Not Forgotten, Merely Neglected

Hello again! Sorry for not writing for so long, but summer was so much fun that I was super busy and kept forgetting to write.

I go back to school on September 1, and I'm excited about it. I am taking Photography, Thermodynamics, Technical Communications, and Cell Structure and Function. Sounds pretty good to me. I will also be working at the Learning Center as a Tutor and in the Chemical Engineering Department as a homework grader.

I'm not living on campus this year and that is quite cool for me. I think I will really enjoy having a full kitchen all the time. I love to make food and don't want to eat overpriced school food.

I taught myself crochet and knitting this summer. I will be crocheting a hat and knitting a scarf once I get back to school as a way to relax and not look at screens. After that, I was thinking I would maybe make a blanket and then a sweater or vice versa.

I'm really excited about the chance to get back to all the wonderful exercise equipment available at the SRC. Since my normal venue still isn't repaired from flooding, I have been walking all over town, which isn't bad, but still not the same as having access to just about everything imaginable.

I won't be doing Rifle this year for a couple of reasons. Rifle made it difficult for me to work and keep good grades while visiting my dad and Jay. Rifle also is very costly in my time. Practice takes up at least ten hours a week, 9 of which are active practicing, plus entire weekends once the tournaments start. I have gotten a lot smaller than I used to be, and my gear doesn't fit AGAIN. I don't want the team to have to spend their limited, hard to come by budget (it all comes from fundraising as the school cut them out of the budget) on new equipment for me when I'm not even sure that I will be able to really devote myself to them.

The last two weeks before school starts are going to be spent getting all my stuff together and ironing out the last of the little kinks from going abroad.

On the food side of things, this week I made the most awesome banana bread ever! I used seven bananas instead of four. It turned out fabulous. Sticky and just sweet enough but not overly so. I also love the garlic fries from The Ram. They are the bomb.

Anyways, I've got things to do today so I will stop by hopefully in a few days to update this poor forgotten bit of cyber space.

-Jess

Drip Drip Drip

As I sit here going through my things and cleaning up, the constant drip of the leaky ceiling reminds me that time will always pass. Even when it feels hopeless, time passes. I've left that hopeless rut behind me. Now I'm just biding my time until the speed picks up again. It's nice to stop and relax for a while. The fast pace of school will be trying, but I know that I can handle it this year. I'm anxious to start learning again.

Wedding planning has stalled. We are a bit far away to really get into the planning part. I'm trying to come up with ideas but keep having creativity block. It stinks.

Doctor Parade

I have seen so many doctors in the last two weeks it's crazy. Dentist, orthodontist, chiropractor, *ahem*, and I'm sure this isn't the end of my parade. I go in for a full outfitting of orthodontics on the 18th. I'm a bit afraid, but I know that it is important.

I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I terminated my exchange early, and I'm staying in the US. I will resume classes at Rose-Hulman in the fall as a junior. I am going to the career fair next week to see if I can make any sort of progress on getting an internship. I'm not going to hope for much though. The Rose career fair is pretty worthless. They tell everyone to just apply online anyways. I need to rewrite my resume and currently have no good ways to approach it, but that's not too big of a deal.

HOME!!!

I'm preparing to go home. I'm super excited. I'm coming home on the 18th of March. I have a lot of stuff to do in the meantime. This is the most excited I've been in a long time.

Yummy Breakfast and Supreme Boredom

Hello again. I have nothing to do whatsoever right now. So I happen to be very bored, but I did make a good breakfast. I happen to be eating it for lunch though because I slept in this morning.

Nutty Fruit Oats (1 serving)

1 cup water

sprinkle of salt (optional)

3/4 cup rolled oats

apple, banana, grapes, or your favorite fruit

handful of your favorite nuts

Put water in a small pot with salt and bring to a boil. Start your coffee, if you drink it with breakfast. In the meantime, toss the nuts in the bowl you will eat from and cut your fruit into small pieces. With grapes, cut them in half so they don't roll around while you are trying to catch them with your spoon. Once the water is boiling, this will probably happen while you are cutting the fruit, add the oats. Stirring often, cook until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Pour the oats over the fruit and nuts. Stir well and enjoy with coffee or your favorite breakfast beverage.

