California, je t'aime.

California, je t'aime; oui, je fais.

Yes, yes I do. And yes, as of last night I am now back in Seattle, after a wonderful, wonderful, vacation in California visiting my best friend. First of all, let me show you some of the pictures that you had to miss out on last post, since I now have my camera cord again. (Yay!)

Here are parts of the beautiful University of the Pacific campus (who would have known that it's actually in Stockton?)

(I like palm trees)

(The tiles on this building are in binary...although I have no idea what they say)

(This was literally one of thousands of painted rocks)

(The library, where Bre works)

(The clock tower...it sings every freaking hour)

(The UC, aka. the dining hall)

(Knitted covers on the bike racks)

(The "river" ...ha)

(One of the music buildings)

(Sororities)

All in all it was, again, a fantastic trip and I am currently in denial that one: it (and spring break) is over, and two: that I have to go to school today. Even though Bre and I only roomed together for four nights, I think I really got used to having her as my (sort of) roommate...but really if her and I went to school together and lived together, I highly doubt that any form of productivity would ever occur, which would not be a good thing if we wanted to you know, pass college. We definitely came up with our fair share of [inside] jokes these past few days, and just for your sake of curiosity I will type them out, but I won't go into any extraneous detail about them because I'm pretty sure you'd just label us crazy and get confused:

1. YOLO. Yes, the acronym. Google it.

2. Clocccckkkkk.

3. "I'm going to boycott schoooool, doo da, doo da..."

Ha okay no I'm done. Typing these out was not as brilliant of an idea as I anticipated. Inside jokes are meant to be kept...inside. Anyway, oh, another thing I should probably mention is that I will now have to go to the gym every day for the next 16 years in order to burn off everything I ate the past four days. In N' Out, while fantastic, will be the death of me. We will just have to see what happens if, one day, I end up in a place where I have it at my constant beck and call. Obesity. Also, Ghirardelli chocolate will be the other death of me, so I will essentially die twice. Ha. I bought a cool-looking container of it (in the shape of a cable car!) in San Francisco last Saturday, and while it's not gone yet, it probably will be soon...

Ah yes! San Francisco! We spent the entirety of our Saturday there...getting wet. I kid you not, it rained the entire day. Oh well, I got my sun fix on Thursday and Friday, and that sunburn I mentioned in my previous post? Yeah it's still there. I don't understand my skin and it's apparent allergy to vitamin D. While in San Francisco, Bre and I did many things, including get lost, visit Ghirardelli Square, get lost again, visit Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Wharf, eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then get lost again. Okay we weren't completely lost, but we definitely spent some quality time trying to figure out the bus/BART routes and stations. Fun times. We were pretty smart in our decision not to drive into the city, however. We left the car parked at the Pleasanton BART station, and then took that into the city instead. For those of you who have ever lived in a city larger than 500,000 people, you would know that driving is a complete pain in the ass - thus why God created public transportation. Ha. Anyway, we started the day off doing what some teenage girls do best, shopping. Although I admit I only bought one shirt from H & M (gah...where else?), because sales tax and I really do not get along; in Washington I can very sneakily get away with not paying it (okay not so sneakily since you just show the people your license and/or ID, but still), since I'm still technically an Oregon resident, but in California that little trick does not work. And believe me, I learned that the hard way. Once I asked a lady in a mall in Sacramento if was "sales tax exempt" since I'm an Oregon resident, and she looked at me like I had three eyes. So I didn't try that again. Wow off track. So yeah, we shopped, and then decided we wanted to actually do some sightseeing, so we took off toward where we thought was the direction of Ghirardelli Square. No. We got back on the BART, got off, and then realized we still needed to get, basically across town, in order to get to the Square. So we spent said quality time figuring out a bus map.

Cut to about 45 minutes later: we made it! The chocolate stores are just, aaaahhhh. So amazing. I always knew I liked chocolate, but when you can actually come to the original store and try free samples and go broke on the stuff, it's even better.

Next we visited again, Pier 39 and the Fisherman's Wharf. But this time we walked. And I took (more) pictures of random things.

