Schooling.

I had a hugely wonderful opportunity to volunteer up at a school in Salem. I have gone up every Friday for the past 5 weeks and stayed throughout the whole day interacting with the children and observing the teacher and her teaching methods. I didn't realize how attached I would get to these kids in such a short amount of time... I think I'm going to be a "crier" when I eventually start teaching, every time my class moves on I'll start bawling.

It was very different being in a classroom for a full day rather than just part of it. I also liked being in a different district where I saw some things that they don't do here in Eugene. The school in Salem was low-income, and so they are trying out a new type of curriculum. The kids get there every morning at 8am and go to "team time". Team time is when the kids get exercise in, helps reduce tardies, and gets the children awake for school. The kids then come into the classroom and eat free breakfast while the teacher starts up the day. The kids are in school until 4pm every day except for Fridays, when they get out at 2:30. It was interesting for me to see how the kids showed up tired, then got energy, then their energy drooped towards the end of the day. This is something that you don't get to experience when you are only in a classroom for a few hours out of the day.

The kid's personalities were absolutely ridiculous and I loved 'em to death. Each one had his or her own way of doing things, thinking, acting out, being kind, and learning; it's making me a little nervous for how I'll adapt my curriculum to fit each and every one of the kids in my classroom. It's somewhat of a good nervous though. I was waffling when I chose teaching as my major, I didn't know if it was right for me or not. After going up to Salem, however, I know that teaching is for me :)

Photo Website.

I've been working super hard on this photo website and have finally published it. Take a look and give me some feedback!

Sienna Leilani Photography

Kumijaka!

It's officially summer! And by that I mean that the weather has finally made up it's mind to be sunny. I just recently made a trip to Utah to see my friend's wedding and had a great opportunity to snap some shots while I was there (hence the pictures on top). Their last name is Malovich, can you see it? I was trying to be creative :) We got into a FREE Modest Mouse concert. It was nuts! There was a gigantic line to get in so we hopped by fence and were on our merry way. It was super good, definitely worth being squished, smooshed, and stepped on haha. After we left we found out that there were 40,000 people there.

So one friend was just in Europe, one is studying abroad in Australia, one just got back from study abroad in Switzerland, one is going to China for humanitarian aid... I think this is telling me that I NEED TO GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY! I think I'd love to study abroad somewhere. With my major (currently) being elementary education, it'd be awesome to be able to visit another country and teach little kids, I love 'em.

I enrolled in two summer classes that are only 4 weeks long. I think that is the best idea ever. Granted, I may change my mind by next week when I'm super behind and cramming for a mid-term, but for right now it's super. I'm taking a biology class and some gender identity comparative literature class - both actually seemed interesting for the first day of class today so that was definitely a plus. We get to watch the movie 300 in my comp. lit. class because apparently it has some very good points in it that relate to our studies... uh huh, whatever, fine by me!

I got to see the Avett Brothers in concert up in Portland. They were awesome, the venue was awesome, the weather was awesome.... I don't think it could've been any better. Except maybe if the root beer floats weren't freakin' $6 for a teeny one! We got there about an hour and a half early to get a good spot and the line was an unbelievable like mile long to get in. However, we only had to wait in line for a couple minutes before it started moving. We got in, spread out our blanket, and napped in the sun until the show started.

(Semi) New Apartment

I got a new apartment... again. I've lived here since December.

It's time for updates.

My roommate is Courtney. She's wonderful :)

We live next to Autzen Stadium. (Perfect for duck games!)

We still have mistletoe hanging from the ceiling from Christmas.

We have bathtubs! So great.

Now I'll introduce you.

This is our living room.

Dining room.

My bathroom.

Kitchen.

My room was too messy to put pictures up.

So... on with my life. I'm going to University of Oregon and Lane Community College still.

I have been liking Eugene except for the weather (I think I say that in every single one of my posts).

I got accepted into the Elementary Education major at the University of Oregon.

I went to Sun Valley for spring break and it was AWESOME.

I've been going to lots of concerts and heard some good bands play.

I'm working on being more organized.

I want to join a yoga club in town, I think it will be good for me.

I'm trying not to eat dairy - no milk, cheese, butter... or ice cream :(

I just finished with a photography class at Lane and I'm pretty proud of my work.

I have a new baby named Giselle.

Kidding.

I am saving my money for a trip to somewhere I don't know yet.

Truth.

I am learning a lot about myself on what is good for me, and what isn't.

I don't think I'll ever stop learning that.

I don't want to ever stop learning.

and I kinda want to move again... It gets boring having to stay in one place for too long.

Where will it be next?

Any ideas?

hoi polloi.

So I figured that since I said I would put up pictures of my apartment (and I've now lived here for 4 months) I should probably do that. Anyway, here it is!

Living room.

Bathroom!

Kitchen.

Kitchen side 2.

My room!

and the other side. (I sewed those curtains, very proud.)

