Rudi's Blog

I have never experienced such a long weekend in my life!

Of course it’s the same time period as any other three day weekend, but somehow time has gone by so slowly- which is awesome, because I’ve been having a blast. Seriously. “Having a blast” is even how my Sims 3 Rudi is described.

Oh yeah. Sims 3. When I installed it on my computer yesterday I knew that it would be the undoing of any social life I have thus far been lucky enough to create here.

I’ll let ya’ll know what happens.

Yesterday was really amazing, though. To be honest with you all I’ve been a bit of a wreck this weekend- my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years and I broke up on Thursday, and so of course things have been totally off balance since then- but yesterday everything sort of came to this peaceful conclusion. The weather was perfectly crispy and cool, and besides sleeping in (heaven!) and getting a lot done as far as cleaning and leftover homework goes, I had a great day with my friends.

We walked around downtown a bit and went to Sparky’s, a really neat off-the-wall ice cream parlor (their lavender honey ice cream is probably the best treat on earth, by the way). We nibbled on our goodies and walked down to a little park, where all of us lounged on rocks by this little stream and stared up at the sky.

It was one of those perfect moments- a combination of everything being just absolutely beautiful and loving the people around you- it’s just one more thing adding onto my list of why Stephens is the best place on earth.

Here are some photos of my friends!

Also on Friday night we got all dolled up and went dancing! Way fun times!

Also I’m so super excited about today, because my dear friend John Lampe is coming back to campus (or home, as most of us refer to Stephens) from his hometown- and I am so happy he’s back! It’s weird having most of your friends together except for one or two.

Off to breakfast! I am so excited about a bowl of cheerios and a cup of hot tea I can’t even tell you all.

So excited.

love, rudi

Hey! Remember when I mentioned a move-in video a few posts ago? It’s all finished! Go check it out here.

As you can probably tell due to my pathetic lack of posts this week, I’ve been a little busy, and my week has been such a jumble bumble of wonderful little moments and unexplainably hilarious jokes that it would be complete nonsense to attempt describing everything.

But such is college.

I’ll begin with an advertisement!

(sort of)

-I joined Sketchy Business! It’s a comedy sketch club thingy co-presidented by my friend Alex Molnar:

and her friend Ally Poole (whom I do not yet have a picture of…) and so far the club is just way fun. If any of you are not theater majors but want your life to be awesome, and/or try your hand at writing, director, or making people buckle over with laughter (aka acting). I recommend stopping by a meeting or a show.

We’re having a creative writing workshop on Monday at 11 PM in the Arena Classroom- stop by! I’ll be there, and then you and I can be great friends and have many adventures!

And speaking of adventures!

Have I mentioned anything about my friend Dylan’s couch?

It’s….well…..it’s not that it’s completely nasty. Or, well, maybe that came out wrong. It stinks and all, but it’s got this…like…well…..

How do I put this?

It’s a couch. It’s orange and brown plaid. My friend Dylan bought it at the Salvation Army, and we ended up being forced to throw out the mattress in the pull-out bed part because the smell of dog was so intoxicating.

Here’s the proud father himself:

We have since added a oh-so-groovy blue armchair to our menagerie. It doesn’t smell.

Also yesterday I had a photo shoot with my across-the-hall neighbor Mariah (who I’m pretty sure is going to turn out being that best friend from college everyone gets) for a freshman representative spot she’s hoping to get.

My photo-taking skills are much to be lacking, and my photo editing skills could use even more work, but they turned out pretty awesome anyway.

I credit the costume.

It’s time for homework! Would it be far too nerdy of me if I admitted I’m looking forward to writing an essay? It’s about food!

love, rudi

Hey everyone!

As promised, I’m here with a report on my first week of college!

AH! Read that again! First Week of College!!

I’ve mentioned this to several people in real life (I know- it’s shocking- there’s a life outside the internet!), but I think it kind of sums up why being in college is such a foreign idea to me: Doesn’t everyone still sort of consider themselves as kids? Or at least as younger teenagers? I’ve never been an adult, all of my memories happened when I was a teenager or a child. So it’s weird to think that I’m old enough to be a college student, basically an independent adult in charge of my everything- money, time, responsibility or lack thereof.

It’s a little trippy.

But let’s get back on track!

