Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving!

Hello There!

Even though I'm currently in a country where Thanksgiving isn't such a big deal as it is in the U.S., I still managed to celebrate and I can still be thankful for things.  I'll talk about my thanksgiving experiences in a different post, but right now, I want to type up my annual list of things that I'm thankful for (in no particular order).

1. Ovens.  I didn't realize my appreciation of ovens until this semester when I found out that I have no access to an oven.  I had access to a confection oven once which was the size of an over-sized microwave, but it's just not the same.  You can't fit four cookie sheets in that.  You can't fit many loafs of bread in that.  So I can't wait to get back to the U.S. so that I can start baking up a storm again.  But I can wait five more weeks.  In the mean time, I've been able to up my savory dishes game and experiment with dinner-type meals rather than desserts.

2. The Fact that my Family was Able to Come and Visit me in the Netherlands.  My family came to the Netherlands/France/Belgium for two weeks and I was able to spend most of that time with them.  It was something I was looking forward to and that I'd talk obsessively about with my friends.  It was really important to me that my family come to visit me sometime while living abroad and they did and it was extra special because they came over Thanksgiving.  You'll here more about this in the other post that I mentioned.

3. Bravery.  This semester, this has been extra important for me and I'm very happy that bravery and I have gotten to rub elbows a few times.  I've talked to complete strangers, tried out languages I've either never spoken or haven't spoken for a while, gotten comfortable with asking questions without having to work up the courage for a long time, and traveled outside of the Netherlands on my own.  I couldn't have done those things without working up the courage to do them.  Hurray for bravery!

4. The Ability to travel.  I recognize that I'm incredibly fortunate to be of able body and to have enough money to go to a number of places this semester.  I've seen some really amazing things.  Some things, such as Platform 9 3/4, I've been looking forward to visiting for years and other things, such as Marrakesh, Morocco in one week, I never imagined I'd see this semester.  I'm thankful that I have the resources to go and see these places.  Not everyone does.

5. Potatoes, Pasta, and Rice.  Without these things, I probably wouldn't eat most of the time.

6. Skype (as well as Email and Social Media).  I'm over 4,000 miles away from Minnesota, where my life is.  So it's nice to have an easy way to get in contact with my family when they're not here, Jack (significant other), and anyone else who wants to talk to me who isn't here.  It's a beautiful thing.  My great grandmother used to have a Chinese (?) exchange student before the internet existed.  I think I was discussing this with my mom before... we still wonder what it would be like to be so far away from home and not be able to get in easy contact with your family.  This student would have either needed to make a really expensive phone call on the landline or they would have needed to send a letter, to which he would get a reply a minimum of two weeks later.  That would be really hard.  I don't think I could do it.  So really, I have it easy right now.

7. Always Having Something New To Explore (and Never Being Bored).  I'm thankful that I currently live in a small country where something new is always around the corner.  There's always something new that I can explore.  Also, even though I live in a relatively small town, I still haven't explored everything, even after living here for over three months.  It's really hard to be bored here.  You'd have to specifically set out out to be bored in order to be bored, and even then, you'd still probably fail.

I think that's a good list for this year.  It's kind of a full year.  I have a lot more to be thankful for, but I share those things with you as they happen, pretty much.

Thanks for Reading!  I have tons more to share, so look for a post about France and Thanksgiving for sure in the coming days.

Tot Ziens!

--Jude

19 Reasons Why It's Great to be Alive!

It's pretty great to be alive for scene like this as well...

1.  First and last days of things-- I love the anticipation beforehand and I love the sense of accomplishment or even the relief of being done afterwards!

