Some Thoughts on Self-Awareness

Something strange happened to me on Thursday.

I did something which I have always believed I am bad at, only this time I was good at it.

It was a class presentation, which I have always dreaded and have in fact dropped certain classes for upon learning that they would be required. My confidence has really been boosted over the past 10 months so they no longer give me a sickening pit in my stomach; however, I'd still prefer to sit and listen quietly than stand up and speak.

The first strange thing was that out of the three members of my group (we gave a group presentation, each of us talking about a different aspect of our subject), I seemed to be the least nervous. I am slightly older (1-3 years) and have a bit more college experience than most of the students in my classes now since I am a 3rd semester senior, so it may have been that my own anxieties about presenting have become muted while my classmates' are still fresh. However, having never been the "confident one", it felt totally alien to be reassuring the other group members and attempting to calm their frazzled nerves.

What was really strange, though, was that on the elevator after the class was over one of my other classmates (whom I have never interacted with before) turned to me and said, "Your presentation was really good. You made eye contact and were so confident. I was like, 'I want to be like that'". Not only was I incredibly flattered, but I was also quite taken aback- me, confident? and not just passable at presenting but good enough for someone to actually admire me? This did not fit with my image of myself or my skills at all, and as I walked to my car I thought, "maybe the person I've always believed myself to be is not who I actually am".

I've found that throughout our lives we seem to accumulate a list of traits and qualities that we assign to ourselves. Some are told to us often enough that we internalize them, others we discover or diagnose on our own. Especially now that social media plays such a large role in our lives, we are encouraged to define ourselves in our profiles, about me's, etc by a list of adjectives rather than letting our personalities come out organically through our interactions.

One of the biggest ones for me has been that I'm shy or introverted. People have told me this so many times over my entire life that it is just a facet of my identity now. I am pretty introverted, I like my alone time, and I was definitely a shy kid- but having this specific idea of myself cemented in my brain totally blinded me to the ways in which I am not introverted. It even caused me to believe that I was naturally predisposed to be bad at certain things- things like presenting in front of a class. The fact is, though, that many of the things I have self-diagnosed myself as bad at I am actually decent and even good at. It just took an unbiased stranger to bring it to my attention.

Often people say that you should not be concerned with the opinions of others, just concentrate on how you view yourself. I have found, however, that the way I view myself is frequently inaccurate. I have a list of things that I believe myself to be, and when those things change (or are simply not true) it can be difficult to see the discrepancies. I think sometimes other people can see us far more accurately than we see ourselves.

I'm so glad that girl complimented me in the elevator, because it brought me a bit closer to understanding who I am and what I'm actually capable of. The past two years have been a whirlwind from which I'm still in the process of re-emerging. I'm recreating and redefining myself, but it's easy to get lost and be unable to see or notice the changes. That interaction was a reminder to try to see myself objectively- to let my personality and abilities speak for themselves, rather than stuffing them under preconceived ideas of what they are.

<3 Em

What's been happening and what's coming up next:

It's that time of the semester! Final papers/projects/tests that were so safely in the distant future for the first few months of the year suddenly have very real, very quickly approaching due dates. It always seems to happen so suddenly. It's a whirlwind of work and stress and freaking out feeling like I'll never get it all done and then, abruptly, it's all over and I have the whole summer ahead of me. I'm not quite at that part yet but I am very close.

So yeah, my presence here on this blog has been limited because of that and probably will continue to be for at least the next week as I finish things up. I had a 5 page paper due this past Monday, another one yesterday, an assignment due this evening, and a couple little short papers to do this weekend... then a quick presentation next wednesday, and then 2 finals and one more 5 page paper between May 6th-8th. Shouldn't be too horrible, but enough keep me busy and remind me that it's not summer, not yet.

There's a lot to look forward to when the semester finally is over, though! My 22nd birthday is on May 10th, and although I'll actually be working and doing pretty much nothing interesting on that day, Colton and I are going to leave the next day for a vacation in honor of my birthday. There's nothing in particular that I really want, so a trip instead of presents is my kind of birthday celebration. We'll be spending some time in Prescott for Mother's Day and my dad's birthday, which is the day after mine, and then heading to LA to go to Disneyland and California Adventure! After that we are spending a couple days in San Diego where we'll hit up the beach, maybe go to a baseball game, and just relax. Should be a lot of fun :) It will be the best way to end the school year and kick off the summer!

