So my birthday week was absolutely awesome! My brother (a freshman at Central) arranged for me to get thrown in the pond at midnight on Tuesday night, but since I live in the pods which is quite a distance from the pond, he also arranged for security to pick me up in their golf cart and transport me there. I think I went a little too willingly, but I was impressed with his planning. The rest of the week went well – I got to go out to eat with friends on Thursday and have a friend visit from Iowa State on Saturday.

Sunday was the kick off for the homecoming week with a casino night in the student center. I helped with the bingo table and worked at the concession booth for a while. I found out last week that I am on the homecoming court, so it will be another busy week for me. I will be recognized at the volleyball game tonight, and coronation will be on Friday. Other homecoming activities include the girls powder puff football game on Thursday, the lemming race on Friday (where all the students dress up in costumes and jump into the pond), and the homecoming dance on Saturday. It should be a great week!

Wow…only five days left until “Shakespeare in Hollywood” opens!  The rehearsal period has just flown by!  I’m so excited for the show to start, but I’m nervous too…we have a lot to do in the next five days, but I’m sure it will all come together nicely.  Tonight is our last run-through before dress rehearsals, and it could definitely be a long night!  Then tomorrow at 9:00 AM we have Cue-to-Cue – a rehearsal in which we focus on incorporating the technical aspects of theater – the lighting, sound, and scene changes – into the play.  It will be a long, tiring, and hopefully fun day!  Then on Sunday we begin dress rehearsals - woo hoo!  I’m really looking forward to seeing how everything fits together!

This week has been packed with rehearsals and homework.  I was expecting it to be a really stressful week, but for some reason it’s been all right!  The weather has been gorgeous - it doesn’t seem like fall weather at all! (although I’m looking forward to fall-ish weather, because fall is my favorite season!)

 I just found out that I got a role in one of the next shows at Central, a children’s play called “Revenge of the Space Pandas.”  I haven’t read the script yet, but it sounds like it will be a fun and interesting show!  My roommate is in the play as well - she’s playing one of the Pandas!   This is one of two student-directed plays that will be performing in November – the other is called “The Giver.”  It’s based on the book by Lois Lowry. 

Well, that’s about all for now!  I’ve got to get going on some homework before my Improvisation class!

Wow, just the other day someone told me that it was already the fifth week of classes! I can’t believe I’ve been here that long already. Time sure does fly by. Pretty soon it’s going to be fall break and I’ll get to head home to Colorado to see my fam for the first time in a while. I sure can’t wait for that. I also can’t wait to get a break from this crazy schedule. Between classes and football I think I might be busy 24 hours a day! Good thing there are some fun things to do here on campus. I went to the hypnotist last weekend, that was hilarious. I just couldn’t believe that people could really get hypnotized like that. Im glad I wasn’t one of them.

     The football team won again this weekend. That puts us at 3-0. Hopefully we can keep this up. This weekend we play Loras. It should be another tough game but I think we will pull it out. These wins sure make all that hard work at practice worth it! Wish us luck! See you next week!

Joel

Go Dutch!

This weekend was a lot of fun! I spent Friday night in Des Moines for our “London Spring 2007 Reunion.” It was so great to see all of my friends from study abroad again — most of them I haven’t ever seen in the United States!

Saturday I went to the football game and the hypnotist with my friends. And Sunday was the official start to my birthday week with a delicious homecooked birthday meal.

My birthday is Wednesday and although I am a little hesitant to turn the big 2-2, I am excited for my week long celebration. My pod is hanging out tonight since one of the girls won’t be here the rest of the week to celebrate with me. Tomorrow I am sure I will be thrown into the pond by my brother or my friends (a birthday tradition here at Central). Thursday I plan to go out to eat at El Charro with a big group of my friends. And this weekend Megan, my best friend from high school will be coming to help me celebrate. It should be a great week… as long as I get my homework done tonight so that I don’t have to worry about it on my birthday.

Things are starting to wind down here a little bit in Schwäbisch Hall. Class is coming along nicely still and we continue to have non-stop fun, but now it seems as though we’ve all realized that we are actually going to Vienna next week! I’ve been busy figuring out some luggage issues for our flight, as well as preparing myself so I’m not lost the instant we arrive in the city.

Last Friday, the Stuttgart Philharmoniker came to town to give a concert in the large church here. They played some Wagner pieces, and let me say how wonderful it was to hear a German orchestra playing the most German music possible in the most German church possible! The following Sunday, there was a festival on the town square called “Freundschaftstag” which translates to Friendship Day. Food vendors from all sorts of cultures lined the square and a stage was set up where a variety of entertainment was provided all afternoon.

Anyway, only a week is left til our Vienna transfer, so I better get going to prepare some more!

Attached to this are some various pictures from my time here in Schwäbisch Hall, as well as from our various adventures – especially to the Netherlands!

What a gorgeous fall day!  There’s a slight breeze and a crispness in the air and I love it!!!

