A week in the life.

Monday:

I managed to get a job, working in the dining halls, which I think was the easiest way to get a job ever. I walked in, asked if they had any jobs and she printed me out a letter straight away, good to know they have high standards....
I also did a ton of homework and then had my cinematography class which involved using analog film video cameras around campus, trying to figure out how they worked and getting to know my group while trying out each other's accents and playing on the swings on campus (productive). Then after a dining hall dinner (so much pasta), along with some of the housemates, I went bowling. It was really fun, and we got in for super cheap due to the fact that one of the housemates works there. I didn't win, but I did beat Sean so that was an achievement :) 

The tiny bit of snow we got this week. 

Tuesday:

Tuesday is always the busiest craziest day of the week! It's started with an early morning and a presentation in portraiture class which was cool, seeing the ideas that everyone had come up with for their semester long project. After that me and Natalie chilled in the VCB (our building) for a while before I grabbed some lunch. Then I headed to yoga which was good, lots of stretching and the sleepy part at the end is my favourite....Then I went to my scriptwriting class which I was super nervous about due to the possibility of having to act out the monologue I had written for my character, but our lecturer changed it and decided that we didn't have to do that, instead we watched a really strange short film and talked about that instead. Went for dinner after that and then up to the 6th floor of the dorm where Sean lived for 6 weeks and hung out with everyone there, with Emily trying to coax me to come on a trip to Mexico with her - we'll see....We ended the night with Peppermint tea and the final episode of Sherlock while the snow came down outside for the first time in two weeks.

Wednesday: 

Was my day off. Sean and I have alternate days in which we have to wake up early and today was his so we oogled at the fresh snow and ate some eggs before saying bye to each other and to the skiers in the house as they went off early to spend the day at the mountain. I spent the morning finishing the obligatory alcohol education course online which asked me if I felt I needed to change my drinking habits.... After that, I went to the international office to fill out my details in order to get a social security number by order of 'federal law', (a fear inducing phrase they use to describe any government policies here) so I can start my job next week. After that I headed to international coffee (new favourite place to hang out) for hot chocolate and studying, met Ben on the way in who was on his way to class and then Kellie and Mia came to do work as well, with a brief visit from Megan too. Attempted to get lots of work done, but the coffee shop kept playing club classics and dubstep - not the best soundtrack to work to. Then after an attempt to get on to an ice climbing trip (they were full) and a leaking shoe due to the ice, I met Sean for dinner at what I will now refer to as the best dining hall on campus - they had banana bread, hummus and real plates. It was the tastiest. Oh my goodness.  After that, I went to the library for a bit of reading and then up to the 6th floor of one of the dorms, to change for dodgeball. The 6th floor were planning on playing a floor dodgeball league and the RA (who I'm in classes with) invited S and I along - since S used to live there and I have since made friends with a fair amount of people who live on the floor. It was so fun, we played for about 2 hours, and there was a lot of competition, dodging, a climb up the wall to retrieve a stuck ball (putting my rock climbing into practice) and trying to psych each other out. I realised I can't throw, but can dodge, it was super fun, playing sports with friends. Then we all headed to late night bites, for delicious artichoke and three cheese pizza calzone parcels of amazingness and bananas. Then, I hung out upstairs with the girls for a while, got a tour of the floor and their rooms, and had a go on Kellie's penny board round the corridors. Then cycled home for a FaceTime with Mum, and sleep!

View from my favourite spot in the library.

Thursday:
I don't think my weeks are usually as busy as this one is, but maybe that's just because I don't usually write it all down. I had class (portraiture) from 9.25 this morning which involved a studio morning, of all the groups trying to recreate two famous portraits chosen by our lecturer. Sam modelled for the first one, and I had to for the second one. It involved a rush around the building in our socks in search of a fedora, as well as a visit from Dan - the loveliest photography mentor and we finished an hour before class was meant to finish. Natalie invited me to go to a free lunch with her in a church down the road so I joined her for delicious Mac and Cheese and Salad, and met some of her friends which was fun, we talked about cultural differences (me: why the guns? Them: why no guns? me: why is your cheese orange? Them: It scares us too!) and classes and photography and it was lovely to feel so welcome despite not being a church goer myself. Then, I headed back to the VCB for some reading, and then to yoga which was really awesome, she played calm acousticy music throughout class and we did what is called a yoga flow which was much more fluid than what we had done before. We also got into groups to discuss something and one of the girls said to me 'do you have an accent?' - then we chatted a bit more about being an exchange student and her experience of England and then she said 'have you met Princess Kate?' which made me chuckle. Then I took the free bus (yes! Bozeman has free buses - what!) to Walmart to return something, meeting a German friend I hadn't seen since orientation on the bus, we chatted for a while which was nice to catch up, then I went to target, got some new boots on clearance since my old ones were letting water in, and then headed home to finish up homework and make some dinner. The house got excited about the arrival of a new (yet old) sofa to attempt to fill up our very empty living room, and then right before bed, S and I spotted some deer out the window grazing on the field across the street.

Studio time!

Friday:
Sean and I both started to feel a bit ill on Friday, I had directing class, and went to a 90s themed party with Becca which had the earliest friends episodes playing on a tv and people going all out with their costumes. We did some kartwheels in the garden, everyone was drinking out of red cups and shortly after we left, the party was shut down by the police! (MURICA)

Saturday:
Feeling pretty under the weather this weekend, spent the door doing some work, and then in the afternoon hung out with Maria (Norweigan) and Becca (buddy) to take valentine's photos for their boyfriends and explore Bozeman a little more. We went to the most beautiful frozen pond and the colours looked so cool against the stormy grey sky. We also nearly got blown away by the strong winds, very unusual for Bozeman to be windy like that. Once we were super cold, we headed back to Becca's apartment in the suburbs for cat cuddles, tea and chocolate orange (they do that here!) - it was really fun. Then, in the evening, S and I headed to Ben's for soup night (or quinoa for the veggies among us) and a catch up with everyone! It was really nice and good to see the international crew again.

Me, Becca and Maria - and the infamous box....

Pretty colours and stormy skies - Bozeman

Valentine's presents.....

Sunday:
Was kind of a non event, homework, editing and feeling a bit ill, spent most of it at home despite it being a gorgeous day outside. Did manage to have a catch up with Lici on Skype though, which made me miss her lots and also the abundance of chocolate fingers in the UK. S and I walked up to Peet's Hill for a pre sunset walk and to oogle at the cute dogs. Then my photography group came round to work on our group fashion project which involved a hilarious drive out to the sticks, amazing views of the stars and satellites as well as a super cool shoot involving steel wool - i.e. flying sparks that Natalie and I had to duck from. Our model was very good though and I'm really excited for how these images are going to turn out.


That's the week, in a nutshell. (Or a very long way of talking about the week.) - next week's plans involve a birthday celebration, the first week of working for me, lots of classes and the possibility of some hiking hopefully! Only a month till Spring Break! 

The view from Becca's apartment.