As a general summary, it would be about accurate to describe my first week of college as one of the best I’ve experienced. Ever.

Let me blurt out a vague list why:

* I’ve met a whole slew of new friends, all of whom I genuinely like to be around. That’s a relatively rare thing, isn’t it? It’s easy to make friends with people, but as far as having the luck of truly being interested in them? It’s sort of in that “We’re lucky to have one real, true friend in our entire life” philosophy bubble. I guess I’m just really, really, really fortunate to be suddenly surrounded by a hundred people I consider friends. I didn’t feel like I had many friends when I was in high school, but now I feel like I know and love everybody. It’s a beautiful feeling.

* My classes! This sounds completely made-up, but I actually enjoy the learning part of college- everything is on such a different level that my high school classes ever were. I’m so interested in everything everyone else has to say- I feel like such an academic! I’ll probably have some sort of “I Take It Back”  post when mid-terms and/or finals come along, but for now let’s just sit in the eye of the storm and enjoy it, shall we?

*The city of Columbia is so wonderful- it’s not the biggest city in the world but it’s so much more interesting than my tiny little ex-town in Kentucky. Yesterday a few friends and I walked downtown to search for an appropriate flamenco skirt (which is another point in itself- Stephens has a flamenco dance class) and the downtown is so quaint and adorable, not to mention the thrift stores are to die for.

So shopping with my girly girls was fun enough, but being such the boy I am, I have to say I was most thrilled (and thrilled the next day over again thanks to my neighbor Mariah’s oh-so-handy empty fridge) to find the most delicious Shredded Beef Torta at El Rancho’s, the Mexican restaurant down the street from my dorm room. Oh. My. Goodness. Ohmygoodness. Is it okay that I only want to eat food if it contains shredded beef, avocado sauce and tons and tons of Mayo from now on? Cereal should be made in Torta flavors.

And I’m only mostly joking.

Here’s me in heaven.

I know this post wasn’t the most informative of posts, but so much happened that I can’t possibly remember everything amazing to tell you. I can tell you, however, that at this exact moment I’m sitting in one of our male apprentices rooms (yes, we do have boys!) typing this up as the rest of them are sitting around singing barber shop songs very, very well. It’s very much like walking onto a Disney movie set where Hilary Duff is sent to a music camp and a Jonas brother falls in love with her, but has to defeat twenty levels of music-themed obstacles in order to be accepted to the Julliard-esque school of his dreams- therefore finally becoming worthy of Hilary.

My point is these boys are amazingly talented- and that’s just neat.

Anyway- I’m off to watch King Lear!

love, rudi

What a fun weekend we’ve been having!

In a nearly summer campish way, my fellow freshman and I have been running around campus since we first arrived performing various tasks assigned to us by the infamous (and often missing) blue orientation books given to us when we first moved in.

And please don’t think I used the word ‘running’ in a vague or figurative way- I personally have been spending a good deal of time briskly walking from one end of campus to the other in an attempt to pull my new life together (it’s getting there), and a good chunk of the freshman class spent around 2 hours literally sprinting from one building to another during the Scavenger Hunt.

Here’s my group in Mrs. Lynch’s office, one of the destinations, after a good hour and a half of mostly sweating.

Despite my deep hatred of exercise and the fact that my team lost in an embarrassing manner, we all had an enjoyable workout, and I can now tell you were almost any building on campus is, and how to get there quickest, and how to get there slowest.

After a decent sized nap and a freezing cold shower, I was pleasantly informed by my roommate that my new group of friends had decided to go to Casino Night in costume! I love dressing up, and I was completely thrilled that, unlike my high school years where I was usually the one begging my friends to change from pajama pants to something more fun, it wasn’t my idea to get all dolled up for no reason. I love Stephens girls!

And look how adorable my friends ended up looking!

Here’s me and Cheyenne from down the hall:

My friends Taylor and Mariah:

Casino Night was a blast, even though I completely lost at every game I played. I’m more than a little humiliated that I failed so terribly at Go Fish.

But I did meet Raven Simone, a girl with the most amazing nails I have ever seen. My embarrassment at the card table was worth seeing this girl’s more-than-radical manicure. They’re simply mesmerizing…

So the overall verdict for Freshman Orientation?

Nothing but fun, although tiring, completely worth the extra effort.

