Kayaking

Today I went kayaking! The water in Bass Lake was finally a decent depth from all the snow that melted from our recent blizzard, so we decided to take adventage of it and go kayaking.  It was a gorgeous day today—the high was probably 75 or 80—but walking to go kayaking we had to walk through snow. It was so weird, haha.

Walking through the snow to get to Bass Lake

Kenny and I gettin' our kayak on!

Tomorrow we’re heading off for Trek 2! But I have REALLY good news! I guess it’s this huge camp secret, but Trek 2 we actually don’t do much backpacking: we go into Yosemite and go camping. So we set up camp, we have running water and a toilet (praise the Lord!), and we don’t have to carry all our stuff with us everywhere we go. Then, the four days we’re there we go rockclimbing, caving/spelunking, and hiking. I’m so excited! This is going to be SO much more fun than Trek 1, lol.

Last Day in San Francisco

Our last day in San Fran we visited the De Young Museum.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces from the De Young:

George Washington made out of George Washingtons

This piece was really cool. It was called "Anti-mass," and is composed of hundreds of pieces of burnt wood hanging from the ceiling. The charred wood is actually wood from a black church that was burnt down by the KKK. The suspension of the wood symbolized the church being taken up into heaven, regardless of the color of the church members.

The De Young was a really interesting museum, but I feel like I didn’t have enough time to really look at everything. After the De Young, we left to go back to Bass Lake, but we made one important stop on the way:

The Golden Gate Bridge!

Instead of going to the top of the bridge with everyone else, Alex, Skylar, and I went through an underground tunnel, down a windy road, and to the foot of the bridge. Then Alex climbed on some rocks and got soaked. Oh Alex…

Underground Tunnel

When we started heading back, it began to rain, so we had to run all the way back in the rain. Almost the whole car ride back we were soaked..but it was so worth it =).

Thankfully, I did not end up in prison on the San Francisco Trip. At the bottom of the itinerary which Katie and Rob (the director and RD) gave us was a little disclaimer:

“It is not the policy to bail out students from jail if they get into trouble, but we will come and hold your hand through the bars and sing praise songs with you for comfort while your parents travel to SF to pick you up.”

Saturday in San Francisco

This is a belated post from about..wow, two weeks ago now.

Saturday morning we caught a cable car to Grace Cathedral. Grace Cathedral was beautiful--probably the most magnificent of all the churches we visited.

Grace Cathedral

 From Grace Cathedral, we walked to the Museum of Modern Art. on our way there, we stopped and listened to this street performer, Robert, who was an amazing opera singer. I guess it's tradition for our art professor to bring students to listen to him every semester when they visit San Francisco

Robert singing opera

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), had a lot of interesting pieces in it. At the entrance, there was a spotlight which people on the upper floor could control. When we were waiting to leave, a little boy was chasing the spotlight around with his sister--it was the most adorable thing. Kel got a really great picture of it:

SO cute

After the MOMA, Alex, Kylynn, James, Kel, Mads, Abby, and I joined a protest! We hadn't known about it beforehand, but what I gleaned from talking with the protestors was that it was an anti-war protest which was specifically protesting against Hindley in front of a hotel he was speaking at and the war on Libya.

Kel kept trying to chant "Hell no, we won't go!" We had to keep correcting him and telling him that that was no longer applicable lol.

I’m not 100% sure if I agree with the protest’s view of the war on Libya, but I really don’t think I have an educated enough basis to make an opinion either way. Whatever the matter, I’m glad we got to experience a classic part of San Francisco: Protesting.

After protesting, we worked our way over to Haight and Ashbury, an area of San Francisco notorious for its bohemian ambience. Although there were a lot of hippie shops, everything was very expensive and tuned to tourism. It was nice to explore, though.

We walked around the city (in the rain =( ) for a while after leaving Haight and Ashbury, then decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. 

However (!), on our way back to the hotel Kylynn, Kel, and I decided to stop at the Marriott and check out their pool. That hotel is SO fancy!  The pool was on the fourth floor, and it was so big you could swim laps in it! It was late at night, so not many people were there, so we decided to...go swimming!! With all our clothes on. It was so great! haha.

Opera. Art. Protests. Haight and Ashbury. Swimming. It was a successful day in San Francisco.

San Fran Friday Nightlife

Posing by the statue at the entrance to China Town

After visiting the Mission Dolores Basilica, Grace Cathedral, and the Legion of Honor on Friday then getting arranged in our rooms, I went with a group of people to China Town.

After exploring China Town, we walked to a small Indian restaurant for dinner. We all ordered something, then split everything buffet style: it was pretty cool (except I could only have two dishes since all the rest had meat in them...)

