dutch curators and cold weather

guess what?

im sitting in class. fifteen minutes early.

WOAH.

this is partly because i spent the majority of my morning sleeping. and partly because i skipped lunch in leu of eating some cookies and drinking seltzer. this was probably a bad health decision. but it got me to class on time.

yesterday i went to a lecture by a dutch curator. it was awesome. she talked about this new way they have of archiving pottery. its kind of like a pop up book slash starwars projection thing. like... okay you know how in starwars there is that communication thingie that projects in three dimension. well... they had like pottery CAT-scanned at a local hospital so that they had three dimensional projections. anyways whatever. it was cool. and the lady had a cute accent.

her museum also has a lot of really awesome medieval paintings, and a close relationship with the MET which i thought was really cool. she said maybe we could intern with her if we are going into museum studies.

time-out for class.

so now i have a TON of work to do for monday (fridays class was cancelled) for my illustration class.

a TON of work meaning we got an instructions sheet that is two pages long and both pages are double sided and thats just what LISTS in bullet form all the work we have to do. basically i have to go read this entire book twice, and do a lot of background check information stuff. like listen to a bunch of interviews and read some poetry and sociology reports and news paper articles and also a case report. stuff like that. fun fun.

i need to go do work.

it is cold out.

i have a math exam from 6-8.

it only has six questions, but is worth one third of my grade total.

attendance and participation in class counts zero. this means some people can miss every single class... but come to the exam rooms and do well on their exams and get a better grade than me... even though i haven't missed a single class or T.A. session, and i always participate in class. this is unfair. math is unfair in general. the greeks are lame-os. (who had really awesome architecture)

THE END.

by laura grace hausheer

ps- my hair has gotten really long. i just noticed this today.

eat local

this week is eat local week at our caf.

so lots of seafood. also some random live chickens in pens, i dont think wer supposed to eat those.

also... there are extremely large posters all over campus about how to not get h1n1.

i went to the health center today. they looked at my eyes and my fingernails and my tongue and said i was anemic and told me to take this certain dosage of iron twice a day. then i have to go back in a month and do blood work. whoot.

it is windy. AND A DUTCH CURATOR is giving a lecture today!! i am so super excited. tuesdays are fun. i think im going to take up photography. im partly a studio art major so... this is an acceptable pass-time.

love save the empty

i look very england today.

im wearing like a little sweater dress with knee high boots and a going-out hat.

MY FAMILY STILL REMEMBERS ME!

they came and visited me this weekend. it was fabulous. it made my week.

happy and kim both slept over.

mom made me lots of food. which i love!!! yay cookies.

we went to a county fair. i seriously considered adopting a cow. but after much thought and deliberation realized that i had absolutely no money because im in college.

mom: laura are you okay? your acting weird.

kim: no shes not, she always acts like this, you just haven't been around her for a little while.

laura: fact.

i wondered whether people wear plaid and camouflage BECAUSE they are at a county fair, or they are at the county fair BECAUSE they are the kinds of people who naturally wear plaid and camouflage.

then we watched the SUPERMAGICMAN show. which was not all that super really. but dads knees and back and who-knows-what-else hurt, because he is an old man, so we humored him and sat down indoors for a while.

dad is really excited because guess what? in a few years HE QUALIFIES FOR THE SENIOR DISCOUNTS!! how exciting is THAT?!

we really wanted to take mom out to a special fancy birthday dinner. dad said we should go somewhere "new and crazy" so mom thought long and hard and then picked bob evans.

this is what i learned this weekend: there is nothing on the bob evans menu i can eat except smiley face fries. and even those are debatable in the flour category. (if you dont know what kind of restaurant bob evans is... the smiley fries should have clued you in)

THEN we took mom birthday shopping

kim got nail polish, some shirts, a pair of shoes

I got a new dress, a sweater, some new sketchbooks, and a pair of leggings

happy got a new frisbee

mom got nothing. (although kim, being the considerate child that she is, pointed out that the shoes mom bought her, were the same size that mom wears, so they can share if mom wants)

i really wanted to get my mom a St Marys sweatshirt for her birthday. but she kept insisting she didnt want one. and then i said, but i want you to have one so you can support my collegic endeavors. she said... and i quote..."maybe if you haven't dropped out in a year or two, we can think about getting one"

thanks mom.

