Holly

The academic year is over and I am now a SENIOR!! Last Thursday I met with my professor who sponsored my Spanish contract and I received full credit for the work I did over the quarter. It's such a relief to have everything completed and now I can move on to my final year of undergraduate study!! On Friday the 13th I participated in the graduation ceremony with the Evergreen Singers. We sang one song as a musical interlude, then we sang the Evergreen Alma Mater and the Geoduck Fight Song to conclude the ceremony. I had never seen an Evergreen commencement ceremony and it was awesome! Sadly, my camera was malfunctioning (eek!) and I wasn't able to take photos, but now I can't wait to graduate next June!

This summer is going to be a great break, and I feel more motivated than ever to finish up my last 38 credits or so and get me a Bachelor's Degree already! Having taken a non-traditional path to getting a college degree, I feel more accomplished than I thought possible for the work that I've done this year. Participating in my college education has changed a lot about my perspectives in life and society, but I've been thinking very critically and analyzing this stuff and writing about it very diligently for the past nine months. I'm thrilled to be able to read for pleasure again! And I have lived in South America for the past two summers studying Spanish, and it's cold in Argentina during June, July and August!! It will be nice to have a true northwest summer (sunshine and what not) and take a break from school!!!

For now, I welcome the end of the era of perpetual winter.

Posted by winhol13 at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I made the decision to move to Olympia and attend Evergreen, I was very sad to leave my comfy life in Seattle. I loved my community college, my little basement apartment with a private yard, my perfect student part-time job waiting tables at The Continental Greek Restaurant on the Ave in the U-District. It was a difficult decision to make... but the one thing I couldn't give up was my job. Many people have asked me why I still continue to work in Seattle, and besides the fact that it's the perfect weekend job, it allows me to keep in touch with my friends and family in the city, and gives me the opportunity to earn a decent chunk of change in a short period of a couple of days; besides all that, I have an amazing time while working.

The Continental is owned and operated by first-generation Greek immigrants, and they have been in operation at the same University District location for more than 30 years. The food is delicioso and six days of every week they host language conversation groups. Thursday night is Spanish Night, my favorite night to work. But, every once in a while, Demetre, my manager, will host a singing group that comes to the restaurant to play Balkan folk music. They sing songs in Serbian, Croatian, Greek, Bulgarian and other Eastern European languages. When they come to sing, The Continental comes ALIVE!

The busiest/craziest/funnest/most intense night I ever worked was a couple of Saturdays ago, and wow! was it ever an amazing night. We were actually filled to capacity and had to turn people away! That didn't stop people from standing outside on the street listening to the music through the open front doors, and watching though the large glass windows from the sidewalk. I opened more bottles of wine than ever before and got to listen to beautiful Balkan folk songs while simply just doing my job. There was singing and dancing and overall just the most incredible positive ambiance happening that evening. ¡Qué buena onda!

I've never seen so many people in the restaurant before!

My boss, Demetre, on the left dancing with one of his friends.

Eventually a large circle of people formed and they danced traditional Greek dances! ¡OPA!

Posted by winhol13 at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's Friday of Week 10 and I'm finished!! There are no words to describe the triumphant relief I am feeling at this very moment. I have one more self-evaluation to write for my evening Spanish class, and my faculty evaluations, but I am done with all my academic reading and writing for the quarter AND for the year!!! Next week is Week 11, Evaluation Week at Evergreen, and Friday the 13th is graduation. I have a lot of friends that are graduating and I am looking forward to singing with the Evergreen Singers at the commencement ceremony. Apparently graduation is an extravaganza and seriously non-traditional, so I can't wait to get a preview to see what I am in store for in June 2009!

Where did all my stress and pressure go? I'm waiting for the reality of my relief to sink in and move from giddy happiness to intense joy! Now I can focus on working and earning some $$$$ for next year, and my boyfriend and I are planning a short road trip through Nevada, northern California, and Oregon. This has been such a rewarding year for me, both academically and personally, and I am excited to fully participate in the meaning of the word vacation. I'll keep blogging over the summer to help perspective Greeners like you get an idea of what student life is like, both on and off campus, so keep checking back and I'll fill you in on my summer vacation in Olympia, WA!

¡Chau Chau!

