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It’s been an exciting winter break! After a successful and much welcome finish to the semester, I jetted off to England (literally hours after my last final) to meet the fam and spend the holidays in lovely Oxford. I must say the highlight of the vacation was meeting Winston, the excitable and friendly puppy I’ve read all about but never met. He is certainly worthy of his celebrity-dog status. The trip to Amsterdam was also an awesome time, though the majority of our party were still recovering from the dreaded norovirus (re: Jaci’s blog), which struck me a day or two after my return home.

Despite recovering from the virus attack, my new year’s was spectacular- Max and I attended a fabulous four course dinner/ New Year’s party at the Rusty Scupper, and watched the fireworks over the harbor at the stroke of midnight. It was a beautiful and memorable evening! I’ve had an amazing last two weeks as well, no school, no work and no worries. Of course, I’ve been putting off packing and finalizing details for my upcoming study abroad experience, but it’ll get done in time, for sure.

I also heard today that I’ve been accepted into the masters’ program I applied for, which is a big relief as well as exciting news! Now, if all goes well, I’ll have a masters in international development by the time I’m legally allowed to drink. Cheers to that!

We Bengforts have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for this 2008, so here are my resolutions:

1) Blog more- if only to keep Mom and Dad’s minds at ease while I’m gone.
2) Make the most out of my time abroad…and my free time.
3) Get a fabulous, ridiculously awesome pair of shoes.
4) Walk/hike/bike and generally explore more. Also, spend more time outdoors.
5) Take care of my skin. And hair.
6) Go to the beach. Seriously! I’m beach-deprived.
7) Master Italian, and review French and Spanish.
Read more.
9) Live!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Hey guys- this is a post from a few months ago that never got published!

As I was puffing along on the cross-trainer yesterday morning it suddenly struck me how strange working out really is. It’s one thing to work out to form some sort of specialization- to become a better basketball player, should that be a hobby or profession, to become stronger, faster, jump higher, etc. It’s another to work out solely for the goal of losing weight or being healthy enough to survive.

Those who work out for athletic purposes are most likely already as healthy as they need to be. They work out for the goal of specialization, and not just to be “healthy,” but also to be the best at what they do, in peak physical performance. Yet, for a lot of people, working out isn’t simply for the goal of physically training themselves- working out is for burning off excess fat or even to maintain a sufficient level of “health” they require in order to live longer. Beyond health, some people work out only to be skinnier- look better, more physically appealing, etc.

It certainly says something about a society when we have to push our bodies into labor with no result other than to burn excess energy (IE fat, carbs, etc.) We have so much energy that we have to find a way to expel it before it becomes stored in our bodies. I suppose that’s a privilege; too much energy is far better than too little. Yet if you really think about it, it’s extremely unnatural.

When I walked into Italian class this morning I was informed by a frantic Professor that I was going to be taking over the class, along with another one of her more advanced students. Apparantly her son was sick and her husband couldn’t take care of him, and she was sick as well, so she decided to leave today’s review session in our capable (?) hands. Before she left, she handed me some papers and instructed me to go over them with the class. Only one section of the paper had an answer key, so I just had to assume that my answers were all correct, though I can confidently say they were.

Upon realization that there was no professor in class, several students left (no offense taken, I might have done the same if I hadn’t been put in charge). I’m actually surprised as many students stayed as they did- the majority of the class- but I’m sure that’s only because there’s a quiz next class, and today was the review.

It was a bit chaotic at first- I couldn’t get the class to pay attention, people were chatting, disregarding me, doing the crossword, etc. It got better as the class went on but, being a fellow classmate and not in charge of their grades, it was a lot harder for me to get people to pay attention and answer the questions. I even got some dirty looks when I corrected people’s pronunciation, etc.

Going over the work went well; the students had a lot of questions and I think I was rather good at answering them in ways they could understand. I only messed up once: I thought “di solito” meant “by him/her self” when it actually means “usually.” I corrected myself eventually, though, and hopefully the rest of the class was paying attention when I did.

I also had a bit of an embarassing moment. We had to read a dialogue between two people, then complete a “fill in the blank” exercise about the dialogue. One of the sentences read:

“Oscar vuole andare a ___________ Mabel in macchina.”

which literally translates to:

“Oscar wants to go ___________ Mabel in (his) car.”

The correct answer is ____prendere___ which would make the answer, “Oscar wants to go pick up Mabel in his car.”

The class was having a hard time getting the answer, however, so I had the unfortunate lack of foresight to say, “Come on, guys, what does Oscar want to do to Mabel in his car?”

Which, of course, set on bouts of crude laughter from the students.

We got through the class without further incident, however, and I’m pleased to say I think I did a decent job. I had a few students thank me profusely for explaining things in English (our professor speaks only Italian), and one student even said he learned more today than he had all semester.