Now on to classes! I’ll let you all know how my first day of school goes!!

love, rudi

Hola ya’ll!

Wow. I mean, wow. Yesterday, and I literally mean yesterday, I still somehow didn’t quite believe that I would be going to college. I know it sounds like such a typical thing to say, but I just can’t believe I’m here. I spent the last four years dreaming about college, and even though I didn’t know about Stephens or anything about any college for that matter, everything I daydreamed about that “some day” place where I would flourish and become this amazing person I dreamed of being, with nice clothes and interesting pieces of art, surrounded by amazing people who I genuinely liked and who were interesting, and who were interested in me. So far I’m convinced that my dream college is real.

So let me start with the beginning. This past week has been hectic, with last minute last get-togethers and sorting the stuff I love from stuff I like, and filing last minute paperwork here and there. I can’t even begin to tell you how tired my entire body is- but it’s such a great tired! I was talking to a new friend (new friends! YAY!) about how my face hurts from smiling so much. My face muscles will be getting much stronger, I predict.

So here’s my room just before packing. I’d like to say it’s not usually this messy, but unfortunately…….

well, I’m a teenager. Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?

Isn’t that just gross?

But what an amazing result all of the packed then unpacked stuff delivered!! I’ll post a few photos of my room when all our boxes are unpacked.

Let me explain something I find very important for not-Stephens people to understand. I was completely dreading moving in. I mean, I was seriously groaning about just the thought of carrying all of my heavy boxes and oddly shaped furniture pieces up a lot of stairs to the fourth floor of my dorm hall (the elevator is small because the building is a bit older).

But moving in was a breeze!! I barely had time to park my car before volunteers, faculty, and staff members were unpacking my car, and by the time I made it from the parking lot to my dorm room all of my things were already upstairs!! President Lynch was out there in her shiny red clogs helping girls and their parents tote up their suitcases and crates up the stairs! Not to mention there was a mini camera crew hanging around filming the girls move in. I’ll post the video here when it’s all done- maybe you’ll see yourself!

And let me just brag about President Lynch for a minute. I was lucky enough to have lunch with her the day before everyone moved in, and I must say she is such a remarkable woman. I’ll probably do a lot of posts about her because she makes herself such a part of Stephens life (or so it seems so far). Walking over to the cafeteria with her we were stopped several times by smiling people wanting to say thank you to her for this or that or just wanting to say hi. I was so impressed with how she seemed more like the most popular girl at school than the president of the college. People seem genuinely glad to see her. Stephens is so unique when it comes to Dianne- you should read her blog if you get the chance.What a keeper!

And speaking of keepers- Xander Kennedy, my admissions counsellor, juggled for me and my family while we were waiting to eat lunch. We were only joking when we said he was there to entertain us- but I guess that just proves that Stephens people take that little extra step.

Plus his shirt is really nice. There’s something to be said for that.

After moving in (and several Wal-Mart trips) it was time for my poor mommy to start on her 9 hour car trip home. I was very proud of her considerably small amount of tears- she had been dreading that moment for months.

Can I even attempt to explain how I felt when my mom drove away? I was sad, of course, to see her, my little sister, and my good friend Mel drive off, never to be seen again (aka Thanksgiving break). But it was like this big breath of cool, jittery air entered my body and this glittery realization sunk in- “Omigod. I’m alone. I’m in college. Omigod.” I felt so old! I was finally independent and away (far away) from home, on my own, for a while. I was never a particularly independent teenager in high school- I was more likely to sit at home with a book than go around town getting into adventures-so this step was kind of a big one for me.

So what did I do with my new adult, responsible, grown-up status? After a few “Here Are The Rules” meetings, I got some cotton candy and played in a giant bouncy castle. Of course.

Kirstin Raciot gave me a huge swirly glob of cotton candy on a stick (and can the world please agree that cotton candy tastes better on a stick rather than in a bag?) and I ended up having to share the giant thing with my roommate. I think even she had to result, although regrettably so, to the trash can to fully relieve us of the giantess of this treat.

But I’ll tell you what- cotton candy might just be the best thing in the world. Either that or the little fruit cookies in the cafeteria. I’ll have to snag a photo of those for you sometime.

Here’s a few of my new pals in the bouncy castle. On the left is my roommate Olivia (whom I really like! Good matchmaking Stephens!)

