Halfway there

Well, I done did it.  I am officially halfway done with college and halfway to attaining two Bachelor of Arts degrees.  Pretty crazy, eh?  Finals week this year was pretty hellish, but at least it’s over.  Lauren, Kat, and I are all having trouble believing how quickly this year went by.  It seems like Lauren and I were in our apartment just last month, not almost a year ago.  The first semester didn’t go by too terribly quickly, but this second semester was just a whirlwind.  It’s pretty crazy.  I’m glad it’s over.

Some highlights of this school year?  Well, I absolutely loved the casts for the two French plays.  We all were quite close, and some of us the second semester cast created “The Derp Troupe,” which was just a fancy way of saying that we met up every Sunday in the north BNB lounge to watch a movie.  Other highlights?  Umm . . . I can’t really think of many.  I became a peer tutor for French last Fall.  My first semester was for Elementary French I and then this past semester was the complete opposite end of the spectrum for Intermediate French II.  That was pretty cool, but also pretty difficult.  It can also be frustrating at times, but all work is like that.

At the moment I am sitting in the basement, just chillin’ out.  I haven’t really started unpacking.  I’m only going to be here for a month and a week until I fly up to Michigan to spend two weeks with family, and then two days after that we’re driving to Québec.  Since I’m only available for the first part of the summer, that kind of prevents me from getting any sort of job.  Which stinks.  But hey, what can I do?  I also applied to be a volunteer on the Prep Crew, which means I would be helping to prepare the residence halls for incoming freshmen and other students.  I would man the hall desks during Truman Week, prepare orientation packets, move in microfridges, etc.  If I get accepted for that, then I’d move into the dorm about two days after I get back from Québec, which is fine with me.  The less downtime, the better.

I think that’s it.  I’m tired.  I might nap.  Or I might unpack.  I have no idea.

It's all coming together.

This semester has gone by extremely quickly.  My mind is rather blown to realize that final exams start in about two weeks.  It still kind of feels like, in classes, we should be in that beginning state where professors are still just handing out syllabi and we haven't really started learning anything.  Yet we're wrapping stuff up now.

Since the French play's format was so different from the past three semesters in which I participated, that seemed to go by more quickly, as well.  Our two performances were on Wednesday and Thursday of this past week, and we had our cast party at the Nichols' house on Thursday night after the performance.  (This newfound tradition was started by a brilliant idea from yours truly.)  The first performance was great.  Everything was perfect, and we got tons of compliments afterward.  One of my French professors (for whom I worked as a peer tutor last semester, also) complimented me on my pronunciation and said he was very impressed.  EEEEE!!  Any compliment I get on my French sends me over the moon.  The second night of the play didn't go so well.  The sound was far too quiet so we could barely hear it, we dropped lines, Lauren's and my fight scene was off, the music didn't start right for our group song . . . I dunno.  But the audience still seemed to like it.  The cast party made up for everything, though.  We all had a blast.  I feel so fortunate that I've been able to get to know everyone in the troupe and that we've all become so close.  It just stinks knowing that we won't all be able to be together next time.

Back: Rachel, Marcelline, Dr. Lobert (our director), Mary, Ashlee
Middle: Anna, Jen, Sobira (our lovely subtitles lady), Maria, Lauren
Front: Dallin

In other news, study abroad in Québec is officially official.  Remember that huge debacle I mentioned with Truman's Study Abroad office?  Well, one of the women there has been in contact with the peeps at l'Université Laval à Québec, and we received a letter from both the university and Truman's Study Abroad office saying that we are officially accepted.  So our credits will transfer, and everything is hunky dory.  YAY!  I am so beyond excited.  In mid-June I'll fly up to Michigan to spend two weeks with my father's side of the family, and almost immediately after I return, we'll start the drive up to Québec.  WOO!  Next week is some mandatory orientation for those studying abroad this summer or next year.  Pretty snazzy.

Also in other news, I have had major difficulties in scheduling for next semester's classes.  Part of it is my own fault, and now the rest of it is pretty much just bad luck.  I'm hoping certain things will work out, but it's not, you know, certain.  Sigh.

Psyche!

There's much less of a point to the title than one might actually think.  Just thought I should get that out of the way.

