First Week

Here is, as promised, a breakdown of my classes, what I think about them, and whatever else I feel like mentioning:

History of Science: Some of you may remember that last semester, my UGS class was "Science and Art: Then and Now", which basically broke down to a history of science and art from the Renaissance to modern times, and how they really go hand in hand throughout the centuries. Well, the class I am in this semester is taught by one of the same professors as the UGS course and is structured largely the same... except without any of the art. Having experienced most of these lectures already (except perhaps this time it will be more in depth), I have a feeling that this will be an easy class. I definitely enjoyed the last one, so here's hoping!

French: This is my last semester of French and my first opportunity to take a language class with a male professor. So far, I'm enjoying it. It's a pretty standard French class so far, though. My professor is hilarious! When students walked in late the first day of class, he switched to speaking Spanish to throw them off. I hope it'll be a good class!

Australian Literature: The best way to describe my professor is "a hot mess". She's all over the place, a little bit crazy, and everything I could ever want in an English professor. I swear, the more I get into my major, the more I enjoy and look forward to the eccentric professors I get. They're always the best to provide the most crazy ideas and lecture the best. I'm thoroughly looking forward to taking this class!

Human Geography: I can't call this one yet, to be honest, because we've only had one class and it was about the syllabus. It seems like it will be interesting and perhaps relevant in some way, but I can't tell! The only thing I definitely don't like about this class is that that the professor forbids note taking on computers!

Thinking is exhausting! Around 9:00pm yesterday I was exhausted. The beginning of the school year always hits me hard. I've already spent some time in the PCL (which is simultaneously my favorite and least favorite library on campus; dreams go to the PCL to die, and yet because you're so miserable there you get tons of work done in order to escape it!) and already feel behind on my homework (though in reality I am not... I just need to spend a little time with my textbooks this weekend!)

I have high hopes for this semester!

Starting line...

So it's that time again. I present to you my schedule! (This will change soonish... at which point I might post the updated version.)



So I am taking 5 classes and 14 hours. What you do not see on the schedule is my Piano class, which I believe I will be arranging hours with whoever my professor will be sometime soon.

It turns out that I was right to be nervous about the audition. Apparently, they could only admit 14 out of the 50 students who auditioned, so I was very lucky to be admitted! I am very much looking forward to playing, bettering my technique, and improving my repertoire. I feel like I did not push very hard the last few years of my piano lessons, and it is in this class that I hope I can do just that - improve. I'd love to learn some more difficult pieces! Of course it occurs to me that my piano-playing abilities are much higher than the average person, but once you live with something for a while it becomes old news. I'm ready for new news, new pieces. I only hope I can rise to the challenge.

School starts tomorrow... and I will probably write my traditional class breakdown sometime between now and the weekend. For now, I am off to bed because I am exhausted!

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Weight this morning: 173.6

Pounds lost: 33.4

Pounds to goal weight: 28.6

I went on a grand adventure to the mall to purchase some shorts that actually fit me and don't fall off my body... but what I realized was that now that it is "fall", merchandise is all about long sleeves, knit tops and long pants. What retailers seem to fail at realizing is that the heat index was like 110F today. Eventually I found some cute shorts at Old Navy, but for a while there I was afraid I'd have to die of heat exhaustion in the one pair of jeans that fit me right now...

Getting Organized

I love back to school fever. I just love it. It makes me about ten million kinds of excited - I love buying textbooks, new notebooks, new pens, and going back to school to see friends I haven't seen in months. I love every second of the days leading up to school, having gotten rid of my "I just need summer right now" jitters of the last semester.

One of the things I did last semester was write down a list of needs and wants pertaining to the semester. This semester I want to make a similar list, but I want to make it more of a goal-oriented list. I worked a lot last semester on balancing work and play and failed rather miserably. I went from all play and no work to all work and no play, and that didn't do me any favors. This semester, I would like to be mostly work and some play. A good 3-1 ratio, I think.

So without further ado, here is my list:

• Make at least a B+ in every class
• Be less of a control freak - let it go sometimes!
• Find time to read at least one book a month - for FUN.
• Put away at least $100 into the Oxford Program Fund a month (see below)
• Make a study schedule and treat school as full time
• Go to every APO event you can - just do it!
• Find ways to get into publishing (see below) - talk to people! Network! Graduate in 2 more years for it!
• Be honest with friends and roommate when unhappy or uncomfortable - be open!
• Write when there is time, but don't let it interfere with those B+'s!
• Become more efficient with time - especially with school work.