Speaking of summer, I'm planning on doing a little weekly feature here on my blog for about 15 weeks through my summer vacation. It's going to be called "homemade summer"- every week I'm going to try to cook and blog about something that one would typically just buy already made at the store. A blog I read called Macheesmo does something like this that he calls the homemade trials, where he tries to deduce whether it's better to buy something premade versus making it yourself at home based on cost, time, taste, and nutrition. I'm not going to be trying to figure out if/convince you that making something at home is better, I'm just going to be doing it to a. see if I can, b. have fun, and c. appreciate the differences!

Here are a few things I'm thinking of trying to make: Ricotta, mozzarella, marshmallows, pickles, corned beef, butter, bagels, yogurt, chocolate, nutella, mustard, and many other things. If you have any ideas for things that are possible to make at home but that most people just buy at the store, let me know!

Alright, I'm off to work on a couple assignments before I go to work tonight. Have a nice weekend!

Good things are happening!

Clemenoodles cuddles ALWAYS boost my mood!

After a week or two of feeling pretty exhausted, stressed, unmotivated, and generally 'meh', some really great stuff happened these past few days which has really boosted my mood.

First, this:

"Thank you for submitting your petition to the General Petitions Committee.  Your petition has been read by the doctor at Campus Health who has seen all of the materials, has carefully weighed your specific circumstances, and has voted on your petition.
We are happy to inform you that your petition, requesting a complete retroactive withdrawal from Spring semester, 2012, has been approved."
 
Then I got a 98 % on a Roman literature test I was about 99% sure I got a C or B- on. Don't know how I pulled that one off but I'll take it.

Then I stopped by the fine arts graduation services offices and got my degree check to GRADUATE IN DECEMBER! Still a couple things I have to do for that but no problems popped up with the initial check so I should be good to go. Something felt so freaking satisfying about filling out a form with all my degree information and letting them know how to spell my full name to go on my diploma. gahh :)

And finally, I've lost 30 lbs in exactly 12 weeks and I'm feeling great about it! 10 more will put me about at what I was in high school, but I didn't really work out in high school so hopefully I will be much more toned at that weight now.

This quote has always seemed kind of dumb to me since everyone loses weight at different paces and there's no way of knowing what effect a certain amount of time and effort will have on your body...

 ...BUT, in the past week a couple people have asked me if I've lost weight or told me I look skinny which is really awesome to hear. I think anyone who has tried to lose weight knows how meaningful it is to have the hard work manifest itself on your body and to have other people take notice. Very rewarding.

So things are going really well right now, which is great because I was feeling really overworked and a bit down over the past couple weeks. I'm still a bit exhausted and stressed from work and school but knowing summer is just around the corner is a bit of a relief- and knowing that by the end of 2013 I'll have a degree and an even stronger, healthier body is enough to motivate me through the rest of the year!

Sorry for this rather braggy-bordering-on-gloaty blog post. I know sometimes it's looked down upon (especially in the land of the internet) to get really excited about yourself. But oh well, blogging and social media is narcissistic by nature :) and (because apparently I'm really feeling the inspirational quotes plastered all over the internet today):

 <3  

Registered.

It's been a fairly busy week!

The retroactive medical withdrawal that I mentioned I had to work on in my hair mask post has finally been completed. It involved me working for five hours on Friday typing a statement, emailing professors and campus health, and filling out paperwork.. and then spending the last three mornings visiting each professors office, going to the health center, filling out MORE paperwork, and putting together a big 'ol stack of stuff... which I turned in to administration this morning. WOO! It's something that has been stressing me out and sitting at the back of my mind for a year and it feels good to have it totally DONE.

On top of that, the spring 4th ave street fair was this past weekend. Street fair is kinda fun because we close the inside of the restaurant off to customers and just serve slices in the front. I work counter so I get to be the one manning the register, serving customers, and dealing with lots and lots of hungry people. It's nice to hang out outside for a whole spring evening, and my work is sufficiently reduced since I don't have to deal with pickups or keeping the dining room clean... but it can get pretty crazy with all those sweaty tourists demanding pizza.