then on sunday we went to brunch at my caf.

mom: paul go get me an ice cream

dad: okay

*dad comes back

mom: what is this?

erika: is that a creamsicle?

dad: what? i thought she liked those. you said you wanted ice cream

mom: well... i did like them when i was like... six. i also used to like Cheerios. and by ice cream i meant like... like ice cream in an ice cream cone..

erika: i'll eat it

*laura laughs so hard she spits her coffee out all over her breakfast

laura: dad shes like forty six and you just got her a popsicle.

kim: its not even warm out.

mom: maybe if i stood in the sun for a while...

then we went to the St Marys River fest! which was so cute!!

we brought happy of course, who played around in the water getting a stick and swimming around. then some reporter guy who had laryngitis, came over and asked if he could take pictures of me and happy. so of course i said yes. and then he proceeded to take pictures for a good twenty minutes. he must have like 100 pictures of me and the dog. he like posed us and told us what to do to look natural. i dont understand why we had to be posed to look natural. then he took all my personal information. in afterthought, he might be a cereal killer. but if he is really a reporter happy is going to be FAMOUS. she is going to be in the newspaper in Maryland, which is not even where she lives. i love my dog. also i PAINTED A PUMPKIN. i sat at the table with alot of 7 year olds and felt kind of out-of-place. but it was so fun that i didnt really care. i considered getting the clown to make me a balloon hat, but decided i had to draw the line somewhere. i draw it at painting pumpkins.

then i did a windsurfing demo for mi familia. im not sure if they really appreciated this or not. i did a pretty good job, and took out a super huge sail for them, to show off... but when you dont really know anything about windsurfing, then its less impressive i think. i wanted to teach kim and erika some beginner stuff but they didnt want to wear wetsuits. no fun.

Megan (roommate) is sick. she is scared she will die of swine flu. im scared i will get whatever she has. which i doubt is swine flu. she was coughing all night. i didnt really sleep.

guess what happened the other day?

i went to give blood. and apparently in Maryland they test your blood levels or something.. which they dont do in jersey. and my iron levels were like way way low. like they were supposed to be like a 12.7 for you to donate blood, and mine were like 9.7. so they pricked me alot of times. which wasnt fun, and then sent me to the health center, where they determined im anemic, and now i have a doctors apt on... tuesday. where i will probably contract swine flu from being in the health office for longer than three minutes!

soundtrack of right now:

mat and kim- daylight

MGMT- time to pretend

erin mccarley-love save the empty

AHHH! i am so excited because Craig's cousin is getting married this weekend and i am going to the wedding with him!!!!!!!!! how cute is that? i dont know what ill wear. i have to see what dresses i have with me.

anyways. much love to you all.

wish me luck... i have my first oral presentation (complete with a powerpoint and notecards) of college, today at 12:00 in a lecture hall. im talking about henri matisse. ahhh. haha. it will be good.

levi Johnson's blues

so

the first two are pictures from last night (sorry about the sideways-ness)... and im not in them because im taking them... we were all very excited. you should have seen us AFTER we all bought our ben folds shirts.

this is a picture of the tattoo i drew on craig in sharpie the other day. i would also like to point out... i took this picture from a camera phone. skills. haha.

NOTE: craig actually has nothing to do with the rest of this post... hes completely irrelevant

so yesterday i realized there was life outside of campus.

some friends and i drove to a metro station, and metro-ed into D.C.

then we spent a good 45 minutes wandering around looking for somewhere to eat. i would have called uncle chas... but i dont have his number in my phone. so i called uncle bill. who had no idea about restaurants in D.C. so finally we ate at some street corner which was kind of city-esque, and kind of disgusting.

