This is my second day back to school and nothing much has happened, really. I have substantially less work this week than I did before I went on Spring Break (I survived the week from Hell, by the way! Completed everything but one assignment that really didn't care to do in the first place, so be proud of my accomplishments!), however, I do have a ten-page paper due tomorrow that is only half finished and I have absolutely no motivation to do whatsoever. At this rate, it'll probably get to be about 1:00am before I actually start working on it...Other than that, this week should be pretty chill. Although I have just returned from a wonderful week at home, I am sick of school already and desperately wish to be back at home spending time with my family. Perhaps it is the fact that the week was indeed so wonderful and it didn't feel nearly long enough that I have this unquenchable yearning to return, but whatever. Only 16 more days until I go back home! (but who's counting...?)
In other news, my best friend, Jared, and his mom are driving down to the U this weekend to visit and take a tour of the campus. I am so incredibly excited to have someone I am so close with experience my world and see all of the places I am so repetitiously mentioning. The only issue is...Jared and his mom have major food allergies. Jared and Linda are both allergic to gluten, so anything with wheat, oats, barley, and other assorted grains are completely off-limits, and Jared is also lactose-intolerant. I have come to discover that is much more difficult than it seems to plan and make meals for them to eat. So many things have gluten in them, even things you would never expect like tomato soup (don't believe me? Go look at the nutrition facts...). I think I have concocted a few meals for both of them, and I am also relying on the assistance of Taco Bell and Applebees to help me out...But besides me stressing about the food options, I am completely and utterly ecstatic that they are coming down here to visit. I am sure if you speak to me between now and then, that's all I will be talking about.
I sent in a summer-job application yesterday! While applying for the Youthworks job, I received an instant message from one of the ladies I met on the Youthworks trip I took two years ago. She had taken her youth group from Washington state on the trip and she and I became very close while we were there. She was inquiring if I had heard anything from Youthworks, and that when I heard back from them to inform her if I got the job. After finding out that I didn't get it, I emailed her and told her the bad news. Jokingly, I asked if she knew of any good places to apply for a summer job. She emailed me back and told me that she was no longer the youth pastor of the church in Washington but that she is now the Program Director of a 1-12 grade Lutheran summer camp in Washington and that I should apply for it. Well, I sent in my application yesterday, emailed her and told her that I did, and I received back a very excited email from Nichol saying that she will look out for my application. Pray that she and the other hiring staff smile upon my application!!
Next week, I have my appointments with both of my advisers to discuss my class choices for next semester. I am assuming that I am going to be taking mostly English classes with a few Deaf Studies or Interpreting courses. Unfortunately, with the Arizona Education budget cuts, the Secondary Education department at the UofA has been completely abolished. The Secondary Ed students will now be forced to major in the subject they want to teach and then take education classes as their minor in order to get their teacher certification. This system is beneficial in one aspect because the teacher will be more well-versed in the subject they are going to teach, but will be ill-prepared to teach in a classroom setting. In effect, I am no longer a Secondary Education major, but rather a double-major in English and Educational Interpreting (unfortunately) with a minor in Education. I am thinking about modifying my minor to include another area, which I am hoping will be Classics. For some reason, I am thoroughly interested in Classical Mythology and other such subjects (probably just because Professor Sexy is totally fantastic), and I think I would really enjoy learning more about the subject area, but we'll see. Sadly, I am really starting to hate American Sign Language. Well, I guess I can't really say that. I really enjoy the language, but I do not appreciate the culture that goes along with it, and considering that the culture is a vital part of the language and my major as an interpreter, it's kind of difficult to run away from. It really saddens me that something I used to be so passionate for has fully lost its fire in my life and I no longer care for it whatsoever. Since high schools nowadays (and especially the high school in Gilbert I want to teach at) prefer that incoming teachers are equipped to teach more than one area of expertise, I am reluctantly going to stick with American Sign Language just because I am good at it, but for no other reason but that. Ironically, I am discovering that I am less proficient at English than I originally accepted and that scares me because I am going to get a huge slap in the face next semester when I am enrolled in upper-level English courses, but I stay true to my dream of wanting to be an English teacher because I do love it and I don't want to do anything else. I am really starting to pity my future students...
Well, I should really get going on that paper...You know, I think I would rather pluck my arm hairs out one by one than write this paper, but such is life...
Take care everyone. I miss you terribly but am so thankful for your presence in my life. <3
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
"You should see my schedule..."