2.  Good food on the holidays (and most other days too)

3.  The satisfaction I feel after taking care of someone or something, whether that's feeding my fish, watering my cacti, or helping a friend through a problem they're having

4.  Leisure time, when it actually comes

5.  Productivity, when it actually comes

6.  Inspiration, when it actually comes

7.  A clean room after several months of living in a pigsty filled with scattered papers and dust

8.  Old-fashioned things, whether or not they are from a time I was alive.  Most of the time, they are before my time

9.  People who appreciate books and are willing to have conversations about them with you

10.  Having people who want to be your friend and not for material reasons

11.  Living in close proximity to your friends

12.  Having periods of time when I get to read what I want and not was a professor tells me I need to read in order to receive a grade

13.  Funny Sisters that are challenging me, time and time again, to redefine my schema for Nuns

14.  Biological sisters that are there to listen, bounce ideas off of, and giggle with until our sides and cheeks hurt

15.  Other languages and the ability to acquire them

16.  Having friends in other countries.  Not just so that I can have a place to stay when I return to these places (and other selfish reasons), but so that I can be humbled by cultural differences and learn to love people who live in a different culture than my own.  Understanding is very important to me

17.  Having a place to sleep during the holidays when my dorm room is closed for the rest of December

18.  Family, no matter the moods they're in or the demeanor of them

19.  Being in higher education and not regretting my decision to enter this crazy, crazy world.  I know that by the time I graduate, I'm going to have met so many wonderful, intelligent, witty, creative, hard-working, and beautiful women and I will recognize how fortunate I am

***I meant to have this done by my 19th birthday (20 December), but that was a day busier than I care to mention, so it didn't get done.  But I thought that it was still worth posting, if only for the sake of keeping a relatively new tradition

Thanks for Reading!!

--Jude

30 Days In November, 30 Things To Be Thankful For!

1. A nice, warm bed that is easy to fall asleep in at night.  And during naptimes during the day, for that matter!

2. My job.  While I do not want to work at Barnes & Noble for the rest of my life, I think this is a good job to have to supplement the things that I want to do in the relatively near future.

3. My family.  I honestly didn't realize how much I relied and continue to rely on them and how much I'd miss them until after leaving for college.

4. Mail.  I love communication in all of it's forms.  I especially appreciate the hand-written letters I receive.  It's gives me even more pleasure to be able to sit down and write them!

5. Days off.  From work, from homework, from any kind of obligation.

6. Netflix.  I love you.  You entertain me.

7. Beautiful days in the middle of what should be winter right now.  It's nice when you're in denial about the coming of winter and the weather supports that.

8. Listening ears.  Seriously, my sanity has been saved many a time because of you.

9. Plenty of food.  I never have to worry about going hungry and I'm so grateful.

10. An empty room outside of my dorm room that is good for video chatting with friends late into the night.

11. My friends.  The ones who are close to home and thousands of miles away.

12. The French language.  Thank you for being beautiful and for constantly being something I can refer to and get excited over!

13. Disney songs.  Believe me, there have been many an opera session featuring these songs.

14. The patience of the people in the dorms surrounding me.  I don't know if you can hear my opera sessions, but if you can, thank you for not charging over and telling me to shut up.

15. A roommate that doesn't cause problems of any kind.  Not for me and not for everyone else.  This is a drama-free dorm room and it's a very beautiful thing!

16. Metro Transit.  I have taken advantage of you so many times in the past few months alone.  You're just so handy!

17. Eric Whittacre.  You make wonderful music.

18. A relatively quiet dorm floor.  Sure, there's the occasional giggly girl and herd of ladies running up and down the hall, but compared to what I've heard about some of the other floors in this building, we lead pretty drama-free lives.

19. Sparknotes.  I'm only half ashamed to admit this.  Thank you for being there to support my behavior when I just don't want to read the book/haven't read the latest chapter but still want to appear knowledgeable in class.

20. The Study Abroad office.  Thank you for being there so that I can start to prepare for my departure in two years.  It helps to at least get thinking about my extremely pre-meditated adventures.

21. My boyfriend.  Four years and still going strong!  I love you :)

22. Discussions.  You're good for clarifying and tossing out ideas.  You've been ubiquitous in my life lately, but I can't help but love you so.  You make me think.

23. The three hour gap between my first and second classes this first semester.  I get so much work done.  Not even joking.  Well, maybe a little :)

24. Guitar music.  I miss my own... listening to someone else play as opposed to me just messing around and sounding like crap is the next most fun thing.

25. Excitement.  You're such a wonderful motivator!

26. Opportunities.  I may not take advantage of all of them, but I'm happy that you at least have a presence in my life.

27. Peaceful places.  'Nough said.

28. Good books to read.  You know, the ones I want to read.  Not necessarily the ones I'm "supposed" to be reading.  It's my form of escapism.

