I Just Wanna Be A Girl!

This month has been super busy, filled with activities for Global Engagement Month, where international students represent their home countries and share their cultures with the rest of the college. I headed the Indian group, contributing to a total of 4 activities.  First, it started out with an Art Walk, where we displayed pictures and other art forms. I wrote a poem about Chennai, and one of my friends submitted a couple of pictures.  Second, there were the culture booths. These were booths where each country had an interactive art for people to take part in. There were friendship bracelets from Colombia, bookmarks from Mongolia, Korea, and opera masks from China. The Indian booth had mehendi, which a friend and I did for anyone interested. They were open for 2 hours on both days, and I am proud to say that India's booth was the most popular. By that, I mean that there was a constant flow of people wanting to get mehendi.  Third was the Diwali kolam. This was meant to ...

Today, I had the privilege of visiting a nearby school again to read stories to the children there. This time, I had 4 energetic second graders in my group. (They love animal books and I was well prepared).  Before the sesson, I went to the education department's little collection of picture books and picked out some fresh books, apart from the ones I had from the previous session. My favorite was the "Curious George." The reason behind that is that my little sister loved watching that series and I remember watching it with her. I knew I had to read that book to the children. Second, I picked out a book about Olivia the pig, for the same reason as before.  The third book I read was a little more interesting. It was a book called 'The Book With No Pictures.' At first the kids were a little hesitant, but I had just read that book last night and I knew they would love it. I was right. So, this book had one rule, that the reader had to read every single word on the pa...

Taylor Swift's track 5s are known for being very emotional and heart-touching. 'Eldest Daughter' from The Life of a Showgirl is no different.  I feel like this song is an anthem for every eldest daughter. The girl who has to be her parents' son, while trying to maintain her femininity in a man's world. She has to be reliable, and she can never let anyone down. They have to keep their word and set an example for everyone else. She can't express herself without feeling guilty that she is breaking her vows.  She had to grow up too soon, hiding things that she liked. She had to take care of herself when the younger child was born. She had to hide bad things from the other children, which is an incredible burden to place on a child.  When she says 'every eldest daughter was the first lamb to the slaughter,' it reminds me of how parents use their first children to learn how to be parents. They try things out on their first child and learn how to parent their n...

There has been a lot of controversy about Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of A Showgirl. People say it's not her best work. They say her lyricism is slipping and it's not 'Taylor.' They think it's not worth all the hype around it.  I, however, love this album. It shows people that she is happy. Taylor is known for writing devastatingly sad breakup songs. Her songs move people to tears all the time. She is known for catchy and upbeat tunes, and the lyrics are addictive. People think this album does not meet her own standards.  Who said happy songs can't make someone cry? The first time I heard the song 'Actually Romantic,' I was about to cry. This album shows that she isn't the broken-hearted girl anymore. She is moving on to better, happier times. At first glance, the album sounds ethereal. Even before you look at the lyrics, the music is calming and I felt my heartbeat slow down and calm down. I love that effect that this album had on me.  As...

Today, I finally had the opportunity to explore some of Longview. This morning, I thought the day was going to be extremely boring. I lounged around until lunch and then I started doing mehendi on my hand. (I upgraded from sketching on a book to sketching on my hand). One of my friends was in my room and I did some on her hand as well. She agreed to be my test subject.  Just as I was settling in, another friend of mine called me and asked if I wanted to join her and another friend to go thrift shopping. I hadn't showered yet and my hand had mehendi on it. But, I said yes. I quickly changed my top and ran out to her car. The thrift store was amazing. I found some cool clothes. Then we went on a quick grocery run. After that, she invited me to join in for pizza night and some games with friends. These were the people I went shooting with yesterday, so I was comfortable there.  After dinner and games, I asked if someone could take me to a store called 'Spirit Halloween,' where...

There is this club on campus called MuKappa. It's run by two missionaries, Uncle Tuck and Aunt Becky. They host pizza nights almost every weekend, chai nights, and international dinners. Today, they took us all to a friend's ranch to shoot.  It started out with a super fun ride in a pickup truck. It had a bench seat and I was right in the middle. It was amazing and such a rush. We arrived in style and I was greeted by a big, very enthusiastic dog. He came bounding over and almost knocked me over. We went out to the field and some people were already enthusiastic and ready to shoot. I, however, was a little nervous. I was sitting in the field, waiting, and the same friendly dog decided he really liked me. He came over to me again and I petted him. However, he wanted more. He climbed over me, stepping over me. It was hilarious and a bit too much at the same time. I leaned back, hoping he would leave, but he walked all over me. That happened again a while later.  Then, it was tim...

This morning, I had an activity in class. It was to list all the types of people at LeTourneau in two minutes. We were going to see who could list the most in this time. (I won by the way.) It was interesting to see how many different types of people there were, all in one small place.  I listed out things like 'where is your bag,' 'huge water bottle,' 'sleepy,' 'always on a call, 'texting,' 'chatterbox,' and others. It was really nice to see how all these people had friends who were opposite to them. For example, a sleepy and silent person was friends with someone very talkative.  Similarly, there are people from so many different backgrounds here. There are Americans, Texas natives, international students, and natives from a different nationality originally. All these people living together, interacting with each other, to create this community.  It was really intersting to list them out and then take some time to think about it. When I wro...