New Year's Plans and The Last Dance

Howdy Folks!
So, I know I've been the hugest blog slacker, ever! I just got back from Prague and have been working on some new entries for the Christmas break and the rest of the semester. I'm not quite finished yet, just please know they're coming as of course I will blog about Christmas (Brian)!

Tomorrow, I'll get to meet Ruey's Dad and Sis for lunch to thank them in person for Canada sweater of which I am now the proud owner!

New Year's plans are looking pretty mellow with a get together of about 5 ISU kids. I'll be making Mom's 7-layer dip and Jess is making Humus and there will be enough Champagne to toast in the New Year. No, probably not the real stuff & yes, I do know I'm in France and should get the real stuff, but honestly, we're in college here!!! The words poor and student should suffice as an explination for our obvious lack of culture in choosing a bubbly from the Champagne region of France!

Tonight we watched Save the Last Dance IN ENGLISH thanks to the brilliant Mark Barnett who is indeed my hero for downloading it despite it being a chick flick. Turns out he didn't have to watch it anyways (his fear) since Jess was more than happy to oblige and he is long gone to Canada, eh?. So, to my beautiful friend Holly - who is my favorite STLD watching buddy and my only friend who knows all the lines in both French and English - I kept my end of our so-called date, so keep yours! :)

Other than to say that my little sis Naomi is an Awesome girl who I miss terribly, I think I'll sign off for now with more to come soon about enchanting castles in Eastern Europe, amazing roommate Christmases and the absolute and utter coolness of my friends and family...

More soon...
Much love to all,
Brooke

It's over...

yo! So sorry about not updating this thing in like forever. And don't get excited, this isn't really an update either. This is just a quick note to say that I have officially completed 2 of 5 modules of my master's degree. after 8 grueling hours of exams testing my knowledge (or lack of) on remote sensing (which i decidedly hate), psychological effects and countermeasures of spaceflight, space law, mission arhcitecture and other mysteries of the universe, i'm spent. ok, so look, i'm tired. my brain is fried and I can't write right now, in fact after submitting a total of 48 handwritten pages, this is the end of my little dialogue. suffice to say updates will come soon, and i'm going shopping!!!

Kwajalein

So, it’s a crazy time here at ISU. The literature review deadlines are steadily sneaking up as are the dreaded exams and my internship is begging to be settled. Basically what this translates into is me living at ISU and eating more McDonald’s than I care to admit. I’ll tell you one thing, though, when I return to the States, I will not eat McDonald’s for like years to come!!!

The most exciting thing happening right now is that it looks like I may have found at least one interesting internship possibility with Boeing. It’s in Kwajalein which is a tiny island in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. There’s a Missile Test Range there (Reagan Test Site). The hope would be to take the position as an internship and then move into a job which would most likely involve me living there 2 years then being bounced back between Cali and Alaska for 2-6 month bouts at a time. But who knows? I’ve been looking into the island all day learning about its tropical environment where I could learn to scuba dive and effectively live with no cost on an Army base. Travel to and from the island is ridiculously expensive. I was complaining about this to Fabio. He responded with it’s typical of paradise: it’s beautiful, it’s expensive and it’s full of sharks. How true.
Ah, well, we’ll see what happens. I’m also looking into California and Washington positions. Who knows what’ll happen. I better get back to work! Nite!