A Very Lucky Girl

If I found out that there was a video camera in the Literacy room of the public library during my tutoring session today I would die. Today was my first official volunteering session with my student. She is a middle-aged woman from Mexico with very little knowledge of the English language. Which is where I come in. She wants to learn conversational English and I am doing my best to aid her learning process. I met her for the first time a week ago and it quickly became apparent that we would have trouble communicating. We sat and smiled at each other and laughed nervously. My Spanish vocabulary is extremely limited, I was proud of myself for saying good morning and her name correctly this morning. All week I stressed about being able to communicate a new language to someone when I couldn't even communicate with in their native language. I hated professors who taught me French when they knew little English.  I had a TEACHER book to page through and the whole time I looked th...

Our first order of business in Poland involved a swift change of clothes in the airport restrooms. From there I assumed my role as Keeper of the Map, train timetable wizard, hostel booker, and general OCD planner. You'd have to ask Laura and Kylie if it got annoying ;) I asked the information desk how to get to Auschwitz and she pointed behind me to a giant sign saying "Directions to Auschwitz." Oh. Poland 1 Taylor 0. We found an ATM and money-ed up for the country. I took out 250 zloty, the equivalent of 82 USD, and rejoiced at the prices of Poland.  The language barrier was immediately a struggle, but after some issue we found the correct bus to take us to the city center where we would catch a second bus to Oswiecim, where the concentration camp was located.  On our journey to the camp, I couldn't help but think of the others who had come before me on trains to the very same place. But they didn't come armed with maps and money. In fact, they didn'...

10 countries. 5 currencies. So many different languages. My head is still spinning and I may possibly need another nap before I write any more words.  It feels like I've been gone from Dundee for years, but at the same time the 23 days passed in the blink of an eye. Before I fully comprehended what was happening I was on a plane in Denmark heading to London and tomorrow I'll be on a bus to Dundee. The greater European adventure of my semester abroad is almost over. It seemed like it took ages to get here, seeing as I've been planning since November. But it finally came to fruition on a chilly night in early April when Laura, Kylie, and I ventured into the unknown.  It's hard to believe it's really me who went to all of those places and had so many amazing experiences. It feels as if I've woken up from an exotic dream where I watched someone else do everything I've always wanted to do. But no. It was me. I walked the dusty streets of Auschwitz and saw ...

Just one, actually. A new one! I am an officially employed member of the Sandy Beaches team. I quit my position at Fuzzy's because I decided life is too short to work until 4 in the morning every weekend.  I was looking for nearly a month before I found a great new challenge in Sandy Beaches. I've never worked at a tanning salon before so I constantly feel a little mentally slow when trying to finagle the computer and speak the lingo. Low, bronze, premium, and 360 beds were all the same to me until I started a week ago. Now I can tell you how long you should spend in each bed, the difference between a maximizer and a bronzer, and sign you up for a monthly membership (only after five phone calls to another coworker to make sure I'm typing in the correct codes, of course).  I was terrified to close by myself the first time, but I managed and feel more confident now since the initial lone shift is complete!  I'm looking forward to camaraderie with new people and steady p...

The infamous Miss Johnson I had quite a tumultuous education growing up. I started Kindergarden at New Hope Academy and completed third grade with the wonderful teaching of Mrs. Utley, Mrs. Fontenot, Miss Johnson, and Mrs. Peabody. I couldn't ask for a better beginning of school. From there I attended fourth grade through ninth grade at St. David's School. I learned Latin from the legendary Mr. Davis and labeled the African countries in Ms. Newsome's class. Mrs. Crutchley aided my seventh grade heart and placed me next to my crush in her assigned seating chart. Mrs. Purvis instilled basic grammar rules into my fifth grade brain and Mrs. Durham endured my crying fits in math class. LETTERS DON'T BELONG IN MATH. It's a disgrace to the alphabet. Sophomore and junior year were spent at Legacy Christian Academy in the presence of educators like Mrs. Maxey and Mrs. Brunson. I learned extensive amounts of European history and American Government from Dr. Hamel and Dr. ...

Last Thursday morning I was accosted by a startling headline in the Oklahoma Daily: "Armed man apprehended by OUPD." Talk about disturbing! I rescrolled through my OU email account and checked my phone for any missed OUAlerts. Nada.  According to the Oklahoma Daily , "University police failed to inform students of a man, who said he was armed, on campus last week." From what I understood from the paper, an expelled student, Naasik Ferdous, threatened to murder OU women's soccer goalie, Kelsey Devonshire, for reasons unexplained. Devonshire requested and received extra protection when the threat was realized, but although the almost assailant was spotted "in the Oklahoma Memorial Union on the morning of October 17th", no other students were notified of the potential danger.  OUPD explained their apparent negligence in not using any alert protocol because "the emergeny system to notify students via test there was a potentially armed man on campu...