1 Week Down, 14 to Go

I started school on Monday. I usually get up at 5 am, because the bus comes at 6:04 am, and then have free time till my class starts at 7:30 am. My classes usually get out at 10:20 or 11:15 am, so I'm usually home by noon.

I have an Espanol 1010 class Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So far we have learned the alphabet, how to write the date (Hoy es el 29 de agosto de 2009) how to say our name (Me llamo Stephanie), how to ask someone their name (Como te llamas?), basic greetings and responses (Como estas?, Que hay de nuevo?, Buenos dias, Buena noches, Buenas tardes, Que tal?, Muy Buen, Nos Vernos, Y tu? and Hasta Manana, Mucho gusto, igualmente, De Donde eres?, De Nada) and some phrases (A mi me mima mi mama).

I have an American Lit: Modern class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We're reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers for the next 3 weeks. It's pretty good so far. My professor also assigned us to read The Egg by Sherwood Anderson and some Robert Frost poems.

I have a British Lit: Renaissance class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We read The Courtier by Castiglione and some history of the Tudors and Stuarts. In class, we have had small group discussions about the pages we have read.

I having a Drawing class Tuesday and Thursday for 3 hours. So far, my professor has sent us to the library and made us find pictures on the internet and draw them to the best of our ability.

The Courtier

In Castiglione's The Courtier, there is a discussion about timeless topics such as beauty and love which could be relevant in this time period as well, because women are killing themselves as the price of beauty and young people are always looking to date people who are "hot." The conversation seems to go back and forth, trying to find a definition of love and beauty, as well as if beauty goes all the way through or only in the eye of the beholder. The male characters state their sexist judgments about women, listing all the things women should do for their looks and their wifely duties, while making men look like supreme beings.

Their discussion reminds me of the song "Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, Cinderella. The prince sings to Cinderella, after seeing her at the ball, "Do I love you because you're beautiful or are you beautiful because I love you?" Like the men in this story, the Prince had seen Cinderella, when she was in her work clothes with smudges on her face and didn't give her a second glance till she put on a dress and got dolled up by her fairy Godmother.

In the same song, Cinderella's prince also sings, "Are you really as wonderful as you seem?" which goes along with M. Morello's argument: "Looks and words may be, and oftentimes are, false witnesses." Peter Bembo's statement of "I say beauty cometh of God and is like a circle, the goodness whereof is the center," meaning if beauty is on the outside, then surely it is on the inside. Haven't some of the world's most gruesome serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer also been good looking and charming?

Romantic

Neoclassic

The End of Summer

They split the wards in our stake on Sunday, because one of them didn't have enough members. We are still in the same ward but the people across the street from us got put into a different ward.

On Monday night, I went to a Biogen Conference at the Davis Conference Center with my Mom. It had a doctor and 2 patients talking about Multiple Schlerosis. It's basically a meeting on telling the patients what treatments they should go on and what's the latest in the fight against it. I think it helps my Mom to hear other's stories and realize she is not alone in her battle.

School starts next Monday. I am taking Spanish, Drawing 1, American Lit: Modern, and British Literature: Renaissance. My class starts at 7:30 am and my bus leaves at 6:05 am to go up to Ogden. I've been trying to wake up a either 6 or 7 for the last couple of weeks to get used to early mornings. I'll be out of class by 11:30 so that's good.

My Glass Mosaic

Mermaid

Creek Street

Mom's Birthday Weekend

My mom turned 53 on Friday. She had to go to the dentist to get her new tooth put in, because the dentist was going to be out of town for the rest of the month. I went to Wal-Mart and got her some cds and a dvd for her birthday, while she was at the Dentist. We went to Red Lobster for dinner, because that's her favorite seafood restaurant in Utah.

Ryan flew in early Saturday morning to surprise her for her birthday, which was really nice. He had been planning it for a month. He was supposed to fly in at 9 PM on Friday night, but United delayed his flight and he missed his second flight in San Francisco, so he didn't end up arriving till 2 AM.

In the morning, we went to the Farmer's Market in Syracuse, then we went to Tony's Pizza for lunch and got pastrami sandwiches. Then Ryan headed to Provo, to see some of his friends from college, where he stayed overnight and went to church with them.

Yesterday, we went to church and they announced they are changing the ward boundaries for our stake. They're having the meeting next Sunday night, so we'll so find out if we are in a new ward or not. We dropped Ryan off at the airport last night.