THEN we got back on the metro, to find out that our cards no longer had enough money, due to our extra food stop.

anyways, finally we made it to the kennedy center and saw a wonderful concert by ben folds and the NSO POPS. and this old lady who checked our tickets looked at us and said "oh what a nice group of young people" and ahhh. it was so great!! (the concert not the old lady) we were five rows from the stage. Darren filmed alot of the concert, so i think its going up online sometime soon... he had an econ test this morning so, maybe after that. my favorite song was called levi Johnson's blues. haha it isnt out on cd yet.

then on the way home i had to stand up in the metro. which was annoying because my fingertips JUST reach the metro bar if i hold my entire arm completely straight. we were on the metro for 45 minutes. and for the first 40 i was standing. but alls well, and my arms are alot stronger probably.

mom and dad skip the next paragraph for your blood pressure levels:

then we got in the car. and tried to leave the parking-lot. but the parking lot guy wanted to make us pay ten dollars. and we were like...hmm... let us think about it. so then we circled around for a while debating life, and finally drove over the 7-inch road divider. this worked fairly well because we drove up on the pedestrian part, so it was lower. however there was not a pedestrian part on the other side, so the car just took it like a champ. we were pretty proud of ourselves for this great accomplishment. it was probably the highlight of our night.

then i got home and went to bed. and got up this morning and went to breakfast and ate toast and mandarin oranges and coffee and hot chocolate mixed together and went to my 8am sociology class and discussed "when people become human" as in like... are blind and deaf people considered human or vegetable? they have physical capabilities to process iconology like other human beings... blah blah ect. it was a fairly heated discussion.

and now i am going to give blood. AHHHHHHH. the posters for the blood drive all say "recycle life." which does not sound all that encouraging at all... because i dont really want to recycle my life. just my blood. some of my blood.

oh and of course...

it is raining today.

because my rainboots are arriving tomorrow.

go figure.

maybe ill go windsurfing after my illustration class. hurrah for wetsuits.

note to matt and jess: i want to go to philly sometime around november maybe?

anyway i have to go give blood. gross.

ciao!

lifegoesfast

drawing for illustration class. lunch-to-go. metro to the Kennedy Center. Ben Folds and the National Symphony Orchestra POPs. i will take lots of pictures. i am sore from running last night. yay. i had toast for breakfast but there was not enough jam on it.

much love,

over and out.

i live in maryland

i was actually just thinking today about how much i would like to go visit Rockville and Olney, because... im in maryland, so they can't be that far away. BESIDES, there are a couple of cool exhibits at the museum of natural history that i would really like to see (like the bone biographies one about the chesapeake.) AND THEN... (building anticipation) uncle chas commented and said i should come visit. so this needs to happen. i need to do a day in D.C. going museuming and eat lunch at a little cafe or something. i do not have a car but i will look into public transportation. the only for-see-able problem with public transportation is that i do not actually know how to access my bank account. because they never mailed me a visa card after i switched banks. i can write checks though. well see. ill look into it. maybe for two days next weekend or something. definitely sometime in October. also we should stop by the hishorn.

SO IT IS OFFICIAL.

i spent all of yesterday organizing my life.

i declared a double major in English and Studio Art (AHHHH how fabulous?!!)

with a minor in Education. which sets me up for a five year masters program. (in teaching english and art. duh.)

I am going to study abroad for two semesters. one of them HAS to be in Oxford where they focus on art history and shakespearian lit. the other i can choose where i would like to go.

as far as my summer study tour. my advisor said NO INDIA. only London. because London is more centered on english and art. and if i want to graduate on time. then ill spend my summer in london instead of india. this is also smarter financially. im a little disappointed on the inside. but graduation clearly has priority over trecking around the Himalayas and staying in ashrams. besides London can't be that bad. (besides "the india trip will be offered again in the future, where as this will be the last London study tour")

also i will need to take three summer classes in addition to doing a summer study tour. this is not the end of the world because, summer classes are alot cheaper than normal classes. so... your getting more for your money in a smaller amount of time.

also, i started my job in the theatre yesterday. i organized a whole ton of paints. and subsequently had paint all over me. i am working for one credit. instead of money. i think this is an okay deal. plus i love being in the theatre. i was there for three hours.

then, for dinner last night, i met with Raissa who is my peer mentor, from that club i joined by accident a while ago.

