FINAL BLOG

May 13, 2007

Is it all really over???

What been going on since Midterms you ask?

Springfest 2007!!!!


It a great week long of events that students, faculty, and staff can participate in every year!
It consists of Improv, Trivia, Flag/Chant Competition, Scavenger Hunt, SpringFest Dance, and Sports Day!
It a great excuse to get together with a bunch of your friends and bond over your wins and losses.
Our team name was: he Team Who Needs No Name (like it? )
Check it:

Professor Thomas Bartl participates in the Improv Night as a judge:



(L-R) Justin Bournes (One of the new faces of UIS ! Haha) Professor Dennis Rendleman (my legal studies professor), and Jeremy Wilburn (Our fearless team leader/captain!).
Professor Dennis Rendleman was fantastic on Improv Night! It awesome when your professors want to help you out in the classroom as well as in student run events like these!



Our fearless team leader/captain Jeremy Wilburn



Flag and Chant Night: Our flag was huge! And that the whole team, except Professor Rendleman nd I hiding behind the flag


If I only had more time I could show you much more of what happened this past semester since midterms with Springfest, concerts, acapella, cookouts, and just plain hanging out it was a good way to end the year!

I guess this mini video will have to do:




Keep in mind there were so many other events that occurred that I wasn't able to snap pictures of. There were endless nights of random talks that weren't videotaped and I just wanted to thank you all for such a great year whether it was documented or not. I know those events occurred, and I thank you for them.
Have a great summer! And I've had a great time blogging with you all! I hope you got a little taste of what it's like to go to school at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

There are amazing people here. Take the time to meet as many of them as possible, get involved on campus, pursue your passion whatever it may be, and most importantly, gain as much as you can from your academic education.

For any information regarding admissions to UIS, taking tours, etc. Feel free to check it out at : http://www.uis.edu/admissions/

Also, here are some directions and a map of our campus, if you decide to drop by UIS:
http://www.uis.edu/maps/uismap.htm

Thanks for a great year!!!!

So...you're stressed...miterms are coming up...

And you're here....a student at the University of Illinois at Springfield..




it's almost time....

For you to walk these halls...and head to the dreaded classrooms...and yes...TAKE THE HORRIBLE MIDTERM!!!!!!!

Check out these stressed out students, Mike and Savannah.

But until that time comes...some of you students are probably wondering..."where can I go to study? My dorm room/apartment/townhouse just ain't cuttin' it!"

Well for you students that live in the Lincoln Residence Hall..the classic place to study besides your room is...ta da*, the LOUNGE!


And if you just want to get out of the Residence Hall...walk on over to the University Hall Building!

University Hall has a great Computer Lab where you can study in between classes
UHB 3050 (And Cat works there, and she's awesome!)


Or you can study in the open lobby area of the 2nd floor in University Hall (UHB)

As you can see...in between classes, students come here all the time to cram for that quiz they have in 15 minutes...


And some just....goof around....(*cough*taylor*cough*)


Our next building is the Health and Science Building:


When you walk through the main doors...we come upon a lovely lounge for students to sit about and have study groups! This is a great location for you science majors!


My absolute favorite place to study is in Brookens Library!

Brookens' Hours:


The reason I love Brookens so much is because...it's this crazy library..where there are no right angles...and there's so many nooks and crannies to pick for you to study in!!!

I'll just showcase a number of places I go when I visit dear old Brookens Library:



















And if you're hardcore about studying...the best place I recommend is...dun dun dun..THE GROUP STUDY ROOM!! There is one on every floor of Brookens Library except for the 5th floor...


*dramatic angle of the door*
It looks like a tiny room...and it pretty much is...but I've gotten so much work done in these rooms. Great for group work as well!



Another place in Brookens is the Media Lab on the very first floor:


they have all kinds of computers/resources and the archives are located in this area as well...



And these next set of pictures..are just cool pics I took while walking around Brookens:
the abandoned classroom on the 5th floor..



Brookens is just..sweet.



This plant goes from the 4th floor all the way to the first pretty much...



Robert heading up to use one of Brookens' many resources!



the 5th floor again..



So maybe libraries aren't your friends...and you want a more neutral study area...
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CENTER (PAC)



So I love the PAC at night...this a view from the 4th floor...



A nice quiet study area (it may be a little echo-ey at times) is the Atrium Lounge:
(located on the 3rd floor)



And if ya need to take a break in between all that studying...check out the Capitol Perks! And grab yourself some coffee and just "chillax."





Finally.....

"GOOD LUCK ON ALL YOUR MIDTERMS THIS SEMESTER!!! YOU"LL DO GREAT!!! STUDY HARD, RELAX, and before you know it..it'll be SPRING BREAK!!!!!!"

Have a great night everyone!


~liZ

PS. Here's Mosaic again...except..UNCUT version..actually it's a rehearsal video...enjoy! :) just listen...we don't have it faced on us..cuz...that's how we roll. :)

OH NO! Not another Procrastination Blog...!!