Here we are, in the beginning of April, and the weather is finally starting to warm up.  Kind of.  It's supposed to be in the low seventies today (Fahrenheit), but then it's going to cool down later in the week due to thunder storms and whatnot.  Boo on that.  All I want is not to wear sweaters and jackets anymore.  I know I posted an entry in, like, October or something about wanting "sweater weather," but that was STUPID.  I want WARMTH.  Kirksville is holding out on my favorite season, and it's NOT FAIR.  I should hold a protest or something.

In other news, Kat and I went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE yesterday with the Wildlife Society.  We left Kirksville at about 5:30 pm, stopped in St. Joseph at 8:00 for a late, healthy McDonald's dinner (it was either that, or something sketchy like "Taco John's" in the minuscule mall), and arrived at the equally sketchy Super 8 Hotel at around 11:00.  Kat, our two roommates, and I were all quite loopy due to fatigue, so we weren't awake for very long before passing out.  We awoke at 7:30 and partook of a breakfast that reminded me of the chapter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Dursleys stop at a cheap hotel and they have stale cornflakes for breakfast.  I didn't have cornflakes, but Kat did.  No, I just had burnt toast.  Anyway, then it was off to the zoo.

We had been promised a Behind the Scenes tour of the Aquarium, so after walking through the Aquarium on our own, we waited.  And waited, and waited, and waited for about an hour before a Zookeeper finally showed up.  She said that there had been some sort of mix-up with another group, and she felt reeeeally bad.  We got a refund, but she still took us on the tour.  The first thing we saw, ironically, were two little monkeys who were in a sort of quarantine.  I don't remember why.  We also got cool views of the sharks and sea turtles, which were swimming around beneath us.  The coolest part was when we got to touch the sting rays, who felt like wet mud.  'Twas interesting.  Then we all headed over to the Tree Top Restaurant, which overlooked the Leid Jungle and, by consequence, monkeys.  After that, Kat and I headed off on our own.

The first place we went was the Kingdoms of Night area, which is where all of the little nocturnal animals are.  Emphasis on the nocturnal, since it was nearly pitch black and very hard to see except for some dim lights.  But the very best part of the trip was getting to see so many BATS.  It was AWESOME.  I freaking love bats.  Passionately.  And now Kat likes them, too.  There were tons of fruit bats, a couple of vampire bats, and other bats in different areas.  WEEEEE!!  We also went into the Desert Dome, which was pretty awesome as well; we saw the training of a white Bengal tiger, as well as other ferocious kitties; we saw some ADORABLE lion cubs who are the cutest things in the universe; Kat and I went on the "Skyfari," which is like a chairlift over the whole zoo, which enabled us to see rhinos, cheetahs, ostriches, and giraffes.  All in all, the zoo was pretty cool, especially its indoor areas, but I think I prefer the Kansas City Zoo.  I like the fact that the Omaha Zoo has the bats, but KC Zoo has more . . . everything.  Like elephants.  It was still AWESOME, though.  Go animals.

Now, to explain the rather inexplicable title of this entry.  I am now a psychology minor.  Why?  Because I did some figuring, and if I were to just take classes I need to graduate with two B.A.s in French and English, as well as my French translation minor, I wouldn't really have enough classes each semester (at least during my senior year) to be a full-time student.  And I MUST be a full-time student if I want to keep my financial aid, live on campus, etc.  So I could either take random classes that interest me, OR I could put this extra space to good use.  I've always been interested in psychology, and the minor requires just enough classes that I have the ability to take.  I had intended, originally, to be have a minor in linguistics since it would only require two extra classes after what I'm already taking for my linguistics concentration in my English major, but I realized something: I don't like linguistics very much.  I only have a concentration in it because a professor said I should in order to be an ESL teacher.  So, y'know what?  I wanna be a psychology minor.  So there.

Speaking of French, I missed the "anniversary" of learning the lovely language.  I don't know the actual date, so I always "celebrated" it on the first of April.  I taught myself French for two years, and now I've been studying it in school for another two.  So that's four years of French.  Woooo, go me.

But what REALLY made my week was learning that I have been awarded a Study Abroad Scholarship for $1,500!!  I didn't get it originally, and I was quite bummed, but then I received an email stating that someone had given up there scholarship and I was the first alternate.  WEEEEE!!!  I am SO HAPPY!!  Or, to give more context to the title, I AM SO PSYCHED!!