This thing was so cool! They strapped you in this scary metal cage ball and pushed you down a little aisle to push over giant bowling pins. I met my new friend Brooke Woriledge, a fellow freshman and adorable dresser, while standing on the outskirts of the line for this thing. Neither of us were considering letting ourselves be trapped inside this thing, but Brooke finally manned up and plopped on a helmet. I held her purse.

That was day one! I’m looking forward to day two!

love, rudi

So maybe some of you good people read this title and wondered,

“Oh, hm, something exciting must be happening for this young lass in nine days.”

Well you would be right you pondering, blog-reading citizens of the United States of Looking-at-the-Stephens-Website. Something totally exciting is happening for this young lass in nine days:

I’m moving into my dorm at Stephens!!!!

This event is kind of going to be the beginning of my life, since I’m officially moving out of my mommy’s well kept house and into what will more than likely be a room resembling a clothes vs. general garbage war-zone (I’m just kidding, of course…I hope.)

I’m guessing, based on the type of people who are more than likely to read this blog, you fall in to one of these three categories:

1) The Experienced College Student, who has already gone through the exciting and terrifying experience of flying out from the nest, and can now gently scoff at their soon-to-be freshmen pals for being so silly and afraid of living on their own. “Aren’t they just so naive?” Says one sophisticated college sophomore to another. “Oh, indeed. Do you even remember when we were that young?” And of course neither of them do.

2) The Panicked Parent, who is currently sifting through my blog posts in an attempt to reassure themselves that their beautiful baby girl will be just fine while away from the comforting boundaries of home. Either that, or they’re looking for incriminating evidence that will allow them to gleefully announce at the dinner table, “I’m sorry daughter, but you must stay in this house for at least one more year.” I’m pretty sure my own mother is in the last group.

I feel so sorry for my mommy. All she’ll have when I leave is this little kitty to keep her company when I leave off for college. Well, and her husband and her friends and my baby sister. It’s just that they aren’t in this picture.

3) Fresh Faced Youth attempting to catch an inside look of what the first year of college is really like. Well, my beloved youth with fresh faces, I do hope with all my heart that I can help you out in that particular category. Which is why I’m going to tell you the truth right now:

I’m not scared a bit. I’m way too excited for classes and meeting friends, I’m too excited about meeting new friends and getting into adventures to be sad about leaving my old town. Of course I’ll miss my mommy and my sister and house, and I already cried about how much I’ll miss my boyfriend (I know, I’m such a girl!), but I know I’ll only be sad for a little while.

But besides all the typical going-to-college positives- I’ll be doing theater again!! I haven’t been involved in my high school theater since the beginning of my junior year of high school, and I am so excited about jumping back into what I love most. I’ll be able to properly show you later on in the year how much fun theater is. You’ll have to guess until then.

love, rudi

If you’ve ever seen The Ultimate Gift (which I had to watch a total of seven times during high school- it’s apparently an unofficial piece of curriculum) you’ll understand in sharp, painful detail the story I’m about to tell you.

In the movie, a snot-nosed trust fund party child is sent through this life-changing obstacle course before he is allowed access to the millions of dollars inherited from his grandfather. He’s required to complete meaningful tasks like “Make a true friend” and things like that. Anyway, one of the first assignments requires the guy to build an impossibly long fence in the middle of Texas in the sweltering heat, with no indication of how long he must work or what length the fence needs to be.

I experienced my equivalent of that two days ago, during what my quaint town playfully labeled as “Dog Days of Summer” to disguise the lava-sweat bath a street full of vendors would be battling in an attempt to shimmy out some extra cash from the equally sun-suffering constituents who had, just moments before, buckled their belts and sprinkled on their makeup in their deliciously air-conditioned houses, only to have it melt off within minutes of setting foot in their lawns.

I was a vendor, having sorrowfully weeded out my closet and decided to pass on some of my most loved yet least worn dresses and jackets to the thankful populous. My sunburn should be studied at NASA, due to the incredible amount of actual sun that is still burning and raging to escape from my now leather-ed skin. I ended up with a successful turnout, having marketed my “Going to College!” sale well, but boy, oh boy did I work hard for what I got. I am now an equivalent to Mr. Ultimate Gift Guy, except minus the three weeks or so of digging a fence in Texas. Point is I’ve worked hard for my money, which makes the savings account it’s all being dumped into that much more valuable.

