Hello, Distraction

Hello, all,

I am currently sitting at the library with a pile of books around me and dozens of research articles waiting to be read. This upcoming week and next is the University of Marylan'd exam week so I have a lot to do. Right now I am working on a research paper about mothers in the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." It's going okay, but I decided to take a break and say a quick hello to you all via my blog.

Everything is going well. Like I said, I have a lot of work this week. It's a little weird because this is my last exam week as a University of Maryland student. Although I'll still be a student next semester, I will be student teaching so my students will be writing the papers and taking the tests instead of me. I think I'm going to like assigning and grading the papers better than researching and writing them.

Even though I have a lot of work, I'm almost always in a good mood because it is the holiday season. I love everything Christmas, the music, the lights, the decorations. How do you all celebrate Christmas? Do you have any fun Christmas traditions? I'm really excited that my perfect little niece will be joining my family for Christmas this year.

My niece, Julie, is going really well. I spent the entire day with her last Friday and plan to do the same this Friday. I'll try to upload some more pictures of her in my next entry.

I hope you all are doing well. Have a fun and safe holiday season.

Your friend,
Nikki

Julie Love Slatkin

On Thursday, November 20th, my sister-in-law had a beautiful, baby girl. Julie Love Slatkin was born at 7:57 pm. She came six weeks early, but she is a healthy girl. She has to stay at the hospital for a few days so that the doctors and nurses can make sure that she is developing okay. I've been to the hospital everyday to hang out with little Julie. She is my first niece and I'm so excited to have a little baby in the family!

Your friend,
Nikki

Yes We Did

Hello, all,

Today is a very exciting day in American history. Yesterday, the polls opened, the people voted, and the results trickeled in. Senator Barack O'Bama is going to be the President of the United States starting on January 20, 2009. I am so happy and excited that I don't even know how to describe it!

Yesterday was my first time voting in a Presidential general election. In the U.S, you have to be 18 to vote and during the last election I was ony 17. I waited in line for over an hour, but it was worth it because voting gives a voice to all people. In some places, people waited in line for over three hours so that they could cast their ballots.

Last night, I began watching ABC news at 6. Enough of the results were in by 11 so that is when they announced that Senator O'Bama won. My friends and I watched it all together and then celebrated together.

I think that this election will change both American and world history.

Your friend,
Nikki

Trick or Treat!

Hello, all!

I've had a very fun Halloween weekend. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I love seeing everybody dressed up in different costumes. My friends and I celebrated Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night.

My friends came up with some very creative costumes. One girl, Amy, was "partly sunny with a chance of rain." She is the one in the blue outfit with clouds. Then, when people asked her what she was she would spray them with a water bottle. My friend, Kristin, was Quail Man. You all probably don't know who that is because he was a superhero on a show called "Doug" that was on when we were little. I was a devil one night and a cat the other two nights.

This may be a silly question, but do you all celebrate Halloween at all? If you do, I bet it's different than how we celebrate.

I hope you are all doing well in your classes and such. For me, it seems like this semester is going by very fast. I can't believe that I'm a senior and only have one semester left.

Your friend,
Nikki

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Running is a Mental Sport (and We're ALL Crazy)

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Hello, friends!

I just got back from Baltimore after running 13.1 miles! I ran in the Baltimore Half Marathon with some of my friends. It was a great experience, but I am exhausted. I ran it last year as well, but it was a lot more difficult this year. I trained really hard (lots of runs around the lake!) and I am glad to be done. I ran it in 1 hour and 57 minutes. I'm really proud of my time because my goal was to get under two hours.

The entire weekend was really fun. Yesterday, my friends and I went into Baltimore to pick up our race numbers and race t-shirts. There was a lot of free giveaways, and I love free, so that was awesome. We got food and drink samples, shirts, and other things. I also bought some new running shows. They are white, silver, and purple. Then last night, we went to Noodles and Company on Route 1 for dinner so we could have a lot of carbohydrates to fuel us up for race. Then, everybody came to my home in Burtonsville to relax, drink water, and watch a movie.

We woke up at 6:30 am, left my house at 7, and we were in Baltimore by 8. We had gorgeous weather. The course was really hilly which made it difficult. Two hours later, I met up with everybody, exchanged a lot of sweaty hugs and kisses, and walked around Baltimore.

It was a great day and I'm glad I participated in the half marathon. I'm hoping to one day complete a marathon, but that will take a lot of hard work and training so I'm not sure when I will do that.

Your friend,
Nikki

My Michael = )

Hello, all!

I had an amazing week. My boyfriend, Michael from Minnesota, came to visit. He flew in late Friday night. Then on Saturday we went into D.C. When I was on the Metro I thought of you all and missed you very much. It was a lot more quiet riding on the metro with just Michael instead of 20 AGuers! In D.C we went to the new 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon. It is a beautiful memorial, but it made me feel really sad. There was one women there who was mourning her family, her husband and their two kids were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. It was a really weird feeling to be there because the monument is very peaceful, but it also made me feel very emotional.

After that, we met up with Michael's dad and went bowling and to the movies. On Sunday morning I went back to D.C to watch Michael and his dad run in a 10 mile race. They both ran it really fast. Michael's final time was around 1:18. He was really sore and tired afterwards, but he felt good about his time.

On Monday we celebrated Michael's birthday. His birthday is really next week but since I won't be with him we decided to pretend like it was on Monday. We slept in, had pancakes for breakfast, went bowling, went out to a brewery, watched television, and played games. Then we had to wake up REALLY early today so that he could catch his airplane back home to go to work.

