Distraction from Finals...aka

THE CHRISTMAS SURVEY

I've been tagged! Here it is, thanks for the break from studying!



1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Hot Chocolate! Especially with honey, vanilla and cinnamon, it's the perfect drink to curl up with a good book and a blanket in front of the fire!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
They are always wrapped, and there's usually at least one in a trashbag with a big bow on it.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?
I don't remember anything other than colored lights. The tree lights used to twinkle but they don't anymore.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, but we do hang christmas cards.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
They're spread out over the whole month. One weekend it's the lights and the garlands, then the stockings and the nativity scenes, the wreaths and special figurines. The tree is always last.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Borscht. I used to hate it but now I look forward to it every year.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
One night I had a bad dream so I went downstairs and I sat under the christmas tree. We always leave it lit up at night and sitting underneath it with all the ornaments we had made, all the memories and the soft lights, you could feel the joy radiating from the tree. It made me feel better, and I went back to bed with a smile on my face.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
One of my friends told me, and after that I realized she was right.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
No, we used to when we were little.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree
Lights, ornaments, garlands, Candy canes, icicles and the topper, which sometimes is broken.

11. Snow? Love it or Dread it?
Love love love love!

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes. Also love that.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
That's a toughy. I don't really have a favorite because they all end up coming in handy. One that sticks out in my mind was when Mom gave me and Mary each a set of three books. Mary wasn't happy at all, so I got to read them instead!

14. What's the most exciting thing about the Holidays for you?
Going home and seeing my whole family! Snowboarding!

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Fudge, ribbon candy, peanut butter kisses cookies, gingerbread

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The Polish Christmas Eve Dinner, Vigilia.

17. What tops your tree?
An angel. Unless she broke again... (?) Sometimes our tree is too tall to have an actual topper.

18. Which do you prefer - giving or receiving?
Giving, I always feel good when someone takes pleasure in something that I thought they would.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
The little Christmas Tree song that my sisters sing, O Holy Night.

20. Candy canes?
Yes!

Reflections over the semester.

My apologies for not posting in awhile, Latin is proving a bit of a challenge recently and Philosophy isn't much better.

Speaking of which, I have a major test tomorrow in Latin, kind of like an exam but - well, not. Please keep me in your prayers tomorrow afternoon.

We had our last Philosophy class today, our last Lab class tomorrow and our last Theology and Math classes on Thursday. It's all winding down to a close.

I can't believe I've only been out here for a few months. I've learned so much about...alot of stuff, especially Aristotle and the ancients. It's amazing the things they've come up with without modern technology or computers. You're so taken in by their arguments that even I thought that the stomach was something different than it actually is. whew.

I feel closer to God and I'm more secure in my religion, especially how it fits into my life as a whole instead of parts of it. I feel like I've aged considerably, but I've only been here for four months. The breakthroughs come every day, and there's always a Eureka! moment somewhere. It makes learning extremely enjoyable.

I had a talk with Kaitlin last night, about what we were doing here, and we both agreed that it was the best place for us to be. We truly belong here. Furthermore, we belong here, together. We played such an important role in each other's lives two summers ago, our influence survived senior year of high school. We're still going strong. You may send our anniversary gifts via FedEx, "To Kaitlin and Katy, celebrating four months of bliss."

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers, I love you, and I can't wait to see you in two weeks.

xoxoxo

Happiness

I got my Seminar paper back and I got a "B" for my argument and a "B" for the composition of the paper. Thanks so much for all the prayers, I'm really happy! On top of that, my Kris Kringle left roses in my room, hurray! Traveling north tomorrow for Thanksgiving, happy Turkey Day all, see you soon.

Love,
Kt

Here Comes the Shrew

I'm Katharina,

Extremely nervous and somewhat psyched out of my mind.

Doubts are everywhere.

whoa.

Pacing the boards

I'm out of minutes on my cell and my phone card went kaput, so this is it.

I don't know yet what the cast is, here's the rundown of what happened.

I was put in a scene where I played a servant and I did ok, not too well though I kind of rushed my lines. Then they put me in the Katharina/Petruchio scene with Dennis (my mentor)and we made it physical and it went really well. After that I did a Katharina/Bianca scene with Daina, a sophomore who lives across the hall. She was amazing and I felt really inferior and really bad about my performance. I did the Katharina/Petruchio scene again, this time with another freshman who basically upstaged both of us the whole time and freaked me out. Katharina became a scared puppy in that scene. They told me to underplay the physical bit anyways. After that I played another Katharina/Petruchio, this time with Pat who's a sophomore. It was a kissing scene, the one at the end...AWKWARD! I had no idea if I was going to kiss him on the cheek or not, so it became a corner. Ergh.

Yesterday they had more callbacks and last night Dennis told me he was called back for today so we aren't going to know for awhile. What scares me is they've only had me read Katharina so if I didn't nail it, they haven't seen me do anything else. I'm freaked out and stressed right now about it. It feels familiar.

I'm going to put more minutes on my phone sometime today, and here's a picture of my hair, last weekend. It's faded a bit and more back to normal, there's still some red though.


Tomorrow night, Jofus is taking a bunch of us up to the punchbowls and we're sleeping out, fun fun fun! Can't wait. I love you all, thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Break a leg?

I was called back for my audition for "the taming of the shrew" today and after 4 hours of grueling scene work, I'm spending this evening at a bonfire that jofus is building down at the 3rd pond! Everyone's prayers were greatly appreciated, thank you so much for your kind thoughts!

Pictures...again....and some news?

Ok, more pictures here we go:

Jofus and Lauren, Jofus' hair is much shorter now but I can't sneak up on him with a camera anymore, becuase he knows me too well. Its really nice that he's here, he's like my brother!



This is Danniel, it's really dark here so you can't see very well, but she keeps me strong in my faith and when I get turned around about what I actually believe in, she's there to straighten me out. She's in my section and seminar and my dorm, so we've gotten quite close.



This is Deneys, he's really great to talk to about life in general, keeping things in perspective, plus he's funny!



Lauren with Billy, this picture isn't posed at all! (j/k) Billy went to William and Mary for a year before coming out here, he's in my section, he likes musicals and he's wicked smart!



So those are the pictures for now, I spent this weekend in San Fransisco at the Bluegrass Festival. The great thing about it was that I got to know alot of people from school that I otherwise wouldn't have. It was alot like Manitou, lotta weed, lotta hippies, kind of like coming home.
I have Don Rags on Thursday the 19th, 1:30 my time, prayers are greatly appreciated!

*drumroll* PICTURES!

At the urging of family and friends, here are some pictures of the people who put up with me.


My roommate Kaitlin who's from Iowa, and moi.


These are the girls we hang out with alot, our "regulars," Mary-Rose and Lauren.



Jimmy and Sam who take us surfing on the weekends.




Andy who is in D.C. at CUA, and Zach, a fellow surfing student



Jack, Mary-Rose and Isaac looking very Hawaaian at a Greek Themed Dance



Paul and Matt, dashing as usual...


I have more, but my time is up, I hope these suffice for now.