(The cutest "just married" I have ever seen)

I didn't get very many pictures of the Wharf, mostly because it was pouring and we only spent about 10 minutes there, but I did get this:

And this:

Oh, and then there was a picture or two of seagulls, because there were about two gazillion of those damn birds, but I'll spare you. Pier 39 was where we spent most of our time, since that's where most of the little shops are, and THE SEA LIONS. Oh my goodness, the sea lions. THE SEA LIONS. Okay I'm done. But seriously, I love those guys, they're just so cute and chubby and aaahhhh. For those of you who don't know, San Francisco's Pier 39 has hosted a colony (? Is that what you call a group of sea lions, or is it herd, or...sheesh I don't know) of sea lions for 22 years now! And not going to lie I just learned that last Saturday, at the Pier. Go figure.

(Sea lions)

(SEA LIONS)

(Here's where I learned the 22 years bit...)

(...and then this guy became my new best friend)

We ended up eating dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe San Francisco:

And then, since we were both wet and cold and tired, decided to head home. Unfortunately that required more bus navigation (and picture-taking on my part, of things like the Coit Tower, the Transamerica Pyramid, and Alkatraz. Oh and then an ill-attempt at the Golden Gate Bridge. Damn rain).

(If you look really really closely, the Bridge is there!)

Once we made it back to Bre's room in Stockton, we crashed. Literally. While walking all day can be tiring, doing it in the rain takes only that much more out of you. So basically we just hung out, watched a movie, and went to bed. Pretty wild Saturday night, but, yolo. (HAHAHAHA)

I didn't get back into Seattle until around 7:30ish last night, and needless to say that was a long freaking flight. Not long in the sense that it took up a lot of time (it was only about an hour and 45 minutes), I just mean that it was not the most fun experience of my entire life. It started out fine, we took off when Southwest said we were going to take off, and granted I got an isle seat this time, I managed to not get that wave of nausea that usually comes over me right after take off, and therefore didn't need to sip my weight in ginger ale. However, I can't really say the same for the woman sitting in the row in front of me. She decided it would be fun to empty the entire contents of her stomach for almost half of the entire flight back. Yeah okay it wasn't the smoothest ride, but that's because the northwest is almost always covered in rain clouds! Turbulence almost always happens! I guess I can't really blame her though, some people have weak stomachs when it comes to being 30,000+ feet over the Earth - it's happened to me before. Anyway, I felt really bad for her and even though I didn't know her, I kind of wanted to give her a hug. Being sick is hard, especially when it happens in public and again 30,000+ feet over the Earth. Of course, I wasn't going hug her until she was done...even my stomach isn't that strong. I don't do vomit. Ha. The one thing that really wasn't fun was the landing. Since it was kind of raining in Seattle when we got in, we had to go through some thick clouds, and because the clouds were so thick, we had to descend a little sharper than normal. So it was pretty fast and bumpy, which made me kind of panic and wish I could throw a temper tantrum, screaming that I wanted off the airplane. But the little two year old several rows up took care of that for me instead. I secretly thanked him.

It took me about an hour and a half from when the airplane landed, to actually get off, get my luggage and get back to school. I don't know if this ever happens to you, but every time I get off an airplane and wait for my luggage in baggage claim, I always get that mini-panic attack that says it got lost, or got put on the wrong airplane or whatever. However irrational, it's annoying. I took the Light Rail/bus back to campus, and while the Light Rail wasn't too bad (I actually love taking that thing, I used to take it to work every day last year. It's relaxing), I swore to God I was going to die on the bus. Here's a little tid-bit of information for you: don't take the bus in downtown Seattle by yourself after dark, especially one that goes through a sketchy area. Even if you don't get shot at or murdered, there are some scary people out at night...and people who like to throw lit Black and Milds into trash cans and set them on fire. Gah.

