Semester wrap-up and exciting Fall news!

I have 2.5 weeks left in my 3rd semester of library school.  Unlike 1st term, which went by a torturous snail pace, this semester has gone by quickly, which is a relief! I NEVER want to do another semester like 1st semester EVER again.  Thankfully 2nd and 3rd semesters finally allowed us room for electives, and I have been able to tailor my program to suit my interests: children's librarianship! Today I finalized a topic with my supervisor to do an Independent Study in the Fall. If all goes according to plan, I will be researching dual-language picture books. You mean I get to do a WHOLE course on picture books? Love Love Love! I also ranked the last two classes of my MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) career: Public Libraries in the Community and Consumer Health Information Sources and Services.  This week was the week of 4 due dates, and I have completed 3/4! After this week I only have 1 project left, and then I have almost a month off! I am going to Montreal for a week to see friends and my nephew, and to my alma mater , Bishop's in Sherbrooke to see friends who are still in the area.

Much to look forward to!

Bisous,

LFB

My first conference!

There I go, ignoring my blog again! This past weekend I presented at the FIMS Student Conference 2012.  I presented Librarians Without Borders (I'm on the Exec of the student chapter here at Western) and service learning in the field of librarianship along with two other LWBers.  My part involved discussing the history of LWB, and talking about what service learning is and how it is being integrated into LIS curricula.  I also talked about our projects in Costa Rica and Haiti.

I went to as many presentations as I could.  My friend Breanne presented on Research Description an Access (a new cataloguing standard).  I also went to a skype presentation done to LIS students who are currently doing internships in India, and a presentation on digital literacy.  It was a great day!

We've officially hit the half way mark and my classes are going well.  My assignments seem to be spread out nicely (with the exception of having 5 due last week).  Fall classes have been posted, so we have an idea of what will be offered, although we do not know the timetable yet.  So far I'm thinking of taking collection development, the public library in the community, maybe consumer health information, and hopefully I can coordinate an independent study.

That's all for now!

Darcy

Oh hey there 3rd term!

Tomorrow I head into the 4th week of my third term of library school.  After this there's only one more to go! I will officially be able to put the letters MLIS after my name and I will feel very smart.  Maybe I will make people start calling me by my first name followed by MLIS :P

This term is off to a good start! I'm starting to work on things early in order to accommodate my homework ADD.  I have a super short attention span when it comes to homework and I hate working on one thing for a long time.  Which made 1st term really awful, when I didn't know how to manage the snowstorm of assignments that came my way, and was regularly up until 4am finishing something the night before it was due.  This term? I just finished an assignment that I worked on over a few days, almost a week before it is due! Go me! 

I am even liking (most of) my assignments this term! Ok, so I really only like the assignments for my Services for Children and Materials for Older Children (8-12) classes.  They seem really practical, which is great! I have to make a pathfinder (those bookmark like things in libraries that say things like "If you liked Harry Potter.."and then list a bunch of books that are similar to, say, Harry Potter), make a display in the lobby of the library faculty (I'm doing children's cookbooks-surprised? I think not.), plan a program (the professor said I could do it in French!), do a book talk (I'm doing historical fiction...haven't picked my book yet), and...I'm sure I'm forgetting something!

Two girlfriend and I have started doing a weekly Sunday brunch.  We rotate going to a different' person's house each week, and everyone contributes something.  Today I made french toast with french bread I got at the farmer's market.  It was delicious, and there was still a lot of the bread left over, so we threw it in Breanne's freezer and will have it another week.  Breanne has been on a green smoothie kick lately, so she has been making us delicious smoothies as well.

And it's time for bed! I'm getting up at 7:30 tomorrow to go into school to start working on my pathfinder.  After lunch I'm meeting two girlfriends to try out the gym on campus.  Oh ya! I've lost 3 lbs thanks to doing the 30 day shred several times a week.  Gonna be beach ready in no time!

Bisous,

LFB

It's been a while

I fell off the blogging wagon in a pretty big way.  I read a ton of blogs but writing in my own was seeming like too much effort.  So since we last met, I have completed 2 out of 4 semesters of my graduate program in Library and Information Science.  I am now in the second week of my 3rd semester.  Currently I have 5 classes...but I think I'm going to drop collection development.  I took 4 classes in my first two semesters, and the thought of 5 is freaking me out a little.  It's all psychological, I know...but I have to decide fast.  Collection Development is offered in the Fall as well, with a professor that I like.  I'd like to decide in the next 3 days.  Decisions, decisions...

