Sense and Sensibility

Mom and I just finished watching Sense and Sensibility this afternoon. Before you start getting any ideas: We are not lazy bums that watch movies all day...we exercised together before. Also, we're drinking detox shakes(you really should be impressed)for a couple of days. Our run was great because it was lightly sprinkling...kinda felt like we were running in a rainforest with the green trees and rainy haze. Mom and I made chai drinks to accompany us with our movie. It was quite cozy :)

I do have a few words to say about that movie. It was pretty sad and depressing! I don't know why I was surprised though, because Jane Austen isn't known to write upbeat stories. If you've never seen it then let yourself be warned...I did enjoy watching it despite its somewhat dismal flavor.

Weird...

I woke up this morning at 11:00am and I have a strange feeling in my tummy. I'm pretty sure is has something to do with the fact that Leah's stuff is all packed up and most of the PYGers have finished the last of their exams. I still have a final this Saturday and it doesn't end till 3pm...Not so cool. So, I think I'm realizing how quickly the semester ended and maybe feeling a little bit freakouty(new word I created) about it.

I'm totally excited about this summer though! Maybe I'll just focus on that to make myself feel better. I'm going to be nannying Luca basically full time in FL with Luke and Jen! I love that little boy and don't get to spend much time with him so this is the opportunity of a lifetime. :) Jen and I have got some serious bonding to do. I Would take the liberty to say that we are probably the most similar in personality out of the girls in our family. She's always understood me pretty well and we've got some common passions(i.e. Dancing, running, good food, fashion, etc.). Man, I'm getting excited about this all over again! I'm so super charged up for our South Carolina vacation too! That's something I can't rave enough about. And, as an added bonus, Suneeta Thomas(from India) is going to be coming with us. She's accepted the challenge of watching the boys for the week.

I'm gonna go eat dinner at an Indian place here on campus with some of my PYG buddies! And looks like my night will consist of studying for an exam.
Almost done! But not as happy about it as I thought. I'm gonna miss my roommate Heidi too! This is too hard. Sigh.

Ready, get set, STUDY!

It's 2:000am and Heidi and I have barely begun our long night of studying and projects. Help.

I have a COM. 250 exam and Hedi has a massive literature project to do.

Me: "Heidi, how do you feel with the burden of homework upon your back?"

Heidi: "Worried and frantic."
--Said while munching on a pauca(this is not a wild critter as it sounds...it's actually a delightful piece of bread)

There you have it. Wish us luck! :)

New passion: Jazz.

My weekend started out with the borrowing of Heidi's car to pick up two friends of mine- (Iris and Su). They are both from China and I'll inform you that Su is actually a guy...poor fellow. Must be rough having such a name. :) We met a bunch of other international kids at a Japanese restaurant here on campus. It was a ton of fun. I spent most of my meal looking very awkward while trying to eat with chopstics. Pretty much I'd whine about how much I hate chopsticks, get made fun of, and almost give up! However, I'll have you know that I managed to finish my whole meal without touching a fork or spoon! I was pretty proud of myself and I think everyone else was too. :) I do have to thank chopsticks for solving one of my biggest problems in life. I tend to eat way too fast resulting in me almost always being the first person done at any meal. Chopsticks really don't allow for fast eating...maybe I should force myself to eat with them permanently from now on. Perfect.

Iris and I had planned to head over to WL Bible study directly after dinner but realized that there was no way we'd be able to make it in time. We ended up accepting a very last-minute invitation to a Jazz concert on campus from another friend from China named Webb. His name is weird too...he said it was the first word he saw in English so he chose it for his English name. I'm just glad it wasn't something more ridiculous...that's a pretty risky way of naming yourself! So we(me and three Chinese kids)took off for the concert, and that's how I happened upon the realization that I really do like Jazz music. I need to be specific though: My favorit type of Jazz music is the kind that has the bongo drums and a lot of Brazilian influence. I also have a new appreciation for instruments after watching those people perform. All in all it was a pretty fun night.

The rest of my weekend was awesome too! Christen came home with me that night and she was able to join us for a couple of the last songs from the Jazz concert before we left campus. We later did some jazz karaoke which was a blast! Saturday was super relaxing with Christen. Saturday night I headed to Indy to baby-sit the Schafer boys. :) I spent the rest of the weekend in Indy and was able to see Adrian and Noah in their Easter program. They were adorable and it was so great to be with everyone. I was able to see Clint, Alesa, and Bryan too.:)

STUDY CLUB update.

