Holy Moly, Batman!

The last three and a half weeks of my life have rushed past in a blur. I can hardly believe how much has happened in the month I've been back at school.

Today I finished my first block of my sophomore year. It was absolutely superb--I mean, what could be a better way to start your year than taking Introduction to Shakespeare? As an English major, absolutely nothing. This choice proved to be a wonderful one. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd already read two of the plays (Hamlet and Henry IV, Part I), and knew a third (Much Ado About Nothing), leaving one play (The Winter's Tale) which I was unfamiliar with. I am always amazed by just how much you can get out of a play, even if you'd read it before. Actually, especially if you've read it before. I've always been interested in Ophelia--I never really bought that she was an oblivious character kind of unimportant to the plot. We had this amazing guest lecturer come in to our class and she did an ecofeminist reading of Ophelia. It was beyond interesting. It really challenged my previous readings, forced me to look at through another lens, and reassess my thoughts. That's what I love about books in general--every time you read them, you bring something new to the table and challenge the text, or vice versa. I love when that happens.

On another note, sorority recruitment went well. Our numbers were lower than usual, but the quality of girls was just astounding. And on top of that, I'm so happy to be a Kappa. All of my sisters are absolutely wonderful. I feel that, as a house, we've grown so much closer to each other because of two weeks of sheer insanity and seeing each other constantly. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year. We've got big plans for our philanthropy event and everybody is stoked to get started on that. I'm just thrilled this year!

It is now block break, and instead of heading up north to spend some quality time with the family, I am off to Kansas for my first college-level speech competition. I'm scared out of my mind. I've been so busy that I don't feel prepared. But I'm just going to have to suck it up and go for it. I've never felt truly ready for just about any tournament I've gone to over the years. I guess it just goes with the territory. I just have to take the plunge. We'll see how if goes--I've really missed Speech and I've been really happy working on my pieces. I feel at home. I feel in my element. Now, we'll just have to see where that takes me...