The infamous phrase that's been coming out of my mouth for the past week. Yesterday, I was looking at my calendar of due dates for my classes and I just realized that the rest of this week and next week is going to be completely crazy.
Tomorrow, I have an English presentation due, an essay due Sunday, three essays due Monday, Tuesday, I have a major homework assignment due and then I have to work that night, Wednesday I have two midterms and a ten-page paper due as well as a major homework assignment due, and then on Thursday I have another midterm. Yeah, ridiculous. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and I really should be working on all of the stuff I have to get done, but I really needed a break. I have been living off of liters of Dr. Pepper for the last week, but I am thinking I am going to have to bump it up to two liters a day the way things are going. Prayers for me would be greatly appreciated...
But after these couple of crazy weeks, I will be home for Spring Break! I am coming home Friday, the 13th of March and will be returning to UofA on the 22nd. I think we should hang out. :)
Tomorrow, I have an English presentation due, an essay due Sunday, three essays due Monday, Tuesday, I have a major homework assignment due and then I have to work that night, Wednesday I have two midterms and a ten-page paper due as well as a major homework assignment due, and then on Thursday I have another midterm. Yeah, ridiculous. I am feeling a little overwhelmed and I really should be working on all of the stuff I have to get done, but I really needed a break. I have been living off of liters of Dr. Pepper for the last week, but I am thinking I am going to have to bump it up to two liters a day the way things are going. Prayers for me would be greatly appreciated...
But after these couple of crazy weeks, I will be home for Spring Break! I am coming home Friday, the 13th of March and will be returning to UofA on the 22nd. I think we should hang out. :)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Wow.
It has literally been forever since I have posted; my apologies to those few and far between people who actually take the time to read this measly thing. I guess I should try and cover everything as briefly yet completely as I can.
Classes are a lot better this semester. I am taking 15 credit hours, with four attendance classes and one online class. I am enjoying the subject matter of my courses far more than I did last semester, however, my classes are more difficult which means more homework. I am taking mostly gen-eds (with one graduate level course), but they are higher level gen-eds or whatever. Classes include:
Educational Leadership: Mondays and Wednesdays at freaking 7:30am. Ridiculous. My professor lectures like she is giving a speech, meaning she just brushes over topics in a well-versed manner that does not explain anything, so we are forced to read the textbooks to gain any sort of knowledge about what the class is about. All of her tests are online, which is great, but you would think that because of this factor I wouldn't have to go class...WRONG. Being the clever professor she is, she assigns in-class activities due at the end of the hour so we HAVE to be there. It's usually not that bad, but a lot of them are group projects and I am not a sparkling pearl at 7:30 in the morning...
Nutrition: It's online, so there's really not much to talk about...I am really glad it's online because it's the stupidest class ever; my physiology majoring RA even thinks so...Besides the complete and utter less than lack of motivation to do anything associated with that "class," everything is fine.
Mythology: My favorite class! The subject matter is so interesting and my professor is absolutely fabulous. I think I am developing a slight personality-crush on the man, to be honest...But overall, that class is just fantastic.
Language and Culture of Deaf Communities: This class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00. Nice that's it's my only class on those days, but Mondays and Wednesdays are really busy for me, so after that class, I am just wiped. The class is taught by the professor I had for my ASL class last semester, which at first I was like, "Oh great..." but now I am really starting to like her. At the beginning of the semester, we had a lady come certify our class to work with the DeafBlind, which was a really neat experience for me and now I am qualified to work with the DeafBlind in either a casual, volunteer, or paid environment. As of now, we watch a lot of videos and have a lot of class discussions (all in ASL), so it's totally chill. The only two things are...1) There is a lot of homework. AND 2) Professor Volk is having us serve 30 hours of volunteer work in the Deaf community and I have yet to find a place to volunteer. The whole class is centered around our service-learning project, so the fact that I haven't found a place to serve yet has really set me back. Being the over-planner that I am, not knowing what I am going to do to serve my 30 hours really scares me. I have roughly two months left to finish 30 hours and all of the work associated with it and it is stressing me out like you wouldn't believe.
