First Week of School

So, this past week has been my first week of second semester classes.   My schedule this semester is going to be sooooo busy.... but I think it'll ok.  

In RA life,  all my residents are back.  I'm keeping my door open as much as possible so that my residents can get to know me.  They seem really sweet.  We had our first floor meeting which was kinda nerve racking, being introduced to 50 people at once, but it still went well.  I'm staying very organized with my palm pilot, as long as I have that I'll be fine. 

 Theory will be, well theory, but I'm not lost yet so that's good.  

Women's chorus is the same as usual, we have a concert in a little over a month.  

 American Education is a little boring, but actually really interesting.  I learned that the starting rate for teachers in Illinios is $43,000.  And then after five years you get an automatic $10,000 raise....so I'm looking at about $53,000 eventually.  Which isn't bad... I thought I was going to get like.....30 grad tops.  lol.  So that is really good.   

Music History is a lot better.  He changed the format of the tests to all multiple choice cause so many people were doing bad.  And plus it is folk music and stuff (maple leaf rag, pop music).... stuff I can actually distinct from one another and interests me.   

Italian will be good, I love my teacher and taking that class already has helped me in choir and voice lesson (good idea on my part).

I had my first voice lesson today,  it went amazing.  She gave me this Italian Aria that I TOTALLY LOVE and relate to!   It goes up to high A's, all over the place...and today for some reason I was ON!  BOOYAH!  I was hitting those A's like nothing,  I got up to a D!  A high D!  That's insane!  But yea the last time we sang through it my teacher goes "Brava!"  and claps and that was the best moment ever!  We talked about my jury and what happened and she was upset with a bunch of things and she is emailing someone about it I guess... I said it was fine since I got an A, 94.8 a little low but I'll take it, anyway.  But she wants to.

Tomorrow I head for Peoria Il. for IMEA (Illinois Music Educator Association) conference.  It's always a lot of fun and I'm excited to see all the different workshops.  Should be back late Friday night!  

:-D

I got honorable mention for "The Essential Piece!"  Every week at our large staff meeting we nominate someone who we thought did really well this week.  I got honorable mention!  Yay!

"Amanda... You colleagues said the following about you:

"Because she brought a new resident from our floor to meet us while checking in on duty"

"For putting up her social lounge boards early and helping me with my apply advertisements"

"She will be a great member to our team"   "

Guess I am doing something right! :-D

Firsts

I actually don't mind being an RA.... right now... when there are no people in the building.  This past week I did my first days on day duty.  It went fine nothing happened, no move ins nothing so it was easy.   I had my first night duties and did my first rounds.  It went fine... just told people to keep the music down, made sure a girl with a handle of vodka was 21 and so were the people around her (and all DePaul students), and learned how to use the security wand.  I did my first move in with a 30 year old lady from London.  I showed her around and had her meet her RA.  It was  a lot easier than I thought, and I feel a lot more comfortable with it now.  This weekend is my first closed weekend, which means I cannot leave the UC and I have to move in people basically all weekend.   

Oh!  I also put up my first bulletin board in the lounge.  It is Pick Up Lines.... just something to read and laugh at and maybe pick up a few pointers from what with Valentines Day coming up.  It turned out really really good and I'm proud of it!  Pics will come later.  

I was busy this last week, and it kinda worries me cause I am going to be REALLY busy once school starts.  I think I'll be ok though as long as I keep my palm pilot updated (which it is right now, all my classes everything).  

Fortune

I opened a fortune cookies today and it said this: 

"You'll accomplish more later if you take some time for yourself."  

SWEET!

I'm offically an RA.

Right now I am on duty... my first time EVER!  I'm kinda nervous.  Cause I don't really have to do anything, just carry a radio around and do rounds (you walk every floor, listen for commotion etc...) I got my card changed today so it says "University Center Resident Advisor".  It gets me into the RA Resource Room and now my meal plan is into effect.  I'm a full flegged RA!  WOOT!

WEEKEND!

On Saturday I went to Wirlyball with all the other RA's.  There was an arcade there and lasertag and of course, wirlyball.  Wirlyball is basically basketball, except instead of useing your hands you use a scoop like the top of a lacross stick.  And instead of running, your in bumper cars.... it was a blast!  Lasertag was sooooo much fun!  There were blacklights everywhere and it was sooo awesome!  Afterwards I went to Jamies apartment where he had baked me some Pasta Shells stuff with cheese (yummy!) and set the table and everything.  (it was cute!)  

On Sunday Jamie's mom came up and we all went to the Aquarium.  We saw a 4D movie about the Shallow Seas.  I love the Aquarium and always enjoy going.  We also went to the Rainforest Cafe.  I had a Chicken Chimechunga and it was SOOO good, it had cheese spread over it and it was so delicious!  yum!  It was a good weekend! I had a lot of fun and it was a good stress reliever.

Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriday

We had a lot of typical lectures on RA life and such.  Then we had a break, and I got to see Jamie who came up for the weekend for a little bit.  We had a banquet then to celebrate the end of training.  It was good, good food.  I got an award for "Most Likely to Clean Someone's Clock", it was something I had to do for the video.... put snow in another RAs face and say "I'm gonna clean your clock!"  We performed our skits and watched the videos and such from the pervious days scavenger hunt.  It was good fun, my team won the scavenger hunt but not the skit... but that is ok.  Friday night I spent with Jamie, just watching movies and enjoying  the time I have with him.

Thursday!

