Auf Wiedersehen.

The semester is coming to a close. Teachers are preparing for finals and assigning final projects. I have been thinking what a chore it will be to pack everything up and head home. Clothes, sheets, shoes, coats, towels, not to mention personal items, printers, boxes upon boxes will be filed out of the dorms in a few short weeks. In a way, leaving here is similar to graduating high school. We will be leaving the friends that we made here and travelling to different places. We will have no more classes here at ISU until the fall.

However, this also means no more late night study sessions. No more stress over tests and finals. No more papers. No more blogs. I feel a twinge of nostalgia as I think that this is the last blog. However, I do not think I will miss it that much. This blog was fun while it lasted, but the constant deadlines and regulations were annoying. While it was nice to be able to record all my thoughts and grievances of the week, it was frustrating to have rules.

One other thing that I will not miss is all the commenting. Two comments on everyone’s blog did not seem like that much until I started doing it. No offense to anyone out there, you guys all had great blogs, but I hated going through and finding things to comment on. I would rather have just read them. I would suggest that next year, the comments are not mandatory. If I had to plan it, I would just pick one blog to read on Mondays, then alternate which blogs were read. This would let everyone hear other people’s blogs, but without the mind numbing process of the forty plus comments.

I hope anyone who has read this blog has gotten something out of it, even if it was just a good laugh. I encourage those incoming freshmen to not be discouraged. The second semester is tough, but it only lasts a couple months. Work hard, and blog if you need to express yourself. Don’t go paint the stairwells, though, because it costs everybody a dollar each. Most of all, have fun. You only get one try at your freshman year.

So, you are coming to Normal?

When I moved to college, I didn’t know there would be so much walking. I do not have my own car, so if I can’t get a ride from someone, I have to walk. There are buses, but if you don’t have time to wait around on their schedule, you might be out of luck. I never realized how big the world was until I came here. When your world is limited to where you can walk to, your world becomes incredibly small.
We have been asked to write a blog on what we would suggest visitors to Normal should do. However, I don’t really get around much in Normal. My roommate and I sometimes take the bus out to Wal-Mart, and sometimes we can con her boyfriend into letting us take his car shopping, but I realized that I don’t really know what there is to do in Normal.
Every once in a while, a friend from back home comes up to visit. Since Decatur is not exactly a booming city, Normal has a lot of things to do that we don’t have available in Decatur. However, I am pretty sure that only people from back home would find them interesting in Normal. For instance, the mall in Normal is probably three times as big as Decatur’s. When my friends come up, often the first thing we do is head to the mall. Plus, did you know the mall has that glow in the dark put putting? How awesome is that?
Also, our movie theaters back home are pretty small. They might be able to hold a hundred people, but those hundred wouldn’t be too comfortable. There is a movie theater here that is huge. I think it is actually in Bloomington, but it is probably the biggest theater I have ever seen (except for the one in Walt Disney World). The armrests go up and down. Genius invention.
Campus events are pretty cool, too, but you have to plan trips around ISU’s scheduling. If you want to be spontaneous, there is a rock wall place called Upper Limits. I haven’t been there yet, but my boyfriend loves it. He swears that it is the place to go for rock climbers in Illinois.
In all honesty, I don’t really know a lot of things to do in Normal that you couldn’t probably do in your own hometown. But my friends and I like it, and at least you will never truly get bored.

Rockin' the Flu Bug

Lately, I have had the flu. I had full blown body aches, fever, throwing up…the whole deal.
Let me back up. Prior to getting sick this past week, I was pretty healthy. I rarely got sick, and I made sure to take Vitamin C every day in order to keep up my good record. My roommate and I are trying to get in shape, so I eat well, and we exercise each night. We do cardio exercises (running and biking) in addition to yoga and crunches. We had a strict regimen, and it was working for us.
I am one of those people that does their homework ahead of time. I am paranoid about forgetting to do something, so I always write everything down on post-its that I stick on my light above my desk. I try to stay pretty on top of things.
However, getting sick threw a wrench into my well-oiled life. I was too tired to do anything more strenuous than walking down to the dining center. I was constantly sleeping, and when I was awake, I was running fevers of 100 to 102. I was miserable. I kept watching my post-it collection grow, but I never had the energy (or the presence of mind…I was on a lot of medications) to get my work done. It was incredibly frustrating to me to not be able to do everything.
I laid in bed mostly, and I read when I wasn’t sleeping. However, after a few days in bed, I realized that I should not be depressed. Sure, I was sick, but it gave me a chance to rest. Granted, I wasn’t exactly feeling wonderful, but I still got some much needed sleep in. I also had time to think.
I had been scheduling my life down to the minute before, and I needed to learn to allow myself some down time. Our lives can’t be filled with all work and no play. We need to take time to relax and, pardon the cliché, smell the roses. Even if you can’t smell them through all the congestion in your head.