Right now I am just relaxing and watching the debate. This is the second debate between the two U.S.A presidential canidates- Senator Barack O'Bama and Senator John McCain. Our election is in less than a month. Many people say that this is the most historic, and important, election in our lifetime. I am very excited to be a part of it.

As always, I miss you all very much. Come visit!!!!!!!

Your friend,
Nikki

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Way Down South

Howdy ya'll!

I just got back from Georgia. I was there for a long weekend to visit my Aunt and all of my cousins. Georgia is way down South. It's about a 12 hour drive from Maryland, but my mom and I went by plane so it only took about two hours.

In Georgia, all the older girl cousins went on an away weekend. We chatted, went to fancy resteraunts, and did a lot of shopping. I've been buying a lot of professional clothes because I am student teaching once a week and starting next semester I will be in the classroom every day. As you all remember I normally just wear t-shirts and jeans so I didn't have many nice clothes for teaching.

Anyways, while I was in Georgia I also got to visit with my little cousins. I have eighteen second cousins! The youngest is ten months old and the oldest is 14. I only see them twice a year because they live so far away so it was really fun to see them and play with them.

Now I'm back in Maryland. I had a long day of classes today and now I am watching "The Joy Luck Club" with my roommates to relax. I'm really excited because my boyfriend, Michael, is coming to visit on Friday. I haven't seen him since July so I really miss him!

It was great to chat with some of you on Saturday. Sorry that I couldn't stay too long. Hopefully next time I can stay longer.

Your friend,
Nikki

This is the Good Life

Hello, all!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend, I sure did.

On Friday my friends and I all went to Happy Hour. Happy Hour is when a lot of food and drinks are on special so it does not cost very much to eat. A lot of bars and resteraunts have happy hours on Friday afternoons and evenings. My friends and I go every weekend to a bar called Cornerstone which is one Route 1, not too far from the Quality Inn. I always get hot wings, they are delicious, but spicy! My roommate, Qing who is from China, told me that when she first came to America she couldn't believe that we ate the wings with our fingers. She thought Americans were so messy and dirty. The first time she ate the wings she used her chopsticks! That was seven years ago, now she uses her hands just like everybody else. By the end of the meal we both had sauce all over our hands and face. Yummmmmmmy!

On Saturday I went to the Maryland Football game against California. We were expected to lose because we do not have a very good team this year, but we surprised everybody and won! It was a very exciting game. Maryland sports, especially football and basketball, is one of my favorite things about going to the University of Maryland. Do you all remember going to the top of Byrd stadium at night? If you look at my pictures you can see that it looks a little bit different with 40,000 fans watching the Terps win!

Well, it's time to go start my Monday.

Your friend,
Nikki

Music!

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Hello, all!

Last night I went to a really fun concert with my friends. It was in Baltimore (Charm City!) at a place called Rams Head Live. Walking through the city reminded me of you guys! Especially the scaring little kids with the babies and watching the Orioles win! Rams Head Live is a very small place to go to concerts which is really fun because than you are super close to the artists. The two people that performed were Matt Wertz and Gaven DeGraw. They are not my favorite singers, but they are really good. Below are links to my favorite songs by each of them.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPdXdx9Zc68 <---Matt Wertz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftZ0jpYdn70 <--- Gaven Degraw

Do you all often go to concerts? If I was to listen to one Japanese artist, who would you reccomend? I am very interested to listen to new music. My favorite bands are Sister Hazel, O.A.R, Train, Tom Petty, and Modern Skirts. I have seen all of them except for Tom Petty and Modern Skirts in concert. If you are ever bored you can search for some of their songs on-line.

Well, I'm off to class!

Your friend,
Nikki

My Last First Days

Hey all!

So I just finished my last first week of classes! I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is nice because then I have a four day weekend every week. The only bad part is that my Tuesdays and Thursdays are really long. Today I had classes from 12:30 to 8 with no break. By the time I got back to my apartment I was exhausted and HUNGRY! I can't really complain though because it is nice not having classes the other days.

In addition to classes, I am also student teaching. For those of you who don't know (or just forgot) my major is Secondary Education English. This means I want to be a high school English teacher. Right now, I go to a school once a week to observe a teacher and to help him teach. His name is Mr. Tallon and he is a very funny man. He gives his students a lot of noogies. I have no clue how the word noogie would translate in Japanese, but it's basically rubbing a person's head really hard. I will see if I can take a picture of him giving somebody a noogie to post on this blog. It's really fun to be in the classroom because I am so excited to be a teacher. Next semester, instead of taking classes at the University of Maryland, I will be student teaching every day at a high school.

Well, even though it is only Thursday it's the weekend for me. I'm off to go celebrat my week!

Your friend who misses you all very, very much,
Nikki

Here Are a Few of my Favorite Things

Hello, AGUers!

So, I've never kept a blog before, but I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with you all. Also, one of the best ways to really understand a language is to constantly read and write in the language. I will try to write in the blog at least once a week so you all should check in to see what's going on in my life. This is an easier way to keep in touch than e-mail because I feel like I keep sending the same e-mail over and over again!

Anyways...

Today my friends and I had a cookout. We ate crabs, hotdogs, shrimp, grilled pineapple, and ice cream. I am so full I can barely move! Above is a picture of all the crabs I ate. Have you all ever been to a crab feast? It's one of my favorite things about Maryland. It was a lot of fun eating and hanging out with my friends especially considering school starts tomorrow. It is my first day of senior year, so I am both nervous and excited. I hope it goes well!

I hope you all are doing well. I can't wait to continue to read your blogs.

Your friend,
Nikki