Christmas Card

Yes, we are "those roommates." We made a little digi card to share our Christmas spirit!

Wrapping up the quarter

Finals are almost done (I have one more on Friday).
My room is covered in piles of clothes in the process of being packed.
The emails from Yaz about training camp are almost hourly.
Mikayla and I are going on mad cleaning sprees as study breaks.

Yep, Autumn Quarter at Stanford is almost over!

I had a final last Thursday and two this past Monday and will take one Friday morning. All my projects were due last week. It's really almost done.

I fly out with the team first thing Saturday morning for "Fun in the Sun" a.k.a. winter training camp in Tempe, Arizona and will be there until the 21st.

The 21st through Jan. 2nd will be spent at home, bouncing between Mom's house, Dad's house, friends, and relatives. I just hope the weather cooperates and I don't get snowed in again like last year since I have less than two weeks to catch up with as much family and as many friends as possible!

Midterms...bleh

So...I definitely spent all Sunday night, Monday (when not at practice or in class), and Monday night cramming for a Tuesday midterm, then I turned around and did it again for a midterm today while I was sick. Now I'm avoiding a paper that I need one more page on by tomorrow morning to write to y'all.
The midterms never end here. I have two more next week and have already had a couple. That's the one bad thing about the quarter system, but I guess I can't complain too much.

Okay, now to be more upbeat:
Fall racing season ended for our upperclassmen last weekend after kicking some booty at the Head of the American. I am starting PT for my knee - again - on Monday, so hopefully we'll get things straightened around this time.
Also, I have officially bought my plane tickets for winter break. Finals wrap up on December 11th, we're heading to Tempe as a team on the 12th and I will be home the evening of the 21st for almost two weeks!

Decisions

At just over two weeks into the quarter, my first papers and midterms are coming due. With that though, I have a finalized class schedule for the term, as well as a plan for the rest of my Stanford career, including a major! If all goes according to plan, I will be working on my declaration next quarter.

This weekend was ridiculous. The team had a teambuilding trip and a regatta, all beginning after a marathon practice and trailer-loading. De-rigging twenty boats and fitting them all on a single trailer was quite a puzzle. After we finished the trailer and the extra Excursions showed up at the boathouse, we all climbed in and drove up the 101, through the city, across the Bay bridge, and into Marin for lunch. We then drove along the 1 and through all of its crazy zig-zags along the coast until we reached the parking lot for the trail we were hiking. The hike was about an hour up and down to Bass Lake where most of the team - including Nate - jumped in via the rope swing, multiple times! Of course, after that, we had to walk an hour back to the vehicles. We then drove another hour to Petaluma and the campground we were all staying at. Grilling burgers, veggie burgers, and chicken-apple sausages over the fire long after dark with teammates and coaches in the freezing cold was an interesting event. Most of us were in bed and asleep shortly after 9:30 because it had just been such a long day. The next morning we rolled out at 6:30 headed for the Wine Country Rowing Classic where I raced in one of our 8+'s, which won gold.

Brand New Year

The new quarter officially started yesterday, with the first classes, first practices, and first "official" team meetings.

Mikayla and I got to campus Friday and worked on settling into our apartment - and stocking it with groceries! - over the weekend. Our pickup full of stuff came in last night, so it is still a mess as we are trying to decide how best to organize everything, while still making it to classes.

Apparently I have a death wish, as I am taking 20 units this quarter. All my classes seem like a lot of fun, so hopefully it won't be too terrible. I'm taking Psych 1 (Intro to psych), Psych 60 (Intro to developmental psych), Psych 147 (basically teaching preschool), CS 105 (Intro to computer science), and sign language.

We had our first watts test of the year this morning, and we have our big 6k on Thursday, so practice is crazy. We are up in numbers right now, even though most of my class quit over the summer. I think I am going to be hosting a recruit this weekend too!

My only other news is that I am auditioning for two of the campus a cappella groups this week for fun. Mixed Company is kind of a pop-based group, while Harmonics is the rock group on campus. I'm not too concerned with how they turn out, but friends in the groups asked me to audition, so I figured I might as well give it a try!

Done

Done:
-Spring Quarter finals
-my freshman year at Stanford University
-crew season
-a year living in Roble with three great roommates
-nearly six months away from my family
-packing

I finished finals Saturday afternoon, while some of my roommates still have yet to begin.

