Fun Flavors of Fall

     

     Autumn my dear readers is a beautiful season, especially here in Nebraska. On campus the trees are turning so many colors: red, yellow, orange, and pink, all with different variance of these shades; there are even trees with multiple colors on the leaves, one side might be red while the other side is yellow! And as a college student and Biology major, Autumn is the busiest time of the year, with tests to take, papers to write, projects to do, books to read, classes to attend, and lab experiments to conduct. I still managed to have some fun though, and even make a couple of new good friends.
     In early October I attended a small fall festival at the church by Union's campus. The festival was put on by the the George Stone Elementary school (which is housed below the Union girls' dorm) to raise money for their school.

Some of the kids even performed. 

This guy was pretty good.

     Due to its pagan origins I have never, and still don't celebrate Halloween. However, I love that because of Halloween you can dress up in a costume during this time of the month without people thinking your nuts, and this year I took advantage of it. So I grabbed whatever I had handy in my dorm room, and for one day I went to classes as a wood nymph. What fun I had! =D

     When November came about three things happened: (1) It got colder! Brrr..., (2) my workload got heavier, and (3) some of my favorite fall fruits became available, Fuyu persimmons, cranberries, honey crisp apples, and dragon fruit! Persimmons and dragon fruit I prefer to eat as a mono-meals. While its true that persimmons and dragon fruit taste good with a lot of different fruits and raw recipes, there is just something delectable about sitting down to a large meal of sweet, soft, and juicy persimmons or dragon fruit. Mmmmm...

     And when cranberry season arrives, so do the honey crisp apples, and I get to make one of my favorite fall breakfast, raw cranberry sauce:

    
     Today is the last day of classes for me. Tomorrow morning I get to fly home for Thanksgiving Break. It's going to be wonderful. A whole week without classes or labs to go to and no tests to take. . . I can't wait! I plan on running the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon again this year. It's the same course as last year so I'll get the chance to see if I can beat my PB for this course from last year. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

2010 Fall Semester Recap

     Hello one and all! So sorry for the large gap between my last post and this new one. This semester at school has been rough but I am forging my way through and am nearing the end (yikes!).

     This semester has been very busy and intense, but I did manage to take them time to take a lot of pictures to share with you. So here is a brief photographic recap of my first semester of college at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska. So far I have. . .

I placed 3rd in the Union College Sprint Triathlon, as I am sure you remember from my last post. These are just a few more pictures that I was able to get my hand on from other people at the race. I was also finally able to upload the video I made after the race to youtube. Click here to watch.

I have taken up bouldering on the rock wall that is located just below the girls' dorms.

I placed 3rd in the Union College Lazy Ironman Competition. The goal was to bike 112 miles, run 26 miles, and swim 2.4 miles in three weeks or less. Even with school and homework I was able to finish all the mileage in 10 days. 

During Thanksgiving break I flew home to Georgia, and on Thanksgiving morning I ran the Atlanta Half Marathon. This was my second half marathon this year (and ever). I have a new PB of 2:14:42. My old PB was 2:25:55. I'm getting faster! =D I made along with the pictures I also made a short video on the way home from the race. Click here to watch.

Yes, I am wearing my Vibrams!

I've been working hard at school of course. Being a Biology major is tough, but a lot of fun. Here's me at my three hour (starts at 7:30 am) Bio Lab class running an experiment to measure the rate of oxidation through photosynthesis to determine the respiration rate of the Elodea plant.

I've been enjoying my beautiful campus as it has been transitioning from summer to autumn, and now to winter.

FALL:

This vehicle is used for the EMT classes that IRR (International Rescue & Relief) Majors have to take.

 Where I live.

WINTER:

We got a lot of snow one Friday night. . .

But then the sun came Saturday morning and made it all melt. =(

I also got myself some awesome fruity attire here.

And finally, I've been enjoying yummy food.

The End (for now)