Actually...just kidding. Life's been good...just riding on the nodes of life...both the "downs" and the steady progression to the "ups." Other than staying busy, I wanted to highlight a couple of events that have been going on in my life here at UIS!

The weekend of Feb. 9th UIS held their annual Talent Expo! This year, a couple of my girlfriends and I decided to make a group "MOSAIC" and sing an acappella piece for the show. It was alot of fun girls...the late night practices and performances were the best!

When it came to the actual show date...of course...I got super nervous! How typical, huh? You'd think since all of us have performed in groups before this, on stage to a crowd of people, we'd be used to it!

It's quite humorous really to watch myself on video...notice in the beginning how I realize that it's my solo...and I lean my head towards the mic to sing, only to stumble forward right after!

Anyway, hope you enjoy! It really was a fun night, and we placed 4th among 9 performers! We'd like to thank all of our friends for all their support!! You guys are really amazing. =)! And I forgot to mention, my friend Joe from Indiana University drove all the way from Bloomington, IN. to see us perform!! Isn't that such a sweet friend :)! Seriously, this weekend was so much fun, and we all had a great time.

Especially bowling! ;)! and Random Rendevouzing downtown Springfield :)

SO here are the videos!





Anti-Valentine's Day Post coming soon.....

;)!

Procrastinators....

So this first month has been full of a variety of events, karaoke nights (that I don't have pictures of), the international festival, Preview Days, SuperBowl parties, CSF, and just a bunch of random things that I must catch all of you up on later....

For now....what do UIS students do when they really don't wanna do homework...and it's about 12:30am or so...?




Yeah, so much for a new start to the new semester. =P! No more procrastination, huh?

Ah well.


Till next time...

THE PREQUEL: IT'S A NEW YEAR (almost)

So...before I left for Christmas break....what were we crazy UIS people doing in December? Hmmmm......

a little bit of this...


some crazy girl didn't want to dance..and even hid from the camera *coughcough*Hillary*coughcough*! That's Taylor my suitemate. :)!


my suitemates and friends Taylor and Katie...as you can tell..there is never a dull moment with these two :)!


a nice little group picture of the people that like to dance :)


We exchanged some gifts, made some people happy. =P My brotha' Meaker.


Even the ladies of PAC Suite 525; The Provost Office, know how to party it up :)! A very fun outing to Donna's house for lunch! A very nice break in the middle of the school week. Great food Donna!


there was a suite decorating contest in LRH (Lincoln Residence Hall) so we decided to spruce up our own "sweet" suite, and just had a good time with each other! Here, Tabatha and Katie are making popcorn chains for our paper tree, that we put up on our bathroom door! (good job Brian, Jdub, and Jon!)



More pictures later on....once I find them. :)

IT'S A NEW YEAR: PART I

January 5, 2006. Latest post in the world, I know. But can you blame me? Okay, well you can, but since break started I’ve been “on the go” constantly! Besides that, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday vacation. I know my family and I had a fantastic Christmas and New Years. But to tell you the truth, I’m almost ready to go back to school…maybe tomorrow?

So what have I been up to since break commenced? Oh yeah, it’s your favorite ‘picture’ time with captions!

My family is big on family time...family time meaning vacations!! And we usually leave around the most hectic time possible. I got back home Friday afternoon (the 15th of Dec.) and we left for Cancun Saturday morning...yes..and when i say morning...I mean, we left the house at 7AM people!! And yeah, our flight was delayed for nearly two hours, because they were fixing some alternator thingy in the engine, WHILE we were on board! I was about ready to have a heart attack and wished we were staying at home instead of flying across the country on a plane that was needing repair...not to mention the crazy turbulence in those 'peaceful' looking clouds....

anyway, besides that, we were welcomed by Cancun's humid, hot, 87 degree air. And I knew it was worth it. I'd show you a picture of us landing in Cancun...but I was so afraid that I couldn't even get my camera out of my purse!

So a picture that I took from my seat when we left Cancun will have to do:




I can't post all of my pictures because that would take me a century and a half to post this..and I really need to get on top of this blogging thing.

the beach.

yes. wonderful.


As funny as that naked palm tree looks...it reminds me of the insane hurricane that hit the Cancun area last year. Driving around the hotel zone during our last night in the country, you could see all the repairs stil being done today on billions of dollars worth hotels/resorts/eateries. And in a way, I'm really glad we didn't spend our vacation in the hotel zone. The rumors are true...everything is so americanized, which is nice for convenience, but then, not fun for families like us that like to find the old churches and attend mass. Or go on those tours where you visit Mayan ruins and walk in a marketplace where hundreds of years ago, a Native Mayan had walked...not only that, you could see how those people worshipped their gods. You could hear the stories of how Mayans can still speak their native Mayan language, but cannot write it. Why's that? Because back in those days, the only people that could write were the town leaders/priests. And those same people were the only people allowed to go up the temples to give offereings to the gods. The large archeological site we got to see was Chichen Itza in the Yucatan region.

