I'm sorry I do not have any pictures to show at the moment- once I get back to the good ol' States, I will be able to upload them on my laptop and share away. So far, it has been a week and we are staying in Aranjuez, a small city about 40 miles outside of Madrid. There is a small university located here, where we attend our classes. Our "dorm" is at a Catholic school (which provides preschool, elementary and high school levels)... Our "dorm" is actually an old seminary, which is okay except that we are starting to suspect the possibility of, ahem, ghosts. At least it keeps us on our toes!

We have already been to Madrid once to meet some deaf people at the association for the deaf in Madrid... There are MANY associations located across the country, and this particular association is for the comunidad autónoma of Madrid... A comunidad autónoma is equivalent to a state in the United States. Within a comunidad autónoma, there are counties and cities. This association is for the county of Madrid, located in the city of Madrid :) Kinda tripping - within the same region, there is the same name for three different levels. Oyy.

During this past weekend, we visited Toledo, another city. I have officially fallen in love with this city... It is CHOCKFUL of history and old buildings! Those two make for a very happy Jess. Again, I have tons of pictures, but they will have to be shared at a later date.

We have been busy with LSE and theater classes, exploring Aranjuez, and sleeping the afternoons away! The classes are in the mornings while our free time is during the afternoon and evenings. After a week, I am still hesistating to make my final judgment of Spain until the end of my trip. After our 4 weeks are up, I will stay for another week and take the time to explore the other cities in the country - including Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla. Costa Rica STILL remains in my heart, however. I love Costa Rica's biodiversity and old-fashioned look and the food and the people. What I have seen so far of Spain is a lot more modern - as it has been emphasized, I'm a fan of history and old-fashioned times. The food and the nature there also can't be beaten!!

¡Pura vida!

I recently had the privilege of watching this enrapturing movie with Charity and Robyn. I have always been hooked to musicals since my brother's high school years - he took part in three musicials (if my memory serves me correctly) and I would always sit in the auditorium during performances with a flashlight and a borrowed scriptbook (and yes, my hearing aids), and enjoy the show. Since then, I've been hooked to musical movies such as Moulin Rouge and Chicago... This particular movie, however, had plenty of tear-jerking moments.

I happened to watch it during the week of graduation and during the entire Gallaudet president protest (Unity for Gallaudet! See this entry for more details)... so you could say that my level of sentiment and nostalgia was at an all-time high. My family was about to arrive the next evening and I was witnessing a moment in Gallaudet's history and I was about to wrap up four years of my undergraduate career... Yep.

The movie's basic message was focused on love and living life at its fullest, at all times - at least, that was my interpretation. After the movie finished, it was getting late so I said my goodbyes to Charity and Robyn and left, with the intention of going straight to bed in Tent City. However, I ended up taking a walk around Kendall Green, mostly on the "Gallaudet Mall" (the area of grass between the library and Chapel Hall). I ended up doing a lot of thinking and looking back in the past four years. After all, it's easy to do that when it's 2:30 in the morning and there is NO one around :)

As my subject line says... surreal. That is definitely what it turned out to be and that is what it has been in the past few weeks. I was walking from the parking lot behind the Field House and I walked past the back doors, leading to the pool- outside the doors were a bunch of lounge chairs. They were set up in a manner that could make one think that students had been using them for sunbathing during the warm and sunny days. One year, during Rockfest weekend, I got with a group of friends and we subathed on the big soft square "smooshy" (WHATEVER it's called) on the track, located in the section designated for the high jump.

I walked past the windows peeking into the pool of the Field House - the water was so calm and one could see the bottom of the pool. It made me think about the times a group of friends and I went swimming during open pool hours and the recent times where my boyfriend tried to teach me how to swim the right way (I still can't, ha). I walked in between SAC and the Hotchkiss football field and the stadium... the bright spotlights were shining. I can remember my first few years where there weren't any lights where they are now, and I went running at 2am because I was either wired from an argument or from studying or I just felt like running. Running has always been a great outlet for me.

