GOODBYE! =)

Wow! This semester has gone by so fast! It’s hard to believe this is the last blog I have to write for this class. It seriously does not seem like it should be the end yet. The past few weeks have absolutely flown by, and I’m sure the next few weeks will do the same! Well anyways, as my first experience with a blog, it was not as horrible as I thought it would be. Now don’t get me wrong, I will probably never ever write a blog just for fun, but that’s just my opinion. I am not really the kind of person that likes to write about personal things, but if that is your cup of tea, I would definitely recommend doing a blog. I honestly don’t think I learned a whole lot from writing this blog, but I guess it was beneficial to have some weekly writing just to keep my brain on the subject of writing. I usually had a hard time when I had to write a “free blog”. It is so much easier for me to write a blog when the topic was already chosen for me. For instance, when we had to write about Inauguration Day, I was dreading it at first. I was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to write 350 to 400 words about it, but it ended up being so much easier than I thought it would be. In fact, I even had to cut it down a little bit, because I had too many words. Usually once I get started, it is not very difficult to keep writing long enough to meet the word requirement. To me, the hard part is always getting started. I usually sit at my computer and stare at it for a few minutes until I decide that I have to get it done, because I do not like to wait until the last minute to do these things because I am always afraid I will get busy doing something else and forget to write my blog. Well, it’s been a different kind of experience for me writing this blog and honestly, I’m pretty glad it’s done! =)

If some friends from out of town came to visit the town of Bloomington/Normal for a weekend and I could not show them around I’m not quite sure what I would suggest for them. Since I do not have my car on campus with me during the school year, I rely on public transportation or a ride from somebody else, so I do not journey very far from the ISU campus very often. One thing I would tell them to go visit is the Funny Bone comedy club. I have been a few times and it was really fun when I went. It is only five dollars for admission for students and most of the shows are about two hours long. On most weekends I just either hang out in my dorm with the people on my floor or go to somebody’s house and hang out for the night, so I don’t have a lot of other suggestions. For the other days of the weekend, I would probably suggest getting train tickets to Chicago. If you order them far enough in advance, you can get pretty cheap prices for a round trip ticket. When my friends got to Chicago, I would recommend going to see a show. I saw Jersey Boys in December, and I loved it. I would also recommend going shopping. There are a lot of stores there that I like but do not have near my hometown, so when I go to Chicago I always try to shop at those places for a little change. There are lots of fun little gift shops along the streets of the city full of cute things just to look at, not necessarily purchase. There’s also Millennium Park and Shedd Aquarium to visit if my friends did not want to spend a lot of money. Another place to visit is Navy Pier. Depending on the time of the year, I’m pretty sure there’s always something fun going on there. There’s also many different kinds of tours that you can take around the city, which I’m sure are pretty interesting and a good way to give your feet a break from all the walking.

Change...

I can’t believe that there are only 5 weeks left of classes! This year has gone by so fast. It is so weird to think back to the beginning of the fall semester and remember all the changes and adjustments that happened in order for me to become acquainted with the new concept of college. It seems like just last week that I was moving all of my belongings into my tiny little dorm room. I feel as though I have grown up so much since the beginning of the year. I have learned so much about myself since I’ve been here on my own. At first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it without my family around me all the time. My parents were never ones to do everything for me. At home, I have many responsibilities and have never been spoiled, but my parents have always been there whenever I needed anything. I have come so far since those first few weeks. I have become much more responsible for myself and my actions. I am always on top of my school work, and I rarely ever get behind and have to stay up super late the night before a test or the day a big assignment is due. I never really had that problem in high school either, but toward the end of my senior year I started to get a little lazier about my assignments. I am happy that I did not continue my lazy ways of senior year of high school into my freshman year of college. Another part of my life that has changed since the beginning of the year is friendships. Since the beginning of this semester, I have gained some new relationships and a few old relationships have weakened a little bit. It’s crazy how much has changed in only about 6 months. I am still friends with all the same people I was friends with at the beginning, but it seems that we don’t spend nearly as much time together as we used to. That makes me a little nervous for next year, because who knows who I will be close to next year since it has changed so much since just the beginning of this year.