So that was Friday night and Sunday night. Sunday we closed around 7 for our biannual Brooklyn party that happens every street fair. Brooklyn parties are effing insane. I've gone and had fun in the past but I had no desire to drink my face off and watch my coworkers get crazy sloppy this year so I went home after I was done closing and ate dinner and watched battlestar galactica instead.

On Saturday, our friends Roland and Annalise got married at the lovely Tucson Botanical Gardens. I know Annalise from Mama Eddas (She worked there after I had left but I saw her all the time since I was always in there with Linn, Kris, and Nick) and Roland has been one of Colton's friends since high school. It was soooo gorgeous at the garden at dusk and their ceremony was simple, short, and sweet. The reception was immediately after and it was nice because you could explore the gardens while waiting for everything to be set up for dinner. It was a very, very fun night and I am very happy they invited me :)

MOST exciting thing that happened this week though, is that I got totally registered for my LAST classes as an undergraduate EVER.

The way the registration process works, it takes 2-3 weeks to register for each upcoming semester. Once the class catalog is online, you have to plan your schedule. Then you have to fill out a form (at least for my department) with the classes in your major and that has to be turned in by a certain date depending on your standing. Then about a week later you have your "enrollment appointment" when you can register for any other classes that don't require department consent. Hopefully by that point you know whether or not your department was able to register you for the classes you wanted and you can submit new forms if necessary.

This semester, everything went off without a hitch! It was the first time I haven't neglected filling out my form until too late (which results in having to turn it in with students of lower class standing/being lower on the registration totem pole) so that might be why. My classes next semester sound REALLY awesome too.

They are:

An upper division classics class on Greek and Roman influences on 1930s art
Film Styles and Genres, a 400 level film and television class which changes emphasis each semester. Last fall I took it when it was Westerns, next fall it is Crime Drama. 
Screen Artists, another 400 level FTV course with rotating emphasis. This spring I'm taking it on Stars of History and Today, next fall it will be on the Coen Brothers. Goodie!
My FTV Senior Seminar, which will be on Cult Cinema.

I've already had all the professors teaching these courses and they're all awesome so I'm excited.

I'm even more excited for the end of December this year, when I will be walking across the stage in a cap and gown and receiving a diploma! Finishing college. What an accomplishment that will be. I imagine it will feel something like this:

Aaah. That will be nice.

For now though, it's 5 1/2 more weeks of this semester, a crazybusy summer, and then one more round of syllabi, essays, and school-centric life. At least the end is in sight!

<3

DIY Nourishing Hair Mask

No Thursday update this week because I pretty much told you all the highlights of my week as they happened... 'they' being St Paddy's day and working my face off, both at Brooklyn and at school. I had big stuff every day of school this week! a five page paper here, a final paper proposal there, and a big fat midterm to finish it off yesterday. It was overwhelming to have all that facing me immediately after spring break, but now the next few weeks of school should be relatively calm and even-paced.

Today I am working on something that I literally have been avoiding and procrastinating for just about a year- my retroactive medical withdrawal from the spring 2012 semester. Big fat stressed-out sigh. I stopped attending school when it all became "too much", realizing that despite my efforts I had tried to resume my normal life too soon. Due to the conditions of my withdrawal I can blame it on medical reasons but I have to write a whole statement explaining my situation, as well as go around to the 4 professors whose classes I stopped attending and ask them to fill out a form supporting my withdrawal. Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, it is very difficult for me to take my thoughts back to those troubling times, let alone write at length about them and present them to other people to be judged for their worthiness or whatever. Blah. So I didn't do it for months and months. But I only have until the end of this semester so today I'm just going to do it.

On top of that, I'm going in to work today at 4 and it's the spring 4th ave street fair this weekend... which means lots of hungry people that have been walking around in the sun all day demanding slices. I like working the counter but street fair is always pretty high intensity.. so we'll see how that goes.

To take the edge off a bit on my busy and stressful day, I'm going to do at least one of my weekly beauty categories... probably face today. A nice steam and facial should ease the tension, I hope. Yesterday I did my hair and I whipped up this simple little hair mask that I wanted to share with you guys! It's full of protein in the form of Greek yogurt and egg yolk so it is very nourishing and strengthening for your locks. The olive oil is moisturizing, softening, and adds to shine, while the honey is conditioning and also contributes shine and luster to dry, limp hair.