I guess there's really only one more thing I want to touch on in this post, and it goes back to my being in California. I was telling Bre about this at breakfast yesterday morning before I left, and honestly it sounded kind of weird saying it out loud, but in my head it made a lot of sense. So let's see if it makes sense in writing. And let me just say now that what I'm about to (attempt to) write, I haven't told or tried to explain to a lot of people before. In fact I think I can count them with one hand, or two fingers. It kind of has to do with that post I wrote back in January about my "pipe-dreams." Here goes. When I was there, and not just Stockton, or San Francisco, or whatever, but when I was there as a whole, I don't know, I just felt...different. And not different like I'm on vacation so I should be happier or having more fun or anything like that (because often that's what happens when you're on vacation), but different like I have never experienced a feeling like that one before. No, I take that back; I have experienced that feeling once before in my life, when I was 14 and went to a week-ish long volleyball camp down at UCLA. Anyway, the feeling was that feeling, you know, the one you get when you just know that you're where you're supposed to be, and where you should be. I never really had that feeling growing up, because I always knew that while Eugene would forever be my hometown, I would settle into adulthood somewhere else. I didn't get that feeling when I went to college either, (which I'm not going to lie surprised me), I think because the decision to come to SU was sort of half-assed on my part, and being in Seattle a year and a half later, it's still not there. Yet, when I was with Bre for a total of four days, I felt better. Gosh, I'm trying to think of what it's called when you find that place where you belong, like something inside of you is now aligned or something. Gah I can't think of it...but if that's the right expression for what I'm trying to say, then something was aligned within me these past few days. I think I'm slowly figuring out where I need to be in my life, maybe. Maybe I don't actually know anything and I was letting my mind play tricks on me. All I'm saying is that how I felt when I was down in California wasn't just that feeling you get when on vacation. It was like something inside of me was hinting that I might just be figuring some things out. Ugh...basically:

(But really that's just my excuse to you so you don't think I'm crazy)

That's it. Such was my spring break vacation/potential inner epiphany. And now I leave you because I must go to school soon. Do not want, but must regardless. I'm in denial. I'm going back to bed. 

Happy Monday everyone.

~Erin

University of the Pacific.

First off, let me just say that I am a bit of an idiot, because when leaving Seattle two days ago I very wisely left my camera cord in my desk drawer, and therefore cannot upload any pictures until I get back Sunday night. Go me. So, while reading this post, you will not be able to enjoy any pictures, until Sunday night anyway when I can post some. Sorry about that people.

However, in the meantime, I am so loving being down here in California visiting Bre for the last half of spring break. Granted, Stockton isn't the most ideal place to live, but the University of the Pacific (or the campus at least), is amazing. I did quite a bit of walking around today while Bre was in math class and took somewhere close to 3,000 pictures. Actually it was probably closer to 40, but still. The student population as a whole isn't that much bigger than Seattle University, but the campus is about three times the size, so it seems like there's like, three times the people. Today, the temperature was a whopping 65 degrees with abundant sunshine, aka. time to break out the shorts, sit outside in a lawn chair, and read (The Hunger Games) for an hour and a half. Now, as someone who's spent the entirety of their life in the Northwest, I take what I can get, but it should please you to know that I did get sunburned. Yup, no good deed goes unpunished...does that saying really work here? I don't know, I mean going out in the sun could be considered a "good deed," and then getting burned could be the "punished..." whatever, I used it. And I'm sunburned. Woot.

(Oh, and I wore sandals for the first time in 2012...)

Altogether, the trip down here has gone quite swimmingly. The plane ride was probably one of the most turbulent hour and 45 minutes of my life, thanks to all of the snow that seems to be plaguing Oregon at the moment (5-7 inches...jerks), so needless to say when we landed and I got in the airport I strongly considered kissing the ground, literally. My stomach can only handle so much ginger ale. On the drive down to Stockton from the Sacramento airport, not only did Bre and I stop at In N' Out Burger before we even made it back to her dorm, but we also noted the road signs on I-5 and contemplated how much trouble we would get into if we just drove the extra 395 miles to LA...aka. Disneyland. Ha. Holy Mother of God I want to go back.