So I haven't really been doing much besides school and work. I cut back on work so I don't work Mondays and Wednesdays now which is super nice. It's good to have some time to yourself :) I haven't had much lately so I'm enjoying it. I went to the coast and got to see some sun! eat at Mo's, and see how fast my car could corner ;)

I've decided (once again) that I'm going to major in elementary education, but also hopefully minor/major in art. I've come to conclude that I really do love kids, and would love a job where I get to be with them and teach them every day. Not to mention that summers off will be nice...

I'm a little tired of the grey skies here in Eugene, but that's part of the package right? I just applied for my passport. That was an irritating process. I went during my lunch break and waited for AN HOUR and the line didn't move a SINGLE PERSON. I went the next day at 8:30 in the morning and it took a whopping 10 minutes. I guess you just have to catch them at the right time apparently.

The power just flickered off and on... oh shoot.

One thing I REALLY dislike, is when Christmas music is playing on the radio before Thanksgiving is even here. I like it, but by the time Christmas gets here I'm so tired of it that I don't want to hear it anymore. Christmas is my favorite holiday, but it's just not supposed to come before Thanksgiving; turkeys should get their fair share of fame.

I really like my classes that I'm taking right now. My teachers are super helpful and seem like they actually want to be there, haha. It's nice when you have a teacher who seems like they really do care about how you're doing. I hope that's how I'll be someday :)

peregrination.

Since I have almost seven more hours of work sitting behind this boring desk, I think it's a good chance to elaborate on my short entry...

Summer is practically gone! I don't really know what to think about it. It seemed like it lasted forever when I was in the middle of it but now everyone is leaving for school already. Taking classes, working, and attempting to be social takes a lot of effort, I don't know that I'll be up for it that much longer - maybe I'll cut one of them out soon?

I moved into an apartment inbetween 11th and 12th on Charnelton Alley. It's a cute little two bedroom apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and a living room (the bathroom is practically as big as the living room). Kim and I have somewhat opposite schedules, but we've been getting along super well and we seem to have everything we need for right now as far as the apartment goes. It gets VERY hot in the apartment if we don't keep the windows open and fans on at all times, so I don't think we'll have any trouble keeping it warm during fall and winter.

I finally almost have my room put together/finished, I'm just waiting for a bed-frame and I'll be all set. My room in my apartment is bigger than either of my rooms at my parents house so that part is nice! Kim has a sewing machine that we've used to make curtains for our apartment (I made mine all by myself, woo!) we put fabric up on the walls as wall-paper, and we went to ross to get random things for the shelves that run around the ceiling in the kitchen (everyone always has random things up there, right?).

I just sold my Xterra a couple of days ago. I've been thinking about it for awhile, so I finally put it up on craigslist and got a call back about it a couple days later, and sold it! I wanted to sell it because it gets absolutely horrible gas mileage! I got 12 miles/gallon <-- bad. When I thought I was going to move to Bend it would've been the perfect car, since I'm staying here and "commuting" to work 15 minutes away it just makes more sense for me to have a car that is more fuel efficient. I'm looking at getting a volkswagon golf or rabbit, but we'll see what I end up with. And let's hope the grandparents will co-sign on another loan for me...

I'm dual-enrolling at Lane and University of Oregon this year. No going back to Hawaii for me :( Dealing with school has been a pain! I finally got admitted into U of O, but now I have to wait for orientation to sign up for classes, and guess when orientation is? The WEEK BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS! What is this?! I think they are trying as hard as they can to make it not possible for me to attend school there. I'm supposed to be giving next month's work schedule in by the 15th (two days from now) and I still have no idea what my class schedule is going to be like. Oh geez, I hope something works itself out.

My roommate and I have decided to get our motorcycle licenses... Haha. She might be getting a vespa, and in order to get one that goes over 35 mph you must have a motorcycle license. So that's what we're going to do! They get like 60 miles/gallon on fuel so we figure it's a pretty good investment. The training is only three days! Granted, they are going to be very long days, but it's going to be worth it. Wish me luck!

I've been a little more relaxed the last couple weeks, and hopefully it will stay that way until school starts (and maybe after?). I've gone to the coast a couple of times, ridden my bike, hiked Spencers Butte, eaten at Sweet Life, and slept. Really, how much better can it get?

I also just found out that flights from Portland to Hawaii, roundtrip, in January are $219. I AM GOING.

flower.

Yes, I am finally updating much needed to be updated blog. Lots of things:

• Moved into my own two-bedroom apartment with Kim!
• I'm going to be dual-enrolling at Lane and University of Oregon
• I just sold my Xterra, not quite sure how I feel about that decision yet
• I went to the Xavier Rudd concert up in Portland (awesome!)
• Just went see Michael Franti
• Also saw Band of Horses (can you tell where all of my extra money is going?)
• I want to go to take a road trip to Canada (as soon as I get a passport)
• I'm turning 20 in one month and three days, WOO!

There is my life.