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KT Tunstall Messed Me Up

Ben.

It seems that the last few days of finals are prompting all these blogs.

"All that Pandora crap has really been getting to me," my dear friend Ben says as he sighs, exasperated from listening to so much acoustic-heavy music over the past three days.

Oh, Ben.

As it rains outside, it rains inside for Ben.

But as we all try to suck it up and dig deep, finishing those final pages and sitting through our final exams, let's all try one thing:

not listening to KT Tunstall or Ingrid Michaelson. Starting now.*

Ben and I are both going away for an entire year, he to Rome and Beijing and I to Nantes. Instead of pulling away from our friends, we're trying to keep hold of the ones who matter, though, as Ben writes:

"When you have so much in your immediate future to look forward to, how should you feel, and how should you live in the immediate present?"

We're not quite sure how to put the bow and ribbon on this year. Is it as simple as saying goodbye for now and then coming back?

At least I know that I need a cup of coffee right now.

The other stuff I'll have to get to later.

Cut to Ben in his umbrella.

*No, that's not the title of one of her songs. Even though it is.

On the lake today--but not the beach.

Time for another angst-filled complainer blog about finals. No, no, no, I'm kidding!!

No but seriously.

I'm sitting in the IC* on the 3rd floor right now, trying desperately* to finish my LAST PAPER OF THE SEMESTER. You know that moment when you've written pages and pages, yet you just can't finish, and you keep scrolling up and down the screen and looking at what you have, as if to reassure yourself, "Wow, see? I've written lots!"

It's about that time.

And I couldn't help but add some pictures of my surroundings:

That's my face, Phantom-of-the-Opera style there.

Proof I'm here.

Or if you don't see all of my face, am I here? What does "am" even mean?

I digress.

Ok, more beautiful pics:

Aw, the lovely Information Commons.

Finally, LOOK at this view I have right now:

I kid you not.

Ok, now that I've procrastinated just a wee bit more than I ever thought possible, back to that last couple of pages of my sophomore year.

:D

*Should have been a "IC Chronicles Episode" blog, apparently.

*Ok, so that's a relative term. I've had an apple, chatted with a friend, read the news on the New York Times web page, looked over the novel...MUST WRITE.

Un verre du café...and certainly not decaf!

It's time for that blog where I complain about finals, right?

How about instead, I send this out into the universe: I'm soaking up some peace right now as that contemporary acoustic version of "Over the Rainbow" plays on the sound system here at Metropolis Coffee Shop. My lovely friend Halle is studying, I'm studying--but we're also just being kids.

What, what's this? Work? There ya go, Mom. Tuition dollars at work. $$$ = Posed picture of homework. Hmm.

As I get ready to leave Loyola for an entire year and travel overseas to France for my studies, I find myself really seeing just how much I have experienced in my two years here. More than clubs and organizations and classes, I feel like I am a completely different version of myself than the Julie who stepped foot on campus in August of 2006. Hopefully I got the upgrade software package. ;) This sophomore year has been full of twists and turns, certainly, but looking over the first half of my college experience, on the threshold of passing the half-way mark, I am definitely amazed to see how far I have come. This semester has flown by me.

I invite you to do a little introspection as well: if you're a prospective student, how do you see yourself after four years of high school? Who do you think you want to be in college? If you're a freshman, congratulations! You just survived your first year. Finally, upperclassman status, right? My fellow sophomores are doing some amazing things themselves--it's like this time of being totally lackadaisical has ended and we have to, wait, start thinking about grad school and MCATS and LSATS and WHAT? Juniors are almost seniors. Wow. Who will you be? What will your final year be like? What do you want from it? And seniors...all I can say is that Loyola would not be where it is today without your work, your dedication, and your unwavering commitment to this school. How will you take that into the next chapter of your life, wherever it leads you?

Now that I'm done playing Socrates with all the questions, I at least have one answer: Do I want another cup of coffee? Yes. And I'm going to keep on doing that, answering one question, and having one cup of coffee, at a time.

Snarfblatt

"SNARFFFFFF-BLATT!!!!!!!!!!"

This is what happens when you take a step back in time and study in Mertz West Lounge.

For those of you who don't remember, a Snarfblatt is the word for a pipe, used by Ariel in Disney's, "The Little Mermaid."

