Thanksgiving Break

I will post a blog about Field Trips pretty soon - it was completely and utterly awesome and I can't wait to show you pictures and tell you about it! But first. When we got home, we had a little more than an hour before we had Thanksgiving Dinner, and after that socializing happened and then almost everyone left the next morning. We are thirty-two people staying here, twelve of which are girls. Most, not all, of my people are currently scattered all over the States, and many of the faculty members are in hiding in their houses - pretending that the students aren't here. On Friday, when everyone still was here, my friend told me that bonding happens during Alternative Breaks, because everyone feels abandoned, which makes sense seeing as we only have three adults on duty. We are on weekend schedule, meaning we only get two meals a day, and when you're cheap and don't want to buy lots of extra food, that can make you kind of crazy, especially if you're hiding out in your room all day. I thought I could show my "schedule" for the past couple of days.

Alternative Thanksgiving Break Days: 

08:45 Wakes up... Hungry. Shoot, no food until ten! Waits impatiently while playing with iPhone.

09:55 Five minutes till brunch, I gotta run! Enters dining hall and, without the people I usually sit with, seats myself at the table with the view.

11:30 Whoops, brunch was over half an hour ago.. Should go and start the day in a productive way! ... Such as looking for all things "Humor" on Stumbleupon.

13:00 Should probably do something productive. Just five more minutes...

14:00 Hungry! Is it food time yet?

14:30 No? But I need food!

15:10 Almost two more hours - I can't.

15:45 FOOOOOOOOD

16:00 Only one hour left - I can do this!

16:05 Only... Wait. Only five minutes passed? This is not okay. I do not approve.

16:50 FOOD! Runs screaming to the Dining Hall.

17:00 Food actually happens!

19:00 Maybe I should leave the Dining Hall now and let the kitchen people go home, I mean, dinner kind of ended an hour ago... Kind of.

19:10 Goes back to room, and back on the computer. Tries to do something productive such as editing photos from Field Trip, ends up on Stumbleupon.

20:30 Tired - can check-in happen now? No? Guess I'll play with my computer for two more hours.

22:30 Check-in! What now? Bed? Yes! Sleep? No! iPhone? Yes. *grins*

23:00 Hungry.. Is it food yet? Eleven more hours... crap.

00:15 Falls asleep cradling my iPhone.


Okay, okay, so I might not be that bad. Just... Kind of close. Also, I just need to say that I am indeed very grateful for the meals we do get, I know not everyone is as fortunate.
Now I'm going to eat a Snickers bar, it's still eighty minutes till dinner happens.

Hungry lerve,

Ingrid

Taos, New Mexico

We're here! We had our first workday today, it was pretty cool. The work is kind of repetitive and strenuos, but I think it's pretty awesome to think that now I know how to build a wall out of dirt and old tires. I've also been thinking a bit about the implications of what we're doing... And now I want an earthship house when I get older. Now I kind of think this is what this school is about. I get to experience things I never would have otherwise. Anyway, photos. 

 

Crestone - mah Field Trip

At VVS there are these requirements you have to fulfill to graduate. We have to do CAS. We have to do school every day. We have to do sports. And we also have to do Field Trips. If you don't do Field Trips, you have to do service by yourself in the summer, because Field Trips are about many things, but for some, including myself, mostly about service. There are Field Trips going to L.A., Utah, Texas, Hopiland, all over California, but in my case, Crestone, Colorado. This is a tiny spiritual community in the mountains of Colorado, and I think it looks really beautiful there.

Photo by Bill Elzey. Image source 

When I come back, I will be able to show you my own photos, because I'm bringing my D-SLR. I'm not sure if this is the wisest the decision I've ever made, because it weighs a ton, but I think it will be worth it,  if I'm able to document that beautiful place in the high quality of my camera.

Before we go to Crestone, though, we will spend five days in Taos, New Mexico, where we will be working four full days helping build earthship homes. An eartship home is a concept that involves full sustainability, meaning that if you want to be off the grid, you can. Sounds like it would be useful when the Robapocalypse comes. Anyway, your home generates its own electricit (or at least it can) and a lot of these houses have a graywater system, where they use the same water for many different purposes. This is made possible by rinsing the water so that it can be reused, and thus, a lot of water is saved. The earthships are also made of interesting materials - they use car tires filled with sement to build the exterior, and they also have glass in the front for the greenhouse, wherever it is easiest for the sun to reach.

