This is not that hard

OK, I was homeschooled, right, so I really don’t know too much about normal school. Well, everyone I kept talking to said college is really difficult. I honestly kind-of think that once you hit a specific point, the material doesn’t get that much harder (at least in subjects like history), just more detailed and specific. And you are just expected to think more. It’s not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Plus we have tons of free time. Miss B.’s friend gave her a scrapbooking kit and she said she might let me work on it. That would be so cool – I’ve never scrapbooked before. Hope is still trying to trick me into doing Relay for Life. I don’t want to. Harper said she is going to do it, and Sam said she probably will then too but really, I would just feel uncomfortable. Hope is totally pumped about it, Harper’s kind-of embarrassed (why, I am not sure), and Sam doesn’t want to leave me alone if she doesn’t do it, but I can tell she’s really trying to support Hope.

16 random things about me (idea stolen from Miss B.’s facebook):
1. I am a competitive ice skater and just placed third in nationals.
2. I have made my own ice skating costumes ever since I started. My mom and coach help.
3. I am really good friends with my coach, Coach OH!
4. It takes me a long time to trust people. I make friends pretty quickly but my very good friends are few and I’ve known them for a long, long time.
5. I am pretty outgoing and some people might describe me as brutally honest and/or blunt.
6. I am fascinated by medicine. I want to be a pediatric oncologist who specializes in leukemia.
7. Coach OH! is supposed to move to Omaha soon, but in the meantime I am working with a new coach who is really cool, but he’s really demanding. I like that in a coach.
8. If I had gone to “normal” school I’d have missed so many days I would have probably been kicked out.
9. This past spring and summer I sailed around the world with my venturing crew.
10. I was never a Girl Scout, but I did take ballet. Those are like the two essential elements of girlhood. I am back taking ballet now because of skating.
11. Miss B. has this box of popcorn on her shelf that she won’t share with me, and popcorn is my favorite food. When I smell it, I can’t resist making a bag myself or stealing some from wherever it is. It’s like an addiction.
12. Contrary to a lot of homeschoolers, I’ve never taken an online course. I like having someone there in person to teach me. I have taken classes with other kids before I came to college.
13. I’m not sure if I want to have kids, but I think it would be after I got my career established. But I do want a big white wedding. And to marry a lobsterman and live on an island in the blue bay. No seriously.
14. I am still waiting for a prince to come whisk me away on his white horse. I LOVE Disney films.
15. I like to go around singing random lines from songs, really off-key. Currently my favorite is “How Lucky We Are” by Meiko. It tends to drive people crazy.
16. I can tie every knot in the Boy Scout handbook, except for the noose. I refuse to learn that one, for obvious reasons. I love tying knots. Learning them can be hard at first, but really rewarding, at least for me.

My Favorite Disease

Before I say anything… let me say that I am still obsessed with “Boys with Girlfriends”. I don’t even know why, because to be honest it really has nothing to do with my life. But it’s just so catchy! I can’t stop singing the refrain. And Meiko’s voice is so unique which makes the song even cooler. I am listening to it right now. If you haven’t heard it yet, WATCH THE VIDEO. I even posted it for you!!

I think it is really cool that I am making some online friends. Hi Sophie and Sabine! :)

So I’m at Creighton! Cool, no? Although I did some extra classes with other kids, I am totally used to homeschooling with just me and my brothers. It’s weird, but really fun to be in class with other kids. I’m so used to commenting on EVERYTHING though that I am not sure if the other kids are used to that. On one hand, it’s a little intimidating because all of these other people are watching me, but again, I have done classes with other kids before so it’s not totally new, and I’m so used to just discussing everything automatically. It should be a good experience.

