Gene Pool Pride

I have the cutest nephew :) I am so proud that we share part of a gene pool.
Mom, Dad, and Reindeer are coming to visit for Christmas, and I am getting really excited to see them!!

The end of the semester comes so quickly! I am still adjusting to the fact that I am no longer a college student and I already am nearly finished with a semester here! Seven more. I have a few cool human tricks to try on everyone when I come home for Christmas :)

Besides spending so much time learning about the human body, (have a muscle? I know what nerve makes it work), I have been shuttling back and forth from here to home to see people, go to a wedding, or avoid doing homework for one weekend.

I am also part of a leadership club here that connects me with several different volunteer opportunities and encourages us to get involved in the community. This weekend I am helping distribute 5000 frozen turkeys to different families in the city. I personally will only be responsible for 5 of them ... thankfully.

I live in Nebraska?

Here I am with my roommates after our professionalism ceremony, where we took oaths about health care and recieved white coats (which we will never wear, except possibly for halloween).

This program is unlike any other part of my educational experience in that it is both very hard and very rewarding. My concept of "getting good grades" has been severely altered to accomodate for my performance on our first round of tests. Percentages and letter grades are just plain depressing -- it is much nicer to think of each class as a simple PASS or FAIL. I am passing.

It's hard to believe that I will be taking midterms next week already, although I'm excited that this semester seems to be going quickly. (Especially since there are 7.5 more of them to come). One of my most interesting classes is Anatomy lab, where we dissect cadavers. Last week invovled a bone saw and safety glasses since we were looking at the lungs and heart. Don't smoke; the surgeon general was right.

Omaha doesn't feel like home, but it is beginning to feel less foreign; I've found a carpool, a church, and the fastest way to the mall.

Begin Again

I'm a freshman for the third time of my life! So far my next 3 years as a Physical Therapy student promise to be challenging yet rewarding (and expensive). There are so many new things to adjust to: new campus and classmates, new car and computer, new roommates and apartment, new church, and the new concept of accumulating knowledge without a shelf-life.

Among all these new things, there is of course the old constant of ...enjoying... a long distance relationship. Good thing home isn't too far away :). I have the feeling that this Labor Day weekend is going to be a good one!

It's A Boy!

I'm an aunt!

Tobias Gerrit Vander Wilt was born last night at 1:56 am to Hannah and Nate.

Check out Hannah's blog for details and more pictures!! (Link in the left-hand margin)

Summer happens

I graduated! I officially hold a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Science. That means nothing, so this fall I'll be starting a doctorate program at Creighton in Omaha studying Physical Therapy. After a semester of leftover classes -- generals that I put off taking as long as possible or forgot were requirements -- I'm immensely excited to take classes that feel relevant. Classes don't start until August, so now I'm working on finding roommates, an apartment, loans (ouch), a car, and my vaccination record. Wedding planning is much more fun.

This summer I'm working for my Dad -- so far I have done essentially nothing and am thinking I should have found employment somewhere else. This is hopefully my last summer of meaningless employment (sorry Dad), and that just makes me more excited for school to start again. 

I have brown hair again.

Other big events of the week included:

--A funnel cake at the tulip festival. Delicious powdered sugar disaster.

--A weigh in from Hannah and iKid. She's due in about 6 weeks ... and still weighs less than me. ??? I guess they should have been here for funnel cakes.

--Jon left for Canada and promised to bring me a fish. What a man.

--I drove to MN with Dad and a (grossly overloaded) trailer of walnut logs to get sawed up. I didn't think the pickup was going to make it off the driveway.

