Young Adult Literature

One of the things I love about being an English major is the fact that you get assigned good books to read as homework.  I have gotten to read Jane Eyre, Othello, and several others since coming to college.  These might not seem that exciting to you but trust me I was beyond happy to be reading instead of doing math equations.  This semester I am taking a class called Young Adult Literature.  It is exactly what it sounds like… we are reading books for young adults, and even a little younger than that.  So far we have read Because of Winn-Dixie (a classic in the making) and I am currently reading The Hobbit (the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy).  Soon, we will beginning Tom Sawyer.  How great is it that I am assigned to read books that I loved in elementary school? Meredith is great about having all sorts of options within your major and outside of it that are fun, interesting, and relevant.  Be sure to try out Young Adult Literature for your general education literature elective when you get to Meredith!

 

Wonderland Weekend

My weekend really started Thursday this week, not because I didn’t have class on Friday because I did at 9am, but because my best friend was here! I haven’t seen her since the beginning on December! She is a Meredith student BUT she is studying abroad this semester in England! Don’t worry she didn’t travel all the way here from England for a weekend, just from Colorado.  So Thursday, Kaylee got here in time for our weekly Intervarsity Large Group and that is actually where I first saw her! It was exciting! After large group, we all just went back to the apartment to hang out and catch up.  Friday was class and a meeting and errands before watching several episodes of Boy Meets World Season 3 and You’ve Got Mail! with a dinner of cook out! Kaylee is a bit of a hippie and this time she had beads in her hair. Well, every girl needs beads in her hair so now after Friday nigth, I have two braids with beads resting in my hair as well!

 

 

Saturday led us to the main event of the weekend and the reason Kaylee flew down to North Carolina from Colorado, Meredith’s production of Alice in Wonderland (see what I did with the title there?) So some people started lining up at 3pm on Saturday in the rain but as a group of ladies who don’t like the rain or sitting in a line for a long period of time, we headed over around 6:30 with doors opening at 7.  Alice was incredible! So if you are new around Meredith, or perhaps are just still considering good ole’ MC then you probably have no idea about Alice.  You see Alice is a production put on once every four years by the faculty of Meredith College for the students.  It follows the traditional story line pretty well but with Meredith themed jokes thrown in and a bit of a modern flair.  We celebrated Kaylee’s birthday after the performance with cupcakes and sparkling juice (she will be 21 in April) since she will be in England over her actual birthday and then my best friend headed out to her grandparents house to stay before leaving the next day.  Sunday was just a chill homework filled dayand a good rest before diving in to work this Monday.

 

 

I hope that you had a wonderland of a weekend as well! and make sure to mark your calendars for Alice in Wonderland 2016!

Black Outs

I was not sure what I was going to blog about tonight and then I signed onto wordpress and all of the blogs were “blacked out” with censorship bars over them. I had seen this earlier today when trying to google something and then was told to check out wikipedia which has a message about living in a world without free speech.  This might seem a little odd unless you have been following the news about SOPA and PIPA, “the ban on piracy” which seems to be more like the ban on free speech.  They would affect sites such as google, youtube, and facebook.  Three sites that as a college student, I use almost daily.  It results in punishment for using copyrighted material, which is a good thing right? except for it means if you make a video you can’t put it to music unless you own the song and you cannot record yourself singing someone else’s song.  Justin Bieber could have been arrested instead of becoming an overnight celebrity.  Are we protecting the things that need to be protected? Not if it means restricting the freedom of speech.  There is a petition on google and on this website to show the government that the people don’t want this.  I signed it, have you?

Winter Break is Over Already?

It’s January already? What? I have to start classes again? Well, while I am not thrilled to be waking up at 7:15 every morning, it is kind of nice to be back in the swing of things.  This semester should be much easier and fun than last semester.  I am taking a religion class called Sin, Satan, and Evil which might sound dark and dreary but has so far but extremely interesting.  I also am taking Young Adult Literature with one of my favorite professors, American Literature 2, and an education class: Inclusion and the Adolescent Learner.  After midterm, I will pick up fencing for my last p.e. class.  I would love another week to lay around and do nothing but read but I am pretty excited to be back at Meredith with my friends and to have a schedule again.  My roommate and best friend is spending the semester in Bath, England so we welcomed a new girl, Alex, into our apartment last week.  It’s been fun and exciting adjusting to each other and the spring semester.  My boyfriend also is not here this semester as he took a co-op job in Roanoke Rapids.  So with my best friend and boyfriend away from Raleigh, this will be a different and unique semester indeed. Different can definitely be good and I expect this semester to be one of the best.  It’s hard to believe there are only four more short months between me and my senior year here at Meredith.