Sign Language

So this semester I am taking CSD 218 which is American Sign Language. It is not a required class for any major (elective for a few majors or minors) so it is all people who actually want to be in the class.  While most are Education or Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) majors, there are a few of us who aren't and are taking it for fun.

I have CSD right in the middle of the day on MWF and I always leave it in a good mood.  No matter how stressed and freaked out I am when I get into class, I always end up laughing and leave with a smile on my face.  I'm not sure why but I'm sure that is a good thing.  It also breaks up the day nicely so I don't have all ME classes.

Since the class started, we have learned the basics such as our ABCs and numbers, moved onto names/asking some questions like "What is your name?"  This week we have done a few more questions and phrases/words like "Are you a hearing person, deaf person, or hard or hearing person?" and "What are your mother, father, sister, and brother's names?"  Today we learned "Where are you from?" and how to sign the States and some cities that we are from.  It is interesting because some cities/states have name signs but others are finger spelled either the entire name or the abbreviation.

Week 1 and Weekend

The first week of classes was crazy busy.  I'm hoping it life will slow down a bit once I adjust to being back at school.

I am definitely having a hard time re-adjusting to classes during the day and meetings at night.  8 months of work ending at 5 and having the rest of the night to do whatever I want makes it hard to get used to this.

My Mondays and Tuesdays don't make it any easier because I go basically straight through from 8 or 9 to 5:30 or 6:30 because of class and TAing EDSGN.  WRF are a little better and will be nice relaxation times before night time meetings. 

This weekend way pretty crazy.  Hurricane Irene was coming up the coast and predicted to hit Jersey/NY pretty hard.  I was supposed to leave PSU at 4, change planes in Philly, and land in Syracuse at around 8:30.  I get to the airport at around 3:30 and find out that our flight is delayed 45 mins.  Fortunately I had a 2hr layover and my second flight was delayed.  So I land in Philly and grab some dinner, find an outlet, and do some homework.  At about 7, I head over to the gate where my flight is scheduled to leave at 7:47.  At about 7:15 the reception person announces that one of the flight attendants hasn't arrived yet and they don't know where she is but will update us when they know.  About 5 mins later I get a call from my mom and just as she is telling me my flight is cancelled, the receptionist announces that our flight is cancelled because the flight attendant isn't going to make it in.  Fortunately for me, Philly airport is only 40 minutes from home so mom came and got me and we drove up to Syracuse together Saturday morning.

The showers weren't bad but I didn't really know anyone except my cousins.

Today, my mom drove me back to school.  We knew before I got on the plane on Friday that my return flights were cancelled in anticipation of the storm.  It was raining pretty hard when we left Syracuse but about halfway through the trip it was bright, sunny, blue skies.  The storm didn't seem to hit anywhere as hard as they expected.  I don't even think our basement at home really flooded which is amazing!

2nd week of classes starts tomorrow.  Hopefully it is less hectic than last week.  We shall see...

First Day of Fall 2011 Semester

Somehow I made it through the first day of "senior" year.  Yes, I am finally kind of admitting that I am a senior. 

My morning started off bright and early with Machine Design (ME 360).  We discovered that the class is basically everyone who started in 2008 but went on co-op at some point between then and now.  Kind of sucks that it's an 8am but what can you do...

After that was IE 312 lab.  Basically today we just saw a tiny part of the lab.  This class could be annoying for not other reason than we have to wear boots and jeans to every lab and because I have it between two other classes, I'll be wearing them all day.  Once it gets colder though I'm sure I won't mind much.

Since it's "Syllabus week," classes like IE lab were short so I had some time to spare between them so I hung out in the HUB for a few hours and did the crossword puzzle.  I then went to Sign Language (CSD 218) and found out that one of my SRCC friends is in it.  I'm super excited.  The professor started off the class by signing her introduction and not talking or mouthing the words and then kinda laughed at us because we all had blank stares on our faces.  She then finished the class talking and told us she would do that same introduction again at the end of the semester but we would be able to understand it.

After CSD, I went to Reber to get some forms to get my degree audit up to date.  I had more time to spare so I just hung out in the ME lab with my friend Meghan.  At 2:30 was Heat Transfer and we learned the 3 types of HT - it reminded me of a conversation I had with NASA friends at Wild West one night.

I got a little break and go to go back to my apartment between 410 and the EDSGN class I TA.  I actually learned some HTML and refreshed myself on Solidworks during EDSGN even though I'm not actually taking the class.

After I finally got back to my apt at 7, I went for a run and have just been relaxing all night.  Mondays are definitely going to be my long and exhausting days.

On to day 2...

WEPO 2011

I’m not sure words can describe how absolutely amazing this year’s WEPO was.  From the girls to the leadership team, the old sessions and new, and everything in between everything was awesome.  

All summer, my girls were really easy to communicate with.  If I called them and left messages, they would call me back.  They would respond to e-mails and if they hadn’t responded in a week, they would apologize for being late with their response.  I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome team.

