It's been weeks since my last post - sorry! There's nothing too exciting to write about and I also just stay so busy that I never think to sit down and write something. But today, I've been reading about African history for the last four hours and I need a break :)
Classes are going well. I really enjoy my classes this semester. I like going to class, being there and listening and learning... huh! What a novel idea - actually enjoying the things you're studying! It affirms my decision in the direction of my studies and gets me excited to continue learning about these issues and pursue careers related to these fields.
Speaking of... as president of the Half the Sky chapter I started a new thing with our group called Dining for Women. We host a dinner once a month and everyone who comes donates whatever amount of money they feel they would have spent had they "dined out." We collect all the "dining in" money and send it to the national Dining for Women organization who collects all the money from all the chapters around the country and sends a big, fat check to a pre-determined international organzation that is working to empower women and girls. The org. is different every month and during the dinner, they provide us with materials to learn about the organization we are giving to and the specific issues they are working against.
Our first dinner was last weekend and it was such a success! The organization of the month was called Midwives for Haiti and so we made Haitian Pasta Salad, Haitian Rice and Beans and also served a pasta dish and cheesecake bars. The execs all got together to make the food beforehand and then we had about 15 people show up for the dinner! We had almost $100 in donations and so we were thrilled! Looking forward to the next one!
What else...? It's midterm season so things are very busy for everyone. Last week was a tough week for me - I had a big exam for Anthro of Human Birth, a presentation in the Africa class, a Swahili quiz and a Violence Against Women midterm... all within three days. Plus, I've been sick with a nasty cold for almost three weeks now. The worse of it was last weekend and the beginning of this week, which made preparing for all that stuff even worse. I'm feeling better - still have an awful cough but at least the fever/chills/aches are gone! Now I've got another midterm this week and then two the following week - and then it's spring break! Woohoo!
I'm getting super duper excited for Arizona. I have so much fun with the team and I'm looking forward to a week together in the sun playing golf and not studying!
We officially start the golf season tomorrow - which is a little crazy because there is currently a good 6 inches of snow on the ground... We got hit pretty hard with a snowstorm last thursday. It ended up being a pretty big deal - the first time the university ever cancelled classes was last year during the Snowmageddon that pounded the East Coast. Well, Thursday morning (there wasn't even any snow falling until 10am) professors started emailing and canceling classes - I had 2 of my 3 cancelled. The snow kept coming and coming and it was super icy and just crazy. The University as a whole, ended up only canceling evening classes and evening exams (which people were pretty psyched about haha) but it made me happy because I basically ended up with a four day weekend (I don't have any classes on Fridays)!
But alas, it's Sunday and I have loads of work still ahead of me... Oh well... I'm cozied up under a blanket, still in my pajamas, with tea, homemade zucchini bread (thanks for the recipes grandma mary!), my iPad and the sun steaming in through the blinds and making the snow look so pretty. Life could certainly be a lot worse!