29. Pleasant people.  The people I know are also pleasant, but in this case, I'm talking about the people I don't know personally.  It's really easy to treat someone you don't know like crap because statistically, you'll never see them again.  So thank you for choosing to be a decent human being.

30. Imagination.  Without this, I'm not sure where I would be right now.  I kind of rely on imagination a lot.

I'm sure this is going to be a very common thing across the blogosphere, but what is something that you're thankful for?  Tell me in the comment section below or leave a link to your own list!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

College Edition: What's Kind of Freaking Me Out

So, I had my graduation party last Saturday, and my parents gave me three books about getting acclimated to the various parts of college.  One of the books in question is called "How to Survive Your Freshman Year" by hundreds of Students and Some Great Advisors.  As I'm reading this book, there are a few things that are kind of freaking me out when I wasn't freaked out about going to college before.  So I thought that I would make a list out of it!

1. The Amount Of Drinking and Drug Use That Is Mentioned.  I'm not much of a party person.  I would much rather stay in with a small group of people and watch a movie or even go out for dinner.  This whole drinking and party scene is going to be one of the biggest culture shocks for me-- that is, if one really exists on my campus.  I've been lucky enough to have picked friends who aren't interested in drinking or doing drugs and my exposure to this kind of scene is limited to my adventures in France.  And I didn't even take part.  I was too scared to function.

2. The Roommate Nightmare Stories.  I think that I'm very lucky to have a little prior knowledge about my roommate since we've traveled together and we went to school together, but what if there's a third girl in our room?  What if she turns out to be some kind of nightmare child whom we end up babysitting half of the time?  This book contained stories about people who had to have five or six roommates before finally, someone was a good fit.  I don't want to have to go through that.

3. Time Management.  I've always been very terrible at this.  Sure, I get things done and I've managed, thus far, to maintain a Good Student status.  But I've read, many times over, that college is different because there are a few large, very meaningful assignments rather than hundreds of insignificant ones.  So I know that there will be more work that I need to do.  Leaving everything until the last minute is not going to be an option any more.  What am I going to do?

4. Balancing Everything.  Sleeping, socializing, studying... maybe this will come more easily than I think, but the theory that these are all things I will have to maintain, just as I have had to maintain most of my life, is a little scary.  Have you ever played Sims?  It's a little stressful making sure they don't have to pee, aren't hungry, aren't sleep deprived, have enough social interaction... it's exhausting making sure that they have all of these things.  That's what is feels like to be facing this challenge, even if it hasn't posed much of a challenge in the past.  Everything is different now, somehow.

I guess I made this list in the hopes that someone will commiserate or will volunteer advice or kind words to let me know that I'm overreacting (I hope!).

Thanks for reading and for helping!

--Jude

The Top 6 Most Exciting Things About Graduating High School

Since my last day of high school is a week from today and my graduation is on 31 May, I thought I'd start up the list trend again (they won't all be related to graduation and college, I promise).  Let me know what you think and feel free to add in your own two cents!  I like discussions ^_^

1. Now I Get to Study What I Want to Study!  Yeah, I will have requirements that I will need to fulfill in order to graduate from college, but I won't have such a limited number of class to choose from as I did in high school.  If I need to fulfill a health requirement, I don't need to take "Health Class Quarter 1," I can take tennis or volley ball.  If I need to take a science class, I'm not limited to Biology, Chemistry, Environmental, and Physics.  I could take astronomy, if that's available!

2. The Chance to Get Into a New Environment!  A lot of times, going off to college involves moving out of your parents house, so that's one way in which the environment can change.  Even if you're not moving out, you're not going back to your high school, you're in an entirely new school or you're working or you're traveling.  Whatever it is you're doing after school, it's going to be different than your average high school day.

3. New Opportunities!  I was lucky enough to be in a high school that liked when people became involved, so there were plenty of opportunities already, but with graduating, it means that I am of the age where I can do things that I couldn't do in ninth grade.  I have a stronger drive to get involved in theater, I'm at an age where more people trust me to hold down a job in the area... the list could go on an on and even include number four on this list.