she is super nice and having a peer mentor will be alot of help. she is a senior graduating with a major in BioChem, and is also our schools representative from the Higher Education Institution of Maryland. so...wow. haha. i have to meet with her once or twice a month and she basically just asks me questions about how i am adjusting and what classes i need help in. then she tries to either help me, or find someone who can help me, in those classes. the program also holds seminars once a month i am supposed to attend. these seminars are about, time management, or how to deal with stress, or stuff like that. which i think is helpful and a cool idea.

i am supposed to be swimming another mile on Thursday. this time we are supposed to swim "fast." i think this maybe a stupid idea. also Nate entered us in a cardboard boat race. where we have a certain amount of time to make a boat out of cardboard, and then we have to race it. like IN it. like a life size kayak kind of thing.

last night i went to a live model session for an hour. it was pretty awesome because ive never been to one of them before. basically there is a naked person on a platform and everyone sits around in a circle and draws really fast, because the person changes positions like every three minutes. it was fun. and i think it will help me alot with drawing because i usually work off of pictures, but live models are supposed to be better to learn from. they have these sessions every week. this makes me happy.

anyways im going to go do some drawings for my illustration class. maybe grab some lunch.

there has been no wind lately, which is disappointing as far as windsurfing is concerned. ill probably be out tomorrow some.

my abs hurt. from like two nights ago when i went to the gym and did an ab workout with craig. ab workouts are lame. who cares about abs? not me.

happy ramadan. i think its ramadan. i could be wrong. shrug.

cheers

chocolate for breakfast

im eating dark chocolate.

its organic.

shower.

meeting with academic advising at 2.

meeting with theatre guy at 2:45.

meeting with Raissa for dinner at 5.

meeting with math T.A at 8.

life model sketch session at 8:20.

im officially giving blood this friday. eh.

im almost officially running a 5k the weekend after this one.

my family is coming this weekend to visit soon!

and im going to a ben folds concert at the kennedy center this week!

cartoons.

so i have to draw a cartoon spread for my illustration class. it has to be based off this painting by Matisse, a french fauve artist. oh and i cant use color. it should be pretty interesting.

yesterday i drew this amazing like upper body tattoo on craig in sharpie. he loved it. he likes pretending he's bad ass. in reality he plays french horn and likes spaghetti-o's. the tattoo did look pretty awesome though. ill see if i can figure out how to post a picture.

Today i turned in three papers! and missed lunch. oh well. maybe ill go grab something from the cafe in a bit.

i would like to inform you about how environmentally friendly our school is. we turn off all our lights. like in the bathrooms and classrooms. all of them. also we have pretty sweet toilets that save water. speaking of which... someones townhouse flooded the other night. all their stuff got ruined. like all their computers and stuff. it wasn't because of the toilets. apparently the boys upstairs accidentally like hit a waterpipe and the fire alarm started going off and then five seconds later a bunch of water just crashed through their ceiling and started flooding the whole building. everyone is fine. everyones stuff is not. i wasnt there. it sounded epic though.

also the cars.

cars here stop for you. all the time. this was hard to adjust to... in New Jersey they would just run you over. here the cars stop if you are like... walking next to the road. i think that i am getting too used to this. all of us who live up north in jersey and new york are going to go home for thanksgiving and promptly get hit by cars. i am actually concerned about this. i think we may also all walk into doors when we get home. here everyone holds the doors for you. i dont think ive even opened a door since i got here. okay maybe like a couple doors. but its pretty crazy.

yesterday i swam a mile. against the current in the St. Marys river. it was pretty ridiculous. plus i was swimming with Nate, Andrew, and Craig. Who are all college guys in decent shape. every now and then they would all look at each other and start treading water to wait for me to catch up... which made me feel horrible about myself. haha. somehow they all swim incredibly fast. i don't understand. but they were very nice about it and kept asking how i was doing. in my head i was like "Omg i feel like drowning is a positive option, why in the world are we doing this? whose idea of fun is this?" but out loud i kept saying i was fine. the worst was when the guy in the motor boat next to us, Frenchie, said "alright well you guys are all almost halfway about now" i was like... lord help me, im going to die. but i didnt. i made it. and got to write my name on the ceiling of the windsurfing shanty in sharpie? i think im the first girl up there.

so then after we all got back... CRAIG WENT WINDSURFING. i have no idea how he wasnt tired. and nate said "okay so lets do this again on Tuesday and Thursday" i laughed. he wasn't joking. i think i will probably go with them.

also i am thinking of running a 5k. sometime next week in historic st marys city. why not you know? like i know im not going to win, but its for a good cause, and it will be good for me. plus...good karma points.

tomorrow i have an academic advising meeting i set up myself. tehe. i hope i dont forget about it.

