VSA Rocks

Sometimes your internal alarm clock just decided to go off a bit earlier, for me, this usually happens on weekends or other days when sleeping in is possible, and while I did not have that much time to sleep yesterday, I did manage to wake up a full half-hour before I needed to. 

After taking my time to get ready I settled into the common area of our dorm to do a bit of blogging for the few remaining minutes I had before it was time for breakfast. Breakfast passed relatively uneventfully, with me once again refusing to wait in the lines and opting for cereal and a fruit in the noisy and cavernous dining hall.  

Class began as it always does, following breakfast, and marked the last time that we would have to walk to class with our TA's, starting today (Thursday) we are able to make our way to class on our own in groups of 3's. 

We trekked across campus in the morning heat, mentally preparing ourselves for the small class debates our professor had notified us about the day before. I was pretty excited as even though the topic was complex and foreign ("Rhetorical critics should make truth judgments"), the format is very familiar being that I am a member of the debate team at El Cerrito. It was nice to apply the art of rhetoric even while discussing its more theoretical side, and I am always down for a fun informal debate. As typically happens with debate, we ran overtime and as soon as we had finished it lunch was in order. 

After lunch, we returned to the classroom and began to cover the major project that will conclude our time in New Problems in Rhetoric, a nine-minute speech on a policy we care about. We learned more about the art and elements of rhetoric and the way that that the field of study has progressed in the way it addresses material and the questions it asks. 

Soon it was ACE time, which meant it was time to once again cover the same spot on my arm in some kind of gruesome semi-realist addition made out of materials that seem to be bound and determined to stay attached to me for eternity. Wednesdays prosthetic utilized liquid latex and to emulate a skin which could be peeled and painted to look like an object had pierced it.  

Arm piercing take one

From ACE, we moved onto our daily hour of free time, which I spent with Ana and her roommate, as well as all of our friend, Cyndi. We laughed and marveled at the wonder that is different American English dialects, that is to say, we gaped at the words that Cyndi, who is from Florida, pronounced differently than the way we do on the west coast. 

Dinner passed full of laughs and reflection on our day and discussion of what we would do with our first SOFT (Sign Out Free Time) night, or time when we can leave campus with small groups to explore the surrounding area. Well... surrounding area may be a strong word, it's more like a single street up and down and a few small areas, but it was still so much fun to get out of the limited region that we have been confined to during our time here. 

A map showing our boundaries

Along with Cyndi, Julie, and Alondra (friends I have made here), I made the sweaty trek to Ben & Jerry's, but my mint chocolate chip ice cream made it totally worth it. We then made a quick stop at CVS where I finally got the headphones I had forgotten at home and we made our way back to the dorms before 9pm. 

Gorgeous Vandy views

A floor-wide game finished up our evening and it was off to bed. 

This morning my body did not wake up angelically like yesterday but instead fought me tooth and nail as I tried to get up. Still, I managed to get ready with a bit of time to spare for some class prep in the common area. 

Breakfast, as much as I promised my self I would diversify my eating habits, still consisted of cerrial and fruit, today it was grapes. Before I knew it, my card had been swiped, my cereal eaten, and it was off to class for me. 

BREAKFAST! 

Today's class started a bit more gently than yesterday's, with a lecture on the practice of rhetorical genre criticism, or the grouping of different rhetorical recurring events into genres like books and music, and looking at the characteristics of those genres. 

After lunch, we covered a specific rhetorical genre, presidential inaugurals. We did this through first looking at the established criteria for standard and good presidential inaugurals, and then applied them to Trump's address. Let's just say he had a slightly different approach them most.  

My ACE today was much more freeform and took the shape of me using every cool liquid, wax, tool, and paint on my arm in combination to refine the same design I had attempted yesterday. 

Arm part two

From there, dinner sped by, followed by an additional SOFT night which this time we spent in, watching the Office, eating ice cream, and painting rocks. In short, it was a pretty ideal evening. 

Painting! 

Soon I will once again be "catching z's", and looking forward to what tomorrow has in store.