Dead Week is upon us!

It's currently the week before finals week, which means it's the last week of normal classes for the semester. It's also rather morbidly referred to as "Dead Week," which means that in the residence halls "quiet time" is all of the time except for two hours a day when people are allowed to be as loud as they want. On the rest of campus, it implies that everybody is studying all of the time, which may or may not be the case.

In my case, I've been really stressed out. I rarely get headaches, and I've had pretty bad ones the last two evenings in a row. One thing that was bothering me was my lack of a plane ticket to Buenos Aires, where I am going to start studying abroad in June. Finally, I figured it out yesterday and now I have my ticket, which I'm really excited about.

Adding to my study abroad planning-induced stress is the fact that finals are right around the corner. The semester has flown by as usual, and now that I think about it, I think I learned a few things. My first final is Friday, and I have a final presentation for my Educational Technology class tomorrow night. Then, I have three finals next week, and the last one is Friday at 8:00 am. I will be so relieved when it is over!

Meanwhile, I'm going to study.

Roskie Run!

This morning, for the second year in a row, I ran the Roskie Run. This year was the 30th annual Roskie Run, a 5K run starting at Roskie, looping around campus, and ending back at Roskie. It is put on by the Roskie RHA (Residence Hall Association; essentially a group of students who decide how to spend their residence hall's money) and it benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Montana.

Although I did not exactly enjoy waking up at 9 a.m. to get ready and get to Roskie on time (the run started at 10), I did get a cool shirt (shown above) and a medal (everybody who participated got one). Plus, I exercised early in the day and have had a semi-productive day ever since (consisting of some studying and frisbee golfing). My plan is to make it a tradition and run the Roskie Run every year.

Poetry

I just wrote another poem for my American Literature assignment, because the first one wasn't long enough and because I wanted to. I'm pretty happy with it, so I'll probably turn this one in. It is based on Emily Dickinson's poem (243)

I've known a Heaven, like a Tent —
To wrap its shining Yards —
Pluck up its stakes, and disappear —
Without the sound of Boards
Or Rip of Nail — Or Carpenter —
But just the miles of Stare —
That signalize a Show's Retreat —
In North America —

No Trace — no Figment of the Thing
That dazzled, Yesterday,
No Ring — no Marvel —
Men, and Feats —
Dissolved as utterly —
As Bird's far Navigation
Discloses just a Hue —
A plash of Oars, a Gaiety —
Then swallowed up, of View.

I basically wrote my poem about writing poetry, because when imitating a poem the meter drives everything:

Tap tap Tapping, tap tap Tap —
I beat the message Out —
I feel compelled, but still unsure —
Restless and in the Clouds
A Beat goes Here — Here Emphasis —
And now to think of Words —
Which continue their Tap Tapping —
In My Cerebellum —

Tick Tick — it's Ticking in my Head
I listen, Comforted,
Like Rain — a Deluge —
Drop, by Drop —
Discreet yet momentous —
The Words form Resilience
As they are wont to Do —
I write them Down, quite Aimlessly —
Tap tapping still, they Soothe.

Pre-Departure Study Abroad Orientation

This morning (and afternoon) from 9:30 to 1:30 I had my pre-departure Study Abroad Orientation. In the past couple of weeks everybody has been planning for next semester and registering for classes, but I have not taken part in any of that because I am going to study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina next semester. It was a somewhat complicated process; the application is hard enough to get together and the paperwork has only grown since I was accepted. So while most of my peers are planning for the summer and fall semester, all I know is that I'm going to be in Argentina from June 18-sometime in November. Or perhaps longer.

I've been getting more excited as my departure date approaches, but also more apprehensive. First of all, I don't have a plane ticket, so I really need to get on that. But the orientation today was really helpful and I feel less in the dark about everything, especially because everybody else I know who is studying abroad feels the same way (and I know three people going to the same place I am, although they won't get there until August, so that is somewhat comforting).

One thing that surprised me was the number of people there, and also the places they were going! Everybody who is studying abroad for either the summer, the fall, the whole year, or some combination, was there. We were in a pretty large lecture hall and it was full of probably at least 100 people. Some of the destinations were really cool, too, and now I want to go pretty much everywhere in the world. One girl is going to Svalbard, which is part of Norway but is a large island located north of Norway across the Arctic Ocean. She said she was excited to learn how to shoot a polar bear rifle because people aren't allowed to leave town without them. I hope she was kidding.

Anyway, I know people say this all of the time, but MSU has a really good Study Abroad program, and it is easy to take advantage of. I'm super excited to go learn to speak Spanish (hopefully) fluently, while experiencing a new culture and traveling to places I've never seen. It's never too early to travel the world!