If i am ever any kind of artist at all. and have my own little studio somewhere. anywhere... then i think i would like an old record player. and lots of records. mainly the Beach Boys and The Beatles, and some folk stuff... like idk maybe Peter, Paul, and Mary or something. also classical stuff. i like working to classical stuff. maybe i could have a studio on a boat. im thinking of living on a boat for a few years after Peace Corps. this is an entirely unlogical plan. i wont have any money. haha. but wouldnt it be awesome to like...work in Peace Corps for two years, then adopt a kid and buy a boat, and have like an art studio on the boat... yeah? then you could like travel, raise a kid, and make art!! only for like a couple years until the kid had to go to school. and then like get a real life. doing some career sustain yourself off of. whatever. i have all the time in the world.

anyway im going to go get a soy late or something and sit in the courtyard and draw comics. art history is at 2:40. wer studying architecture of sacred places. like different religions and their places of worship and stuff. its really really fascinating.

i need to learn how to play guitar. why cant i play guitar?

i hope you are all having a wonderful day. and that your weather is as beautiful as the weather we are having here on our little peninsula.

God Bless Y'all Real Good.

(thats an actual sign on the side of the road here. i am not kidding.)

Thrive.

~laura grace

sunday mornings

i am swimming a mile today. or i am drowning. haha.

the head of the windsurfing club is making us all do a mile swim together. except that he is going to be in a boat i think. in case one of us starts drowning. which won't happen of course. they take us out in a motor boat, then making us swim back to the boat house.

yesterday i finished an art history paper, started a sociology one, and put citations into a paper for my illustration class. i feel so productive. i am a big fan of lists and stickie notes.

i would like to go to a night church service tonight.

this morning i got brunch "to go"... and i put salad next to my toast with jam and a cookie. then i got back to my room and realized there was italian salad dressing all over my toast and my cookie. moral of the story: do not even try to be healthy. stick with the cookies and toast.

COME VISIT ME!

its beautiful here. if you are not living in St Marys county you are missing out on life.

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
-Albert Einstein

wish you all the best.

its a gorgeous day. stop reading this and go outside.

friends and such

Bekah and Kevin and Chris, who are all Craigs friends, came from Baltimore to visit!

they are super nice, and i've met them all before, so we all had a really fun time.

they came down yesterday night and then we took them out to a bonfire and then went back to a dorm and did some card games and stuff.

They all stayed in Craigs room last night, and then this morning we took them to brunch and out windsurfing. I went out on a 7.5, which was the biggest sail ive ever been out on. im getting alot better. so is craig.

then we came in and had dinner and now im doing homework.

im not going out tonight.

I like being in charge of myself.

and im excited about double majoring. i went to academic advising. and talked to them about my exchange trips and my credit stuff.

i watched the sunset from the docks last night with my friends alex, tristan, and garret, it was beautiful. we are all very fortunate to be where we are in life.

i also carried around a snail i found on one of the boats all day yesterday. his name was marvin.

craig made me throw him back in the river before we went out to the bonfire.

soundtrack of right now:

Beach Boys

Old Crow Medicine Show

i would like a real string of pearls for my birthday i think. that and a windsurfing harness. i cant wait till snowboarding season.

i told all the perspective students how much i love our school. im good at that.

get your float on

today is get your float on day!

the sailing team is teaching people how to sail, and the keelboats are going out, and the offshore team, and people can kyak and attempt to learn how to windsurf!! from 3-6:30!! there is going to be a dj and free hamburgers and hot dogs and VEGGIEBURGERS!! because we are at smcm and that is how it works here.

also there is an orchestra concert today. which i think i will go to.

and nate and the windsurfing crew is having a bonfire in the north woods tonight. Hurah!

im going to go lounge around and research india and thailand and england and costa rica. also take a nap before this afternoons festivities.