Also, due to the amount of dignity I still possess, I did not photograph my tomato face. I do give you leave to imagine it, though. Just reflect on that Florida vacation you and your family took back in ’05.

On a more positive note, I made a really good fresh-veggie pizza with my friend Mel.

Oh, an on an even more positive note, I got a post card from Dianne Lynch, that Lady President we all know and love!

Dude, I totally can’t wait to be a Stephens girl!

love, rudi

I’m pretty sure I’ve explained/complained how lazy and quasi-uneventful my summer has been so far. I get a little sick to my stomach when I realize I’m wasting time (although any outsider wouldn’t be able to tell since I spent an ungodly amount of time on the internet). However, I officially remedied my summer sickness this past weekend!

Two summers ago I was accepted into this amazing acting summer camp called Governor’s School for the Arts and made the best friends of my life (thus far, of course).

Well, I rarely get to see them because I live in nowhere and they live in cities 2-3 hours away, but this past weekend I made a super special trip to Louisville to meet up with some of them!

Here’s a few of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

There’s a pretty funny story about this picture. We were sitting at Qdoba eating our burritos at the window, and these three ladies walked by and started cracking up and waving at us really big, making these crazy gestures. We had no idea what was going on!
One of them ran inside the restaurant and started explaining, “I”m so sorry! We were walking by and we thought you all were a poster or something! You all look like an advertisement! You all had these big smiles, eatin’ your food all cute- you all are so cute! I’m so sorry this is so funny- you all looked like an advertisement- so cute!!”
Needless to say we all felt awesome.
I might send this picture to Qdoba.

I spent the first evening watching Much Ado About Nothing in the park with Kelsey and Craig (Who so graciously was my host and tour guide all weekend), two of my favorite gingers. The play was awesome mostly because it was Bollywood themed! I thought it was a groovy touch.

This is Kelsey and myself during intermission.

Here’s Taylor, Craig, and Cameron. We spent a few hours in the Speed Art Museum in Louisville. We played a game where we tried to find ourselves in classical paintings. I was usually the hot lady with the big hair and an attractive youth escorting her somewhere to purchase her something lovely and expensive. Yeah that’s me.

I spent most of the weekend driving around to coffeehouses to get energy while I stayed up all night giggling and watching funny movies with my dear friends, and spreading out my handy old quilt for impromptu picnics and lazing up and down artsy downtown streets during the day. It was a hot weekend, but a fun one at that.

Also, I thought this was so very nice of the parking lot.

Super sweet.

It’s time for me to price items for my yard sale! Wish me luck for Saturday morning!

love, rudi

…At least it is in the summer!

I can’t believe I forgot Stephens Sunday this week! I have seriously got to start remembering what day/month it is- I’m getting that Summer Sickness where time doesn’t exist anymore, and night becomes day.

I have been semi-productive, though. Mom and I have decided to hold a Going-to-College Yard Sale, and I made one of my posters for it yesterday (you can totally tell I have no idea how to make stuff on the computer).

I thought it would attract the awesome people I would be comfortable selling my awesome stuff to.

Which, by the way, can I tell you how hard it’s going to be to decide which of my things stay,

and which will be gone forever?

Which leads me to my first entry in “Why I Love Stephens” this week:

1) Simplifying my life. This really applies to all college freshman, as we are all responsible for cutting back on all the stuff we have and readjusting in a small dorm room, attempting to maintain as much of the ‘back-home’ atmosphere as possible while having space to add new life. I’m by no means a hoarder, and only slightly a pack-rat (a fact that I justify because I do, in fact, re-use many paper scraps, etc. in art pieces and thank you cards), but it’s hard for me to stamp the “For Sale” sticker on many of my things. It’s a tiny bit painful, but very, very liberating.

Stephens College = Freedom of Clutter

2) The Pet Dorms. Last week my family adopted some baby boys:

and I’m going to miss them sooo much.

(the one on the left is Deek Estella, and on the right is Mak Gatsby)

Luckily I’ll more than likely get to know other girls who live in the Pet Dorm, and I can hopefully still get to snuggle kitties! There’s nothing like having friends with cute pets- you get all the fun parts of having a kitty or pup, minus the not-so-fun parts of having said claw-monster and shoe-eater.