Greek yogurt and honey is one of the most delicious things ever and making and using this mask reminded me of drizzling gobs of golden honey onto cold, super-thick, creamy bowls of yogurt in Greece a couple summers ago. It certainly smelled the same! The honey and yogurt I had wasn't as nice as that stuff but it still made my hair look and feel great and was a nice mid-week boost.

You will need:
Olive oil
Yogurt
Honey
1 egg

Start by separating the egg yolk from the white. The yolk is high in fat and protein which makes it great for your hair while the egg white is super low in calories and great for your waist ;) You can discard the white or use it to make a healthy omelet, meringues, or a number of other yummy goodies.

Put the yolk in a small bowl and use a fork to break the membrane and mix it up real quick. Did you know an egg yolk is one cell? I learned that in like 7th grade science and found it fascinating.

Drizzle in about 1 tbsp olive oil. Since I was doing my full hair treatment yesterday, I had some leftover olive oil from my hot oil scalp rub so I just used that.

Squeeze in some honey next, about 2 tbsp. If you have raw honey, use that! I just had this Kroger stuff on hand. Whisk the oil and honey thoroughly into the egg yolk.

Finally, a healthy dollop of Greek yogurt, about 1/4-1/2 cup. Mix it up real good and you have your mask!

To use, moisten hair with a spray bottle full of HOT water. use your hands, a comb, or a combination of the two to apply the mask to all of your hair but particularly to the length and ends. I like to get mask all over my hands and rub/rake it through my hair, then use a wide tooth comb to distribute it evenly. Twist your hair into a bun on the top of your head, wrap your whole scalp/hair in plastic wrap (you aren't going anywhere, right?) and then wrap it all up in a hot towel. leave on for 10-30 minutes, whatever you have time for, and then rinse it out well and wash normally in the shower. Tada! Revitalized, nourished, shiny hair :)

It's the weekend! YAY!

Thursday Update

Thursdays are my last day of school during the week and my last day off before I go back to work (I work Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays) so it's a good day to recap what's been going on and talk about what's in store for the weekend and the next school week. This week I'm going to talk about all of February since it's the first update! I'm going to try to post a short little update like this every Thursday just to keep you filled in regarding my day to day life :)

This past (few) week(s) in photos/instagram:

Celebrating 211 much more quietly than in past years... getting a hot drink at Skybar after work. 

I got really into hot toddies in these chilly winter months! Whiskey, honey, lemon juice, hot water, garnished with cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, and cloves.

Valentines day was nice and quiet since my boyfriend Colton and I were taking a trip the following weekend that was kind of a christmas/valentines gift hybrid. I went shopping on my break between classes and bought a couple cute dresses and that night we made a nice Italian dinner at home. We did get each other a few small gifts but nothing crazy.

Spearmint gum (my favy) leek and morel mushroom jack cheese (yesss), some potted flowers, and coconut water. Perfect Vday gifts for this girl.

 That weekend Colton and I went to see one of our FAVORITE comedians, Louis C.K! We drove up to phoenix for the show, stayed in a nice hotel in tempe, went to an only so-so restaurant for dinner, and went to the late show which they were filming for HBO! it was sooooo fun and I'd pay 45$ a ticket to see him again any day. 

Hotel mirror pic! Right before leaving for dinner.

A week ago last Wednesday it snowed in Tucson! I've live in Tucson since Fall of 2010 and I've never seen snow here, other than way up on Mt Lemmon. It was really awesome... big, fluffy flakes were falling all day and night long and the next morning there was a wee bit that actually stuck. Of course it was gone by noon. Still cool to see though!

And of course Clem had her birthday on Sunday but I showed you that pic.

Here's what else has been going on this week:

I turned in my first test for my Screen Artists class, and received my grade for my first Roman Literature test. 96%! Not bad considering I was almost certain I would sound very stupid next to all the Classics majors in the class... I've never taken a Rome-focused classics class and it's actually been about a year since I took a classics class at all. 