My Sunday, for once, was not packed with homework and studying, but instead packed with much more fun events.
The Stanford Openweight Women's Crew team had our end-of-year banquet as a brunch at the boathouse yesterday. Rog made a fantastic slideshow recapping the entire year, from the first day of practice to the winning of the NCAA Team Championship . . . oh yeah, I should say that the Women of Stanford are National Champions! Yaz handed out the "oarlock" awards for leadership, potential, inspiration, most valuable, and most improved. The 2008-09 captains "retired" and the new ones were named and given their first tasks as leaders of our team. We also got the chance to watch the "cox-cams" from the NCAA finals in each boat which was a treat, to say the least.
That afternoon, Laura and I went into the city and had the perfect evening with an old neighbor and her fiance. We listened to some live jazz in a little bookstore before going back to their apartment/house/thing and talking and catching up while supper was in the oven. Not only was the meal fantastic, but the conversation was as well. I completely lost track of time but we still made it to the BART and the Caltrain for the last trains home. It was the perfect almost-last-evening at Stanford for the year.

Today was pretty basic, running errands, doing laundry, cleaning, and finishing up the last of the packing. My uncle picked up all of my stuff to store over the summer, so it's pretty much just me and my two suitcases left here. Leaving campus around 5:30 am headed for the airport!

I can't wait to be home with family and friends, but it's sad to realize that I won't see my roommates and hallmates every day, this summer or next year.

Oh well, time to go home!

Year Recap

In my attempts at continued procrastination and celebration of rocking my presentación ultimo de español, I decided to make a few photo/story collage images giving a [very] brief overview of this year in two main parts: friends and crew.

The End is Near

Wow, what a busy past few weeks (and months)!

Last weekend wrapped up my freshman crew season with PCRCs and PAC-10s. The team finished second and received a bid for NCAAs. The 1V won, the 2V got 2nd, and the V4 got 5th, so a very solid performance across the board. The NCAA group leaves this weekend to train and compete and I wish them all the best of luck! I love those girls all as sisters now.

With the end of the crew season comes the end of the quarter, meaning papers and projects galore. I'm working on a research project on Peter Pan for my writing class, as well as an argumentative piece and presentation on siestas for my Spanish class!

Draw results will be posted in a few days, but my group got special pre-assignment (meaning we found out where we will be living weeks ago) and three of my best friends and I will be living in Mirrielees! Mirrielees House is apartment-style housing on campus, so Mik and I will essentially be sharing a two-bedroom apartment with full kitchen and bath next year! Only downside: she can't cook to save her soul! Actually, it's not that bad, but she has more learning ahead of her than I do.

There are officially two weeks of class left of Spring Quarter 2009. After that comes finals week, and I only have one sit-down final on Saturday. Once I'm done with that, it's all packing and cleaning before heading home!

Easter :(

If I have ever felt anything close to being "homesick" it was today.

Easter has always been a family day for me, and this was my first holiday without any family around.

My team was great today, though. We all met this morning at the gym and split up into our sides to hide eggs for the massive team Easter egg hunt. It was a really fun way to just relax after a long week with people who had gone through the same stressful week as I had.

Laura and I laid in my bed reading Shakespeare (for IHUM) and doing some other miscellaneous homework for most of the afternoon. Then we went to Mass together, another Easter oddity for me.

The two of us grabbed some supper and I got to talk to most of the family on the phone; I was passed from person to person around the house. Now we are at the stacks of homework in my room and will be until we both go to bed.

It was a day spent with friends. I definitely can't complain about that, it just would have been better to be with family as well. Maybe next time?

Wow! Someone is coming to SoDak to see me!

Sorry to make this so short, but I really need to get some sleep . . . practice in the morning :S

Spring Break went by uneventfully . . . all I did was row, and row, and row, and sleep, and row some more. I also had the first 2K races of my collegiate career!

The new quarter is under way. I am taking a lighter load this quarter, with only Modern Quests, the Rhetoric of Dreams, Spanish 2A, and a lecture series on Race & Faith.

The exciting news, and main reason for this hasty post, is that Mikayla (my roomie) bought tickets tonight to come visit me at the end of summer break, stay with me for more than a week, and then we are flying back to school together! I can't wait for everyone to meet her back home!

South Dakota Summer!

I just found out yesterday that I'm coming home for the summer! I'm so excited to get to spend this summer back in South Dakota.

I need to figure out work for the summer, but hopefully that won't be too difficult.

I hope it will be a summer filled with old and new friends, fun in the SoDakota sun, showing at the fairs, and enjoying time with family. Not to mention, it will be my only time off from rowing. I know I'll miss my team and will be looking for a way to row at home, but it will be nice to be on my own for workouts for a little while.

