Fall Term 2012, Weeks 6, 7, and 8--Uh, Where Am I?

Is this the right place? Is this my blog? I almost forgot what it looked like. I think I still remember how to do this...

Hello again, finally! I got quite the homework break this weekend. I just have some small reading assignments and general preparation for a presentation on immunodeficiencies in Immunology, so I actually have time to update you on my life for the past three weeks.

More or less, I have heard back from all of the vet schools to which I applied. They have--as far as I know--received all of my materials and are processing them now. So, for the present time, all I can do is wait for my interview invitations to come in, which will probably arrive in December or possibly early January. I'm happy with that.

Our campus-wide Symposium Day during Week 6 was fairly successful. The speaker could have been a little more dynamic. Lots of students had their phones out, ignoring him. I felt sorry for him. Later in the afternoon, I got to go off campus to pull weeds at the Quad City Botanical Center, so that was pretty cool. Unfortunately, they shoved three groups of students onto the same bus, so we had to sit basically three to a seat with some people resting in the aisles. Not the best planning. However, I got a sweet black t-shirt out of the deal, so I was mostly satisfied with the day.

I found out that week that I got an A- on my first Biochemistry test, so I'm pretty happy about that. I also found out recently that I got a 98% on my second Physics exam, so I am even happier about that. Thirdly, I got a 96% on my first Immunology exam (after extra credit). So, all in all, even though I am still quite overwhelmed with everything, I don't have too much to worry about academically.

I have been pretty busy planning the Circle K fundraiser for the fall, which is a paint-balloon and dart fundraiser where students get to throw darts at balloons filled with paint that are attached to a blank canvas. Obviously, the balloons explode when you hit them, creating a really cool look. It's modeled after that scene in The Princess Diaries. We will hopefully be holding it in a couple of weeks. We were supposed to do it today (Saturday, October 13th), but the Homecoming Festival got moved indoors, so we couldn't.

On the weekend after Week 6, Sarah and I went to Bishop Hill with the Scandinavian Department and some of the international students. That was pretty fun. We stopped first in Andover, Illinois to view the renowned Jenny Lind Chapel, which has a very rich history. It was finished in 1854 by order of Lars Esbjorn, one of the founders of the Augustana Synod that would eventually morph into the ELCA. He was also the first president of Augustana College, which started in Chicago in 1860 before moving to Paxton in 1863 and then finally Rock Island in 1875. Anyway, the church was not used as such until 1870 because it was needed as a cholera hospital for the intervening 16 years. As such, the church lacks a steeple because the lumber was needed for coffins. It is quite a charming little place despite its morbid past. It's very quaint, with that old-building smell of wood and brick. The basement is home to many interesting Swedish artifacts (like traditional clothing and even a stamp for making hard tack, that infamously bland cracker-bread) as well as numerous portraits of the Swedish Nightingale herself.

Stained glass at the Lutheran church.

The organ at the Lutheran church.

More pretty stained glass.

The steeple of the  Lutheran church.

SARAH! She kind of didn't want me to take a picture, but that hat was just so cute on her!

The Jenny Lind Chapel

After touring the chapel, we walked across the street to the Augustana Lutheran Church. It had quite an impressive steeple and amazing stained-glass windows, which were installed in the 1880s.

When we finished our quick tour of the Augustana Lutheran Church, we got back in the vans and headed to retired faculty member Elma "Mooch" Gay's house for treats and a break. She has quite a lovely countryside home just on the border of some corn fields. Part of her land is even classified as a wildlife preserve by the State of Illinois.

After our little pick-me-up, we actually started on our true way to Bishop Hill, a small Swedish-American community founded by one Eric Jansson, who (like most immigrants) was seeking religious freedom when he came to the United States. However, there is some debate about whether he and his group were truly being persecuted. Anyway, he quickly became a very creepy character, the leader of a strange cult in which he professed that people could only come to God through him. So very, very wrong.

Now the town is an interesting mix of real and made-up Swedish heritage. Each year during the fall, Bishop Hill holds a harvest festival. There is a sort of nontraditional sausage stew they serve there as well as fresh kettle corn, music and dancing, arts and crafts, kids' games, and a petting zoo. We only had about an hour and a half to wander around while we were there, but Sarah and I managed to walk through some cute little shops as well as a Heritage Museum, where we viewed some furniture from traditional Swedish-American rooms and some artifacts donated to the museum from Augustana College's collection.

All in all, I'm glad I went because even though it took me away from homework, I realize that I learned a lot about another culture, which is just as important to my education as anything I do for one of my classes. Sarah and I want to go back again with Devon, maybe around Christmastime.

