Stuff

We just had Haunted Hospers in my dorm.  They turn the whole building into a haunted house and it was truly impressive.  Our floor was like an abandoned cityscape, so the walls were covered in crumpled newspaper, the doors and ceiling in black trash bags, litter was all over, it was really dark.  You couldn't even tell it was a dorm floor.  It was literally creepy to walk to the bathroom at night.

I begged God to give me the ambition to stay off the internets this week and get school done, which all climaxed at the anatomy quiz today.  He helped me do that, and now I get to enjoy a visit from Mom on Saturday.  I'm going to feed her fro yo, maybe we'll go on a hike at Oak Grove, watch Netflix in her hotel room, we'll go to church together, eat at some yummy place, I'll show her the cute main street park.  Yep, it'll be great.

Here are some pix of the "haunting".

Peace out, corn dogs :)

(I feel like that could be a gangsta Iowa saying or something.  P.S.  It's 11:30 p.m.)

Eliza Learns a Lesson (and other news)

Don't do this.
Don't overbook yourself.

Being in the RUSH Dance Show at Northwestern is pretty cool and at times pretty fun, and it's great to do something out of my comfort zone... but it was probably not a good idea.
I'm getting a C+ in anatomy and my grades are just a little sketchy considering I need a B- average to even GET INTO the nursing program.

I won't be taking any more shifts for people at the Hub either, I don't think.  I worked five shifts this week and have been sleepy and stressed out.  At one point I broke down and bawled in front of my RUSH dance leaders.  Then I got angry for over committing myself.

As a nursing student, you aren't just keeping up good grades to impress your parents and keep your scholarships.  It's do good or go home, really.  Sometimes people don't really know what that's like.  It's okay to tell them "nope, not overbooking myself again.  Not gonna do it."

This reminds me of in VeggieTales when Bob asks Larry to play the tuba during the theme song, and Larry's like "nope, not gonna do it."  Anywayyy...

                                                (See how stressed out Larry looks?  He shouldn't be playing the tuba.)



In other news:
My super fantastically awesome girls dorm?  I don't get to live here next year.
They're turning it into a boys dorm cuz one of those is being torn down.

Out tight-knit, adorable community of only 50 girls are going to turn into dinosaurs.  We are the last of the Hospers girls.  Who knows where we'll all live next year.  Hopefully we can stick together.  I'm just thankful to have gotten to spend my freshman year here, cuz it is pretty darn utopian, let me tell you.

Good night :)

Ah, Blissful Saturday

Saturdays are THE BEST.
Saturdays are when I take a forced break from homework and socialize all the livelong day and even eat sugar for a change.

It's fall (almost) on campus, and it was crunchy-leaved with mild temps.
At the caf, I made my once-a-week sugary splurge: "Heart Attack in a Mug".  I do recommend this for the taste, but only every once in a while as a treat.  Here's the recipe:  1/4 of a mug full of waffle batter nuked in the microwave for a minute.  Then pile it with soft serve ice cream and crushed candy bars and Oreos.  Then die and go to heaven for the next ten minutes.  Ah, the warm doughiness and cold ice creaminess.

Then, I went to my first NWC sporting event yet, a varsity football game.  I enjoyed it.  We won, there was a good turnout, the guys behind me making comments about their male cheerleader friend were quite entertaining.  I got sunburned!  (which was my personal "take that, summer's not quite over" victory)  P.S. The guys down front from West Hall were all wearing their bedsheets as togas.  It's a thing they do.

Our dorm had a carnival with all the floors competing for points against each other.  A tug of war, giant trike race, a jelly bean spitting contest.  I had to leave early for a productive dance practice.  Then I snarfed a chicken burrito at the Hub (the funner dining place) and dashed over to the theater for a one man play about a guy's conversion from skeptical teenager to God believer.

If you stuck around for this part of my narrative, I have a treat for you.  SWING DANCING every Saturday night in our dorm lobby!  How cool is that?  I also got to waltz with a boy.  The music is Disney to "Take the A-Train" type stuff.  I wore my retro jumper from the Omaha thrift store and painted my nails all Rue 21.  It was grand.

Then, I watched a cool flick called "10,000 BC" with Katie down the hall.  I crawled under the covers (roommate-less, she's gone for the weekend, sniff) at about midnight or so, wishing tomorrow could be Saturday all over again.

The guys standing next to the toga-wearers looked just like this.

You know you want to try this.

                                                    Prehistoric near death experiences, anyone?

The trikes kinda look like this.  A second person can stand on the back.

See, us teenagers would be cool if we'd lived back then.

The end.

A Little Game

Hey girls!  So, this doesn't have much to do with college, but I thought this would be a  little "tag, you're it" game.

It's a writing game.
Here's the subject.

I've never written down how I am like other members of my family.
It makes me feel connected to them.


I'm like my Dad.
     I love...
          travelling
          saving money
          Mystery Science Theater 3000
          tennis
          theology
     and I am passionate.

I'm like my Mommy.
            I try to listen to people because I need them to listen to me,
       but sometimes empathy hurts.
I want to be fiercely loyal like she is.
           I care about nutrition.
If we're talking about society's standards of beauty, I agree with this phrase: "We must suffer to be beautiful."

My mommy with her big brother and her own business

I'm like my brother.
  I'm addicted to witty remarks
  and crave YouTube
  and enjoy the Vander Harts and
  Ostermanns.
  We both like documentaries and our fat kitty.

