Making the Most of November! Yay!

Tuesday November 5 I went by myself to hear Hannah Brencher, the founder of More Love Letters, talk! She was awesome. She kind of just talked about herself and how More Love Letters came to be. Oh and writing and the book that she is working on that is going to come out in Winter 2015. One of my favorite parts was when she quoted her favorite author, because it also happened to be my favorite author!!! Shauna Niequist! During her talk she told us that we have to find what we have a passion for. She explained that passion doesn't mean a pretty picture, passion come from the word that means to suffer, so what you have passion for is something that you're willing to miss sleep for and something you care about and will work hard towards. She used an example of Mother Theresa because she helped give shoes to people in Calcutta and would always take the left over pair of shoes, regardless of what size they were and if they fit her feet. That was her sacrifice because she was uncomfortable and in pain, but did it because of her passion for helping people. Hannah told us that we all have a Calcutta, a place or population in need that we can help. She also told us that we need to do whatever we are good at, and if there is something we are bad at and we can avoid it we should, and let other people do it. Then along those lines, she talked about how we were all created for some purpose that is larger than ourselves. Another thing Hannah said was that we should not be afraid of failure, that not trying is worse than failing. It was just really great listening to her, I really enjoyed it!

Friday November 8 I went to the first basketball game!! I was really excited for it! I just really like basketball games, but especially at SLU. So fun. I went with APO and hung out with Elya and Olivia!

Sunday November 10 I took advantage of the way the sun was setting and hitting the leaves on our walk to mass that afternoon. Though I do not care for the change in temperature, I admire the beautiful colors that fall brings to the midwest.

 Friday November 15 I went to the grocery store with Maggie and Danielle because we were low on food. Then I went to a snowflake making event for APO. I enjoyed making the snowflakes and watching The Great Gatsby in the background, but it wasn't very much fun because I was just by myself and kind of isolated.

When I got back to my room I got to FaceTime my grandparents! It was so nice to get the chance to talk with them. The three of us were all just so happy to see each other. They were cracking me up, including when my grandma was so sure that I was getting taller, even though she could only see from my neck upward and even though I haven't grown since about middle school. It was also cute and funny how she kept telling me that I was beautiful, and reminding me that grandpa always loved the beautiful women, but he also especially loves me because I'm also his granddaughter.

I spent the evening with my friends at Danielle's house! Once we successfully made and maintained the bonfire, we roasted hot dogs and smores then went inside and watched a Harry Potter movie before coming back to SLU. It was fun getting to all hang out and to be off campus. 

Saturday November 16 I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time. I really liked that movie! Then that evening we had a spaghetti dinner at our apartment with Maggie, Danielle, Elya, Evan, Bridget, Bridget's boyfriend Kyle, and Kelsey. It was a little hectic, but it was fun hosting dinner at our apartment. 

Sunday November 17 I woke up and checked my Purdue application as I did at least once a day since I submitted it. I saw that there was no acceptance letter available at that time, but then looked again and saw that it said decision: Offer Admission! I was so excited, but still wanted to wait to read the letter to know it was official.

It was also a day of crazy weather. For a few minutes it poured and was very windy, but afterwards it was warm and I decided to take advantage of it and go on a run. I did run some, but also walked in between and had fun taking pictures. I even saw a rainbow!

That afternoon I joined Maggie, Elya, and Danielle at Starbucks, but again found myself having more fun taking pictures then doing what I was supposed to be, which was studying and working on my cathedral paper for medieval Christianity. Then Maggie and I headed to mass. 

Monday November 18 my dad was going to come for dinner, but it didn't end up fitting with his work schedule so I went with Elya, Maggie, and Danielle to see Jeff Corwin speak! He spoke about being kind to the earth basically and also brought a huge toad, a lizard, an alligator, and a snake for volunteers to hold, although they didn't know until they were on stage and it was being placed in their hands. 

Tuesday November 19 after my appointment with someone in the education advising department, I met Maggie and Danielle, then we picked up Sarah and headed to Central West End to The Cup for celebratory cupcakes that they were done with their physics class. (also later we found out that Justin Timberlake, who was having his concert that evening in Saint Louis, ordered cupcakes from the Cup as well). 

Wednesday November 20 I joined others in the APO office making holiday cards to send to troops across seas. It was so much fun! I loved getting to be creative and design the cards and listening and chatting with everyone. One girl near me would tell me how awesome each of my cards were, which just felt good and I was wanting to let her know that I had changed my career path from a physical therapist to an art teacher, because I was used to explaining it to so many people lately, but it never came up. It did come up in conversation however, that the girl studied abroad in Ireland and it sounded like so much fun!!

That evening I joined Olivia to go here Nev from the show Catfish speak. I had only seen the show once earlier in the semester with Alex and Brooke. I was kind of iffy about going to see him but figured I might as well go, and was really glad I did! The presentation was a lot more inspiring and serious than I figured it would be going into it. Nev talked about the importance of having a few really good friends and not just trying to do things to make a lot of people like you. He explained that it doesn't make sense to try to blend in during high school and college to make friends with people and be popular, to only have to try to set yourself apart from everyone else when going for job interviews and such only a few years later. He also talked about the importance of not only working hard, but also just being nice. Another point he made actually reminded me of something my grandma always tells me. Nev used an audience participant to illustrate a point that success is not just a straight drawn line like most people think it should be, instead there are a lot of turns and detours along the way. However, like my grandma always has told us, Nev said we just need to keep going and keep moving and not stop. After the presentation we even got our picture taken with him!