After this, Lisa and Kylynn and I split off from the main group to do some window shopping in a huge downtown mall. At one point, I left Kylynn and Lisa to go to the bathroom, got hit on by a black man who was trying to convince me to have a one-night stand with him, and then got lost. (Don't worry mom, I'm fine, and I remained close to Lisa and Kylynn after that. Plus I had my pepper spray in my purse =) )

It was delicious.

After the mall closed, Lisa, Kylynn, and I got Coldstones. Oh Coldstones, how I love thee.

When heading back to the hotel from Coldstones, we met up with the rest of our group! So we decided to do more adventuring. Walking around, we found an ice rink! They were closing in 30 minutes, so they didn't charge us to rent skates!

The beautiful night lights

ice skating!

 Right outside the skating rink we found a park--because it had just rained, the slides were super slippery!

Alex sliding down one of the slides in the park

Then we took some silly pictures...

We also met lots of crazy people. Lots. It was a great taste of San Francisco night life...I'm glad I don't live there, though...

7 Long Days

Soo...this week's been pretty crazy. The reason I haven't blogged is because we got 36 inches (!!!) of snow, which knocked out our power for seven days. Seven days! At night we would have to go around in our headlamps, and no one has been able to do laundry in forever! As you can probably guess, we just got power back today--yay! It's so nice to have it back! Although having the power out helped us bond....you're probably thinking, "How can those students possibly bond any more than they already do!? They're with each other 24/7!" Well...I guess it's just possible, haha.

In retrospect, however, our power outage really wasn't that bad. We had a couple generators running (and the water was working because of the generators and propane tanks), so that was a huge plus. Also, after a couple days without power High Sierra rented a generator which we used at max eight hours every day in the dining hall--this allowed us internet and power during those times, so everyone would be in here doing homework and charging their laptops and phones; although the dining hall was FREEZING. It was seriously warmer to eat outside than in the dining hall. I love having the heat back on. So much.

Bella and I

On Saturday, because we were all getting mild cases of cabin fever, we as a camp spent the day in Fresno, the biggest city closest to where we are. After driving the hour to get to Fresno, we went shopping: my favorite place we went in Fresno was a small ASPCA office we stopped at where we spent almost an hour holding and petting the puppies and cats. I can't wait to see Didget again! If I actually lived in CA, there's no way I would have left that place empty-handed.

The most adorable puppy ever.

Last night (or should I say, this morning?) I was awakened at 3 a.m. because our smoke detectors were going off. I guess the generator was somehow releasing exhaust and carbon monoxide into the girls' dorm, so we had to relocate. All the girls dragged their sleeping bags and pillows into the meeting hall and we had a huge slumber party in there. It was weird...I've never had a smoke detector actually do its job. Whenever I hear one go off, it's either because the battery is low or because I burnt something in the oven. I really do have a whole new respect for them now, though.

Tonight, as celebration for the power being on, all of us went to DJ's house for a movie night and pizza party. We watched Les Miserables. Oh. My. Goodness. It was SO good! Like, so, so good. Definitely on my list of favorite movies. I am so reading the book this summer, even if it is bigger than the Bible.

Les Miserables

P.S. Soo..San Francisco updates are coming. Slowly but surely.

Can you believe we leave for trek again this friday? Agh!

Friday in San Fran

The picture's a bit blurry, but this is inside the mission.

Still bleary eyed and carrying my pillow, I made it to the vans at 5:30 Friday morning. From there, we headed to San Francisco. Our first stop was at the oldest church in San Francisco, Mission Dolores Basilica. The mission and adjoining basilica were beautiful! The ceiling pattern of the mission was really cool--it hurt your eyes if you looked at it too long:

 After the mission and basilica, we went to the most contemporary church in San Francisco--the new St. Mary's. This church was not at all what I expected! 

St. Mary's

Two Thinkers.

After mass at Saint Mary’s we went to the Legion of Honor Art Museum. I really liked this museum. Do you know the famous sculpture of “The Thinker” by Rodin? It stands outside of this museum. 

Inside the Legion of Honor we saw The Russian Bride's Attire by Makovsky, which is a huge painting our art professor said would just wow us. It was huge, and to look closely at it and see everything that was going on in this painting was quite “wow”-ing. In my picture Bo’s looking at it. He was my “museum buddy,” lol. I saw a bunch of neat works in the Legion of Honor, including things by Van Gogh, Picasso, Daumier, and Rodin.

Bo in front of Makovsky's "The Russian Bride's Attire."

