While here at Conserve I think that I have changed a lot as a person. I have done a lot more thinking about the future, but I have also started living in the present more too. It's a bit of a contradiction I know, but it's been an excellent experience. Before I left home I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but since being here I think that I have definitely widened my horizons. I thought that I had decided what colleges I like and what major I wanted, but being here and learning new things such as poi and guitar has made me think more. I have always been inclined towards the academic and thinking planning side, but here I'm open to going with the flow and seeing where the wind takes me. I want to give everything a chance. I want to enjoy what I have now, even though I am going to miss everything when I leave. The friends I have made here are some of the most valuable, kind, smart, thoughtful, accepting, and understanding people I could ever ask for. There's always someone to listen to you or listen to. Here there are intelligent conversations that don't only consist of relationships and drama. You can always hear or see someone passing on their knowledge to someone new, whether it be singing, playing an instrument, telling a story or building something. People talking about the future or the their spiritual beliefs floats through the air, and the listeners are always willing to accept the views without a flinch or double take. I have learned a lot about people here. Just watching everyone is fascinating to me. The people we chose to hang out with and the people who we go if we need someone to talk to.
If you hadn't noticed, I have created a group of people around me who I trust with everything. I've mentioned them a lot in previous posts. We listen and can talk about everything and not worry about what the other people will think. We are accepting to our differences but share an incredible amount of common ground too. I think that conversation is the best way to form strong bonds between people and man do we talk. Late into the evening... looking at the stars.. on and on and on. Perhaps you don't know what I'm talking about, but for me coming here has been one of my best decisions I have ever made. I have grown as a person so much you can't even imagine.
I hope to have these bonds last for an entire lifetime. I'm not sure I could live without these people in my life now that I have seen a different part of life with them. Despite the distance between us I will make it work!
Bring it on world! I'll go where the wind takes me now.
As I said in my field guide to demons (an English assignment): "Thanks to Conserve school who opened my eyes and allowed me to see."
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
9-28-2012 perfection
Today was an absolutely spectacular day. Not because there was any one thing that happened, but the over all day was just highly enjoyable. I slept in and rolled out of bed to each brunch. Spent the morning in the climbing tree reading Undaunted Courage as a homework assignment. Beautiful fall pictures followed. Then on to the Commons where Aaron and Ana attempted to teach me me ""I Won't give Up" by Jason Mraz on guitar. I love the song now, and can't get it out of my head. Not a bad thing to have on the brain though. That was most of the afternoon. Dinner was tasty, and on to the evening full of stories that I told Mattie while Maeve slept. I got to hear a lot of musical talent from Saige, Ellie, and Aaron tonight. They created an original melodic round on flute, guitar, and voice. The stars were finally out again tonight. Oh how I love Conserve!
Days 5 & 6: 9-20&21-2012: Last two days :(
Day 5: We walked form out lovely cabins to a giant hill positioned on Lake Superior. We walked a total of about 5 miles. It was a nice-ish day where the sun kept going in and out. Peaking through the tree tops at us. Tonight was the last night of us all together. We pitched our tents int he roaring wind and quickly all climbed into the big one. That evening before dinner was bittersweet. We all laughed like maniacs and held our side because of the pain. Carolyn makes this ridiculous face when she laughs, that when you hear her laugh and see her, you can't help but laugh because it's so contagious! Dinner was a beautiful affair. The sun was setting, and we were at a perfect angle with the sun reflection off of the crashing waves and the sun coming through the trees. This combined with the nice fire, the laughter, and the delicious spaghetti that Rob made, placed this night at the top of my list. later that night after the chores had been done, we all gathered under the dining tarp and reflected on the week. Zeki made a wonderful speech that almost brought him to tears. It was a very emotional experience for some, and it made me never want to leave this place and these people. To lighten the mood, Dylan had brought lifesaver had candies, which if you didn't know, spark when you crunch down on them in the dark. That night in the tent, as we were all lying there I had such a warm and fuzzy feeling all I could do was smile to myself in the dark.
Final roster of nicknames (rules being you have to have been given the name):
Zeki = Puma-ninja
Meghan = Daisy
Carolyn = Sassy Pants
Jackie = Lioness
Shawn = just Shawn.. never really got one.
Me = GEOE (pronounced geo/gio) stands for Greatest Earthbender On Earth
Day 6: I know everyone so much better now. I have an even closer knit family here at Conserve! We only hiked about 2.5 miles today, but everyone was glad about this. The week had been strenuous, and it was a nice to have a short hike to finish everything up. My group decided to do solo hikes, which is basically where you leave about 5 minutes of space in between each hiker, so they are by themselves. During my walk I drank in the sounds of the waves, the rushing of the rives, and the little details of the forest. Or final destination was Presque Isle. there absolutely stunning views of these massive, bone crushing waterfalls.
When we reached the Sprinter vans and the Bronco, Carolyn walked up to the car to see what she looked like in the window, saw herself, screamed, and ran away. None of us had see our reflections in a week, which in retrospect was probably a REALLY good thing. I was too short to see in the window! :P We were beat! I had also not looked at my watch for an entire week, though I was wearing it. It was a really good feeling to not be bound to a schedule like we are here. Though I don't mind the schedule here very much. the ride home was spent gorging ourselves on food and and looking forward to showers.
At dinner, after thorough showers, I only at salad and fruit. Well many people did. It was the first time the salad bar was completely wiped out. Dylan and and Rob showed up to dinner looking like they had stepped out of the 80s. That night's sleep was very welcome.
Exploration week was a wonderful experience for me, not so much for other, but I would have never changed a thing except Brooke's ankle situation. No regrets! :D <3 :)
Final roster of nicknames (rules being you have to have been given the name):
Zeki = Puma-ninja
Meghan = Daisy
Carolyn = Sassy Pants
Jackie = Lioness
Shawn = just Shawn.. never really got one.
Me = GEOE (pronounced geo/gio) stands for Greatest Earthbender On Earth
Day 6: I know everyone so much better now. I have an even closer knit family here at Conserve! We only hiked about 2.5 miles today, but everyone was glad about this. The week had been strenuous, and it was a nice to have a short hike to finish everything up. My group decided to do solo hikes, which is basically where you leave about 5 minutes of space in between each hiker, so they are by themselves. During my walk I drank in the sounds of the waves, the rushing of the rives, and the little details of the forest. Or final destination was Presque Isle. there absolutely stunning views of these massive, bone crushing waterfalls.
When we reached the Sprinter vans and the Bronco, Carolyn walked up to the car to see what she looked like in the window, saw herself, screamed, and ran away. None of us had see our reflections in a week, which in retrospect was probably a REALLY good thing. I was too short to see in the window! :P We were beat! I had also not looked at my watch for an entire week, though I was wearing it. It was a really good feeling to not be bound to a schedule like we are here. Though I don't mind the schedule here very much. the ride home was spent gorging ourselves on food and and looking forward to showers.
At dinner, after thorough showers, I only at salad and fruit. Well many people did. It was the first time the salad bar was completely wiped out. Dylan and and Rob showed up to dinner looking like they had stepped out of the 80s. That night's sleep was very welcome.
Exploration week was a wonderful experience for me, not so much for other, but I would have never changed a thing except Brooke's ankle situation. No regrets! :D <3 :)
Friday, September 28, 2012
The trio
Oh what would I do without my triumvirate of M's?! Spent a good 2 hours just sitting on the swings with Mattie talking about life. The time definitely flies! I'm so glad that I have friends that I can talk and talk and talk to without ever running out of things to say. It's the greatest thing in the world! They Maeve joined us and we talked even more in the LRC in the dance room while watching Aaron and Dexter spar. Later Mattie and I spent another part of the night looking at the sky and watching the clouds fly by and the moon rise. The nights on the weekends here would have to be some of my favorites here. <3 :)
It's almost official that I'll be staying with the Yates's for Thanksgiving!:D
It's almost official that I'll be staying with the Yates's for Thanksgiving!:D
my mind has been blown by colors...
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| I wish that my camera could show the true beauty of the sun... |
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| Fall in the Northwoods... This is how it is everyday! |
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| Thanks Susie for the cookies, and the stale pretzels as packing peanuts! :D They have been appreciated! |
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| Mattie listening to the breeze. |
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| And now she's taking a nap :P |
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| Little Donahue behind the LAB. |
Conserve School semester 5: Kaia's Journal: Fancy Friday/ Funky Sock Friday
Conserve School semester 5: Kaia's Journal: Fancy Friday/ Funky Sock Friday: Today was Fancy Friday and Funky Sock Friday at Conserve. It also happens to be Perspective Student Day, so you can see why we picked today ...
Check it out! :D
Check it out! :D
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Amber
And sometimes we just sit and watch the world go by.
Just sitting and watching the clouds fly by and the watch the moon rise.
And sometimes we just watch the stars fly by.
Sit and watch the time fly by.
But we never want the time to go by.
Make time stop passing us.
Make it so we can go back.
Make it so we can stay forever.
Make it so the clock never makes us say good bye.
Make it so the sun rises, so we can sit forever.
Make that bell never ring.
The leaves shifting and changing.
Make it freeze.
Freeze the laughs.
Freeze the spinning balls of light.
Freeze the fire.
Freeze the musical melody.
Freeze the time.
Trap us here forever.
Let us stay.
Make us stay.
Tell us it's okay to stay.
Forever.
I was feeling inspired by Mattie :)
Just sitting and watching the clouds fly by and the watch the moon rise.
And sometimes we just watch the stars fly by.
Sit and watch the time fly by.
But we never want the time to go by.
Make time stop passing us.
Make it so we can go back.
Make it so we can stay forever.
Make it so the clock never makes us say good bye.