Don't Miss Your Dance

This being my first year at ISU, I attended quite a few conferences and events at the beginning of the year. However, I soon realized that I could spend my time on more entertaining things. When asked to write about one of these events, none really thrilled me to the point of writing about it in a blog. On the other hand, I did go to a swing dance club that provided an interesting experience.

I come from a small high school. We don’t have that many extracurricular activities available to us, so when we were offered a swing dancing class, I was among the many who signed up. I had a blast, and the steps were fun and fast. It stands to follow that, when I saw a swing dance club advertised at ISU, I jumped at the opportunity.

It was sort of a BYOP (bring your own partner) kind of thing. I convinced my roommate to go with me, and together we snatched a couple guys to drag along. We had already missed a few weeks of the class, but the advertisement said that each class was essentially the same and that the basic steps would be taught each class. Perfect. We strolled in a couple minutes late, prepared to be swept off our feet by the rhythm. What we found was that the “basics” had already been reviewed, and the dance was in full swing. (Pardon the pun).

There were probably about thirty people there. Unfortunately, the ratio of guys to girls wasn’t exactly perfect. This meant that a few girls had to either sit out or find another female partner. Each time the whistle blew, we had to switch partners. This meant that even though we had brought partners, those same partners were quickly stolen away.

For those of you who have never been to a swing dance, there is essentially a basic step that is repeated throughout any tricks or swings your partner decides to pull. This makes it difficult for girls to dance together because the steps are completely and utterly backwards.

You can imagine the scenario. Not only were we not familiar with these basic steps, but, every once in a while, we would have to do those same steps backwards. Needless to say, we had a ton of fun while making complete fools of ourselves.

However, I did learn some lessons from the whole experience. First, swing dancing is a blast, even when you are not so sure of what you are doing. Second, bring more than one guy to a swing dance with you. And lastly, don’t be afraid to dance outside your comfort zone. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Looking Ahead

Last week during spring break, I went home. I remember thinking that I couldn’t wait to see all my old friends. I planned to go visit my old high school and walk around talking to the people I left behind. I was excited as I thought about all the fun times I had. Still reminiscing, I left a few comments on my friends’ Facebook walls, seeing if they would like to hang out. To my surprise, I found that most of my friends were busy.

I have noticed that graduating is the biggest wedge between friends. There is a gap between those in high school and college students. I ended up going back to my high school last week. A little background explanation is probably needed here. I graduated from a class of twenty. I have been going to the same school since kindergarten. I have had the same friends since kindergarten. Everybody knows everybody at my school. Since coming to college, I have missed that closeness, although I found it stifling while I was there.

However, when I went back, I saw faces I did not recognize, faces I could not name. There were new students, people had left, teachers had left, and some had been hired. My high school seemed different. It was not the same.

This is when I realized how much changes as we go through life. I looked back on all the students with a sort of sadness. They would never know about the crazy times that my friends and I had had in that school. But after I thought about it, I decided that it was probably a good thing.

All those new kids might not know what my friends and I did, but they have a chance to have their own experiences. We all have to live our own lives. Those who went to ISU four years ago probably look back on us and wonder if we know about the things they went through. I have found that I need to live my life to the fullest, now. Ann Landers once said, “Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.”

I plan on looking ahead.

Future Plans

When I was asked what I would do with close to eighty thousand dollars in cash, I really did not know. My first instinct was to pay off college, but the one condition was that it could not be spent on education. Ok, so cross off option one. Now I was stumped. My whole life had been planned around education. I sat back and started to truly think about what I would do. I realized that there are several factors that influence my decision

Since my freshman year in high school, I have wanted to be a special education teacher. I fell in love with Torey Hayden’s books about her career in special education. My junior year, I meant a guy on a mission trip to Shepherds, a ministry for the mentally disabled in Wisconsin. He had come with my youth group, but I had not known him that well. During the mission trip, we were paired up as prayer partners. We really got to know each other. That fall we started dating, and we have been together now for almost three years. He is planning to be a firefighter.

