So
much has been happening both on- and off- campus in the last few days, and it
will continue to happen for (probably) the rest of term. November is always an
exciting month. Firstly, Halloween!! Naturally, everyone was stoked that
Halloween fell on a Friday this year. I had a pretty great evening. First, I
organized a little costume procession in the lounge of my residence hall
because I wanted to get all my friends in one place to see everyone’s costumes
and take pictures. If any of you are Doctor Who fans, you’ll probably get a
kick out of my costume. I was Professor River Song. And, totally independently
of my decision to be River, someone in my dorm dressed up as the Eleventh
Doctor! So we were both pretty excited about that.
There
was also a Fire Arts show, which was Halloween themed. It was totally awesome
to see zombies and other monsters spinning fire against the night sky to eerie
music like Florence and the Machine and that spooky scary skeletons song. It
was super intense. Luckily, only two people caught on fire. I have now decided
to join the club and become a fire spinner. Maybe. If I’m brave enough.
My friends!
The
rest of the weekend I spent with my Mom. It was Parent’s Weekend, so she
definitely wasn’t the only parent on campus. It’s always a little weird to have
all these older people in the dining hall. Anyway, my mom and I had a really chill
weekend. We went to Salt N Straw ice cream in Northwest Portland, which was
definitely a highlight. The strangest thing I tried was Salted Caramel Turkey
ice cream. It had little flecks of crispy caramelized turkey skin and the base
was made with turkey fat. It sounded disgusting, so of course, I had to try it,
and of course, it was delicious. But I didn’t think I could finish a whole
scoop of it, so I went for the Olive Oil instead. Mmmmmm. Salt N Straw is the
best. My mom got the Spiced Chevre Pumpkin Pie. I tried that one too, but it
was a little too cheesy to justify getting a whole scoop of it. If any of you
are in Portland ever, GET ICE CREAM THERE.
I
also finished my paper on compassion and narcissism in the title character of King Lear. And I had a Japanese exam
Monday. I actually felt incredibly good about the speaking portion. My partner
was great, and afterwards our professor said our conversation sounded really
natural. But I definitely bombed the listening portion. The speakers talked so
fast I could barely catch anything. And then later this week, registration for
next term starts. Yikes. I mentioned this earlier, but I am signing up for two
English classes for my major, plus Japanese, and I think the last slot will be
another Education class. I have been really excited about what I’m learning in
my current Education class, and I really want to continue those discussions
into another semester. Maybe this class shouldn’t be making me feel like
teaching is the profession for me (because most of what we do is highlight all
the problems in the education system teachers and students face), but it is. I
just feel so passionate about education, and teaching is the only thing I can
picture myself doing right now. Maybe it’s because it runs in my blood (both my
grandparents were elementary school teachers and my mom homeschooled my brother
and me), maybe it’s because I have a masochistic streak when it comes to
choosing my workload, maybe it’s just because I have never been outside the
education system and so can’t really fathom what leaving would be like.
Regardless, it’s something to consider when people ask me what I'm going to do when I graduate.
Anyway,
enough about my future. It’s a big part of college, but you shouldn't let it
consume your life or anything. (annnnd maybe I
should follow my own advice here…). Anyway, after that, the Ray Warren Symposium
starts (which is going to be amazing because it's about beauty and aesthetics and race), and then it’s the Fall musical on-campus (Spring Awakening), then Fall Ball,
and then a bunch of movies I am dying to see are coming out – The Imitation
Game, The Theory of Everything, and a special screening of the play Frankenstein
starring Benedict Cumberbatch – and then it’s Thanksgiving break, and then it’s
finals… Wow.
Well, the people I'm hanging out with right now are discussing the voting results, so time to stop blogging and jump into that. Any
questions? Email me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu.
Jess