college is fun.

let the weekend begin.

ps- yesterday i had alot of free time, so i randomly went to this seminar about time management and how to manage stress and they passed out lottery ticket things and i won a planner!! i am really happy about this. also i joined a new club. MAPP. its another peer mentor group (but mostly meant for exchange students i think?). now i am a peer mentor on two levels. How exciting.

for breakfast i had a banana and toast and chai tea with soy milk. it was amazing.

it is getting colder here. i really need some new sweaters.

green tea

i have been drinking more green tea than one person should ever drink. ever since i got here all i drink is either coffee/hotchocolate (yes its one drink, i put hot chocolate mix in the cup and then put in coffee instead of water) or green tea. thats it. everyday. every meal.

i have also been eating a disproportionate amount of stir fry. they stir fry whatever you want at any meal, just for you. for some reason this never ceases to make me happy, and so... i keep eating alot of stir fry. however, i dont think i have been gaining any weight, there is much to much walking, bike riding, and windsurfing.

last night was the opening night of Monks. our local bar. they let 18 and older in, and kind of just turn a blind eye about id's. the school takes drunk people back on a bus so they dont drive drunk, but its a 25 dollar fee if you puke on the bus. i like that rule. i didnt go to Monks.

i hung out with Andrew (who windsurfs) and Craig (who also windsurfs) at andrews townhouse with way too many guys. their house alone has three bedrooms with two guys each.. then their common room has a customized beer-pong table, and a big screen tv with alot of car video games hooked up, so im sure you can see the draw. i didnt feel like drinking but the guys are all real nice and chill to hang out with so i sat around and talked while people played pong, and loud music. Also they played this really violent car video game where they all leaned towards the tv and said things like "ahhh.. shoot him...SHOOT THE LITTLE...its his own fault hes not dead yet... STEAL THE COP CAR." also Quint was there. Quint is a guy who i used to sometimes run with until i figured out he is epically fast and speedy and i am not. Quint had gotten kicked out of his room because his room mate brought a girl home and so Quint had been at the town house through like probably 6 games of pong. he was significantly out of it. so he kept saying things like "the cop car isnt even fast yo, if i had a toga and a freaking mountain i think i would be a freaking priest. is there any freakin raisin bran in this house?"

all the boys got really excited about the idea of raisin bran, so they hunted down several boxes and whipped out some expired milk (its practically tastes the same when its in cereal) and then set about looking for some bowls and spoons. since they couldnt find either (its an all guys house) they decided beer cups would suffice. I have never seen a group of people happier about freaking raisin bran. quint was declared "the man" on the spot.

I also talked alot to this guy Reed, who actually was one of the boys who lived in the town house. despite being in his own living room, Reed was locked out of his bedroom because his room mate had gone out for the night, locking the door, and Reeds keys were left in the room. So Reed sat on the couch in the common room and told me all about "top gear" which is a british car show, and "hydrofish" which is his band, and this really horrible play he wrote for his theatre class. Hydrofish is playing tonight at a coffeehouse on campus. i think i will go see them and support Reed. who is a nice guy.

this morning i woke up at 8. went to breakfast and then went windsurfing. craig rigged me up the biggest sail ive ever been on... a 7. which i mean isnt a big deal if your a real windsurfer, but i was just starting so it was reallllly heavy for me to pull up. which meant there was ALOT of motivation for me to not fall off the board and subsequently have to pull up the sail all over again. At first i kind of floundered around for about 15 minutes and couldn't really get up, and was getting really tired and worn out, when andrew walked out on the dock and yelled "Laur If you want to come in i can rig you up a smaller sail, it would be a hell of a lot easier" this was all the motivation i needed to finally get up and going. i didnt fall down after that. im actually really proud of this. the boys are too.

i am growing oddly accustomed to wearing wetsuits all day. i look like i work at seaworld.

im also really proud of the fact that i went on a run yesterday after class/ before andrews. like a real run. it felt good. im going to try to go again today.

all my classes went well yesterday. woke up for sociology (which is more than euri, who slept through it and never came to class...), turned in a paper for art history, participated in illustration class, and sat there and smiled during math. I have virtually no work to do today, but i have some books i am reading just because. and i can probably get ahead on some sociology stuff.

people used to tell me i would stop being so excited about going to school after being in college for a cuple weeks, i dont know. im going on week four and i still adore this school.