Make it so the sun rises, so we can sit forever.
Make that bell never ring.
The leaves shifting and changing.
Make it freeze.
Freeze the laughs.
Freeze the spinning balls of light.
Freeze the fire.
Freeze the musical melody.
Freeze the time.
Trap us here forever.
Let us stay.
Make us stay.
Tell us it's okay to stay.
Forever.
I was feeling inspired by Mattie :)
9-27-2012 Birthday aftermath
Thanks to all of my wonderful friends here at Conserve. I received even more surprises than I thought I would. Last night I was hanging out in Maeve's room , and the entire Loon wing came up and sang me Happy Birthday with Olivia on guitar! After that Mattie and I had to go back to our wing's, so she came and kept me company last night, because walking into my room without Maia there is all too depressing. So silent and serious. It's not a good feeling. COme home Maia! I got my present form Mattie that night. It's a beautiful poem all about life here. I considered posting it, but then it wouldn't be as special, and you all would probably read it and go.. "what on earth did I just read?" It involves references to too many "you had to be there" experiences. Plus, it'd make it less personal. Thanks Mattie, I love you! <3 :D Also, thanks again to all the facebook birthday wishes and the cards and money. :D
Today in ceramics I got really excited about starting my place setting. I forgot to mention that everyone in the class is creating two whole place settings (plus a center piece) that are completely functional and then we are going to eat dinner with Robert (the teacher) after Thanksgiving. Back to what I was saying, I got into the room and went to check my pleated bread bowl and discovered cracks on it! It's done.. over.. not going to work. Kaia says that I have a VERY slim chance that it won't break, but I'm not holding out, so I started yet another one. We are also beginning to work with our dirt that we brought form home. The class is sieving the dirt to make our own personal glazes. I'm looking forward to seeing how Aaron and my glazes look like since we have such different clay form everyone else.
Today in ceramics I got really excited about starting my place setting. I forgot to mention that everyone in the class is creating two whole place settings (plus a center piece) that are completely functional and then we are going to eat dinner with Robert (the teacher) after Thanksgiving. Back to what I was saying, I got into the room and went to check my pleated bread bowl and discovered cracks on it! It's done.. over.. not going to work. Kaia says that I have a VERY slim chance that it won't break, but I'm not holding out, so I started yet another one. We are also beginning to work with our dirt that we brought form home. The class is sieving the dirt to make our own personal glazes. I'm looking forward to seeing how Aaron and my glazes look like since we have such different clay form everyone else.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Happy Sweet 16 to Me! 9-26-2012
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! My day has been awesome! It all started yesterday about 11pm with Maia. My dearest suite mate is currently en-route to Maine to go visit the College of the Atlantic for the presidential something another. She apparently is still able to get sugar highs, unlike me. I sat in her room and "helped" her pack. I love Maia! She's one awesome person. To add to the epicness when I woke up and went out to the main area to get my computer form the COW (computer on wheels), She had covered the front door of Elaine house with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEI-JING!" in painters tape, and thew dry erase welcome board with the same thing, along with "best roomie ever!" What's not to like?! This was followed by the fact that apparently Sept. 26th is International Lumberjack Day. Who would pass the opportunity up to see Meghan wearing her hair as a beard and mustache? Birthday wishes lasted all day here... quite amazing that everyone remembered it, except maybe the kitchen staff. Apparently I was supposed to get something at dinner tonight, and I didn't get it? Ahhh well Mama, Mother, and Yi-Shan are eating brownies in my honor, and Dexter made a cheesecake, a piece of which is his birthday gift to me. Aaron gave me this green and orange hat that I have been "borrowing" for a while. You may have noticed it on facebook maybe? It has fleece inside it. In case you didn't know this, I am a HUGE fan of fleece! :D Maeve is in the process of making my present?
This evening I went with Mattie and Maeve to go and check out phenology sites for applied ecology with Robert. I'm really excited that our main assignment is to do plant ID and just hang out in our spots. Some of my favorite things! And all for a grade. While we were there, who comes sneaking out of the woods without a sound. Aaron... Whelp I guess the "m-triumvirate" plus Maia, and Zeki and Aaron will be present in area 4!
I also got to talk with the family today! Shout out to the Bernard/Marshals who sent the cards! And the money no less. One of the cards had stickers, so if you, dear readers, feel the inclination to send me stickers to decorate my water bottles, please send them on!
Must get to my design study.. I should have the last two days of Exploration week up soonish. I've been so busy, what with slipping back into the reality of life and school and such. :P PEACE
This evening I went with Mattie and Maeve to go and check out phenology sites for applied ecology with Robert. I'm really excited that our main assignment is to do plant ID and just hang out in our spots. Some of my favorite things! And all for a grade. While we were there, who comes sneaking out of the woods without a sound. Aaron... Whelp I guess the "m-triumvirate" plus Maia, and Zeki and Aaron will be present in area 4!
I also got to talk with the family today! Shout out to the Bernard/Marshals who sent the cards! And the money no less. One of the cards had stickers, so if you, dear readers, feel the inclination to send me stickers to decorate my water bottles, please send them on!
Must get to my design study.. I should have the last two days of Exploration week up soonish. I've been so busy, what with slipping back into the reality of life and school and such. :P PEACE
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
exploration week pictures
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| Waiting for the rain to go away |
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| Colin without a hat for the first time in 5 days |
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| Superior sunset on the last night |
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| Rob with his tapen-YA-day |
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| Superior! |
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| Superior at the end of the week after Carolyn and I "washed" our hair |
TOGA TUESDAY!
So all of you people who go to lame school... we have this things called Toga Tuesday! Check this out..
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| Breakfast before they were required to put shirts on. |
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| The parade right before breakfast |
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| Russ rocking the style |
Monday, September 24, 2012
Day 4: 9-19-2012 the superior Superior
Hey folks! It's day four and our spirits haven't been lowered an inch! It's incredibly cold and windy right now! When we stopped for lunch I was shaking and shivering so much that Shawn gave me his lovely Omni-heat jacket. Everyone was huddled around me trying to warm me up. Today's hike was only 7.5 miles, but with my congestion it got really annoying. I got to know Rebecca a lot better because I decided that rather than agitate my cold by trying to keep up with the group, I would just walk with Rebecca in the back. It paid off. Plus Rebecca is pretty cool! It turns our our entire group is either a Dr. Who, Harry Potter, anime, or Star Wars geek. Or in Rob, Dylan, and Colin's case movie junkies. The entire day we hiked along the Big Carp River. During the walk I could hear the beautiful falls, and after lunch the sun came out for the first time since the trip started. The sun warmed our backs and shone onto the ferns along the path.
Right before the semester started at Conserve Mama and I went up to the Porkies, and we saw Lake Superior for the first time. When I saw it for the first time, I was super surprised that the lake had waves! When the group approached the coast I heard crashing and booming. It was the waves. Every time I hear waves I feel like I'm home, and I get this really warm fuzzy feeling inside. When I hear waves I feel like I could fly away. There was a storm brewing off the coat, and we all watched it all come in.When I hear waves and feel the wind on my face I want to scream into the crashing noise and whistling wind. Zeki, Jackie, and I stood on the drift wood logs with our arms out and yelled and screams with our arms out. Needless to say we stayed out until the bitter end. When the sky let loose we all ran for it.
Being here with all of these people for a week makes me really glad that we all have compatible personalities. Without this I think that the trip would have been exponentially less enjoyable. Zeki and the rest of the girls spent all night talking, and in the morning after his prayers Zeki and I went outside and kept talking. I love the fact that here at Conserve School people can have wise, un-frivolous conversations.
"I mean when are we on Lake Superior for sunrise?" - Zeki
The evening was filled with laughs and riddles by candle light. Here are a few quotes to capture the night that we had:
"Thank God for cabins!" - all of us at one point or another (there was a monsoon brewing! )
"ahhh the feeling of dry clothes and and feet!" - same situation as above
"oh my gosh! I'm sitting at a dining room table and I can't put my bowl down!" - Shawn
I finally got a fire started in the oven here at Cabin 6, but oh no, do we want to roast marshmallows using it? Oh no, lets use the little tea lights on the picnic table! Meghan dearest is roastin me the "perfect golden marshmallow, full of perfect fluff!"
Here are a few inside, yet at the same time hilarious quotes. I asked people what they wanted me to write in my journal:
"Shawn is JUST like Aaron only 40 million times better!" - for Shawn
"Squincher is the squinchiest!" - for Jackie
"I just have my sassy pants on!" - for Carolyn
"stop it guys! Zeki and Jackie sounds too similar!" - for Jackie and Zeki
"Sam (meant to say "say I'm") the best person all around" - Colin
More later about this day, because there's a lot to say!! PEACE!
Right before the semester started at Conserve Mama and I went up to the Porkies, and we saw Lake Superior for the first time. When I saw it for the first time, I was super surprised that the lake had waves! When the group approached the coast I heard crashing and booming. It was the waves. Every time I hear waves I feel like I'm home, and I get this really warm fuzzy feeling inside. When I hear waves I feel like I could fly away. There was a storm brewing off the coat, and we all watched it all come in.When I hear waves and feel the wind on my face I want to scream into the crashing noise and whistling wind. Zeki, Jackie, and I stood on the drift wood logs with our arms out and yelled and screams with our arms out. Needless to say we stayed out until the bitter end. When the sky let loose we all ran for it.
Being here with all of these people for a week makes me really glad that we all have compatible personalities. Without this I think that the trip would have been exponentially less enjoyable. Zeki and the rest of the girls spent all night talking, and in the morning after his prayers Zeki and I went outside and kept talking. I love the fact that here at Conserve School people can have wise, un-frivolous conversations.