I've lost 16.6 lbs total since I started actively trying to lose weight on January 17th. Woo!

I finally made a tumblr but I have no idea how to use it so someone should inform me...

I got my first paycheck since upping my hours at work back to 3 shifts a week. That's what I started with a year and a half ago but after Linn died I went down to 2 shifts and then to one measly 7 hr shift a week. It felt soooo good to have a paycheck over 120$ again! I'm looking forward to hitting up Joanns for some nice fabric and filling out my Etsy store.

Here's what's coming up:

Tonight I'm driving Clem and myself up to Prescott. Tomorrow my Dad and I will be going up to Flagstaff for a little ski vacation. I haven't skied since I was about 7 or so and I remember a lot of falling so... should be interesting. but fun!

Next week is the last school week before spring break! yay!

I have a TON of my own recipes saved on my computer, all with serving sizes and calorie breakdowns. This week I'd like to remake a couple of them and take pictures so I can share them on this blog! Looking forward to another week of healthy eating. 

 That's all for now! Have a great week/month and see you again in a few days!

Stretched Too Thin

is how I am feeling recently. Needless to say I've been quite absent in the blogging world, but not for lack of trying. I simply have absolutely no time. I'm at school monday-thursday, I work thursday nights and all day friday and saturday. Typically I have sundays off and I use that time to do all my homework, clean the house, etc.

But that's not all. I recently agreed to help out one of my coworkers with an independent film project. He's a dj and was asked to do the music and sound effects recording in order to get the film ready for upcoming festivals. Since I'm a media arts major and have a bit of experience with sound effects recording he asked if I would help him out. It's been fun work, but it's also been long, tedious, and complicated. I spent all of saturday night after work doing it, and then much of sunday and sunday night, and today I'm going to have to spend several more hours working on it. It's not for nothing, though, I will be getting IMDB credit as well as a small portion of sales if the movie is picked up.

And then there are the trips to prescott. These are frequent, though not as frequent as I'd like since they're my only chance to see my boyfriend, my parents, and many of my closest friends. They're always fun but they always mean cramming with homework as soon as I get back and spending a minimum of 6 hours out of my weekend driving.

Lastly theres the whole trying to be social and act like a college student thing. With my minimal free time, I pretty much try to fill every second with something enjoyable or relaxing, such as zoning out in my bed watching silly tv shows or hanging out with stewart or going to parties and activities and such. Unfortunately, when I do have time to do these things I get bogged down thinking of all the stuff I'm going to have to do later, so it's not nearly as enjoyable as it should be.

I hardly ever have time to do things like keep my blog current or keep my house completely clean or even go grocery shopping or cook my own food. It's nuts.

I really wish things could go back to simplicity- I miss not having anyone depend on me to do things. People asking me to cover their shifts, project partners needing to meet during my few precious free hours... it's all just too much. The days fly by because I'm constantly busy but I feel like I'm always slipping behind, I can never quite catch up with all my obligations and work. I haven't responded to any emails since like the beginning of the semester, I haven't even really had time to fully read them. I want to feel like my work is done, like I can just relax, but I seriously don't have time to. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The end of the semester can't come soon enough, and honestly neither can graduation. I really hate having to go to work and go to school. It's just not a good way to live. In my finance class, we learned that a full time student who works more than 15 hours a week significantly raises their chances of getting bad grades and is much less likely to graduate. I work 21 hours a week and I can certainly see why that might be the case. It's freaking difficult.

Anyways, vent sesh over. Just had to get that off my chest, and now you understand why this blog has been so lame recently.

If I find any free time, I will try to devote it to posting more, because I miss it so.

<3
Em

Fall Fix-Up: School

My friend Jessica has this as a doormat in her apartment :)

 Fall means a lot of things, but for the majority of people under the age of 22 (and a lot of people over the age of 22 as well) it means school. back to hitting the (400 dollar) books, trading sleep for good grades and a social life, playing frizbee on the quad (this really happens at my school. such a cliche.), and counting down the days until the end of the semester.

It's taken me longer than usual to get into the groove of the fall semester this year, probably because graduation seems closer than it ever has before. I've let myself get distracted with trips to prescott, work, and other little things and I've let a few reading assignments or "unnecessary" classes here and there slide.

