eww gross (from Sunday)

UGH! It was so disgusting, I should have taken a picture to prove how gross it was...I came back to my room tonight and I noticed the fan from on top of the TV, on the ground. Then I looked a little closer and saw some orange stuff on it...and I looked around and there is Meghan's pumpkin, smashed on the cords of the TV and its various electronics. So that's a little gross, right? But what makes it a million times worse is that it was all moldy!!! It was absolutely disgusting and the worst part is, mold is the only thing I know I'm allergic to, but I had to clean it up because Meghan wasn't home! Ewwww...

On a lighter note, I had a pretty good weekend. On Friday night, me and Jen hung out and watched The Phantom of the Opera and played some carpetball at Bob's. Then I came back to my room and watched Pretty Woman. I'd never seen either of those before, so that was fun. Yesterday...what did I do yesterday? I don't remember! But today, I went to First Mennonite Church with Danette and met up with some of my friends. Then Kristen, Jake, Katy and I went to Wal-Mart and the mall, where I got good deals! Yay! And tonight, Jen and I went over to Chris's room to play some MarioKart DoubleDash. I was psyched!

LOL I can't believe I can't think of what I did yesterday. I feel like an idiot!

Coming up this week, I don't have night class tomorrow! The professor is away! I'm pretty excited! Also coming up is registration for classes...I have no idea what I'm going to do :-/

See y'all later!

Oh, let me leave you with a picture of Saturday:


That's Jen and I looking over the railing of the little bridge of the Little Riley Creek. Most of the pictures didn't turn out so well--this is the clearest of them!

premiere! and pumpking carving

So, I had a wonderful time at my premiere in Rochester. About 200 people came to it! Here's a picture of two of my best friends from film, Adam and Emily, being interviewed as they step out of the limo onto the red carpet:




You can read the article here: http://rnews.com/story_2004.cfm?story_type=2&rnews_story_type=18&id=54559

And if you go there and click on "watch video" under the picture, you can watch them interview me! LOL I talk way too fast and lost my train of thought a little, but I'm happy with it anyway.

So now I'm back at BU, after sleepless nights on the train and way too much excitement. The first couple days I was back, I was catching up on work I missed on Friday, so that was pretty stressful. I had to do a "braided" essay, where you have seemingly different topics and you weave them all together in the end. I was afraid I'd get a bad grade on it, because I didn't weave environmentalism into it very well (that was part of the assignment) but I did fine! I also did great on my FYS midterm, which I had been stressing about a little bit (although I was too distracted by the thought of going home to get REALLY stressed). Yay!

Last night, Ropp Hall Association put on a pumpkin-carving event. Here's a picture of the pumpkins that three of my friends did:



They even named them! About 25 girls came down to the Pitt (the hang-out area in Ropp Hall) to carve pumpkins and have cider and cookies. It was pretty cool, even though I don't like carving pumpkins. I don't know why, but I've never been big on it. Maybe because my mom was always like, "Do we HAVE to carve pumpkins this year?" :-)

Well, that's all the news for now!

midterms--ew

I can't believe it, but we just had midterms. Have we really been at college long enough for that? I didn't write any blogs past week on time because I've been swamped with studying. I had 3 small essays due for Media and Culture on Monday, so I was recovering from my weekend of writing that, and then my First Year Seminar midterm was on Wednesday, so I spent a lot of time studying for that (including a study session on Monday night, which was moderately helpful). I think I did pretty well--at least an 80, I hope. They give you about 7-13 essay questions in advance, and then for the test, each teacher picks 4 for you to choose from. Then you choose 2 of the 4 that they give you. So you have to study for anywhere between 7 and 13 questions, which is stressful. One of my friends wrote out full essays for each of her 7 questions to prepare! I didn't do that, but I went back and looked at a lot of the readings that the questions were based off of.

I also prepared like crazy to come back home to Rochester, which is where I am right now! All day Tuesday--when I didn't have class--and all day Wednesday, I packed. And I cleaned, because my roommate's family is coming this weekend and I had made a mess. Then I had to do things like laundry and take trash out and do dishes so nothing would get gross while I'm away. They seem like little things, but they take up a lot of time...especially with how messy my room was!