1/4 of a librarian!

That's me friends! In a heartwarming Christmas miracle, my cohort has survived first term.  There were many, many times we didn't think we would.  Among the skills we are learning to be Super Librarians we also became adept at coming up with countless metaphors for how much grad school crushes your soul.  Really, I never thought I had such a way with words until library school.  Turns out, library school and "fiery pits of hell" do indeed belong in the same sentence.

In relation to the above, if you value your life I suggest you never, ever, say to a library student the following: "you need a Master's degree to be a librarian? But all you do is check out books!" If you want to unleash a stress-induced, sleep-deprived rant and have your eyes clawed out, then by all means go ahead.  But the next person who says this to me is going to wish they'd never been born.  You really think we'd put ourselves through this hell if we didn't need to?!?!

But it's all water under the bridge now! I have officially been on vacation as of 12/10/11.  My last assignment/presentation were finished on 12/05/11 though so I have for all intents and purposes been on vacation as of that date.  Classes the last week were somewhat of a formality.  Attendance is mandatory in order to maintain our ALA accreditation and not have final exams.

With the exception of Research Methods and Statistics (a required course), next term is shaping up to be 10x better than this one.  I'm taking Introduction to Archives Administration, Children's Materials (birth-7 years): Evaluation and Use, and Descriptive Cataloguing.  I have no class on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.  Classes are three hours, once a week.  I wish they were twice a week like in undergrad.  I found it a lot easier to stay on top of things, and the material was more fresh in my mind.  Course selection was stressful (is anything not stressful in library school?).  I am trying to balance classes I think will make me more employable with ones I think will actually enjoy and will not make me rip my hair out.

I'm trying, as usual, to stuff all my favourite things about home into this break.  I'm doing some yoga, am going to see The Nutcracker, the Stanley Park Christmas train, and Fort Langley, and am trying to set up an exercise schedule with friends.  Even though I lost 10 pounds last term I am definitely not in shape.  It's dreadfully hard to get motivated to workout when you've lost weight rather than gained though.  Plus my brain is so fried from school all I'm good for this days is sitting on a couch curled up a nice toasty blanket.

Hope you are all enjoying your Decembers!

bisous,

LFB

Frugal Toad contest!

The Frugal Toad is having a contest to win a 75$ amazon gift card or paypal cash-enter here!

Financial bucket list!

Somehow or other, I started reading a lot of personal finance blogs.  Must have something to do with being a poor student and dreaming of the day when I will not be a poor student.  Something like that.  My favourite PF blogger is Krystal, over at Give Me Back My Five Bucks.  Not only is she a fellow Vancouverite (ok so I'm a bit of a cheater) but she explains things in clear straightforward terms (I'm not the brightest crayon in the box over here lol).  I'm trying to win her "500 Give Me Back My Five Bucks competition" sponsored by Life Insurance Finder, the life insurance experts All I have to do is blog about my financial bucket list so here it goes:

1) Live within my means (which are microscopic right now).  This means not buying something unless I absolutely need it.

2) Create a real legit looking budget and stick to it

3) Find an app to track my spending-trying Piggy right now.  I really want to know what I'm spending!

2) Avoid putting new charges on my credit card if I can help it (meaning pay for flights home for holidays ONLY)

2) Get a job in my field after obtaining my Master's and pay off my student loans.

3) Save for a car

4) Start an emergency fund

5) Build (okay, from scratch) my savings

6) Save for a down payment on a house

Obviously some of these are short-term and some are long-term, but there you go!  You can enter over at GMBMFB now!

oh hayyyyy there blog

Yes, I'm still alive.  Grad School is no joke kids :P For the past two weeks I have considered my life a success if assignments are handed in on time (how well they are done, that remains to be seen lol), I eat SOMETHING (this may mean cereal and pumpkin pie for dinner scarfed down at 11pm when I finally got home from a 12 hour day on campus, and if I shower.  Hair not exactly did, practically no makeup, and a lot of comfy Lululemon.   This past week we had a cataloguing assignment due (that class can jump off a cliff, seriously.  at least the teacher can) and a reference question.  For the cataloguing assignment we had to choose three non-fiction adult books published after 2008, with one being part of a series, one with the title page in two languages, and one whatever we wanted as long as it was adult non-fiction.  It took my friend and I three freaking hours to find suitable books with all those ridiculous stipulations.  The reference question considered of us being "asked" by an imaginary patron for studies on injury rates in MMA, as he had a John Hopkins study and wondered if there were more.  I have to say, reference work kind of makes me feel like a Super Sleuth hehe.  Then I saw posters for the new Sherlock Holmes movie and I thought, AHA! I am exactly like Sherlock Holmes.  For real peeps, librarians are hard core.  We don't know everything but we can find anything...which is basically the same thing :D