Well, we’ve all heard the story of Devi’s sudden discovery that she was allergic to sea snake- not really a big deal, as sea snake isn’t a staple in her diet. I also wrote several months back about my weird drug allergy, but that wasn’t so surprising either, as I’d never taken that drug before.

Yet, for some reason, while I was eating lunch, I broke out in a rash on my face, particularly around my mouth. I wasn’t eating anything strange, just a chicken wrap and some strawberry ice cream. I thought it might be the hot relish on my wrap, but I’m not sure. Mom thought I might be allergic to strawberries, which I deemed impossible, but just to prove her wrong I went and ate a whole bunch the next day. No reaction!

I thought the food might have been contaminated or something, which caused my reaction, but I haven’t heard of anyone else being affected, so who knows? Let’s just hope it doesn’t happen again!

I’m sorry for the lack of updates, but I’ve been busy! It’s been an incredibly stressful week and I’m just happy to have it almost over with.

In the past week I’ve had to deal with big projects at work, applications, an Italian exam, a paper for Shakespeare, and a huge speech project for my public speaking class. I’ve been working from 7 am to 11 pm straight for at least four days, no breaks. Talk about pressure!

This is probably the busiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. It’s like…my work just never stops coming. There’s always something else to do, some other committment, and important things, too, not just little annoyances. I suppose it’s going to be this way for the rest of my life…what a depressing thought!

I finally got almost everything wrapped up yesterday so I’m looking forward to a night of relaxing at home this weekend before I trudge on. At least I’ll get one little break, eh?

I ran into a young woman from my public policy class on the metro today on my way to work, and we got to talking. She mentioned that she was from Kyrgzstan, and I, realizing that I knew absolutely nothing about that particular part of the world, was very curious. She moved here four years ago and had a lot to say on the subject, so it turned into a pleasant and very enlightening conversation.

On that note, I’d like to mention something on the topic of age, a very popular topic for us Bengfort bloggers these days. The girl’s age seems so utterly ambiguous to me that I could not possibly for the life of me figure out how old she is. She looks to me like she could be anywhere from eighteen to thirty-five; she has no lines or wrinkles, but her face appears a bit older to me, and her mannerisms as well, though that could come from her personality and her cultural background rather than her age. Even the fact that she’s a student and an intern means nothing- there are plenty of elderly- I’m sorry, older- students, and as she only recently moved here an internship is probably the best way to start out a job. My only small clue was that she told me her supervisor was “her age” rather than “our age,” but this could have been only to emphasize her point that it was strange having a supervisor just as old as she was.

This makes it a little more difficult for me, communication wise, as I have no idea where our relationship stands. Am I speaking to her as a student to a student, though we are no longer in the classroom? A peer to a peer? If she were obviously quite a bit older than me, I would treat her in some manner more respectfully as my superior, regardless of the situation I were in. If she and I were the same age, I’d be more casual in conversation, though equally as friendly and polite. Also, how do our cultural differences affect the way we communicate? In conversation with a young American, I would certainly be more apt to use sarcastic humor than with an older American or a young person of a different culture.

I suppose in each situation you must adapt to mirror the behavior of your counterpart. In this case, she was doing most of the talking, so I kept my mannerisms polite and curious, which worked well for the situation, but inhibited any real “bonding” between us, I suppose.

I was faced with another dilemma writing this blog, in that I had no idea how to refer to her. Is she a “girl”? Is she a “woman?” I still consider myself a girl, 18 years old, and I’m sure most people would refer to me as “the girl with brown curly hair…etc” rather than “the woman with brown curly hair.” At what point to you change from a girl to a woman? There’s always the intermediary- young woman- but used casually it sounds a bit corny, and still a little ambiguous. Is a 25 year old with two children a girl, a young woman or a woman? How about a single, attractive 32 year old? How about Jaci? Or Devi? I think we can all agree that Mom’s a woman and I’m a girl, but where is the line drawn?

And in that case, what about man and boy? Is it more insulting for a male to be called a “boy” when he reaches a certain age? It certainly has more of a stigma attached to it than does the word girl. Is it more okay for older men to call younger men boys, than for peers to do so? And is it this touchy transition from “boyhood” to “manhood” the reason that there’s a better, or should I say more common, male neutral- “guy”- than there is for women?

Well, after a retching 5 hours straight of transcribing (9 hours total), I’m ready for a break, and some delicious fish. Good thing I’m going to a fish fry!

The weather in Maryland has finally started changing, this past week dropping from 80 and 90 degree weather to 60 and 70 degree weather. Though I adore hot weather, it’s very nice outside, so lots of time walking about has been the order of the week. It’s also made my dorm a lot more bearable, especially at night. On the negative side, I seem to be developing a cold, which is certainly not welcome by me.