I walked between the other side of SAC and the gravel parking lot... It made me think about the soon-to-be-erected SLCC (Sorenson Language and Communication Center). There has been a lot of discussion about how Kendall Green will change in the next few years, with renovation and construction. SLCC is the next part in the "10-year plan" at Gallaudet. I've always cherished history, especially at Gallaudet - and that includes the buildings... so I'm not sure how I feel about this plan. I DO recognize the need for modernization and providing more visual-tactile access. While thinking about this, I looked into the windows of SAC and looked at the bare depths of the tiled floors and the hallways and the "G-Spot" and the bulletin boards... SAC has always been a part of Gallaudet for me, since it was erected right before my arrival at Gallaudet. For me, there was never the old SUB or the Abbey. I still long to see what SAC/SUB/Rathskellar once were before its renovation/construction.

I walked towards the Merrill Learning Center (or simply put, the library) and sat on a picnic table, the side facing the "mall" and looked around. I looked at the newly named Andrew Foster Auditorium - even though it never had an official name, we always called it the Ely Auditorium. The "old-timers" still call it Ely. There still isn't an established name sign for the auditorium, so one would see people calling the auditorium with an "A" or a (goodness) "F" tapping on the side of their throat. It still takes me a while to register which building they are referring to.

I looked over to the EMG (Edward Miner Gallaudet) statue... I still laugh every time I see that statue. During NSO week, I met so many people - a few which remained good friends of mine. One of them became my roommate during the second semester of my freshman year... She, another girl, and I were chatting in the freshman dorms late one night, and we began discussing all the ghost stories at Gallaudet (our NSO group leaders made sure to divulge some of these stories with us!). One story refers to this particular statue and states that if you visit this statue at exactly midnight, under the full moon, the face will turn into a skull. Well, that night happened to have a full moon, and it was getting close to midnight, so of course - we decided to take a trek there. This friend and the other girl were getting a bit antsy on the way, so we kept scaring each other during the walk - setting the tone perfectly! By the time we got there, they (okay, me included) were terrified to LOOK at the statue's face. We finally looked when it struck midnight and sure enough - a skull appeared. We also found out other tidbits, but I won't divulge... just be sure to pay EMG a visit during a full moon at midnight, and find out for yourself!

I then noticed the radiance of the stained glass windows of Chapel Hall - they still get me every time I see them. As I mentioned, I CHERISH the history of old buildings and cities... so I am always struck with the depth of Gallaudet University's history. I noticed the weather vane at the top of Chapel Hall - if you look closely, you will see the letters "CIID" (I THINK those are the letters, my memory isn't serving me correctly right now)... those letters represent Gallaudet's original name as the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind (of course, back then, using the word "dumb" meant differently!). Next to the weather vane, the flag was flickering on the top of Tower Clock in the wind, with the light shining underneath. I still kind of wish I had taken an "excursion" to the top of the tower and signed my name ;) There's always two more years during graduate school!

I then decided to do some more walking and walked to the other side of the mall towards Chapel Hall, walking past Peet Hall. I walked past bushes and trees and lamp posts and thought about all the times spent with friends and acquaintances, and how people have come into my life... Many people have walked through my life and mostly stayed for a while then left. There are still a few who have remained a valuable part of my life. Every single one of these mentioned people have contributed to who I am today, in one way or another. Many memories will remain while the physical selves of these people do not. This is okay with me because I believe that there is no such thing as regret or a bad experience. An experience only becomes a bad one or regret if you don't learn from it.

Time REALLY flew by... Every day, it seems like the clock is ticking faster and faster. Watching "Rent" that evening reminded me of that fact and reminded me to live life to its fullest... and to cherish every person and moment that passes me by. My views on life and myself has changed greatly... I even found a hearing aid battery on the ground and I HAD to grin because it reminded me of how I used to view deafness in the pathological sense but now it has shifted to a completely cultural aspect for me. I do not view myself as a person with a hearing loss... I view myself has a person who is fortunate enough to experience and cherish Deaf culture. Accepting the Deaf part of me was the best decision for me. Coming to Gallaudet University was the best decision for me. Gallaudet and Deaf culture may not be for everyone, but they are for me.