How cool is this? This is actually in Taos. Image source

As volunteers, our group will be a part of building an earthship house, but we don't really know yet whether we will be a part of the late or early part of the process. Personally, I hope we will get there at one of the early stages, because I think I prefer heavy manual labor over slow, detailed work such as painting. I like using my body and pushing myself to my limits, and this is part of why I enjoy service so much. I also think that service leads you to a lot of places that you never would have gone to otherwise. I, for one, can't believe that I get to work on an actual earthship home, something I've only read about previously.

After our stay in Taos, we go to Crestone, and here our trip will become more spiritually focused. We will visit a Buddhist ashram, and a Christian monastery, and we will also do some service work. We will try both yoga and aikido, which I'm really excited about. I don't know if this part of the trip will be as hard physically as our stay in Taos, but I think our stay in Crestone will be much harder emotionally and spiritually. I don't really consider myself a religious person, so it will be interesting to meet people who have devoted their whole lives to practicing their religion. Our leaders, and people who've previously been on this Field Trip, have said repeatedly that you get from it what you put into it, and I will do my very best to be respectful and open-minded, and hopefully, I will get a lot out of this. At the very least, I think it's going to be an interesting experience. I am definitely part of an interesting group, where a lot of the people are international, and it's going to be fun to see not only how we all interact with each other as a group but also how our beliefs will interact with each other in the face of new faiths that might be completely different from our own.

For the last part of the trip, we will do things that in my eyes require little effort but will produce a lot of enjoyment, such as hiking the Great Sand Dunes in Crestone (this is probably where I'll be the happiest that I brought my camera) and visit a Hot Spring Spa. Our very last day will be spent in Santa Fe, just wandering around the city, and I think that if there's ever a time our wallets will be emptied, this is it.

I am really looking forward to experiencing this adventure (also getting off campus for two weeks) and I believe I will learn a lot of things from it. And even though I get to shower and sleep in my bed, it'll probably feel awesome to get back home again.

Lerve,

Ingrid

Oh... Shoot

Suddenly a month passed without my posting anything on my blog. But this last month has been busy. So many awesome things have happened, as well as some... Less awesome. There is a lot of stress in the air right now, as we have our finals next week... Immediately after that, though, I will be part of a day-long pasture ride in Camp Verde, something I'm very excited about! A few days after that, we're going on field trips! I will write a separate post about that (for CAS), so you'll get to know more about that, no worries. When we get back from that, there's a field trip presentation, and Thanksgiving Dinner, before most people leave for Thanksgiving Break. I will be staying on campus, along with about 30 other people. Although it would have been great to see a different part of either Arizona or the States, I am looking forward to just chilling out for a week, not doing homework or anything. It's kind of funny, I've heard people saying November is the hardest month when you're in the IB, but at VVS this certainly isn't true, academically at least. Physically, mentally and spiritually, this will  probably be a challenging, but also maturing experience. I can't wait!

Since I've barely given you a sign of life from me, I thought I could show you more of the last month. It's gotten colder, and now it's almost freezing in the nighttime. Feels like home! 

In the past month...

I received a care package (or two).

      We went here. Multiple times.

       

     I've had my desk all clean.. Once.

Haiku has been very photogenic. 

     

    We went to Napoleon and saw the whole campus from a different angle.

    I have rediscovered the beauty of this place. At least once every day.

    I dressed in the colors of some university for Parents' Weekend.

    I went and sneakily took a photo of the barn during the fundraiser that was here.

    I went to Walmart and bought tons of stuff for not a ton of money.

   I lost my phone under my bed again, and then I got help and then this happened.

    We studied algae cells in Biology.

   I've done homework here. Because I can. Look how pretty. 

    We've gone on rides to Red Rock State Park. We also did a moonlight ride but I have no photos of that.

    Roses happened.

    We went to Monkeyface and this was the view. I just love this place.  

    One of my best friends shaved my head.

    I bought scrubs for Halloween.

    We went to Cathedral again.

Snapshots

There are so many things I want to tell you, but never is there ever any time. Right now I'm about to start a 1500-word essay about the role of gender in "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, which by the way is a most brilliant book. I'm also trying to learn a song written by two of my classmates for the fifteen-minute musical we're performing tomorrow.

Yes! That's right! We're performing a fifteen-minute musical tomorrow! We made the songs and wrote the book (where everything comes together, includes lines and stage directions and when we're supposed to sing and such) with help from some of our teachers, along with the instructor, who came all the way from New York and does this for a living. - Oh, there was a spider in my room, possibly a brown recluse, and I had to take a quick break from writing to remove it. No worries though, I had a cup and it didn't bite me. - So that's going to be awesome! I'm singing that one song (in addition to the two group numbers) and then I'm responsible for props. There isn't that much stuff I need to find, though, so it's okay. Anyway, because of this all of our theatre periods the past week were free periods, so it's been pretty awesome. On Thursday, for instance, I only had half an hour of school. It was great, and probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience...