I am officially on reading week, although we have another reference assignment due Monday (whyyyy prof why?!).  Thursday I'm heading up to Toronto to meet my nephew for the first time, and I am so freaking excited! I bought him the cutest little outfit and I want to go to Chapters to pick up The Very Hungry Caterpillar as well.  Like I'm ever going to give him a present that doesn't include at least one book lol.

I have sweet in sour beef stew in the crock pot that I'll have over rice, and it smells so good! Yay for real food!

bisous,

LFB

First week recap, Bridesmaids, and a s'more cupcake

I have officially completed my first week of Graduate School!  I think I've already gone a bit funny in the head, sadly.  I'm reading an article called, "Information as Thing" and it's a bit of a torturous process.  It literally took me several hours to read four pages.  Maybe the fact that I was super tired and having a hard time focusing might have had something to do with it.  And then the author started talking about antelopes. Yes, antelopes.  What do antelopes have to do with library science, you may ask? I am still wondering.  The author used an analogy that if an antelope is in the wild, it is not a document, but if it is in a zoo being studied and researched, and we are learning from it, then it is a document.  He then proceeded to compare antelopes and ships.  I swear a PhD is just a license to write paragraph-long sentences that make up 20 pages of complete nonsense.  I find this especially frustrating as we are taught the importance of not being wordy and not padding our essays in undergrad.  But get to the doctoral level apparently, and it's the more words the better! Harumph.  Clearly I have already reached the status of cranky bitter grad student.  But you couldn't tell, right?  As further evidence:

On Wednesday a few friends and I went to see the movie Bridesmaids at the on-campus theatre.  Yep, there's a movie theatre on campus.  And two Tim Horton's in the SAME building.  Big schools do have their advantages I suppose.  Coming from a school with a total population of 2000 this is freaking amazing.   Anyways being the first week, and seeing as how the undergrads didn't start classes until Thursday, there were many people in the student centre for various frosh-related activities.  As we were walking out a frosh leader (I presume) said something along the lines of, "aww they're just coming out of a movie" in the most annoying "isn't that quaint? how sad and pathetic that they are not 18 and drunk out of their minds" voice.  For real.  As Jen and I said, we are (not) surprisingly ok with not being 18 and drunk out of minds during the first week of classes.  I'm too freaking old for that :P

One awesome thing about grad school: I don't feel (so) old anymore! In fact, I dare say I may be one of the younger ones! Or at least, many people are the same age as me.  Quite a few already have Master's degrees in fields such as history and literature, and there are several older people who are going back to school after being in the workforce for some time.  Oh and yesterday we got to play with yarn.  That totally makes up for the snowstorm of assignments that will be my life until December.  Right?

I also got cupcakes at this fancy cupcake place in the market on the way home as a treat for my roommate and I.  She just finished her first week of co-op.  I got a s'mores one for me and a milk & cookies one for her.  Pictures to follow, but we decided to wait until she gets home from dinner with a friend to eat them together  : )

Les boulangeries

In France I developped a daily (ok, sometimes three times a day) boulangerie habit.  A tarte aux framboise for breakfast eaten on the way to la fac (that's the university, fyi), a petit pain aux trois chocolats for a mid-afternoun snack (did I ever tell you about the time I stopped into my favourite bakery RIGHT AS THEY WERE COMING OUT OF THE OVEN?!?!), and a little something for dessert.  I was obsessed.  And the best part? I didn't gain a SINGLE pound the entire 3.5 months I lived there.  It. Was. Heaven.  Needless to say when I moved to Ontario and discovered a little French bakery located in an indoor market about 60 seconds from my apartment, I nearly cried.  At 2.25$ for a little macaron, I definitely cried.  But Oh. My. Lord.  I got a pistachio one and it just about melted in my mouth. Definitely not something I'll be getting very often :( Donations to the Poor Grad Student Macaron fund are currently being accepted :D Oh, and I asked if they ever had tarte aux framboises (my all time fav) and they said not usually, but I could order them.  For my birthday instead of cake? I think so.