It was really nice to be able to take everything in that night - I always walked this same route in a rush, so I never took the time to stop and breathe everything in. If you are ever on Kendall Green, take time to do the same... especially if you are a Gallaudet student/alumni/faculty member/staff member/administrator/etc.

525,600 minutes gone by... 525,600 minutes being experienced now.... 525,600 mnutes yet to experience.

Ayy - coming up a bit empty... Annoying, isn't it?

I'm always looking for a new way to express myself - or rather, a creativity outlet. I dabble in magazine-cutout collages. I resort to journal-writing from time to time. My room is drowning in bold colors and various images of places I want to visit (or live!). Once in a blue moon, I'll pick up a pen to jot down a few lines for a poem. Then the world of blogging began to take over the Internet quite recently... I've found that I prefer to ramble on and on without a care in the world and without any rules (like... poetry?).

*points to self* Jess Rogers here! I'm a senior at Gallaudet and will be graduating this May. Fret not - I'm sticking around Kendall Green for two years of graduate school. I will be graduating with a BA in Psychology and then grabbing my MA in School Counseling and Guidance.

People have been telling me from left to right the pros and cons of starting graduate school right after getting my BA degree. Some say that it is better to gain experience in the real world before jumping into graduate school, and others say that it's hard to go back to school after working for a couple years. Of course, there is that group of people who have no clue what they want to study in graduate school... I've wanted to go into counseling for some time now and I know I'd be someone whose butt that my parents would be kicking to get back in the academic world after working for a couple years. I've been accepted into the program and I've met with the faculty several times - and I am super-excited :-D I'm ready to move on and take the next big step.

I hail from the Midwestern state of Michigan, the best Midwestern state of all (I just KNOW that some Ohio people are glaring at the computer screen right now)! I was mainstreamed throughout my K-12 years in a small town that no one has ever heard of, one hour north of Detroit. I personally would prefer living on the western side of the state due to the landscape, but my parents decide to reside on Lake Huron. Can't complain - we're about 10 minutes away from the bridge to Canada! :-D I graduated from high school in 2002 and went straight to Gallaudet.

I'll be honest - I was debating between Michigan State University and Gallaudet for some time... MSU was my DREAM university during high school - it had every quality I search for in an ultimate college experience. I didn't even think (or learn) about Gallaudet until the middle of my high school years. I started meeting more people within the signing community and they encouraged me to think about Gallaudet. By the time I hit senior year, I was starting to get sick of being mainstreamed and not getting full access through interpreting so the thought of full access to communication on a campus was becoming pretty appealing. I got accepted to both colleges, but the campus visit to Gallaudet did it for me. The people I met were friendly, the campus was gorgeous in the peak of springtime, and I was hooked by the constant flurry of hands around campus. It also helped that I was offered a scholarship ;-)

Fast-forward four years (yikes) - I am 21 years old and my interests include reading, watching movies, photography, TRAAAAAVELING, learning about other cultures and languages, nature, camping/hiking, animals, sleeping, eating... Okaaay - I was starting to learn towards the typical profilic description. I am currently obsessed with traveling, reading and watching movies. The only obstacles to these three are time and money! I always have a pile of books to read, a pile of movies to check out and a pile of travel brochures to start planning.

However, my favorite traveling experience thus far HAS to be Costa Rica. I lived there for about 4 months in the fall of 2004 - a wonderful opportunity made available by Gallaudet's Foreign Languages department. They offer a variety of study abroad programs (one of which is a month-long study program in Spain during the summertime - and I'm going this summer!) and this specific program is a semester-long internship program. I was placed in a deaf school to work with the school psychologist and that has to be when I officially decided I wanted to go into school counseling. My host family was the BEST and I gained valuable experiences and the personal growth was way up there as well. I'll save the rest of the details for another entry ;-)

Okay. Rambling again... I'll close off with one of my favorite pictures of Costa Rica. This was taken in the backyard of my host mother's home... This flower is a representation of the amazing biodiversity found in Costa Rica *nostalgic sigh*