Back Home in Akin Hall

Happy Martin Luther King Day! People are slowly trickling back into the residence halls after our month-long winter break. I arrived on campus last night, and I am so thrilled to be back. The best part of the last twenty-four hours has been getting to see my two friends who were abroad last term. Sarah was in Osaka, Japan, and Sam was in Moscow, Russia. Together we went out to Chipotle and Voodoo Doughnut downtown and had a long and much-needed conversation. It was wonderful to reconnect after not seeing each other since May. Sam showed us a really cool video of her theatre group in Russia doing a production of The Lion King. There were no words, only bodies in motion. There was a lot of partner acrobatics and movement based in yoga, which I found really cool. Sam even offered to teach me some of the routine! I’ve done a lot of yoga, but never partner yoga, and never to epic music! Of course, that’s only if we can find time in our schedules this semester. She’s a theatre major and a senior, so she’s going to be doing her thesis. I’ll be pretty busy with my classes too, but I’m so excited for them to start.
                      
First, I am continuing on into my second semester of Japanese. Then, I have two English classes. One is the second half of the sophomore survey class for English majors. We will just pick up where we left off in December – which, as I recall, is somewhere in the 1800s. The other class is Literature of the English Renaissance. I really loved that time period when we touched upon it in the fall survey, so I wanted to take an upper-division class more focused on it. We’ll be reading everything from the era of Shakespeare except for Shakespeare (because he gets a course to himself!). Finally, I’m taking a 400-level education course. I've already had to do some background reading on the history of educational reform in America to prepare for class, and it was very interesting. I can't wait to learn more.

My friends and I are taking the bus downtown to see the newest Hobbit movie tonight, so I’ve got to go now. Hope you all had spectacular winter vacations, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu!

Until next time,

Jess


P.S. Here are some photos from over break, when I went home to California!


Had a little LC student reunion with my friends Charlie and Minoru when they stopped by on their way to Lake Tahoe.


Other highlights of my break include spending plenty of time with my family.



And skiing.


And In-N-Out Burger, of course.