ISU vs Bradley

At the end of January, I attended the Illinois State University vs. Bradley University basketball game. Before I even went, I knew it was going to be an intense game, since Bradley and ISU are big rivals. The Monday before the game, three of my friends went and sat at the ticket office from 5:30 until 10:00, the time when tickets were available, to get tickets for a few of my friends and me. So, since they waited for so long to get the tickets, we all got really good seats. On Saturday, the day of the game, my roommate and two of our friends put on our matching “Buck Fradley” tee shirts and headed over to the arena. The place was absolutely packed. There were very few empty seats in the arena, because there were so many people coming to support both teams. Also, since both Bradley’s and ISU’s school colors are red and white, there was a sea of red tee shirts in the crowd. That kind of stunk, because it was hard to tell who was cheering for whom. The game was a really close one. The two scores were within about five points of each other for the majority of the game. Since the game was so close, the fans were going crazy yelling chants and waving signs the whole time. As the score went back and forth, the crowd seemed to get louder and louder. It was funny to look around and read some of the signs. One kid I know actually got removed from the game because of some signs he was holding up. Luckily, he talked to some official people, and they let him go back into the game. All the students sitting in the section we were in started cheering as he ran back down the aisle to his seat. It was quite a sight! Fortunately, after the intense game, the ISU Redbirds finished out ahead of their rivals, the Bradley Braves. At the end of the game, there was such an adrenalin rush; you could feel the energy coming from the court as the Redbirds took a victory photograph and fans rushed to the court.

Spring =)

I absolutely love the warm weather that we have had this week! Though, as much as I love it, it makes me not want to focus in classes and do my homework, which is definitely not a good thing. It is so nice to walk on the quad and see all the people throwing a baseball or football around, playing Frisbee, or even just sitting in the grass enjoying the sun. Right now, I have spring fever really bad! Most days, all I want is for summer to be here and school to be out. I know eventually I will regret wanting college to go by so fast, because I am sure that once it’s gone I’ll want to go back. I never really appreciated the warm weather this much until I came to school. It is so much nicer to walk to classes when it is not 30 degrees outside. I always feel so much happier when it’s warm and sunny out, and I can tell other people feel the same. Some days after our classes are done for the day, my roommate and I take a walk to enjoy the fresh air. I always like taking walks because it means I can be outside and get a little bit of exercise at the same time. As much as I like to just lie around and do nothing, I like to get some exercise too. It makes me feel more productive for the day, because I hate feeling unproductive. I do not understand how some people can be okay with doing nothing some days. Before I go to bed every night, I always make sure I have done at least something productive for the day whether it be running an errand or finishing a homework assignment, because I feel like I have wasted an entire day if I have not done anything worthwhile all day. Sometimes it is hard to be productive, because a lot of the people I tend to hang out with during the week don’t really care about getting their stuff done. So, sometimes I would rather hang out with them and do what they are doing than do what I know I should be doing.

What I Would do With a Bunch of Money!

If I was given the money it costs for four years of ISU tuition in cash that would be a pretty sweet deal. Hopefully I would have a decent job because if I can’t spend the money on education, I am going to need an income so that I do not have to mooch off of my parents the rest of my life. But as for the money, the first thing I would probably do is go to my closet and give away all of my clothes and shoes. Then I would go buy a whole new wardrobe. I wouldn’t go really crazy with the spending so that I could do other cool stuff too. The next thing I would probably do is invest part of what is left. I don’t know if I would invest it in stocks or just find a savings account or CD rate that is high enough for me to make a little bit of money from it. Then, I would travel. I have never been out of the country or even the continental United States, and I would really love to go out of the country sometime. The first place I would go is probably Australia. Australia seems like it would be so much fun to visit. The warm weather, men with sexy accents, kangaroos, where else on Earth could be better? Next, I would go to Hawaii. I have wanted to go to Hawaii for a few years now. I would love to spend a week or so just laying on the beach, going to luaus, learning the hula, and enjoying the ocean. Last, I would go to New York City. I visited there last March, and I absolutely fell in love with the city. I would never want to live there, but I want to go back to visit again so bad! On this trip, I would probably take my mom along with me. I would love to go for a leisurely week, not caring about the hustle and bustle of the streets of NYC and just sit in different coffee shops and people watch for hours. Then at night, we would go to Broadway shows. I love to go to musicals and I would want to see as many as I could.

3 Rules for College Freshmen

Rule #1: Go to the Library
When you have a lot of homework to do or a test or quiz that you need to study on, the library is a really good place to be. It is so much easier to focus on what you are trying to do when you do not have the TV on or other distractions. The library is a good change of scenery that is sometimes necessary in order to do a thorough job on an assignment. Personally, I like the library because there are less distractions and it is usually a lot quieter than working in my room.
Rule #2: Make Friends with the People on Your Floor
Making friends with the people surrounding you is a good idea for many reasons. While you are still taking mostly general classes, there is usually at least one person on your floor that is taking that class too. This helps when you have a question about an assignment or need a study partner. Also, having friends around you means that you usually have somebody to go eat with, work out with, or just hang out with. Not to mention, having a lot of different friends is always a good thing to have.
Rule #3: Stay Healthy
Sharing such close quarters with another person the majority of your time means you share a lot of things, including germs and illnesses. Even though it is easy to eat pizza and cheese burgers in the dining hall every day, I think it is important to try to eat healthy at least once a day. I personally feel better when I eat food that I know is healthy for me. Also, working out at least a few times a week helps me feel better, too. When I work out, I feel more energized afterwards. I tend to be much more productive on the days that I work out than the days I do not work out. And obviously, being productive is very essential in college since there is not anybody constantly making sure you have all of your assignments done for the day.