Also, my legs hurt.  And I have a new fox (despite the fact that I didn't see a fox at the zoo) named Tod.  That is all.  Noodles.

Why Québec?

Lauren and I have been officially accepted to attend l'Université Laval in Québec City this summer!  Huzzah!  This is a major thing for us, and we're both very excited.  However, our excitement has been slightly marred by various things.  First of all, the fact that this is a small program and in charge of it is a certain professor here at Truman.  The process of applying and everything has been guided by the professor, not the study abroad office here at Truman.  We thought this was normal since the program isn't run through any of the big organizations like the ones that go to France and other places in South America and Europe.  However, this is not the case.  Turns out we were missing a big chunk of important information (as well as money that needs to be shelled out) that the professor either didn't tell us about or told us not to worry about.  So Lauren and I went to go to talk to someone in the study abroad office to get things sorted out, which is another headache in and of itself due to its confusing nature, but one thing that bothered me was the question "Why Québec?"  It wasn't politely curious like most questions.  It was more along the lines of "Why would you go to Québec for five weeks instead of spending a semester in France?"  The person we spoke to also tried to push spending a semester in France on us, which is significantly more expensive what with immensely more costly airfare.  The other problem with it is the mere fact that we don't want to go to France.  At least not right now.

Most of the time, questions pertaining to Québec are more polite.  I guess it's understandable that most people at my school go to France our at least some francophone country in Europe.  After all, that's all we study here.  We study French literature, French culture, French business, etc.  People here often develop a single-minded kind of thinking because it's all we're ever taught.  Sure, there's an elective francophone literature course, but the only time that's about Québec's literature is when it's taught by a certain professor, and that's every few years and not required like the aforementioned courses.  Of course, I'm not saying France isn't important.  As the origin of the language I study, of course it's important.  But for students, like myself, who are drawn to other cultures, it can kind of suck.

How did I "discover" Québec?  One could argue Céline Dion since I loved My Heart Will Go On and knew only that she wasn't American.  But the actual story is long and most people know it.  I discovered the musical Notre-Dame de Paris thanks to Lauren.  Bruno Pelletier became my favorite singer out of the 

whole troupe, and I quickly delved into his solo stuff.  Miserere was the first album I bought in French, despite the fact that I couldn't understand a single word.  Because I discovered all of this after high school, I had no way of learning French like I had for half a semester in my junior year.  I knew I wanted to understand all of the French music I had fallen in love with, most of the musicians being from the troupe of Notre-Dame, but, most specifically, Bruno.  A few Google searches led me to different websites where they would teach you grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and I began studying it vigorously.  As I took two years off after high school, I had nothing else to do with my time, and French quickly became fun for me, and it wasn't long until I was very passionate about it.  Understanding, writing, reading, and speaking such a beautiful language was and is an amazing experience for me.  When I began looking at universities, a French major was my main concern.  One of the reasons I really didn't want to go to BYU-I was because they didn't offer one.  My career goals have changed multiple times since I started thinking about college.  I've wanted to be a writer (still do), a journalist, a teacher, an interpreter, a linguist, and a translator.  Yet all of these majors were considered in mind with a French major.  I would never be just an English major or a Communications major with a concentration in journalism.  It would always be that and a major in French.  I can't picture myself not studying French.

q

Québec City, Québec

Okay, so there's my love of French.  But why Québec?  It's possible that I feel like I am so drawn to it because it's the first French I studied and began to understand.  My trip to Québec in 2009 to see Bruno Pelletier in concert was unforgettable.  Montréal is the most beautiful city in the world to me, even if I didn't get to spend that much time there.  I feel the same way about Montréal as so many people feel about Paris.  Québec is the most wondermous place I have been, the people there are some of the friendliest I have known, and the way they speak is the most beautiful French dialect I know.  It's my favorite dialect for sure. (You know, kind of like how people often say, "Omg I loooove British accents!")  Well, it's the same thing for me.  I love the Québécois accent in both French and English.  I wish Québec studies were more prevalent in my school.  Who knows?  Maybe I can change that one day.

