Spring Book List = Rape

Here is the potential list in full. Some are yet to be confirmed. Let's talk about wallet rape...

French-Du Moderne au Contemporain

L'immoraliste-Gide
Alcools-Apollinaire
Nadja-Breton
La Chute-Camus
En Attendant Godot-Beckett
Les Fruits d'Or-Sarraute
Rue des boutiques obscures-Modiano

Strategy

The Meaning of Nuclear Revolution-Jervis
America's Achilles Heel: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Terrorism and Covert Attack-Falkenrath et al.
Bombing to Win-Pape
Dying to Win-Pape
The Spread of Nuclear Weapons-Sagan and Waltz
Arms and Influence-Schelling

US Intervention and Regime Change in Latin America

The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War-Grandin
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq-Kinzer
Right-Wing Women in Chile
*Present at Creation; my years in the State Department-Acheson
*Manufacturing Consent: the political economy of mass media-Herman and Chomsky
*Gift of the Devil: a history of Guatemala-Handy
*Trilaterialism: the Trilateral Commission and elite planning for world management-Sklar

Introduction to Biological Anthropology

Primate Adaptation and Evolution-Fleagle

*May not be mandatory, don't know yet.


Should be interesting at the very least. And I'm building a ridiculous library of books.

Sketchiness Afoot

When did Max P become the sketchy place to live? In the last 24 hours there have been 3, THREE, occurances of outright sketch. I don't know if I can deal with this UofC...

3 Incidents

1. Receiving a phone call at 12:45 am inviting me to a party. Didn't know who it was, and when I hung up the called back immediately. They called me 5 times, and then I disconnected my phone. SKETCHY.

2. The maintenance guy letting himself into our suite at 2 am last night. Yeah some of that might have been confusion on my roommates behalf. Since when is it ok for them to let themselves into my room in the middle of the night. SKETCHY.

3. 3 pm today, a dude apparently wandered around and tried to steal laptops. WHAT THE HELL. How does a random guy get let into the building. SKETCHY.

I may need to leave. Shoot.

Definition of Spring Break

I'm pretty sure this song defined my Spring Break. Why? Because it's been stuck in my head the whole time. It's an excellent song, so I guess it's ok that its been in my head, but still. Kinda weird when I break into "shiver my timbers." My favorite part of the song is when the tree-statue guys start singing, and then when the one goes "one more time now."

Wow.

BACKPACK BACKPACK

I just ordered a backpacking backpack for Europe! I've been throwing dollar bills and pennies and whatever into this jar since about October, with the intention of buying everything I need for Europe with the money. I have about $140 right now, which is pretty good. I decided, since it is prime season to order outdoors gear online, I would dip into this amount and order my backpack. DONE AND DONE. I spent only $68 too, so I have a lot of monies leftover. Although... I still need good shoes, a bigger memory card for my camera, a better french dictionary, and a new normal type backpack. I'll just have to keep saving!

Link to sweet new backpack!

Pretending to be in Florida

The fam and I went to Lake Geneva for a night, just because. With it snowing outside and like 30 degrees, I pretended we were in Florida because the hotel room we had really reminded me of the one we did have when we were in Orlando like 8 years ago. And I wanted to go to the Beach and be warm. But yeah, we just wandered around and looked at weird stores for awhile. I took some pictures of the *great* time we had. Check them out.

My brother pretty much passed out in the car. He was out for two nights prior with almost no sleep. Lame.

Pissed off in the parking lot. New sunglasses though.


For once I did not have to share a bed with my sister. Although we did fight over who got the far bed (she did, because she cried and got me yelled at by the parents).

Hotel living room/Family cry-baby.

I pretended that wall mural was actually a window looking out on a beach and that it was warm.


We had a kitchen. That was nice too. I guess. I only took like 6 pictures and this was one of them. Weird.

As you can see, we had a thrilling time.

Why Not?

I guess I'm the kind of girl who smuggles a TV to work in her purse so she can keep up with the basketball game...

Why not?

NYC Flight Itinerary

I just received my itinerary for my flights to and from NYC in May. Kind of exciting. Except for some reason they thought we all wanted to fly out of O'Hare when I'm pretty sure NO ONE put that as their first choice, so add two hours plus for getting to/from O'Hare. Suck.

