It all hit...

me like a big train.  So I was sort of bombarded with the fact that I need to apply for candidacy for student teach in 2010 by February 1st.  It's a 15 page application, an essay, and 2 letters of recommendation.  It will probably take a week or two to do but I am pretty confident I can get it done on time.  I feel like with the Education courses I am taking this semester I really am starting to be prepared for my future as a teacher.  Like when I graduate I will be 22, get a job teaching Spanish hopefully at a private school for kids.  I don't know how I feel about the Chicago public school system but I want to be living in the city by then and the commute from the burbs to the city can be a pain.  But we will see, a job is a job.  Then after I establish myself a little bit back to school for graduate studies then who knows what.  I'm just excited and so happy that I'm finally getting things together and ready for my future.  This is what I have been waiting for, and working toward.  And I'm only going to work harder.  Granted my study abroad application will have to be put off a little bit this month but my job to become a teacher is more important.  I'll get it done though, whether I may have to stay in on a weekend or wake up early on a Sunday morning and don't stop until its done but it will.  My future is too important to me, and getting into the program and being certified will be huge accomplishments and yes the proud feeling that I will get from my family will be great but I think my own proud feeling for myself will be a greater feeling.  Though my education professor was saying today that the percentage of students who actually go to college is very small. So for those of who are going to college, went, or will go back we are an elite bunch and we should be very proud of ourselves.  I feel like this semester I am going to learn a lot.  Not just education wise but I feel like I am going to learn a lot about myself and what type of successful future I am going to want.

I want to be like Anthony Bourdain...

Well, minus the recovered drug addict.  But he has one of the coolest jobs.  He flies around from country to country and gets to see different countries and taste different foods.  Talk about a great opportunity.  Speaking of traveling, today I started downloading all my applications so I can print them and begin my study abroad process.  I really want to go to Spain this summer. Yes I will miss my twenty first birthday, and I will miss everyone and miss out on some things but the experience I think will be worth it.  Every summer it's the same routine, work, hangout, sleep etc and I need to do something different this summer.  I want to go away for a little while, live on my own, do my own thing and it's even better because I'll be in a different country, miles away from everything and everyone I know.  I'll have the chance to learn and do a lot of things that I may not be able to do when I am older. Perhaps I'll learn things that may even help me out later in life.  All I know for right now is that I really want this, and I am going to cross my fingers, work really hard, and do what I can to make this possible.

As weird as this sounds, I cannot wait to get back to school. With finals, the holidays, different work schedules, and just break in general everything has just been so different.  Because of the economy work has been cutting hours, so I'm not working as often as I'd like.  Days were jumbled because of the holidays, yesterday felt like a Sunday but it's Friday!  I'm just excited for things to get back to normal.  But being typical me I have my schedule figured out for work, and when I can have some free time and work it all in with school.  Next week is my last week of break, I'm glad that I've had the time to relax but I'm ready to get back to my daily routines.  But overall the holidays were really good.  I got to spend time with my family, and friends' of my brother I haven't seen in so long. It's really nice when Sean and Stephanie are here.  Just to be able to catch up and spend time together and relax is great.  I got to spend time with Chris' family which was really nice, they made me feel so welcome.  New Year's Eve was fun.  My cousin got married, and Chris and I just hung out with Sean and Stephanie and had a pretty good time.  We ate a little, danced a little, drank a little but 2009 began with exactly who I wanted it to and who I wanted to be with and I can't complain.  

I'm so glad that 2008 is over.  And I only have high hopes for 2009.  Every year I always make resolutions but never follow them.  But I have thought about them greatly and I really want to try.  Though when it comes to one I'm not doing a very good at but it's only the second day of 2009, I have 363 days to work on it.  But someone told me last night to "live in the moment", and he couldn't be more right. Maybe that could be my 2009 mantra?