If there's one thing worse than being a poor student...

it's being a poor grad student.  I received my "Notification of Assessment" from BC Student Loans today, and I'm approximately six thousand dollars short of what I need.  Did you know that the maximum given is the same for undergrad and grad students? Freaking ridiculous if you ask me.  FYI student loan geniuses, grad school is WAY MORE FREAKING EXPENSIVE THAN YOUR GARDEN VARIETY UNDERGRAD!!!!!!!!  I'm applying for positions at the library of one of the affiliate university colleges on campus.  They're looking for a few people for 6-10 hours a week.  I really REALLY did not want to work during grad school but hey, what's a poor student with a maxed out credit card who can't get a line of credit to do?  My boyfriend seems to think robbing a bank is a bad idea.  I say he is no fun.  What could possibly go wrong?

Holy lack of updating batman!

I have been severely neglecting my blog, I'll admit.  A lack of comments gave me little desire to write.  I mean, if I didn't want comments I'd write in a private paper diary.  People have public blogs for a reason yo.  Anyways, my blog is going to be getting a re-do soon, and a new name-la future bibliothécaire.  It'll have more of a theme as well.  The name is french for "the future librarian"  Clever, right? See, that B.A. in French came in handy after all! I'll be talking about all things Grad School (specifically library school, obviously) related: classes, social life, being poor, living on a Grad Student budget (and we all thought we were poor as undergrads! HA.), my adventures in the kitchen, etc...

So what's been going on with me? I was offered and I accepted a well-paying job at a museum in my area, but then I was offered a position at a library right down the street from where my boyfriend, the wonderful S, lives.  It is most definitely not well-paying, but hello, I want to be a children's librarian and I will be working as the Summer Book Club Coordinator.  Needless to say it won't exactly pay the bills, which is a little scary considering I'm going back to school in the Fall and already know I did not get a place in Grad Student housing due to the lottery system in place at my school.  This means I will have to find a place off campus, and will probably need to have first and last months rent.  I have never lived off campus before so it's a little daunting.  That being said, the experience I'll get this summer will be invaluable.  My first day is tomorrow.  I'm a little nervous as my expertise is in heritage (I have mainly worked at museums for the past three summers) and I have never run a summer book club for kids before, but I think it will be fun! They said I could do a French story hour too if I wanted, seeing as I speak French and all.

Wish me luck!

Disneyworld recap!

Well kids, Disneyworld was all kinds of awesome.  You know what I noticed though? It's either parents with little kids ore really old people.  Like people in their 70's.  As three 20 something women we felt a little out of place haha.  Anyways we did all the Disney parks (Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot...am I forgetting any) and also a day at Universal Studios.  Hello Harry Potter! We all felt that Universal catered a little more to adults, as there were less cheesy shows and just in general it seemed "older."  There was this one ride at the Harry Potter park that was probably my favourite of all the parks; it was mostly a simulation one so it felt like you were playing quidditch, flying through the forbidden forest, etc...So cool! And they have the park set up like Hogsmeade, with all the stores: Olivander's, Honeydukes, Zonko's, Owl Post, etc...I tried a butterbeer and it was delicious! You could get it in slushy form or...just regualr liquid form I think.  We got slushy.  It tastes caramely, I guess would be the best way to describe it.  We rented a car for 2 days and for the first drove to Daytona Beach.  So much fun! I got a really painful sunburn though that made going on rides the next day a bit of a challenge.  I'm peeling now, it's really quite attractive.  Not really.  The second day we drove to Universal Studios.  We stayed at a Disney Resort so there was no shuttle service there and we were told a cab would be ridiculously expensive.  Guess what else there is in Orlando? A Coach outlet! Actually I had my eye on the Kate Spade outlet but it proved to not have very outlet-y prices.  As in everything was regularly priced but 30% off.  I don't know about you, but 30% off a 400$ bag is still too much money for me.  I found a bag at Coach that I really liked.  It was marked down to 169$ from almost 300$ something and there was an additional 30% off.  I ended up paying 125$.  That's more like it! Speaking of shopping, I picked up some great pieces at an outlet mall in New Hampshire, state of the no sales tax. There is an outlet mall not far from my friends house, and I snagged three pieces at the Banana Republic outlet for less than 70$! Is that a deal or what?! I've had my eye on a short-sleeved wrap top from there for ages and it is like 70$ alone! No thanks! I can see myself doing a lot of shopping at Banana Republic once I start work as a librarian.  And they even have petite sizes! Sadly I quite often have to hem petite pants as well, but at least I'm not wasting like two feet of fabric.

