This will be the last blog I write for Lynn. This is the last semester that I spend at Lynn. After a semester off, I’m starting school at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for the summer semester. I decided this early in the semester, and though I have told many people, I decided not to mention it in my blog until now, when it’s almost time for me to go.  I leave early tomorrow morning.

Attending Lynn University was probably the most life-altering decision I have ever made. I’ve met people I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and I’ve had opportunities that have been extremely beneficial to me. There are many people I want to thank before I leave.

First, I want to thank the entire English department, especially Dr. Morgan. The professors in this department had an immediate and extensive impact on my writing and analytical abilities. They reinforced my love of literature and have opened my mind to new methods of thinking, in addition to providing me with opportunities I would never experience anywhere else, such as sending me to the National Undergraduate Literary Conference last year.

I also want to thank everyone in charge of the blogging. Blogging has been such a unique experience for the past year and a half. I’ve gotten to record many of my college moments, as well as become more recognized throughout campus, which I can almost guarantee I would not have done on my own.

The library staff has been an important part of my life the past three years. I have always enjoyed working in the library, and the people I have worked with have always been wonderful.

Finally, I want to thank everyone who has helped to remain at Lynn when I was not sure if I would be able to return. The Canarelli family especially deserves my thanks, and I will always remember them fondly for everything they have done for me.

I hope I’ll be able to come back and visit some time. I have loved this school, as well as Florida, and I will definitely miss it in many ways.

The weather has been really nice lately compared to last week. It’s been sunny 70′s all week. I’ve been inside a lot, mostly reading, but I decided yesterday that I wanted to spend some more time outside. So I grabbed my book and made my way over to the hammock at the Freiburger building. I stared at it for a second, a little intimidated by its height, but finally decided that wouldn’t stop me. I kicked my shoes off and climbed on as if it were my bed. Big Mistake. I was able to hang on for a total of 2 seconds before the thing tipped over and dumped me out on the other side. It’s a good thing no one’s on campus. It would have been much more humiliating with witnesses. I ended up being able to climb on, but I could only stay on it sideways. I couldn’t get it balanced enough to let me actually lay down in the middle like I had wanted to. Oh well. Guess I won’t be doing that again!

The Poetry Club had its November Poetry Coffeehouse on Thursday. I had to be the emcee, because I couldn’t find anyone else to do it. It was awkward for me; I don’t like to stand in front of an audience very much, even a small one. Very few people attended. There were only five readers, so it didn’t last very long. For the next coffeehouse, to bring in a bigger audience, I’m going to try to work with another campus organization, maybe KAT. They might be able to give me some better ideas on how to draw people in. Also, Susan Williamson, one of the women I’m working with for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, has offered to be a guest performer. She has been published, as well as anthologized. You can read some of her poems here and here. Hopefully the next Coffeehouse (which is December 11) will be more successful.

Someone pulled the fire alarm in the EM Lynn building at 4:30 this morning. Brittany, Jess, and I managed to make it downstairs, but neither Jess nor I were wearing contacts or glasses. We were pretty blind. The three of us got outside, but Jess and I couldn’t see anybody, so we didn’t have a clue where we were supposed to go. We were completely dependent on Brittany to lead us. We discovered everyone standing in the parking lot between EML and Trinity. We waited outside, shivering, for about 20 minutes before we were allowed back to our beds. It wasn’t too long a wait I guess, but at 4:30 in the morning, it seems like forever.

So I have baby spiders crawling around….in my car. And considering I killed a black widow in my trunk about a month and a half ago, I have a sneaking suspicion that they may be little baby black widow spiders. … … … … Help.

I was driving back from CVS on Thursday and as I was gathering up all of my bags, I saw 3 or 4 of them on my gear stick. I’m very proud of the fact that I stayed calm–no shrieking to speak of. I am, however, quite terrified of being near my car knowing they are there.

I called an Orkin guy today to see what to do to get rid of them. He said regular old bug spray would be fine. My car is going to be emitting a not so lovely fragrance for a while. I’m also going to vaccuum out my car. Hopefully when I’m done, I will have no more bug problems!

Don’t put bottles of liquid into your suitcase unless they’re inside some kind of bag. This is what greeted me when I opened my suitcase after coming back from San Antonio:

That is my hair conditioner. It coated the inside of the suitcase, my hair dryer, my ipod wire, my camera wire, virtually the most important things in my suitcase. My clothes got off scot-free. Thank goodness my laptop was in my carry on!

In my last blog, I told you about the National Collegiate Honors Council. In this one, I’m going to tell you about San Antonio (as you can tell by the title…). Although we were there for the conference, we got to do some sightseeing, too. Two of the sights we saw were the Riverwalk and the Alamo.

The Riverwalk is one of the main attractions. It’s 13 miles (I think) of manmade river that runs through downtown San Antonio. Along both sides are numerous restaurants, bars, and a few shops for tourists. We went on one of the Riverboat tours, and the guide gives some of the history of the river. There were ducks everywhere along the river, especially near restaurants that give out chips and salsa. I fed the ducks so many times. One of them even ate out of my hand.

