dance in the rain!

rain! puddles, lightening, thunder, and refreshing, clean, pouring rain! Things around here change fast, from freezing blinding cold to warm humid rain. Its wonderful and I love it! However its hard to get these Iowans to see the beauty of it. After months of -15 degrees, these people don't want to walk over to the cafeteria for dinner in the rain. To think...scrounging through our tiny fridge to find some sad dinner just because of a little rain! Maybe we should cancel class tomorrow too! Or even shut down some of the roads! I think I may have forgotten how to drive in this type of weather. rain!

find the matches for my shoes since every one has seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.

No classes today! Felt kinda like a Saturday except for the part of having to watch Othello, a more-than-three hour movie in the basement of the library. To make it worse, my prof shows up about ten minutes into the movie 'just to refresh myself on the video.' That minimized my instant messaging for about an hour, until she left because 'although I'd really love to finish watching, I have a meeting.' Thankfully there was only one other girl watching it with me so we only watched about two hours of it. The middle really isn't important though, trust me, we checked the summary online. And in the end everyone dies anyway. We got the main ideas and plot.

However, one interesting story of the afternoon started when I was chatting with a friend who was sitting on the computer in my room. She told me that the girl accross the hall had brought a baby goat to take care of for a few weeks. Now that seems pretty far-fetched, but if you knew this girl, you might just believe that she would take a goat from her parent's farm to live in her room for a while. Now I was stuck in the dungeon-like conference rooms in the library watching shakespeare's masterpiece so there was no way for me to find out the truth of the situation. My friend continued to tell me how cute he was and how it can't be that hard to keep it a secret from the RA. I still couldn't believe her so I sent a message to the girl next door to check it out, and not one to readily lie, she added a bit more believability to the story. Still, Angela seems to be continually trying to trick us, plus after thinking about it for a little while, I realized that the girl across the hall was out of town with her family for the whole day anyways. But when I finally finished the eternally long movie and made it back to my room, I opened the door only to find little black piles in a few spots on my floor. They were fairly obviously jelly beans, but the thought that they almost could be and actually looked somewhat real, disgusted me so much that I freaked out and couldn't even look at them or clean them up.

So basically, I'm going to have to think of something purely genius to retaliate...and I'm never going to be able to eat jelly beans again.

finish out strong!

Monday. Cold, misty, smells like cows. Actually, the first time I walked outside it smelled almost like the beach because it was wet, freezing, and windy...and almost salty. Although after about one second the salty fully developed until I realized that it was actually dairy cows that I smelled. I do like the overcast sky though.

So I've made a commitment to completely and wholly focus this week (except for a few minutes for blogging--that's an exception). No more wasting time long into the night only to have to set my alarm a half hour early so I can finish my homework. Every moment of my week is going to be spent doing useful things (well we'll see how long that lasts). Ok...blogging time is over...back to reading the Consise History of the Muslim World (which usually means falling asleep while holding the gigantic textbook in front of my face). No, but really, I am going to accomplish something.

learn to bake.

So I went home this weekend. Well not really home, but to my second home: my grandma's house. Usually I never worry about making plans when I go up there because there are so many people to visit that there is always somthing to do. However, when I got there on Friday night, I drove from house to house only to find everyone's lights turned off and most of the doors locked (which is actually more of a suprise that you might think--the doors being locked that is). So I finally decided that I would just crash at grandma's house and get a head start on homework and watch Monk and What Not to Wear. It ended up being very relaxing and refreshing considering the last time I had an entire room much less a house to myself was...uh, I have no idea.

Saturday consisted of making bars and eating pizza. My grandma was convinced that she was going to teach me how to bake...I think that she finally decided that I just need a few follow-up lessons in the next few weeks. You wouldn't think I could mess up something like Tosha Bars, which are graham crackers, carmel and chocolate, but guess what? I can! She told me that as soon as the carmel started boiling I need to check the clock and only let it boil for two minutes. But we were talking...so...all of the sudden she looks over and: 'Did you check the clock?' um no grandma, you were asking about my life, the clock was the farthest thing from my mind. 'Okay, what does the clock on the microwave say? 2:46? Ok, what time will it be in 2 minutes? 2:48? you need to make sure to turn off the stove then ok?' A few seconds later the hand that was stirring the carmel was the only part of my body that had any connection with the baking that was going on in the room. So of course a few minutes later: 'I think its probably been close to 2 mintues, did you check the clock?' I look at the clock and its 2:50. Thankfully my grandma is forgiving and my friends here at school are so deprived of home cooking that they will eat anything.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much made up of trying to catch up on my reading homework, napping and eating. I brought back a cardboard box and a paper bag full of homemade food! I think I might want to invest in a lock for my fridge.

count my blessings.

