Day 213 | Friday, July 31 | 2009

Last Day of July...

I woke at 4:30 this morning to go out for a walk and listen to vocabulary.  I have a system worked out that I have recorded about 1,000 vocabulary words and catalogued them on my iPod.  That way, I can study while I go out on a walk.  I simply put on my headphones and listen to the various lists I have created.  It's that easy!  It's really enjoyable actually and I am beginning to wonder why I have never done this before.  I think I would like to expand my vocabulary even after the GRE stuff is over and I could also incorporate this method into learning vocabulary and grammatical structures en Español.

This is the walking/running path near my parents house and it was the perfect place to see the sun eclipse the morning as I was out walking.  Even though there are the pangs of getting out of bed early in the morning, the sunrise is sweet and worth the pain -- there is a certain warmness that wells inside from these early morning moments that I cannot describe well enough here an now.

Day 210 | Tuesday, July 28 | 2009

Nearby Farm...

There is not too much to say about today other than I got up really early to get to Cincinnati to study.  I studied about 12 hours today.  My biggest area that I need to improve upon is Reading Comprehension and Sentence Completion.  Other than that, things are smooth sailing.

It's hard for me not to think about what this all means.  I would rather just look at Spanish programs all day and figure out what school might be the best fit for me but it would be foolish to do so being that I haven't even taken the GRE test yet.  I suppose I will just have to wait.

Day 169 | Wednesday, June 17 | 2009

Toyota Celica...

I spent all day packing to get back to Athens and cleaning / cleaning out my car (pictured above).  It is actually my brother's car that he gave to me back in 2005.  

Day 163 | Thursday, June 11 | 2009

Rehearsal...

Today everyone arrived in Perrysburg for the wedding.  Perrysburg is right near Toledo and is the town where Gretchen grew up.  We did the rehearsal for the wedding today and went to the rehearsal dinner with a party of about fifty people in attendance.  

Everybody's excited but I'm a little wary just because I put off my last term paper until now.  It is due tomorrow before noon and instead of really being able to talk with my brother tonight (I am in the hotel room with him tonight) I need to finish the paper.  Good thing that the paper is not too hard -- it's just a personal reflection of our experiences over the study abroad program in Ecuador this Spring.

I am so proud of my brother and Gretchen.  I wish I could be a little more coherent in my reflection of today and their wedding...and everything....but life moves too fast. 

I want to congratulate them and wish them the best -- they are such a good couple.

Día 151 | Sábado, 30 de Mayo | 2009

Sapos...

It is getting harder and harder for me to be apart from Caitlin.  It was really nice to talk last night on iChat but it is just not the same.  I want to actually be there.  This week will go by quickly though and we'll see each other in no time.

Today we drove a couple hours outside of  Quito to arrive in Mindo.  We are staying at a hostel and on location, there is a butterfly farm with hundreds of butterflies in the garden.  They also house little tiny frogs (or sapos) in the garden too.  

Today I spent my free time trying to finish the reading I have to do for my Ecuadorian short stories class.  I am almost finished and I'll feel so relieved when I am.