"I mean when are we on Lake Superior for sunrise?" - Zeki
The evening was filled with laughs and riddles by candle light. Here are a few quotes to capture the night that we had:
"Thank God for cabins!" - all of us at one point or another (there was a monsoon brewing! )
"ahhh the feeling of dry clothes and and feet!" - same situation as above
"oh my gosh! I'm sitting at a dining room table and I can't put my bowl down!" - Shawn
I finally got a fire started in the oven here at Cabin 6, but oh no, do we want to roast marshmallows using it? Oh no, lets use the little tea lights on the picnic table! Meghan dearest is roastin me the "perfect golden marshmallow, full of perfect fluff!"
Here are a few inside, yet at the same time hilarious quotes. I asked people what they wanted me to write in my journal:
"Shawn is JUST like Aaron only 40 million times better!" - for Shawn
"Squincher is the squinchiest!" - for Jackie
"I just have my sassy pants on!" - for Carolyn
"stop it guys! Zeki and Jackie sounds too similar!" - for Jackie and Zeki
"Sam (meant to say "say I'm") the best person all around" - Colin
More later about this day, because there's a lot to say!! PEACE!
Day 3: 9-18-2012 and that's how it's done!
Day three was the most strenuous day of our entire trip! We walked a total of 10.5 miles! So of the hills were tough. It wasn't that they were really steep, but the fact that they continued on and on and on. So it was a slower more gradual hill that required more endurance than strength. I definitely have stronger legs because of this trip! We made it to Mirror Lake! Yay us!The view on the lake was gorgeous! When there was no wind and the colorful trees were reflecting into the water it was an absolutely stunning view. Especially since the grey sky contrasted so nicely with the bright colors. There was a fork in the trail when we got to the lake. One direction was 0.5 miles to one set of campsite, and another 0.5 miles a different direction for another set. We split in half in search of the best location. When we all came back together and reported that all the campsites were empty we decided to take he left fork. When we got there low and behold there was the other Porkies group led by Andy and Kathleen! We actually only ended up talking to Alex DeMetts and George. They were disappointed that their group hadn't moved as far as they had originally thought. After speaking with them I was glad that my group was so energetic! :) You have to give Meghan and Jackie credit. This was their first ever camping experience! Thanks guys :) That night was filled with late night chats between the tents and some hilarious games of Mafia. It's becoming quite a popular game, and everyone's strategies change frequently.
FIREBENDERS RULE!!
FIREBENDERS RULE!!
Groggie Froggie
On day 2 I also miraculously caught quite a large frog in Little Carp River! I think that I was able to catch it because the rocks and water were SO chilly that day.
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| Herp fans please message me... Bullfrog or green? |
We/I did it!
1008 and eight views! I feel super accomplished now! Thanks everyone for reading! What a great birthday surprise. I am always looking for some snail mail here at Conserve, so if you have the time drop me a letter at Conserve drop me a line if you want to! ;)
It's always fun to get a comment via snail mail! :D
It's always fun to get a comment via snail mail! :D
Sunday, September 23, 2012
999!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just wanted to thank all of ya'll who are reading my blog! :D I'm currently at 999! Thanks for reading my ramblings, and please keep following! :) PEACE
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Day 2: 9-16-2012 c'est la vie
Well day 2 dawned and Brooke was going home. :( She couldn't put any weight on it, and all through the night Carolyn and I could hear her pain. :( in Brooke's words: "My first night in another state and it was (insert choice word here)! WHY!?" It was hard to see Brooke go because she is such a ball of energy. Typically we would have woken up early, eaten our fill of oatmeal+granola+dried fruit+powdered vanilla soy milk, broken camp and moved out, but Rebecca set out early in the morning in search of a ranger's station and first aid, and a way to get Brooke out of the Porkies. I was a tad bit worried about food redistribution because with Brooke, there was one less person to carry the group gear and food, but it turned out ok. I just kept saying that the weight would decrease over the week. The rangers got there mid day and they helped Brooke troop out with her crutches over a 3 mile hike I believe. before she left we were dubbed by her either the Bubble Rap Crew (cause Zeki can beatbox) or Team Trippin'.
After Brooke left we spent the rest of the day exploring around our site. Zeki has this cool thing going where he gets people to take pictures of him doing handstands where ever he goes! It's really cool. I will post some of them soonish. We had a big stick race down the waterfalls by the campsite. Rob and Dylan got really into it and started sharpening sticks for aerodynamics! I also found a bull frog r green frog.. can't remember my herp ID that well. :( Jackie and I got really good at at starting fires with wet wood in the sprinkling rain. She was the firebender and I was the firebending apprentice, and Rob was the firebending grand master! Bit of an Avatar reference for those nerds out there. We spent a lot of the afternoon that was not stick racing in our tents because it got really rainy. We all gathered in the girls tents and played cards while Brooke and Rebecca were gone. We ended up playing Kemps and BS for a LONG time, but it was really fun, and we got a lot of laughs out of it.
Our original trip was supposed to include camping on the escarpment at Lake of the Clouds, but since we had a duff day we had to cut it out. That was fine.. apparently it was quite windy! I love being with all the people!! PEACE!
After Brooke left we spent the rest of the day exploring around our site. Zeki has this cool thing going where he gets people to take pictures of him doing handstands where ever he goes! It's really cool. I will post some of them soonish. We had a big stick race down the waterfalls by the campsite. Rob and Dylan got really into it and started sharpening sticks for aerodynamics! I also found a bull frog r green frog.. can't remember my herp ID that well. :( Jackie and I got really good at at starting fires with wet wood in the sprinkling rain. She was the firebender and I was the firebending apprentice, and Rob was the firebending grand master! Bit of an Avatar reference for those nerds out there. We spent a lot of the afternoon that was not stick racing in our tents because it got really rainy. We all gathered in the girls tents and played cards while Brooke and Rebecca were gone. We ended up playing Kemps and BS for a LONG time, but it was really fun, and we got a lot of laughs out of it.
Our original trip was supposed to include camping on the escarpment at Lake of the Clouds, but since we had a duff day we had to cut it out. That was fine.. apparently it was quite windy! I love being with all the people!! PEACE!
Day 1: 9-15-2012 Roll Tron
Just a little bit of back story.. I wrote a lot into my field journal, so I will be copying a lot of hat I wrote out of the journal, so therefore it will be written as though the events just happened. :) Hope it's not too complicated!
Today was off to an awesome start! We had an early breakfast at eight this morning in the LAB, which consisted of all of the food left overs from the past week. It was absolutely delicious! Everyone was carbo loading. I do believe Russ at 3.5 plates of food. I may be mistaken though. The good byes were quite sad :( Someone made some sort of comment about how these good byes would be quite similar to those at the end of the semester. All I could think was: "Heck no! There would be a whole lot more tears and much longer hugs. I probably wouldn't have let go of Maia, Gena, Maeve, Aaron, Dexter, Kaia, Kai, or of course Mattie. My group (Dylan, Rob, And Rebecca), was the first to leave, so we got a major send off. Everyone was waving in the common space in the LAB as we walked out. Brooke (aka Brooke Shnooke) was so excited. This was her first time that she would ever stay over night in another state. We arrived at Pinkerton Trail, and immediately began to hike. We decided to eat lunch on Lake Superior. I had forgoten how the great lakes have waves! in Zeki's words: "Be jealous, this is like my home." Lunch consisted of : lots of PBJ, Cream Cheese, Tapanade (aka pronounced Ta-pen-YA-day!), tortillas, chub (summer sausage), and chrackers! It was an awesome meal, and we got some cool pictures! Everything was going along nice and smooth, and we were nearing our campsite when the first disaster struck. It attacked Brooke. Brooke had stepped off of a tree root going down a hill, and twisted/sprained her ankle. Lucky for her we were not 300 feet from a campsite, though no the one we originally intended to stay at. The site was right on Little Carp River. I loved listening to the rushing of the water that night. That was basically what happened that night. We spent a lot of time around the fire that night, but we were all nodding off, so it was a really early bed time. I had no concept of time, because even though I wore a watch, if people wanted to know what time it was I just held my arm out. Day 2 coming right up! :D
Today was off to an awesome start! We had an early breakfast at eight this morning in the LAB, which consisted of all of the food left overs from the past week. It was absolutely delicious! Everyone was carbo loading. I do believe Russ at 3.5 plates of food. I may be mistaken though. The good byes were quite sad :( Someone made some sort of comment about how these good byes would be quite similar to those at the end of the semester. All I could think was: "Heck no! There would be a whole lot more tears and much longer hugs. I probably wouldn't have let go of Maia, Gena, Maeve, Aaron, Dexter, Kaia, Kai, or of course Mattie. My group (Dylan, Rob, And Rebecca), was the first to leave, so we got a major send off. Everyone was waving in the common space in the LAB as we walked out. Brooke (aka Brooke Shnooke) was so excited. This was her first time that she would ever stay over night in another state. We arrived at Pinkerton Trail, and immediately began to hike. We decided to eat lunch on Lake Superior. I had forgoten how the great lakes have waves! in Zeki's words: "Be jealous, this is like my home." Lunch consisted of : lots of PBJ, Cream Cheese, Tapanade (aka pronounced Ta-pen-YA-day!), tortillas, chub (summer sausage), and chrackers! It was an awesome meal, and we got some cool pictures! Everything was going along nice and smooth, and we were nearing our campsite when the first disaster struck. It attacked Brooke. Brooke had stepped off of a tree root going down a hill, and twisted/sprained her ankle. Lucky for her we were not 300 feet from a campsite, though no the one we originally intended to stay at. The site was right on Little Carp River. I loved listening to the rushing of the water that night. That was basically what happened that night. We spent a lot of time around the fire that night, but we were all nodding off, so it was a really early bed time. I had no concept of time, because even though I wore a watch, if people wanted to know what time it was I just held my arm out. Day 2 coming right up! :D
Friday, September 21, 2012
POI
for all of you who are confused about what poi is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQJdmOhSsXU
minus the fire and awesomeness for me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQJdmOhSsXU
minus the fire and awesomeness for me!