O'Hare (Chicago) to JFK (NYC)
Tuesday May 13
Take-off 9:35am (gross)
Landing 12:45pm


JFK (NYC) to O'Hare (Chicago)
Sunday May 18
Take-off 8:30 pm
Landing 10:21 pm (gross)


I'm pretty fucking excited. Except for the part where I have to get to and from O'Hare from campus. That will be no fun.

Second Day of Spring

I just wanted to take a moment to comment on how great it is that it is finally spring. Birds chirping, trees are budding with leaves, the sun feels warms again, and school is almost over!

Oh wait...



Six plus inches of snow and still going strong. Might as well spend Spring Break sledding.

BIG DANCE BIG DAY

I've spent the last 24 hours more or less watching basketball (or sleeping). I kind of love it. My bracket has gone to shit already, but I don't even care because the first weekend of March Madness is one of the best weekends of the year. Seriously.

And Wisconsin won their first game. Props. I thought I was going to shit myself for awhile there, but they managed to turn it around and put together a pretty convincing victory. They play again tomorrow at 3:30, which sucks because I have a shift at the libo. Which might actually be ok, because no one will be there, and I will probably watch the game on one of the little TVs in the back and get paid for it. I guess that's ok.

I love March Madness though. Pizza, hot wings, soda, and basketball. That's how you do it.

#1 City in America

I forgot what it was like to live in a small town. Not that Madison is that small, but compared to Chicago it feels like the sticks.

Today I was waiting in line at Chipotle on the west side, and behind me I heard "Hey Nora! How's Chicago?" I turn around and its my old neighbor of more than 10 years. She's like 60 years old or something, and I remember her yelling at me for eating her raspberries many a summer. It felt really good to know that a) she recognized me, and b) she knew what I was doing with my life. Not that I'm conceited or anything, but after spending so much time in the anonymity that is Chicago, it was nice to feel like part of a community again.

I don't think I want to live in a small town when I grow up. I kind of like the fastpaced big city life where there is more than a Denny's open after 8 (not that Hyde Park can provide that, but still). But having my childhood in a place like Middleton was pretty special and if my parents continue to live there it will be a great place to go home to for the holidays or whatever.

That said Spring Break has been pretty chill. Just watching Basketball and shopping. My brother seems to think he's going to Montreal for Spring Break which is funny because a) he has no money, b) he doesn't have a passport, and c) is failing 3 classes. There will be many fights about this one, I can assure you. And, my parents think he is a "flight risk" and is going to try running away again.

Glory Glory Hallelujah.

Spring Break 08

I'm cleaning up good ole 409B for the Spring Interim Period. It kind of feels like moving out, because I've spent the better part of 5 hours doing laundry, going through books and papers, vacuuming, etc...

With finals done, I'm free to head out of town as soon as I want. This basically means first thing tomorrow morning. I'm heading back to Wisconsin (the MOTHERLAND) for almost two whole weeks of R&R. I'm actually really excited to get away for a little bit. This place is DRAINING.

But yeah, finals were fine. I overstudied (by a lot) for my Mearsheimer class, and I understudied (by a lot) for my french exam. Kind of anxious to see grades there.

But anyways--happy break!

EAT THAT FINALS

Of course winning finals comes in the form of the COOLEST tattoo ever.

On The Horizon

La Tour Eiffel.

(from a french class friend's fbook)

You've Said It All

I've been receiving postcards from my friends who are abroad lately. Thanks a lot kids, and keep sending them, because they make my ugly MaxP room more pretty.

Also, the title of this blog is in honor of my Wisconsin Badgers. They've made it to the Big Ten Finals for the second year in a row, and hopefully they will win this time. I'm looking forward to watching the game tomorrow afternoon on my shitty yet amazing TV.

I don't really have anything to blog about. I just felt like I needed to because I just finished my International Studies project. That means I have only one class left to worry about for finals: War and the Nation State. It will probably kick my ass, but I think studying ALL DAY AND NIGHT tomorrow will help me out. Kinda excited for that. Not.