Says my friend, Kevin, who is diligently studying for his American Education final tomorrow morning. Observe:

Notice his glee, the starbucks coffee thermos, and the pan of chocolate cake.

Yes.

It's finals week.

So why am I blogging about snarfblatt?

I just felt myself gliding down memory lane as I went through my Medieval Culture notes this evening, letting the chatter of Kevin and Maddie and Rob float into my ears. The Little Mermaid was a beloved movie when I was four. And I didn't even know what "Medieval" was. Or even "culture," come to think of it.  I was pre-occupied with making a cinderella crown from aluminum.

I love how I can meet someone here at Loyola and instantly bond with him or her because of a shared childhood thing. Disney movies or pop rocks or macaroni jewelry. Lunchables or power rangers (I wanted to be the pink one) or Gushers/Fruit Roll-Ups or tamagachi pets or Spice Girls or Ferbie or those tennis shoes that lit up when you walked.

Instead of homework or school years or family stuff or friends, we can all always seem to relate to each other about something.

Hence:

Snarfblatt.

Oh, Kevin.

Procrasti-fantastic-nation

Today I accepted it.

I procrastinate.

Not the most original epiphany, I realize this. But as I blog from the Info Commons squashy-arm chair that could be holding me all night, with no real deadlines tomorrow and just some extra reading to do, I finally realized it. I've been here for an hour, and accomplished the eating of 1 ham sandwich, the processing of 1 red apple, and the analysis of 1 chocolate scone, all while watching an episode of Sex and the City on my laptop.

Can we say, "Julie-will-do-anything-to-not-worry-about-school" right about now?

Wouldn't we all like to avoid that? Wasting time and taking breaks and lolly gagging* around? Wouldn't we like to start sooner, be more efficient, sleep before 2:00am, eat better, work out 3-4 times a week, not waste those hours from about 3:00pm-7:00pm "eating dinner" and lounging out?

Or would we?

Isn't college exactly the magnificent time that it is because of what we do when we're procrastinating? Doesn't being with your friends when you know you should be doing something "productive" make that time with them all that much more exciting? And when did "productive" come to mean having our noses in books all the time? When we are with our friends, laughing, seeing concerts or plays, going out to dinner, even just watching T.V. or chatting, aren't we enriching our lives because those relationships we're strengthening make us who we are?

Or is this just my way of rationalizing my laziness?

I think not.

I think we're all doing pretty well: going to classes, working in preparation for finals, and studying our material are definitely activities that students are accomplishing. If we can just put things in perspective, and realize that those in-between hours are ok to use in being "un-productive," then maybe we'll all magically start being uber-productive. Right?

Or maybe I wrote this blog so I wouldn't have to start my French essay. :)

*lolly-gag: (v) - to goof, to waste time, to procrastinate, mostly said by un-cool people who are always on top of stuff: "Stop lolly-gagging and get off that nintendo! You have a UCWR paper to do!"

I Go Blind

"In the morning I get up...

and I try, to feel alive but I can't...

I don't know what it is, something in me, just won't give me a chance...(as Steph demonstrates from behind her book...pauvre, pauvre fille...)

I think it's that I feel...more confused by the deal...love has shown me...

What do you think that life is like?

Every time I look at you I go blind..."

Mmm, sing it Hootie.  Yes, you Blowfish join in, too.

There's something pretty spectacular about jamming out to my iTunes, intent on finishing an important research paper, but distracted by the Chicago sunset that's staring at me from outside the window on the 6th floor of the Water Tower library:

Breathtaking.

Not too shabby for a homework night.

Lately, it's not so much that I'm blinded by my homework or by the sheer volume of projects and presentations I have to finish this April--I "go blind" when I feel in awe of how much I am surrounded by, how much I have yet to do and see and experience.  In these next two weeks, as I am trodding my last steps around Loyola for what will be an entire year, looking at friends and professors with a fondness and a bittersweet sadness, I hope I will feel ready for the next part of my life. 

This is the part where Hootie sings, "Hold me, hold me, 'cuz I wanna go higher and hiiiiiiiigher..."

It's so true--I want to reach new heights within myself as I study abroad next year, do an internship this summer, even as I blog these words right now.  As sophomore year is wrapping up, and I'm looking around, nearly "blinded" by how much as happened in my life and with my friends, at home as well as at school, I am in awe.