During this time of figuring out my relationships, my mom was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). My mom and I have always been very close. I chose to attend Illinois State University not only because it is an amazing school for special education, but because it is only forty-five minutes from home. She has been through several procedures and chemo and has been declared to be in remission. However, lymphoma can never be cured completely, and remission is not always permanent.

So when thinking about how I wanted to spend my money, I realized that I would not want to go far from home. I would miss my mother too much. I also would not want to leave my boyfriend behind. We are very close, and I would not want to be apart from my best friend. I finally decided that if I had all that money, I would want to spend it on responsible things. I would buy my dream truck, and with the extra money, I would put a down payment on a house. This might seem boring, but I am happy with my life. There isn’t much I would want to change, so I am perfectly content to spend my money in this way.

Surviving Freshman Year at ISU

The big move to college life can be intimidating. However, as a freshman (soon to be sophomore), I have a few tips that can help make the transition smoother.
1. Learn to sleep through anything. This is probably the most valuable talent you will ever develop. No matter how much you and your roommate get along, there will be times when they are up until the break of dawn studying for a test when you have an 8 o’clock the next morning. Also, there is a ton of construction going on around ISU. For those of you who aren’t used to a blue-collar work schedule, construction workers start at 6 in the morning. Being able to sleep through the various noises of life is essential for a good night’s sleep.
2. Go to all those freshmen meetings. No, you will probably not learn anything from them. Yes, they are annoying. All the information they tell you, you will quickly forget and just have to look up on iCampus anyway. Although they seem pointless, they are great opportunities to make friends. Go and socialize.
3. Memorize your UID. ISU asks for it on almost every form you have to fill out. Save yourself the hassle of taking out your ID everywhere and just memorize it.
4. Check your iCampus email at least twice a day. It seems needless, but ISU will send you all sorts of interesting emails. Besides, ISU sends school cancellation notifications through iCampus. And while you are checking iCampus twice a day, start checking Facebook at least four times a day and more on the weekends.
5. Go to class. This is probably the most over-used statement that people will tell you. They will tell you that there is a direct correlation between attendance and grades. (More attendance equals better grades). There is truth there, though. Go to class and take good notes. Often, professors will tell you what will be on the test throughout class, and by taking notes the tests are much easier. On the other hand, just telling yourself to go to class doesn’t necessarily make it easy to go. Try making a rule that you will only skip each class once or twice. This will help put skipping in perspective for you.
6. Carry a stapler in your backpack. Most classes require homework to be stapled prior to class starting. There are always kids who forget to staple (and you might forget a couple times, as well), and there are never staplers in the room. Bring a stapler, and you will be prepared and maybe even make a few friends in the process.
7. Lastly, take advantage of the weight room. Do you have any idea how much a gym membership costs? Are you afraid of gaining those “Freshmen 15”? Never fear. The workout centers are totally free. Don’t be afraid to use them.

"The Office"

Before coming to college, I rarely watched television. I was more into reading books, hanging out with my friends, and walking through the conservation across the street. When assigned this blog, I originally panicked. What was I supposed to write on? I do not even like television. However, after thinking about it, I thought of the tv show, “The Office.” Over Christmas break, my Uncle Jeff had received a season of “The Office.” He was like a little kid in a candy store. Overjoyed, he insisted we all sit down and watch it after Christmas dinner. Encouraged by my cousins, I sat down and prepared to watch what I thought would be a boring show. My uncle is almost fifty. It only seemed to follow that he watched “old people” shows.
But as the show started, I found myself enjoying the crazy jokes on the show. “The Office” is a documentary like show about the typical work day. Cameras follow the workers around and record their funny and exasperating moments. They were moments that every working person encounters. The cast consists of a moronic boss, an annoying suck up, and several other comedic office workers. They work at a paper selling office. They encounter office romances, fights, affairs, and typical drama, but they make it funny. I think that it is especially funny because anyone who has had a job can relate to the show. We have all had a job with a suck-up or a crazy lady who is in love with her cat(s). The show takes ordinary life experiences and makes them funny.
Since seeing the show with my family at Christmas, I have tried to follow the show. My roommate and I do not have a television, but I can usually find the episodes online at Hulu.com. Another aspect that I enjoy about the show is the fact that you do not have to follow the show from episode one. Anyone can start watching the show and be able to appreciate it and understand it. I never liked to watch shows that built on the episode before because, once you miss one episode, you can be lost. “The Office” is not like that. It supplies entertainment. Tune in for “The Office,” and watch the hilarity ensue.

