Parents Weekend + Summer Plans

Last weekend was parent's weekend and mom came down to spend time with me. The school had lots of events planned, like speeches by the president and dean, sample lectures given by professors, tours of the campus, the rare book room, and workshops on study abroad, internships and financial aid. The weather was horrible and rainy, but I think she had fun anyway. Mom came to classes with me on Monday, and to my horror she participated in my "Heretics in early Christianity" class. Yeah, I know. She WOULD be all about the heretics... But I'm only kidding! She actually said something relevant and not-stupid which is hard for most students, including myself. So she didn't really embarrass me.

Last night the comedian Lewis Black came and performed to a full house. Some of it was pretty funny, but it wasn't his best routine. A lot of jokes about the economy are a little lost on us because 1) it's hard to see as funny or 2) because we're so secluded in our liberal arts college that we're just not the best audience for those jokes.

My academic adviser met with me last week to discuss my 3 year plan. I am working with her on potentially designing my own major so that I can meet my own needs. I would be combining anthropology, writing and photography. If you're having trouble picturing those 3 things together, National Geographic is a really good example of what happens when they combine. I don't have a name yet. We're working on it.
In addition to thinking about major requirements, we're also talking about my study abroad semester Junior year. It will definitely depend on which requirements I have already filled on where I decide to go, but as for now the options are: Copenhagen, Denmark, Prague, Czech Republic, Christchurch, New Zealand, or Norwich, England. Notice I'm learning Italian but not going to Italy? Yeah... Most of the Italian programs are studio art driven, which I'm not.

And of course, in planning we also come to the idea of internships. Most of them are unpaid, and that's unfortunate, but were I not to do an internship could I really expect to find a paying job for less than 3 months? No, I think not. I couldn't last year, and this summer would be even worse. So here are the options I've come up with.

Option #1- Earlier in the year I talked about the Critical Language Scholarship, where the State Department arranges for groups of students to learn target languages through intensive immersion programs abroad. I applied for the Arabic program, which is run in Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan. They pay for everything, including airfare, and I learn a language that is becoming increasingly helpful in many fields I'm interested in and will look fantastic on my resumé. I don't hear back until late March. It's a very selective program, so I'm hoping for the best.

Option #2- I recently found and just finished the application for an internship at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehab Center. They take in injured animals and give them the care they need to heal until they can be released back into the wild. And summer is "baby season," when they need seasonal interns to help them look after the large numbers of animals they get, many of them young. They look after everything from squirrels and bunnies, to eagles and fawns, to baby raccoons and seal pups. Here's a link to a blog that a regular volunteer keeps, I highly recommend at least taking a look through the pictures! http://hollowhappenings.blogspot.com/ I wouldn't be paid, but they have housing for interns, and a small stipend for food and travel. Wolf Hollow is up in Washington on San Juan Island, which would be a great place to spend the summer.

Option #3- Teach Breakthroughs is a program that allows college students to teach classes (designed by themselves) to classes of middle school aged kids. The kids being taught are intelligent, but are not considered "likely" to go to college because of race or low-income, so the program seeks to close the achievement gap with intensive summer institutes that prepare them for college-prep high schools. The work is incredibly hard, and involves 10-11 hour days at the school. But it also sounds incredibly rewarding and the idea of being able to teach something like a Geography class sounds so much fun. Unfortunately the program isn't offered in Portland or Seattle, so I would be applying to San José or Denver, etc. It comes with a living stipend, and may be able to arrange housing through nearby universities or a homestay with a student in the program. I wish it were in Portland though.

Option #4- The deadline for my last consideration isn't until May, and I should have heard back from the first 3 by then, so this is really a sort of back-up. But that doesn't mean it isn't awesome. The Oregon Zoo offers photography internships, which would be part-time and unpaid. However, I'd be getting into the zoo for free, and taking pictures of animals, zoo events, etc and helping with zoo publications among other things. I would be able to live at home and be around my friends for the summer, which is a positive (kind of).

I guess we'll see what happens! Look at the Hollow Happenings blog. Cute pictures, I promise!

Some more pictures?

Y'all might be sick of them by now, but that's too bad.

Half of February is gone?

This has been such a busy last couple of weeks! So of course I have neglected posting more pictures and tidbits about my life. There are some more Dubai pictures I want to share, so maybe I'll post some more this afternoon.
Classes have been busy. I dropped my British History class towards the beginning, and now I only have 2 classes a day mon-thurs and 1 on friday. It gives me a lot more time to do all the reading I need to do.
Last week a woman named Ayaan Hirsi Ali came to campus to speak and it was a very big deal. The auditorium was completely full, students were organizing against her and handing out pamphlets and the question and answer session at the end of her talk was full of tension and bad feelings. She's a Muslim woman advocating for women's rights in the middle east and against Islamic law, and to some degree against Islam entirely. So she's a very controversial woman, and the security was tight because she's had several attempts made on her life. It was very uncomfortable, but in an academic way that sparks discussion, which is a very cool part of college.
And on a different note, Saturday was Disneyland!!! It was Taylor's 19th birthday, so he got into the park for free and Scott, Adela and I went with him. We got there at 830, a half an hour after park opening, and we managed to do almost all the rides by 4 or 5 in the afternoon. It was pouring most of the time we were there, which meant the park was pretty empty for a weekend, and all the lines were short, or nonexistant. We only had to wait 15 minutes for Space Mountain, which is normally somewhere between 50 and 90. Taylor and I went on Splash Mountain, but we weren't far along the ride before it got stuck and they had to send someone up to help us all out of the logs. We got to walk back down through Splash Mountain and go out the back. They gave us all free fast-passes for the inconvenience, but since there weren't really any lines anyway it didn't matter much. Taylor and I had lunch at the Blue Bayou, which is the restaurant in the middle of the Pirates of the Caribbean. It was really good food, and Taylor got free chocolate mousse for his birthday, which I was generous enough to help him eat.
Mom comes down here tomorrow for parents weekend. That means I should clean my room, I guess.
Miss you all!