I SURVIVED THE PORKIES!
I survived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One week of backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains and I'm clean and alive with no major injuries!!! I wrote a lot i my field journal and I will be adding in the days tonight, but for now I must go and chat with all of my long lost friends!!!!!!!!!!! There's screaming and exclamations all over campus.. in fact I think I hear Laura and Ana in the other room right now. Just waiting for Mattie to finish showering! More later tonight! :D
Saturday, September 15, 2012
9-16-2012 EXPLORATION WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Today was absolutely rediculous! I have so much stuff that I'm carrying for the group backpacking trip! Like no joke, I think that my backpack weighs at least half of me. I have to have assistance from a person or a wall! :O Brooke and I are the tiniest people and I believe our packs weight more than a lot of the other peoples. There was slight disagreement for how many tents we take, but I think everything should work out. I am a little confused as to why I am carrying a gallon of vanilla y milk since no one is lactose intolerant in my group.....
I think we are all just about as prepared as we can get, and the weight should diminish over the week. Thank goodness the biggest hill is I the middle of the trip, and not at the beginning. I think it will be quite interesting being away from so much for this week. Obviously, if you haven't caught on yet its EXPLORATION WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today/tomorrow morning!!!! 2 hours i a car, and then a 7 mile hike! Let's do this thang! I'm really considering not even wearing a watch, but I think I'll have separation anxiety, and my wrist will feel naked. :O I'll have my camera in my cute orange water resistant notebook.
Just another shout out for the Conserve folks..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWEN FOR YESTERDAY (9-15)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY TO KATE!!!!
BEST WISHES FOR YOUR NEW ADVENTURES (REFERENCE TO EXPLORATION WEEK!)
Though I'm looking forward to this week, I am really going to miss the people who I have made a really close bond with. Maeve already left for North Country trail this morning, and I miss her so much. All of our room parties are over till then :( Hopefully I'll get to see at least two of them over Thanksgiving break! :)
If you couldn't tell I am really into blue, not just because it's my favorite color, but this morning when i woke up I saw Mattie, and EVERYTHING she was wearing was blue. down to her socks. The run down for the day is this:
woke up
picked up laundry
saw mattie
met Keller (mattie and Aaron's brother who by the way doesn't look at all related to them)
packed like a maniac to try and be ready for a 2:15 meeting
ate continental breakfast
packed more
lay in a hammock and took a nap
pitched a tent
picked up food and group gear
packed some more
ate dinner
hung out in the commons and got angry at the poi
went to watch doctor who
saw tow of the greatest episodes
fell asleep during the second
watched Kaia cut Mattie's hair
went to the fire that aaron had started
lay on the benched and became hypnotized
ate brownies
went to the sledding hill with aaron and mattie
lay there and star gazed
watched aaron roll all the way down the hill
laughed when he couldn't walk in a straight line and kept falling :P
possibly saw two coyotes
went back to the dorm
repacked backpack one more time
got on my blog and facebook
decides to sleep now
PEACE!!! I'll talk to you in a week! Love yall :D
I think we are all just about as prepared as we can get, and the weight should diminish over the week. Thank goodness the biggest hill is I the middle of the trip, and not at the beginning. I think it will be quite interesting being away from so much for this week. Obviously, if you haven't caught on yet its EXPLORATION WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today/tomorrow morning!!!! 2 hours i a car, and then a 7 mile hike! Let's do this thang! I'm really considering not even wearing a watch, but I think I'll have separation anxiety, and my wrist will feel naked. :O I'll have my camera in my cute orange water resistant notebook.
Just another shout out for the Conserve folks..
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWEN FOR YESTERDAY (9-15)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AND HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY TO KATE!!!!
BEST WISHES FOR YOUR NEW ADVENTURES (REFERENCE TO EXPLORATION WEEK!)
Though I'm looking forward to this week, I am really going to miss the people who I have made a really close bond with. Maeve already left for North Country trail this morning, and I miss her so much. All of our room parties are over till then :( Hopefully I'll get to see at least two of them over Thanksgiving break! :)
If you couldn't tell I am really into blue, not just because it's my favorite color, but this morning when i woke up I saw Mattie, and EVERYTHING she was wearing was blue. down to her socks. The run down for the day is this:
woke up
picked up laundry
saw mattie
met Keller (mattie and Aaron's brother who by the way doesn't look at all related to them)
packed like a maniac to try and be ready for a 2:15 meeting
ate continental breakfast
packed more
lay in a hammock and took a nap
pitched a tent
picked up food and group gear
packed some more
ate dinner
hung out in the commons and got angry at the poi
went to watch doctor who
saw tow of the greatest episodes
fell asleep during the second
watched Kaia cut Mattie's hair
went to the fire that aaron had started
lay on the benched and became hypnotized
ate brownies
went to the sledding hill with aaron and mattie
lay there and star gazed
watched aaron roll all the way down the hill
laughed when he couldn't walk in a straight line and kept falling :P
possibly saw two coyotes
went back to the dorm
repacked backpack one more time
got on my blog and facebook
decides to sleep now
PEACE!!! I'll talk to you in a week! Love yall :D
Friday, September 14, 2012
9-14-2012 Life is good....
What a day! It's been crazy! I was panicking about finishing my field guide of demons on time for english class today. The word minimum was 500 for the intro/conclusion, but somehow in an hour I managed to bust out 1099 words! I had a ton f fun making it, and even though I turned it in unbound I still think it was successful! I have some pretty good artists in my class so I was feeling a bit intimidated. I'm probably most proud of the wood sprite ears!
Well as you may have noticed I have been slowly mentioning more and more about exploration week! My group leaves for the porkies on Sunday, but the North Country Trail Folks leave this tomorrow morning! I'm super psyched. My group is picking up out gear and food tomorrow!
I also wanted to mention some things about yesterday that I didn't get a chance to mention in the earlier posts. a) I am learning how to use the poi! I'm having so much fun and yet I'm covered in bruises from hitting myself so many times! I can now to the 2 beat weave, the three beat weave, butterfly intermittently, and am currently working on turning around in circles while doing the poi. Aaron, Kai, and Mattie are proud I think! :P
b) I met Zeki's mom and sister yesterday! They are so nice and really awesome! And because I have my birthday the day before Zeki's and because I know Maia, they made Maia and I delicious brownies which I am currently eating!
Today in hostory class I learned about the weather all the exploration weeks are in for. It should be a bit wet, but Michael says that without weird weather these kinds of trips can be a little boring. I hope he is right! In class we also went down to Little Donahue Lake and got into a real dugout and paddled around! It was so much fun! We got 9 people into the canoe, and we floated for a short time before we sunk! We beat all the other cohorts so far! :D Beat that you guys!
Tonight should be interesting. there going to be another gameof james Bond and Ella bought the Hunger Games, so tonight should be really busy. I think Aaron is going to attempt another friction fire too!
Must frolic around campus.. I should be providing a few more blog entries before I leave.. PEACE!
Well as you may have noticed I have been slowly mentioning more and more about exploration week! My group leaves for the porkies on Sunday, but the North Country Trail Folks leave this tomorrow morning! I'm super psyched. My group is picking up out gear and food tomorrow!
I also wanted to mention some things about yesterday that I didn't get a chance to mention in the earlier posts. a) I am learning how to use the poi! I'm having so much fun and yet I'm covered in bruises from hitting myself so many times! I can now to the 2 beat weave, the three beat weave, butterfly intermittently, and am currently working on turning around in circles while doing the poi. Aaron, Kai, and Mattie are proud I think! :P
b) I met Zeki's mom and sister yesterday! They are so nice and really awesome! And because I have my birthday the day before Zeki's and because I know Maia, they made Maia and I delicious brownies which I am currently eating!
Today in hostory class I learned about the weather all the exploration weeks are in for. It should be a bit wet, but Michael says that without weird weather these kinds of trips can be a little boring. I hope he is right! In class we also went down to Little Donahue Lake and got into a real dugout and paddled around! It was so much fun! We got 9 people into the canoe, and we floated for a short time before we sunk! We beat all the other cohorts so far! :D Beat that you guys!
Tonight should be interesting. there going to be another gameof james Bond and Ella bought the Hunger Games, so tonight should be really busy. I think Aaron is going to attempt another friction fire too!
Must frolic around campus.. I should be providing a few more blog entries before I leave.. PEACE!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
9-13-2012 dirt can mean a lot
Just to add to my previous post. I am learning a lot about how people act in certain situations. For instance Maia has this great quality when she speaks to a large group of people. She becomes extremely animated, and everyone is drawn into what she is saying! She uses her hands more, and her face becomes much more expressive. This quite a unique quality because I rarely see a person who can do this. I have also become really in tune with certain people's innuendos. The majority of them positive! It's quite interesting! And habits. Goodness gracious! Everyone here has they funny habits, like how some people pour the half and half into their coffee before they put the coffee in. Or in what order people eat their food. I find all of this quite interesting to observe, possibly because I'm never around lots of people! :D
On another note. Aaron made me slightly homesick today. We were pulling our dirt out in ceramics, and I smell this wonderful scent wafting through the air. I look over at Aaron's box and I see red clay! "It smells like home doesn't it Mei-Jing? It smells so good." Me: Like the just rained on soil in the summer." Aaron: "It smells good here too when it rains." Me: "They are totally different smells." Aaron: The smell of homey dirt can never be replaced." All I could do was smile after that. :_) Just the simple connections like that is what I love about being here.