I'm like my grandma.
      I do nothing but sing,
          have a sweet tooth,
          enjoy cable TV and eating out,
          and can sometimes be a little flamboyant.
          I am usually bold talking to strangers.

My bubbly grandma with her offspring, grandoffspring, and beloved daughter-in-law

OK, your turn!

P.S.  I wuv my family :)

What Life is Like Here

In answer to the title, life here is like Network (the homeschool co-op school I did for three years) and church camp all rolled into one.  It's delicious and crazy busy and so much fun and I feel very comfortable here.  It's a Christmas miracle :)  Just kidding, it's been about 100 degrees every day for weeks and I'm sweating in my dorm room (the new norm), but let's pretend it's Christmas.


Obama would be doing this if he was in my dorm room.


Last night, I watched "Beetlejuice" (a Tim Burton movie) with some wonderfully nice and also witty people, and then we went for a midnight walk around the amazingly manicured town of Orange City.  This town is like a Disney World resort, it's just that scenic.  Their town square's park looks like a mini golf course, I haven't seen a single run-down house, and any and every business has a Dutch architecture-themed storefront.  It's just idyllic.


"Beetlejuice"= Like everything else Tim Burton, it's weird and funny


And really, my life mostly involves doing homework.  Which is just like senior year all over again, only THIS time I get unlimited free tutoring and unlimited socialization and I make a little more money than I used to by working at the Hub.  And I haven't felt homesick yet!  (knocks furiously on wood).  Yep, Christmas miracle.

Sounds like things are finally looking up for Kara... I can't wait to hear about her classes.
Billie seems to be taking to things like a fish to water... I like that girl :)

Happy Saturday night!  Imma play some Nancy Drew computer game and study for an Anatomy pop quiz (200 plus flashcards, here I come...)

Eliza Finishes Orientation

It's over.  All the events and activities and get-to-know-you times.  The goodbyes and the unpacking.  The wandering around campus learning to find stuff.


(Beside the chapel.  Photo from rdgusa.com)


Northwestern has totally blown my mind.  I am literally overwhelmed by the love everybody here has shown me.  And I do mean everybody.  So far, this place is just unbelievably Utopian.  'Course, classes haven't started yet, and the nursing program is notoriously difficult.  But there are tutors and there is time management (a.k.a don't procrastinate or spend all your time socializing).  God's gonna help me.  It'll be okay.

Praying for Kara as she's reached NWMSU.  Hopefully, Billie has a terrific last few days with her family and is feeling all prepared and not real nervous.

I'm just feeling excited and a little apprehensive and very at home.
If you think of it, please pray for my Mommy who misses me.
My brother is a very cool guy who will be running the house this year.  I hope he has a good time :)

It's 11:30 p.m.  Time to grab some Triscuits and get some sleep before an early morning class.  Hasta la pasta!


(Just some people on the internet in their cool pink dorm room being all friendly.  Oh look, Audbrey Hepburn poster!  
From talknerdy2me.com)

My Summer

Hey guys!  Wow, look at the uber cool posts from Kara and Billie!  I have taken off my construction boots after getting home from that summer-long mission trip.  Time to share some highlights with you!

First, two weeks of "Boot Camp" in muggy Merritt Island, Florida (near the Kennedy Space Center).  An obstacle course for team building, sleeping in tents, mosquitoes, bathing and doing laundry using buckets and swamp water, classes, eating outside on logs, nightly worship rallies, a 500 gallon milkshake... these are all things I experienced during my second year at camp.  And by the end, our team was ready to hop a plane to Ireland.

(Our team about to run the obstacle course)

After touching down in Dublin, we lived in tents again and did some construction work for two weeks at an evangelistic outreach center.  We dug trenches, did some extensive weeding, and mixed and poured concrete using only shovels and wheelbarrows... I felt like a stud :)

                                                                                         (With Mike, our leader)


Then we spent two weeks in Belfast, Northern Ireland, a gorgeously gorgeous city.  We slept in a Presbyterian church's sanctuary using pew cushions as mattresses, and during the day we did Vacation Bible School for adorable Irish children.

(85 kids on the first night!! Whoohoo!)

A word on sightseeing: We toured the utterly jaw-dropping Titanic museum in Belfast, the puzzling octagonal rocks of Giant's Causeway, a medieval castle, the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge over the cliffs of the Irish Sea, and the Belfast City Hall (kind of their D.C.).  And man, were the fish and chips yummy!

                                     (The Rope Bridge.  Sheer drop below us into the ocean!)

At the end of things was a week of debriefing back at boot camp.  This involved more classes (but this time in the air conditioning), going to Wet 'n' Wild and Cocoa Beach, and an end-of-the-summer banquet.


God answered SO MANY prayers for me on that trip, and gave me the most wonderful team I could possibly imagine. I feel blessed to have gotten to be a part of the work that went on. Now our leaders have recommended me to be an assistant leader for a team next year, and I think that's what God wants me to do.  Stay tuned, sports fans :)


So yeah, now college! What a crazy whirlwind time!  Got a job at the "Hub" cafeteria and have been offered another way to make some extra money by making phone calls for the Alumni department.  My classes sound fastastic, and my roommate is super nice.  Time to become a "Uni", as one dear Northern Irish friend calls university students.  This is Eliza, signing out.