I was supposed to come back from Spring Break refreshed and rested, but after three days in a car, I feel like I need another Spring Break. Our little pickup, stuffed with four girls, luggage, and squished Costco muffins, was supposed to make it back to school in about 26 or 27 hours. However, after we hit a bit of black ice, had to turn around because of road closure, took a detour through North Dakota, and finally had to take a motel for our second night before we could finish the last stretch of the trip, we took over 30 hours of just driving. But thankfully we made it safely, which is of course more important than making it in a small amount of time. And we were able to sleep in a nice hotel and gain some much needed energy to finish driving. We actually found out yesterday morning when we were searching for the non-existent continental breakfast that the hotel had a beautiful indoor pool and spa. Unfortunately we didn't have time to swim, but we did take a few glamour shots in the "tropical paradise."

catch up on sleep.

Yes Yes, I lied. Don't worry, you weren't the only one. I lied to everyone. But can you blame me? I finally pulled off a real suprise. My parents, my siblings, my friends. Everybody.
So after 27, not 18, hours in the car, I've had the most wonderful week in Oregon...not Canada. The beach, the mountains, the rain, Burgerville, Mervyn's, Costco muffins, curvy roads, full service gas stations, and of course my friends and family. The best suprises were my parents, my older brother, and my younger sister:
Cole: (standing in the back of Dad's truck) just stares...I say: Hi!...he continues to stare...finally: Are you supposed to be here?
Dad: (walks into the house) mouth drops open, but doesn't say anything. I begin to worry: is he upset that I didn't tell him? how can he be upset that I'm home? Oh no! (we hug) ok good, he still loves me.
Mom: (at work) Hon! how did you get here? ...Well, we uh, took a wrong turn back in Montana. In the middle of a hug...You lied to me!
And Brenna: (as she climbs into the car after school) she also just stares...That's why mom didn't want to go visit you...No, Mom didn't know I was coming home...YOU DIDN'T TELL MOM!
Unfortunately, Spring Break is over in just a few days and I'm headed back to the midwest. But, only a month and a half and then its SUMMER!

make time go more quickly.

Seventeen more hours. Laundry, muffins, brownies, some reading, packing, and a lot of patience. I cannot wait. I don't think that I've ever wanted a break more. Even Canada sounds good. Even spending hours and hours in the car sounds good. Although one of the main things that I'm sick of is people, and I'm going to be stuck in a very small space for a very long time with 3 of them. I'll make sure to bring my pillow and a textbook so that I'll be able to sleep the whole time. Seventeen more hours.

avoid paying enough rent for a San Fransisco apartment overlooking the bay while living with five other people in the middle of the cornfield.

The big news on campus? Upperclassmen meal plan. Yes, I'm just a freshman, but it will affect me no matter what class I'm in. Right now, any soph. or freshman living in the residence halls is required to buy a full meal plan which is up to six meals a day (although supposedly we actually only pay for four). Now this is understandable for a first-year student, and although I really don't think I actually need four to six meals a day, I am willing to go along with it. For the second year, it would be nice to have a smaller meal plan, but even then, I can handle it with minimal complaining.

However, since we are required to live on campus all four years (which is another story), and upperclassmen pay more for the appliances in the apartments, a meal plan for juniors and seniors seems slightly overkill. The apartments cost six hundred dollars more per person than the resident halls, and the new meal plan would add eight hundred dollars per year. This meal plan would offer 80 meals per semester plus a $100 dollar flex card. 80 meals ends up being about 5 or 6 per week which means basically eating in the commons every day. Now the flex card is completely useless, because even though they say that many buisness around town may join in and accept it, cash works just as well. And there is a reason students don't eat out more often: they can't afford it.

The college does have a few arguments, although none of them have been presented very well. First of all, the college says that the food company needs more buisness. And their second point is that the college wants to build community among the student body.

Ok, so as far as the company needing more buisness, if it is in fact only the food company that need more money and not the college, I have to ask: how do regular food companies gain more buisness? By forcing people to buy food? No. By making their product desirable so that people want to come and eat there. If they do get the whole campus eating at the commons, will the food be any better? Very debatable. If they were to make the meal plan convenient, cheap, and of good quality, mabye juniors and seniors would want to buy it.

And community? First of all, the commons building itself is not big enough for everyone to eat in. And secondly, who really wants to have to stand in longer lines and be more crowded at the tables? Also, I've only been here for seven months, and I am not making new friends or building community while I eat. I sit with my friends. Sure, I see everyone, but whats different between that and walking down the halls between classes? And finally, isn't there a way to build community between the student body that doesn't cost students 800 dollars?

The college offered a meeting for anyone who was interested in the topic the other night. Close to 200 people showed up, so they had to quickly change to a location that at least offered standing room. Most of us were expecting to be able to hear from the food company, representatives from the board, student services, and maybe even the president. But no, instead one poor man was led to the slaughter. He had few answers and no support. Instead, he just made the student body more convinced to fight the proposal. Supposedly there's another one tonight, maybe this time the college will realize that they need to represent their cause a little stronger.

Seven more days until Spring Break!