Though I'll have a hard time leaving this beautiful place, and only seeing grayish colors is going to be devastating, but at the same time I miss the smells of my home. Especially the simple things like the dirt :) But being with certain people here makes me feel at home in a completely different way. And with that happy thought... peace out!
On another note. Aaron made me slightly homesick today. We were pulling our dirt out in ceramics, and I smell this wonderful scent wafting through the air. I look over at Aaron's box and I see red clay! "It smells like home doesn't it Mei-Jing? It smells so good." Me: Like the just rained on soil in the summer." Aaron: "It smells good here too when it rains." Me: "They are totally different smells." Aaron: The smell of homey dirt can never be replaced." All I could do was smile after that. :_) Just the simple connections like that is what I love about being here.
Though I'll have a hard time leaving this beautiful place, and only seeing grayish colors is going to be devastating, but at the same time I miss the smells of my home. Especially the simple things like the dirt :) But being with certain people here makes me feel at home in a completely different way. And with that happy thought... peace out!
9-13-2012 personalities
Due to certain late night events from last night I feel like I know Maia (my lovely suite mate for those of you who haven't been reading consistently) on a whole new level! I am so lucky to have her living next to me for these next 16 weeks! It's like having a philosopher to talk to me everyday. We do a lot of pondering the universe together, along with a lot of laughing. I was telling her about my personality application for Conserve for those of you who are curious:
The app was set up saying stuff like: "Do you consider yourself a night owl?" Well of course I couldn't just take the easy path and check the yes or no box. Oh no, I created new boxes in between the other ones saying: "YES OF COURSE!", "Depending upon the situation yes", "She wouldn't EVER do that". Then if my newly created boxes weren't enough I would put an asterisk an give an example. For the box that asked me to list a few qualities about myself I called Laurel and we spent almost an hours coming up with a good 6 to 8 words (if I'm remembering correctly). As you can see I don't really like "check yes, no , or maybe" pieces of paper. Likewise, I also don't really like tests!
Micheal's history class tests are going to be the death of me! I just checked my powerschool gradebook. Ahhh well I know at least one of the questions that I got wrong on the test. Not sure about the other one. I'm still learning lots, and so long as I pass the class I'm not going to worry too much. :)
Quick note for Maia: Thanks for the message on the Skype room board. I only got the top row. Not sure what the other part says! :O
More in a little bit! :)
The app was set up saying stuff like: "Do you consider yourself a night owl?" Well of course I couldn't just take the easy path and check the yes or no box. Oh no, I created new boxes in between the other ones saying: "YES OF COURSE!", "Depending upon the situation yes", "She wouldn't EVER do that". Then if my newly created boxes weren't enough I would put an asterisk an give an example. For the box that asked me to list a few qualities about myself I called Laurel and we spent almost an hours coming up with a good 6 to 8 words (if I'm remembering correctly). As you can see I don't really like "check yes, no , or maybe" pieces of paper. Likewise, I also don't really like tests!
Micheal's history class tests are going to be the death of me! I just checked my powerschool gradebook. Ahhh well I know at least one of the questions that I got wrong on the test. Not sure about the other one. I'm still learning lots, and so long as I pass the class I'm not going to worry too much. :)
Quick note for Maia: Thanks for the message on the Skype room board. I only got the top row. Not sure what the other part says! :O
More in a little bit! :)
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
9-12-2012 Omigosh!
So here is the best acknowledgement of my blog:
While searching for Conserve School on Google I came across
your blog. I hope you don’t mind that I read a few of the entries. I
appreciated the quality writing, humor and insights. It gave me a big smile J
One small note – my name is actually spelled Stefan with
some people pronouncing the last three letters “fan” as in “baseball fan”, some
pronounce it more like “fen” as in “pen” and others pronouncing it more like
“fawn” as in young deer. I am fine with either of the last two. J
This lovely comment was from Stefan Anderson! The head of Conserve School! Can you believe it?! And he said he was "humbled" at dinner when we were giving examples of humility that we had observed over the past week. Cheers! :)
9-12-2012 crazy opportunities
Hey there! Just a quick post. I've been really busy! In history out class yesterday we worked on a real dugout canoe and the paddles that would go with the canoe. The boat will probably not be done by the time CS5 leaves, but it's still really exciting! Sadly in the process I managed to cut off a tiny piece of my index finger not with the planer.. Oh no.. but with the wood chip that resulted after I cut the oar with the planar. Aaron says that so long as it doesn't hurt the next day that I'm in good shape. This of course was followed by a conversation about the lovely injuries we have gotten with machinery tools.
Yesterday was also a day of swimming with Dexter, Maeve, Mattie, Alex T. and Kaia. It was freezing, but it was still really refreshing, and you ended up going numb after about 5 min. After swimming I hung out with the other groups who were gathering their group gear. I must have helped pitch 5 tents! I'm glad my group already got the majority of the gear checked out. I'm also glad that my group isn't nearly as large as some of the other groups. It has been decided that were will walk between 6 to 8 miles every day! The trip is just around the corner! I'm really excited. My English project is also just around the corner! I need to hurry up and tap into my artistic side!
Today my careers and colleges class focused on specific careers, and I got really interested in forensic Science technology. This wouldn't have originally attracted me, but not I'm intriguing! So much for knowing what I like.
Later today is Stewardship in Action. I should be working with more wood tools! Fingers crossed nothing else get injured! Later today I am also going with Mattie to make a survival bracelet out of paracord. I have gotten one of these bracelets as a gift, but I can't wait to learn how to make one :D There are so many new things to do here, and it's always hard to decide. :P
I am finally appreciating why I like homeschooling! There aren't a ridiculous amount of tests to take every week! Michael's history quizzes are going to be the death of me! Lewis makes so many speeches and they all seem to run together after a while! :O
Later!~ PEACE!
Yesterday was also a day of swimming with Dexter, Maeve, Mattie, Alex T. and Kaia. It was freezing, but it was still really refreshing, and you ended up going numb after about 5 min. After swimming I hung out with the other groups who were gathering their group gear. I must have helped pitch 5 tents! I'm glad my group already got the majority of the gear checked out. I'm also glad that my group isn't nearly as large as some of the other groups. It has been decided that were will walk between 6 to 8 miles every day! The trip is just around the corner! I'm really excited. My English project is also just around the corner! I need to hurry up and tap into my artistic side!
Today my careers and colleges class focused on specific careers, and I got really interested in forensic Science technology. This wouldn't have originally attracted me, but not I'm intriguing! So much for knowing what I like.
Later today is Stewardship in Action. I should be working with more wood tools! Fingers crossed nothing else get injured! Later today I am also going with Mattie to make a survival bracelet out of paracord. I have gotten one of these bracelets as a gift, but I can't wait to learn how to make one :D There are so many new things to do here, and it's always hard to decide. :P
I am finally appreciating why I like homeschooling! There aren't a ridiculous amount of tests to take every week! Michael's history quizzes are going to be the death of me! Lewis makes so many speeches and they all seem to run together after a while! :O
Later!~ PEACE!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
9-11-2012 circle of friends
Last night was filled with mini pow pow sessions in Maeve's room debating the crazy things in life. I love the group of people that surrounds me. They know me at a level I never thought possible. They notice my little innuendos that I seem to miss about myself. This has helped me become more aware of who I am as a person. And for that I can thanks all my new friends. :)
I feel like today I going to be a very reflective day since it's 9/11. A lot of people at the community meeting talked about how their families were close to the attack. Ella and Kaia's stories were the most saddening. This day really makes me glad that I'm here, and makes me recognize how lucky I am to be living and to have not lost any loved ones.
Soppy.. I know right? While I've been here I've also become really appreciative of nature. My love of nature has grown exponentially, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to a city and be happy. I have life-long ties to the earth now. I was talking with some people last night, and it seems as though they all live on tons of land. Mattie and Aaron live on about 100 acres and Russ and Kai also live on huge pieces of property. I am so jealous! All the stuff I could do on that land! Time for a road trip after this! Mattie and I decided that we are going to make Aaron drive us up to visit Maeve and Dexter. From there we will go and visit all the Wisconsin people! :D Sounds like a plan!
Chinese! Gotta fly! Exploration week is coming up this weekend! We leave Sunday! I'm so pumped and can't wait. I'm now prepared with my three new sweat wicking shirts (Thanks Mama and Mother!)!
I feel like today I going to be a very reflective day since it's 9/11. A lot of people at the community meeting talked about how their families were close to the attack. Ella and Kaia's stories were the most saddening. This day really makes me glad that I'm here, and makes me recognize how lucky I am to be living and to have not lost any loved ones.
Soppy.. I know right? While I've been here I've also become really appreciative of nature. My love of nature has grown exponentially, and I don't think I'll be able to go back to a city and be happy. I have life-long ties to the earth now. I was talking with some people last night, and it seems as though they all live on tons of land. Mattie and Aaron live on about 100 acres and Russ and Kai also live on huge pieces of property. I am so jealous! All the stuff I could do on that land! Time for a road trip after this! Mattie and I decided that we are going to make Aaron drive us up to visit Maeve and Dexter. From there we will go and visit all the Wisconsin people! :D Sounds like a plan!
Chinese! Gotta fly! Exploration week is coming up this weekend! We leave Sunday! I'm so pumped and can't wait. I'm now prepared with my three new sweat wicking shirts (Thanks Mama and Mother!)!