No. 6

6. Take a Photography Class

This is perhaps the least satisfying thing I have ever accomplished off the catch-all list. Monday nights here I spent at photography class. It wasn't what I expected, and it was a hard class to go to. Frustrating things about this class included:

a. Constant, predictable hunger during class

b. My computer crashed halfway through the semester and I lost all my work from the first half. (Not permanently; they're stuck on the hard-drive right now)

c. I tried to drop it and take Pilates instead. Denied by higher powers.

d. My replacement computer got "held for clearance (i.e. $$) in customs and took a month longer getting here than planned, so I had nowhere to edit my pictures

e. One memory card mysteriously deleted itself

f. Extreme navigation and timing skills required to print pictures at appropriate times

g. Accumulating fees

Beyond that, I did learn my way around the menus of my camera as well as some very basic photoshop methods. And this weekend my teacher is taking us rock climbing by Palm Beach! Above is my favorite picture from my portfolio, for which I did not even use the auto setting!

Life In Sydney

I'm here! Sydney is beautiful, even in the winter! I'm almost done with 2 of my 14 weeks of classes and am keeping busy running around the city, taking pictures, meeting new people, emailing home, eating, learning how to use public transportation, and volunteering at a mission. Also studying.

The list of things I've lost is so far very short -- I forgot my alarm clock in the van at the Omaha airport, my flash drive is currently MIA (but it will come back to me), and I left my wallet on the bus on Monday. Some man named Robert called and left a message that he has it for me, but the number he left for us to contact him is missing a digit somewhere, so we have to wait for him to call again. SO! Right now Robert has my name, phone number, drivers license, library card, $7 Australian, my debit card, my student ID card, my insurance card, my $473 dollar transportation pass, a photocopy of my passport, the address of the house where I'm staying, and the key to the front door.

It is a distinct possibility that I might spend tonight making little signs that say something to the effect of "HEY ROBERT!! CAN I HAVE YOUR NUMBER?" and posting them at every bus stop on my line.

Besides that, everything here is great! Sunny, friendly, accented, and surrounded by water. You may mail your expressions of undying love to my name at:

Wesley Institute -- ASC
PO Box 534
Drummoyne NSW 1470
AUSTRALIA

If you need to send something bigger than a letter, send it to my name at

Wesley Institute -- ASC
5 Mary Street
Drummoyne NSW 2047
AUSTRALIA

If you'd like to see more pictures, go to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011762&l=3c23e&id=148300472

Chicagoland!

Roadtrip! We drove through severe thunderstorms, flash flood warnings, tornado watches, and "monsoon type rain," (and past our exit. exits.) But several hours and EL Fudge cookies later we made it!!

We swam, went to the zoo, danced at a wedding, ate amazing Italian food, had a fish fry (yes, I ate fish), climbed dunes, rode a tandem bike, and froze a little in lake Michigan. It was great :) ... and thanksgiving seems like a looooong time away.

No. 5

5. Drink and un-frozen Mr. Freeze

It's gone from the list! I did it :)
Actually it was several weeks ago, and I have to say -- it wasn't that good. It didn't even provoke a picture.

Other than that, my summer is half over! I fly from Omaha to Los Angeles to Sydney on July 15. July 16 never happens because I cross the international dateline. I am avoiding imagining myself contained on a plane for that many hours ... 14 from LA to Sydney. Besides the sitting for so long part, I am getting PRETTY Excited for this semester! (Special thanks to VISA, who will let me spend all the money I do not have in countries all around the world.) I found out I'll be living with a mom and her daughters who are 22 and 24 as well as 2 other girls from the US who will be students at the Wesley Institute with me. Kindof like living at home since I'll have a mom and 2 sisters, and kindof like living at Dordt since I'll be with 4 other girls my age (ish). Just missing a Dad and one more roommate. Also all the boyfriends attached to roommates...

Pray that I don't miss my real family and other people I love too much.

Wishing

I want to be bored.

I want to sit in my room wrapped up in blankets and know that there is no responsibility more important than me sitting there

listening to myself breathe.

Death to finals, recitals, lessons, cleaningfindingasummerjobclasseslaundryextracredit
lecturespracticingresearchpapersemptybankaccounts
signingformsplanningsummerandtheeternalheadache