Plus, I had to write a speech, which I'll give tonight! See, the reason I'm home is because there's going to be a premiere of the movie I did! In case you're just starting to read my blogs, I'll recap: I assistant-directed, edited, and acted in a 32-minute movie this spring and summer with the local Jesuit boys' high school. So, after months of hard work (and almost a year of hard work for my friend Adam!) we are finally getting a public screening. Well, semi-public--we sent out invitations, but the general public is also welcome to come. We're going to have fake paparazzi, a red carpet, and real news stations! We're getting dressed up and arriving in a limo. I'm psyched!

So I have been very distracted, and then I was barely home yesterday. I got home around 11 AM, after sleeping for a total of about 1/2 an hour that night (and not even a solid half hour! That was like 3 ten-minute dozes on the train!). I've also been trying to write an essay for honors English, which is due today and yet I have only three sentences written. Oh goodness. Overwhelmed!

Well, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed! Gotta rest up before my big premiere tonight!

--Holly

boring college student

I'm officially a boring college student. I spent my Friday night napping, doing laundry and dishes and homework. Things are getting a little overwhelming: I have 3 mini-essays due on Monday for Media and Culture class, a project for Intro to Retail and Design due on Monday, and a midterm for First Year Seminar on Wednesday. The mini-essays are what are really getting me. The professor is a really nice guy, but I have a feeling he's going to be a super-tough grader. And I feel like the subject matter is a little over my head. Postmodernism? A mediated or situated culture? Too hard!

Today in FYS (First Year Seminar) we split into groups: girls and guys. We're planning out, each group, 20 minutes of class on Monday, teaching the opposite sex something we want them to know. The girls in my class split into two groups according to where on campus we live, so I'm with 4 or so other girls and they're all coming over tomorrow night to work on the skit we're putting on. I play the girl who's frustrated with her boyfriend. Fun! But it means I have to clean my room :-( LOL it's probably a good thing, though!

Things have really cooled off the last few days and it feels so good. I got a new coat at Wet Seal and I adore it. So I've been walking around campus in my new coat feeling so pretty :-)

Adam, my best guy friend and my director for the movie, was demanding this week! He wanted a headshot to put up in his school before the big premiere next Friday. I tried a couple of times--first my hair wasn't straight enough, then I had too much makeup on, and finally I got it right. Aimee from down the hall tried to help--she's really into photography, she's fabulous--but in the end I just had to have my roommate Meghan take the picture because Adam wanted it different and Aimee wasn't around. So I feel like I did pretty good, check it out:
I'm okay with it, even if my mom doesn't like it that much!

Wow, it's getting late. I want to be up early tomorrow so I can get stuff done and be ready when my friend Jen calls--her and some friends are doing a video for a competition put on by Apple, so I'm going to help. Wish us luck!

not bad!

A little bit surprisingly, I had a good time this weekend/fall break! At first, on Friday afternoon when practically everyone went home but me, I felt kind of lonely and the campus seemed a little bit creepy because it was so empty. But then I had a few friends who stayed too, and we hung out most of the time. Like, Kristen and Taasha (one of my best friends from home and her friend, respectively) and I raided Kristen's grandma's video collection and watched "The Illusionist" on Friday night. We also cooked ourselves a meal--mmm, macaroni and cheese and hot dogs is so good when you've had only cafeteria food for a month--and went shopping. I bought a dress for the premiere--no, nobody's allowed to see pictures of the dress until it has its official debut--at Penney's in Lima. Now I just need gold shoes and accessories!

I went to church with Kristen, Jen, and Karla on Sunday. We went to Ebenezer Mennonite Church. It was okay--it didn't strike any of us as perfect for us, or anything, but it was okay. We went to the traditional service, which is at 10:30. That's unusual--around here, at least, the contemporary service is usually around 10:30 and the traditional one is much earlier. But I'm fine with that because I grew up in a church that was mostly traditional hymns, so I feel at home in that kind of service.

We've been trying out different churches. Chapel on campus is held every other week, so we have half of our Sundays to try out different area churches. I wonder what we'll do this week!

My room is a mess. I spent a lot of time trying to clean it up this weekend, and it still looks terrible. Poor Meghan.

Oh, and I also taught Kristy to scrapbook this weekend! That was fun! Kristen and Kristy came over after we saw Pride and Prejudice with Taasha, Karla, and Jen. We went to Jen's room because she's in Ramseyer, which is air-conditioned. It felt good!!!

alone for the weekend

It's fall break, and that means things are going to be dead around here. Most people go home, but Kristen (my best friend from home who is a sophomore here) and I decided not to make the trek. My family's going to a wedding reception in NJ anyway, so I'd be in the car 4 out of the 5 days we have off. So Kristen and her friend Taasha and I are stuck here...we're going to make the best of it, though. Tonight we borrowed "The Illusionist" from Kristen's grandma, who's only 3/4 of a mile away, and watched it. (I can't decide if I liked it or not.) Tomorrow we'll go shopping, at least to Lima, possibly to Toledo. I might get a formal dress to wear to my movie premiere. Yay!