Monday, September 10, 2012
9-10-2012 a little bit of philosophy for the day
Hello guys! What's going on where you are? I think we have finally fallen into a rhythm here. Everyone is getting really comfortable with each other. With each new day we become closer and closer. A perfect example is that fact that here at Conserve School it's never just one person in one chair. Oh no... that would be too mainstream and boring. Instead we choose to cram at minimum three people per chair. And when there' a couch you can just forget having a personal bubble. On the sledding hill the goal is who can be under the most people so you can stay warm. Maeve comment on one of the photos Conserve has on the blog. She said something along the lines of, "Well we look like members of a cult!" The picture was of all around a circle holding candles at the opening ceremony. I'll try and post it soon.
I have made some really great friends here, and we are already talking about road trips to see certain friends! The bonds that we make here will last forever in my opinion. :)
I'm really enjoying my classes. every now and then I get a little blogged down from homework, but one thing that I have noticed is that I am no longer all consumed with the grades. Today I checked my gradebook for history class. Despite the fact that i got a 7/8 I was not at all bothered. Typically I would find myself very frustrated, but I think it's good to be able to step away and just enjoy the learning experience. So for the rest of the time that I'm here I just want to soak in everything that I can remember, that those things that I can't remember will come back to me later.
My reflection for my E-portfolio will reflect this new way of thinking I believe. Basically the theme is "step away from the academic side and relax and take in the beautiful nature.
I must move to my next class! More later perhaps!?
PS I'm in love with Doctor Who now :)
PPS it's Chase's 16th birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE! HOPE IT'S THE BEST YOU WILL EVER HAVE!! :)
I have made some really great friends here, and we are already talking about road trips to see certain friends! The bonds that we make here will last forever in my opinion. :)
I'm really enjoying my classes. every now and then I get a little blogged down from homework, but one thing that I have noticed is that I am no longer all consumed with the grades. Today I checked my gradebook for history class. Despite the fact that i got a 7/8 I was not at all bothered. Typically I would find myself very frustrated, but I think it's good to be able to step away and just enjoy the learning experience. So for the rest of the time that I'm here I just want to soak in everything that I can remember, that those things that I can't remember will come back to me later.
My reflection for my E-portfolio will reflect this new way of thinking I believe. Basically the theme is "step away from the academic side and relax and take in the beautiful nature.
I must move to my next class! More later perhaps!?
PS I'm in love with Doctor Who now :)
PPS it's Chase's 16th birthday today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHASE! HOPE IT'S THE BEST YOU WILL EVER HAVE!! :)
Sunday, September 9, 2012
9-9-2012 and a little from last night/this morning
So continuing from my late night post last night....
We finally made the ricing poles, and learned the process and got out on the water. But before we got out on the water there was a demonstration on how to use the large pole to steer. I was standing in the front, and so Roger (the head guy leading the rice camp) pointed at me. I got to ride around in the canoe with him. It was really fun, and you really learn to trust the person who is standing in the canoe! It feels like you are constantly going to tip over and go crashing into the freezing water! Thank goodness Ellie's balance skills were good! Ellie was the steerer, so I essentially got to ride around and relax. We ended up going around in tons of circles, but we slowly improved. We were getting really jealous of how well Andy and Alex were poling until the rain let loose and the thunder rolled in. We were in the back of our little group so we made it back to where we started out. The rest of the group wasn't so lucky and had to pull over into this mucky area. We went back to the lodge and sat through an hour and a half of pouring rain! While I was sitting in the lodge Hailey, Meghan and Ellie played the triangle game. It's a game where only one person knows the rules. It was infuriating. I finally got it. Finally the rest of our group turned up at the lodge. We all made it back safely and it was quite a story to tell!
Later that night I camped out at the LRC with a group of people and watched 4 episodes of Doctor Who. The newest episode for all you Dr. Who fans out there was awesome and amazing and sooo surprising!
Mattie, Maeve, Dexter and I then moved to the Don to watch the end of Avatar, with much commentary. There was also a little drama between Ella and Eric. Aaron, Mattie and I agree that we like homeschooling, because of the lack of drama and craziness. We'll see what we can do to avoid it. :P
When we left, I was the most amazing looking sky ever! I could see the Milkyway and tons of constellations I could hardly recognize. It was like someone had taken glitter and spilled it in the sky. Absolutely breathe taking. :) There's so way to document stuff like that. Conserve School is an experience.
That night some awesome stuff happened. Mainly the fact that Mattie and I hung out into the wee hours of the morning pondering the universe! I got to know her quite well. We agree on tons of levels. It's crazy! And she has the same birthday as my bestest friend Laurel! :)
Today was mostly spent hanging out in Maeve's room with Mattie again. We were mildly productive on our homework. Got to meet Gena's family. She has a beautiful dog that's named after the mother gorilla from Tarzan! What did I say Gena! You are a Disney character through and through!
Gotta read! Byeeee
We finally made the ricing poles, and learned the process and got out on the water. But before we got out on the water there was a demonstration on how to use the large pole to steer. I was standing in the front, and so Roger (the head guy leading the rice camp) pointed at me. I got to ride around in the canoe with him. It was really fun, and you really learn to trust the person who is standing in the canoe! It feels like you are constantly going to tip over and go crashing into the freezing water! Thank goodness Ellie's balance skills were good! Ellie was the steerer, so I essentially got to ride around and relax. We ended up going around in tons of circles, but we slowly improved. We were getting really jealous of how well Andy and Alex were poling until the rain let loose and the thunder rolled in. We were in the back of our little group so we made it back to where we started out. The rest of the group wasn't so lucky and had to pull over into this mucky area. We went back to the lodge and sat through an hour and a half of pouring rain! While I was sitting in the lodge Hailey, Meghan and Ellie played the triangle game. It's a game where only one person knows the rules. It was infuriating. I finally got it. Finally the rest of our group turned up at the lodge. We all made it back safely and it was quite a story to tell!
Later that night I camped out at the LRC with a group of people and watched 4 episodes of Doctor Who. The newest episode for all you Dr. Who fans out there was awesome and amazing and sooo surprising!
Mattie, Maeve, Dexter and I then moved to the Don to watch the end of Avatar, with much commentary. There was also a little drama between Ella and Eric. Aaron, Mattie and I agree that we like homeschooling, because of the lack of drama and craziness. We'll see what we can do to avoid it. :P
When we left, I was the most amazing looking sky ever! I could see the Milkyway and tons of constellations I could hardly recognize. It was like someone had taken glitter and spilled it in the sky. Absolutely breathe taking. :) There's so way to document stuff like that. Conserve School is an experience.
That night some awesome stuff happened. Mainly the fact that Mattie and I hung out into the wee hours of the morning pondering the universe! I got to know her quite well. We agree on tons of levels. It's crazy! And she has the same birthday as my bestest friend Laurel! :)
Today was mostly spent hanging out in Maeve's room with Mattie again. We were mildly productive on our homework. Got to meet Gena's family. She has a beautiful dog that's named after the mother gorilla from Tarzan! What did I say Gena! You are a Disney character through and through!
Gotta read! Byeeee
Saturday, September 8, 2012
9-8-2012 ricing
Wow! Hey there! I have almost 750 views! Some of which I think are from Russia, and are bit sketchy. I'm afraid to follow the links for fear I'll end up on some blocked site! Today was absolutely AWESOME!
I went ricing! For those of you who don't know what it is here goes. I'll try to list it out in steps.
1. Ricing is like gondoliers in canoes! One person has this massive stick that they use to steer the canoe through the rice plants, and the other person has two knockers which are essentially 2.5 foot long drumsticks.
2. The person with the knockers gently taps the plants with the grains into the boat.
3. The rice is laid out on tarps to dry.
4. The rice is put in the wash basins. The basins are then set over the fire and the grains are stirred carefully with a paddle.
5. The rice is then danced upon in moccasins to get the husks off.
6. Then the rice is then flipped in these birch bowls to blow the chaff away.
I'll continue tomorrow morning.. So tired! :)
I went ricing! For those of you who don't know what it is here goes. I'll try to list it out in steps.
1. Ricing is like gondoliers in canoes! One person has this massive stick that they use to steer the canoe through the rice plants, and the other person has two knockers which are essentially 2.5 foot long drumsticks.
2. The person with the knockers gently taps the plants with the grains into the boat.
3. The rice is laid out on tarps to dry.
4. The rice is put in the wash basins. The basins are then set over the fire and the grains are stirred carefully with a paddle.
5. The rice is then danced upon in moccasins to get the husks off.
6. Then the rice is then flipped in these birch bowls to blow the chaff away.
I'll continue tomorrow morning.. So tired! :)
Friday, September 7, 2012
9-7-2012 BROWNIES make me happy
So tonight was absolutely awesome! Stephan (pronounced Stefan. No accent to the "a" to all those who said I was wrong!). I played Risk for the first time ever! It was quite fun. It has a lot to do with world domination based upon probability and luck. I got to meet Stephan's identical twin daughters who are both 16. They go to school in Eagle River (about 30 min away). A bunch of the guys including: Kevin, Walton, Chris, Alex D. Brian, Colin, Eric, Ian and George. They were all styling:
As you can see it was quite hilarious! The rest of the night was spent being crushed in Risk by the twins Jessica and Rebecca. It was still really fun, and even though Mattie and I lost be still got a wooden USB key chain! Oh the perk of being friends with the headmaster's daughters :P
After Risk we all headed back to Donahue dorms to a rousing game of pool (which I didn't participate in) and watching Hildago with Maeve, Kaia, Kai, Aaron, Mattie, Dexter, and Zeki. Complete with hot brownies made by Dexter! Everyone has the ACT tomorrow, so I'm going rice harvesting instead! Woohhoo! The harvesting happens from inside canoes, and Amy the gradfellows is one of the people leading the trip tomorrow so I'm pumped!
