January 26th, 2015

I’m still shell-shocked from enduring the first week of classes, and the second week is already under way. For some reason, transitioning back to school has been a little harder this semester than usual, but I’m doing better now that the first few days are behind me. It’s just hard to juggle schoolwork and applying to study abroad and finding a place to live next fall while also dealing with the excitement of seeing everybody again – whether I haven’t seen them in one month or in eight. It's so good to be back though. I truly love my residence hall! We’re just a big family.

A few things we’ve done together since we’ve all been back:


Had a “cuddle-puddle” in the lounge. This became normal during the stress of finals last term. Shortbread and cookies made from chocolate cake batter were involved. The caption refers to Akin, the name of the residence hall. 



Took a trip downtown to eat pad Thai at the food carts and go to Salt N Straw ice cream in the Pearl District. My friend Sarah’s friend Salim was visiting from Belgium, so he got to come and experience Portland with us! It’s his first time in America.

Several of us played Ninja over the weekend. This fantastic event is sort of like capture the flag, but is so much more than that. It begins at 12am and involves running around campus wearing all black and carrying foam swords. No pictures available. Ninjas cannot be caught on camera.




Watched Rurouni Kenshin: a live-action adaptation of an anime. It was in Japanese, of course, with English subtitles. I think I caught like four words I knew in Japanese. The fighting was awesome – we were all screaming at the television in excitement! What’s even better… it’s the first movie in a trilogy. I know what we’re doing for study breaks next weekend.

As for my schoolwork, there hasn't been a crazy amount yet, but it’ll get there. Right now my time is devoted to reading the poetry of Wordsworth, as well as More’s Utopia. Plus, there's a lot of studying Japanese and thinking about current issues in American education. Extracurriculars are starting up now too. This week, I’ll be starting to attend sessions at the on-campus yoga club again. I’m also getting ready to continue the volunteer position I had last semester in the kindergarten classroom. Finally, I’m taking a 2-credit class in the theatre department that involves building the set and constructing the costumes for the production this spring (a play called Exit the King), so work will start for that soon. Plus, I’ve got to keep blogging! And sleeping. Maybe I’ll have time for that at some point, but not in the foreseeable future.

If you have any questions about whether Lewis and Clark might be a good fit for you, contact me at jessicakostka@lclark.edu. I’m happy to answer any and all questions. Have you all heard back about your admissions decisions by now? Hope it was good news!

Jess