4. Meet New People!  I switched schools for high school, so I've only been with this particular group of people for four years, but just like after middle school, I will have an opportunity to meet new people.  There is more of an opportunity to be social because just about everyone I will meet in college will be living with and/or around me.  I'm ready for this next step!

5. You Start School Later Than Your Siblings in Middle/High School (Unless You Do Sports)!  Just another thing I can taunt my baby sister about :)

6. No More Advanced Placed (AP) Classes!  I am so sick and tired of these.  I just finished my last one (Statistics) ever on Wednesday.  Good riddance, AP classes!

Thanks for Reading!  I'll mix these lists in between reviews of all types so that they don't get annoying and redundant.

--Jude

Happy Thanksgiving!

Later today, my family and I are going to have a non-traditional Thanksgiving.  Instead of family, we're going to have neighbors dropping by whenever they can, whether that's for dinner or afterward for football.  I'm really excited for dinner though.  It's one of the few holidays where we can eat stuffing and a lot of other yummy things and have it be okay.

For me, Thanksgiving has never been about celebrating the pilgrims.  Yeah, I've heard the stories, but I didn't find it worth celebrating.  It's a day to sit back and look what you have right in front of you-- plenty of food on the table, good friends and family, whether they could join you for dinner or not, things like that.

I thought that I'd continue my habit of making lists and make a list of a lot of the things I'm thankful for.  They're not placed in any particular order.

1. Internet Access.  Without this, almost nothing that I do would be possible or it would at least be very difficult to do.

2.  Friends and Family.  Without them, I would be bored and lonely.  Not to mention that it would be hard to come by really cool people.

3. Metro Transit.  They help to get you from Point A to Point B in one piece and usually the drivers are pretty friendly, which is great, because being a bus driver can't be the easiest job in the world.

4. Finished College Applications.  I can now enjoy good food and company without having that stuff hanging over my head.  Bring it on, waiting period!

5. Music.  I would be bored and my life would be drastically different without it, considering that many of my hobbies are music related.

6. My Current and Previous Schools.  Yeah, we might have had a rough relationship at times, but in the end, it's going to make me better and it'll be the starter block for something even greater to come.  If I get nothing else out of my schooling experience, it'll be cool stories and a high school diploma.

7. My Boyfriend.  He quickly became my best friend and he's kept me sane for almost three years.  Thanks for dealing with my mood swings, being there for me always, and helping me function normally in society, love!

8. And last, but not least... You.  My Followers.  Without you, I would just be talking to myself and that's just weird.  So thanks to all 165 of you, I have an invested hobby that has and always will keep me interested and motivated to read everything that comes my way.

Happy Thanksgiving and Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Things I've Noticed Since I Started Preparing for College

1. In Some Ways, I'm Distancing Myself and in Others, I'm Being Distanced.  The second part of this sentence isn't as true as it used to be.  I'm thinking mostly of my church now.  A year or two ago, there really wasn't anything for the older half of senior high except for a trip, which was a lot of fun, but there wasn't anything else to do besides that.  Now, the youth director is making more of an effort to include everyone, which is really nice.

As for the first part of the sentence, I feel like this is still true because a lot of changes are being made and most of the people in my graduating class aren't going to be affected by these changes, so we're not really interested in taking a part in these decisions because they don't effect us.  This sounds terrible and absolutely selfish, but honestly, I've noticed that this happens in people of all ages, not just people getting ready for college.


2. I've Been Hanging Out With Friends More.  This isn't a bad thing!  I've just noticed that I've been making more of an effort to hang out with my friends because I won't get to see them until I come home for holidays or even for just a weekend.  And even then, they might be busy.  In years past, I would put off hanging out thinking that I had "more important things to do," (which was probably homework), but now I've felt like I'm on a race against the clock-- I only have so much time left here, and it's a little distressing.  This is one of the bigger things I've regretted in my high school career-- not hanging out with my younger friends and/or friends that go to different schools than mine.


3. Trying New Things.  I've tried theater, mostly (I'm planning on auditioning for another play in December-- it's a musical called 'Into the Woods'-- and I'm also planning on writing a one-act play).  I'm preparing to leave the country in five/six months time. I'm making new friends and realizing old friends that I didn't think I had.  It's an amazing experience.