A man sketching a sculpture

 One thing which I thought was really neat about this museum was all the people doing art in there. I saw over four people who just came into the museum with a chair and either paints or pencils or pastels and used the artwork they saw as inspiration. Some would be sitting in front of a sculpture, capturing the shading. Others would be painting a painting or a conglomerate of paintings in one. It was neat to watch them work, and it really made me want to join them.

 

The special exhibition going on at the Legion of Honor was Pulp Fashion by Isabelle de Borchgrave. Isabelle designed all these dresses completely out of paper! It was crazy good! I wish I had a better picture than this one, but I guess we aren’t allowed to take pictures of the special exhibitions. (I found this out the hard way). But even this simple dress I have a picture of is amazing: it’s 100% out of paper! Isn’t that crazy!? She even designed some of the dresses from the painting in The Russian Bride’s Attire 100% out of paper! 

Here's a better picture I found online (these are life-size, by the way)

After the Legion of Honor, we went to our hotel, The Mosser. This old-fashioned hotel was quaint and pretty, but unlike any hotel I’ve ever been to before. The rooms were small—a sink in the corner, a closet, and a big bed, but they were cute. There was a community shower/bathtub on each floor, as well as one bathroom for women and one for men on each floor…kinda like the dorms! Haha

We did more adventuring later that night, but that will be in tomorrow's post =).

Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

In celebration of St. Paddy's Day, I wore green and clover earrings. Almost everyone had something green on, although the motives of some were questionable: I think the only reason they wore green was to keep from getting pinched!

So today was a great day. I got my homework done, it was sunny, classes were good, the lady from Branch emailed me back, I got a 10 on my TAS, and *drumroll please*:

I got an email from a lady from the Elks National Foundation! Because I'm an Elk's Scholar, I have to email the Elks at the end of every semester with a semester update. She emailed me regarding my last semester update, saying how the volunteer work I did my first semester (Mexico Outreach) sounded interesting, as did the unique study abroad program I'm enrolled in now. Every month a different Elk's Scholar is featured in an online article that is emailed to the Elk's Scholars, and she wants to feature me in an article! I'm so excited! I thought it was just the kids who were 12-year-old brain surgeons who were featured, lol.

Tomorrow (well, today, now) we leave for San Francisco at 5:30 a.m. sharp--I'm so excited! Well be visiting museums and churches and all over San Fran. Don't worry, I'll take tons of pictures =).

~Love you all,
Abbi

Friends' Fashion Friday

Every Friday is Friends' Fashion Friday, where you wear your friends clothes. This is a lot of fun--albeit sometimes inappropriate, like two weeks ago when the girls and guys switched outfits. The girls were fine...but some of the guys were downright scary in their skintight jeans and Pink shirts. I'd post a picture to prove it to you, but I'd like to keep my blog G rated =P.

Last...no, two weeks ago, now, I wore Alex's sweatshirt that says "World's Best Grandpa": I love it, lol. Along with Lisa's skinny jeans, which I also fell in love with.

World's Best Grandpa.

Friends' Fashion Friday is definitely a great bonding event which I plan on observing the rest of my college life. And maybe then some.

Mallaidh and Austin, watch out, 'cus  I plan on raiding your closets this summer.

5K

I briefly mentioned before that I ran a 5K--this was...wow, over a week ago, now! It was the first 5K I ever ran--but it was really fun!

I planned on running the whole race with my friend, Annika, because we usually go for runs together during the week. Although my pace is a little faster than her's, she helps me set a better long-distance pace. The race started, and slowly Annika and I got separated, so I ended up running the whole race alongside another girl, Caity. We pretended we were an amoeba, and as we'd catch up with people we'd be like, "Phagocytosis!" Then they'd join our amoeba and run with us awhile until they got tired, then they left via "exocytosis!" lol. It was great. (yes, I'm a recovering bio nerd, what can I say? =P) It also led to good conversations--one of the girls we engulfed via phagocytosis had actually been an amoeba once in a play! What are the odds of that!?

Sprinting to the finish line

I made pretty good time, finishing at 26:37.

The toga runners sprinting to the end

Dave Williams, our philosophy professor, convinced a group of students to wear togas and discuss philosophy with him as they ran. It was hilarious--and they were actually going along at quite a spritely pace!

Dave and his students

Post-run philosophical debates. 

Group picture!

On a completely different note, did you know that if you step on fiberglass, duct tape can help get it off? I didn't...

Badger Pass

This morning I went with a small group of students to Badger Pass, the ski hill in Yosemite. It was our last time going for the season, so I'm really glad I got to go. I did boarding again--I'm getting better every time! I'm so excited to keep this up. I think there's a ski hill near Azusa I can go to...and during winter break I want to go a lot. Anywho...we took a lot of pics at Badger Pass today. Here's a small glimpse into my world today, lol:

Shreddin' da slopes!