Once we got back to her dorm, Bre had to leave for two hours to go to work at the library (which is open for 24 hours, unlike SU's, which so conveniently closes at either 11 or 6pm...), from midnight to 2am, leaving me to make myself at home in her dorm room/find the showers down the hall/read/go to bed. The next day was pretty relaxing, we basically just hung out and then I got to eat dinner with a gaggle of her fellow engineering fraternity buddies (Theta Tau); they are all very interesting individuals if I do say so myself. Although I should add that I didn't really understand a word they said throughout the entire meal - they speak math, engineer, and Greek System, none of which are really my forte. haha. But it was good, meeting new people is good.

Tomorrow, we plan on making the adventurous journey (or drive) to San Francisco. Actually, we plan on driving to Pleasanton and then taking the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into the city, and then just chilling for awhile. I haven't really been to San Francisco since I was 12, I mean I spend an evening there when I was 13, but there wasn't much exploring done on that trip. So I'm pretty excited. The forecast calls for 57 degrees and showers, but I got my sun fix, and rain is nothing I can't handle. I do live in Seattle after all...

So I think I will leave you with that, as your vacation update. Oh, and I should tell you, I PASSED PHILOSOPHY. Hell yes I did. I mean it was a B- (aka. the lowest grade I've received in my life thus far...but I'm not bitter), but I freaking passed without getting a C, and that's all that matters. That's all I asked for. The rest of my grades weren't too bad, especially considering I really did not care this past quarter. I don't know, there's just something about winter quarter that kills all of my motivation completely...hmph. Anyway, I guess I can just say I got A's in the classes that I wanted, and I got decent grades in the other ones, and I'm still on the Dean's List. Now, onto spring quarter! Ugh I really don't want to go back to school.

~Erin

P.S. I also read this book over break, and finished it last night:

SO GOOD. Seriously incredible, go read it, and don't put it down. Gah, Jodi Picoult, you are a goddess. Also, listen to this song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Wof32u1-Q&noredirect=1

Yes, it is Ke$ha, but it's her actual voice, like her non-autotuned voice, and it's incredible. Goodnight people!

Les finales. Les vacances de printemps.

Hello jolly people! And yes I feel as though I can say jolly people, because I am in quite the jolly mood. As of last Friday, finals are officially over! So, here is a list of the things I no longer have to do:

1. No more philosophy. And no more philosophy silly things, like papers and exams consisting of at least 5 in-class essays.


2. No more history of Modern Japan. 


3. No more philosophy.


4. No more 15-page research paper on the history of homosexuality in Japan.


5. No more philosophy. And can I just mention one more time, no more philosophy?

Gah. Philosophy class was seriously horrible, if you couldn't tell. No wait, I take that back, not seriously horrible, I mean my professor (Dr. Acharya) was a genuinely nice guy and talked a lot (and dressed like a hipster), meaning I didn't have to talk a lot, so that helped. It was just the exams, and the monstrous almost-damn-near-impossible 8-page paper that pretty much killed the entirety of my soul (and for those of you who have read Plato, that should seem extremely ironic...). The final, which was again a timed essay themed exam, was probably one of the hardest I have ever taken in my academic career. I remember, during the last class of the term, Dr. Acharya specifically mentioned that we would only have to know the works of Hume, Kant, and Nietzsche for the final exam; so what does he do?? On the second to last essay question, he asks us to "explain why Nietzsche claims that the search for knowledge is 'experimental,' and then compare and contrast with Platonic views about the search for knowledge." What the hell? So much for no Plato...and then there was another question about Kant which was so annoyingly obscure, I'm pretty sure I made up the last like third of my answer. So basically after finishing the exam I just thought get this fucker away from me, said a prayer or two or sixteen, attempted to telepathically force my teacher to give me any grade higher than a C, and turned in the exam packet without so much as a second glance. Good riddance philosophy, good fucking riddance.

And just to mention something on my class on the history of Modern Japan, when I say that that class wasn't that bad, I mean it in all aspects. I actually had fun writing my research paper, which by the way the specific proposal for was this: "What are some of the developments and differences of and between male and female homosexual groups from the 10th century (the birth of the Pre-Tokugawa period) to the closing of the Meiji reform period? How did these developments change over time, and was the Japanese culture altered? If so, how?" But I already talked about that in the previous post. I think I might just miss the class just a little bit too...hmm. What a concept.