4. I'm Much Busier.  This is probably a bit of a given.  I'm filling out college applications, applying for scholarships, keeping up with the classes that I have now, trying to manage my own life and make things happen for me.  Just to name a few things.


5. I'm Testier Than Usual.  Part of it is due to general stress.  There's a lot to do!  The other part comes from Biology class.  This is the first year where on more than one occasion, I've left the building for the day fighting back tears of rage.


6. I'm Closer to my Mom.  It's not that I have a bad relationship with my mom, it's because she is the one that has taken me on road trips to visit the colleges that I've been interested in.  As a result, I've had ample opportunity to talk with her about my future plans, what I want, and then just to talk in general.  It's been really nice and I really appreciate it.  On top of that, she's the one that has been checking my essays for scholarships, filling out things for my France trip that I'm not allowed to do myself, and checking over my college applications to make sure everything is in order and so I know what I'm supposed to ask for when I go to the counselor's office.

Note: These points that I've made don't necessarily apply to every person who is preparing for college.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

Reasons Why I Wish I Could Participate in No Shave November Like a Dude

1. I would have a legitimate mustache and beard to stroke when I'm deep in thought.  I stroke my chin naturally (mostly when I'm in over-exaggerated thought) and I think having something to actually stroke would make the experience completely worth it.


2. Natural face-warmer for the winter.  I'm not a dude, but just having a beard seems like your face would be warmer.  If you are an adolescent boy and older reading this, please leave a comment and tell me if this speculation of mine is true or utter crap.  I'm genuinely curious.


3. It's for a good cause.  Yeah!  It's kind of like what's done to raise awareness for breast cancer-- Susan G. Komen's Race for the Cure and Avon's breast cancer walk... organizations and events like that.  The only difference is No Shave November is to raise awareness for prostate cancer (another version of world-suck).

But there's something the ladies can do in support of No Shave November...

I can't tell you how much I want a hat like this... I think I'm going to have to get better at knitting.  Or, if you know where I could possibly go to find one, leave a comment and I will be your best friend forever!

Or, I suppose you could just not shave your legs, but that tends to get a little gross after a while... it's different if you're growing a beard, which is strange, because you're doing the same thing that leg hair is doing, only it goes on your face...

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

7 of the Most Annoying Qualities in Unruly Teachers

You know we've all had at least one.

Of course unruly teachers are annoying in general, but I've decided to compile a list of the most annoying (in my opinion) qualities of annoying teachers, mostly so I don't become one of these Annoyingly Bad Teachers.

1. Speaking Too Quietly.  All The Time.  I hate it when teachers think that they're speaking loud enough and even when we (being the students) let them know that we can't hear them, they don't change their volume.


2. Talking, Talking, Talking, Talking...  I have at least one teacher that does this.  We sit down to have work time and without warning, they'll begin to address the class about "small learning communities" or "respecting everyone" when we're doing just those things, but they can't recognize it.


3. Clear as Mud.  This drives me even further up a wall.  It's really irritating when teachers don't write down (even if it's online!) the assignments we are supposed to do and when they are due.  They just assume that we heard them the first time and if they have bad quality number 1 on this list, it's a huge problem.


4. Presumptuousness.  I've had this problem within the past few days, actually.  I like to make sure that I heard things right, so often times, I will ask again, just to make sure that I understood the first time.  My pet peeve is when teachers think I'm stupid for asking again.  That's not the only example, but I don't want to become even angrier about this just by writing about it more.  To be fair, I'm probably being presumptuous myself.


5. Dumping a Lot of Work On a Student in a Short Period of Time.  I'm not talking about projects, per se, but just a lot of little assignments to do within the span of a week.  Worst yet, the easy but time-consuming assignments that are numerous and due at the end of the week.  Seriously, it's not fair to anyone involved.  The students have more than one class and then the teacher has to grade everything times however many classes they have.  Really, who's winning this situation?


6. No Variety in Teaching.  Maybe it's just me, but I get sick of learning the same way every day.  I can't watch movies all the time (unless it's a film class), I can't take notes all the time, I need to do labs, I need to read different kinds of books, I need to do projects.  If a teacher does any one of these things more than 70% of the time, I don't know how everyone is expected to learn what they're supposed to learn.