English 102: THE. STUPIDEST. CLASS. I. HAVE. EVER. TAKEN! I can't even reiterate that enough. To start, my teacher is a total creeper. Seriously. Tim Meloni is a skinny, hairy, grad student in his late twenties who has the greasiest hair and the longest, yellow finger nails I have ever seen. He says, "OK?" more than any human ever should and he has trouble breathing when he teaches. Speaking of teaching, he has never taught English 102 and he told us on the first day of school that he is going to be learning the material we are learning right along with us. EXCELLENT. He writes cutesy, cheesy poetry that would make any girl swoon...but only enough for him to get in her pants, something of which he probably had no experience of whatsoever. He assigns us ridiculous busy work that will never help us when writing our essays, the main thing our grades are based off of. We recently handed in our first essay, on which I got the highest grade in the class. The girl who sits next to me thinks this is because Tim has a crush on me, mostly because he tends to look at me whenever I am doing anything awkward. I, personally, like to consider that my writing is better than everyone else's in the class (even those who think they are all that by using big words that create a circumvented argument), and I feel like I am not learning anything whatsoever other than to never to take a gen-ed English class ever again; I actually feel like my writing is deteriorating rather than improving, but whatever. Basically I cannot wait until I get into upper-division English classes, even though I am pretty sure they are going to kick my butt...
As far as majors go, I have decided to double (and almost, triple) major. My vowel-infested majors are: Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and Educational Interpreting for American Sign Language (boy that's a mouthful). In addition, I have joined Future Teacher's Club, also know as The Lamest Club on Campus. There are about ten regular members (on a good day) and we basically just sit around and talk or listen to guest speakers from the College of Education. I absolutely love the people in the club and even after my third meeting with them, I feel like we are going to be good friends. FTC is supposed to be a community outreach club for teachers, but they are not doing so well on the outreach aspect. I am trying to get more involved with the club so I can help with that. If you have any good ideas for outreach in the community revolving mostly around students, teachers, administration, or just school in general, please let me know.
Really the last thing I am doing to occupy my time besides class, homework, and FTC is work. I still work at Centennial Hall as an usher and I absolutely love it. UA Presents got another Usher Manager (my boss) this semester and he's totally awesome. His name is Tadj Hodges (I had to add that in there because saying his full name is totally fun!) and he's totally cool. Some of the other ushers and I agree that we like him better than old boss, Sam, which is a big deal because Sam was absolutely fantastic. Speaking of ushers...I am starting to get really close with the student ushers, which is really fun. A lot of the volunteer ushers know me personally now (most of them are teachers or were teachers at one point so they like to talk to me about their experiences and sort of take me under their wing) and I love talking to them; I guess I just have thing for old people. :) I work at Centennial two to three days a week and it's totally chill. Basically I just love my job all-around and I really hope I am in the running to become a manager for next year...
I think that's about all. Things are still going great with the roomie and we have decided to live with each other next year in the same dorm. I still haven't found a solid Christian group to be a part of yet, but I am looking. I haven't been to Ballroom at all this semester because I have been working a lot and have just kind of lost interest, which is a little sad but not too heart-breaking. My elbow is doing a lot better. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and it's pretty much back to normal. I don't think it will ever be completely back to the way it was, but that's to be expected after such an awful break, but what can you do? Basically things here are just good, plain and simple. ;)
Hope you all are doing well and I would be blessed to receive an email telling me how you are and what is going on in your life. (allison.sherer@gmail.com) God Bless. <3
Classes are a lot better this semester. I am taking 15 credit hours, with four attendance classes and one online class. I am enjoying the subject matter of my courses far more than I did last semester, however, my classes are more difficult which means more homework. I am taking mostly gen-eds (with one graduate level course), but they are higher level gen-eds or whatever. Classes include:
Educational Leadership: Mondays and Wednesdays at freaking 7:30am. Ridiculous. My professor lectures like she is giving a speech, meaning she just brushes over topics in a well-versed manner that does not explain anything, so we are forced to read the textbooks to gain any sort of knowledge about what the class is about. All of her tests are online, which is great, but you would think that because of this factor I wouldn't have to go class...WRONG. Being the clever professor she is, she assigns in-class activities due at the end of the hour so we HAVE to be there. It's usually not that bad, but a lot of them are group projects and I am not a sparkling pearl at 7:30 in the morning...
Nutrition: It's online, so there's really not much to talk about...I am really glad it's online because it's the stupidest class ever; my physiology majoring RA even thinks so...Besides the complete and utter less than lack of motivation to do anything associated with that "class," everything is fine.
Mythology: My favorite class! The subject matter is so interesting and my professor is absolutely fabulous. I think I am developing a slight personality-crush on the man, to be honest...But overall, that class is just fantastic.