But no more! It's time to crack down. In this feature I'm going to share a few of my own tips and strategies for how to stay on top of school (without letting it rule your life).

The single most important tip I can offer you is get a planner. One that has ample space for each day of the year from august to may. after the first couple days of the semester, gather all your syllabi and write down the reading assignments/homework assignments/due dates/test dates/etc for the entire semester for all your classes. For really important things like essay due dates or test days, highlight or put a star next to the assignment/test. This way, you'll never be wondering just what you have to do on any given day. All you have to do is open up your planner and it will all be written down for you. Also, it's really satisfying to cross off each thing as you complete it and to know that you have finished all your work for the day. Hell, you could even finish tomorrow's if you felt like it. But we're starting to talk crazy.

Now that you know exactly what you're supposed to do every day, try to actually do it on that day. There are plenty of weeks when I get caught up with various things and then find that I have 200 pages of reading to do for 3 different classes, 2 assignments, and a test to study for. That's way more to tackle than if I'd just done a little bit of work each day. Sometimes it's tough to convince yourself to do homework every day but it really is helpful.

So make the time that you do homework something that you might not exactly look forward to but can at least see as bearable. Choose a spot in your house or dorm or on campus that is comfortable and conducive to studying. This could be a specific nook in the library, a nice, secluded place outdoors, a comfy chair in your living room, or just your desk or your bed. The space should be free from distractions like traffic noise, other students, etc. If you like music while you study, play it. My freshman year in Portland, my favorite way to study was at my desk, with my feet on the heater under my window and a blanket over my legs (I'm always cold) and with my cupper's travel mug full of hot tea and a napkin full of cookies stolen from the bon. Mint tea+Chocolate Chip cookies= best thing ever, especially on a chilly, rainy portland day. This way, the activity itseld (studying) might not be all that enjoyable, but you can please the rest of your senses (music to listen to, something yummy to sip on/eat, cozy surroundings) to make the experience as a whole decent enough.

Planning on a day to day scale is very important, but planning for the big picture is just as if not more important. The first thing I did when I got to Lewis and Clark in 2009 was put together a 4 year plan. I figured out exactly which classes for my major/minor/gened I would need to take to graduate and arranged them in a schedule that made sense and left room for adjustments. The first thing I did when I got accepted to the media arts program at UofA was put together a 3 year plan. With each change I make- wether it's adding a minor, contemplating another major, etc I make a new 3 year plan to figure out how the classes I need to take will fit into my graduating on time. So many students go into college without really knowing what they're supposed to take to graduate on time... which is why the average student take 5-6 years to earn a bachelors degree. Since I've been planning since day one of my college career, it seems absurd that I would ever have to take more than 4 years to graduate- but that's because I took the time to figure out exactly what I'm going to have to do for all my remaining semesters.

Looking at the results when I googled "academic tips", I got a lot of the same old thing that you probably don't need to be told. "go to class prepared", "take thorough notes", "do the reading", you know. The thing is, I don't think the same tips are applicable to every class, and I think if you try to do the same things for every class you will end up wasting a lot of unnecessary time. During the first couple weeks of class, pay attention to your professors' teaching styles. Some may really expect you to remember important details from the reading, while others may assign the reading but then go over everything you need to know in class. Some may take attendance every day and expect you to take detailed notes, while others may post their lecture notes online and simply expect you to show up on test day and know the material. Obviously in a perfect world where we all have unlimited time and brain power we would do the same amount of work for all these classes just in the name of learning. But it's college, and we all know that college is part academia, part having fun, meeting people, experiencing new things, and exploring life as an adult. We have jobs and social lives and we certainly don't want to spend these four years with our noses in books the whole time. So adjust your learning/studying style depending on the teaching style of the class and the professor. If doing the reading does nothing more than tell you exactly what the teacher is going to say verbatim in class the next day, maybe just skim it. If the lecture notes are given online, don't worry about writing down everything word for word- just supplement the given notes with additional things the professor might say in class. This will save you a lot of time and effort without really compromising your gpa.