Posted by winhol13 at 03:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week has gone by fast, signifying the end of Week 9!! I can't believe my first year at Evergreen is coming to an end already. It has really been a great year. Now I am working on putting together my portfolio for my Spanish contract to present to my sponsoring faculty during Evaluations week. I will present all my essays and translations to show what I've learned and how my Spanish competency has improved.

Next week I have a meeting with the Spanish advisers at the University of Washington to establish my level placement for next year. It's great that Evergreen has narrative evaluations for transcripts, rather than just a number grade point, and my portfolio is generally already prepared based on my former program requirements. I feel like I am a step ahead, which is helping to boost my confidence during this stressful time!

This weekend is going to be fun! There will be live Balkan music at the Greek restaurant where I work on Saturday night. Then, Sunday is the Evergreen Singers Choral Recital!! I'm so nervous, but very excited at the same time. But the best part is that my boyfriend is arriving tonight from California! He's an archaeologist and has been working far far away, so I'm excited to have the chance to see him... even if it is during Week 10. EEK! I should get busy... ¡Chau!

Posted by winhol13 at 03:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Next weekend is the Evergreen Singers choral recital. I can't believe how much fun it has been to rehearse our music over this quarter, and I'm pretty sad that it's coming to an end. I will be singing a solo of Mambo Italiano, originally made famous by Rosemary Clooney in 1954. I have been singing in choirs all of my life, but I haven't ever sung a solo like this before. I'm pretty nervous but I think it will be a fun time! The recital is next Sunday, June 1 at 4:30 here on campus at Evergreen in the Communications building.

Two more weeks of class and it's crunch time! I had a meeting last week with the directors of the Consortium program from both Evergreen and the University of Washington, and I have tons of choices in International Studies next year! I am definitely going to miss Evergreen's program structure, I can tell that already. I will be meeting with one of the UW Spanish advisers to assess the appropriate placement for my language classes, and I'm considering all my options for taking Portuguese. Right now the dilemma is whether or not to take an intensive Portuguese class for Spanish speakers over the summer and then start with 201 in the fall, or take the summer off from school and work full-time to have some extra cash in the bank when school starts up again in September. I'm thinking...

This week I have to prepare a presentation in my evening Spanish class about yerba maté, a tea-like beverage consumed primarily in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The act of preparing and sharing maté is a communal experience and many people drink it instead of coffee because of its stimulating effects. I love maté and I am excited to teach my class all about it during my Spanish presentation!

Posted by winhol13 at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last weekend we had the most beautiful weather so far of 2008! I took the opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and do some shooting around Capitol Lake in downtown Olympia! ¡Qué linda!

Posted by winhol13 at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today is Friday, marking the end of Week Six. I'm sort of shocked and amazed at how quickly this quarter is passing, but it's great at the same time. It means I've been busy, if not totally productive, even though there is still lots to do before the quarter and the year end in June.

I received some great news this week that I am very excited about! At the end of March I applied to study in an Evergreen consortium program with the University of Washington in Seattle at the Jackson School of International Studies. I sent an email to the program coordinator to follow up on the status of my application and he wrote back telling me I have been accepted and will be receiving a formal letter next week! This is so completely fantastic!! I am from Seattle, so I get to move back to my city and do my senior year at UW studying upper division Spanish language and Latin American Studies classes while representing Evergreen.

The main reason why this is such great news is that I have to begin studying a third language in order to meet graduate school requirements for a Masters in Spanish. My research has revealed that pretty much every graduate program in Spanish across the country requires reading and writing proficiency in a third language, preferably Portuguese or French (because apparently learning a second language isn't challenging enough). For me it makes perfect sense to start studying Portuguese with a focus on Latin America since it's the language spoken in Brazil with a population of nearly 200 million people!! There are many similarities between Spanish and Portuguese, so hopefully the transition won't be too terribly confusing.

This opportunity is going to be invaluable in helping me to prepare for post-graduate studies. I feel so fortunate to have been selected as a representative from The Evergreen State College. It's really clever how the partnership works between the two schools. I won't be graduating from UW, rather all my credits I earn in Seattle will be transferred back to Evergreen and applied towards my Bachelor of Arts degree here. ¡Felicitaciones para mi!

Posted by winhol13 at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)