We flew into two nights ago and yesterday went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which I absolutely adore.  Now I'm staying at friend's place in New Hampshire until the 20th, when I meet my boyfriend in Ottawa.  I may go up to Montreal in a few days and stay there until the 20th instead...not quite sure yet.

Oh, and this was my flight!

Man tries to open emergency exit door

 The guy they arrested was sitting DIRECTLY behind me! When we landed no less than 8 police officers got on board to take this guy off.  Seemed like overkill to me, but from what I know about the US your law enforcement guys don't mess around! Crazyness!

Smooth Criminal on the cello?

Seriously, how epic is this?!

Maybe some day

Maybe some day I will wear something other than sweat pants and hoodies.

Maybe some day I will straighten my hair again instead of throwing it up in a pony tail with a Lululemon headband.

Maybe some day I will wear makeup on a daily basis once again

That day is after finals lol.

Times they are a changin'

I am thinking that along with my new academic adventure, a new blog name may be in order.  I've been talking it over with friends, and they all really like "la future bibliothécaire" It means "the future librarian" in french.  If you read this, what do you think? :P

Harumph

I am so over this studying thing! SO looking forward to no final exams in Grad School! There will be lots of other work, but finals bite!  I've taken up getting a daily triple triple from Tim Horton's (that's 3 milk 3 sugar...I know, gross!) to get me through these endless days of studying.  I really wish I was in Florida now! Come on May 1st!

Ever since I saw this Banana Republic top on a fellow blogger's blog a few days ago I can't stop checking it out on the BR site!

Super Awesome wrap shirt 

Grr it won't let me post the pic for some reason

Anyways, because I feel like posting a pic here is me, my bff Suz, and her little sister Megan after the B.U. Singers choir show a couple of weeks ago:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ACCEPTED to the Master in Library and Information Science program at UWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Harumph

It snowed yesterday in good 'ol Quebec.  I cried a little (ok, a lot) on the inside.  I bought a bouquet of daffodils on Wednesday from the Canadian Cancer Society's table in the school library.  It's a fundraiser they do.  So I have daffodils on my kitchen table and snow outside my window.  Something is seriously wrong with this picture!

I'm doing my volunteering at the local library today.  It's the activity time with kids.  Read stories, play games, do crafts, all that good stuff.

When I walked into class on Wednesday my profesor asked me if I had gotten any news recently.  I go ummmm no.  He then asks if I had gotten any GOOD news lately? I'm really confused by this point.  He said not to ask any questions.  The whole time he has this cat ate the canary smile on his face haha.  The first thing that came to mind is Grad School...he is one of my references and I thought maybe he somehow knew I had gotten in? But I just got the email from my school last week saying they'd received all my documents and I was expecting to hear back 4ish weeks from then...it had only been a week and a half at this point.  Then I thought it might be the bursary I applied for (which I found out today I got-800$!!), but it would seem weird for him to know about that.  It's been driving me crazy!!  I'm dying here people!

I'm kind of a genius

Guess who got 92% on their last psych of human sexuality midterm? This girl did!

Guess who is NOT in the mood to write a paper on sexual addiction for said psych class? That's right, this girl again.

Guess who went to a Champagne Reception at the Principal's house last night? You got it, this girl! So much fun! There was yummy punch, and the most delicious hors d'oeuvres known to man.  Champagne was passed around to the 50ish soon-to-be humanities grads, and the Principal as well as the Director of University Advancement gave lovely toasts.  The Principal's final words? "You're so close to the end.  Don't screw it up now!" I freaking love our Principal.  The man is an academic rock star (a nerd's favorite kind of rock star, obvs).  I mean, he went to Harvard for crying out loud!

Guess who's going to make homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner tomorrow night? Yay, this girl! I have a burrito left over in my fridge that I'm having tonight.  This girl makes wicked burritos, fyi.