Grey's Anatomy

I don’t watch very much television, but Grey’s Anatomy is definitely my favorite show. I started watching it every once in a while during its third season in 2007, because my mom started watching it that season. I only caught a few episodes that season because I was always busy at the time it was on television, but I really liked the episodes I did watch. The next season, I decided I was going to start watching it regularly. I would have my mom record the episodes I knew I was going to miss, so I could watch them before the next episode. I like Grey’s Anatomy because it is both a medical show and a drama. Each episode has a fairly even mixture of both details about the character’s personal lives and the events going on in the hospital. It is actually pretty weird that my favorite TV show is a medical show, because I am extremely squeamish at the sight of blood. When I first started watching Grey’s Anatomy, I used to have to cover my eyes multiple times during each show, but now I am more used to it and can remind myself that it’s not real. Also, I used to get really confused about what was going on when they talked about different things about the characters, so I bought seasons 1 and 2. When I started watching the earlier seasons it was interesting to find out what they actually meant by some of the things they talked about later on. Also, I realized some ironic things too. Every Thursday at 8:00, I go into Grey’s Anatomy mode. My roommate and some of the girls on my floor watch it with me sometimes and there is rarely any talking except for during commercials because we never want to miss anything. Sometimes there are a lot of little comments that seem insignificant at the time, but later end up turning into a big deal. This show has pretty much turned into a full blown obsession for me. I have my favorite characters and the characters I have silly celebrity crushes on. After every episode, they show a little preview of the next episode, and I just cannot wait until the next Thursday at 8. Any time something about Grey’s Anatomy comes up in a conversation, I could go on forever!

Advertisements are such a huge part of daily life for everybody, everywhere. I had never really thought about it much until just recently when we started discussing advertisements a little bit in English 101. There are so many different forms of advertisements. The little sheets of paper that are stuck into my mailbox at school, the posters hanging by the elevators in my dorm building, television commercials, ads in magazines and newspapers, and radio ads; they are all different kinds of advertisements trying to persuade you to use a specific product or go to a local event. Lately, the advertisement that sticks out to me most is the CareerBuilders.com commercial from the Super Bowl. Out of all the new commercials during the Super Bowl, I personally thought this one was the funniest. This commercial starts out with a woman in her car getting ready to go to work when a voice asks if you dread going to work. Then the woman screams and the scene goes to an office and the voice asks if you are disrespected in the office. A man walks by and calls his coworker a dummy. The next scene is a woman riding a dolphin in the ocean and the voice asks if you wish you were somewhere else. Then it’s back to the office and there’s a man sitting in a chair in a Speedo with his legs open and laughing, and the voice asks if you sit next to this guy. Then it goes to a koala bear in a tree and the voice asks if you daydream of punching small animals. A man’s arm comes out of the corner and punches the koala bear. The point of the commercial is for you to find out if it’s time for you to get a new job. In my opinion the whole commercial is hilarious, but I just about fell off the chair I was sitting in when the man punches the little koala bear sitting in a tree. I am not exactly positive as to what CareerBuilders.com actually is, and I never did check out the website to find out. I think this commercial isn’t as effective for me as it might be for some, because I am a student and at this point in my life am not looking for a new job.

Super Bowl Sunday

On Sunday afternoon my boyfriend, Alex, called and asked me what I had going on for the evening and if I wanted to watch the Super Bowl with him. I did not really feel like watching it, because I am not much of a football fan, especially not professional football. But, I did not really have anything better to do on Sunday night, so I watched it anyway. Originally, I planned on going over there and not paying much attention to the game but watching all the funny commercials instead. I got over there a little late, so I missed the kick off. I had not eaten dinner yet either, so Alex made me a sandwich and I ate it while we watched the game. Watching it was exactly what I expected. It was a pretty boring game and I giggled at a few goofy commercials. Since I was pretty bored, I was having a little bit of trouble staying awake. When half time came around, I really was not impressed very much by Bruce Springsteen, but as always, I was amazed by all the people rushing down to the field to get as close to the stage as possible. About half way through the half time show, I fell asleep. I was pretty sound asleep until about two or three minutes left in the third quarter. When I woke up, Alex was telling me how boring the game was and how he wished Arizona would kick it up a little so that it could be a closer game. Not too long after that, the Cardinals did kick it up. I was amazed by the comeback they made in the fourth quarter. I was not really rooting for either team until then. By that time, I really wanted the Cardinals to win, because they were the underdogs and the odds were against them. It is pretty funny now that I think of it that all in a matter of about 20 minutes I went from asleep on the couch to on the edge of my seat cheering on a team that I really did not know much about. Although the Cardinals lost, it was a very fun fourth quarter to watch. I am really glad I did end up watching the game so that I actually know what people are talking about when they speak of the Super Bowl.

