Scouts Honor

Today I (almost) single-handedly conviced 6 6th grade girl scouts to come to Baylor. The campus wasn't giving official tours today due to an on campus marathon event, and a nice troop of Dallas girl scouts were having an exciting excursion to Waco's must see venues, such as the Dr. Pepper museum and Baylor University. The leader of the troop is an ADPi alumnae from Baylor, and called our chapter advisor to see if any current members would be willing to give a tour. Since Laura and I work in the admissions department and are now walking Baylor fact spouters, we decided to go ahead and give the tour. It was a beautiful slightly chilly day and let me tell you, by the end of our amazing tour, those girls were like, 'I can't wait until I'm a bear!" We had them stand on the seal in Founder's Mall and listen to their echos, they walked through the practice rooms, the science fountain, the SLC swimming pool, the library garden. My favorite moment of the tour was in the BSB in front of Java City when one girl asked me: "Do you have to like coffee to come to Baylor?" erm, no. But she'll soon find out it makes hangouts, study groups, and dates a whole lot easier if you're down with the Common Grounds. It was very refreshing to walk around campus for the sake of walking around campus on such a beautiful day. As I described the different buildings to the girl scouts I had flashes of various memories made in the same buildings. It made me realize my time here at Baylor has been quite extensive, action packed, and looking at those buildings, I realized I'm leaving a solid footprint on Baylor's paths.

This past week was long and hard. It rained a lot as well, and since George (my car) has a nice wide hole in the soft top (due to a vandalism incident a while back) I left him in the parking garage for the majority of the week. My kind roommate was nice enough to drive a crazed me to work on Wednesday, during the heaviest downpour (thanks again, Jessie!). This next week is also going to be intense. I leave for New York City next Saturday. I have a lot to accomplish until then- I must get homework done ahead of time for the week I'm gone, I need to finish researching my topics extensively, and plan outfits/pack for the trip. These things are all doable. Along with getting to be in NYC for an international Model UN conference, I'm also way looking forward to visiting the MOMA and MET and hopefully finding some good knock off deals on the sketchy streets of Chinatown.

I've been pondering the verses of Matthew 4 all week long.

The spring weather makes me think of sailboats.

Crayonberries

A random facts '25 things about me' craze has engulfed Facebook. Now, I'm very stubborn and tend to go against the grain on these matters, but I also am not sure I have 25 things about me that are deemed cool enough for the facebook crowd. I keep thinking of random facts and wondering, 'would I tell the world that fact?' Its interesting really. It takes a lot of courage to publish all those thoughts about yourself and trust mere acquaintances to read them.

My not so 25 things about me:
-I read the first half of a book. then I read the ending. then I go back and fill in the rest. please don't scoff at this.
-I had a slight breakdown about my future prospects today. I've had quite a few rejection letters lately (internships, scholarships, etc...)
-I really hope this trend doesn't continue into law school admissions letters.
-this is why I'm devoting my summer to LSAT, Ukraine, learning Russian for real,and community service- all for the sake of enjoyment.
-I like blackberries. The poignant burst of bittersweet is more than a bitesized fruit should be allowed to have. There is a certain simple joy in eating blackberries.
-I name most inanimate objects. They are all boys.
-I spent most of the semester being a blue crayon. For those of you not familiar with Baylor's All University SING, I'd be honored if you checked it out here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_wcG1Mlsmg

Cranberry Orange tea is the phantom tea of goodness. Or was the phantom tea. After months of searching for the best tea I've ever tasted (after discovering it in Oxford), I found it in an organic foods store in Flagstaff. The funny thing? I finally find the perfect tea right as summer rapidly approaches and optimal tea drinking time is on its way out. Why not enhance the heat by drinking hot tea? I say go ahead and drink. see what happens. Crayonberry tea, to be exact.

My last visit here left me nostalgic for European trains in Waco, serving free diet coke and biscuits. It also left me nostalgic for the summer that had just passed, the beauty of the British Isles, and the attitude of empowerment I secured while in Oxford. That feeling made it across the Atlantic and I've been carrying it around with me for most of the year, though I'm currently having some difficulties remembering where I misplaced it. The summer months are again fastly approaching, and though the calendar doesn't have a month marked out for study abroad (oh how I wish it would) it is nevertheless full of refreshment and great potential.

Why have I returned to this online portal? A few weeks ago a guest speaker visited my international law class. He is a young man, mid 20s, and has heavily been involved in high profile NGOs such as Invisible Children and Tom's shoes. After traveling throughout war torn Congo he created his own non profit, known as Falling Whistles. He was extremely engaging, extremely challenging, and managed to explain the conflict in Congo in such a helpful way as countless articles never have before. He also berrated my generation for being careless. Where is the passion? Where are the online blogs? Where are the questions? HOW are we letting such human rights abuses happen without any sign of uproar? Where, WHERE are the protests? I left class conviced, a little shocked, and passionate. After a brief stint with 30 degree meetings at the local hippie/chic coffeeshop for Baylor's own Falling Whistles chapter, I ackowledged the grassroots life isn't for me.

But, the idea of returning to this blog stuck around. So here I am again.

Ultimately, I've decided its time to once again be passionate out loud. With any luck my quest will have an outcome similar to that of the cranberry orange tea.


Or, I could always become a blackberry harvester. mmmhhmmmm.