NEWS JUNKIE

GUYS!!! I have turned into a total news junkie!!! What is wrong with me! I am pretty sure the news doesn't change that often, but I still check BBC and CNN 800 times a day! I have always loved the news, but this is out of control these days...I get the news online, then go watch the 10 o'clock news if I am home or skim through the newspaper! Unbelievable Sherrie...get a life! You know, some people have their addictions to Hollywood news...I suppose mine is to the world news? Just as bad maybe? Maybe not....but still!

Happy Birthday Grandma Larsen!!

It has been almost a month since Grandma's birthday, but I just had to write about it! I am currently semi-living with my Grandparents, which is fantastic, but there is NOTHING better than spending Sundays at their house. There is always family stopping in and coming and going. We are all pretty close, especially all the cousins around my age, so we always have a good time!
Anyway, for Grandma's birthday we had a big family birthday party for her...and the parties may not be as grand as they used to (I have about 65 cousins on that side...big family, but many have moved away), but this was no less fun! I just have to say she is one of my most favorite people...and not just cause she is my Grandma! I just love and adore her so much! She is always keeping me laughing and I'm so grateful she always has her house open to me! Oh and did I mention that she makes the world's best chocolates!?! Well she does! Anyhow, we all had a good time with her on her birthday, with lost of good food!

ScHooL!

This post is putting me at record postings in a week I think! And I still have a few other things I want to post about! Anyway, but I saw this on a friend/classmate of mine, on her blog and thought it was very appropriate and approving to how I feel right now about school! ha ha It has been midterms and I have been so on edge on so stressed out! Two of my classes are data analysis type of classes and WHOA! It's just intense and tedious and even though I do love school and love my program, I have just been feeling SO burned out the past few weeks.

PLUS, on top of that, I had been planning to apply to a PhD program at Tulane...the only program in the entire country that I could find that I REALLY wanted to do a PhD at. It was SO fitting...it not only had the International Public Health, but it combined that with International Development. The classes within the program are SO awesome and the professors have SO much experience in the Global Health realm. Anyway, my friend Scarlett and I called down there the other day to get the rest of the info we needed before submitting our applications...bad news! :( Turns out they only accept people into the PhD program that have at minimum 1-2 years of experience! I am so bummed! So I guess now it's back to the idea of having to enter the "real world" when I graduate this spring and work full time. It's going to be sad and really strange not being in school full time and not even really having the option of it until I get some field experience. BOO!! Oh well..such is life! Anyway...here is the vid I wanted to post that I thought was so great! haha


via videosift.com

And some more EUROPE PICS

Alright, here are the rest! These are all from France (I had to consolidate a lot!! haha) We did a festival in Martigues, France, which is GORGEOUS!!! It is known as the Venice of France. There wasn't a lot to do there, but it was beautiful just walking around and spending most of our time with the other groups at the festival (and eating yummy Turkey kebabs!). Tiff and I spent most of our time with the Argentinian guys, which was a big challenge to my rusty Spanish, but it was a lot of fun! However, we got to know majority of the groups...there were really great dancers at this festival and everyone was a lot of fun to be around! The other groups were from Cuba, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Canada, Ireland, South Korea and Zimbabwe, as well as a local group to the region of Martigues...and each night we got to dance with them at an amazing stage that was set up in the canal! Yes, our stage was in the water! It was a beautiful venue and people apparently paid a lot of money to come watch the shows. It's so great doing folk dance over in Europe, where it is truly loved and cherished and the people absolutely love it (it's not just the nerdy thing it is over here lol).
The other excitement of the festival was getting to do workshops with Joanne Doyle, who is the ex-Riverdance lead! How cool is that!? She is one of the nicest people I have ever met!! We were also able to see some of our friends from Confolonnes, France that came down to visit us...we met them last year in Italy at a festival we did there...so we got to spend some time with them too. We stayed in host families during our 10 days in Martigues...and I just have to say that our host family was fantastic!!! They were so great and so sweet! They had a really nice house and put the three of us girls (me, Tiff and Hailey) in a nice big room. We had fun BBQing with them and swimming and spending time getting to know them.
We also went to Marseilles and spent a little time there. Marseilles is such a big city, but is so beautiful! After we left that area when the festival was all over, we went to Carcasonne, France, which was absolutely fantastic!!! We had SO much fun in this cool place! It has the old castle still but the city is built all inside the castle walls (well not all of the city, but a small portion. So we stayed at a place right near the castle and did lots of shopping and wandering around. It was great!

EUROPE PICS...starting with SPAIN

Okay...I have SO much to catch up on!!! I still am in need of posting pictures from my Europe trip...so i'll make a few different posts from different areas. So, here are pictures from Spain! We danced at a festival in Burgos, but also spent some time in Madrid and Barcelona. We had a really great time and met some really awesome people at the festival! There were groups from Benin, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Bolivia, Chile, Poland and a few groups from Spain, in addition to us. We got to be really good friends with the group from Turkey...ah I love them and miss all of them so much!
We started out tour this year in Madrid and spent minimal time there and most of us were fighting jet lag pretty bad! However, we still had a good time and got to see a lot of the city! Tour also ended in Spain...in one of my favorite places, Barcelona! What a great city!! So much to do and see, plus the beach, loads of shopping...and my favorite...LAS RAMBLAS!!! I don't care how many times you go to Spain...Las Ramblas is always a good time! It's a long street full of shopping, vendors, food, and entertaining people galore! I love people watching there, it's fantastic!! Anyway, since I had seen most of the big things to see in Barcelona, I spent much of my time shopping and at the beach!! It was great and I loved every minute of it!