Gnight! :) <3 PEACE!
After Risk we all headed back to Donahue dorms to a rousing game of pool (which I didn't participate in) and watching Hildago with Maeve, Kaia, Kai, Aaron, Mattie, Dexter, and Zeki. Complete with hot brownies made by Dexter! Everyone has the ACT tomorrow, so I'm going rice harvesting instead! Woohhoo! The harvesting happens from inside canoes, and Amy the gradfellows is one of the people leading the trip tomorrow so I'm pumped!
Gnight! :) <3 PEACE!
9-7-2012 musical madness
Hey yall! Excuse my absolutely horrendous spelling in the last post. I don't have a lot to say about last night. It was all good, I chose to go to the ceramics room for study hours and that was quite fun! Who knew homewrok could be so amusing. We have been listening to a lot of music, and I really like the fact that everyone here doesn't just like the bubblegum pop genre. Instead I've learned a lot more about music! When I left Atlanta I was agreeing with Mama that I didn't really care for Mumford and Sons. Now I have to admit they have definitely grown on me! Also I've been hearing a lot of ukes playing Ed Sheeran (Rachel especially :)). I'm so happy Yi-Shan discovered him way back in the spring! I felt really informed on the music scene when I was 1 of three people who knew who he was.
Last night was mainly spent with the people I have started hanging out with more. Kai, Kaia, Mattie, Maeve, Dexter, Aaron, and sometimes Alex. I really like the personalities of everyone. They are all super relaxed and willing to go where the wind takes them. But really when you think about it, all the people here came from the fringes of their other schools! Anyways, they are always a good group to hang out with no matter how confusing Kaia's and Maeve's Doctor Who references are.
The weather here is cooling down. I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt rigth now. The high is supposed to be about 61 today. The temperatures should go back up one more time before it gets down right cold. Julia the gradfellow mentioned that we were going through a cold front. Which for me is A OK because this is my favorite kind of weather.
Badger wing is making a true effort to bond together a little tighter. We have started hanging out in the wing a lot more, and last night was spent on me analyzing the quirks of everyone's body language. I was pretty good according to them, and guess accuartely. Maybe I should go into a social career!?
Precalc in 5 min! Gotta run!
Last night was mainly spent with the people I have started hanging out with more. Kai, Kaia, Mattie, Maeve, Dexter, Aaron, and sometimes Alex. I really like the personalities of everyone. They are all super relaxed and willing to go where the wind takes them. But really when you think about it, all the people here came from the fringes of their other schools! Anyways, they are always a good group to hang out with no matter how confusing Kaia's and Maeve's Doctor Who references are.
The weather here is cooling down. I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt rigth now. The high is supposed to be about 61 today. The temperatures should go back up one more time before it gets down right cold. Julia the gradfellow mentioned that we were going through a cold front. Which for me is A OK because this is my favorite kind of weather.
Badger wing is making a true effort to bond together a little tighter. We have started hanging out in the wing a lot more, and last night was spent on me analyzing the quirks of everyone's body language. I was pretty good according to them, and guess accuartely. Maybe I should go into a social career!?
Precalc in 5 min! Gotta run!
Thursday, September 6, 2012
9-5-2012 be careful! :O
It's been quite an eventful past 24 hours! Yesterday was full of injuries (not me though). The funny thing was that they happened almost exactly at the same time! Wow! My semester has now broken the record for most injuries. Here is the list from start till now.
1. Brian - barely a week in broke his arm playing capture the flag (it's still in a really bad sling). He's going to be the navigator for his canoe trip since he can't row obviously.
2. George - minor concussion from going down a hill. Scrapes everwhere.
3a. Ella - fell twice. Once when I was with her, and I swear she nocked herself out, but it was only about 15 seconds so not too bad. It could have been worse. Paige and I helped her up, but she insisted that she was fine. So we let her go, despite our worries. She apparently crashed again shortly after. Her pain was so high they took her to the emergency room in Eagle river. She majory injust her groin muscle. She's on crutches.
3b. Kevin went off a bike jump that we hav ehere. He pulled a Superman and flew ove rhis handlebars and landed on his face. Well today his face is quite scratched up, and he can't feel below his bottom lip.
4. Maia slammed her hand in a door, but it's no broken. It was just a little sore.
5. Jessie was on crutches for a pre-existing leg injury that had flared up.
*Dexter and my falls weren't nearly as bad as these.
So as you can see we've started off real good! No worries, I'm not going off any bicycle jumps any time soon!
This all happened in the evening. Yesterday classes were all good. We had no Stewardship in Action because our exploration groups met.
Just a refresher here are the people who are in my group: Zeki, Shawn, Colin, Carolyn, Meghan P., Mei-Jing, and Brooke. Our leaders are Rob (who's a giant), Rebecca, and Dylan who I must say is super awesome and cool! We got to check out our stuff, so I have a giant backpack with a sleepingbag, dinner bowl, spool, fork, rain tarp, sleeping pad, and stuff sacks in my room. We also picked out food. This made our entire group see JUST HOW CLOSE WE ARE! We also went over our route. We're not hiking too far perday, but its still going to be quite a workout. We actually get to stay in some cabins ON Lake Superior! Another thing to be exstatic about! Woohoo!
Gotta go play Aaron in chess (I hope I'm improving, cause he's definitely playing slower)!
Byeee might blog some tree climbing pictures later tonight. :)
1. Brian - barely a week in broke his arm playing capture the flag (it's still in a really bad sling). He's going to be the navigator for his canoe trip since he can't row obviously.
2. George - minor concussion from going down a hill. Scrapes everwhere.
3a. Ella - fell twice. Once when I was with her, and I swear she nocked herself out, but it was only about 15 seconds so not too bad. It could have been worse. Paige and I helped her up, but she insisted that she was fine. So we let her go, despite our worries. She apparently crashed again shortly after. Her pain was so high they took her to the emergency room in Eagle river. She majory injust her groin muscle. She's on crutches.
3b. Kevin went off a bike jump that we hav ehere. He pulled a Superman and flew ove rhis handlebars and landed on his face. Well today his face is quite scratched up, and he can't feel below his bottom lip.
4. Maia slammed her hand in a door, but it's no broken. It was just a little sore.
5. Jessie was on crutches for a pre-existing leg injury that had flared up.
*Dexter and my falls weren't nearly as bad as these.
So as you can see we've started off real good! No worries, I'm not going off any bicycle jumps any time soon!
This all happened in the evening. Yesterday classes were all good. We had no Stewardship in Action because our exploration groups met.
Just a refresher here are the people who are in my group: Zeki, Shawn, Colin, Carolyn, Meghan P., Mei-Jing, and Brooke. Our leaders are Rob (who's a giant), Rebecca, and Dylan who I must say is super awesome and cool! We got to check out our stuff, so I have a giant backpack with a sleepingbag, dinner bowl, spool, fork, rain tarp, sleeping pad, and stuff sacks in my room. We also picked out food. This made our entire group see JUST HOW CLOSE WE ARE! We also went over our route. We're not hiking too far perday, but its still going to be quite a workout. We actually get to stay in some cabins ON Lake Superior! Another thing to be exstatic about! Woohoo!
Gotta go play Aaron in chess (I hope I'm improving, cause he's definitely playing slower)!
Byeee might blog some tree climbing pictures later tonight. :)
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
9-4-2012 classes are actually fun guys!
Hey guys! As you may have noticed my blogs are getting shorter because I'm super busy. Today was pretty darn cool! It included the following things:
In history, my class got to go outside and start building single track sustainable trails. It was hard work, because there wasn't a lot to balance on while wielding an ax or macloud. It was really cool, and I felt really proud of myself. I managed to break a few hefty rocks with my macloud. We were all wearing super classy glasses, toe covers (so we couldn't chop anything off) and hardhats. When we removed everything we were all dripping in sweat. It wasn't the most pleasant thing to see or smell for that matter. I still really liked it, and it's supposed to be a Stewardship in Action activity, so I'm definitely signing up for it.
Then in english I got super excited! We are doing this big project (which means no more HW after tomorrow's quiz!). It's all about how fear connects to wilderness. We had a choice to choose between a powerpoint arguing whether Bigfoot was real or not, or we could create a field guide for our choice of three or more mystical beasts! We of course I picked the field guide. We spent almost the entire class in Nancy's artroom starting our field guides I'll try and post some pictures of the stages that the book is in. So far I have a really natural homemade paper cover, and tea "aged" paper. Super pumped about the whole project. We are working on it till the day before we leave for exploration week. This way, I can have lots of time to practice my sprites, centaurs, and other creatures! Wooohoooo!
I have also really begun to enjoy cordage! For those of you who don't know its where you twist these grasses together and get cool, earthy looking bracelets. The earth art students are teaching the whole school. So far I have one bracelet, but I'm certain I'll have many by the time the weekend comes.
Rhineland trip is coming up. I have to buy a couple sweat wicking shirts FYI parents! Just a warning. They gradfellows are banning all cotton material! I also signed up for a day of wild rice harvesting. Super excited for that!
Today was the kite festival. More on that later!
Overall a really good day!
Must get my reading and studying done! Gnight!
In history, my class got to go outside and start building single track sustainable trails. It was hard work, because there wasn't a lot to balance on while wielding an ax or macloud. It was really cool, and I felt really proud of myself. I managed to break a few hefty rocks with my macloud. We were all wearing super classy glasses, toe covers (so we couldn't chop anything off) and hardhats. When we removed everything we were all dripping in sweat. It wasn't the most pleasant thing to see or smell for that matter. I still really liked it, and it's supposed to be a Stewardship in Action activity, so I'm definitely signing up for it.