7. Overly-Strict Bad Teaching.  When a teacher is in the middle of teaching and suddenly they'll just go quiet for seemingly no reason.  When we look around, we see that they're looking at one person and we're confused as to why.  Then they proceed to explain why this person is being disrespectful and then goes back to talking.  Or during group work time, they expect us to be dead silent.  I don't understand how the whole communication thing is meant to work...

Maybe it's a personality clash and maybe it's just pent up nervousness...

Before I sign out, I'll just say that this post was not meant to offend, merely blow off steam.  I apologize to no end if this has managed to offend you.  I have nothing but respect for the teaching profession and those awesome teachers that know what they're doing.

If this becomes a problem post, I will take it down, no problem.

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

7 Countries I Would Like to Visit

So, if you know me even a little bit, then you'll know that my number one plan in life is to travel.  A lot.  And I want to go everywhere!  But since there isn't nearly enough room to put down EVERY country, I'm going to narrow it down to 7 places put in no particular order.

1. Australia.  It has been my dream for the longest time to go to Australia.  I plan to study there during college and I might even follow the example of THESE BLOGGERS and go again after college.  They went for a month, but while reading their writing, it felt like they were rushing and were forced to kind of do the things at the top of there list as opposed to being able to take their time and enjoy more than they already did.  So I'd love to spend a summer there after I graduate from college.


2. The United Kingdom.  As an avid reader, I've fallen in love with Harry Potter, but that's not the (only) reason why I want to go to the UK.  I would love to see the history and have fun "time traveling" going between castles and more modern cities.  It would be very neat!  I would love to study abroad here as well.  Also, I'd love to learn to drive on the right side of the road.  That in itself sounds like an adventure!


3. China.  A few days ago, I was looking at my friend's pictures when she went to China for a month with some people from her Chinese class.  It looks like such a beautiful country and even though I don't know the language, I think it would be quite fun!  And I'd be sure to have a few important words and phrases written down just in case I did run into trouble.  It's only been recently (like, within the past few months) that I've expressed an interest (more to myself that anything) in visiting any part of Asia.  That makes me sound like a bad person... understand that I hold no prejudice against anyone of the Asian persuasion or anyone who currently lives in an Asian country.


4. Greece.  Again, this is also a fairly recent development.  Maybe it comes from watching too much "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" or reading Lena's scenes in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," but the country has become more and more appealing to me.  And I love most Greek food!  I bought a Greek cook book and my friend Avery and I have been trying different recipes in it.  I'd just love to explore the birth place of Greek mythology (can I tell you how mad I was when I found out that my English teacher in ninth grade decided to take a trip to Greece two years after no longer being in her class?  Not happy at all... I was internally seething with jealousy and rage...).


5. Indonesia.  Okay, I blame "Eat, Pray, Love" for this one.  The people there seemed really adorable and I'd just like to get to know the culture more.  This is one of the places where I plan to teach in the future (if they'll let me).


6. Ireland.  Again, another movie, though the movie wasn't what caused this fascination with Ireland.  You know that scene in "Marley and Me" where Marley is left at home but John and Jenny decide to go on a belated honeymoon to Ireland?  The landscape there was so beautiful, and again, I'd love to appreciate the people and the Irish culture (I'm sick of the stereotypes that everyone in Ireland drinks... I won't believe it until I see it for myself).


7. Spain.  Since I discovered that I can still speak Spanish (not a lot, mind you, but enough to communicate), I've wanted to visit a Spanish-speaking country.  Maybe that'll be Mexico (actually that's on my list too) but I've got a friend who goes to Spain quite often and her dads live there now.  If I ask, I bet we could eventually plan a trip together.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

7 Reasons Why Braces Suck

(Don't worry, they're fake.  If they weren't, this would be incredibly gross...)

1. The Ability to Whistle Vanishes Entirely or is Significantly Reduced.  Personal Experience.  When I was younger and my teeth were "screwed up" (my mother admits that my teeth weren't that bad.  They could have been much worse, any way), I was able to whistle quite loudly.  My childhood friends and I would hold impromptu contests to see who could whistle the loudest.  Most of the time, I would win.  Sometimes my friends got lucky.  Five or six years ago, when I got my braces off, I found that I could not whistle.  Or when I could muster up a whistle, it was absolutely pathetic.  It's because my teeth have shifted so that they're the "right way" and now they have no whistling capability.  Or a very reduced whistling capability.