Thursday started out pretty typical.  Normal day of training in the morning.  Than in the after noon we had to complete a Chicago Scavenger Hunt with our small staffs.   We had to do the YMCA in a random place (we choose the esclator of the DePaul center Barnes and Noble) and have people appauld, we had to high five a random stranger, etc...  It was a lot of fun and I think my team really bonded with it.  We also got together and finally wrote our skit to be performed the next day. 

Wednesday of Training

Wednesday was a little stressful but fun. We did "Behind Closed Doors" which is when half of the RA's go into actual rooms up in the UC, the other half split into groups of four and take turns by two knocking on the door and handling the situation at hand.  The actors were a little over the top, but it was good to see what you do in the situation.  My Advisor Tony thought it would be best to put me in as many as possible, so I did 4 out of 6. The last one was two residents having sex too loud and two other residents were pissed about it cause it happens too often.   My fellow RA and I actually handled it pretty well...  We also covered Drug Awareness and Prevention, which I found really interesting.  Glen raised his hand at the end of the day and said he thought I did really good for my first time at BCD so that made me feel really proud and like I'm actually doing something right.

I GOT A PROMISE RING!

Jamie surprised me tonight when I saw him for a short time to get ice cream with his friend.  We talked about promise rings and he looked at them, but he told me he didn't have any money right now and I expected to get one on Valentines Day (our 6 month).  But he gave it to me tonight!  AH I AM SO HAPPY!  It's white gold with real diamond! I am ready for it, it's not an engagment ring, just a ring to say you mean more to me than anyone else ever has and I can see myself spending a long time with you.   I love him!  I love my ring!  I'm so happy! :-D

Day Numero Dos

Today went by fast.  When we got in they started handing us box and in those boxes were PALM PILOTS!!!!!!   I GOT MY VERY OWN AND IT HAS MY NAME ON IT!  For as long as I am an RA I get to keep it to get organized and such!  SO HAPPY! :D  I cannot wait to learn how to use it!

First Day of Training

The first day of training went relatively well, except I have like three hundred pages of reading and learning to do.  But my schedule worked out, and it's a lot to take in but I think I am doing ok.  I just can't wait to get my hands messy and into it!

RA Schedule

I got my schedule for training this next week.  A little more intense then I thought:

Monday

8 - 11:30 Basic training for new RA's

Noon - lunch

1 - Programming

2 - Duty

3 - Judicial Process

3:30 - Duty Selection

5 - Dinner

Tuesday 

10 - PDA Usage RCR, check in and out

10:30 - What do REC's Do

11 - RSD

11:30 - 1:30 lunch

1:30 - Teambuilder

2 - Duty and RARR recap

3 - Behind Closed Doors

5 - Dinner

6 - ISRAA/OPE/Inauguration/BCD meeting

6:30 - small staff tiem

Wednesday 

10- Behind Close Doors

12 - BCD Processing and IR Practice 

1 - Lunch

2 - Drug Awareness and Prevention

3 - Teambuilder

3:30- work on bulletin boards and floor

5 - Dinner

6 - Fun Time

Thursday

9 - Team builder

9:30 - Programming

11 - Advertising

12:30 - Lunch

1:30 - Chicago scavenger hunt

5 - Dinner

6:30 Small staff time

Friday

10 - Ra Life: Balancing Two Worlds

11 - 3 - PM-TBD Sessions

4 - Finalize skills

5 - End of training banquet

Saturday

Fun Activity Day

I AM AN RA!!!!

"Hey Amanda,

Welcome to the team!  You are about to embark on an epic journey leading you through a range of emotions and successes.  I chose you to be on this staff because I think you have the personality to be an integral piece on our team.  I want our team to take pride and support each other throughout these long days of training, late nights in the Resource Room, and whenever someone just looks like they need someone to listen.  I chose you for this particular staff because you can do it!  Get settled in and reflect on this moment or realizing that you made it as an RA.... now the work begins.  It's going to be a great ride, and I look forward to working with you this year!

Tony Barrett"

I AM AN RA!  I start training tonight at 5 pm.  I am soooo excited!  I also got a new room!  Here are the pics... it's pretty good!   

Christmas Break

Fun but Busy.  Those are a few words that I would use to describe this Christmas break.  Most of my friends are still on their break and will be for the next month.  I however, ended up getting the RA job and am back for training that starts today.  

During break I spent most of my time working at Old Navy in BayPark Mall.  I could usually be found in the fitting rooms there, rarely on the Sales Floor (thank you to my friend who visited me!).  When I wasn't working I was with my friends, trying to get my time in with them while I could.  When I wasn't with my friends, I was with family, celebrating Christmas, doing roundrobin, just spending time with them till I went another 4 months without seeing them again.  And when I wasn't doing that I was on the internet Skypeing with Jamie.

A few highlights were: singing for Christmas mass, Christmas in general, New Years (I had a party at my house, and quite a few people actually showed up!  Very very fun!), and just getting to see my friends.

I'm happy to be back in Chicago, but I wish I could have stayed a little while longer in Green Bay.

Ohio or Bust

When my exams were over (Tuesday)  I planned on going to Ohio to visit Jamie's family.  His family is a little different than mine.  Mine is crazy and huge, about 40 or so on each side.  His consists of basically 7 people.  total.  It was really really cool getting to meet then though.  We drove from Chicago to Fort Recovery Ohio on Wednesday, we got there around dinner time.  We went to his grandmas trailer first to see the amazing Christmas lights that they set up every year.  Pics are below.  After that we went to his aunts house about 20 minutes away where we spent the night.  His aunt and uncle were so sweet!  I really enjoyed the trip and am happy I got to meet his family, I loved them all and I hope I get to meet them again sometime.