Those are my favorite tips, but here are a few more short ones:

-establish and look towards goals. Even if it's just getting through the semester or getting to graduation, know the steps you need to take to get there and feel accomplished as you take them.
- taking forever on a project or revising a paper a million times doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be better, and doing something all in one sitting doesn't mean it's going to be bad. Some of the best grades I've gotten were for essays I wrote in three or four hours the night before they were due. I went through the next morning and just made minor wording/grammar corrections before turning it in. Find a way of writing/doing assignments that works for you and don't let all those people tell you that you have to have at least three drafts or have to spend at least two weeks working on a paper for it to be good.
- Don't take it too seriously. Yeah, it's college, and it's your future, and it's expensive... but a few missed classes or assignments here or there are not going to matter in the long run. One failed test will not be the end of you. Just do your best not to let it happen again but don't freak out if it does. In the end it's the time you spent outside of class that you're really going to remember, not that one time you got a D on an essay.

What are your tips for staying organized and clear-headed in school? Interestingly enough my only class of the day today was cancelled so I'm going to do all that homework I put off last week ;)

<3
Em

Greece, Day 8

I promised you guys I'd start posting more photos weeks ago, i know. I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and edit them all... plus I'm still processing and adjusting to this "normal" life thing again... it hasn't been easy and I really haven't been in the mood to have to deal with it all. but here you go- most of the picture posts won't be this long, but i didn't want to split up one day's worth of photos (and this was a busy day!) In this set are pictures of Plataea, where the battle of plataea took place (shocker, right?), Gla- an ancient Mycenaean ruin that was covered by a lake for a very long time, Thermopylae, where the battle shown in the movie 300 took place, and Delphi, where all kinds of cool shit from the Pythian games to the Delphic oracle of Apollo occurred.

 Greece is full of gorgeous flowers. This one was in Plataea. Modern Plataea is just a teeny tiny little town, and Ancient Plataea is even smaller- just a few old very worn down ruins, mostly the bases of houses and such.

 Nick got our Professor to pretend to fight him to recreate the battle of plataea- as if the prof is a persian and nick is a greek.

 This is Gla- it's actually quite huge, though it's hard to really see much in this photo. the whole thing was covered by a lake for a very long time- mostly you can just see the wall that lined the perimeter of this Mycenaean town.

 The boys- and one, in particular- had a habit of flexing their muscles for every picture we took. This is us girls (well three of us anyways) making fun of them :)

 see what i mean with the muscle flexing?

 This is Thermopylae, where the battle that is featured (and hollywood-ized, though not as much as you might think) in the movie 300 took place. Imagine the greeks coming down through those rocky, steep mountains, and the Persians approaching from the sea, which would be opposite these mountains. There's no longer a sea there, it's just farmland, but it's cool to think about.

 looks kind of familiar, doesn't it?

 A tribute to the Spartans, who fought to their death.

 Schmules doing his reading

 Statue of Leonidas, the spartan commander (Gerard Butler's character in the film)

 The spartans would of course not actually fight naked, but the Greeks were obsessed with the male form and perfection, so they always sculpted their warriors to be mostly nude.

 The view from the bus as we drove up the mountains to Delphi

 A tholos at the lower ancient site in delphi. Most tholos' we don't know the purpose of- in later pics you'll see some tholos tombs and at the agora there was a tholos where the important people in athens would meet, but this one and most others give no clues as to what they could be used for. Tholos just basically means round building, by the way.

 This is the greek version of an exit sign! weird, huh?

 If you look really closely at the center of this pic, you'll see a whitish dot. it's a goat! If you zoom in a bunch you can actually make out it's shape.

 Swimming pool at the ancient training area in Delphi. The pythian games- one of the four panhellenic games- took place in Delphi, but at the upper site (next set of photos). The lower site was where a lot of training took place. this swimming pool was aobut 4 or 5 feet deep now, but was surely deeper in antiquity.

 some of the boys pretending to swim in the pool.

 backstroke!

 awesome tree at the lower site

 the lower site at delphi

 there are a million stray dogs and cats in Greece! In delphi in particular, there were a bunch of cats that hung out across from our balconies at the hotel.

Nicholas, one of the two "greeks" on our trip. If you couldn't tell, he basically has a bottomless stomach. That night he pretty much finished everyone's food for them.


more pics in a few days!

<3
Em