Tuesday was the leadership team meeting.  After the meeting, Brandi, Ashley, and I met up with a few of our girls at Dunkin Donuts.  They were all really excited for WEPO to start.

Wednesday WEPO officially began.  We were Team E and our color was Aqua.  We had all sorts of goodies for them from buckets with their names on them to tye-died leis to friendship bracelets.  We were also the first team to have all of our girls there so we were the first to lunch.  After lunch, we did some ice breakers and celebrated one of the girl’s birthday with *ndulge cupcakes. We then went up to NLI for the Air Products teambuilding session where they are split up into different groups and make balloon towers.  We, the leadership team, were actually allowed to participate by blowing up balloons this year.  After teambuilding was the picnic at Spring Creek Park.  Since my first WEPO (2008), my friend Amanda and I have signed the bridge and wrote the slogan from WEPO on a bridge at the park.  It was something she started at MTM camp and we continued in WEPO.  Since she is graduating in May, this was her last WEPO so we decided to show Cheryl (the woman in charge of WEPO) what we had been doing and had her sign the bridge with us.  She thought it was wonderful and was very happy we shared it with her.  After dinner, we went and played Broomball.  I couldn’t actually play but everyone seemed to have a good time.  They learned some of the PSU songs we sing at games.  At one point, Cupid Shuffle started playing and everyone on the ice was dancing to it.

                       

2011 Bridge Signing

WEPO 2011 Team E with our aqua leis and capes doing the "Cheryl" pose

Cupid Shuffle during broomball

Cupid Shuffle During Broomball

 

              

Thursday is the long day of WEPO.  Breakfast is at 7am and we’re not done for the night until after 11pm.  This year things were changed up a little due to different sessions and times of activities.  Instead of having group picture immediately after breakfast, we went to our first session.  For my team, this was the Wellness Strategies session (formerly the scavenger hunt).  The girls learned about time management and how to be well and eat healthy.  We then went on a mini scavenger hunt as a team.  They had to take pictures at places like SBS, White Building, HUB Fishtanks, UHS, Green Lamp Room, Rec Hall, and 208 Hammond.  I think they would’ve gotten more out of a traditional style scavenger hunt like I had, but they still enjoyed it.  At the end of their scavenger hunt was the whole group picture.  The girls had purple t-shirts and the leadership team and kiwi green polos.  After the group picture was team pictures at the lion shrine and lunch.  Everything went fairly smoothly and quickly with these pictures and we actually had some free time to finish our scavenger hunt.  The afternoon session was Design where they were to make something that the Nittany Lion could use to launch himself across the football field.  I think the most impressive thing that was used by one of the teams was a turkey baster.  My team was awesome and already had my questions answered before I could ask them.  They also finished early so they had some extra time to get ready before the career dinner.  They career dinner went fairly smoothly too.  We started with our networking reception of Apples to Apples PSU style.  The girls always seem to enjoy that and it gets them talking.  The dinner tables are always different than the Apples to Apples tables so they get to meet more people.  My table this year was sponsored by Dow so I actually knew the two recruiters at my table.  It was the first year I wasn’t intimidated by the dinner because I knew the people at my table.  It made it easy for me to facilitate the conversation and I also recognized a lot of the things Lisa and Lauren were talking about.  After dinner was Spirit Night.  We didn’t get started until almost 11 though which is when they usually want us out of the ballroom.  We didn’t actually finish until 12 but I think everyone had fun.

WEPO 2011

WEPO 2011 Team E-1

Team E-1 Design Project

            

Friday was the last day.  The day started a little later and the girls were happy about that.  Our session for the day was Professional Development.  They learned a little bit about the PSU websites they will be using a lot as well as how to use Solidworks and make a Resume that they can take to the career fair.  I was really impressed that no one was on Facebook during the session event the girls who were here for summer session and knew what was going on already.  After PD, the girls presented their design projects to the judges and then we went to our end of WEPO picnic.  We were planning on being outside but just as people were finishing up presenting, the sky turned black and we got a PSU text about hail and wind and stay inside until further notice so we had to move lunch inside.  The leadership team gave Cheryl an awesome gift this year.  It was her 10^th year running WEPO and she has all of the past participant t-shirts.  The leads put them together on a quilt and the leadership team plus alumni all signed it.  She was speechless.

Cheryl's Gift

Back at State!!

I'm giving up on trying to post a bunch of summer pictures...they're not cooperating again.

Past few days at home were fairly uneventful.  Most of our plans were cancelled due to rain.  I think I should start bottling it and sending it to Texas.

I'm now back up at  PSU and moved into my apartment.  I did a small job of unpacking and am now relaxing.  I'm meeting my friend from dinner (hopefully) and I'm really excited because I haven't seen her in way too long.  Tomorrow will be running errands then WEPO.  I'm super excited to finally meet my girls!!!

Roadtrip Home

Slowly I'm posting about the last few weeks of the summer.  This one will be about the trip home and hopefully the next will allow me to upload some pictures.