I’m doing pre-med. I’m going to be a pediatric oncologist. I haven’t decided though what I actually want to major in. Since I came in second semester I am taking General Bio II. It honestly seems like review so far, but I did a lot of bio in homeschool, since it’s my favorite science. My favorite class though, is my history class. I did a ton of AP testing so I actually have sophomore standing. I am taking a class called History of Plagues, Epidemics and Infections. It is basically the most AWESOME class ever. When I go to the library, my favorite books to check out are either nonfiction ones about medicine, or memoirs having to do with medicine. Well, in this class we are reading all these cool books about epidemics that have happened – or MIGHT happen – like cholera, the plague, bird flu, TB, and cancer. It is so so so interesting. And on the first day the professor asked us what our favorite disease was. I had to think. I am still not sure, my default is CML, but there have got to be more exciting things than that.

Like over break, Miss B. and I read this book called Bitten, which is about the weird things that happen when you get, well, bitten. You can get the WEIRDEST infections. Then we were watching Mystery ER and they have these multiple-choice things before the commercials where you have to guess the disease. Leishmaniasis was on there and we knew it. It was so exciting. It’s this disease spread by a sand fly in South America and Asia. It causes these weird sores which we looked up and are pretty disgusting. But anyways, it was a good book, and I considered leishmaniasis for my favorite disease just because I got it right on the multiple choice! (Even though I usually get those right, if only by process of elimination, like knowing what the others are or that it would be a genetic disease, etc.) So I know that is a really weird question and it probably grossed you all out… haha. Harper, another girl at OWT, likes to watch those shows too, so she usually watched them with us. It was fun. Miss B. says she usually makes Sam watch them because she has funny reactions and is too nice to say she won’t. I think it’s really cool that I found someone who watches the same shows as I do.

Hope is here at college with me. She usually goes to Julliard, but Miss B. told her about how we’re having a Broadway star, Michele Pawk (Mayzie in Seussical), living on our floor this semester, so Hope decided to do an exchange program so she could live with her. As far as I can tell, Hope is really obsessed with celebrities, especially Broadway actresses. And apparently it’s really easy to do exchanges between any schools that any of the other OWT girls are at because you just room with them and the College Connections program transfers credits and stuff. (I don’t know why I’d leave Juilliard to go here though!!) Hope isn’t in my history class, she is in History of Musical Theater. But she listens to me go on about it and seems understanding. She is really into Relay for Life, and keeps trying to get me to do it but I think it would be a little weird. Anyway.

Harper and Sam are supposed to get here today. Hope and I took some pictures of ourselves, so I should have those up soon. Today I forgot that my history class was only on Monday and Wednesday, so I flipped out about getting the homework in online, and then almost went to class! Luckily I checked my schedule! The whole classes-on-different-days thing is really strange, but kind-of nice because you have a lot of free time. Miss B. is rushing sororities so she is never here. Hope wanted to, but she can’t because she’s not an actual Creighton student, and they don’t have sororities at her college. I wasn’t really interested, and since I just got here thought I’d do it next year if anything. Kit-Kat sent us an email that they are rushing (they are back at OWT doing some sort of “self-study” semester…?!). Anyway, their sororities are Kappa Iota Theta and Kappa Alpha Theta. Hmm.

Also, I think it’s kind-of funny that I had to make a separate tag for Hope (“Hope S.”) because apparently I talked about “hope” already. Haha.

Back from the Doctors

I will write an official post later, but as I know you are all dying to know the verdict on me skating…

Dr. K. told me it was up to me whether I wanted to keep skating or not!  I’m borderline-low, which means there could be some risk, but even she was like, um, well, skating isn’t exactly that dangerous… and she said she’d love to see me in the Olympics!

So of course I said I was going to keep skating… my mom, however, keeps trying to push me to stop.  I don’t understand – she’s the one who decided to homeschool me so I could get intense training.

I have to get some more tests (story of my LIFE) but Dr. K. says as long as I’m not falling over 24/7 if I want to skate, I can skate.

Yes!  And as I said, I’ll have more later after my lovely practice session with Coach OH! and then probably more tales of my favorite rental counter… ;)