Montréal, Québec

So there's your answer, everyone.  'Tis a question I get asked often.  Why Québec?  Because I love it, plain and simple.

"I don't always talk to art majors, but when I do, ask for large fries."

Hatred against art majors, theatre majors, music majors, and writing majors has been going on for a very long time.  Recently, however, it seems to have reached its pinnacle.  As the best friend and roommate of someone who is majoring in Visual Communications, comments such as the one above are getting increasingly annoying.  Now, I'm not an art, theatre, music, or writing major.  I like acting, I love singing, drawing is pretty fun, and writing is my passion, but I would never be able to dedicate four years of my life to such things.  Doing so takes very hard work, skill, and incredible dedication and sanity.  Me, I'm a French and English major.  Yet I've seen first-hand just how much work and time goes into being a Visual Communications major.

Take my best friend and roommate, Lauren.  She is an incredible artist and creator.  I'm not entirely sure how her mind works.  An assignment will be given to her and she can come up with the most interesting, obscure, beautiful concepts with just a simple sentence to work off of.  I can never fathom how she does it.  I have seen her spend sleepless nights on assignments, cry because of the pressure, and beam with pride when she sees one of her posters displayed on campus.  Art is something she has always done, something she was meant to do.  And for people to say that she's an idiot for being an art major, or that she'll never amount to anything more than a cashier at McDonald's is absolute bullshit.

Think of the poster for your favorite movie.  It was designed by a graphic artist.  Or the cover for your favorite book.  Or the CD booklet of your favorite singer.  Or the Starbucks logo.  The image on your favorite t-shirt.  All of these were designed by graphic artists.  Think for a moment how boring and plain the world would look if we didn't have people like Lauren to fill everything with color and beautiful, clever designs.  It's people like her who make the world interesting.  And you'd better believe that graphic artists get paid pretty damn well for what they do.

It's not just art majors who deserve credit, either.  Theatre and music majors work their asses off just as much as everyone else, if not more.  You've sat through productions like Little Women and Spring Awakening; don't tell me that theatre majors don't do anything when you know perfectly well how hard the actors and every member of the crew worked to pull those off, in addition to everything else they do as students here at Truman.  I know how difficult music can be, just through the limited experience with it that I've had.  Also, think about your favorite book, poem, or short story.  I can't imagine the hours and stress that goes into making a living out of it, of rehearsing a piece to perfection, of making sure that every note is absolutely right.

Personally, I don't think I could handle a major that was about competition, knowing that I am essentially competing against every single one of my classmates to be the best, both in school and out in the real world.  More than anything, I wanted to be a creative writing major, but I was too chicken to even apply for it.  (As a BFA, you can't just declare the major - you have to be accepted into it.)  I was too scared to follow my dreams of writing because I didn't think it would get me a job.  Though I love French, I wish more than anything that my double major was Creative Writing and not English.  (Don't get me wrong, I love literature, too - I just love fiction writing more.)  My concentration for my English major isn't even composition, but linguistics.  Why?  Not because I think linguistics is the grooviest subject matter in the world, but because I need to get a job after school.  Art, theatre, music, and creative writing majors are all out there following their dreams and making something real out of their dreams, something most of us are probably too scared to do.

So when you're out there handing a large carton of fries to someone, just remember one thing: an art major designed that carton.

Utterly Betwixt?

If you have found this post, then it is because you are my friend on Facebook.  Congratulations!  Or maybe you just Googled "Ashlee R. Estep."  I don't know.  Either way, pretentiousitchy.blogspot will no longer get you anywhere.  I decided to change the title and URL of my blog to another random phrase that I like pretty well.  "Betwixt" is probably my favorite word, and since it means "between," and my life always seems to be in some sort of phase of being in between, I thought it was appropriate.  Or maybe I just like the phrase.  I dunno, you decide.  I also implemented (heehee, big word) a new design.  Don't you love having Loki stare at you?