3) This week I’ve been a bit on the bored side. It’s the worse kind of bored, when you have errand & chores that need to be done, but nothing fun to do and no one to hang out with. So while I glaze around my house staring at the faces that appear in the wallpaper, I also have this little knot in my stomach reminding me that I should be working on yard sale stuff, or feeding the neighbors turtles (they got fed- don’t worry!), vacuuming my room, and other anti-climactic things like that.

But at Stephens! Ohhhhh at Stephens,

I have a feeling that I’ll (almost) never have this type of bored blah-ness occupying my precious time. I’ll have new friends to be chatting with, a new town to be exploring, a thousand new essays to write, and a billion lines to memorize (not to mention ten million pictures to snap for this lovely blog). You may think I’m being sarcastic, but I seriously LOVE being busy (the good busy, not the bored busy). I work best under stress and under a schedule, no matter how much I claim to desperately need a large helping of free-time in every day. What I really want is spontaneity- something my little town has apparently run out of!

4) I had a really good Hibachi grilled lunch in the cafeteria when I visited Stephens last. After my sorry attempt at lemon chicken and cooked onions and bean sprouts (1. Chicken should not be bouncy, 2. Bean sprouts do not go well with onions, and 3. vinegar also does not go with bean sprouts and onions), I could really use a fresh cooked and yummy meal- especially one healthier than the bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch I’ve become so accustomed to this summer.

5) Stephens has a really cute little post office. Once again I’m pretty sure most colleges have these as well, but I remember the lady at the counter being really smiley. I have a few friends that have agreed to be pen pals with me, and I’m looking forward to mailing off my little letters at the little post office. What can I say? I’m grossly quaint. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about the little post office after school begins.

SPEAKING OF SCHOOL BEGINNING!

Do you all realize that move-in day is about a month away? Because I only just now realized that, and I’m kind of freaking out a little….

just a little….

love, rudi

Unfortunately my use of the word “immediately” when used in reference to when I would post again was a false advertising, as I’m only now posting six days later.

You’d think with no school or summer job I’d be better about posting, but my brain doesn’t seem to work that way. The summer heat clicks off my “Brain On” button completely.

Since the beginning of summer I’ve been living with my grandmother and helping her move into her new home. I’m back home in Corbin now, but my near-month with Mamaw Jan is one that I’ll miss. It was difficult to be away from home and a computer and a cell phone (she lives where phone service does not exist), but I’m so glad I got the opportunity to spend real quality time with her. I mentioned all this in one of my earlier posts, but I didn’t tell you what I did after I came home.

My town every once in a while captures some Gilmore Girl-ish charm and has community events downtown, usually having to do with art in some way. I’ve always been a big participant/enthusiast in these festivals, for instance I played Michael Jackson’s Girlfriend as fifty-odd local zombies danced to Thriller on Main Street last Halloween:

And I dressed as a Pirate selling treasures in another Main Street festival a few years ago:

Two weeks ago we had another fun event- a Hillbilly/Gypsy Prom!

Unfortunately my friends and myself were the only people who dressed up, as well as the only people who danced (although I have NO idea how those other people didn’t dance- the bluegrass band was amazing!!).

But that also means we were the only people to have the time of our lives.

Here’s me and my date!

This is Chris, my boyfriend who lives about 3 hours away in Tennessee. He drove up and surprised me with his cowboy costume in hand- we had a blast swing and square dancing with my friends!

By the way, the majority of my friends are grown adults.

It was so much fun! There’s nothing like dressing up and dancing like a madman for a few hours. I must have burned a million calories- or at least, as many as was in the large Strawberry Cheesequake Blizzard I ate beforehand .

Next week I’m planning a mini roadtrip with my friend Cameron:

(This is a pretty typical shot of us. I’m always teasing that poor boy!)

We’re going to Louisville to see some of our good friends! We met at an arts camp called Governor’s School of the Arts, and I for one haven’t seen most of my other friends from it since camp ended two years ago. It’ll be so nice to see everyone again- and I should have plenty of interesting pictures from our trip!

Mother has just informed me my time on the computer is up.

I’ll have to agree with her.

love, rudi