There was the massive Chichen Itza pyramid that was believed to be dedicated to the god of the Sun.


.
at the north entrance of the temple/pyramid, were two massive snake heads.

at a certain time during the year, when the sun is setting, it casts a shadow, along the flat bannister..causing the body of a snake to appear slithering down the side of the pyramid, with the head of the snakes at the bottom of it.


another shot of the Chichen Itza, with our tour guide Luigi on the far left. :)


the famous observatory: El Caracol; this was pretty amazing to see...


Oh I forgot to mention, that this trip Chichen Itza was an all day one. it nearly took 3 hours to drive from our resort to the Yucatan. On our way there, we visited a Mayan village where we were able to mingle with shop owners selling their goods. And if you've ever traveled in Mexico...you must know the power of haggling. For those of your poor souls that have never done it before and plan on coming to Mexico sometime...get some practice in...or you'll be paying alot more than what the item is actually worth!
Now I'm horrible at bargaining...I still don't know if I got my money's worth with this:
1 aztec calendar
1 black onyx elephant
3 glass cut Chichen Itza paperweights
1 silver astrological sign charm
1 not limestone but better than limestone that i forgot the name of- zodiac of september from the mayan calender
1 Chichen Itza notmadeoflimestonebutofthisothermaterial pyramid
2 carved Chichen itza god sculptures


I spent 50 dollars on all those items you see on the table, what do you think? Comment and let me know!

Now this place was Cenote Ik Kil...a partially covered natural sink hole...where it houses...you got it..naturally purified water! YES, in MEXICO! And guess how deep that water is.....150ft deep. And guess who got to SWIM in it? Yes, UIS's own, moi, got to swim in it!! It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful...the water tasted so sweet, I could've swam in it for hours, but we were on a strict time limit, and could only stay at that site for 30 minutes, b/c we still had to travel to Chichen Itza.


That was pretty much one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was a really weird feeling, but I just felt one with nature at that moment. I felt as if all my worries and cares were washed away. Of the hundreds of people that went to that site of Cenote Ik Kil that day, only a handful or so of us, actually jumped in! I was surprised myself, I guess the main thing I had to keep thinking to myself was that..."if anything....I know how to float!" I was really nervous to jump in like some of the people..but I found a wooden ladder on the side that I halfway-climbed down..and then jumped in. Good idea, except that I had my mouth wide open..so I got a great taste of the water...and hacked it up quite a bit too =P But after that awkward scene I backstroked to the center of the sink hole, just to about where one could look up and see the blue sky and puffy white clouds running across it....the water dripping from the plants hanging above the sinkhole was like gentle, sweet rain....I seriously could have floated there forever....if some guy wasn't splashing around so much and making me really nervous...I decided then that if I had closed my eyes....I most likely would have had some guy accidentally backstroke into me, making me freak out...and then I would've drowned and died that day....yeah, I know, I'm a really positive person.

:)

Anyway, now that I'm done daydreaming about that day...here are a more pictures I took while in Mexico:
the marketplace at Chichen Itza (my mom and brother are dorks :) )


A bar in the middle of one the pools??



The resort we stayed at. :) Mayan Palace :)



some pretty cool grafitti in that Mayan village:


A typical house in the Mayan village we visited:

Do you remember in that disney movie Road to El Dorado, or something like that, the scene where the girl is telling the man to use "the hip the hip!!!" in a typical Mayan game? Here it is! This is that ballcourt! I had no idea that the captain of the winning team would then be beheaded at the temple near this ballcourt! It was said that it was an honor for a normal person to be given the chance to go speak to the gods. The Itza people believed in reincarnation, so as horrible as this may sound to us, to die for a game, really isn't as crazy sounding to those people back in the day. And this game itself was a sacred ceremony, performed only once a year, so the winning team was highly honored.


Remember I talked a bit about the Itza people believing in gods (plural) yes, Mayans were originally Pagan. But since the conquer by Spain occured, one could see how religion; Catholicism was forced upon them. For a small Mayan village, and the gigantic size of the Catholic church...a message was definately being said.

I remember Luigi (our tour guide) saying that many years later (sorry for the vagueness, I can't really remember..but if you have any knowledge you'd like to enlighten us with, please post!) , the Mexican government told the people that they now had the freedom of religion. But after hundreds of years, when all your life you've been taught one religion, what else can you turn to? No one knew of the old pagan gods that their ancestors had at one time worshipped. The temples were abandoned because no one knew how to make offering, or felt no need to make offerings to gods they had no knowledge of. An example would be Chichen Itza, if one were to find the before and after pictures of this archeological site, you could see the years of abandonment piled with rocks, mud, and weeds/trees all over.

It's amazing to see what archeologists can do with time (lots of it) and the incentive to clean up sites like these...That observatory has even been in a couple of Indiana Jones movies!!