Nate thinks we should have a family breakfast this weekend. "Family breakfasts" are when all the windsurfing people and friends (Brittany, Andrew, Nate, Colleen, Craig, Me, Charlotte, Victor) get together at someones town house and cook breakfast (always completely vegan for me and Brittany) and eat together. then Nate plays piano and Char plays guitar and harmonica, and we all sit around drinking wine or maybe champagne, or juice, (depending on what we feel like) and looking through Nates travel books or watching Andrews biking videos. Nate has around 6 huge travel books with big color pictures and little descriptions of all the countries in the world. We always flip through them and talk about where we want to go in life, or what good books we've read lately. We also sometimes have family dinners. they go about the same way. Andrew races mountain bikes. hes in a competition in W.V. next weekend.

I am giving tours of the school this saturday. this worries me. i still do not know the entire campus myself. i will have to read over my "peer mentor" sheet of things to say and things not to say. for example number three on the sheet says... and i quote "keep it real, the school is not 100% perfect, but admit flaws positively- ie: the school is in the middle of nowhere with essentially no town at all= strong bonding among students promotes a community atmosphere around campus.

i am out of green tea and i do have a book i should be reading, so ill sign off for now.

oh. i still do not have a facebook account! how great is that?!

THRIVE

-laura

blood drives and the himalayas

1. our school is having a blood drive. despite hating the thought of blood, i have always felt compelled to participate in blood drives just because they help so many people. (plus i have type o blood.) in high school i started whimpering before they even stuck the needle in me.

nurse: you dont have to do this you know

laura: no...sniff sniff... its fine. really. im just a little dizzy plus i feel like im going to throw up. but im fine its all good.

i will probably give blood again.

2. i have been researching the india study tour. omg it looks amazing. basically we go with the head of the St Marys religious studies department, and we hike the Himalayas. We sleep in tents and in trains and we eat all cultural food and stay in peoples homes all over India. I can not possibly imagine another way i would rather spend the first few weeks of my summer. it will be SUCH a life experience and i am so excited. i am trying to pull funding together. it will work out.

3. reforming healthcare in america. i wish i knew more of what was going on in the world. its hard to keep up at college. i think i need to start reading the front page of the newspapers in the great room in the mornings when i get my coffee.

4. i also would like to start waking up early and going running at the gym before class. this is hard because i have an 8am class, and its difficult for me to get out of bed as it is, but we'll see how this goes.

5. i am very excited about thanksgiving and christmas. mostly christmas. christmas is my favorite.

traveling...

woke up at 11:30.

got lunch to go.

went windsurfing.

went to a foreign exchange meeting apt. the lady wants me to go to oxford at some point. she thinks it will be good for me. i would not mind this i dont think. she said to make sure my passport is up to date. and to make a list of the classes i need for my majors. she says i am an unusually ambitious and determined freshman.

went to a financial aid apt.

i'm currently looking to apply for travel abroad scholarships. i have a list. if anyone knows a good one to apply to, please let me know.

now im sitting in monty, getting some studying in before my five o'clock peer mentor training session. I miss my dog, and i need some new sweaters.

one of my art teachers just stopped by and said hi.

she is a very nice lady.

a few days ago i was walking with friends and we passed a guy in a swimsuit smoking a cigarette that was being held by a crab. the crab was alive. i am not sure how i feel about this.

I love my college.

monty.

Yay for finishing my art papers and staying awake through sociology this morning!

Craig was super nice and has been reading and editing all my papers before i turn them in. he is extremely good at this. and I'm very grateful. soon he will be an art maverick

I seem to do my best thinking in Monty (the art building) I dont know, its always very calm, and someone is always practicing piano or singing, and its much easier for me to concentrate here, rather than in my room or even the library. Today has been really great because: a. I GOT A NEW ONE CARD. b. i finished doing my laundry c. i picked up a job application to work as a stage painter in the costume shop here (in Monty... i pretty much live here) d. there is a farmers market in front of the Great Hall e. I am wearing plaid.

the weather is just perfect. I'm going hiking with Nate after my 12 o'clock picture stories class. how splendid. perfect day for it.

