My Life: Revised

Well, I've made my decision. I will not be staying in Rexburg for the spring. I just don't feel that it's right. This week I fasted and prayed and got the assurance that the LOGICAL thing to do would be to stay here, but today I've learned that just because it's logical doesn't necessarily mean it's right.

The day I fasted, I made the decision to stay and I felt pretty good about it. I went along the rest of the week with that decision, but still feeling weird about it. I tried to ignore the feelings and put them aside and force myself to believe that this was what I was supposed to do, that it was the right decision. But, today at church, all of these thoughts filled my head and everything that any speaker or teacher was saying brought me back to my decision, until finally, someone said something along the lines of "we need to take time for ourselves to keep ourselves sane." Which made me realize that if I stay here, I'll do 5 semesters of school in a row, with very little down time. I don't really think I could handle that. It's only 4 weeks into the semester and I already feel stressed and a little burned out. I just couldn't keep it all in anymore and so the flood gates were opened. I just cried it out, but that didn't really make me feel much better.

So, we got home and I decided I'd call my Dad later on that night to get his advice, but right as I was finishing up making dinner, my Grandmama called me. It was kind of odd, because she doesn't call very often. I usually call her to give her updates on school and life in general, so it was interesting that she called me tonight. She could tell that I was upset on the phone, so I told her I was having a hard time deciding whether or not I should stay in Rexburg over the summer. She didn't even know I'd been thinking about it, but she told me that if I was crying that much over it, maybe it wasn't right for me to stay.

Then I talked to dad and he told me that I shouldn't overwork myself. If I am on a path towards graduation, there is no need to rush myself. I have a plan, I know what classes I still need to take and when I need to take them, so I feel good. He also said that I should take a break if I feel like I need it. Then, I talked to mom, who was a little more skeptical, but felt better once I told her my new graduation plan, which is as follows:

This summer do a Disney College Alumni Program (I applied today and we'll cross our fingers I get it.) Go back to school and finish up my coursework over next fall and winter. Not sure about next spring, but that's over a year from now, and I'll cross that bridge when I'm a little closer to it. I'll student teach fall 2012, which ends in December. While student teaching, I'll apply for a Professional Internship at the Walt Disney World Resort in Education (crossing our fingers I'll get that, too) Then, while on proposed Professional Internship, I'll apply for teaching jobs, just in case 1. I don't get offered a full time position with Disney or 2. decide I don't want a full time position at Disney.

So, there it is. My new "life plan" it may not work out this way, and as much as I sure as heck hope it does, I've learned from this experience that life is gonna throw all kinds of crazy stuff at me, but I just need to have faith that I can get through it with a little help from the big guy upstairs :)

Love,
A Revised Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes

Life…it ain't easy.

So, up until last night I had a plan for my life. I was going to stay in Rexburg for Spring Semester, have my last semester in Rexburg be in the Fall and then student teach in the Winter. Well, thanks to this weird feeling I had last night that WOULD NOT let me fall asleep, I now have doubts about this plan. I don't know if I'm supposed to be here in the spring or not. It's weird to me because most people always say that it was the best decision they ever made to stay on their off-track. So that makes me think that maybe I'm crazy or maybe I just have NO IDEA what I should do for the rest of my life.  I know I love to English and I know I want to teach it, but having to make such a huge life decision when I'm only 22 is really just a lot to ask of a person. Not to mention the overwhelming feeling of "needing" to get married is ganging up on me, too. I know staying here is the logical choice, but I just have this odd feeling that it's not what I'm supposed to do and I can't understand or explain it. I'm wracking my brain trying to figure it out while at the same time writing papers, going to meetings, planning lessons, trying to have a social life and a million other things that a college student has to deal with. Just when I thought I was taking control of my future, this stupid little inkling has to creep in and tear down what I thought I should do. ugh. life…it ain't easy.

Love,
A Very Befuddled Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes

The Latest Excitement in My Life

This week has brought some pretty exciting things into my life! I'm definitely going to keep busy this semester, of that I'm certain. So, here's what's going on!

First, I turned in my Fast Grad application today, which is a huge weight off of my shoulders. I've been needing to do it for a while, but I think I've been subconsciously scared to turn it in because that means I'm only 3 semesters away from being done with college. I'm excited but at the same time I'm scared out of my mind because then I have to be a responsible adult and get a real job in the real world. I'm also a little bit sad about staying here for the spring semester. I mean I want to stay, don't get me wrong, but I'll miss my brother's high school graduation being here, which is a big bummer. I know he'll understand because I really, and I mean REALLY need to finish school, but it's still lame that I won't be able to be there :( But, now that I've turned it in, it's up to the advising/registrar's office to decide whether I'm able to stay. The education advising office said I should be fine and to look for an email within the next few weeks.