Right now the thoughts of the summer are carrying me through Dead Week and finals more than the idea of Spring Break. That is probably due to the fact that my Spring Break will actually be Spring Training Camp with the team, getting ready for our first weekend of races at the end of break. My entire break will be nothing but rowing and sleeping. At least I'm in California, so I should be able to enjoy a little bit of sunshine both on and off the water, and maybe take a dip in a fountain!

This quarter needs to end!

I can't wait for this quarter to end in a couple weeks.

It's not just because of the video presentation, three paper revisions, oral presentation, play, oral exam, project, and finals I have in the next week and a half.

This quarter has been amazing, but my [genetic] clutziness has really shown through. I got in a fight with a spin bike, and lost, leaving gashes and bumps on my leg still.

Then last week I got what some of my friends call a "flesh-eating virus." I had a hypersensitivity reaction to - my doctors think - the tape remover they used on me in the training room. It took a couple different creams not working to decide that this was going to take something pretty strong to clear up. They finally gave me some pills that seem to be taking care of it!

At practice this morning I was walking the boat down the ramp to the docks, it was raining, the dock was slick, and I actually bit it on the dock. I managed to keep one hand high enough in the air that I kept the boat from hitting the ground, but the quick motion tweeked my knee a little bit. Nothing major, it's just outrageous that I fell walking down the dock . . . and fought with a stationary bike . . . and had a rash take over my leg when they were trying to make it better.

Busy time

Right now, I feel like my body has never been so physically exhausted in my entire life. We pulled an 8k this morning, and then had weights! Right now I'm chilling in Meyer, killing a little time before Spanish, having already finished my ODA (Oral Diagnostic Assessment).

The quarter is wrapping up, and all the papers and project proposals are coming due. I'm actually getting really excited for my final paper in my intro sem/drama class. Another student and I are going to attempt to rewrite Antigone, whether together or separate we're not yet sure. I'm thinking of doing a "hick" version, which would definitely be different from any of the other versions we've read in this class. My IHUM paper is a different story entirely. It's due next Monday and I barely have ideas. I feel like I can't get enough thoughts on one topic of Dante's Inferno together to fill five pages, but I guess that's why I'm meeting with Davy this afternoon . . .

Practice is still insane, obviously after this morning, and I'm one of our slowest ergs, but I'm still enjoying it and am looking forward to racing in a month!

Parents Weekend is next weekend and John's parents are coming back, so I'm pretty excited to see them again. It's a funny situation since everyone calls me John's "mom" here, so it's great when his actual mother is in town and we can gang up on him.

Tonight my PAE group is having our alumni dinner, I don't know where, but I'm really excited! I don't even know the names of all the people in the group, but they are so much fun, I love my group.

Okay, time to get ready for class I guess . . .

Chocoholic Cake!

I'm in the process of baking this cake right now, so I figured it'd be the perfect title!

Happy Late Valentine's Day to all (or Forced Affection Day, if you prefer to celebrate that)!

Valentine's Day falling on a Saturday was very convenient for me this year. Mikayla, Kate, and I decided to make it an all-out girls day and boycott the holiday. We took the train into the city and spend the afternoon shopping and chatting. A cute little 50's-esque diner was perfect for supper before hopping on Caltrain again to come home. It was chick-flicks and chocolates in our room for the rest of the night, rather than going to an over-crowded frat party and being drenched in other people's spilled beers.

On another note, my phone screen mysteriously broke a week ago Saturday, so I have been essentially without a phone. It's really frustrating to hear myself receive a text or picture message and know that I'll never be able to see it! I think I have a loaner phone on the way though now, yay!

Well, time to glaze!

Cold vs. Wet

This week on "Vs."

Cold vs. Wet

Today officically made my decision for me. I choose cold.

The temperature was in the 60's all day, and is still near 55 right now, which one cannot complain about in early February. However, it rained off and on (mostly on) ALL day.

A body can get used to be being cold, you just put on more layers and soon you don't notice it. Being wet, all the time, is not something you neglect to notice!

While this "winter" we have here is a lot shorter than the real winter at home, I can't wait for monsoon season to be over so my bike, my butt, and my backpack aren't always wet!

Tears

Don't worry, I'm not depressed or anything, I was just reading an email that said something about crying and all of a sudden there were lines in my head I just had to get down...some parts are kinda cheesy, it's just a rough, so bare with me...

Tears
Tears of joy, tears of fear,
tears of longing,
year after year.

