December 5, 2009

Thanksgiving break was fun for all of us, but we are definitely glad to be back together as one big Rocky Mountain Semester 23 family.  Fully stuffed with turkey, tofurkey, cranberry dressing, potatoes, and, of course, stuffing, we are all now realizing that we only have a few weeks left to enjoy each other's company and we are going to make the most of it. Some of us were lucky to be able to visit each other during Thanksgiving break, while others had to wait until the airport to reunite. It was so fun to see everyone in the airport after Thanksgiving. We greeted each other with smiles and hugs, and everyone was filled with exciting stories from break and the third expedition.

Since returning, classes are already in full swing again!  After a nice week away from school, it was strange being back in the classroom.  After a few periods though, everyone readjusted and now it seems as though we never left.  With only two weeks left, we are all preparing for final projects in science and especially the Practices & Principles exam.  For our science lab this week, we visited Read's house in Buena Vista to see what a completely "off-the-grid" house looks like. Read's house relies on wind and solar energy, has a composting toilet and a thermal-siphoning hot tub. It was cool to see how sustainably someone can live right here in Colorado.

Our English portfolios are taking form, even as we struggle to come up with an original title.  Overall classes seem to be going great.  With final grades approaching, everyone seems to have kicked it into "high gear" and we are working harder than ever.  For the portfolio, we all corrected our lyric essays and one of the critical essays that we wrote during the semester.  In Pre - Calculus we have completed all the material required by our home schools, and, yesterday in Calculus, Sam and his students proved the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. It was a big day for them!  In Spanish and French, we are covering remaining grammar topics, doing presentations, symposia, and a cumulative test on the material. In advanced Spanish, we also had our very last exchange meeting with the Latina women's empowerment group in town.  We are busy, and lets just say the library is full by seven in the morning.  How smart we are becoming! 

This week, RMS XXIII was excited to be back at school and get involved in a variety of new activities. Last Sunday, some of us went on a hike on nearby Sugarloaf mountain, exploring an area right by campus with Matt, our history teacher. On Monday, many of us helped Jake, an apprentice, with his final project of making a movie to show his experiences during the Rocky Mountain Semester. We relived memories of expedition and also were interviewed about how Jake has influenced us during the semester. Lucy, another apprentice, organized experiments to teach us basic psychology, and we were dumbfounded to find how easily our minds could be tricked. A few others braved the cold weather and went Nordic skiing among the beautiful, snow-capped mountains. On Tuesday we played raucous games of spoons, Monopoly, and Apples-to-Apples and did yoga in the yurt, or "Yogurt." On Friday, a handful of boys made their way to the animal shelter to play with rowdy dogs, while others stayed on campus to learn new board games, such as the Settlers of Catan. A few of us also flexed our creative muscles to carve out linoleum blocks and then paint and press them into paper. Overall, we had a great time participating in fun and interesting activities and look forward to a new array of them next week!

Also we are staying active gearing up for the 10-mile Fun Run this weekend.  We started the week out with a four-mile run to the fish hatchery and back to HMI. We pushed ourselves harder the last two miles knowing there were nice, hot showers awaiting us at HMI. On Tuesday we got our groove on with Darrin in Darrin's Daring Dance Grooves Part 2. Unfortunately on Thursday morning it was negative twenty; far too cold to run! Instead, we played a game called "Ga Ga Ga."  "Ga Ga Ga" is somewhat like dodge ball, but indoors and it is person vs. person with a lot of running. Friday's schedule was changed so we could get the H1N1 flu shot. Therefore, there was no AMX. This morning we did a two-mile run-walk as a warm-up for Sunday. We will push ourselves mentally and physically during the ten-mile run on Sunday, but we know we can do it!

By: Alex "Cious" Feroe, Lane Peterson, Ben Schwartz, Seldy Gray, & Caitlin Kuczko