So a lot has happened since my last post, I will do my best to remember everything!
Our days have been largely taken up by our classes, since we are trying to "front-load" now before we go on tour. I am SO excited for these classes...the professors are very much aware of the UWP program and what we do during our semester, and so a lot of assignments will have us reflect on our experiences and use our experiences to inform our papers. As someone who really values practical education and hands-on learning, this is just a wonderful addition to everything else we'll be doing. There is (and will continue to be) a lot of overlap between both the individual classes and what we'll be learning on the road, and so I am really enjoying the cross-curricular aspect of it as well.
Here's a great picture of the 10 of us taking classes through Florida Southern College. (Note the railings!)
In other news, I finally got around to taking some pictures of Lakeland, which are on facebook. For those of you without a facebook, you can view them here. There is a beautiful lake (Lake Hollingsworth) right near Florida Southern's campus, and my host family's house is about a quarter of the way around the lake, which is about a 3/4 mile distance. We have really been enjoying walking to and from "school" every day, and the weather has been PERFECT. In fact, yesterday and today were record high temperatures for Lakeland in January--a balmy 82 degrees!
Yesterday we took a walk all the way around the lake (about 3 miles) after we finished with classes. It was really interesting to see the variety in the architecture ..a lot of the houses were more typical, like the one I am living in, but some looked more like Italian villas, and some were just not to attractive...I took pictures of a lot of them if anyone is interested :) But the most exciting part of the walk was definitely when we saw our alligator. He was real big, about 6 feet, which is actually the biggest they can be before they have to be removed and either shot or relocated. They are no longer endangered so they'll often shoot them if they get too friendly (within 10 feet of a human) or longer than about 6 feet. Here's a picture! (For those of you who know the story...that's my monkey face, too. Thankfully the alligator didn't see it, or I would not be writing this!)
I have really enjoyed spending time with my host parents, Maureen and Kevin. They both grew up in the northeast/midwest, but have lived in Florida for abut 30 years. They have three children, all grown, and a black lab, Mac, who is absolutely the sweetest dog I have ever met. He is definitely turning me into more of a dog person...and I'm not allergic to him! Quite a change from Fat Stella. The way they run their house is very similar to what I am used to and what I am comfortable with, so it has been an easy transition for me...I have to remember that's not how it will always be! The fun fact of the day yesterday was that one of Kevin's patients (who is the senior cardiologist at the hospital clinic in Lakeland) lives part of the year in Whitehouse, NJ! I was pretty excited to here a little piece of home had followed me here.
That's about all for now. We are all getting really excited for Friday when the rest of the cast arrives!! We got some brochures the other day to distribute about the show...
[sorry the picture is backwards!]
I send all my love! Thinking of all of you in the cold dreary winter while I enjoy myself by the pool :)
"Quite a change from Fat Stella."
ReplyDeleteBest sentence you've ever written.