Cakey Goodness

When assigned to write a blog on an advertisement I could most easily recall, I immediately thought of a commercial I had seen on one of my favorite websites, CakeWrecks.com. While I do not encounter this ad daily, I do not really watch television. Neither my roommate nor I brought a tv to college. I am aware that I still encounter probably thousands of advertisements weekly through the internet, but this one is my favorite.

The commercial starts out in a room where a dozen people are running around baking cake and sweets. The well-known song, “My Favorite Things” from the musical, “The Sound of Music.” (“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens…” As the commercial progresses, we realize that they are building a car. The body is made out of cake, and the car is perfectly detailed, right down to the caramel “oil.” The camera follows the bakers as they each add different parts to the car, the tail lights, the side mirrors, and, finally, the company’s emblem on the front of the car.

I could not really remember the brand of the car, but I looked it up. It is Fabia, and the commercial ends with, “The new Fabia. Full of lovely stuff.”

This particular commercial is memorable to me because who else makes life size car cakes? Anyone who has tried to make any sort of cake besides the basic finds that baking is not as easy as it seems. Fondant is a pain to deal with and loves to crack or slide.

Amazed by this display of cakey goodness, I looked up the background on the commercial. Half expecting to find that it was all just a computer animated show, I was surprised to find that it was genuine. If I remember right, it took around a week to plan it, and around another week just to set it all up.

As much as I enjoyed this ad, I did not feel compelled to purchase the product, and not just because I am a broke college student. I found the ad immensely enthralling, but my interest stops there. Personally, I would not want to buy a car because it was filled with “lovely stuff.” While this was entertaining, it was not informative, and I believe that is why it is not particularly persuasive.

If you want to view the commercial, it is available on YouTube.com here.

Adventure of the Week

I wasn’t sure what I was going to blog about this week until last night.

It all started when the fire alarm at Atkin-Colby went off around nine o’clock. Sighing, my roommate and I took the time to grab coats and gloves. Walking out the door, we were blasted by the cold wind. This was going to be a long wait. After enduring the freezing temperature for what seemed like forever, I suggested we invade Hamilton-Whitten. Several others had gotten the same idea. However, after watching a dance class, we realized that there wasn’t much to do there. Bored, we walked back in hopes of being let inside.

Sometime during this process of going back into normalcy, we realized that we didn’t want to just hang around campus. We wanted to take an adventure. We begged a ride from her boyfriend, who happens to be the only one of us that has a car. Plus, it is a Honda, so the gas mileage is reasonable.

Since his car isn’t parked anywhere near the school, we bundled up and started out on our hour-long walk. I realized that I had been spoiled with clean sidewalks because the further out from campus we walked, the icier the sidewalks became. We stumbled through places where the snow was covering the sidewalk until we finally made it to the parking lot. We fell into his car, grateful for the shelter from the wind.

Pulling out of the lot, we wondered where we should go. We started out driving around Bloomington, but we wanted more. I suggested a diner that I had been to the week before in Springfield: Star 66 Café. They have the best pies ever. The problem was that I couldn’t remember the name of the place. We powered up the GPS and told it to take us to Springfield. I texted a couple of my friends back home to see if they could remember the name. One said that it was Route 66 Café; the other swore it was Roadstop Café. We couldn’t find either in the GPS, but we did find one called Just Off Route 66. Turns out that isn’t the same. We ended up in the middle of dilapidated buildings and questionable motels.

Deflated, we drove around the capital building and wandered the streets of Springfield. Another call got us the cross streets, and we headed off in the right direction, still determined, if a little less enthused. We ended up finding it. We had apparently driven right by it on our way into town. By this point, it’s nearing midnight, and my roommate had a 9 a.m. class. We went in and looked around, picked up some coffee, and began the long trip back home.

Despite the fact that it didn’t go as planned, we all had fun. It was our adventure, and I hope that everyone has a time in their life when they can travel to a new place and roam the streets without any cares. Until the next morning, of course.

"You have died of dysentery."

In “The Wizard of Oz,” a dazzled Dorothy stumbles into Munchkin land, only to utter one of the best-known lines in movie history, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” This year, I had left my own little Kansas voluntarily, only to find myself in Munchkin land, so to speak.

Having graduated from a class with an astounding total of 20 seniors, I admit I had a bit of a shock to walk around a campus with literally a thousand times that many students. Illinois State University has been a giant change for me.