Check out the cool background view

So us. lol

 Tonight after dinner we went to DJ's house and had a girls' movie night with his wife, Annette. We watched Horton Hears a Who, which was so adorable!

After the movie, most of us were either asleep, zoned out, or getting back massages, lol.

~Abbi

Bang

Today was Community work day, where we all pitch in for four hours (from 1-5) to help clean up camp. Altogether, the work we do in those few hours would take the Emerald Cove staff weeks to do. This is part of our community service through school, and part of our leadership class. Faculty split us into groups to complete three main projects: painting, clearing up brush, and digging. In my head I was thinking, "please, not digging, not digging!"

Guess who got digging. But I'm actually really glad I ended up on that team--it was really fun! We had to dig a trench from a building to the caboose so an electrical cord and water pipe could run to the caboose. The 18-inch deep 4-5 inch wide trench doesn't sound so bad, but there were tons of rocks and tree roots that we had to pickax through.

Pickaxing a nasty root.

Don't worry--no one was hurt.

The Digging Crew

Walking to put our shovels away, I saw this hilarious sign that said "Testosterzone," so I took a pic by it with some of the guys. Unfortunately, it's a bit blurry:

"Testosterzone"--I love how I'm the most manly-looking person in this picture, lol

 

Later on this evening my trek team had a reunion at DJ’s (the professor who was on my trek team) house.It was so great to spend some time with my trek team again. We had dessert, then played games. The group I was in played Bang, a really fun card game that's kinda like Mafia, but a lot better. It is a western game, where there are outlaws and deputies and a sheriff and renegade. I was a deputy. DJ was an outlaw. The sheriff shot him...can you imagine playing a card game with your professor, and then beating him? Ahh, I love High Sierra.

TGIT

Thank God it's Thursday! I never want to go back to five-day schoolweeks...=(

Today for dinner I decided to join the health class (which has 5 students), and go to Papa Don's, the health and PE instructor's, house for dinner with him and his wife. He talked about relationships, and then we had a special guest speaker, one of the ladies, Joyce, who works in the kitchen. She shared her life story and how it is important to make sure you are "equally yoked," as Corinthians says.

We were at Papa Don's for three hours, but the time went by so fast! And I got to play with his cat, Boo. I miss Didget so much. One of the things I really, really miss at college is cats. I never get to see them =(. It's not too hard to see the occasional dog, but I really miss just cuddling up with a book and Didget. Poor Boo, though. I pretty much smothered her all evening.

I have a couple more events that we did last weekend that I still want to mention. One of them was Clue. We played a large-group version of clue with the preview students, where we split into teams of 3-4, armed with the piece of paper from the Clue game, and went around to different rooms around High Sierra asking characters scenarios just like we would ask in the regular board game. Wow...my definition is so jumbled right now. I need to go to bed. It's 2 in the morning...oh my. I guess what I mean to say is that some people from High Sierra dressed up like Clue characters (like Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock, for example), and by asking them for "clues" we had to determine the killer. It was really fun, although my team failed to win =(.

The Clue characters!

All the actors did such a great job playing their roles--and I loved the facial hair on Colonel Mustard (see bottom right, haha).

Oh, and in case you were wondering...Mrs. Peacock did it in the art room with the knife.

Panther Poles and Towers of Power

After I finished my shift at the archery range, I headed over to the ropes course. The ropes course had been closed so far our semester, so this was my first-ever time on it!

The first thing I climbed was the panther pole, which is basically a telephone pole, at the top of which you have to stand up and jump for a stuffed lion hanging in front of you. I was SO scared at the top! Like, I didn’t think I’d be that scared. But it is *really* high up. And it’s so easy to fall (although you are in a harness). And climbing up so that you’re standing on top of the telephone pole is SO hard. I was so scared I was shaking at the top, lol. But I’m really glad I did it. After I jumped, I swung back and hit the pole. But it didn’t hurt too much…

Climbing up

Trying to stand on top...

I made it!

Jumping for the Lion

After the panther pole, I did the Tower of Power. The Tower of Power is…well, here’s the picture:

Tower of Power

Basically, people race to climb to the top. It’s really tiring. 

First, you have to climb up the rope, then through tires, then moving horizontal poles, then moving vertical poles. After I did it, my forearms were SO tight. And the next day I found all these bruises all over my body from it, lol. But I made it to the top! The people in the pictures aren't me ‘cus I didn’t get a picture on it…but I did do it, lol

Climbing the Tires

At the top!