Last night we embarked once again to the always faithful Hicks study lounge. Obviously, there was far too little studying and for too much laughing and acting retarded! It's great. I'm pretty sure I'll look back in a couple of years and smile at the thought of how much time we continually wasted.:) What is time compared to cherished memories with dear friends? I'm looking for a quote now...
hehe. I was looking for something inspiring and found this...it makes me laugh!
--------------------------"Friendship? Yes Please."
----------------------------------Charles Dickens.

I think it's really funny that quotes like these even exist. Here are some pictures with a little study club flavor for you:

(Keep in mind that these pictures were taken at about 3:00AM)

Valentines day...the holiday for lovers.

My valentine's day is something to talk about for sure. Where do I start?
Sadie and I had been wanting to meeet at Denny&Mary Ann's with our foreign friends for quite a while. It just hadn't happened...that was about to change.
We decided to plan a get-together the weekend of valentine's day. It ended up working perfectly and I'm so thankful we did it. Sadie brought 4 girls with her. Quinn Steffen came with his friend and Janessa, Kurt, Sam, Sam's asian friend, Kyle, Suneeta, and I came out from Lafayette, The group was wonderful. Sam, Sadie, Janessa, Kyle, and I had a blast cooking dinner Saturday! We were all crammed in the kitchen working magic with fresh ingredients. Denny was a great advisor(as always) through our cooking adveture. I don't think I've ever had so much fun making a meal in my life. :)

Friday night a very unplanned camp fire was formed on the deck by the pond. It was about 12:00am and lightly snowing...we were all hudled around the fire pit with big smiles while trying to stay warm. We sang some praise songs and talked. Totally unplanned things are always the best. We played some pretty fun pool games, guitar hero(Janessa and Sam kicked butt!), and DDR (I wouldn't say I'm any good, but my friends say...ha).

I really loved all of the foreign people we were able to connect with. We represented six countries that weekend. Russia, China, India, Taiwan, Morocco, and Japan. Each personality was so special and they were all so appreciative. I loved it.

Denny and MaryAnn were once again the perfect hosts. I don't know how they do it. They give such energy and love to any and all guests. Without them it would have never been possible. I'm really thankful.:) I'm hoping we can all meet again when it's warmer and do some outside stuff...we'll see.
These pictures aren't the best quality, but give you a little idea of what the group looked like.

God is amazing.

This week has been really nice so far. I do have an exam Thursdy, which isn't great...but I'm going to conquer the reading and get that grade!

For real. I first of all want to say thank you to all of the people that are part of my life! I'm realizing how amazing my friends are. Through each experience in my life I have people that I enjoy and love so much! It's amazing how much I can see God and experience God in my friendships. That's what quality friendships are all about.

This semester's classes are seeming to be easier than last semester, which is giving me more time to breath. It's been quite a good thing. So I'm thinking with the extra time I have, what should I do? And this leads me to share something very exciting. I'm not positive about it yet...but the idea alone excites me lots. And since I really can never keep my mouth shut about anything in my life I'll share it. I received an email from Charlotte Messmer today. Charlotte is the Global Connect leader for the foreign students here at Purdue and she emails out information to all of us that have signed up for exchange students and stuff. She told me that she had met with Iris and wanted to thank me for the time I spent with her over Christmas break. I was really touched by the email and sent back a "thank you for the thank you" sort of email. In my email to her I mentioned how much I really do have a heart for foreign students and I offered to help her with the program in any way I could. I really didn't think that she would acctually take me up on the offer...low and behold, she wrote back right away and would like to meet me if I'm interested! You have no idea how excited this makes me. :)

Quote from Charlotte herself: "I do have some ideas of things that have just been on the back burner, but if you have some interest, maybe we could get together to talk more about it sometime? Would you have time to do that?"

This would be the ideal opportunity to serve...something that I very much enjoy and am PASSIONATE about! We'll see what happens. Ideas on the back burner...jeepers?! It's so cool.

Maybe next time I blog I'll have new information on this subject. :)