2. Flossing is Impossible.  My orthodontists and dentist kept giving me these strange flossing wands so that I could floss.  They still give them to me now because I have a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth and I still need to floss them.  But it's like a pep-talk.  Once I left the dentist, I was all excited about flossing and that's what I wanted to do as soon as I go home!  I would thread the flossing wand and begin flossing with a lot of gusto!  Then I realized just how many spaces there were between my teeth... there are a lot... flossing took a long time, and then I realized why I hate flossing.  Then I wouldn't floss.  Then my mom would remind me that I had an orthodontist/dentist appointment the next morning and I would rush to the bathroom and floss and brush my teeth really well (I'm a good brusher, just not flosser) and I would do the same thing the next morning so that when I walked into that office and sat in that chair, the dentist/orthodontist believed that I had been doing precisely as they asked me to do.

3. No gummy Foods for as Long as They're on Your Teeth.  I loved fruit snacks when I had braces.  I would eat gummy food any way and no bracket ever broke off, but let me tell you how nearly impossible it is to get the gummy food out from between the wires and away from your brackets.  It's horrible.

4. You Can't Actually Pick Up Radio Stations.  I will admit that I've tried this several times.

5. Everything Gets Stuck In Them!  'Nough said.

6. Orthodontists Are Big Liars.  Before I continue, I would like to take this moment to apologize if you are a dentist/orthodontist and are reading this.  Personal story that isn't mine.  My sister is finally going to begin the process of getting her braces taken off in less that two weeks.  At the beginning of her term, before they were even on, she was told that she would get them off in about two years (which, if you don't know, if fairly basic).  Almost a year after that deadline, she still has them on because the orthodontist just wasn't satisfied with their lineage (or the way the were lined up... I'm not sure if that's the proper way to use this word).

7. Horrible School Pictures That Make You Not Want to Smile a Tooth Smile for a Long Time.  I was unfortunate enough to have two school pictures with my braces on.  I discovered that if you smile and you have darker-colored braces on (I'll say that I did about 70-80% of the time) it looks like, from a distance, that you have holes in your teeth.  That's how mine looked any way.  So I only smiled in pictures with my mouth closed, and then when I got them taken off, I couldn't remember how to smile with my teeth showing without being awkward.

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

11 Things I Wish That I Had Known At The Beginning of High School

1. Freshman Don't Actually Get Dumped In Trashcans.  Believe it or not, this is just a movie thing.  Maybe it differs from school to school, but generally, none of my friends have reported having been thrown in a trashcan as a freshman.  Sure, we'll talk about it, and even at times someone will crawl into or be put in a trashcan for a movie (I think that happened in French 3), but at that time, you'll know it's happening and it won't be scary at all.

2. High School Passes by Fast.  To throw in a cliché, it feels like I only yesterday I walked through the front doors of South High (my school) and marveled at just how many people were concentrated in this big building with few windows.  Now it's just a part of my day that I hardly notice or care about any more.


3. Sophomore Year Means You're Kind of a Nobody On the High School Totem Pole.  It sounds horrible, but when you think about it, you're not a freshman any more, so you can't get away with not knowing anything (except for the first few days of the new school year), but you're not an upperclassman yet.  So where does that leave you?


4. Complete Your Health and Gym Credits Right Away!  Like, as a freshman, if you can swing it.  Personal experience.  I'm in the process of completing my final quarters of health now, as a senior and it kind of sucks because on top of applying to colleges and getting ready to graduate and travel in six-to-eight months, it's the last thing that I want to worry about, yet I still have to.


5. Visit Colleges/Figure Out/Start Figuring Out What Your After-High-School Plan Is.  I mean, you don't have to know precisely what you want to do or how you want to get there, but a general plan such as, "I want to go to college" or "I want to go into the work force" or "I want to travel for a while" is a good start.  Have that goal and get an idea of what you like and gradually work towards that just in case.  Even if you never end up needing the classes that looked interesting to you, at least you were prepared in case you did actually need them.


