first month away from home...

this post is a bit long because it's a first but the next ones won't be so long! a summary of my first month includes:

> a TF service project ,The Big Sweep[9/12]: (the picture here is of david after we got back from the project) this consisted of walking upstream in a river about 20 min away from campus in freezing cold water picking up trash. we were told that we would be doing this same thing in canoes but we got there and were told that the water level was too low...so...we had a grand time freezing up to our knees for a couple hours that morning! (david joined, little did he know what he was getting into)

> later the same day we went to our first home game vs. McNeese State and left at halftime because we were playing horribly. we lost 40-35

> intramural volleyball!: we had our first practice sunday [9/20] and a second practice today [9/21]...the pictures somewhat show how badly my arms are bruised right now! it's been a lot of fun so far though...we are playing at the intermediate level so it should be competitive but not too bad. i've been designated as a setter (one of two...and we need two playing at all times) so i get to be at every practice and play the WHOLE time! i got nailed in the face with a ball the first practice by one of the guys who was hitting when he wasn't supposed to...not the greatest feeling but surprisingly i didn't bruise there. my one arm is speckled with bruises as you can see and my right arm has random bruises and a huge one right below my hand that is all swollen now...yay!

>academics: for the first semester i am in an english writing class, spanish, themes in global history,a freshman seminar (a study of central asia and subsaharan africa), an education class (with other freshman TF's), and Health and Fitness. i love most of my classes and professors and am learning more than i ever did in high school. unfortunately i don't have any math classes this semester because of scheduling but i will be making up for it next semester for sure! the only professor i'm not particularly excited to see in the morning is my history professor just because of his lack of staying on task and actually talking about what we're learning. it's interesting though...we got to vote on the topics we are going to study so that's good.

> family: i have thoroughly enjoyed the fact that my parents can text and use skype to stay in touch! i've kept in touch with my friends that way too. i had a wonderful day with them the sunday of labor day weekend when they all came up (minus jarrett and josh). i have missed them plenty and think about them all the time and can't wait to be home to see them again in the middle of october (fall break is the 15th and 16th).

> dorm life: people are up and noisy at all hours of the night around here, every day of the week. i do have a pretty awesome room and a great roommate though. we have a suite style bathroom which we share with two other TF's. i have to walk up about 150 stairs to get to the dorm but once you're there you have air conditioning which is nice! it rains here all the time so the hike up the hill is not always appreciated. we have a kitchen on our floor which is very nice (we have 2 on our floor actually)because i have been way too spoiled by my mother's cooking! i spend a good amount of my time in there...or doing dishes! we eat a lot. the other night i made a cookie cake for me, david, ashley (my roommate), our suitemates, david's roommate, and another TF. we had a blast hanging out and eating AGAIN!

> Teaching Fellows (TF): we are pretty much stuck with the fellow fellows for 4 years and we are constantly around each other in our education class, playing volleyball (our team is all TF freshman as of now), and at TF events which we have ALL the time. i have joined the service committee and the angel committee (provides a Christmas party for less fortunate families in the county). we are going to be assigned a pen pal soon in either middle or elementary school and are going to get to meet them soon hopefully! our director is amazing and has done an outstanding job helping with anything we need. she is a second mom to all of us and doubles as a miracle worker within the university. if we have any type of problem whatsoever, jan knows how to solve it! for homecoming all 4 grades of TF's are coming together to compete in a wide range of activities. i signed up to be in the kazoo band so that should be fun! we are also a part of a blood drive next week so i'm excited about that! it's pretty much non-stop around here but it is usually also very fun...

well...that's pretty much it for the first month here! miss and love you all!