There's only really one thing I'm like extremely not giddy about (in a way that makes me want to destroy everything in sight) right now, so I guess I'll start a list for that too:

1. The fact that my French class is over, and I won't be taking the next level with Holly next term. (Still sad face).

We've already gone over that in the previous post (sorry for the double repeat-offense), so I won't waste your time with further rambles. And that was the world's shortest list. Anyway, winter quarter 2012 is now officially over. Whew! In reflection, I think this was honestly one of the strangest quarters I have ever experienced here at Seattle University. Not strange like a lot of strange things happened, just strange in the way that I feel like a lot of things are changing, and I don't know, I just feel different. I feel like I know who my real friends are now, and things are looking mostly in the upward direction, which is good. Now, I don't have to go back to school until March 26, so one week off, (and  not to mention a load off...). I am so excited for this upcoming week of spring break it's not even funny. Time to relax, not think about all the homework I should be doing, read what I want, and just have fun. Fun is good. Sooo...

My spring break plans/things I've already done since it's Sunday and I've been on break for a day and a half already:


1. Friday (3/16): 
-Derped around with Lauren, Arielle, Joe, and Andre in the afternoon, aka. celebrate with gusto the fact that we somehow managed to make it through finals week with our brain (and all of our hair) intact.
-Went out to dinner with Lauren, Andre, and Nick at the Honey Hole to celebrate again our survival of finals' week. If you don't know what the Honey Hole is, it's a little sandwich/hamburger restaurant on Capitol Hill in Seattle, and it is seriously one of the greatest things my taste buds have ever experienced. Go there.


2. Saturday (3/17):
-Happy St. Patrick's Day!
-Lauren left at the butt-crack of dawn (6:00am) for SeaTac to catch her plane home to Hawaii for the week...I kind of hate her...
-Mom came up for a visit! And is staying until Tuesday!
-Mom and I cleaned dorm room, and by that I mean deep cleaned the bathroom, sink area, and shower. Oh and we vacuumed. All in all it was a very interesting experience, and the room now smells faintly of chlorine and cleaning products. Woot.

-Post-dorm room cleaning status: Spent the evening in the U Village (UW...) shopping and eating and walking and shopping some more. (AND I FINALLY GOT A PAIR OF WHITE JEAN CAPRIS...FROM H&M FOR ONLY $24...AFTER ALL THESE YEARS. I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW).

-Walked around Capitol Hill. Noted the thousands of drunk people stumbling around screaming about it being St. Patrick's Day. Ha.

And now for future plans:

1. Spend Sunday with mom.

2. Go into work at the preschool on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for about 4 hours each day. I am so excited to see the little munchkins again (since I had finals' week off I haven't seen them in over a week and am having withdraws).

3. Read the entire Hunger Games trilogy, and Jodi Picoult's newest novel, Lone Wolf. Both have been on my to-read list for far too long.

4. Fly down to Sacramento, CA from Seattle on Wednesday night to visit my best friend Bre (who goes to University of the Pacific in Stockton), and stay with her until the following Sunday. 

5. Plan lots of shenanigans with Bre for my trip down.

6. Partake in said shenanigans.

7. Hope that said shenanigans include going to San Francisco next Saturday...I think they will...

8. Ride a cable car in San Francisco.

9. Eat at In N' Out Burger (part of the essential California experience, and besides they give you these cool little stickers).

10. Fly back to Seattle next Sunday evening and pretend like I don't have school the next day.

11. Listen to this song over and over and over and over and over and over:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt74jX2C1m0 

Somebody That I Used to Know - Peter Hollens feat. Evynne Hollens. Both of them are professional singers from Eugene, and he does covers of a cappella songs, some his originals, and some from current artists. I am obsessed. However, my music tastes are currently going through kind of an a cappella phase anyway, so that could be part of the reason why I am so obsessed, and rambling apparently...oh for the love of pete just go listen already.

So umm...yep, I think that about covers it. Not to fear however, I will do my very best to keep you up to speed on this week of relaxation or whatever. Although I should mention that there might be some death mixed in there somewhere because my final grades come out next Wednesday. Details. I think I'll just ignore them until some pesky admissions office asks for a transcript in the future. Sounds good to me.