I'm heading to the MOTHERLAND on Tuesday morning. I'm looking forward to a queen sized bed, real food, and no homework for two weeks. I'm not looking forward to the Van Galder bus, seeing 3 feet of snow still on the ground, and having to deal with my brother/family. Should be a fun time, no?

I'm going to celebrate being done with IS by watching an episode of 30 Rock, and then reading for War!

$500 Poorer, $500 Closer to Paris

Paid my $500 non-refundable deposit for Paris today. I thought I needed to do something fun to lift my spirits after my internet piracy meeting extravaganza. Luckily the meeting wasn't too bad.

But yeah, turned in my $500 and got my congratulations from the Study Abroad Secretary. Which means... I'm OFFICIALLY OFFICIALLY going to Paris next fall!

Oh, and after my French final I ran into my Professor in the hallway. I told him I was going to Paris and he swooped in and gave me this big hug. It was super cute. I love that old man.

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.

OMG! We went to the new Grocery Store... TREASURE ISLAND. This Island of Treasure was pretty much the best thing ever because they had free cheese everywhere. Holla.

But seriously, not gonna starve anymores.

This blog is dedicated to the honorable MKS.

Time To Level Up *cutemariomusic*

Ok the initial shock of finding out that I just got into my dream program has subsided. Ok, no it hasn't, but still. I'm not half-crying in the lobby of max, half-running down the hallway screaming.

I know I shouldn't have been surprised that I got into the program, because seriously, how many kids here are really qualified for it? I mean the French program is grueling so to even make it to 203 let alone pass it is a feat. But having more or less finished 208, I'm sailing...

But seriously, when I went to check my e-mail (on the lobby e-mail station, because of my current situation... haha) I was shaking and nervous and hoping to god or whoever that I would have a positive answer. Seriously, this is like a big big deal. This girl who rides in my van for NSP was SCREAMING when her boyfriend told her she had gotten in. SCREAMING. I shed a few tears of elation, bolted up the stairs and then jumped ridiculously in the vestibule.

And then I let the celebrations begin... Spicey Chicken, French Fries and Coke for dinner... ANTM live on the television... I rode the elevator instead of taking the stairs... hell, I'm taking off work tomorrow!

Basically I'm ridiculously excited. This program is one of the reasons why I chose the UofC in the first place. Not joking. I really wanted this, and I've been planning everything around it from the start. And now its really happening. Holy damn holy damn.

Spring Quarter is going to be amazing. I've got an awesome summer job (more or less) to look forward to, and then PARIS!!! Plus, I'm going to NYC in May, and all of my classes are in the afternoons save one on Thursdays. And it will be warm. And it will be amazing. I can't wait for my little informational meetings about Paris. Oh god, this is going to be so great!

Wow, I sort of sound really possessed there... But seriously... WORTH IT.

This blog hasn't gone to shit after all. I mean the whole point was to have a forum where I could talk about abroad, which is funny because I didn't actually know until today. But seriously, IT HASN'T GONE TO SHIT!

Hallelujah Mr. Fortner. Hallelujah.

PARIS PARIS PARIS

HOLY DAMN.

TOTALLY JUST GOT INTO MY PARIS CIV PROGRAM FOR FALL QUARTER.

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG.

WOWZA.

On The Verge Of Something Wonderful?

Professor Morrissey had my French Lit Class over for dinner tonight. It was awesome. I'm pretty sure he is one of my favorite teachers of all time. Not because I've learned a lot from him (which I have) but because of how he interacts with his students (not in a dirty way). He views us as equals. Its actually really cool. He's like 50-60 years old (not sure) but he invites 20 college kids over for dinner and drinks, and then sits around and tells drunk stories with them. I think that's really cool. It's not like those teachers who view their students as inferior or something. He values our opinions, and he works hard to help all of us individually improve our French.

The dinner tonight was amazing. Not only was the food great--Prof. Morrissey made chicken and salad, and provided real cheese, baguette and wine--but the conversation was great too. I thought it was going to be incredibly awkward... going over to my professors for dinner. But it was great. About half my class studied in France either last quarter or last year, so a lot of the conversation was them sharing their stories of abroad. It made me want to be there SO BADLY. They all had great stories of Paris and all of the cool things the programs allow for, and I seriously CAN NOT WAIT.