6. High School is Boring if you Don't Get Involved.  I've discovered that this year when I joined the GSA.  Now, every Wednesday, I have something to look forward to after school.  It's a good way to meet new people that have similar views and interests as you.  I would have loved to be apart of theater, but for the few days that I was auditioning, I was kept busy for a few hours after school and it was nice to be relatively busy.  I can only imagine what it would be like to actually be in a play-- busy for several weeks, several days a week!  No matter what happens, you won't regret that you at least tried and you'll have fun being apart of whatever group you decide to join.


7. Don't Take Classes Just Because Your Friends Are Taking Them.  Last year, I took precalculus because I didn't want people I knew to flaunt their smarts at me because I wasn't taking precalculus.  I took the class because I knew people that were.  Precalculus sucked for me.  I passed the class, but now I realize how much of a waste it was for me (emphasis on "For Me") because as a future English teacher, I can't foresee ever needing to use any kind of calculus.  If I actually need it for something other than college (and even then, I'm going to try and avoid it as long as possible) I'll be sure to let you know...  In the end, I met awesome people that I hope to stay in touch with after high school, but I now realize that I was in that class because my friends were there, not because I was actually interested in the subject.  It was too much for me and I didn't understand everything like I thought that I should.


8. Know Your Limits and Only Test Them to a Certain Extent.  In school, there's a fine line between a challenge and stress.  I believe that it's good to challenge yourself, but I will advise you to step back and evaluate yourself really quick.  Are you normally a straight-A student who is feeling stressed all the time and is failing Class X?  Perhaps that's your limit, and you're set on attending Class X at some point, maybe it would be best to work up to it.  You're like one of those Glad Force-Flex garbage bags (sponsor?  No...).  You can take something sharp and push the pointy end right into the plastic and it won't rip for a while.  But keep pushing that point object until the plastic is tight and it's going to break.

Oh metaphors!


9. Online School is Your Friend.  To clarify, I don't attend a full-time online school.  I attend online school part-time because I go to regular public school and my schedule it too full to do anything else.  This includes an art class and health/gym.  So guess what I'm doing?  Instead of dropping Wind Ensemble (band) and forfeiting my chance to go to Washington D.C. a week or less after coming home from France, I'm taking care of business online so I don't have to worry about not being able to walk across that stage at the end of May.  So if you're having trouble fitting everything in and online is an option, definitely do it.


10. Save, Save, and Save a Few More Times!  Okay, this isn't something that I've failed to learn throughout high school, but it's just too important to not include.  How many of us have been typing away at our computers writing that super important paper that's due tomorrow or throwing in the final edits to your group's PowerPoint or video project when suddenly, the power goes out!  How many times have you saved this project while you were on a roll cranking out information onto a page or in video format?  Once.  In the beginning, when you were still formulating ideas.  Yeah... just save a lot and also turn in the automatic save.  It won't save everything, but that way if the power does go out or your computer dies unexpectedly, you'll only be set back a little bit instead of having to write the entire paper over again.  Also, if you're not sure if you saved before to close the paper for the night, save it again just in case.


11. Travel With Your Classmates!  This is only something that I've found out as recently as last year.  When I went to Chicago with the music department, I knew very few people (my stand-partner and some people that I shared a class or two with) and I was nervous, but excited.  After coming home from just a weekend in Chicago, I was better friends with a girl named Yi-Ting, who was in the middle of her second year as an exchange student because she loved the school and the people so much that she decided to wait and graduate with the senior class last year.  I formally met a girl named Sarah who is an excellent artist and tenor saxophone player who loves to write like I do.  By traveling with your classmates, you get to know that people that you've been walking next to for your entire high school career and you get to have experiences that you never thought that you would get to have nor knew that you wanted to have.

Thanks for reading!

--Jude

P.S. I've come up with a list of lists that I could write in order to make up for the lack of book reviews for the time being.  If this is something that you want to see more of, let me know and I'll continue working through my list of lists.  I'm sure they'll end up here eventually, but do you want to see different lists in a row?  I promise it won't be to-do lists or anything, but like, ones of experience or experiences that I want to have.  I think I have 11 in my arsenal right now.  What are your ideas?