Big Volleyball Improvements!

Happy Friday!
It's so wonderful to have a three day weekend. I had a class at 9am in the armory. Then I worked from 10:55-12:30pm...it was busy, I was working the hotline and beverage/silverware. In Calc my prof told us he would be in Austria for a week, so we wouldn't have any calc classes the week of the 12th-16th...woohoo!!!!!!! After Astronomy I decided to work out for a while. I lifted some weights and did a bit of cardio, it felt good. I went to dinner with Reika (my floor neighbor) and her friend Robin. In the Busey dining hall I recognized a guy who was in the Philharmonia Orchestra playing the trombone. I introduced myself and Paul (the trombone player) and his friend sat with us girls. After dinner Clay picked me up and we hit the sand volleyball courts to put in some practice before the big Illini Life volleyball tournament. At first I was the only girl and we played against these Brazilian guys, it was intimidating. Then Erin and Mike came and I walked with Erin over to the football stadium for the marching band's "Hat and Scats" (is that what its called) night..pretty much their practice before the football game. It was kinda cool to sit in an empty stadium and see the marching band at work! Afterwards we went back to the volleyball courts and joined the rest of the I-lifers playing volleyball. Erin and Mike left, but four other guys joined us. It was so much fun. Going on a tangent, on one play the ball went out of bounds and I went to get it and saw this hhhhhhuuuugggeeeeeee cockroach and I said "ummm theres this really big bug" and all of the sudden all of the guys ran over to the beetle and suddenly we weren't playing volleyball for the moment...haha...the attention getters of boys! But I improved sooooo much. Even Clay said I improved "more than a little bit" woohoo! I was one of the star servers! We played until 11pm, when the lights turned off. When I got back I took a shower cause I was soooo sandy! And not I'm watching "Forest Gump." I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!!!

Rach

My Study Night!

hello there!
I slept in til about 8:45am......it was extremely sweet. Then I got ready and did a bit of studying before I had to work. Work was fun, and usual like always. Just refilling the silverware and beverages. Then I had bio of human behavior. It's like 100% evolution, but its good that I'm taking this class, I need to know what's out there. It'll help me solidify my faith and beliefs even more! After class I came back to my room and shower and then headed off to my 2nd Philharmonia Orchestra rehearsal. I love playing the violin, it's so fun, and it's cool being in a step up level orchestra, at a university! Afterwards Ashley and I walked to the Union to withdraw money and get dinner, actually I got dinner, Ashley didn't want anything cause she wasn't hungry. I had a slice of cheese pizza from sbarro....yum! Since our I-team was not having an official volleyball practice I decided to "pump some iron," or lift weights at CRCE! I was all by myself working out. But it was nice just to listen to my iPod and talk to Jesus. Walking back to Busey I realized that since Ashley was leaving to hang out with music people, I would be all alone in my dorm room (which is actually good cause I had to study!), but I'd be lonely. So I called my new lovely friend Val, and invited her and Mark to come to Busey Late Night, since I had a lot of credits I needed to spend. Lauren, Mark's gf, couldn't come cause she had to study, bummer. It was fun hanging out with Mark and Val, they are cool people. I gave Mark the grand tour of my room (Val had already seen it before). After they left I hit my bio books and read and took notes. After that I finished up my astro homework...i finished my studying approximately 11:42 pm. I got ready to go to sleep and now I'm here writing to all of you people! After I say goodbye I'm going to spend time with my love, Jesus. Going off on a tangent, I'm really intrigued with old hymns that were redone in a contemporary way. I love listening to the contemporized version of "In Christ Alone" and "It Is Well." I listen to those songs when I walk to class. If there was no one around, I would totally be raising my hands and dancing for Jesus and with Him. Okay then, hehe, well I must depart and talk to a very important person in my life!!!!!!
Goodnight,
Rach

I'm Not The Only Who's Confused

So today I met my first professor, my professor for The Biological Basis For Human Behavior. I was a bit nervous, but it went well. I introduced myself and told him how I was taking his class. Unfortunately he motioned for me to sit down...that means I couldn't just say hi and leave, because sitting would be pointless. So I thought of a random question to ask. Then I left. HA. When I arrived at math class, I found that every other person in the room was freaking out from the homework, and I was actually quite calm compared to them. The Professor felt so bad that he didn't assign any homework today so we wouldn't drop the class! Also you'll see a picture of my homework that was graded with a perfect score and an "Excellent" (note--this is not the homework that i had so much trouble on, that will come soon, if its a good grade hehe) YAY! After all my classes I did a bit of homework and then worked out at CRCE with Matt, afterwards we went to the outpost where people were waiting for Laura and Ty to come home (we were surprising Laura cause it is her 22nd birthday September 1st). We started lighting a bunch of candles and then we thought they were home and rushed and hid. False alarm, we finished up and then hid right when they arrived home. Afterwards everyone hung out and chatted for a while! When I got back to Busey I stopped at Busey late night and got a bunch of fruit since I had so many cafe credits that would expire after tomorrow night! Now I'm stocked with apples, oranges, bananas, and a bagel! Well I need to go to bed earlier! Goodnight.

Rach

P.S.
So Ashley and I decided to do the "8 minute abs" together listening to Wicked as motivational music! We counted to 30 alternating. I said the odd numbers and Ash said the even numbers. Then something happened and we got off and then we started laughing hysterically. Then we decided counting by ourselves. Then we accidentally said at the same time outloud "I'm just gonna do 15 [reps]" That was even funnier. We started laughing so much. Good roommate bonding. I know it isn't funny reading this, but if you saw it, you'd laugh at us!