~Erin

Smatterings of information. Oh hey, it's March.

Oy vey. That's kind of all I really have to say right now, interestingly enough. It has been a very long time since I last blogged, (or at least it feels like a very long time, you tell me). I have just been so busy, and by that I mean I'm tired. Anyway, I feel like since it has been so long (and my thoughts have continuously been bubbling up inside my head to the point of self-implosion), I have so much to talk about. The question is, how much do you actually want to hear? Ha. Well first off, let me just say that as of right now, finals' week IS HERE. Holy Jesus. While I was sitting here wallowing in self-pity about how damn slow winter quarter has been going, here it is, already finals' week. asdfghjklghfjf.

But onto more interesting things. First of all, yes I realize that the last two Tuesdays I have failed to post a Gratituesday entry, and yes that does make me sad. I have just been again insanely busy this past couple of weeks and really did not have time. If I were to post a Gratituesday entry for February 28th though, you can bet it would have been about my having gone to The Fray concert at the Paramount in Seattle that night. I could have easily just gone on and on and on about that concert and had no qualms about you all having to hear about it. It. Was. Amazing. And wonderful and magical and just so, so great. I have been a die-hard fan of The Fray since I was about 14 (when their song "How to Save a Life" was the advertising song for season 3 of Grey's Anatomy), and having the ability to see them live definitely makes it to the list of top 10 greatest experiences of my life. And just for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures:

(Singing: You Found Me)

(Singing: Happiness, and YES HE DID GET THIS CLOSE TO ME AAAHHHH!!!)

So yeah, that's what I did that Tuesday night. Also, the group who opened for The Fray, Scars On 45, was fantastic. I am now obsessed with this song: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bU3noqvozw&ob=av2e

(Give Me Something - Scars On 45)

And then another one not yet on YouTube, called Hearts on Fire. It is on iTunes and Spotify though, so seriously go listen, this group is amazing.

Hmm...I guess if I were to talk about one thing that I am grateful for last Tuesday, I would probably have to mention my French professor here at Seattle University, Holly. I think it might actually be better just to talk about her in the context of this post, instead of write her a whole new one, because I don't know, people get weird when you talk about your teachers. But really, Holly has been probably one of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting since moving up here a year and a half ago. She has helped me with so much these past two quarters, with advice ranging from how to learn a foreign language, to what I should do with my life after school. Right now, she's basically who I want to be when I grow up - brilliant, kind, helpful, dorky, and actually quite hilarious. I just hope she knows that. It's always interesting having little heart-to-heart chats with her though, because you know I'm kind of at that point in my life where I don't really know what I want to do yet, I'm just going through the motions and getting an education; but when I tell Holly that she gets all worried like I'm going to end up some hobo on the street. She's always like "well you could do this, or this, or...hey let me read some of your writings so I can tell you what kind of a writer you are and if you could build on that, and blah blah blah..." And as annoying as that sounds, it's actually really helpful. Oh and she wrote me a letter of recommendation with only two weeks of advance notice not too long ago, which I will talk more about later, but yeah that basically saved my ass.

Another reason why I have really enjoyed being in Holly's class the past two quarters is because she not only comes up with the most creative ways in the world (literally, in the world) to teach us French, but she also likes to take us out on "cultural excursions." What I mean by that is we would go to like, a New Orleans-themed restaurant for dinner, listen to jazz music, eat really spicy foods, watch the students over 21 get drunk,  and just have a really good time. Also a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the stage production of Moliere (the French play-write)'s Tartuffe, and it was amazing - so hilarious. Here's a picture of the program so you can go look it up/support the theatre company :) 

