Free Blog

Since this is a free blog this week, I am going to talk about my weekend. This weekend, my boyfriend came to ISU to visit! It was great to see him since he cannot come visit here very often. He arrived here at the Normal Amtrak station at around 12 in the afternoon. Although I was happy he was coming early in the day rather than later, I was unfortunately in class at the time! I was very eager to get out of class to find him waiting for me in my dorm. Later on, I decided to bring him to McCalisters to enjoy a delicious dinner. After all, most Illinois State students crave MCcalisters at least once a week. We decided to make Friday night relaxing. I was exhausted from classes all morning and he was as well from traveling all morning. We hung out in my room with some of my other friends and watched the GSN channel. When Saturday morning rolled around, we found ourselves sleeping all afternoon! We visited my friend's fraternity and my friends apartment. On the way to the apartment, I accidently slipped on ice and bruised my tailbone. Thankfully the only people who saw me were Justin (my boyfriend) and my friend Lauren. I would have been completely embarrassed if there were any other ISU students around that I would just so happen to see in my classes on Monday. Saturday night we arrived back to my dorm and watched another movie, Wedding Crashers. The next day, we woke up at around 12 p.m. Justin and I laid around all day, watched the movie Love Actually and I did some homework, I later on walked him to the train in the freezing weather! It was a great weekend but of course flew by quickly! The next time Justin will be visiting is Valentine's weekend and I cannot wait. :) 

The Inauguration of President Barack Obama

Although I am not a very political person, I am currently in a politics class right now. It just so happened that I had my politics class yesterday during the inauguration. Our first chapter in my politics class covered idealism vs. realism. In order for us to understand the idea more, our professor had us watch a clip of President Barack Obama being inaugurated and then giving his speech soon after. In watching his speech, I felt goose bumps running up and down my arms and neck. It was amazing to see a new president standing in front of a crowd of over a million people speaking how our nation will be better. My professor had us pick out the ideas that demonstrated both idealism and realism and then we discussed it all together as a class. In doing that, it really helped me understand what President Obama was speaking about. He was being idealistic in the fact that he believes us as a nation can better our economy and better ourselves as people. He was also being realistic in the way that we as people are childish and that yes, we are not perfect. I felt us pointing out certain things he talked about in his speech (the things I listed above) really helped me learn more of what President Obama wants for our country and how he wants to better us as a nation. The girl sitting next to me was mentioning things she watched earlier in the morning about the move-in to the White House which I found interesting. She was mentioning how the staff in the White House set up a scavenger hunt for Obama’s daughters which I felt was very cute! It was a way from them to get to know their way around the White House and learn about all the artifacts inside of the White House. After watching something serious about the inauguration, our T.A. put on a you tube clip from the daily show to add a little humor to the inauguration which really made me laugh! He made fun of the inauguration and the whole Presidency. He also incorporated a little bit of Mccain/Palin which also made me laugh a little bit too. Over all, I am very happy with the way the election turned out even though I am not very into the political world. I feel the election of Barak Obama was a great choice. I am excited for our new beginning! 

Shannon's Introduction Blog

Hello everyone, I am Shannon. I am a freshman here at ISU! I am an elementary education major and am excited to begin my career as a teacher in the future. I am considering changing it to middle level education but have not made my final decision. I am very interested in young adolescents as well as young children. Family is very important to me a we are very close. I know I can go to them for anything I need! Each and every person in my family is there to support one another. I have many younger cousins that I love to be around. I believe they are part of the reason I want to be a teacher. Being around them gives me the opportunity to be a child again and it brings back many great memories from my childhood. On my free time, I enjoy working out because I want to stay in shape! The thought of the "freshman 15" frightens me! I also like to dance whenever possible as I took tap lessons for 15 years. I was very close with the girls in my class so it was very hard to say goodbye! A few qualities I value in any type of relationship whether it be with a significant other, friend, or family member, are honesty and respect. Having those qualities can get you very far with another person. I really believe those are the qualities that make the foundation of a relationship. Also, I love to meet new people! I hope to meet many more people this semester in all of my new classes.