I went from tiny school, where my best friend was senior class President and I was secretary and treasurer, to just another nameless face in the horde of education majors. No one knows what a Krekel’s is, or why taking the Krekel’s car to prom was a big deal. Monical’s has the best pizza, especially with their French dressing. My friends aren’t here to take me muddin’ on the weekends when it rains.

I had never heard of Portillo’s. I don’t know what the Bean is, but I am told I should. I don’t really know what the Buckingham fountain is, but my roommate tells me that all of these things are something everyone should know.

Walking to class each day in my cowboy boots and Carhartt, I am surrounded by a sea of black North Face coats. The talk floating around my head has a distinct Chicago area accent. Ask 100 students where their hometown is, and 98 of them will claim a city near Chicago, if not the enormous city itself.

I hadn’t even been to Chicago till late 2008.

The average student at ISU is as seemingly different form me as a Toyota is from a Ford.

Yet in spite of all these differences, I still find friends who are just like me.

I have found that no matter who you talk to on this campus, they will always know the tune, if not all the words to the song, “Stacey’s Mom,” or the 867-5309 song. We all can hum the theme song to the television show, Rugrats, and watched Power Rangers. We might have even watched Bob Ross paint some happy trees for a little while before flipping to a different station. Pokémon were the coolest back then, but no one could have been cooler than the Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls. We typed “boobies” into our calculators when teachers weren’t looking, and most of us died of dysentery while playing Oregon Trail.

We shared the same experiences, even though we lived in different places.

Inauguration Day

Tuesday was the 44th Presidential Inauguration. It is a day that will supposedly be remembered in the hearts of Americans for years to come. I don’t really care.

People say that everyone should watch the inauguration so that they can share their experience with posterity. Posterity can experience it for themselves on YouTube.

Presidential inaugurations occur every four years. Each man stands up, repeats his vow, and performs his eloquently written speech. They speak of change, unity, and peace. They spin dreams of prosperity, ending depressions, solving our debt. They congratulate our troops courageous fighting, or call for more volunteers.

Who is to say that these speeches are anything more than fancy words to bring patriotism into the listener’s hearts?

Inaugurations have always been a time when people come to see the new president promise to be true to America. This year, there was a huge influx of people wanting to see. T-shirts were made with Obama’s face on them. He is the president that is popular with our generation.

People see him as the solution to our problems. He will lift the economic downfall. He will bring hope to the despairing war in Iraq. He will bring change.

I am not in opposition to President Obama. I just think people make too big of a deal out of his inauguration.

Inaugurations remind me of weddings. He stands up, shaking, nervous. Facing the crowd of people there to support him, he feels the weight of responsibility as he repeats his vows. Sadly, only time will tell if he maintains those vows. (This is not to say that people make too big of a deal out of weddings.)

To sum all this rambling up, I feel that it is more important to follow his actions throughout his presidency, vote for issues, and write to my senators than watch his inauguration.

This said, Tuesday found me at my computer, doing all the homework I should have done over break. I carried on with my normal college life. I attended my politics course where my teacher instructed us to check out Obama’s speech. I think it is very well written.

To quote former President George W. Bush in his first inauguration speech, “It is the American story—a story of flawed and fallible people, united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.” President Obama is not an exception to this fallibility. However, he has some great ideas, and has the ability to move this country in the direction it needs.

“Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” (Quote from President Obama’s inauguration speech)

intro to my blog.

My name is Katie Rasche. It’s pronounced “rash-ee.” Don't worry, you can laugh.

I am a freshman at Illinois State University. I am originally from Decatur, and I had never been to Chicago till I started coming here. I listen to mainly country music. I own a Carhartt coat, a pair of Laredo boots, and a pair of Dan Post boots. I love to be outdoors, and I miss my home out in the country. Mudding is my favorite sport, and my dream car is a Ford dually F350 4x4 with a lift kit.

I love to read. I got this addiction to books from my mom, who is my best friend. Grammar and spelling errors are my biggest pet peeves. I also strongly believe that if a person doesn’t read a book in its entirety, he or she have no right to criticize it.

I am a Christian and technically a Baptist. However, I do not exactly agree with everything the Baptist church dictates. I was born into a Christian family, but I do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ because of that. I made that particular decision based on observation. The belief that this incredibly complex and amazing universe was simply happen chance seems absurd to me.

My blog page is green because green is the color for lymphoma, cancer of the lymph nodes. My mom is currently in remission, and I thank God that she is still here.

I try to live life to its fullest and enjoy each day. My favorite author, Terry Pratchett, once wrote, “It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.”