Mathematical Reality Check

Good morning almost...for its almost midnight, hence morning. I slept in today and then worked. I was in the dishroom...wow I was working really hard. Off to the class Biological Basis of Human Behavior. It was interesting, but confusing. Afterwards Ashley and I were in our room singing along to Wicked and Aida. Haha, I was in a giggly mood. Then off to orchestra! The Philharmonia orchestra. The conductor is new, he's crazy, well I mean..he's very animated and kinda scary. I like it, it's fun and challenging, I gotta practice my part now! Afterwards it was off to I-team! That was fun hanging out with my small group. Afterwards Matt and Jeff helped me with my impossible Calculus homework. But after about an hourish...I was able to figure out solutions (except for the integral of arctan (x^1/2) if anyone knows how to do this i'd greatly appreciate it!!!). I think I realized that Math isn't gonna be easy anymore, and I'm really gonna have to work at it and think a lot about the problems. Then I stopped at Busey Late Night for some pastries while I finished up my Calc work. I need to sleep!!!!

Rach

Completely Overwhelmed, Or Extremely Exaggerating??

Hey...
Okay, so wow an early morning today. I worked from 7:15am-9:45am and then skipped over to ECON 103 (haha just kidding I walked). Ok well I had classes, Math 230 and then ASTR 100. Since I got back, I've pretty much been working on homework. I finished reading chapters 2 and 3 of my Econ book. I worked a lot on my math homework...it's hard...and there's no one to go for to get help. I'll have to ask my professor. I tried reading the assigned chapters for bio for human behavior but it was completely boring and I couldn't understand it. ARGH! One good thing though happened. I was working on my homework around 4:30pmish when the room phone rang. Hmmm..who'd call. It was Lauren and Val, girls from I-Life. They came up to my room to see it. A bunch of people from I-Life are going to a Lifehouse concert Friday and Lauren and Val invited me to go along. So I'm going to a Lifehouse concert Friday night, I'm excited. If only I didn't feel so stressed from homework. Pray for me.

Rach

Happy Sunday!

(Mr. Snuggles and Johnny -->)

Happy Sunday!
I love Sundays, until it is late afternoon, because that means that it is the day before classes start again. But I guess it's better than going to high school for 8 hours a day. I woke up around 8:45am and got ready for church. I think I got a mosquito bite on my right big toe, cause it itches! And it itched all last night, darn. Quest this morning was amazing, Andy's message was so powerful. He talked about running the race, and throwing off all that hinders us. I think it is so often that we hold onto things that burden us, without realizing it, making it so much harder to run through life with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the prize. After Quest a bunch of Matt's friends, Matt and I went to this place that was called "Longhorn" but now known as "Hickory's" for lunch! It was yummy! After lunch I was going to go and hang out with Matt at his house and then go to an ice cream social at Adam and Erin's house, but I got an unexpected call during lunch. Jeff, a guy in my I-team that I met last night, called me to tell me a bunch of peeps were going to be playing volleyball. So Matt dropped me off there, and I played volleyball. I knew Jeff, Matt (not my brother matt a different one), and Clay there, but there were people I didn't know and met: Katie, Allison, and Allen. I was terrible at volleyball, sure, I got a bit better, but I felt so bad, hehe. It was fun! Afterwards I made a stop at the outpost for a nice cold glass of water and then headed back to the dorms. Ashley and I had some fun taking pictures with our digital cameras and singing along to "Wicked!" But before that....here's the exciting news, Ashley and I walked over to the Krannert Center to see which orchestra I got in. I previously posted that I couldn't get into the UI Symphony (top one) cause I didn't audition with the audition music, so the highest orchestra I could get in would be the Philharmonia orchestra. And.....I got into the Philharmonia orchestra!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that awesome!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO! I'm proud of myself. I worked hard on Barber's Concerto!!!!!!!! Right now, I'm watching "Million Dollar Baby," soon I'll call my folks and talk to them a bit, and then do a little homework. Tomorrow's a new week, and it's the earliest day of the week for me, because I work at 7:15 in the morning! Yikes. I'm out. Oh there are some pictures below that I took today!

Rach



(This is my little corner space!!!)

















(Here's our room looking straight into our room from the fronti door, isn't our window pretty??)













(This is our neighbor to the left when you're facing our door from the hallway, her name is Alka, she is cool!)

Saturday Laundry and Homework Day Plus Illini Life

Well, after going to bed at 2:30AM yesterday, me and Ashley woke up around 9:45AM. I had my first experience of doing my laundry, away from home. It was...fun I guess. Then I spent a lot of time doing my Calculus homework and reading my Astronomy book. The night sky is absolutely amazing, goodness, praise Jesus! I took a shower and then headed over to Jimmy John's to grab a sandwich for dinner. Then I headed over to Allen to meet with our I-team to walk to SNG. I met Ty there, then Matt came over , I met a girl named Heidi from Evans, and then Erin came and we walked over to Wohlers Hall. We made it just in time for SNG. I loved being there, I want to serve Jesus. That's my conclusion from Wayne's message. If I choose to want to serve God, and forfeit myself, wow, that's absolutely amazing, I allow God to work wonders in my life and take me places I could have never dreamed of. After SNG, we went to "Crash The Pastor," which is pretty much a party at the pastor's house. I talked to some girls, and then hung out with people from my I-Team. I met more people from my I-team also. I talked to one of my brother's friends, Chris, about college, and he gave me some valuable advice. After talking to bunches of people and having fun, Ty, Laura, Jeff (part of my I-team who i met), and I left for home. And now, I am home.....goodness, I did it again. I called my dorm room...home! Well I gotta get up early tomorrow. Goodnight!

Rach