So the last Friday in Texas, my mom's flight was scheduled to land in Houston at 2:30.  Since I technically had to be out of my apartment by 10, Steph and I decided to go out to Clear Lake and get some of our NASA friends together for lunch.  We met Grier at 11 because she had class at 12 and Alan and Pete met us a little before 12 just as Grier was leaving.  While we were eating, I got a message from my mom that her flight had just landed in Charlotte but the airport was closed so she couldn't get on her connection.  Steph and I went to the Kemah Boardwalk for a little bit then she went to meet her friend at a museum and I headed up to near the airport to find a Starbucks or Panera so I could get wifi and do homework.  Mom ended up landing around 5:30 so we had to spend another night in Texas though weren't too far from the TX/AK border.

Saturday was the long drive to Nashville.  We left around 7:30am and got to Nashville at 5:30 and had enough time to eat dinner and get over to the Opry for the show.  I really didn't recognize most of the performers or songs but it was a good show anyway.

Sunday morning we did a bus tour of the homes of the stars.  I took some pictures but don't really remember whose home is whose.  After the tour we went to lunch with my friend Michelle and one of her friends.  It was really nice to see her again.  It seems like we catch each other for 2 hours in passing through where the other one is but never really plan to see each other and never see each other at home.  We then continued our trek home and stopped on the TN/VA border for the night.

Monday we finished the drive.  We stopped in DC to meet up with Bethany and her family for dinner.  We got there around the time their tour ended.  We were trying to find each other and discovered that the roads on all sides of the Capitol are the same names except for NW/SE, etc.  We were on the corner of 1st and C as so were they but we were not on the same corner.  About half an hour later we finally found each other and went to dinner at a family style Italian restaurant called Carmines.  It was pretty good.  After dinner we finished the drive home and got back at about 10:30.

End of Summer 2011 - BSMTTDL

I can't believe that the summer is basically over.  The past two weeks were full of  a lot of fun things keeping me busy - I don't even remember them and that would be a really long post.  I focus this one on our BSMTTDL

So as our time was winding down Steph (S) and I (M) asked Bethany (B) what we needed to do before leaving LJ/Texas.  This became Bethany, Stephanie, and Maria's Texas To-Do List (BSMTTDL).  We completed everything on it before leaving.

• Burritos
• S and I wanted to have burritos one last time before we left.  Since we had never been to Freebirds, we decided to go there one Wednesday and meet up with some friends on our way up to Clear Lake.  Freebirds is kind of like a Chipotle.
• Chicken Fried Steak
• So this is huge in Texas but we hadn't tried it.  We had B think of where we could get a good one and one of the places was where co-op lunch was one week so we got Chicken Fried Steak then.  I don't really know how to describe it but it was good.
• Space Center
• We ended up going with two of our friends from NASA and they showed us around a bit.  We didn't have enough time to go on one of the tours that would have been interesting but that just means we need to go back.
• Steak Fingers
• They're kind of like Chicken Fried Steak but in Chicken Finger form.  We did this for lunch one day.
• Creamsicles
• This Way/That Way Picture
• Names in downtown LJ are all some sort of "Way."  There's circle, winding, parking, and of course this and that.  Well, the two intersect and the street sign is easily accessible to pedestrians...
• Fried Pickles
• S had never had some so the same lunch we had chicken fried steak,we also had fried pickles
• BSM Pictures
• these happened whenever we remembered - matching outfits (only partially planned), dancing, etc.
• Dancing at Wild West
• I really wanted to go to Wild West one more time before leaving TX.  Fortunately the tropical storm cooperated and let us go.  I think that is going to be one of the things I miss most in PA
• See Grier
• Yes she was on our TTDL and we saw her twice.  She came to Freebirds and S and I ate lunch with her on my way to the airport to pick up my mom for the drive home.
• Emperor's New Groove/Men in Tights
• We were going to watch Emperor's new groove the one night at B's house but never did so naturally we wanted to watch it.  Crazy movie.
• All summer B has been quoting Men in Tights but I had never seen it.  One night a couple of us got together, made pizza and brownies, and watched it.  Actually a decent movie and there were things B had been saying all summer that finally made sense.
• Beach
• So it didn't look like this was going to happen, but it did.  We were coming back from Clear Lake for the last time and B and I had had Barefoot Blue Jean Night stuck in our heads ALL day.  We're on our way home and would have been home at a normal time of 10:30 but we decided to go down to the beach in our jeans and put our feet in the water and have a Southern, Summer, Barefoot, Blue Jean Night (SSBBJN).  We stood in the water and sang a bunch of random songs for about an hour.  Definitely an awesome way to end the summer.
• What happened to the cow
• On our way to Clear Lake, we passed this event center that had a cow on it's roof.  A few weeks ago we noticed the cow was missing and wanted to know what happened to it.  We called up the event center and the receptionist said she had wondered the same thing at first but that someone had borrowed it so it was in the back room waiting to be put back up.
• Jimmy Johns
• B had never been to Jimmy Johns and a new one opened just across the street from NASA so we went there for dinner on our last trip up to Clear Lake.  I don't think that B is a fan...

I'll add pictures of all of this later.