It’s All Happening

So I’m a little swamped this week.  Here are just a few of the major things going on in my life at the moment—all good things—but time consuming nonetheless…

1.      I got into Alum Service Corps!  This one isn’t really a time consuming one…all I had to do this week was sign the memorandum of understanding to confirm that I am in the program, but it is still a piece of exciting news.  I will be teaching at Regis Jesuit High School – Girl’s Division in Denver next year for one year.  I’ll live in community with 3 other ASCs who will also be teaching at Regis.  It is technically a volunteering program, so I will just get a stipend and not a paycheck, but it is a chance to do something I think I am really going to enjoy in a cool city, plus another chance to grow a little in Jesuit spirituality (I think my grandpa would say I’ve been “ruined” by the Jesuits because I’m hooked on them, but I think he would also agree that it’s not a terrible kind of ruined to be).  My training starts in mid-July, and I have to say that knowing what I’m doing for at least a year after I graduate does take the edge off of a lot of the senior year stress.

 

2.      Thesis.  It’s like a noose tightening around my neck daily.  Or like a guillotine hanging above my head.  My metaphor of choice changes more frequently than I actually do work on the project, which involves researching the parallels between Franz Kafka and Gnosticism and will count as an interdisciplinary Honors thesis for both English and theology (yes, it is as exhausting as it sounds).  So far I’m at about 10 pages and my first draft is due end of March.  I’d like to go back and guillotine January Allison for picking that early due date. 

3.      Dedication Days.  The days leading up to Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority initiation are called Dedication Days, and we have a ritual and activity four days of the week, plus we dress up and incorporate certain colors into our outfits.  Sounds a little like Mean Girls, but I can promise it’s not (I was on the fence about Greek life to begin with before I came to Rockhurst, and I can guarantee I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near any organization that “only wears pink on Wednesdays”).  It’s a lot of fun…we have Zumba one night to go with our physical aim and a “Date Dash” in which we have a half hour to dress up according to a theme announced that night.  Even though I am cringing at how much I actually have to do this week, I know I will enjoy my last round of Dedication Days.

 

My ASA family: Colleen, Helen, and our soon-to-be initiated newest member, Claire

There aren’t enough words in a blog post to adequately describe all of the other art show preparations, business blogging, test studying, Rockhurst Review-ing and other day-to-day activities that are going on this week. 

But it’s exhilarating. I’m on the home stretch of Rockhurst, and everything I have worked for this semester—and a lot of what I have been building up for the past four years—is now crescendoing in an action-packed final few months.  It’s all happening…

 

 

Everything but the Tan…

So I might not be laying on a beach or anything this spring break, but getting a tan is probably the only thing that isn’t happening this week.  Before it all starts, I think I’ll take a few minutes out of my Spring Break Eve to tell you a bit about what’s going down (and I am really resisting the urge to put exclamation points at the end of each of the following sentences, because I am REALLY excited for all of this):

I’m going to Colorado.  Okay, that in itself counts for one whole cool thing.  Because it’s the MOUNTAINS.  I’m a fan of Colorado, so if nothing else, I would be pretty excited to spend part of my spring break just hanging out around mountains.  I’ll be bouncing back and forth between Denver and Boulder from Friday until Wednesday of my spring break.  Why? You ask…

I get to visit my study abroad friends.  When you live in a foreign country for three and a half months and literally the only people you know are the 34 other college students in your program, you get to be pretty good friends.  In fact, you get to be a family.  I miss these people way more than I ever anticipated I would, not only because they were good friends and we have a lot of fun together, but because we shared a unique experience.  Everybody when they get back from study abroad has to overcome that reverse homesickness hurdle and accept the fact that while so many people are happy for you for having that experience, they don’t want to hear about it all of the time and they will never fully be able to understand.  I cringe a little at how much of a First World problem this is, but at the same time it will be so nice to be able to say, “Hey remember that one time we watched Daisies in film class?” or “Did you hear the klobasa stands in Wenceslas Square are closing?” (It’s tragic).  But that isn’t the only reason I’m headed to Colorado…

Study abroad family

 

I am visiting the girls section of Regis High School in Denver.  Again, why?  Because I might potentially be teaching there next year!  I applied for a Jesuit service program called Alum Service Corps, which is for graduates of either a Jesuit high school or college and involves a year of teaching at a Jesuit high school in either St. Louis, Kansas City, or Denver.  My first choice was Regis because I am the product of an all girls high school (Cor Jesu Academy…loved every minute of it), and since I am from St. Louis and currently in Kansas City, I figured Denver would be a new frontier.  So I applied…had an interview…and then got an email saying they’d like to have me come visit to see if it’s a fit!  It is not a for sure thing yet, but a very exciting step towards this hopefully happening.  But of course…

I am going home.  Wouldn’t be break without getting to head back to STL to talk a mile a minute with my mom, chill out with my sister, and maybe grab some Indian food with my dad (we recently discovered we’re both fans).  With the real world on the horizon, I am appreciating more and more those moments of home and family.

Actual family

 

All in all, from job interviews, to adventures with friends, to lazy days at home, I’ve got a pretty satisfying break ahead of me.  And I’ve never really tanned well anyway…