Then in english I got super excited! We are doing this big project (which means no more HW after tomorrow's quiz!). It's all about how fear connects to wilderness. We had a choice to choose between a powerpoint arguing whether Bigfoot was real or not, or we could create a field guide for our choice of three or more mystical beasts! We of course I picked the field guide. We spent almost the entire class in Nancy's artroom starting our field guides I'll try and post some pictures of the stages that the book is in. So far I have a really natural homemade paper cover, and tea "aged" paper. Super pumped about the whole project. We are working on it till the day before we leave for exploration week. This way, I can have lots of time to practice my sprites, centaurs, and other creatures! Wooohoooo!
I have also really begun to enjoy cordage! For those of you who don't know its where you twist these grasses together and get cool, earthy looking bracelets. The earth art students are teaching the whole school. So far I have one bracelet, but I'm certain I'll have many by the time the weekend comes.
Rhineland trip is coming up. I have to buy a couple sweat wicking shirts FYI parents! Just a warning. They gradfellows are banning all cotton material! I also signed up for a day of wild rice harvesting. Super excited for that!
Today was the kite festival. More on that later!
Overall a really good day!
Must get my reading and studying done! Gnight!
Monday, September 3, 2012
9-3-2012 balance on the bosu
Hey guys! I'm slowly sinking into the rhythm here. I also think that I'm losing weight despite the enormous amount of food that I eat today. I want to try wearing a pedometer one day to figure out how far I walk everyday. It seems like I run everywhere. This brings me to balance. It's imperative to figure out how to balance living here. There is so much to do, both academically and fun-wise. My lovely suite mate made a great speech at the community on balancing our lives here. It's taken some getting used to, but I think I am finally adjusting, but the one thing is that still a little unbalanced is the getting to class on time. The entire class was late to Field Instruction! :O ahh well... now we know!
In field instruction we did backpacking. We sized the packs to our spine length. I was pleasantly surprised that my torso wasn't the shortest! Yay me! Mine was actually longer than Ana's or Brooke's! 17. inches if you guys cared to know! :P We spent the entire 1.75 hour class period hiking around with these packs filled with out heaviest possessions (textbooks!). I was happy to feel that the backpacking weight is actually on our hips, so it's really not nearly as bad as I thought it was. Plus my hiking boots were nicely broken in, so I felt really good. So pumped for exploration week! :D
This past weekend in addition to homework and photography, I helped Kaia with her bike. Russ, Kai, Colin, and Shawn all hung out at the LRC and cleaned up a vintage nike that Kaia bought in LOLville for $20! It's about 30 years old I think she said, but everything is in great condition and just needs cleaning. It helps that it has only ever had one previous owner!
Lots of reading that I need to do! Check out cs5kaiajournal.blogspot.com to see my most recent project! Byeeee
In field instruction we did backpacking. We sized the packs to our spine length. I was pleasantly surprised that my torso wasn't the shortest! Yay me! Mine was actually longer than Ana's or Brooke's! 17. inches if you guys cared to know! :P We spent the entire 1.75 hour class period hiking around with these packs filled with out heaviest possessions (textbooks!). I was happy to feel that the backpacking weight is actually on our hips, so it's really not nearly as bad as I thought it was. Plus my hiking boots were nicely broken in, so I felt really good. So pumped for exploration week! :D
This past weekend in addition to homework and photography, I helped Kaia with her bike. Russ, Kai, Colin, and Shawn all hung out at the LRC and cleaned up a vintage nike that Kaia bought in LOLville for $20! It's about 30 years old I think she said, but everything is in great condition and just needs cleaning. It helps that it has only ever had one previous owner!
Lots of reading that I need to do! Check out cs5kaiajournal.blogspot.com to see my most recent project! Byeeee
Pictures with Aaron, Zeki, and Megan!
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| I love my camera for this picture. I took it about 6:00am on Big Donahue Lake by the LRC. |
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| ZEKI! |
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| Water splashes take too much patience... |
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| This picture can't describe how cool the fog looked out on the bog early in the morning. |
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| All I can hear is Norah Jones right now... "Sunrise, sunrise..." |
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| Aaron capturing the mood. |
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| If you missed them on facebook here ya go. I think this is what fairies should look like! |
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| Another one! (: |
Sunday, September 2, 2012
thank goodness my favorite color is blue!
Just thought I'd post this before I forgot... I just turner my East Atlanta Village shirt and a camis a lovely blue. I got distracted while I was talking to Ana in the laundry room. We were even talking about lights and darks. I absently mindedly tossed my new Conserve sweatshirt into the washer too. Ahhh well, the EAV shirt looks super retro, and I actually think it looks better. The camis came out a nice blue too. I had been thinking about getting some new colored camis. Now I don' need too! :D
Saturday, September 1, 2012
9-31 to 9-1 Go go go!
Goodness gracious you guys! I've been so busy it's hard to keep up with whats going on. So I'm going to summarize the last three days.. ready GO!
Friday.. normal classes. Weekend night.. everyone is running on coffee high's and in Gena's case, apparently happiness from drawing a great picture of her feet in art class. That night was filled with some surprising musical tallent. I went over to the Donahue house expecting to do really bad at pool, and listen to music. What really happened was that I figured out Shawn sings really well, Rachel and Kaia sing and play the uke very well, and that Genna is a living breathing Disnesy character. We told her that she needed to try out for one of the singing part because she's really good! I listened and played pool really badly. This was followed by one of my awesome talents. I can star tip with Chase really well. We did it on the sledding/stargazing hill. I felt so cool that I din't fall down the hill. This was followed by much wandering to the campfire at the commons. This involved huddling in a blanket with Aaron and Kate. My legs were freezing! Then after that I went to a sleep over in the Bear wing and got to get know Mattie a lot better. I really enjoyed that. She's quite an interesting person, and makes me laugh so much! Sleep....
10:00am this morning. Lay in the bear wing for an hour. Our conversations consisted of talking about Danielle's alarm which had gone off for 2.5 hours! Wow! We were so lazy. I was sleeping right next to the door and missed a lot of it. Today was Arejen's epic adventure. Olivia, Hailey, Megan, Luke, Andy, Tessa, Ellie, Rachel, and I plus Greg the gradfellow and of course Arjen. The adventure started off with us discovering the canoe was locked to the rack. Finally after finding the key, since the canoe is so massive, we had to get it into the water. Off we went around the lake. It was so clean, and you could see the bottom whizzing by you! It was great. I got out and snorkeled. I suddenly really missed SCUBA diving and wished that Andy (the teacher) could dive with me! The much in some areas was unreal. Rachel got out and it looked like she had no legs at the surface! So dirty. All the fun was followed by cheese and crackers on the "grassy knoll". Arjen makes me laugh so much. Because he is Dutch he often refers to things using different terms, for instance I made a lot of pic-a-tures today! :) Best personality ever!
Tonight I was introduced to Doctor. I'm in love with it. One of the body forms that Doctor Who takes o is David Tennant! Barty Crouch JR for those of you who have seen Harry Potter! I flipped out! :D More fire tonight. I smell super smokey now. Ahh well showers are for people who have time... Not me I'm off to bed so I can wake up and take pictures with Zekie, Saige, Ellie, Aaron, Megan and Jeff. Super pumped! Gnight! Talk to ya later!
Friday.. normal classes. Weekend night.. everyone is running on coffee high's and in Gena's case, apparently happiness from drawing a great picture of her feet in art class. That night was filled with some surprising musical tallent. I went over to the Donahue house expecting to do really bad at pool, and listen to music. What really happened was that I figured out Shawn sings really well, Rachel and Kaia sing and play the uke very well, and that Genna is a living breathing Disnesy character. We told her that she needed to try out for one of the singing part because she's really good! I listened and played pool really badly. This was followed by one of my awesome talents. I can star tip with Chase really well. We did it on the sledding/stargazing hill. I felt so cool that I din't fall down the hill. This was followed by much wandering to the campfire at the commons. This involved huddling in a blanket with Aaron and Kate. My legs were freezing! Then after that I went to a sleep over in the Bear wing and got to get know Mattie a lot better. I really enjoyed that. She's quite an interesting person, and makes me laugh so much! Sleep....
10:00am this morning. Lay in the bear wing for an hour. Our conversations consisted of talking about Danielle's alarm which had gone off for 2.5 hours! Wow! We were so lazy. I was sleeping right next to the door and missed a lot of it. Today was Arejen's epic adventure. Olivia, Hailey, Megan, Luke, Andy, Tessa, Ellie, Rachel, and I plus Greg the gradfellow and of course Arjen. The adventure started off with us discovering the canoe was locked to the rack. Finally after finding the key, since the canoe is so massive, we had to get it into the water. Off we went around the lake. It was so clean, and you could see the bottom whizzing by you! It was great. I got out and snorkeled. I suddenly really missed SCUBA diving and wished that Andy (the teacher) could dive with me! The much in some areas was unreal. Rachel got out and it looked like she had no legs at the surface! So dirty. All the fun was followed by cheese and crackers on the "grassy knoll". Arjen makes me laugh so much. Because he is Dutch he often refers to things using different terms, for instance I made a lot of pic-a-tures today! :) Best personality ever!
Tonight I was introduced to Doctor. I'm in love with it. One of the body forms that Doctor Who takes o is David Tennant! Barty Crouch JR for those of you who have seen Harry Potter! I flipped out! :D More fire tonight. I smell super smokey now. Ahh well showers are for people who have time... Not me I'm off to bed so I can wake up and take pictures with Zekie, Saige, Ellie, Aaron, Megan and Jeff. Super pumped! Gnight! Talk to ya later!
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