The weekend after Week 7 was so incredible. The Andy Grammer concert was beyond amazing. Even the opening act was great. It was Chris Wallace, whose name sounded really familiar to me when I first heard it announced. Later, he told us that he used to be the frontman for the band The White Tie Affair, which made me so excited. I love that band so much! He is quite the spitfire and has a great voice. He even sang one of his White Tie Affair songs for us, which I really enjoyed. But Andy Grammer was even better than Chris Wallace. He is such a fun guy, and his voice is so fantastic. He said he enjoyed playing for us because we were so insane and happy to have him there. He had just finished opening for Train, and as the first of three opening acts, not many people were around to hear him. But we were all there to cheer for and listen to him. It was probably the best concert I've been to because I went with my friend Lauren, it was free, and the music was so good. I mean, Fall Out Boy back when I was 16 was also great, but I paid a lot of money for a ticket, and the atmosphere wasn't as nice as it was to be at my own school with my own peers that I see on a daily basis (versus complete strangers).

The pre-show stage set.

On that Sunday, I got to help run an informational booth for the animal shelter with Heather. We took a shelter dog named Trixie with us to encourage people to donate to the animal shelter (and to maybe get them to adopt Trixie or another dog or cat). Trixie was such a good girl for us, and she is a real sweetheart. She is a five-year-old Lab mix who was originally adopted from the animal shelter as a puppy after her mom had her and her siblings in the shelter. Her family had to bring her back when they moved; they just couldn't take her with them. So I hope that Trixie can find a home that can keep her this time soon.

The sweet Trixie.

 This week, I was able to register for my last set of classes at Augustana. I really, really cannot believe it. Time goes so fast. Nobody tells you to appreciate your first three years. Every day now is precious to me because once I leave, I'll never be able to do the things I can do all the time here (like workout at Pepsico for free; see movies for free; walk across campus to hang out with Sarah, Devon, or Hannah; and so much more). But I don't quite have to worry about that yet. I still have some time to soak it all in. Anyway, next term, I am taking Animal Communication (which I am so, so excited for), Human Physiology, and Microbiology! I am very happy that I get to take Micro because it is absolutely required for admittance to the DVM program at the University of Minnesota, which is my very tip-top choice for vet school. Obviously. I'm happy that I'll only have those three classes to worry about instead of three full classes and two one-credit classes (which can be sort of hard to keep track of because they're only once a week and so tend to fall by the wayside until the night before, when I remember I have to do something for them). Also, my maternal grandfather worked for many years as a microbiologist for the CDC, so I can talk to him about my Micro class. That will be quite fun, I think!

On Monday, I went to Longfellow Elementary to participate in our annual Reading Is Leading event, where students on Mortar Board read with students and encourage scholarship through that activity. However, there weren't a lot of kids there, so I was relegated to the arts and crafts room. It wasn't too bad because I got to hang out with some girls that I know pretty well, and we made leaf rubbings with the kids (all three of them boys). One of the boys I recognized as the kid who went onstage during the Mike Super magic show and tried to get Mike to guess his card.

Last night was the annual Sing and Homecoming Coronation. The Sing competition is where the Greek groups all get up and do musical numbers that have to do with Augustana, Greek life, and college life in general. They were all really funny, especially the Sigma Pi Delta sorority, which did a bunch of Aladdin songs. The men's musical fraternity Phi Mu Alpha did throwback theme songs, including the Pokemon theme, which was pretty great. However, the overall winner was the Rho Nu Delta fraternity, which did a Michael Jackson medley with some great dance moves.

Just today, I helped Heather run the Circle K table at the Homecoming Festival. It was pretty fun. We sold $25 worth of crafts to benefit the animal shelter, and we got to talk to a lot of alumni and even President Bahls! In addition, the Collegia Classica club was right next to us, so I bought a piece of baklava from them for $1. It was fantastic.

Later, I celebrated Hannah's birthday with her by crafting at one of her friend's houses. We practiced origami for most of the time while munching on pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It was a very nice time, especially since I never see her anymore except in passing in the library sometimes.

So, that was pretty much the last three weeks for me. These next two weeks should be pretty interesting. For Circle K, we are starting to collect items like personal care items and school supplies in order to make Baskets of Hope to donate to a local women's shelter on Make a Difference Day (October 27th). It's a Royal Neighbors of America event in which we want to participate because RNA is like our sponsor, and we get $25 for our club if we made 10 baskets or more. We are running it for two weeks, so I really hope it's a success. I have my third Physics exam, too. On Saturday, Circle K gets to do some paid yard work, so I will for sure be participating in that. And on Sunday, Student United Way is hosting a Tying for Comfort service project where we get to make tie blankets for the American Red Cross. I need more service hours for Mortar Board, so I'm going to go. I hear there's free food, so that's always a good motivator.

All right. I guess that's a wrap. TTFN. But before that...autumn pictures!

I love that this picture captures basically the whole rainbow: the reddish purple of one tree, the orange of another, the yellow of a third, the green of surrounding trees, and the blue sky.

This is the tree across the street from us. I love how it's ruby-colored on the outer fringes and golden within.