Well for now, this is it...PART II coming very very soon...

just now now... because I have work in the morning...

Thanksgivingness.....

So the week is almost over and I haven’t even posted about my break! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving Break, I know I did! Well, let’s just say it wasn’t your typical thanksgiving, at least for an Illinois-er. I spent all of last week is New York! The flight to NY and back was perfect:

Leaving Chicago Monday afternoon...








Flying so high in the sky!!


I’ll just let my pictures tell the story…

My brother was scared to fly into the big bad city of New York...



But when we neared the city--it was amazing...














Then our adventure began...

Monday night we arrived and had dinner at the little eatery at our hotel. PAN American in Queens (one of the 5 boroughs of NY)--"the most convenient hotel in NY!" was the banner hanging outside. It was sweet because most of the people that stayed there were from around the NY area, or they were foreigners from Norway to Ireland to Minnesota (haha) to Illinois-ers =P.

ANYWAY, the main reason for my trip to NY besides seeing family that I haven't seen in ages?? THE Tour of Light conference held at the United Nations headquarters in New York! Sukyo Mahikari, a spiritual group I am a part of, held the conference. And it was absolutely amazing to meet people from all over the US, not to mention all the youth group members! THAT was exciting. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the United Nations headquarters so I have no pictures from this day. Can you imagine some young person like myself in my youth uniform with a whole other group of youth members walking into the United Nations representing something we believe? I felt so honored to have been able to attend such an event! I got to sit in one of the huge conference rooms and have that funny little earpiece w/ the English translator and listen to Odairisama's greeting. If you want any more information about the organization...ask me via email (elota2@uis.edu). So this was an all day event and the main highlight of my week...although there were many others..

So how can one top something like going to a huge conference in the UN?? Nothing really...but it can get kind of close.

Wednesday we rode in style and took a tour through Manhattan. (and the main reason why we had a limo instead of a tour bus for the first half of the trip was because the tour bus we were supposed to take broke down!)



So..onto the first stop on the tour:



Too bad King Kong took the day off...I wouldn't blame him though...it was pretty chilly up there..



the very top of the Empire State Building



a couple of shots that I took when I was up in the observatory:













Our next stop after the Empire State Building everyone's favorite stop: LUNCH!!
So our tour guide, Jay-jay had us eat like a "new yorker" and we had to eat in a deli, cuz that's how new yorkers do it. And MAN, was that an experience...never in my life had I had to order something so quickly in such a tiny cramped space. But what a rush! haha..never knew ordering some pizza would be so crazy.

Then our next stop was right across the street:


The ferry ride was windy/rainy but awesome:
another ferry passing by with the Statue of Liberty coming up...



my brother being a goof...we're getting closer!



A pic my brother took of me...and I wasn't really ready...



We shopped around a little bit in the Statue of liberty store at the foot of the Statue...lots of fun! Then we took the ferry back to Manhattan...and I took a sweet pic of the Miss Liberty at dusk....as we were leaving...



For this next stop I'm just going to post pictures...
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And then we traveled around Times Square..got stuck in Times Square traffic at 7pm..and kind went to the UN, but you could barely see it because it was so dark out. We had a chance to shop around the Rockafeller Center and we finally made our way "home."


Wednesday night was when our relatives picked us up to stay with them in Stanton island. That was a really long drive that I can't really remember cuz I think I fell asleep several times...

Thursday: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The whole point of us getting the whole week off for break. I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to go on such an amazing vacation...of course there's always the little bickering--but in the end we all still love each other..(insert: awwwwwww). Reflecting this past week I realized how blessed I really was, and that I shouldn't take for granted all the family, friends, and other blessings in my life. I had so much fun taking a commuter ferry from Stanton Island to Manhattan--to see the all famous Macy's Thanksgiving Parade!! 80th Anniversary!!
This is kind of a funny picture of me...i was freeezing, but it felt so good to be out there:



Friday: We had to leave NY...
Brooklyn Bridge


A sweet shot from my window seat:




....and that's it! That's the end of my NY TRIP!!!! It was amazing...wasn't too long or too short..and was just what I needed to unwind....until friday night when I realized I hadn't done any of my homework that was due after the weekend....!! But I still hung out w/ Brian and Kevin friday night..and we watched Borat...THAT was an 'interesting' film...that's all I'll say about that.

The rest of the weekend, I got to spend time with friends in their hometown and just enjoy the rest of my 'break'! It was good to see old friends and finish up all my homework. Sunday was a blast moving back into the dorms and getting a feel for the old room again.

And then I realized I had a ton of homework to do....

thankfully I was able to finish it all by the time it was due ;)! Note to self: stop being a procrastinator.

And that's my break! Fantastic huh? Sorry it took so long to post.