So that's my Holly shpeal. Oh wait one more thing I should mention, she (and her mom and two little daughters, 3 and 5) came to the Seattle University Choirs' winter choral concert last December, because she knew how much it would mean to me that she be there. I remember her confronting me about it sometime last November (I was too embarrassed to ask upfront...), and then me saying something along the lines of "oh yeah that would be so great if you could come!" and then her saying how much she wanted to but was unsure because of her young kids...long story short, they all came (because her kids ended up saying they wanted to go too), but then had to leave before intermission because her older daughter started getting a little anxious being in the large crowd that was the audience. No matter though, I was just really grateful she was able to come, especially when she didn't have to. I should also mention that yesterday was actually my last day in Holly's class...forever. Dun dun dunnn...no, just kidding. But really, yesterday was the last day of winter quarter classes before finals' week, which started today. So I'm done in her class, and since she's not teaching any sections of the level I'll be in during spring quarter, I don't actually know how much I'm going to get to see her anymore. Sad face. I do know, however, that a lot of people in my class this quarter were not happy about not having her again, as exemplified in the course review sheets we had to fill out for the Dean, where they wrote things like: "I am OUTRAGED that Holly isn't teaching FREN 235 next quarter," to "Whyyyy can't we have Holly teach 235 for us next term??" to meek little me saying: "...it would be nice to have Holly again next term." (...when really I was thinking "THIS SUCKS MONKEY BUTT. I WANT HOLLY BACK NEXT TERM AND I DON'T CARE WHOSE FIRST-BORN CHILD I HAVE TO KILL TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.") But I would never write that to the Dean; believe it or not I do value my good standing as a student here at SU.

So yeah. Gosh there are so many things I feel like I need to talk about, but really don't want to put the energy into it. Okay that sounds bad, but I mean how much do you really want to hear? Let me just highlight a few things:

1. Seattle University Choirs' Lenten Prayer concert!

-Friday, March 2, 2012.

Lots of religious, Catholic-churchy music. Basically every fake-Catholic (such as myself)'s dream. But it was really very beautiful. All the rehearsal time definitely paid off. One of our choir members (and student conductor) Micaela Treanor actually directed one of the songs herself, Psalm 23. I think that was my favorite song out the whole order - singing the Psalm is always the greatest part of Mass, in my opinion. Anyway, the concert went off without a hitch. My mom, grandma, aunt, and roommate all came to watch and listen, and I was really grateful for that. Now only about six-ish more weeks before our big spring concert at the end of April. Yay for more rehearsal time? ha.

2. Uhh...French exams.

Yup, they happened. I didn't die. 

3. The writing of research papers.

That's always fun, right? I actually finished mine a couple of days ago - it's the final for my history class on Modern Japan. I actually just submitted the rough draft to my professor not two minutes ago. It's 14 and a half pages, and pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. Well I take that back, I haven't gotten the reviews back yet...The topic is the development of homosexuality in Japan from the early Pre-Tokugawa times (10th century to 19th century) to the end of the Meiji period (19th century, specifically 1868, to early 20th century), and the way in which it shaped the Japanese culture, as well as how it was altered with the Meiji Western reforms in the 19th century. I have to say the topic was an interesting one, definitely not something I have ever researched before. I guess what I got out of it (well, besides the useful knowledge portion) was that Western societies really were assholes. I mean ugh we were just as stupid then as we are now, on issues such as who should love who and yada yada yada. But I'm not going to get into that here, different rant for a different post. haha. Anyway, le rapport est maintenant fini, et c'est bon.

4. I suppose I should end with this. It's not really something I want to elaborate on too much just yet, since some people are concerned with me just throwing information around willy-nilly. But this is my blog and I will write what I so choose. So there. What I really want to say now though is that I am currently going through some changes in my life that have the potential to be either really big and beautiful, or to go the complete opposite of where I wanted. It's all kind of up in the air right now. And yes I realize that if you don't know what I'm talking about right now I probably sound like some kind of crazy person, but I promise that everything is okay, and all that is going on is me doing a little reevaluating of things. All good though, I promise. Oh, and I did submit an application a few weeks ago for a study abroad program in France for next year, if that gives any of you a hint. Wink wink.

Alrighty folks, well I think that's all for now. Jeez I sound like a cartoon...but really, I don't really have any more smatterings right now, so I think I'll just leave you here. 

"TTFN; tata for now!"

~Erin

P.S. I wanted to leave you with this one too, because it was too adorable to pass up.

I love Tigger. T-I-Double Guh-Er.