ek's CSD Blog

In these coming few weeks a lot will be happening and change will occur. Students go home, holidays are celebrated, and people get a little coocoo. They don't call it "the best time of the year" for nothing. This year my brother will be coming home, new babies will be introduced to the family, and some traditions will be broken. Back in the younger years,  my dad's side of the family would go up to the mountains for the weekend to cut down Christmas trees the day after Thanksgiving. It was a time when I was too excited to even look at the kitchen counter full of delicious sides because the upcoming weekend would be full of other family fun. However, due to the fact that some cousins have gotten older and things have changed, only my parents, my brother and I pack into our vehicle for the weekend ahead. Although it is not the same, we still manage to have a fun pre-Christmas filled weekend. Another tradition that will change is Christmas Eve. Normally we have a big celebration with tons of food and presents with my dad's family. But this coming Eve will be more like a cocktail hour and will not even include presents. I guess it is time for some new traditions. 

While other CSD majors are freaking out about graduation and graduate school, I am stressing about study abroad. Along with many other annoyed study abroad students, I am getting anxious about whether or not I am actually going to my destination. Hardly anyone has received a confirmed acceptance from their schools abroad. I have personally been nominated by Appalachian to study abroad but not by the university in Costa Rica in which I want to attend. Apparently their network is currently "down" and that's why I haven't been notified about anything. NOT OKAY. There are so many thing I need to do before hopping on an airplane, and I cannot complete things things until I have received an actually acceptance from the University. I'm FREAKING OUT. I need to buy an airplane ticket, possibly apply for a visa, sublease my apartment, and who knows what else. If I don't receive any details before Thanksgiving I might just fall overboard. 

I probably have more, but these are the only major annoyances that I can think of right now.

I guess I should say that Monday's are good days in my book because I am done with class by 12, but they still have their downfalls. With nothing mandatory to do I find it hard trying to figure out what to do. Don't get me wrong, I love relaxing in bed while watching Netflix for hours, but I need to do something! On a positive note, I did manage to go for a run around campus and do some homework. To end the evening off on a good note, I did manage to watch the Panther's win! The dream was to actually go to the game with my boyfriend, but since the cheapest tickets were $100 each, that didn't end up happening. We ended up texting each other throughout the game, which was an okay compromise. Luckily I only have a few more Monday's to struggle with; Holiday Breaks are now in reach!!!

   When my brother came home from India the first time he brought me back a beautiful Elephant tapestry that a quickly hung up in my room. The tapestry includes three lucky elephants lined up surrounded by colorful designs and sequins. When it was time for us to move I had trouble finding a place for everything while I packed. So most of my stuff was literally stuffed wherever it could go; including my tapestry. Although I could not find it for my temporary room, I figured it was somewhere in my "future apartment boxes." I was wrong. Out of all the stuff I brought up to Boone I couldn't find the tapestry; the one thing that was supposed to complete my room...However this past weekend while I was home I was remeniscing in a box of stuffed animals I had packed away and I found the tapestry! Surprisingly, it was with a lot of other important things I had forgotten about. Anyway, it is now on the wall above my bed at my apartment. The last finishing touch to my "semi-Indian" themed room. (Now I don't have to tell my brother I had temporarily lost it!)

   This past weekend I was lucky enough to bring my boyfriend home with me too see my parents. Being away at college makes me appreciate them a lot more because of the little time I get to spend with them. My excitement for going home was partially brought on by the fact that I got to see the current phase of the new house, but I always love seeing my parents. The Friday evening in which my boyfriend and I arrived, we roasted marshmallows over a fire we created in the future front yard. It was a quiet evening, but it made me take a step back and appreciate the little things in life. My family is healthy, I am surrounded by love, and I am currently pursuing my dream. I do love Boone, but Durham is where my heart is. 

Best thing of the week and it's only Tuesday!

Bring on the holidays!!!

This past Saturday I spent my morning at the Watauga Humane Society volunteering. Instead of sleeping in I woke up at 8am and headed over to the shelter in the cold. The society doesn't open until 12:30, so it was nice not having as many people there to worry about. For the first time since I have started volunteering there I was actually told what to do instead of asking. Almost every time I go there I just play with the animals because there isn't much for me to do (surprisingly). I was put to work washing dirty liter boxes the whole time. Apparently Saturday morning are one of the days in which they switch out the liter boxes so they just kept piling up. It actually wasn't a bad job because I got to stay in the kitty condo area the whole time and talk to the cats while I worked. The workers also got to bring their dogs in and let them roam around the shelter the whole time, which was also fun! At one point I played fetch with one of the dogs who wouldn't stop rolling the ball he had to my feet. All of the animals there are so loving; it makes me sad that I can't take one back to my not so pet-friendly apartment. Hopefully I will be able to next year though! :D

Last semester I joined a campus dance team called HipHop Oasis (H20). Because basketball season was taking place we were always busy learning new dances for the games. At the beginning of this semester we made a lot of changes and lost some great leadership due to graduation. Our newly elected captain decided to drop out ( I was very disappointed) and we weren't really clicking. After auditions for new members we decided to make even more changes. We re-elected all new leadership, changed our name to PULSE, and instead of one person making up the dances we all get to collaborate. We are not only Hiphop anymore, but I still like to stick to that genre of dance with my choreography. Not only do we learn affectively at practice now, but we also have fun and I feel like there is no more tension in the group. Although I may not be here next semester, we have begun to plan for some major events next semester besides basketball games. Now I look forward to going to practice and I have started creating my own dance (hoping to perform it before the end of the semester).