Secondly, I'm serving as the BYU-I Theater Council President this semester! This is a great opportunity for me to gain experience so that if I'm eventually the faculty advisor of a theatre or drama club, I'll actually know what I'm doing. So far, I don't have any other officers, which is a little bit stressful and worries me, but I'm sure once we get everything up and running again for the semester all will be well.

Thirdly, I found out what exactly I'll be teaching at the middle school for my education class this semester. I'll be in a four person teaching team, my partner and I will begin each class period and then the other partnership will finish up and close the lesson. We'll be teaching Health every Thursday for the rest of the semester and next week we will be doing introductions and teaching about drugs. I'm the leader in my partnership this week, so, I'll see what it's like to make up a plan for the class period and then assign tasks to the other people in my group. I am really looking forward to this experience, I feel like it will really teach me how to be a teacher. Today, I got to go observe the class I'll be teaching and it looks like a really fun bunch of kids.

Lastly, we had our first Disney College Program Campus Rep meeting today. I have to say, it's not quite what I expected. Some of the cast members that have been reps before seem to have a very negative outlook on recruiting, which makes me really upset. I want to do all I can to get the word out about the program because I had so much fun while doing mine. There is some animosity for the Program at the University because of things that have happened in the past, but I hope that we can just deal with the fact that not everyone on campus is going to support us and do the best with what we have to work with. We don't have any support from the Internship office, which is going to be really tough, but I feel like if we work hard and keep a good attitude about everything that we can do a good job and meet all of the goals that the company sets for us. I'm really happy that I've been given this opportunity and I'm looking forward to getting to know my fellow reps better. I've been thinking a lot lately about trying for an Education Professional Internship at the Walt Disney World Resort, but we'll just have to see where life takes me and what opportunities present themselves in the future. I'd love to work for the company as a career possibly facilitating Traditions, DAKlimation, or Discovery Day classes. I think that would be such an amazing way to make a living and such a fun job that I'd love to go to everyday!

So, overall, I'm really excited about everything going on in my life right now. I'll be keeping busy, but that will be good. I feel like I do better when I have lots going on because I actually have to make a schedule of my day. I never wanna go back to last winter where I had too much to do and was so busy that I barely had time to sleep, but I'm comfortably busy, which is perfect for me!

Love,
A Comfortably Busy Southern Girl in the Land of Potatoes

5 reasons this is going to be a great semester :)

Every time I start a new semester I am always reminded of Finding Nemo: The Musical at Animal Kingdom. "Time for school! Time for school!"Although I don't live in an ocean, I do live on an iceberg, that will eventually melt. In this post, I'd like to share with you 5 reasons (in no particular order) why I know this semester will be awesome.

1. The weather hasn't actually been that bad yet. I haven't had to break out my big coat and wear leggings under my jeans so hallelujah to that!

2. I love my roommates! They are all just so adorable and I feel like things are going to be great for us this semester. I'm also so lucky I get to live with my best friend. It's going to be amazing! 

3. Games nights on Sundays, with friends, old and new! Even though there will be one extremely important person missing from those :(

4. My classes are pretty great. Some of them are definitely going to be a challenge, but I'm kind of in the home stretch, so I should expect to have more challenging courses, I guess. My Brit Lit class is going to be amazing, my professor is just delightful. I'm reading A Tale of Two Cities for my Victorian novel of choice for the first half, and I have to find a modern British novel to read, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'd surely appreciate them! English 314 will probably be my toughest class because I have to write 37-42 pages over the course of the semester, which is daunting to say the least. I'm in Science Foundations 101…ugh…that's all I'm gonna say about that. Interpersonal Communications is going to be my most fun class this semester. I just get to talk to people in class all semester pretty much and get a grade for it! The class I am most excited about, though is Ed 361, Secondary Education Principles of Teaching. I get to actually be a teacher! I will go to Madison Middle School once a week starting at the end of this month and team teach with other students in my class. My favorite thing about this class is that I am going to get a snazzy name tag like I'm a REAL teacher! It will say "Miss Fogle" BYU-Idaho Teacher Education. Ahhh! How cool is that! If you can't tell I'm really excited about this.

5. I have late classes! It's soooooooo incredibly wonderful. I don't start classes until 10:15 on MWF and 9:45 on Tu/Th. It's great. I'm going to have more motivation to get up and go work out in the gym because I don't have to get up every morning at 5 am to have time to work out and get ready for my classes. So sweet. 

Well, that's why I'm really excited for this semester. I'm definitely gonna be keeping busy, but it will be great for me :)

Love, 

A Southern Girl Who Has Returned to the Land of Potatoes