Also, today is November 30th, the last day for a certain individual to work for UIS--and I would just like to take a moment to wish well to a Mrs. Donna Tucker. And a CONGRATULATIONS on YOUR RETIREMENT!!! It's well deserved, and for the short time we worked together--all the random lunch conversations, we became friends over the year! You really went out with a bang! 3 parties in one week, you must be someone special!! I wish you all the best in any future endeavors you may have, and may you bring a smile (like you did with all of us in SUITE 525 in the PAC) to any person you meet!!!


And with this, goodnight. :)!

So...it's been a long time...

Of COURSE I'll start my latest blog with a picture slideshow:

Warning: Not reading the entirety of the blog may cause an individual to spazz frequently until the whole blog has been read. :)




Yes Yes...yes it has been a long time since I've bloggd.. And why is that? It's because at UIS I pretty much don't have time to do the things I need to do, like blog! I can't believe how quickly time is passing by! To all you freshman reading this (and anyone else new to college in general) DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME! Enjoy it while you can. And when I say enjoy, by no means am I endorsing you all to throw your homework away and dance all night...(although dancing is quite fun..and I encourage you all to dance when can, even if you're in your room all by yourself..it's very freeing...and yes I dance in my room by myself.)

Back to my blog...ENJOY COLLEGE. Meet new people. Stay in contact with all the ones you do meet, but just spread yourself out a little bit :)! I can't tell you how crazy it is to think that a simple smile to someone passing you by out on the quad or in the food emporium can lead to a new friendship! It's pretty sweet =P. Plus, if you grumble all your days away, what are you left with at the end of the semester? You'll be left this heavy feeling of regret for not enjoying the "happier" times at college. You'll realize that even though you had to stay up all of sunday night to finish that essay due at 10am the next morning, you and your roommate were able to sit and talk about your fun weekend. (However, it does get a bit tiring having to write an essay every sunday night...I encourse you all to get that time management thing down..because I still haven't! Oops =P!)

So, what have I, Liz, the seemingly uninvolved blogger, been up to? Since, let's say...the last weekend in October?

Well, my pictures tell it all! Of course that last weekend of October was Halloween! ooo spookiness! :) But not all of it was spooky =P.

I went to the fall music showcase that friday on the 27th, and listened to the choir belt some funky Africa geography piece, heard some crazy tune by the "celluba" group (a quartet of 2 cellos and 2 tubas..that's the name they came up for themselves!) And saw some friends sing and play their hearts out!! To everyone involved in that showcase, fantastic job! It was a fun night and I got a good laugh trying to take some pics of you all! :)

An old friend of mine came up from Carbondale to visit all of us UIS folk (he used to go to LLCC but pretty much was a UISer.) After the fall music concert we all hung out at our friend's apartment and then had some coldstone in downtown springfield! Although it was the night everyone was watching the Cardinals game..we were a little delayed waiting for the results for the world series..so we had like 30 mins or so to make it to downtown and get some ice cream. But we definately made it! After ice cream, had some fun times rendevouzing around the city...it's so beautiful (and creepy!) walking around late at night, since the streets are so empty.

Saturday--I vaguely remember what happened during the day, but I'm pretty sure I did alot of homework (haha, I probably tried to block it from my memory) and lots of laundry. and then the YAY SATURDAY NIGHT! Our friend Lincoln, and a close group of us went out to Red Lobster for a dinner celebration...which almost turned into a nightmare! Never in my life have I waited so long to be seated at a table. There were not available tables for 7 people...and we pretty much waited a good 2 hours (or close to it!) But hey, when in you're in the presence of good company, good food, and great conversation...maybe that 'little' wait was worth it, huh? Yeah, in retrospect I can easily laugh and be positive about it..but I think we were about ready to walk on over to Cici's pizza..but thank goodness we stayed...I love seafood and don't get it enough. So that was a fun adventure..then we had a movie night at one of the guys' apartments with a nice big group of us and watched the Amityville Horror-not a good movie to watch when you're friends know that you're terrified of movies like that and they randomly "jump" you! And you scream like a little kid and everyone just kind of stares at you for a good 5 seconds or so and then burst into laughter...

yeah, it's not fun being that person. =P

So anyway, Sunday, lincoln had to leave for carbondale--so we all just hung out in our dorm room and took pictures, listened to music, and had some crazy brownies that Brian's mom made--haha. Man, it was some good times with an old friend :).

The rest of sunday: some homework here and there and then.....PARTY NIGHT! haha, oh yes, by party night, I mean, dressing up like some crazies for Halloween and going to the Monster Bash! I think the best part of the night was the dressing up and putting on crazy make-up and just dancing around. They had it in the PAC in conference room c/d I think. Even though we got there a little late and left (to get some food) and then came back--only a couple of hours to dance! it was still pretty fun! good food over there too. :) Sigh, I wish I could dress up and put on crazy make-up like that all the time. =P

Monday Night: I think I did some homework...but the night we had all been waiting for..yes...it was the HAUNTED TRAIL!!!