Last summer, I was really, really nervous about coming to college for mainly for one reason, living with a roommate. I have never had to share a room with someone for more than one week before, so I was afraid of what kind of person I might have to spend the next year with. Also, I had heard all kinds of stories about horrible roommates. By the end of the summer I had come to the conclusion that either I will love my roommate or I will hate her. Luckily, my roommate, Abby and I hit it off very well. We ended up being very compatible, and we get along great. Both my roommate and I came to ISU with one girl friend that was our age. I had a friend from high school, Hannah that lives just a few rooms down from us and she had a friend that she went to middle school with, Jessica. The four of us girls spent a lot of time together first semester. We would hang out on the weekends, watch movies together during the week, go to the library together, and all kinds of other fun things! Unfortunately, Jessica decided that Illinois State wasn’t the place she wanted to be, so she transferred back home to her local community college. We were all very sad when she left.
This weekend, Jessica is coming for a visit. I am so excited to be able to hang out with her again! Abby, Hannah, and I have been talking about all the things we want to do this weekend with Jessica. At this point, our plans are to go shopping and out to dinner when she gets here on Friday. Then on Saturday, we’re all going to the Bradley vs. Illinois State basketball game. Our friend waited in line for 5 hours today to get a bunch of us tickets. I am so excited that we all have good seats, because I think that will make the game just that much more fun! I am so excited for the weekend to come so that Jessica will be here and we can have our girls’ weekend!

Inauguration Day

For me, January 20, 2009 started just like any other day. Though I knew that it was not just any other day, my world did not revolve around the history that was being made that day in Washington D.C. Just like any other weekday, I woke up around 8:30 in the morning, got dressed and ready for the day, and walked to my 9:30 class. After my first two classes that morning I met some of my friends for lunch. I noticed that the TVs in the dining hall were set on Fox News, airing the inauguration festivities of the day. Unfortunately I happened to be sitting with my back facing the TV, so I could not really watch what was going on at that time. After lunch, I continued the rest of my afternoon and evening as I would have on any other Tuesday. That evening I went to dinner with my roommate, Abby, and our friend, Hannah. While we were waiting for the elevator we saw a piece of paper taped to the wall saying that there would be an inauguration celebration in our lounge at ten o’clock that evening. A little before ten, our RA came down the hall and asked us to come to the lounge for some snacks and socializing and so we could watch President Obama’s speech that someone had recorded. So we went and got some snacks and hung out with the people that live on our floor. After a little while, one of the RA’s turned on the speech. It got quiet for a minute, but it did not last very long. Honestly, I stopped paying attention pretty quickly. There was so much going on in the room, I got distracted. Occasionally, somebody would cheer or yell out because of something that President Obama had said. Hannah and I left before the speech was over, because we both had some homework we needed to finish up. After we were done with our homework, we decided to watch the speech from cnn.com. This way we could watch it without the noise and distractions. So we sat in silence and watched him speak. Basically the only movement between us was Hannah nodding her head in agreement every so often. We were both very impressed by the speech; he seemed so down to earth when he spoke. He promised some great things to happen. I really hope those promises are fulfilled.

Blog 1

Hi, I’m Kelsey. I’ve never written a blog or anything even similar to one, so I’m not really sure how to get started. I guess I’ll begin with a little bit about myself and what’s going on with me at the moment. This is my second semester at Illinois State University, and I absolutely love being here. Currently, I am a Business Administration major, but I am most likely going to switch be a Finance or an Accounting major in February. I have no doubt that business is the field I want to be in, but I just haven’t quite made up my mind exactly where in business I will be most happy. I am a very complex person. It’s hard to tell how I will react to something. I am very much the typical “oldest child”. I love music. It helps me escape from reality when I just need a break. When it comes to music, I have no specific genre that I like most. Every once in a while I go through phases of listening to mostly one kind of music, but usually I just listen to whatever sounds appealing to me at the time. I’m not a big TV watcher, except for Grey’s Anatomy. I am a HUGE fan! I am very close to my parents, especially my mom. My mom is always there to listen to me vent whenever I absolutely have to get things off my chest. I’ve always been closer to my parents that most of my friends are to their parents, but our bond has grown even more since I’ve been away at school.