Well, hello and welcome to Ms. Rach's class!!!
I'll be your teacher for the year. I just finished my senior year at the best university in Ohio, double majoring in Integrated Math Education (or high school math) and Spanish Education. I know, I know. They are 2 totally unrelated content areas, but hey, I like studying them both, so I figured, I might as well get my license in both.
I just got hired for a Spanish teaching position at a high school about an hour from my home town. I am spending the summer moving into my first apartment out on my own, and I'll start my first year teaching in the fall! I couldn't be more excited, but nervous at the same time because of all of the things I have heard about first year teaching. Here will be the place that I unload and vent about all of the trials and tribulations of living on my own, continuing the process of figuring myself out, and getting into the teaching groove!
Let me introduce myself:
- Vegan - Yep, no animal products for this girl. Almost a year and a half months ago, I made the switch after reading Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. I guess you could say I drank the cool-ade, and the rest is history. It is a lifestyle that I love and am very passionate about. But don't worry, I'm not missing out. I love cooking, and I eat gooooood!
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| Carrots and salsa? Yes, please. Eaten on the ground outside the Madrid bus station, naturally. |
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- Family - nothing is more important. As I learned the hard way this past year. Even when you make other things and people your priority. Family will always be there to help you pick up the pieces when everything crumbles around you.
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| The most amazing and supportive parents a girl could ask for. I am beyond blessed to have them in my life. |
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| The broski and his amazing girlfriend. Easily my best friends. |
- Travel - one of my newest passions. I spent 12 weeks abroad in Spain in the winter of 2011 (how has it been that long already?), and it was absolutely life-changing. I blogged about it here, from beginning to end. I cannot wait to go on another adventure. Hopefully, this summer!
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| Me and my 2 besties from the trip, overlooking the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Beyond words. |
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- Friends - Thank goodness for them! In all that I have been through, they have been there for me for every second. I know that I wasn't always the most- ahem- pleasant girl at times over the past few months, but they have always been there to pick me back up or make inappropriate jokes to make me smile. My mom always used to remind me about the importance of girlfriends, and I know now how right she was.
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| The roomies on New Years: me, Allie, Reb, and Kayla. The college fam. |
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- Food- I haven't always had the best relationship with it. Growing from being an overweight teenager to an adult who values my health and my body was not an easy transition for me. Although I have made bounds of progress, making healthy decisions is a daily, conscious struggle for me. I fear that sometimes I lose perspective on what my body needs and what my disordered patterns have convinced me I can go without. My transition to a vegan lifestyle is one of the things that I think has helped me the most because I now understand the effects that food has on my body and the feeling of a satisfied healthy life. I wish it didn't, but sometimes thoughts about this recovery process consume me- and my blog posts. It's a part of who I am, and I am learning to not only accept it, but embrace the process towards a healthy life.
As I learn more about myself, I am sure I will have more to add here. It's like I am unwrapping some kind of weird gift in this process. Eventually, the layers of covering will reveal someone that I can know and love in its entirety. I am ready, and I am excited. Let's see what else there is to this girl!
