Ashleigh Blue

All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go….
I’m leaving for Paris! and I mean that, right now, I’m leaving for the airport, to go to Paris for a week! I got everything finished… despite having to stay up until 1 or 2 packing ( I never like to pack until the last possible moment), I’ve got my passport in hand, camera in bag, and I’m ready to go! So with any luck, this time next week I will come back with all kinds of awesome stories and pictures! What a great way to spend spring break… and to top it off, I got to have lunch with my family before I went to the airport, so it’s awesome.
Oh, and in other news, I’m going to be an RA next year in Decker, so you should come live there!

Well, at the moment, spring break is a thorn in my side. But ask me again in 2 days, and I will be ecstatic!
Right now, I’m just frustrated because I have 3 tests, and 3 papers due either right before or right after spring break. Since I won’t be here to work on them during spring break, it’s causing me a little bit of stress right now.

However, in just a few days I will be flying over the Atlantic on my way to the City of Lights, Paris. And boy am I excited. We have all of our details finalized, now it’s just a matter of packing my things, doing some laundry, and figuring out the order of things I need to get done. This is a trip with Dr. Jones, one of the professors here, and about 20 other students. It’s yet another of the opportunities I’ve had here that I wouldn’t have had on my own, and it’s almost all planned out for us before we get there! We do have free days, but there is enough structure to where you can feel comfortable knowing that you won’t miss ANYTHING.
In addition to all of that, we have some other GWU spring break missions trips going out with Campus Ministries.
A team is traveling to Guatemala to work with the Agua Viva Children’s Home, a team is traveling to Germany to work with a former GWU professor start up some youth programs in the churches there, an American Sign Language team is traveling to Honduras to do some work with the deaf population there, and lastly, a team is going to New Mexico to work with the Navajo tribes. Also this summer a team will be traveling to Ireland. Missions trips are very popular here, as they give you a chance to interact with different cultures, serve other people, and learn a whole lot in the process. I think the trips GWU faculty/staff members are incredible, and you’d be remiss if you came here and didn’t go on any of them, because it’s such a fantastic opportunity that you might never get another chance to do, and especially with a leader who has been preparing for the trip for months/ years. It’s a great deal, so check it out!

-From Blue to You

Well, I can’t quite remember the name, so I’ve called it the Pottery Place. However, I have to go back there to pick something up, so I will write the name down when I go. But, this place, located approximately a minutes walk from campus, is awesome. You can paint pottery that they have to keep! There are plates, cups, frames, bowls, figurines, blocks, mugs, everything. If you can think of it, you can paint it, basically. It is AWESOME. when I go pick up my plate that I painted, I will post a picture of it.
You can have parties at this place too, so I think I’m going to bring a bunch of my FOCUS leaders here for an event at the end of the year. There is a 3 dollar studio fee, plus however much money you pay for the items you want to paint. For instance, my plate cost 6 dollars. But there are more and less expensive items there.
A few friends and I went this week just to get off of campus for a little while, and it was a blast. I painted an awesome plate, which I plan on using… forever. But also, I was thinking how cool it would be to have all of your plates/ cups, whatever that will be in your house or apartment one day to be homemade. I think that’d be such a good idea. So, that’s my new plan for my dishes that I will one day own
Paris trip is next week! Yeah!

So many cool things happened at the women’s basketball game this weekend.
First- The 3 senior girls on the team played their last ever regular season home game.
Second- We won, beating Charleston Southern pretty soundly.
Third- We OFFICIALLY won the regular season championship, only losing one conference game all season.
Fourth- We broke the record for wins in a single season by posting a 24-3 record.
Fifth- For me, one of the coolest parts. The women’s basketball team from GWU’s 1989-1990 season came and watched the game and were presented at halftime. That in itself is interesting, but more importantly, that was the team that held the PREVIOUS single season win streak, winning 23 games during their season. Awesome. It was just neat to see how they all were still close, and, it was just cool.  Even their coach, Coach Bud, was there in attendance for the game.
Sixth, and finally- The girls and Coach Reeves celebrated by cutting down the net after the game, fitting for a team that looks like they have a good chance to go into the NCAA tournament. Keep your fingers crossed!

Speaking of fingers, though, one bit of sad news to report, one of our players broke her finger, and has been out for the past few games, and will miss the rest of the regular season. Hopefully she can make it back near the end of March in time for the tournaments!

In other news, I’m just making it through the week with tests and quizzes every day, and starting to count down the days until I’m in France for Spring Break! (10 more days, officially!)

-From Blue to You!

The following is a picture that I got put into the Undergraduate Art Exhibit that is happening on campus this week. It’s a picture from July 4th, from the roof of a church in New York City where my best friend lived and worked all summer. Well, at least it started out as a picture that she took in New York. The second image is the one that is in the art show, that I manipulated a bit. This is a little bit of the kind of thing that got me interested in Graphic Design. Cool.