Fantastic job to the EastSide R.A.s for a great job! You scared the bejeezuz out of me!

Even though my cool group of four people: Brian, Christie, and Grace were all clinging to each other, I was still terrified. Of course Brian wasn't scared, Grace was JUST as scared..or even more so scared than I was, and poor Christie kept getting left behind and getting smacked by trees!

First of all, getting out to those words is already pretty scary, but then having to walk through it w/ just one tiny little glow stick and hearing rustling in the bushes..of course you have to be scared. The first person that came out and screamed at us made me so scared that I kicked my shoe off!! And it pretty funny, cuz it was like we called a time out or something so we could find it. And I'm pretty sure one of those guys helping us out was Jeremy. haha! Chad scared the crap out of me the most though...we saw him laying on the ground..and I was really too afraid to look..and and he jumped up right in our faces and we ran screaming.

Oh, and just a note to my group: THanks for telling me that Chad was right behind me afterwards!!! PSH. All the sudden I hear breathing..and he's like right there! That was some good scary stuff. Everyone did a really good job of being creepy and stealth..and we lucked out on the chainsaw guy..cuz we ran right by him cuz his chainsaw wasn't working just then! Lucky! Anyway, it was a good night, and Jorgie (my roommate--and 05-06 UIS blogger) tried to go back later on that night w/ Christie, but they had just finished. So it was kind of disappointing cuz we ran all the way over there..and at the stroke of midnight they finished...

:) But it was fantastic!

So that pretty much sums up October.

November so far? (I can't believe I'm writing this and it's already the 13th...)

The spirit team got to perform for the first men's basketball game of the season on Nov. 1st! We won, big time, all I can remember is me feeling extremely nervous, and wanting to be out in the crowd...but I'm glad I wasn't! Our teams have been doing pretty well this season, both girls and guys! :) Keep the UIS BLue spirit up guys!!

The first weekend of November had been planned for a girls weekend out w/ my roommate and suitemates! Unfortunately one of them couldn't go, but Taylor, our lovely host and suitemate, was so kind to open her home to us (Geneseo, IL! ) Oh what fun we had there...never have I watched so many movies in one weekend and met cool parents..and oh goodness was the food good =P! Of course we watched scary movies, and Jorgie and I are pretty horrible w/ flicks like that. But we also saw The Mighty, good movie, I'll just throw that movie suggestion out there. Hot tubbin in the middle of fall was fantastic--but so horribly cold when we had to run from the tub to back up the deck and inside the house! =P But a very sweet weekend to run away from homework.

BUT, since I didn't get much homework done over that weekend...it felt like I was behind in homework for a couple of days. And I realized that I should start doing my homework as soon as I get it, so as to not worry about it later like I did that one week.

Classes have been crazy this month. It feels as if I've been reading/writing all the time now. Not that I didn't before, but it just seems so intense. I felt like I was constantly studying for quizzes/tests and looking for quotes and making citations for a paper that due in a couple of days.

I'm ready for a break! Thank goodness it's Thanksgiving! ;) I'll have something to be thankful about =P!

Anyway, it's getting late...to be continued....


Next time on liZ's blog: more late night rendevouzing??!? the watching of Home Alone and Home Alone III, killer plants, the little princess, Bible study, CSF crazies, and card game extraveganzas!!! =P




:) It's gonna be a good month :)

The Pictures are coming! 1 if by land, 2 if by sea!

Homecoming/A ton of other stuff...

SO the thing...everyone's been waiting for I'm sure.....a few pictures from my homecoming weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had too many pics to choose from, and was limited in my time and space to put them in...and if you ARE in it...you should feel honored. (little sidenote: I can't seem to figure out what's goin on with my pictures right now, so those will have to be posted at a later date) Major SAD Face.

So until then, I guess I should brief people about this past weekend. First of all, great job to the homecoming commitee!!! You guys did an amazing job this weekend! Everything turned out great, and to everybody that had that school spirit, congrats to you as well, you made this weekend even more fun!

Okay, every now and then there were a couple of bumps in the road (like me messing up in the pep rally..but oh well..life goes on right?), but who cares? I had a FANTASTIC WEEKEND, and I wish I could just show you all my pictures!!

Thursday: Pep Rally: wow, cold, warmups, and I messed up. Not a very good start for moi. :( But oh well... (as down as I was...little did I know what a great weekend was ahead of me...)

Friday:

Block party on the Quad!!! That was alot of fun, even though we stayed for like 40 minutes. There was a massive, giant, inflatable twister that Jorgie,Jessica, Salty, and I played on...I unfortunately lost. Jorgie came out on top w/ Jessica biting at her heels. literally! Actually not really. But yeah, that was fun, and we played in the massive Dino Jump things, except it was a little obstacle course thing, and a bunch of us played tag in it...which was pretty sweet..but was only up for about 10-15 mins of that till I had to get out! =P! Of course, there was a dunk tank, I had the opportunity to see John Ringle dunked--well post-dunked, and took a quick snapshot! He was really cool about it, and I heard the Chancellor got in a couple of times as well! Wish I was there to see it too! That's just really awesome when can see people like our chancellor, or the big guy of housing doing fun "people" stuff.