Language and Culture of Deaf Communities: This class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00. Nice that's it's my only class on those days, but Mondays and Wednesdays are really busy for me, so after that class, I am just wiped. The class is taught by the professor I had for my ASL class last semester, which at first I was like, "Oh great..." but now I am really starting to like her. At the beginning of the semester, we had a lady come certify our class to work with the DeafBlind, which was a really neat experience for me and now I am qualified to work with the DeafBlind in either a casual, volunteer, or paid environment. As of now, we watch a lot of videos and have a lot of class discussions (all in ASL), so it's totally chill. The only two things are...1) There is a lot of homework. AND 2) Professor Volk is having us serve 30 hours of volunteer work in the Deaf community and I have yet to find a place to volunteer. The whole class is centered around our service-learning project, so the fact that I haven't found a place to serve yet has really set me back. Being the over-planner that I am, not knowing what I am going to do to serve my 30 hours really scares me. I have roughly two months left to finish 30 hours and all of the work associated with it and it is stressing me out like you wouldn't believe.
English 102: THE. STUPIDEST. CLASS. I. HAVE. EVER. TAKEN! I can't even reiterate that enough. To start, my teacher is a total creeper. Seriously. Tim Meloni is a skinny, hairy, grad student in his late twenties who has the greasiest hair and the longest, yellow finger nails I have ever seen. He says, "OK?" more than any human ever should and he has trouble breathing when he teaches. Speaking of teaching, he has never taught English 102 and he told us on the first day of school that he is going to be learning the material we are learning right along with us. EXCELLENT. He writes cutesy, cheesy poetry that would make any girl swoon...but only enough for him to get in her pants, something of which he probably had no experience of whatsoever. He assigns us ridiculous busy work that will never help us when writing our essays, the main thing our grades are based off of. We recently handed in our first essay, on which I got the highest grade in the class. The girl who sits next to me thinks this is because Tim has a crush on me, mostly because he tends to look at me whenever I am doing anything awkward. I, personally, like to consider that my writing is better than everyone else's in the class (even those who think they are all that by using big words that create a circumvented argument), and I feel like I am not learning anything whatsoever other than to never to take a gen-ed English class ever again; I actually feel like my writing is deteriorating rather than improving, but whatever. Basically I cannot wait until I get into upper-division English classes, even though I am pretty sure they are going to kick my butt...
As far as majors go, I have decided to double (and almost, triple) major. My vowel-infested majors are: Secondary Education with an emphasis in Extended English and Educational Interpreting for American Sign Language (boy that's a mouthful). In addition, I have joined Future Teacher's Club, also know as The Lamest Club on Campus. There are about ten regular members (on a good day) and we basically just sit around and talk or listen to guest speakers from the College of Education. I absolutely love the people in the club and even after my third meeting with them, I feel like we are going to be good friends. FTC is supposed to be a community outreach club for teachers, but they are not doing so well on the outreach aspect. I am trying to get more involved with the club so I can help with that. If you have any good ideas for outreach in the community revolving mostly around students, teachers, administration, or just school in general, please let me know.
Really the last thing I am doing to occupy my time besides class, homework, and FTC is work. I still work at Centennial Hall as an usher and I absolutely love it. UA Presents got another Usher Manager (my boss) this semester and he's totally awesome. His name is Tadj Hodges (I had to add that in there because saying his full name is totally fun!) and he's totally cool. Some of the other ushers and I agree that we like him better than old boss, Sam, which is a big deal because Sam was absolutely fantastic. Speaking of ushers...I am starting to get really close with the student ushers, which is really fun. A lot of the volunteer ushers know me personally now (most of them are teachers or were teachers at one point so they like to talk to me about their experiences and sort of take me under their wing) and I love talking to them; I guess I just have thing for old people. :) I work at Centennial two to three days a week and it's totally chill. Basically I just love my job all-around and I really hope I am in the running to become a manager for next year...
I think that's about all. Things are still going great with the roomie and we have decided to live with each other next year in the same dorm. I still haven't found a solid Christian group to be a part of yet, but I am looking. I haven't been to Ballroom at all this semester because I have been working a lot and have just kind of lost interest, which is a little sad but not too heart-breaking. My elbow is doing a lot better. I am going to physical therapy twice a week and it's pretty much back to normal. I don't think it will ever be completely back to the way it was, but that's to be expected after such an awful break, but what can you do? Basically things here are just good, plain and simple. ;)
Hope you all are doing well and I would be blessed to receive an email telling me how you are and what is going on in your life. (allison.sherer@gmail.com) God Bless. <3
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