Tomorrow is going to be super busy, though, because in addition to theatre rehearsal, I have homework (as always), I'm gonna have a "photoshoot" with one of the riding instructors because she's selling two of her horses, and I'll help out in the kitchen a little bit.. I love my life. I actually do, but it's incredibly busy. There isn't usually time to just breathe and relax, so i'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving Break (which is seven weeks away). Speaking of which, we're at the midpoint of this trimester! A sixth of this year has passed, which means a twelfth of my VVS experience. Woah. Just. Stop. Slow down. This is not okay. Time passes too quickly here. That's not going to be a happening anymore, I'm gonna make it a non-happening. Yes, that's what I'll do. But now I need to get started on my essay and learn my song. (At the same time, while I'm doing a handstand on the slack line. Just kidding.)

I love Saturday nights.

Photos, though. There are a lot. Oops.

Cookie (the horse I ride here) doing derp. 

So many spiders here! I think this one is a wolfspider. I think, don't hold me to it.

Sears North Common Room. It's so cosy. 

We went thriftshopping last weekend and found this. 

Yes, that is a baby rattlesnake. It was awesome. 

That is 3.78 liters. I love 'Merica. 

My awesome RA let me borrow this and now I'm reading Hafiz. 

Oak Creek. 

So we've ridden here a few times and each time I'm in awe of the beauty of this place. 

So sometimes my room gets kind of messy. Angelface. 

And sometimes I have a lot of stuff to do. This was a Friday. 

I really like our Dining Hall, it's really spacious but also cozy. There are noisy fans in the ceiling, though, but now I almost don't notice them anymore. 

Spanish class. I don't think I need to say anything else. 

So my friend has a lot of Arizona Tea. And Peace Tea. And Kool-aid. 

So sometimes my closet..

my whole room is clean. Sometimes. 

 

So we have an apple tree. And a pomegranate tree. 

Dining hall. Did I mention how cool it is? 

Skyping with my friend. He doesn't really look like himself, there. 

My English teacher's dog. They're both awesome. 

I made tea in the microwave.

We have the coolest bugs here! 

There are two musical groups. This is the other, and their musical is about the compost at the school. I'm not joking. 

I painted my first watercolor ever. This is the part that I'm somewhat happy with.

 Btw, I don't like the weekend because there are only two meals, brunch and dinner, and now it's almost 9pm and I'm hungry again. Meh. I do like weekends, though, kind of. 

Masse love, 

Ingrid

There should be a title here somewhere

(This is kind of way personal but I decided to go ahead and post it anyway. Stupid me. I'll probably regret it later.)

When it comes to school and education and life choices, there are a few things I regret. I regret not knowing about the proposal of moving me up a grade, so that I could have contributed to making that happen. It didn’t. I regret writing a crappy application to United World College. I didn’t get in. I regret not accepting the interview from Think Global School (although I had my reasons, which were personal and stuff). It looks like a fantastic school, and I'm not there when I maybe could have been. I regret not looking at more schools that were in a part of the world more different from Norway than USA. I regret, I regret, I regret. I regret.

But.

The people I’ve met here. The things we do here. The opportunities I have here. The experiences. The moments. The people.

And I realize that my shallow yearning for something different, something I might imagine to be better than this, is purely something I use as an excuse. To create a world where it’s okay for me not to be satisfied. Where it’s okay for me not to be grateful.

It’s not. Really. I’m not saying that I can’t be angry or sad or depressed or anything, or have a bad day (or a bad week), but in the real world, this is an amazing place. A place where I have people (that a month ago were mere strangers) who care about me, and whom I care about. A place where no one is “normal”, so we all are. We’re all weird and slightly disturbed and loving. We’re all living in the same community. In the same place.

A place that gradually has become home. 

Woah.

Time passes quickly here! I'm supposed to be doing homework right now... But here are some photos from the last few weeks. They're taken with my cell phone, so sorry for the crappy quality. By the way, there are quite a few bugs here, and a few days ago I saw a rattlesnake. But I didn't take a photo, I was busy backing away without freaking out.

Grilled cheese from In'n'Out Burger. It's actually kind of delicious (and gross but careface).

Our library is awesome with awesome posters and stuff.

Overview of campus. Beautiful? Yes! 

Tarantulaaa. They're actually pretty nice.

Praying mantis in dormparents' house. I always thought they were dangerous but apparently they're not.

This post was supposed to be published on the 16. It wasn't. Heh. 

Lerve, 

Ingrid