It’s been a pretty nice weekend at Gardner-Webb. I interviewed for a job as an RA on campus all day Saturday. It was exhausting, but I feel like it went well. I had a personal interview, and we also had the “RA Carousel.” This part of the interview was interesting because we had to work in small groups with the other applicants and design programs, or activities, and think as a group and work with others. It was a pretty interesting process all around.
In other news , it’s pretty overcast outside, but it’s good weather. As I’m writing this, I’m sitting outside on a nice little patch of land in the middle of a parking lot. Definitely one of my more interesting study spots.
And lastly, our women’s basketball team is awesome. I always knew that, but I think it’s official now. First off, they played in 2 home games in the past 3 days. The first was a breast cancer awareness game, so they wore pink shoes, and the second was a barefoot for bare feet game, so the coaches didn’t wear shoes and they raised money to buy shoes for the Samaritan’s Feet project.  The girls won both games, against Presbyterian and Winthrop, and the Presbyterian game went into overtime, so it was definitely exciting. The girls are in first in the conference, and are currently projected to be a #15 seed in the Big Dance, so needless to say, it’s an exciting time to be a GWU women’s basketball fan.
There is one more home game this Saturday afternoon, which I will most likely be attending to complete my Fantastic Fan card for the promotion. I won an Applebee’s gift card last week, and if I go to the next home game, it will be my 8th, and I receive a 25 dollar iTunes gift card. Hooray!

Here’s yet another benefit that I have discovered from attending GWU. Free career advice. In the past WEEK I’ve had help from three different people in three completely different fields here at school.

1- I got interview tips from a friend of mine who works in one of the  GWU offices here about when she interviewed, what it was like, how she prepared… everything. It was awesome, and so helpful.

2-My Computer Graphics teacher talked to me for about 45 minutes about different jobs, internships in the area that I can look at, different grad schools for my specialty, and ways to build up my portfolio. Again, so helpful.

3- While I was on this career advice high, I decided to talk to a friend that works in career services about my resume. She told me to send over the resume that I had, and she sent it back to me LITERALLY the next morning with a couple corrections, and some suggestions.

We have a Career Services department here that is FREE to work with, who will help you with everything from your resume to internship searching to job hunting. And additionally, they have connections with alumni. It’s a pretty good deal if  you ask me.

-From Blue to You

I LOVE the Olympics. Not just your average catch it on tv if you happen to be sitting on the couch. It’s more of a carry my computer everywhere so that I can watch the updates, rush home at night to watch the 8:00 primetime sports, and if I have enough free time during lunch or in the afternoons, you better BELIEVE that I will be in my room with my eyes glued to the television.
Why do I love the olympics so much? I’m not sure… I LOVE all things international and cultural, and I love sports, so, I guess those are the obvious reasons. But it’s even almost become an obsession. So much of one that in the past week I’ve considered trying to get a job with them after I graduate. So, all this to say, better tune in to one of the NBC affiliated networks to watch the Olympics as soon as you possibly can!

See the official Vancouver Olympic website for more info!

It’s time for the best day in February! Unless you like groundhog’s day a whole lot, in which case, it’s the second best day- my BIRTHDAY!!! I have classes on my birthday until 1:00, so, the celebration officially begins at lunchtime. My friends and I are planning on going to a movie, Valentine’s Day, and then going to eat at a restaurant in Shelby, Ham’s. It’s one of my favorite places to eat around here. After that, we will probably come back and watch some Winter Olympic action.
On Sunday, my mom and grandma are coming to visit for the first time since I’ve been in college! And they are bringing birthday cake, which makes it ten times better! So hopefully, this will be an awesome birthday weekend, I’m looking forward to it!

-From Blue to You

Well, I made it for several weeks without being overloaded with papers, quizzes, tests, and projects. This is the first week of difficulty. Usually I look forward to the first few weeks of the semester. Everything is new, there isn’t material to be tested on yet, and you can just have fun, go to class, do your homework, and go hang out. But then THAT day/week happens. For example. tomorrow I have an English test, French quiz, and photography project due. Not to mention 2 meetings, 1 bill, and several forms to fill out and turn in. Followed the next day by a Spanish test, and a test review for my comm theory class. And an abundance of other things.

How have I chosen to tackle them, you ask?
Well, I will share my newest secret. iCal. It’s on my computer, and the greatest gift ever. It’s a color coded schedule, that reminds me of everything I have ever needed to remember. I’m terrible with keeping up with homework books or planners, but computers are my specialty, so I don’t know why this never occurred to me before. But, it has already helped tremendously, so I recommend it!

-From Blue to You