By the way, I'm totally psyched about the premiere. It's for the movie I acted in/worked on this spring and summer ("Hamartia") and it'll be at the school who sponsored it, McQuaid Jesuit High School, back in Rochester. I'll take the train by myself--scary!--for a couple of days nearer to the end of October. Invitations have been sent out to faculty, posters are all up around McQuaid, and the school website even promotes it. The local news is doing a piece on us! EXCITING!

I thought of a couple things about Bluffton that might be interesting to y'all:

1) Many of us have a mild obsession with the black squirrels on campus. I had never seen black squirrels before Bluffton, and I think they're so cool-looking. They're practically tame, you can get so close to them. (I've been about 3 feet from one, and it freaked me out. You're not supposed to be able to get that close! I thought only rabid ones are tame like that!) There's even a Facebook group for people who want to make a video of the cool squirrels.

2. Many of us also have an obsession with The Office, the TV show--and that obsession isn't mild. It's severe to crippling. If someone says something funny, chances are, it may have been on The Office at one time. For example..."Shun. Unshun."

3. The professors are so down-to-earth. In the past, people like Ropp Hall Association have had auctions where the faculty and staff donate a meal at their house to be sold, and today, my First Year Seminar professor, Randy Keeler, had lunch with me at Bob's. He does this with every FYS student. I was a little iffy about it at first, because I've never had that kind of an experience with a teacher or authority figure before, but it was fine. He even knew my dad from when they were at college together! The unexpected connections here are so funny.

So that's a couple things I thought are just fun trivia about life at Bluffton!

Well, I'm off to shower and head to bed--there's nothing else to do around here tonight!

ugh. too many meetings

I am sick of meetings. I had three yesterday. First was winter formal...I had made signs and put them throughout Ropp Hall to try to get people to show up so we can start planning, and who shows up? One of my friends from ANOTHER hall who I had told about it. That's all. Nobody noticed the signs or cared from my hall! So we waited like 10 minutes, just us (me and Jen), and then, thank goodness, like 4 girls were walking by and asked what we were doing, and I said "Want to help plan the winter formal?" So they said "Sure!" and got really into it. We looked through prom catalogs and came up with themes. We have it narrowed down to 4 options:

1. Parisian Rooftop
2. A Night in Central Park
3. Roaring '20s
4. Boat ride/Nautical (I can't remember the catchy name I came up with this morning)

We're going to try to have people vote on the theme next week. That reminds me, I should make sure the girls are doing everything they said they would.

I also had a Bluffton Student Design Board (BSDB) meeting at 7:30, which went kind of rough and made me late for my THIRD meeting, which was Hall Association. So I was just kinda worn out from all the meetings...and that's not even taking into account how I sat at the BSDB carnation sale booth at lunchtime and worked on Flip This Dorm at 6:30!

Here's a before picture of the dorm room:




The awesome thing about sitting at the carnation table was that I mentioned that I need a ride to Toledo at 3 in the morning in a couple of weeks so I can take the train home for the premiere of the movie I did this spring/summer. A few people said they'd like to take me, but their parents wouldn't let them. So I mentioned that I was going home then instead of this weekend for Fall Break, and how I need a way to get to the train station, and the girl Maggie that I was working with said, "I'll take you." Just like that! And another girl, also named Maggie, was standing right there and said, "I'll go with you to make sure you don't fall asleep on the ride or anything." It's so sweet of them! I'm so grateful. AND I CAN'T WAIT!

Let's see, what other news do I have...there's something wrong with my foot, I've been limping around because it hurts really bad. If it's not better by Friday, I have to see the doctor on campus. The nurse was really nice, I liked her. (Sometimes the nurses at school scared me. I'm glad this one doesn't seem intimidating!)

I went to Waffle House for the first time on Friday night! I went with four friends after I stopped by the Root Beer Keg Party in Bob's and danced one dance. I wasn't that into the music they were playing, and I wasn't in a huge dancing mood, so I didn't stay at the party for long, but I liked how it was a clean alternative to regular parties.

Talk to y'all later!