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

Blurgh

Because I have a school email through google, and I blog through google blogger with a different email, I can't be on both and that sucks because I need my school email. Then I don't blog and that sucks.
I also have a lot of homework but I don't have any pictures. I gotta do homework. Or sleep. Either one. Other than that, life here is pretty great.