A bit of good news, though- I’ve been accepted to the Study Abroad Program I applied for! I’m really excited…I think it’s going to be amazing!

Well, an update for those who were concerned: I am sleeping again, but after having not slept for a week, I’ve been pretty exhausted this week too. However, sleeping is a good step, so I’m sure I’ll be better soon!

This weekend’s shaping up to be pretty fun- lots of going out with friends planned, a fish fry at the Krouts’ on Saturday for all the fish that we caught in the Chesapeake on Father’s Day, and maybe even some homework. Mom’s got me doing transcription for Cengen so I’ll be working on that, too.

Other than that, classes are going well, work is going well, so yeah…my life is uneventful, but peaceful!

Classes have been going very well so far, my living arrangement is wonderful, and my internship is fitting into things quite smoothly. Things are busier now that the senate’s back in session so I’m not quite as bored. I’ve had only one problem, and, well…it’s a big problem!

I can’t seem to get any sleep. As of today, I haven’t really slept for three days. I’ve tried to go to sleep, but I just end up lying in my bed for hours and hours. I toss, I turn, I try to get comfortable but I just can’t seem to. It’s not that it’s too hot or stuffy…it is, of course, hot and stuffy, but that wasn’t bothering me for the majority of last week, when I slept just fine. It’s also not that I’ve been having anxiety or I have too much on my mind when I’m going to sleep, because, well…I don’t.

Yesterday, I actually got into a peaceful sleep at around 6:30 am (It was 6:24 the last time I had looked at the clock), but my dratted alarm was set for 7 (even though I didn’t have class that day til 10) and I couldn’t get back to sleep after I had to get up and turn it off.

Though I’ve been able to keep up with everything I’ve needed to do quite well, the lack of sleep has been affecting me physically. My whole body aches, my eyes burn and all around I just feel fatigued. I’ve tried everything I can- exhausting myself by going to the gym, reading before bed, just laying there with my eyes closed, but nothing’s worked so far.

I hate having to rely on sleep aids so this weekend I think I’m going to try a whole detox routine- massage therapy (and I need it- my body is in PAIN), herbal sleepy-time tea, etc. Wish me luck!

The transition back to college started out a little roughly but things are now going very smoothly, and I’m glad to report that I am very happily settled in!

The first day back was exhausting, to say the least…on top of having to drag all my stuff up three flights of stairs and fit it into a tiny room, It was sweltering hot, extremely sticky, and just all around gross temperature-wise. Mom and Dad can attest- it wasn’t too fun!

The room itself, as I mention before, was a lot smaller than expected, though the arrangement of the furniture in the room when we arrived made it look almost unlivable. We were then presented with the challenge of arranging the furniture in the room in such a way that it was a) functional and b) rational. It’s a small room with funny dimensions and a nook that opens out to a window, along with a slanted ceiling and an inconveniently placed closet. It looked like all my practise for the last few months playing cell phone tetris was going to be culminate in this final design challenge.

At first we tried to fit the bed into the nook. The frame of the bed, however, refused to be crammed into that little area, even though the mattress fit perfectly. We considered trying to stash the frame somewhere but figured that would be more trouble than it was worth.

We then tried to push the bed up against the far wall, but realized that by doing this I was blocking the doorway to the closet and thus did not have access to it. Mom and Dad came up with the brilliant idea of just taking off the closet door entirely, and with a screwdriver borrowed from someone’s propped up door Dad went ahead and popped off the closet door and stashed it in the side.

I set up a cushy chair in the nook, which is a great place to study or read because it’s right under the window with sunlight pouring in.

My desk and cabinet went on the opposite wall, along with a cosmetics stackable, which all fit perfectly in conjunction with the open door *phew!*. Now that might sound easy, but imagine trying to move all this furniture around in this tiny room without moving something else you had already put in place too much so you can get it back in.

Unfortunately, at this point we realized that my wonderful, beloved and very much expensive carpet from last year, a 10×12, would not fit into my poor little 6×9 room. I needed carpeting, however, because the floors were this very unattractive black and gray checkerboard pattern, so Mom and Dad ran home and let me borrow the carpet runners from the house, while I unpacked and set up the rest of my room.

By the time we were done, my room looked fantastic. I love it a lot here, my nook is pleasant, I have just enough room, and it’s perfectly functional. Definitely a relief from the “oh my…” moment when we stepped into the room.

My only complaint for the last few days has been the disgusting hot stickiness that has pervaded campus and the dorms. It’s seriously like… the second you step out of the shower, you feel gross all over again. I find myself looking forward to going to class if not only for the desperate relief of air conditioning in the classrooms.