More Poetry

The English department is rather small at MSU, and therefore the professors all talk to each other and know what is going on in all of the other English classes. For this reason, I have pretty much the exact same poetry assignment in my American Literature class that I just had to do a couple of weeks ago for my British Literature class, because both of my teachers apparently love poetry. This is actually fine with me, because I kind of like poetry too. I decided to try to model my American Literature poem off of an Emily Dickinson poem:

435

Much Madness is divinest Sense—

To a discerning Eye—

Much Sense—the starkest Madness—

'Tis the Majority

In this, as All, prevail—

Assent—and you are sane—

Demur—you're straightway dangerous—

And handled with a Chain—

The topic of my poem is completely unrelated to Dickinson's. I've been pretty obsessed with "dubstep" music lately, which is really bass heavy and what some might call weird, but I love it. So I ended up with this poem:

[001]

That Sound is like a mindless bass—

In a distorted Pitch—

It hits—the moment Pauses—

I feel Eternity

That sound, in truth, is real—

The pulse—is in my veins—

That sound—is all my consciousness—

And with it I’ll remain—

New and Improved Poem

If you recall, I posted a poem over Spring Break which was a rough draft of an assignment I had. The actual assignment was due today, and it's actually almost entirely different than the original. We've been reading poetry in both of my literature classes, so I focused a lot more on putting emphasis in the same places.

Not only was this due today, but I had another assignment due in my Educational Psychology class AND I had to teach that class today with three other people because it was my turn for the "Team Teaching Assignment." Basically, I woke up at 5 am to get everything done.

Don't procrastinate in college.

Here's the final poem:

THE MARRIAGE OF MUSIC AND DANCE

THE TRANSFORMATION.

The crowd roars and waves its limbs in impatient space:

Behind stage the wanted waits.

Back then, she was embarrassed to dance.

Uncertain in her youth until

She saw the light.

Once enchanted she let go.

And in that ecstasy

Was a body free.

When that fateful moment happened:

It was life but, as a dream

Was over much too soon;

And though the moment ended

Her heart still soared.

Life would never be the same again,

She wants the moment back, and drives

To far lands to witness reprise.

Feel the freedom exude from

The girl’s pleasantries.

And look into her wide blue eyes

Music is her home.

The crowd roars and waves its limbs in harmonious glee;

The music has set it free.

Cure For The Common

I normally try to keep the more personal aspects of my life out of this blog (aka my social life, ahem) but last weekend something happened which I cannot resist blogging about.

Some of my friends wanted to have an extraordinary dance party at their house, so they decided to try to get a band to play in their basement (which is pretty much vacant). After a little searching and brainstorming, they called Cure for the Common, a local funk band. They opened for Bassnectar at the Rail Jam and were playing a show at the Top Hat in Missoula (the location of the Sound Tribe afterparty I attended a little while ago) when my friends called, but they immediately agreed to play in my friend's basement, on a Friday night, for free.

Needless to say, everybody was really excited. The band showed up around 9:00 and started playing at 10:00, and even though the basement got ridiculously hot and crowded they played for about three hours. It was epic; I couldn't resist blogging about it.

The band in the basement. Unfortunately the drummer isn't visible from this view.

Click here to watch a video on their Facebook.

This is just one more example of why Bozeman is so cool.

Is this real?

Montana appears to be in a state of confusion right now and so am I. During spring break and the following week, summer appeared to be right around the corner. Suddenly, on Tuesday morning I awoke to a winter wonderland outside and it continued to snow heavily throughout the day. Conditions at Bridger were epic for the past two days, and Big Sky too, I have heard. Bridger was planning on closing this Sunday but they extended their season until Tuesday, which is perfect for me because I'll be able to make it up Tuesday morning.

Basically we received 18" of snow in 48 hours, yesterday was nice and sunny and the snow began to melt, and this morning it snowed again. Welcome to the schizophrenic weather of Montana. I can't wait to take advantage of our day off from school tomorrow and go to Big Sky!

I took this picture from the Big Sky website. It was taken on March 6 but it accurately portrays my excitement to go up tomorrow!

Anyway, back in the real world the semester continues on. We are on the home stretch and I am in slight disbelief; where did all the time go? Oh yeah, I spent it all snowboarding. Luckily I am in a good place academically and the past couple of weeks have been relatively uneventful. My biggest assignment right now is a team teaching project for my Educational Psychology class; we're teaching the class on Wednesday about peer dynamics in high school. Although group projects can be frustrating because everyone's schedules are conflicting, I think this is going to go pretty smoothly once we sit down and get it done.

Even though I've been coasting ever since spring break, I have a feeling this is the calm before the storm of the last few weeks of the semester. I'll have to brace myself...