 

The Alamo is also in the heart of the city.  There are only two buildings left, one that houses a gift shop, the old mission, and another one, but I don’t remember what it was for. There was a lot of information about the history of the Alamo, including the people who died there (like Davy Crockett). The area was very well kept. There was a well in the back, old cannons, numerous flags that represent the countries of those who fought for the Alamo, and one really big tree with branches that grew to the ground. I wanted to climb it, but I thought the Alamo officials walking around would disapprove.

 Oh, I forgot to mention the Rivercenter mall. Of course we three girls went to the local mall…and dragged poor Dr. Villa along with us. The mall wrapped around the river, which was really pretty cool. Instead of one long strip, it was three floors shaped in a horseshoe. It was pretty exciting, because there were stores we had never seen before. Ivana and Timea especially enjoyed the cowboy store. Dr. Villa and I were hardpressed to get them two leave the mall. We were worried we might have to drag them out.

 

The only problem with San Antonio is that there isn’t any vegetarian food! They had barbecue, Mexican, Italian, Tex-Mex, etc., but there I could barely find anything to eat. At some places, even the salads had meat in them, and I had to ask for no chicken. Dr. Villa said he ate at one restaurant with a vegetarian menu, but that his food wasn’t very tasty, so he didn’t recommend going back.

On Sunday, our flight left at 7:00 in the morning, so we all woke up at 4, left the hotel at 5 and got to the airport where we decided to eat breakfast. Except Timea. Who wanted a cheeseburger. At 6:00 in the morning. She had to make due with a sausage egg sandwich; no one serves cheeseburgers that early in the morning.

Overall, the trip was really fun, and beneficial in terms of a learning experience. I think we were all less than eager to come back….all our homework was here waiting for us…

I was in San Antonio, Texas, from the 21st to the 26, Tuesday thru Sunday of this week, for the National Collegiate Honors Council. The conference invites honors students and administrators from all over the country to attend to learn how to make honors programs better and more innovative. The President and Vice President, Ivana and Timea respectively, also attended, along with Dr. Villa, the honors advisor.

 

I was accepted to the Poetry Master Class, where I was able to share my poetry with two other girls. We made comments on how to improve each other’s poetry. It was really useful to get someone else’s opinion, a peer’s opinion. There were also master classes for drama, film, and music. Near the end of the conference, there was a showcase where many of us, including me, presented our work to other members of the conference.

 

In addition to the classes, there were many (and I stress many) sessions for improving honors programs. Some of the ones we attended included how to make a good newsletter, how to get published in the NCHC journals, using a S.W.O.T. Analysis to improve honors, Students in Honors, Fundraising for Honors, and Small College Honors Issues. Ivana and Timea attended so many of them and took pages and pages of notes. They’re really enthusiastic about improving our honors program, and just need the participation of the students to make it work. I believe our next honors meeting is Monday, November 3. Dr. Villa will be sending out an email as a reminder. It would be great if all of our honors students could attend!

Last night, Martina McBride (she’s a country singer, in case you’ve never heard of her) performed in West Palm Beach and Jess and I went to her concert!! Jess bought the tickets (both my Christmas and my birthday gifts) and we got to sit in front of the front row! It was so amazing. The Warren Brothers and Jason Michael Carroll opened for her, and both performed really well, but nothing compared to Martina herself. I never realized she was so little! She has the biggest voice and can hold a note forever, but she is absolutely tiny. She received three standing ovations, and everyone could see how absolutely flattered she was by it. Jess and I both have a little bitty signed guitar pick. Here are some pictures, so you can see how close we were:

He moved around too much for me to get a really good picture!

 

 Thank you Jess!!!!

While I was waiting for things to get busy again, I didn’t realize they would get this busy! As for free time, it doesn’t exist. I’m working 43 hours this week! Barnes and Noble has been very generous with my hours, and I just increased my hours in the library. But don’t worry, this won’t be happening often. I just put in my two weeks at Barnes and Noble….

Why? Good question. I love Barnes and Noble; I love working there. However, I just landed an internship with the Palm Beach Poetry Festival that will be taking up a lot of my time. At first, I thought I could do two jobs and the internship (not to mention school), but when Laura, my liaison, emailed me my duties yesterday, I realized that it just won’t be possible. And I refuse to give up the internship. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that will give me the chance to work with two published poets, Gerald Stern and Anne Marie Macari. My friend Christina, who graduated last year, has done the same thing, and I know, as much work as it is, that it is so worth it. So I sacrificed Barnes and Noble, but I definitely gained a lot more. Plus, maybe since I don’t work there anymore, I can actually hang out and look at books (if I can find some free time). You just can’t browse the way you want to when you work somewhere.

In other news….I’m attending the National Collegiate Honors Council in San Antonio, Texas, October 21-26. I have been accepted to a Poetry Masters Class, where I will get to work on my poetry with a few other students. I’m excited about that, too. The conference will also host many (many!) little workshops about how to improve honors programs. The President and Vice President of the Honors Colloquium, as well as Dr. Villa, will be attending with me. I keep hearing that San Antonio is beautiful, so I can’t wait to see it.

So I will try not to leave such huge gaps between blogs again, but you can see why it happened! Besides, I’ll have plenty to blog about!