Thursday, September 30, 2010

Russian

I absolutely love the Russian language! I started to take Russian at the beginning of the summer and found that it was much harder a language than Arabic (the language I was dabbling in last year). I don't know why, but when I was studying Arabic, everything I learned seemed to stick to my mind a lot faster than French (the language I spent over a year studying and cant seem to remember at all!). In fact, I still remember all of the conversations that I learned in Arabic one year ago; strange, I know. The ease with which I can pick up on Arabic goes to show that I am not taking the easy way out with Russian; indeed, I find Russian to be harder than both Arabic and French put together! I'm serious! Some of the sounds that one has to make while speaking this beautiful language feel completely unnatural and alien. I have to do each lesson at least three times before I can fully grasp the content. But it is a labor of love, and all the mental blood, sweat and tears are worth it in the end.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

I'm Alive!

I did live through the worst weekend of my life! God gave me victory! I got all of my papers done on time. However, I did not do as well on them as I would have liked; they are definitely not the best papers I have ever written. Oh, well. I will do better next time.

But I have some exiting news as well. I will be going on the fall mission trip to NYC! I cannot wait to see what God is doing up there and I cannot wait to be a part of it. I have never been on a mission trip in my life, but that will change in one month! I am very, very, very exited!!! Or could you tell this by seeing all the exclamation points?!

Also, tomorrow I will go to my practical politics class and submit an actual political survey with my team! I love this class! I am really hyped about politics in general, so I decided to refurbish my political blog that I quit posting on about a year ago. Check it out: http://www.donkeysbtrippin.blogspot.com. Yes, I came up with the name. I'm thinking about getting it copyrighted.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Long Week that Just Got Longer

First of all, I claim complete responsibility for my bad memory.

This week has been absolutely crazy! I have had a whole lot more work hours and a whole lot more school than usual. I am behind on my research project, I have only exercised twice, I am not getting good sleep, and I started a new class last week. This is not so bad, as it goes; I can deal with everything I just listed. In fact, it almost feels like my new status quo. But something else happened on Tuesday. I was about to read what I thought was an article that I had to get done in order to write an eight page paper, but I found out that it was a book. I almost started hyperventilating because the paper in due this Sunday!

As it turns out, it is a very short book (only eighty something pages). I am almost done reading it, thank heaven. Also, I do not regret starting this new semester long class (Civitas Institute Academy of Practical Politics). In fact, it is one of the things that I look forward to every week. Last week we had a class on basic campaign structure, and yesterday, we had a lecture on opposition research from a partner in successful campaign research firm. Then we talked about polling and we were given the assignment of constructing our own poll (which will actually be executed!). Yesterday was amazing, and I can't wait until next week!

In the mean time, I will be typing three papers nonstop for the next three days.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Nine Years

I was ten years old on September 11, 2001. When we heard that the towers had been hit, we were glued to the TV for the next several days. I suppose I did not fully understand what was going on, I just remember thinking that I was no longer safe. Even though I live in a small town that isn't even on some maps, for the first time in my life, I understood the meaning of mortality.

September 11, 2001 is the day that made me who I am today. It is the reason I decided to study international relations and foreign policy. Even though I know the world will always have dangers, I know that I have to do something to try and make it a safer place. I know that I have to do something. I don't like to sit on the side line and wait for something to happen. I will not.

This is who I am, nine years from that day.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

The Results Are in...and...YUM!

Noelle woke up the next morning and decided to look at the substance that she had created the night before. She went to the fridge and opened the lid and...the mixture was exactly as it was supposed to be. To her surprise, it had hardened over night and was ready to rolled. So she started to roll the truffles into balls and then powder them with confectioner's sugar. After she had formed several truffles, she popped them into the freezer and waited. After an hour or so, she decided to try one of her newly formed truffles. They were very, very yummy! And she can't wait to try a new recipe!

Tomorrow, Noelle will tell you about the great finds she made on her last shopping trip. Oh, and she will tell you about it in first person.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Truffles

This story starts with my attempt to find a hobby that has nothing to do with politics, current events, or school in general. Where this story ends...I don't know yet. This story will be told in the third person and be posted in two parts (because I will not know the outcome until tomorrow).


Noelle Joubert is the type of person who cannot help but have a one track mind; until recently, she thought that she should only participate in activities that have something to do with her intended career. Over the summer, she realized that there was more to life than reading and watching the news. Once she realized this important fact of life, she went on an epic search for a hobby that she would find both challenging and enjoyable.

Her search was fruitless until one week ago when she decided that she wanted to bake truffles and other homemade candies for Christmas gifts this year. The night before last, she looked and looked in all of the cookbooks in the house until she finally stumbled upon two truffle recipes. She settled on one of them and then it was off to town to buy the ingredients.

About an hour ago, Noelle journeyed into the unknown world of baking. She carefully pored the heavy cream in to a saucepan, then added the chopped baker's chocolate and stirred until the substance was a creamy texture. She then added some confectioner's sugar.

Like most other people unfamiliar with the world of baking, she thought that if she followed the recipe exactly,it would turn out right. But like most things in life, it did not turn out the way she planned. It was way too thin, so she put in more and more confectioner's sugar until it was thicker. She will not know until tomorrow whether or not it worked...