*Note* I like chewy oats, so I used 3/4 cup. If you like regular consistency oats, use 1/2 cup. The water amount stays the same.

I'm entering an essay contest for a small scholarship. I've decided to really get down to business on growing my hair. I've been doing so many things wrong for a long time. So now I need to throw out the hair brush and get a wide-tooth comb without seams. Use less shampoo and a TON more conditioner. Keep my hair pulled bad so it doesn't get ratty from the wind and tangled up in my coat and bag. Moisturize the dry ends with coconut or olive oil. The list goes on forever, but those are some of the more important things that I wasn't doing already.

Early Spring

Yesterday, I went to my very first Yoga class. It was difficult, but I liked it. The teacher was very helpful, and I learned a lot. He spoke mostly German, but when I was exceptionally confused, he used English too. I'm going to go to Yoga every Friday evening. I'm thinking about adding it to my Wednesday too, but right now it's so exhausting that I don't know if I can do it more than one day a week. I already run about 10 miles a week on the elliptical and strength train 3 times a week. I really like that gym. I would also like to take the Stretch class on Mondays. I want to start out slowly though. I am not a crazy exercising machine, and I don't want to injure myself by being overzealous.

This week I made the most delicious stir fry. I started with a large head of broccoli, 2 carrots, about 250g mushrooms, 2 small onions, 2 large garlic cloves, 1 pound chicken breast, 1 bell pepper, ground black pepper, ground red chillies, cumin, olive oil, Indian curry paste, peanut butter, and soy sauce. It was phenomenal!!! I chopped up everything, which took forever, and then started cooking. I started by heating olive oil in a wok. After it was good and hot, I tossed in the chicken and cooked until white on all sides. I added the mushrooms and garlic and let it cook until the mushrooms released their water. In case you didn't know, mushrooms squeak a lot when you cook them without oil. I had a very squeaky pan until they released all their water. I let the chicken and mushrooms cook in the mushroom water for a few minutes. I added the black pepper, red chillies, and a bit of cumin and stirred it all together and let it cook a bit longer. I then added all the veggies and let it cook for a little bit before adding two heaping spoons of Indian curry paste and a big spoon of natural peanut butter. I stirred it all together and let it cook until the broccoli was a lovely green and the carrots were just starting to soften. It was heavenly. I do believe the peanut butter was the key to that dish because, I've made it many times and never has it tasted so good.

I realized yesterday that I went to my final class of winter semester. I remember when I thought the end of this semester would never come. I've learned a lot about myself since then. I remember when I met Jay in Holland, he said that I seemed different somehow. He couldn't point it out then, but when we met in Frankfurt, he knew what it was. I had matured considerably while away. I have learned to accept failure. I will not pass my classes from this semester no matter how hard I work. I'm okay with that because I would prefer a quality education, and I'm not getting one of those here.

Birthday Time

So I met some really great friends the other day at a culture workshop. We all got together for my birthday and had a great time. I actually remember my 21st birthday! I'm excited about that. I had a great time with Xavier, Alberto, Katie Joy, and Hannah. I got to meet Sina, Katie Joy's roommate, too. I had a few drinks spread over about 8 hours. Xavier and a Brazilian guy were trying to teach me how to dance at the party we went to. It didn't work very well, but I still had a great time. We ended up having a sleepover in Hannah's room because it was 3am when we left the party. The night buses only run until 4 something, and I didn't like the idea of going home alone. We had egg toast with Sina for breakfast.

Today has been long day. I have been studying off and on for my final exam in my German course. It's not supposed to be that hard, but I'm still nervous about it.  I've been missing Jay all day, but the good news is that when I miss him now, I'm not useless. It hurts to be apart, but I know we will be together again, and now I have friends to help me deal with the loneliness of being here. I'm going to see Tron in 3D on Wednesday with Xavier. That will be super fun. I was trying to plan something for Thursday because that will be the last day we can all get together at once, but Katie Joy and Hannah have to get up super early on Friday and Xavier has a test on Friday. I miss Jay! I cannot wait for March 18th. I will get to see the US again, if only for 2 weeks. It will still be awesome sauce.