When life has you down
and you're hurting inside,
let go and drown;
all that pain,
disappointment, and grief
are not all you contain.

Tears of old, tears of new,
tears of life,
my journey with you.

Sometimes it's too hard
to always be right,
we wind up scarred;
free your heart,
your mind, your soul, your self
make it all a new start.

Tears of struggle, tears that empower,
tears for strenth,
when things go sour.

This place can be cruel,
knocking you to your knees,
feeling a tool;
life goes on,
we wake up tomorrow,
to face the new dawn.

Tears for you, tears for me,
tears for the world,
set us all free.

Yay school!

As of right now, I'm happy, I'm enjoying my classes, and I'm the 11th-ranked Starboard on the team! How much better can the beginning of January get? Oh yeah, it was also over 70 degrees yesterday.

This quarter I'm taking Spanish; IHUM Epic Journeys, Modern Quests; Introductory Seminar: Antigone; and Sleep & Dreams. So far my IHUM seems pretty cool, which is more than most people are saying about theirs. My intro sem is great, there are only five of us in the class and it's basically just a discussion on literature for two hours at a time! The two hour chunk of time actually goes quickly for me in this class which is incredible! The professor for Sleep & Dreams is the same man who discovered/invented REM sleep, but I am convinced that he is certifiably insane. Class is a hoot, he tells all these totally irrelevant stories and squirts people sleeping in class with squirt guns before giving them bonus points!

With sleep & dreams we have to do what is called a "sleep project" which is basically keeping track of when and how much you sleep, as well as how well and alert you feel at certain intervals during the day. I was already making a conscious effort to sleep eight hours every night beforehand because of crew, but this project has helped me realize how happy I am again now that I'm sleeping enough! I actually learned something from the crazy Dement!

I pulled my first 8k and my first test at all for Yaz on Friday afternoon (right before snow trip). It was painful and incredibly difficult, but it wasn't as terrible as I had expected. After each test, the rankings are redone by your finish and by your side [of the boat]. I am "bysweptual" meaning that I row both sides, so Yaz has now turned me into a Starboard for ranking purposes and I'm ranked 11th!

White Christmas, Brown New Year

After Thanksgiving recess came dead week and then finals week: the downpoints of any college student's existence. I made it through my first Stanford finals alright and it was time to go home for the first time in three months to see my family for Christmas.

To say I had an uneventful trip home, though, would be a stretch...My friend John/Gym took me to the San Jose airport, arriving there around 5:20 am for my 7:08 flight. I went through the "easy check-in" right away, noticing that my flight was already delayed by over two hours. i waited in the line with the other Denver passengers to check my bag and luckily was at the front of the line. When they announced that the flight was on a mechanical delay of at least 4-6 hours, the ticket agent booked me onto another flight...this one out of San Francisco. I hopped in the shuttle (a.k.a. really small mini-van with six very large people in it for 45 minutes) and made it to SFO, got checked in, and got on the plane on time. After we had been sitting at the end of the runway for a few minutes the captain came on the intercom saying that they couldn't get the left engine to turn over and that we would need to return to the gate to have mechanics look at it. All of us sat in the airplane waiting while the starter was changed and finally took off, only about 2 1/2 hours late...Once I made it to Denver I was supposed to have a three-hour layover, but because of my habit of breaking airplanes I only had about twenty minutes to get to my next gate. That flight went on time and I made it to Omaha a few minutes early!

When I got home that evening it was about 55 degrees, but when I woke up the next morning it was 0 and decreasing quickly and never made it back into positive temperatures for the first three days of my visit. In that time we had Grandpa Gene's funeral and I just spent time with friends and family. Our "heat wave" that week brought us up around 15 degrees one afternoon! My last/only weekend at home was spent snowed in after a blizzard bringing not only snow, but temperatures in the -20s with wind chills as low as -47.

Christmas Eve was spent with my dad's family, Christmas day with Mom and Jay and his family, and the next morning it was time to head back to the airport.

My flights went off without a hitch. I made it back to San Jose, met Mikayla at the airport and got to the hotel where we repacked and got ready for the early morning. We loaded the bus with about half the team and headed for the airport.

I have now been in Tempe, Arizona for five days and still don't quite know what to think of it...I was just getting used to things being green in December at school, and now everything is brown!

Our New Year's Eve was spent with a supper for the team at Kerry's family's gorgeous house in the area and then at the Tempe Town Block Party where we got to see Styx perform.

Training camp has been very intense, but I'm really glad I've had this experience. The workouts can get crazy, but the moments over supper or in hotel rooms are irreplaceable.