"Walking in a Western Wonderland"

Phew, with only one week left to go at school before we leave for thanksgiving and the weather is absolutely crazy. I can honestly say I didn't expect there to be this much snow this soon. I was caught a little off guard when I woke up last Thursday to find the roads covered in that white powdered sugar substance. But aside from the weather, this semester is really starting to kick my behind, I'm falling so behind on a lot of things because all my professors and teachers give so much homework all of a sudden and it's so hard to comprehend. With the weather being as crappy as it is, I would much rather just lay in bed with hot chocolate and go to sleep.

Monday 10/27/14

In class on Friday, I thought it was interesting to get with everyone in a group and talk about themes, it really helped me figure out what the best theme would be and how to find themes to write about. I need to work on coming up with themes, I feel like that's extremely hard for me. I loved that we talked about the different stories and their themes and brainstormed that actually really helped me understand how to analyze the story better. Aside from that, I don't really have any more questions because the only thing I was worried about was coming up with themes.

Field Training Excersize

So since I really suck at these blog posts, let me just talk about last weekend. I spent my entire Saturday walking about 10 miles. This was for ROTC and basically all we did, all day was walk and work out. We all wore our ROTC gear, our helmets, our big backpacks, and our uniforms. It was actually a really fun day! We had to find points by using numbers we were given, we had to rescue someone on the lake, we had to do football workouts, and track work outs, and knowledge tests, and more walking. It was a great day to be a bronco in the ROTC program. That's for sure.

Friday Post for October 10th

In class today I was probably the least awake, but I did pay attention to what we were talking about and I actually don't mind the analysis discussion that much. I feel like it's a great way to understand the songs better, I honestly sometimes don't even pay attention to what the song is about and I kind of just listen to the beat and sing along to the lyrics without actually listening that what they are saying. So aside from being half awake, it was a good lesson and it makes writing these next papers a lot easier. Also, not to be a teachers pet and I will probably complain about this later, I like the fact that we have to write a paper, I feel like with as much work as it is, it's well deserved on all of our parts and we should probably take note to that and start actually reading what the class assignment was. I honestly find it so hard to read the passages that we are assigned because I tend to put off all of the readings that we have to do. Which is a really bad habit. Aside from that, although it can get a little boring doing all of these analyses, I actually learn a lot more about the messages of the songs and how differently people interpret the songs.

Giving up my weekends.

Every single week, I get extremely excited for the weekend because I think I'll finally have some time to sit back and relax and just simply not do anything. Lately, I've come to the conclusion that such weekends no longer exist for me. Every Saturday, I get up at 6am to walk to work, then after that I usually have volunteer work, and on sundays I spend the entire day catching up on homework and finishing things that I started late. I feel as though for the next 4 years, my life will solemnly be; ROTC, Homework, work, and repeat.

Christmas in Germany

Today as my grandparents called me, they asked me to move back to Germany for good, I was a little caught by surprise because I didn't expect them to ask me that any time soon. I sat there and just kind of listened to what they had to say about how life in Germany would be a lot better than life in the U.S and I just felt a little like I was being ambushed. After listening to them for a while, I told them that I wasn't ready to leave WMU after only being here for 5/6 weeks. At the end, my grandma told me to see how much tickets would cost to fly to Germany fro Christmas and that they would pay for it. I was smiling from ear to ear, because all I wanted this year for Christmas, was to go home.

Balancing Work and School without a car

I already knew that I would have a job my freshman year of college, I also knew that I wouldn't have car my freshman year, but I didn't realize how freakishly cold it would be to walk 2.5 miles to work in the pouring rain at 7:00am. Yesterday, I woke up and speed walked to work because I was already a little behind the schedule. Needless to say, I am really starting to regret my decision to not bring a car to college. But aside from the decision I made, it's a really great feeling to have money and not have to spend it all on gas, I actually get to buy things that I want.

"Pet Milk"and "HERS"

Pet Milk
I read the text and then got kind of confused so I googled the meaning which probably wasn't a good idea and I probably shouldn't even put that on here but its the truth. Anyways, apparently the story was about a young boy who drinks coffee and has back flashes to his life and the things he did. I did however life the idea of the story how he kind of transfers back and to the past and then to the present. So although we can come to the conclusion that I'm awful and understanding what I'm reading, I still thought it was a good story.


Hers
At the beginning of the blog I could relate so well, I always hear people talking about their ancestors and going into huge detail on their background and I kind of just sit there and think the exact same things to myself as the person in the story. I know I was born in Germany, I have Irish and Scottish blood, some polish and some other mix of things but that's about as deep as my knowledge goes. Yet, after reading more of the text, I got a little lost as to what exactly it was that I was reading so a class discussion probably would've helped.

Making New Friends!

So, at first I had a really hard time with making friends and finding my little piece of happiness at WMU. I met a group of people through ROTC and I've come to realize that those people are no longer just friends, but that within the past 4 weeks, they've become like a second family to me. For once in a long time, I feel extremely happy with my group of friends and the things we do. At first I felt like it would be really hard to find friends that aren't all about drinking and partying, but soon I realized that not every one is "about that life" and I found some pretty great people to spend my weekends with and I have a blast doing so.

Monday Post. 9/12/2014

What did you learn in class this week and/r what did you find interesting?

In class this week I learned that when you read a passage, you sometimes don't quite get what it actually says. For example; reading the story we were assigned last week.. I read it and didn't quite understand it the way I was supposed to. First of all, I was under the impressing that the main character was a girl not a boy. Then when we had the class discussion about the story and what points it brought across etc. I realized that I need to start paying more attention to what I am reading because I most definitely did not receive the same message. Something I found interesting was seeing how the different ideas of people came together to form an idea as a whole, we all shared our thoughts and came up with new options. Next week, I should probably work on being more into discussion and sharing my thoughts to what we are doing.

All about me

Hi, 
My name is Raechel Marie McCormick, I was born and raised in Germany and currently, like the rest of you.. attend Western Michigan University. For anyone wondering, yes, I do speak fluent German. One of the questions I get asked a lot, is "Where are you from?" That question for me is very hard to answer because since birth I've moved around 50-60 times. Whether it was apartments, buildings, roads, cities, countries, states, provinces.. you name it, I've probably lived in one. A little about myself and what I love to do? I love taking pictures, playing volleyball, cliche long walks on the beach, hiking, traveling, and anything outdoor related. I also recently joint the Army ROTC program here at WMU so if I ever look like I'm lacking sleep.. it's probably because I get up at 5am every morning to work out for 1-2 hours. Anyways, thank you for reading my oh so interesting bio. 
xoxo Raechel