I have been completely (and utterly) exhausted as of late.  I applied for a job a while back, had an interview late last month, and found out last Friday that I didn't get the job.  It's disappointing.  The job would have given me a $1,500 stipend and it meshed perfectly with my schedule for the summer (what with going to Québec and all that), and I really wanted the job.  It would have been fun.  But alas, I didn't get it.  I went to my ex-boss in the CML department to see if I could work as an office assistant again for May, June, and August, but they're unsure about being able to hire extra workers.  There's also the possibility of taking a class either here at Truman (which is expensive) or at MACC, Kirksville's community college (which is cheaper).  While I would love to take a computer science course here, I know there's no possibility of a CS minor, even if I'm really good at it, because it requires too many hours for me to graduate on time.  So maybe I'll take Statistics at MACC this summer before I go to Québec.  (Provided that the course starts and ends before need to leave - therein lies the problem.)

Despite the fact that I have been completely (and utterly) exhausted as of late, I am extremely wired right now.  This might have something to do with the fact that I had to take pills that contained caffeine in order to combat my monster headache this morning.  Who knows?  It also helped that a girl with whom I was working on an assignment for my French grammar class and I did really well on said assignment.  Boo ya!  Although my hyperness is lessened somewhat due to the fact that I have been trying to get a hold of a professor to arrange an important meeting for over a week, and when said professor finally emails me back, said professor can only meet at times in which I am either taking a test or working.  GAH!  I don't know what to do.  Right now, curling into a ball and rocking unsteadily back and forth seems to be a good option.  Or screaming.  That sounds good, too.

Truman Scream

Usually loud screaming is reserved for Finals Week.  There's a bi-annual (and by "annual," I mean the school year) group scream in which frustrated, stressed out college students gather together and make a whole lot of noise before finals start.  I have never participated myself, but now I find myself wishing that there was a group scream for the first week of classes.  Never before have I had so much trouble with textbooks.  Sure, there have been some issues.  For instance, the literary criticism anthology we ordered from Amazon last semester was in horrible condition and we had to send it back, but that was rectified before the semester began.  I've never started classes without all my textbooks, and now the first week is almost over and I'm still missing three.

I arrived back from Pikeville on Wednesday, and we returned to Kirksville from Hannibal on Friday.  On Saturday we went to Patty's Bookstore to buy our textbooks.  I was able to buy most of them, but not any of my French books or my Linguistics book.  It just so happened that neither of my French professors sent Patty the info for their assigned books, so we headed over to the campus bookstore.  I was able to get two of my French books, but the other books and the Linguistics book were still M.I.A.  This was very frustrating in and of itself, but I ordered one French book and the Linguistics book on the bookstore's website.  For some reason, my list of textbooks said that the remaining French book was "Special order" and to contact the bookstore.  We did, and no one had any idea where it was.  We were told that it might arrive by Friday.

Guess who has an assignment due on Friday using that book?  Moi.  When I called the bookstore yesterday to inquire as to the status of said "special order" book, they had no idea.  They could give me no information whatsoever, so with a loud "SCREW IT!" (not to them, of course), I ordered the book from Amazon.  (This was not done originally because it looked like most of the books were from overseas, but then I found one in New York).  I emailed my professor and told him about my find, and he forwarded the email to the rest of the class (there are seven of us) since they'll be unable to get the book from the bookstore, either.  So hopefully that book will arrive soon.

But then there's the Linguistics book.  We were told that it should arrive on Friday, which is fine.  But then my professor sent out this email saying that she had been told that the textbooks were finally in.  Again, fine.  Except I already paid for my copy and received no email telling me to go pick it up.  So even though it's sitting there on the shelf, I can't have it.  Luckily the professor was kind enough to scan the pages for us so we could do the assigned reading.  Hopefully she'll continue to do so if I'm unable to get my book by tomorrow.

Sorry for the rant.  It's just. so. frustrating.  None of these problems are the professors' fault.  It's just a bunch of horrible mix-ups.  But they make me want to bash my head against the wall.

So.  Moving on.  How has the rest of my 2013 been so far?  Pretty okay.  I'm liking most of my classes, it's nice to be back on campus, but still.  I'm not at my happiest.  I miss my family, for one thing.  For another, not all of my financial aid has come in, so my Work Study paycheck goes automatically to my tuition and not my bank account like it normally does.  For another, I need to prepare to fill out the applications for study abroad and the scholarships for it, but I can't do anything until someone else does something and DJFS:FJSLDFND:FHDL.

I really need a good scream.