Spring quarter started this week, and it looks like it's going to be just as stressful as last quarter. I'm taking two literature classes and one teaching class. Judging from the course schedules received in each class, it looks like I'm going to have 100-150 pages of reading per night. Plus 6 papers and 3 presentations (that's for all my classes combined, not each class individually!). So this quarter will be just as busybusy as last! Oh and by the way, all my hard work paid off last quarter! My grades were 2 A-'s and a B+!
Yesterday I went to pick up my Medieval Literature final paper from last quarter. I was so nervous about the grade on this paper because the professor is my favorite professor ever and she is a really tough grader. But when I flipped to the last page of my paper to read her overall comments and see my grade, I found that she gave me an A on it and wrote that I should submit the paper to SOURCE! SOURCE stands for the Symposium on University Research and Creative Expression. It's basically a big science fair except with multiple subjects instead of just science. So if I submit my paper to SOURCE, I will be presenting my topic/research/original ideas to a bunch of students and faculty! Pretty exciting! I'm going to talk to my professor about it on Monday!
In other news, Whistler over Spring break was amazing! We left for Canada from Jay's house at about noon on Thursday the 15th. After we crossed the border, we arrived (around 5 pm) at the Howe Sound Inn and Brewery where we spent Thursday night. The little town by the sound reminded me of a Stephen King novel because all night the wind was blowing and it was raining and we could see the little marina from our window and the whole place was just creepy. I got my first taste of a legal beer with dinner, though, so that part was pretty enjoyable.
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| We saw this car not long after crossing the Canadian border. I guess this guy is Canadian and proud of it! |
The next morning, we got up really early to check out and get on the road to Whistler. About 20 minutes out of Howe Sound, it started snowing and didn't stop all the rest of the weekend! The road wasn't too bad, and we made it by 7 a.m. The lifts didn't open until 8:30 so we drove around a bit looking for a store that was open so we could get some stuff for snacks and lunches on the mountain. And then finally, at 8:30, we hopped on the first gondola up Whistler mountain!
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| This was the first picture we took after getting out of the gondola. It still baffles me as to why this website won't upload pictures the right way, but whatever. You get the idea. |
The snow was deep and awesome, but the visibility wasn't so great most of the time. It literally snowed the whole time we were there! Once they finally opened the upper Peak chair, we were able to get out of the clouds a little.
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| This was on the Upper Peak to Creek Run. We got a nice view of some sun and mountains! |
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| Another shot of the sun and snow! Some deep stuff! |
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That first day, we skied only on Whistler mountain, but the next day we went over to Blackcomb and skied some of the bowls and basins. When we stopped for a quick lunch, the sun came out a little on the lower part of the mountain.
And then once our knees had had enough skiing, we rode the Peak 2 Peak gondola back over to Whistler mountain so we could ski down almost directly to our hotel.
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| The view of Whistler mountain from inside the Peak 2 Peak |
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| Us inside the Peak 2 Peak! |
On Sunday we spent the morning recovering a little from St Patrick's Day by getting coffee and walking around the village. We headed out around 11 a.m. and got back to Redmond at about 5:30 pm. Overall, the trip was really fun and I'm glad I can say I've finally been to Whistler. Next time I go, though, I need to be filthy rich and be able to spend a whole week! The mountains are just so big that it's impossible to ski everything in two days. It was still a fun experience, though!