Usually, I always think of administrators as being in their offices all the time, crunching numbers, scheduling meetings, living their life around their work....but then it's events like these, that make me realize that they all have families and homes as well! They're REAL people. But anyway...that was my little diddy on that..:) It was just pretty sweet, that's all I'm saying. :)

So we left the Block Party to go to CSF, got to socialize for a bit, meet new/old people. And we had to leave CSF early to get ready and go to dinner. And Jorgie, my rooommate, once again (just like last year)were the LAST ones ready to go...we had like a crowd waiting out in the hallway for us to go...and man, we were late. BUT HEY, it was definately worth it, cuz we got some cool pictures :) Like, most of my table had to get up and leave Galina's before I pizza was even ready...they had to get it in 'to go' boxes, because two of the guys (Chad and Jeremy) were on homecoming court! But we still enjoyed our dinner, after they left and headed to the dance! And then as soon as we got there, we boogeyed down!!

Brian, my date, was a pretty good dancer even though I think he was worried, everyone was awesome. I'll definately have to post pics up of everybody when I get a chance...

After all that dancing we headed back to the dorms and decided to all go out to Steak n Shake, some good times there...actually I was yelled at by a fellow student..that I shall call..."QUIGLEY" for not making a blog..so here I am Quigs, just for YOU. And I even mentioned you in it as well! =P, no, but yeah, we had some good food, fun random times at like 1-AMish, I have no idea what time it was actually...I just know I was super tired.

Saturday:

FIRST EVER UIS HOMECOMING PARADE!!! WOOOOOO!!! (actually woops...as a member of the spirit team, "WOOOOO!" is no longer a part of my vocabulary...which stinks, cuz I use it often.) It was pretty funny, I kept accidentally saying "WOO" during the parade, but oh well. We decorated Kelly's (our coach) truck w/ the school colors, and old poms, and stars it was super cute! And we were in between the Blue Crew and the band, so that was fun! :) The parade ended at the soccer fields area, where we had the tailgate party where we performed again, and that was fun....at least I didn't mess up this time, and it rocked! :) Food was good, friends were great, and I just felt good about everything, except really tired. I ended up leaving the tailgate kind of early, and didn't make it to the homecoming game...and DEFINATELY was in bed by 830pm (which by the way, I'm glad I did, because it is now 1:33am, and I am still up trying to write this blog)


So all in all, this weekend has been pretty amazing. I absolutely LOVE homecoming weekends, they're generally the best times to be on campus. There was alway something to do.

Time to sleep now! Till next time....


with pictures....

comfort in prayer

I haven't posted all weekend and I am sorry for that. Life has been a little hectic lately, and I've been stressed about things that do not need to be stressed over. But, I was able to slow down for one day, and for this I am grateful.

It was a typical day for me as I was leaving the PAC (Public Affairs Center), running around doing my errands for the Provost office, as I noticed the big American flags right in front of the collonades. And I stopped and thought to myself, "wow...5 years huh?" and I continued walking. No matter what building I walked from, the colonnades and the American flags were still going to be there, as much as I tried to avoid looking at them and carry on with my errands for the day.

I got back into the office and settled into my desk and stared at my computer.

The phones rang every now and then, very unusual for a monday afternoon. Usually it's a bajillion lines ringing, people walking in looking for people in the office, me telling them to wait for just a moment, as the academic affairs line rang and I was still trying to give directions to a student on the main line....

but it was different that day.

So, with nothing to xerox, I stared at my computer once more and decided to write out a prayer. Mind you, it wasn't a prayer that I was thinking deeply about before I wrote it, it was more like me trying to type out all the thoughts running through my head about that day. Everything that I kept trying to push to the back of my mind was pushing its way to the front and I was forced to re-live that day 5 years ago.

Freshman year, study hall w/ Ms. Conway as our study hall room teacher, about 20 or so of us in the room. Some people cried, most people were shocked, a few frantically wanted to call home because of their families in New York, and I was just sitting there, thinking of my cousin in the military who'd probably be sent out...

but we all had something to get us through.

And that was through prayer,

it was through love,

and it was with strength that we were able to move on.

After I finished my own silent prayer at the office, the phones immediately began to ring, people started walking in looking for people, the academic affairs line started to ring as I was still trying to find the fax number for the english department for a caller...

I thanked God for allowing me that brief moment to do something that I'd been wanting to do all day, but didn't seem to have the time for; pray.

Last night they held a candlelight vigil under the Brookens Overhang, and had the showing othe United 93 movie in Brookens Auditorium. A few friends and I stayed for the vigil, sitting in silence by the luminaries offering our prayers...