Oh, and Professor Morrissey told me tonight that if I don't get into Civ I should tell him, and he'll help me out. He is head of the Paris Center after all...

So maybe I just got the guaranteed in I was looking for?

------------------------

Also: to get the title of this post I did a random shuffle on my iPod and picked the first song title that came up... fitting isn't it?

Feeling The Pain From A Bad Idea

Ok, so they caught me.

The University that is. They caught me illegally downloading. I know they sent out all those e-mails trying to scare us from doing it, and they threatened us and everything during O-Week. But of course I didn't take them seriously. I know it was probably not a good idea to repeatedly use the University's kick ass wireless network to get my TV shows and movies and ok, music too. But seriously? I thought they were kidding when they were threatening us.

Apparently they weren't.

I've been removed from the wireless network (SUCK) until I met with Dean of Students (DOUBLESUCK) and sign a document saying I won't do it again or whatever. I really should be more afraid/upset about this, but for some reason I kind of think it's funny. I know I know, not a good attitude.

Will I continue to download when I get my internet back? Honestly, probably. But I'll be more careful about it so they don't catch me next time. I think I know the exact instant I was caught, and it was definitely a night when I wasn't being careful about covering my tracks up.

The only real downer from all of this is that finals start TOMORROW, and I am stuck using the macs in the dorm lab. I hate macs for one, and also, I'm stuck using my shitty flashdrive to print all of this. No fun. Worse time ever to get caught. I know it's my fault, but seriously can't I meet with the Dean like now?

Wow, I need an attitude adjustment. An A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E, attitude adjustment.

(Name that song and I will give you big monies)


ON ANOTHER NOTE: My tea incident isn't as bad as I thought it was... The only casualty was my K key, and that was my fault because I fucked it up when I was trying to get the tea out of my laptop. Other than that, everything is A-OK!

Tea=BAD

I'm never drinking tea again.

My laptop is currently out of order until either:

A) The keys dry out and begin working properly,

B) I get an external keyboard,

C) I get a new computer.

Yeah, sucks. And its all because of that stupid kid who was sitting next to me in bio and had to knock my tea into me, thus burning me and making me splash my comp. Damn him.

My internet doesn't work either, and I'm not really sure why.

Which of course is great because finals start like two days from now...

Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want

I'll tell you what I want what I really really want.

I really really want to hear about Paris in the next 24 hours.

Zigga-Zag Ahhhh.

Back To Life... Back To Reality

Reflections on ChoMUN XI:

-The Holiday Inn at Merchandise Mart sucks... and they probably hate us as well. Not only did the maids wake us up at 7:30 everyone morning by knocking and barging into our room (seriously, do not disturb sign and all), they also refused to clean our committee room, which ended in our staff having to feel the wrath of an angry Secretariat after we asked repeatedly to get it done. On the other hand we did demand a corkscrew from them (and refused to pay the $2.75 service charge), we ordered more than our share of pillows from the pillow menu (but seriously, the U-shaped neck pillows were not ok), and we decided to order room service right when they were closing.

-College MUN kids are nerds. Seriously, they were more into moving their troops and preparing to attack Japan than they were about finding out who got the concubine pregnant. Bitch please.

-The Pearl Concubine told Greg Kamstra (who was playing the Emporer) that she was caring his child.... woahhh, awkard.

-Indian food is too over priced, and not large enough in quantity. On the other hand, Jamba Juice is amazing, and Hyde Park needs one STAT.

-Wet noodles are harder to break than dry ones.

-After a locust-cano erupted in Japan, China was asked to provide humanitarian aid in return for pokemon cards. This is completely acceptable.

-I'm probably going to fail all of my finals because I am pretty much asleep right now, and I've got hours and hours of homework to do (I'm also blogging). Oh well.

-Getting attacked by jumping vampires IS cool. Seriously. Kinda weird, but ultimately very cool.

-I can chew through metal bars... and did so to escape the Tower of London.