Oh more good news! i got my email fixed this morning. so feel free to hit me up at: lghausheer@smcm.edu

cheers.

getting things done

...writing lots of papers! Two for Art History and one for Picture Stories (my illustration class).

if anyone wants to read about the french fauve Henri Matisse, the Transfiguration of Christ, or the complete works of Angelia Lane, let me know and I'll send you my rough drafts.

Other than that... I'm excited for dinner and a break from my computer screen.

I deleted my facebook account, because I decided it was eating my time, and not really making me a happier person in life. haha.

Tomorrow our school offices open again and I can finally go file my one card as missing, and get the IT guys to fix my email account, which has been flipping out recently.

In other news, I recently discovered I have access to other peoples itunes accounts for some random reason. idk. its a little creepy, but really exciting, because personally i have like twenty songs on my itunes due to not actually knowing how to add songs i like. now i can listen to like any of the girls in my halls music? awesome.

ciao

saturday mornings

Yesterday a comedian came to our school. i went to his 8 o'clock show. he was pretty good, plus he came all the way from LA which was cool. he was really raunchy but kind of funny.

After the show I made the unfortunate mistake of brining my one card out with me to party. I lost it somewhere and i dont know where. Its not a real big deal, i've lost it like three times since ive been here. Its just mostly inconvenient, because i cant get into buildings or get food or do laundry.

This morning i woke up at ten o'clock to an absolutely beautiful day. Got brunch to-go with my friend Nate, then ate overlooking the river. It was very lovely. Then I went windsurfing from 12 till 3. There was next to no wind. which was great, because i feel more confident when im going super slow. haha, much easier that way. I surfed across the river to the other side where i met this old man on a old wooden sail boat who had sailed up from Georgia. I also met this couple who was raising their kid on a catamaran until he was old enough to go to kindergarden. I think thats pretty awesome. I decided I would like to live on a boat for a bit, with a cat. Some students here actually live on boats. no lie. they dock them out in the water and they have meal plans on campus but they live off their boats. Anyways, so i headed back to the beach where there were these girls having a paint fight. which is just what it sounds like.

Megans mom apparently was here to visit, she left us food, and warmer clothes, and a DVD player. which we are pretty excited about. mostly we are excited about the food though.

We have a lax recruit staying with my room mate tonight so we cleaned up our room!! which was a rather intensive ordeal for me and megan. This is the cleanest its been since we moved in. we are pretty proud of ourselves.

I'm in the process of writing two art papers, and i dont think i'll go out tonight. well... maybe i will. ill see where i am with my papers. there is a HUGE slip and slide going on at one of the quads tonight. there will be alot of water and soap and alcohol. idk. well see how i feel about it i suppose.

anyways, life here is good and im going to dinner soon.

cheers.

oh.

PS- i was selected to be a "peer ambassador" whoot. thats like supposed to be impressive. pretend your impressed.

...blogging?

so i started a blog...

because i was tired of writing everyone separate emails with the same content about what ive been up to at college.

So for those of you feeling left out, because you didnt get an email...

ive been spending alot of time outside, and trying to take advantage of our absolutely gorgeous location... biking, kyaking, caving (ahh crazy), sailing, and learning to windsurf. my room mate is great, the food is good (with the exception of their sushi, which is absolutely dreadful), my classes are interesting, and everyone here is down to earth and super nice.

I am spending Fall break (four days) in Hatteras N.C., with the windsurfing club.

SMCM recently got rated as number 9 on the Princeton review listing of colleges and universities with the "happiest students", and it is most definitely true. We were number 12 for "most beautiful campus". I feel extremely fortunate to be living here.

I'm currently an intended double major in English Lit and Art/Art history, with a minor in Education. I've recently been looking into our foreign exchange programs (which are highly encouraged here). I have meetings with my student advisor, and the financial aid office concerning prospective trips to India (this June) and Thailand (next fall).

I don't really know much about blogging but i'm hoping i'll figure it out as i go. so bear with me.

also feel free to send me cookies, letters, or come visit!