Friday, June 6, 2014

Week one, done!

I am officially three days into my summer actuarial internship. I love the people at my job - they are all friendly, funny, and brilliant! It's still a bit overwhelming and I'm a little anxious to start working on my first project, but I know that God will be with me and help me through it!

All in all, however, this week has spoiled me! Tuesday my mom and I drove here, I moved into my hotel, and then I went to the Brewer game, where we got to sit in the Dew Deck! Wednesday was my first day of work, and it featured a LOT of introductions, meetings, and getting to know my way around the office. Like I said, everyone is super friendly and welcoming! They also took us out to lunch at Stir Crazy, which was delicious. After my first day of work, Alex and Colleen met me at my hotel and we went out to dinner to celebrate Alex's birthday. The food was not pleasing in the slightest, but afterward, we went to Kopp's for custard, which certainly made up for what the food lacked!

On Thursday I had a bit more open time but also more meetings and introductions. When we went down for lunch, a group of coworkers asked us if we wanted to play Telestrations with them. It was a ton of fun! Then, after work, I ventured to a nearby Walgreens and successfully purchased some cookies and Tupperware! Later in the evening I went to Alex's house for a bonfire and got to meet some of her friends.

Finally, that brings me to today. We were free all day today at work - which meant a lot of time to spend just looking through company files and excel sheets. It still went pretty quickly, though. And one of the other longer-term interns approached us around lunchtime and asked us if we wanted to join them for lunch. So we walked across the street to a local mall and ate in the food court.

Tonight has been relatively low-key. I found a grocery store nearby and bought a few more things. Then I ran and have just been taking it easy for the night! My roommate/the fourth intern comes tomorrow night, so I'm enjoying my last night of living by myself! :) It is a bit boring though. I might go to sleep soon just for lack of anything better to do.

Anyways, that's my life, at least recently. May God be with you!

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Busy busy busy

In the last week and a half, I have bought a car, applied for a Norwegian student residence permit, booked flights to and from Oslo, and applied for credits that won't charge me foreign transaction fees. I'm slowly checking things off my to-do list before leaving for the Milwaukee area next Tuesday. While much of my time recently has been spent researching things about Norway and studying abroad, I decided today to take a little time off from that. I have over two months this summer that I will be spending in the Milwaukee area, which offers plenty to do! I think it'll be a good idea for me to write down some of the things I'm finding now; that way, when I'm looking for something to do, I can just check back to my list!

Milwaukee Summer Bucket list

  • Hike the Seven Bridges Trail in Grant Park
  • Go to Mass in the Basilica of St. Josephat. 
  • Go to a Brewers game
  • Milwaukee Art Museum (free on the first Thursday of the month)
  • Bastille Days - Maybe do the 5k? 
  • Walk the length of the Milwaukee River Walk
  • Take a Jelly Belly tour
  • Visit Cave of the Mounds
I'll probably post this list somewhere else where I can keep adding to it/checking things off, but here's a good start!

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Yet again, the end is coming

Wow, the last month has been action-packed. I've been (somewhat) preparing for studying abroad while studying for (and sitting for) the 3rd actuarial exam, Exam MLC. I've gone out to dinner with my best friends, had my last bible study of the year, and last night went to the Actuarial Science and Risk Management/Insurance banquet. And now, it's time to prepare for my 5 final exams and 2 final papers. It is, officially, nearing the end of the semester.

In under 100 days, I will be in Oslo, Norway. This is absolutely crazy! There have definitely already been some trials and things that have not gone as planned, but I'm crossing my fingers that this is all just part of the experience. The program is starting earlier than I was anticipating, no one from Madison will be attending with me, and a few of the classes I wanted to take are not offered in the fall. I'm very anxious about travelling alone, but for now I'm just doing my best not to think about it. My plan is to get through the end of the semester, and then finalize things like my visa, ticket, housing, etc.