-My favorite quote from the entire weekend was from potential emporer Pulun as he was being questioned by the committee in regards to his possible ascension to the throne after the reigning emporer passed away. He was asked what his opinions were regarding the Boxer Rebellion. His response? "I support the sport, for sure."

-I guess I had a pretty good weekend. I'm just glad that China did not collapse and that unlike the Generalissimo of the Yangtze, I do not have crabs.

LOCUST-CANO

ChoMUN: The Update

So things are going really good/fun. I don't have much to say... and technically I can't in case I leak a crisis or something to the internets. And then Sue and Bonnie's ghosts would show up and the Grand MUNUC Accusations of last year would recommence.

But anyways, there is a really sweet blog documenting whats been going on in the Crisis room. I know I've got a picture in there somewhere....

http://chomun.blogspot.com

See you Sunday!

1-5

1. As a die hard Wisconsin Badgers fan I am unbelievably excited that they have earned at least a share of the conference title. If they win Saturday it's theirs outright. I don't really understand how the team managed to pull this off this year because they have NO good players, but I'm very proud. I guess a team full of decent players means something in college basketball? Not really sure. I do know that I am pissed off that the Big Ten Tournament moved to Indianapolis... I had so much fun at it last year, it would have been great to go again.

2. I'm such a bitch. Let's just say I said "not you" to a girl's face when she answered her door and asked me who I was looking for. I didn't know how else to respond! I didn't actually know the name of the girl I was looking for, and Anton, who did know her name, had peaced out down the hall. So basically I'm going to have to avoid this girl for awhile. I could and should have apologized... but I think I've let this go for too long that it would be REALLY awkward. Plus, I never see her anywhere... So yeah, one quarter and two weeks of avoiding a first year, sounds fun?

3. I've started compiling a list in my head of all the things I'm going to buy/do when I make more money then both my parents combined. Maybe I'll share it sometime? Let's just say jetskis are DEFINITELY on it.

4. I actually had something semi-important to write about it, which is unfortunate because it's obviously not coming out at all. I think that's the story of my life. Seriously I just spout out random stories and bits of information, and never say anything really important. Like today I explained to Meredyth the four German panzer divisions during World War Two and why they were stupid and didn't conquer the Soviet Union. Cool stuff, I know, but not really important to the here and now. At least I didn't talk about revolving organs (because my brain DOES revolve) or eating playground materials (aka wood), things I've been known to do in the past.

5. Oh, I know. I'm going to a Model UN for the next four days. We are simulating the Cabinet of Empress Cixi of China (circa 1895). It should be pretty good. I would tell you our plans for the cabinet but then I would be eaten alive by the MUN kids at our school who think that secrecy is like god or something. Seriously.

UCI vs. ASO: Showdown?

I'm not going to bore the internet with babble about cycling. But seriously, everyone in the world should read this letter. It was sent out by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to riders who are currently signed up to race in Paris-Nice next week. This event is hosted by the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) who also heads the Tour de France. Basically the two organizations hate each other? And its this crazy power struggle right now... but anyways, read this:

http://assets.rug.be/img_art/site/images/31413BE4-90E5-4751-ACF5-BEA31F72280A.pdf

Um, whoah? UCI are you seriously going to do that. Because if you are... props. But if you are using this as an empty threat, kinda lame. And ASO you better get over yourself or you are going to be SCREWED when the Tour isn't run this year.

Ok, no more cycling talk this week.

Fake Spring

I hate fake spring. For the obvious reasons of course... mainly its not real spring, so its just a massive mind-fuck.

Evidence of spring-like happenings:
-Temperature=50+ degrees
-It is sunny
-I was outside in shorts and was not cold
-I heard birds
-The snow is melting
-I SAW GUYS ON HARLEYS (ultimate sign of spring)

Evidence of actual fake-spring:
-It is probably going to snow tomorrow
-The high for Wednesday is like 20 degrees
-We are in Chicago... spring doesn't really happen here, it just jumps for Winter to Summer
-The birds I heard were probably escaping south

Gah, I hate this fake spring thing that happens every year. I swear if it is 60 and sunny during finals in two weeks, I'm gonna hit a bitch (aka mother nature).