9/11 is a date we will never forget, but it will never get us down. If anything, it will re-ignite our American spirit and think back to the solidarity of our country during this disaster....

I'm glad I could take the time to remember..

Labor Day Weekend

Labor day weekend was absolutely ama-za-zing!! Albeit, it should have been a time where I could have caught up on a TON of homework...I mostly spent it being with friends and just enjoying the sun. :)

I'm not condoning that college students should dillydally like I did..and finish most of my homework monday night..BUT I'm not all play and no work, I think I deserved this. I DID catch up on sleep and am grateful for that. Since school started I haven't had much time to catch up on sleep. We usually go to bed pretty late and wake up early for class or work (7ish) so sometimes by the middle of the week I'm usually pretty burnt out. But I think I'm ready for this week. I've studied for my Japanese quiz, caught up on some legal studies reading, am halfway done with my What is Good? paper, and got to sing alot (and dance alot..to DDR!) !!! So all in all, I've had a pretty productive weekend.

Weekend Recap:
-Friday/Saturday -A few friends and I went camping in Wyanet,IL: totally fun, burnt hotdogs, burnt s'mores, no mosquito bites, riding the polaris like maaaaad crazies, pitching 3 tents, and delirious funny late night conversations = a FreakinFantastic weekend exTraVagenza!

-I spent saturday night with some friends from Lincoln Land, we DDRed...watched the rest of Benchwarmers (which by the way was HILarious). I was exhausted by midnight though cuz I had just gotten back earlier that afternoon so I hadn't caught up on sleep yet.

-Sunday, an old friend of ours, Kaile, that used to go to our school came to visit and we hung out w/ him all day! We did everything from walking to the field where we all first met, rolling down random hills, eating at La Bamba's where we had some good memories, listening to the old band play( Chad and Friends...unless they changed their name =P!), and having them all experience my driving...:) :) and that is ALWAYS a good time. Of course I popped in a Backstreet Boys CD for their listening pleasure, but I don't think they appreciated it, so I changed it to some Lecrae! (Yes, "ridin' wit mah top down listenin' to dis Jesus music.." haha)

-Monday, was of course...homework day. But we were able to hang out w/ alot of friends that had been gone for the weekend, so that was pretty sweet. Taylor (my "suitie") came back with her DDR game and pads...and of course..we played DDR. :) That is...after I finished most of my studying and a little more than 1/2 my paper. :) :)

Hopefully I accomplish a little more this week.

Goooodnight :)
12:32am

First Blog

Well, I guess I should talk about myself and "comings and goings" of this first week. I'm Liz. I'm a legal studies major and a sophomore...and I'm already feeling stressed.

Yes. The very first week of school and I'm already stressed.

A List of a Few Things Liz did this past week since move-in:

-Move in (always a hectic day)
-Saw the Goo Goo Dolls in concert the NIGHT of move-in..
-Socialized a TON (free food for like every event at 1st week, friends' cookouts, DDR parties, "drag racing" outside of campus [haha], etc.)
-Went to the UIS Men Soccer game, then won 2-1!! (We also ran through the fountain after that game...ah yes..good times...)
-Went bowling with the AIT Japanese international students w/ fellow classmates and professors (that was sooooo much fun!)
-Made a ton of Jello (our hands were all gooey and uh..jello-ish-like..)
- MCed the Jello Olympics (big success!! It was the Christian Student Fellowship's 3rd Annual Jello Olympics..and it was sweet! We even had a slip and slide for afterwards!)
-Dance Team tryouts (just found out tonight that I made it..weee!)

Here are some pictures!


...all of that and squeezing in a TON of reading homework for CAP class and my Legal studies class. (like seriously, this reading took a span of like 3 or so days to finish..)

CAP: What is Good? is a class in which I will have to work my butt off to get a good grade. The subject is interesting, but the professors seem kind of tough so it'll be alot of work. I just need to make sure to stay focused on my schoolwork, but balance it out w/ some good socializing.

Speaking of socializing, I've made so many friends already, it's insane! There are literally like 20 or so sophomore still living in the dorm this year, so there's a bunch of new people to meet! In a way, I was a bit sad because a good number of our friends are out in the townhouses or apartments, but this will give us all a chance to branch out and meet other people. And I really don't regret staying in LRH (Lincoln Residence Hall).


I love living on Twosouth. I can already tell that this will be a good year. There's so many different personalities on this wing, that we've already starting hanging out together and calling each other. It's insane getting to know all these people in a time span of one week!


Anyway, it's a sunday night, and I still need to shower and get ready for bed. (woohoo dance team, tonight's practice/tryout was crazy I am so worn out. But I found out that I made the team! Yipee! Oh great..another thing that could stress me out...but I doubt that will be the case. Cuz....music makes me lose control..trol trol...:) )

Alright, well I'm pretty deliriously tired right now, so off I go, and goodnight. :)

Konbanwa!