Every time I look, it seems I go blind.  But no matter what happens now or in the future, I know that I'll do my best to be ready for it, and like Hootie:

I'll just keep singing along.

Another tear-jerker blog, I know. Just couldn't resist.

Barbaric Wasteland

"It's like a barbaric wasteland out there!"

sighs my friend, Jack, gazing out at the black abyss, where the horizon and the water are indistinguishable, and which is literally less than 20 feet from us.

We're sitting lakeside at the Info Commons, finishing up, cozy in some squashy armchairs, doing:

a GROUP PRESENTATION.

So, before I launch into another tirade about how much I am loathing school right now and all the papers and projects, let me take you by surprise: tonight it went amazingly well.

Once in a blue moon, one finds oneself paired with some pretty awesome classmates, who are amiable, enjoyable, and who really just want to get the work done.  Such was my luck this evening, and I am really feeling grateful for it.

I hope that as all of you, my fellow students, turn to face those dreaded clouds from which April's showers come, full of tests and anxiety and projects and collaboration, remind yourself that this could actually be fun.  And you might just meet a T.S. Eliot trapped inside a Jack Morrissey while working on your proposal for a Civic Engagement Project.

Ok, so you won't meet him exactly, but you get the point: open-mindedness can save the day. :D

Stu-die-ing

Dude.

It's that time of year.

That time when those of us who are trying so hard to push through these absurd research papers, final projects, and exams (not to mention group projects) are feeling the burn. 

I'm at the IC right now, and my French textbook has been chillin' on my lap for the past 23 minutes.*  I just can't will myself to care about Sartre right now, even though I know I should.

I'm stu-die-ing.

This was the other night. The book is freakin' UPSIDE down. Get it right man.

This is my stu-die-ing night.

The French man on the cover of my book is laughing at me.

AH!

Ok, back to trying to work.

Oy.

*Ok, maybe it's been like an hour, but 23 minutes is less embarrassing.

A Lisa Ling Thing

"I liked Rosie."

So said world-traveled journalist Lisa Ling in her opening remarks of a talk she gave last night at Galvin Auditorium, right here on Loyola's campus.  In reference to The View, a talk show that Ling appeared on for about 3 and a half years, Lisa mentioned that it was a "fun job," but that she had missed being in the field doing serious journalism.

"And, no, I've never been in any Charlie's Angels movies."

This got a laugh, lemme tell you. She's NOT Lucy Liu, she's Lisa Ling. Very different.

"Even though I'm Asian, I'm not good at math."

Oh, Lisa, you're so silly.

But the night was more than just Lisa's genuine good-humor.  Her talk delved into real politics, global issues, and emotional problems that all humanity shares.  A clip she showed from her work with National Geographic portrayed American parents at an orphanage in China, where they were meeting their newly adopted daughters for the very first time.

Another clip showed Lisa entering one of the United States' maximum security prisons, and talking with some men who had been convicted of the most heinous crimes imaginable. 

From the touching clip of the Chinese girls to the issue of brutality and violence in America itself, from a discussion on the role of news stations and their responsibility to commit to more serious journalism than the Anna Nicole Smith incident to a poem Ling had written about child-brides in 49 different countries, Ling's lecture was substantive, insightful, and inspiring. 

Ok, meeting someone who is on T.V. a LOT and who is considered somewhat of a celebrity was pretty awesome.  Note my facial expression in Figure 1.

Fig.1
Julie is shaking as she poses with Lisa. Love the necklace, Lis.

But more than that, Lisa's talk about the increasingly global environment and wireless world in which we exist  struck to my very core.  I have recently decided to spend next year abroad, in Nantes, France, and though I have been a bit overwhelmed by that decision to be out of the country for an entire year, Ling's talk put me back in the state of mind that I needed.  Her emphasis on getting to other countries, of learning about oneself through traveling and confronting what is someone else's reality, even if it is completely different from one's own life, was truly striking.

Thank you, Lisa, for your talk,* and please know that you made a difference, at least in the heart of one Loyola lady.

Aw. Brush that tear away, I know.

*As if Lisa will ever read this. Maybe. :) Let's cross our fingers.