Ireland

One of the places my sister and I plan on seeing together someday is Ireland. I came upon this website, which is great for anyone that loves to travel...it has lots of info, pictures, helpful suggestions.  It's a perfect starting place for planning a trip.

I love to travel and cannot wait to take on the world!

Check this out, if you love to travel: http://www.worldtravelguide.net/

Leading a Meaningful Life

I'm working on a proposal for a senior year distinction research project and I'm thinking the title will be, "What Constitutes Living Meaningfully?: A Perspective on Life" I want to go out into the community and lead discussions based on books, films, and other types of media that explore ideas of life and meaning. I'm hoping to get as many perspectives from different ages as I can so I can really compare how one's thoughts change with age.

If I ask people on an individual basis, I will get cliche answers like: love, friendship, family...etc. But I think that if I can get people talking with each other and responding to other's ideas, they will begin to discover and share their true feelings on meaningful living.

I'm in a search now to find possible short stories and films that I can use to supplement these discussions. Hopefully I can have the library screen a film, or a book group read a book I pick, or hand out a pamphlet at a nursing home...that way every discussion is a little different and I can maximize the results and responses.

Does anybody have any suggestions about films or stories that explore life and death and meaningfullness?

Always checking the clock

It's been awhile...life has been crazy.

So, I get stuck sometimes watching the clock and waiting for it to move a little faster.  This often happens when I'm sitting in a class that isn't interesting or working on a dull day.  I wish I could get out of this habit and learn to let time move as quickly or slowly as it wants.  I do realize that if I don't focus on it, time will move faster.  I simply need to engage myself in the subject at hand or in interesting thoughts and ideas when I'm feeling these waves of "boredom."

I don't consider myself a person that get's "bored;" I can always find something else to do.  But, this is not the case when you're stuck somewhere you don't want to be, so there's nothing to be done about it.

Any suggestions? I may just have live through these moments of "waiting" and learn something from them; it's just very frustrating sometimes.

Mortar Board National Conference

I've been away all weekend in Chicago at the Mortar Board National Conference to learn how to lead my chapter this year in projects and service to the campus. I'm excited to get started drafting plans for the year and working on ways to raise money for books drives and fundraise for our own chapter.

Conferences are long and hard, with lots of lectures and presentations, but we stayed in a beautiful hotel in downtown Chicago with amazing rooms.  I met so many people from all over the country; it was so neat to be apart of something huge like this.  There are 229 chapters of Mortar Board across the country and most sent delegates to represent them at this conference.

One of the most exciting presentations was done by David Coleman, the real life Hitch! He was fabulous and gave an amazing presentation on relationships and leadership. He is an incredible entertainer and any college would be lucky to book him as a speaker for their students.  He knows how to connect with the college age and gets his point across in a very comical way.