This week has gone by really fast – I’ve been really busy with the play and homework.  We’ve had rehearsal every night.  On Tuesday we did something called a “line bash,” in which we went through the show saying our lines as fast as possible.  This was so much fun – it was very energizing!  We ran the entire show on Wednesday and yesterday we fine-tuned Act I.  Tonight we’ll be focusing on Act II.  The show opens in twelve days…it’s unbelievable! 

Besides that, my life is pretty uneventful.  I’m enjoying my year so far – it’s been great hanging out with people and my classes are enjoyable.  I especially love my Directing I class – it’s probably the most intense class I’ve ever taken.  It involves a lot of reading, but I enjoy reading the material.  As part of the class, we each have to direct a ten-minute play.  I’ve found a ten-minute play by Tennessee Williams called “Lord Byron’s Love Letter” and I’m very excited about directing it. 

Well, that’s enough for now!  I think I’m going to get started on some homework…

Well, another week gone by at Central College! This past week has been extremely busy. It seems like all of my class assignments have fallen into the same time frame. Between a JV football game and taking my first test for Communications I think I might go crazy if I find out that I have anything else to do! Im glad to say that we won our JV game against rival Wartburg 22-3! Thanks to everyone who came out tho the game! I hope that after this week maybe my schedule will calm down a little bit. It seems like every class has a presentation or paper due soon. Why cant the teachers get together and spread assignments out?? I doubt that will ever happen haha.

Well I should be getting a new camera soon so I will have more pictures for everyone to look at. Until then though see ya!

This past weekend was pretty fun. It was my friend Mel’s birthday and we went to El Charro (the Mexican restaurant here in Pella) to celebrate on Saturday. After dinner we had some friends come back to the pods to hang out for a while. It was good to be back with everyone. Sunday, I watched the Packers game with one of my guy friends (who is and Eagles fan — GO Packers!) and spent the rest of the night doing homework and relaxing.

This week has been a busy once again. I have been working hard at my internship interviewing people for the various articles I have to write for the study abroad newsletter. Classes have been going well, too. This week I got to begin developing my pictures in the darkroom for photography which was a lot of fun.

It is almost the weekend and I have a lot of plans. Friday night I am going to Des Moines to visit some friends from Drake that I went to London with last semester. Saturday my parents will be here and we will go to the Central football game. It is almost my birthday, so we will have birthday dinner at my grandparent’s house on Sunday — complete with mashed potatoes. I am excited!

My name’s James Skretta and I’m in my 3rd year at Central majoring in Music Education.

Okay, good, now that that is finished, I should probably explain the title of this entry a little. This semester I am taking advantage of Central’s excellent study abroad program and spending 2 months in Schwäbisch Hall, Germany and 4 months in Vienna, Austria. For anyone ever thinking about traveling overseas, there is no better time than during your college years — and let me say that I am extremely glad I chose to come here!

Although we spend 4 hours a day learning German, you would not believe the amount of free time you have to explore, talk, eat, and absorb the culture. And because you study German in Germany, you’re forced to learn it — that said, you learn really, really fast! I came with barely any experience, and after only about 5 weeks of class, I can have a good conversation with almost anyone!

The free time here has been the best part. Here’s a short list of some of the things I’ve been able to do since my arrival on 31 July:

• been to Würzburg
• been to Neuschwanstein — the Cinderella Castle — and seen the wonderful Alps
• seen two plays where the 500 year old steps of the town’s church were used as a stage
• been to the Mercedes-Benz auto museum in Stuttgart
• taken a week-long road trip to Amsterdam, the west and northern coasts of the Netherlands (the beaches were amazing!), Denmark, the German north coast, Potsdam, and Coburg
• spent the night with a German family in their beautiful home (one with the wooden beams that cross on the outside)
• rode in a VW van going 188 km/ph on the Autobahn (approx 112 mph I think)
• eaten some of the best food of my life
• jumped off a 10-meter platform at the schwimmbad
• made friends with people from nearly 20 different countries

And there are still 4 and a half months left!

This last week started off nicely! Monday was way fun, because it was Labor Day and we didn’t have classes. I played in a volleyball tournament in the morning. I was horrible, but I had a wonderful time! Then I went swimming in the Pella pool with my friend, which was amazing! I had rehearsal Monday night.

I didn’t have rehearsal on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was a nice little break, although I really missed not having practice. I just love going to rehearsal – it’s always the highlight of my day. I think I’m most relaxed when I’m at rehearsal, because it’s one of the only times during the day when I don’t think about all the homework I have to do. I’m having a blast with the play – the role I’m playing is just too much fun! We had rehearsal on Thursday and Friday nights and had to be off-book for Act I. On Sunday, we have to have our lines memorized for Act II. It’s so exciting to be off-book!

Today, I went to the Latino Festival in Des Moines with a group from Central called the Fellows. I had a wonderful time – I spent the entire day with one of my Spanish professors and her family. It was just a gorgeous day! And now I’m just working on homework, because I have a lot to do