed another day. But there is always tomorrow and a late night in the library. Those tend to happen quite frequently here.
This morning I woke up early (9 AM) in order to go to a special event in the museum. It was a celebration for Black History Month. There was a guest that played the drums and told stories. He was born in Ghana Africa, moved to the United Kingdom and in the 80's moved to the United States.
He taught visitors rhythm and encouraged uniting in diversity through music. Every culture likes music. He noted instruments can be made from a wide variety of materials.
It was an interesting experience, though I was working. I was working on a story (much more interesting than this) for The Herald that will run Monday. I was also taking photos.
***UPDATE 2/11/10***
I was told yesterday that the lockers are actually free. I was told that after entering the area where the lockers you simply ask for a coin at the desk and they give it to you.
After many years of planning and constructing the new recreation center opened at ASU last Tuesday. But was it worth it? I say no.
According to an article in The Herald, the project cost $18 million.
How was that paid for? The article says students paid a five-dollar per-credit-hour fee. As of completion of the center, I have completed 85 hours of class. Therefore I have paid at least $425.
As if that is not enough the new recreation center is offering LIFETIME memberships to those who graduated before being able to use the Student Union or the Recreation Center. A lifetime membership. I paid for the new center for two and a half years. I get to use it for one and a half. That's fair alright.
Students who paid for four years get to have lifetime access while students who paid for almost the same amount of time don't have much time to use it at all. This is especially true for seniors graduating this May. They get to use it for an entire semester before losing privileges. That isn't right.
To make matters worse there are some new policies in effect. One such policy: no one can use the work-out room without having a towel. What? I never had to have a towel when it was located at the Student Union. And on top of the requirment, if you do not bring your own towel they charge you something like $2!
They charge students to build the place and then start making extra charges on top of everything else. I am going to be able to use this center less than the old one. Instead of promoting healthier lifestyles it is going to hinder me from using the facility.
I carry a bag full of bugs around with me every day for class. I don't have room to be carrying a change of clothes and a towel. If I go back to my room, that kills half an hour just going there and all the way back to the fitness center.
The new center looks nice and has some cool stuff but the new policies are unnecessary. Go ahead and charge for towels, but don't require them.
I think I have been to more parties last week and more to come this week, than I have been in my entire college career.
The Christmas festivities all started last Thursday. It was the annual carols and candles at TNT. Then Friday we practiced for caroling. Saturday was the Christmas party at Eric and Leanne's. Following it was Josh's Birthday party.
Sunday we went caroling at St. Bernard's Retirement Home. That went fairly well, though we had to do some re planning in the middle. We had printer errors and so some of us stayed behind to get songs printed out. Others went on to the home and stalled for time by visiting with the residents.
Monday we had a Christmas party in news editing, and also in newspaper staff meeting. Today we are going caroling at South Wind Heights Retirement home. It is at 7 PM. Wednesday is Christmas on Campus. Thursday I plan on baking cookies for Christmas. Sometime Thursday or Friday I will begin making a gingerbread house. Saturday night we will ring the bells for the Salvation Army.
Christmas brings so many things to do. There is so much to do and so little time. But it is great. There is no time to get bored. Of course it means finals are just around the corner so in between all the fun stuff it is important to make time to study.
To the students: good luck on finals and have a safe trip wherever you go over Christmas Break.
To everyone: Have a very merry Christmas and happy new year.
Sophomore year I got to do some traveling. My mom had moved to New Jersey with my Stepdad. So after freshman year I went there to visit. I was able to see New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, Trenton, and many other places.
For sophomore year I moved to North Park Quads. It was much nicer than Kays, but building five was a long way to walk to classes. It is also the year I really started enjoying my time at ASU. I volunteered at the BCM with "The Bridge" the ministry for International students. By the time I graduated, more than half of my friends were probably international students.
During the winter we got snow as usual. The power went out and NPQ did not have a generator. So we played chess when we woke up. Classes were canceled; I found that out even though I had to call my Dad in Little Rock to find out.
On Christmas Break I went back to New Jersey. I got to see New York City around Christmastime.
Oddly, I don't remember a whole lot from my sophomore year.