So that's my list so far. It's going up on my bulletin board for me to look at every day.

About the Oxford Program: I'm not in yet, and I'm not guaranteed a spot, but it is an opportunity for me to study abroad (at, well, Oxford) next summer, in July and August. I desperately want to go, and this requires me to save up some money. With my current level of employment (regular twice-a-week Emma time and occasional date nights for other families) $100 is a pretty reasonable amount for me to put away. I'm hoping that I'll be able to find ways to add more than $100 to it, but $100 will be my goal.

About the publishing thing: I've decided (after months of deliberation, to be honest) to drop my education minor and work toward what I actually am interested in pursuing - a career in publishing. I've always been fond of editing and you ALL know how much I love to read. I know that the profession is a lot less glamorous in real life than it is in my mind, but it's always been the thing that I've gotten excited about. I want to make it happen, so it WILL happen!

And that's that! At the moment, I'm off to go cuddle with the school supplies at Office Depot.

Let me introduce the new nest!

Oh, hello there! So nice of you to drop in to see my new place! Take a look around, make yourself at home!

To your left when you come in the door, you see my kitchen!

If you go straight forward, you see my living room!

I have a little window between the kitchen and the living room!

Then in my room, I have my favorite bulletin boards...

Some artfully arranged black and white photos that I've taken. (Except there is one in there taken by Siobhan, which I stole... Hehe!)

A very familiar bed...

And plenty of windows to let in light (when I'm not taking photos!)

Lizz has a room directly across from mine, but we're both still in our pajamas, so I figured I'd wait for her to be dressed before I stick my camera in there!

Some other changes, I got my hair cut yesterday! The bangs made a return, but they are a little more prominent. Like it?

If you can, come see my new place! I'll make you coffee or tea and we'll have good times. :)

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Weight this morning: 176.8

Pounds lost: 30.2

Pounds to goal weight: 31.8

In other good news, I fit into a smaller jean size this week! Yay!! I need to find some belts around here...

Moving Blog

So in case you have no idea what I've been up to the last few days... the answer is MOVING.

My bedroom, when I left it this afternoon, looked a lot like this:

Which is more than bizarre, had you ever visited it in its prime. Siobhan captured it with her fisheye lens.

The living room is equally a strange sight. This was pre-vacuuming, obviously. I didn't leave the couch-shaped dust bunnies!

But now I have turned in my keys, I can move onto bigger and better things. (And by bigger, I mean a smaller apartment, and by better I mean, WAY more homey than this apartment has ever been to me!) While I did not speak of it often on the blog, I did not have the best relationship with my roommates this year, certainly not what I had my freshman year at UTSA with Kris/Abby (who I fondly, or not-so-fondly, have been calling 'Krabby' all year), and having that over and done with is a huge weight off my shoulders.

All of my efforts are now focused on the future with my new roommate Lizz (who is in APO with me, and one year my senior) and our apartment roughly eight blocks south and three or four blocks west of where I lived last year. Originally, we were to move in on the 20th, but with a little coercing (alright, begging) we are now to move in this Wednesday! It seems that my moving adventures are not over yet, but I am so grateful to be moving in so much sooner. I was worried about moving into my place the Saturday before the school year begins!

On the subject of decorating, (which is all I can think of right now!) Lizz and I are busy sprucing up our new place! I've enlisted (alright, begged!) Pippa to help with the decor, and Pippa has positively swooped in and coordinated everything for us! She keeps texting me with all sorts of wonderful news, like paintings, curtains, doormats... Our living room is going to be full of big, bright, beautiful colors, and I can't wait!

These are some of the colors... Pippa bought soft, squishy pillows and is going to bling up and convert the body pillow covers into smaller pillows for the couch. We found the perfect rug, and my pink and brown "medusa lamp" that I had in my bedroom is going to go into the living room, too.

At Target, they have collections of frames for $5 (varying sizes and colors), so I've bought some of those and have already filled them with some artsy black and white photos from my travels that I've taken.

This year? It's going to be totally awesome!

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Weight this morning: 181.2

Pounds to goal weight: 36.2

Getting there! :D