Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Lenten fasts

Hey everyone,
I've decided to give up internet for Lent, at least the purely entertainment form. This could mean less posting...or it could mean that I spend Sundays staring at the screen and doing as many unproductive things online as possible. Yah, I don't think that's quite how sacrifices are supposed to work, but it's 20 minutes until Ash Wednesday and I'm already feeling the withdrawal kicking in! :)

The biggest news lately has been study abroad stuff. I applied to Rome, Dublin, and London (in that order; we have to rank our choices). There was the big "study abroad letters" day, and my mail contained three "waitlists." :( I guess Rome and Dublin were two of the top three sites as far as number of applicants, so it was pretty tough. Plus, how you rank your sites does affect your application so listing Dublin second probably hurt my chances. Then, I got a call last Thursday saying that I got into London, but in the fall. I didn't really want to go in the fall, plus I had to take a class that might only be in the fall next year. After talking with them, I decided to decline my fall spot and hold out for the spring again. Since I have academic reasons for switching (and not just wanting to see the football season), they thought I had a pretty good chance...but now I'm scared again, lol. I should find out in a few days tho.

I'm going to visit Chris in Deleware for spring break before heading up to NYC for the concert, which should be fun (at least that's what i'm hoping, i'm a little nervous i won't lie). I'll miss my family and good ol' Minnesota tho, just holding out for Easter.

See you in 40 days if not before! Have a penetential Lent everyone!
blessings,
jessica

Saturday, February 18, 2006

NY Times on ND

The New York Times has an interesting article about ND/academic freedom/Catholic identity. I thought it was pretty fair, although it's sad how unusual it is for a Catholic University to be addressing these issues.
You might have to be an online subscriber to read it, but the link is here, and it's under national news for Saturday, February 18.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

interesting

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern

At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent

You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet

Your caffeine addiction level: low
What Kind of Coffee Are You?
overindulgent? I hope not. Childish? well...

Monday, February 06, 2006

Life update

So once upon a time I intended this blog to be more like a diary/journal type thing, but that requires actual, y'know, writing in it. So yes, here are some random things that have been happening lately:
-The first few weeks of school were marked by high levels of intrigue as two of my roommates broke up with their boyfriends. Some intense periods of analyzing followed, but things seem to have cooled down somewhat.
-This weekend I went to the hockey game on Friday night (which i have to admit, I found rather boring, also we lost to MSU, 3-1) and went salsa dancing for a little bit. Saturday night I more or less hung out in the room and watched episodes on DVD of the first season of Gilmore Girls, and went ice skating for about an hour at the JACC. Oh also on Saturday I bought a violin bow! Emily and I went to Brasswinds and Woodwinds in South Bend. I almost didn't even look at bows, because the place was so huge and the service was really pretty bad. Nobody knew anything. Luckily there was a violin teacher who was just leaving who had been looking at bows, and had made them bring some in from their warehouse, so he gave the ones he had been trying to me. The one I got is an Arcolla carbon fiber bow and it was $179. I'm happy cause my old bow was in desperate need of rehairing and I am playing in Carnegie Hall in a few weeks...Anyway, back to the weekend. Sunday I went to Basilica Mass and EM'd and then watched the Super Bowl in the evening . Now it's Monday and I have a nasty nose/throat/cold thingy. Ew.
-It snowed! That makes me happy.
-I've been going to the Knights of the Immaculata/Children of Mary meetings this semester, which has been nice. It's good to be the one questioning instead of always explaining/defending, and participating in theological discussions which really don't have a pratical impact even on my very-Catholic life. I mean, "How do faith and reason relate?" is a question that's pretty important for me to be able to answer, the various types of graces don't matter quite so much. Not that the latter types aren't important to discuss, but it's nice to talk about things where I can honestly throw up my hands and acknowledge that I don't get it without it mattering too much.
-I auditioned to be in a Spanish play, which I think is going to be really cool. At the end of the semester we'll perform it, all in Spanish (although the playbill will be in English so everyone can understand the basic plot). This means it's going to be a pretty packed semester for me, but I think this will be worth it. I mean, I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity again. I am going to drop out of the PILLARS committee that's planning the safe spring break week campaign, so that should help a little bit, and I don't think they'll mind since we just started. Oh the play is called Fuente Ovejuna I believem, and we don't know parts yet.
-Also, if anyone happens to have a history-related summer job opportunity in the Twin Cities, let me know...that'll be my next project to work on.
-We find out about study abroad sometime in the next 10 days!

Well, that should be good enough for now, lol.
blessings!