EXAM MLC IS BEHIND ME. Again, this is hard to believe. I have been preparing for this exam since the beginning of September, and intensively for the past month and a half. This year was the first time that it included a combination of multiple choice questions and written answer questions. I know that some people struggled with completing the exam within the allotted time, but thankfully I finished. The results aren't released for 8 to 10 weeks, so for now it's time to just wait! It's hard to guess as to whether or not you passed, because the pass mark is so up in the air, but right now, I'm feeling pretty good. I'd say there's around a 75% chance that the beginning of July will bring me good news!

In the little free time I've had, I've walked down to the farmers' market on Capitol Square, had Culver's with my bible study, watched the Badgers play in the Final Four game (although sadly with a heartbreaking loss), gone out to dinner with some of my best friends, and gone on a creative date that included a bonfire at picnic point and a scavenger hunt around campus. It's been a great, though sometimes stressful, few weeks. I'm excited to make the most of the last few weeks I have with my friends here, before moving back to Oshkosh for a few weeks, then starting my internship in Brookfield.

I hope that you are all enjoying the springtime (and I hope it has been warmer wherever you are than it has been here!).
-T

Monday, April 7, 2014

To Oslo I will go!

It's been a long time so there's lots to share, and it's late at night, so this won't be the prettiest, but here we go!

I have officially been accepted to study abroad in Oslo, Norway for next fall semester! I'm terrified, excited, nervous, unsure - all of the emotions you can imagine, I'm probably feeling. Last week I also freaked out because I am 99% sure that I am the only person travelling from my school to that specific program - something I was not expecting and still don't know how I feel about. I technically have until April 15th to decide/commit to going for sure, but I'm hoping that I don't chicken out and decide not to go. So yes, preparations are beginning with that.

I have also applied to the Wisconsin School of Business! I was undecided whether I wanted to pursue actuarial science through the business school (and give up some scholarship money) or through the college of letters and science, but after much deliberation and praying, I decided to go with my gut and apply to the business school. I won't find out until mid-summer, but if all goes well, I will be graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a BBA. :)

Another thing I will find out this summer - the result of exam MLC! I am very nervous about the next actuarial test, which is three weeks from today! I am not feeling prepared at all. It is difficult to study and devote time to that exam while also trying to stay up on school work and current classes. In fact, I took a test tonight and have two more this week. It's a lot to handle, and it's really testing me on my ability to rely on God to give me strength and peace.

This past weekend was great - I almost went to the final four game in Texas, but at the last minute decided to stay back in Madison. Although I'm sure Texas would've been fun, I had a really great weekend here. Of course, I studied a lot, but I also went to the Union on Saturday to watch the game with a bunch of friends (although the outcome was very sad, the day and game itself were great!). Then, on Sunday, my bible study was taken on a creative date by a sophomore men's bible study! They led us on a scavenger hunt throughout campus, ending with a bonfire at picnic point. It was a blast, and super nice to be served in such a fun, creative way. For dinner, we even had "build-your-own" baked potatoes cooked in the fire. I also learned how to play spikeball! I'm definitely a fan. It also left me feeling good about Cru - I may try to make it to a weekly meeting again sometime. I'm not a big-group kinda gal, so I haven't been attending the big-group weekly meeting much this year, but maybe I'll try it out again soon!

Although we were served wonderfully by the men, it led me to a stark realization. I still really, really like the same boy that has been on my mind for over a year now. Most people around me have known/seen this, but I always figured that if someone else came along, I would move on just fine. But this past weekend, although the intent was not a romantic date, I was thinking about how I would feel if one of the men started to pursue me, and I realized that I would simply be disappointed that it wasn't the one boy I'm interested in. I don't know what that means - I know that whatever God has planned for my life is way better than anything I could come up with, whether that includes this particular boy, or a different one, or none at all, but I also know that we have to be active in living out God's plan. I'm really starting to feel like I may need to take action to voice these feelings so that they can be dealt with. That's a terrifying thought, but I have the feeling that it may need to happen sooner rather than later. ...especially because of the small detail that we will also be working together this summer.

That's a fairly brief update of my life! I hope all of you are doing well, and are feeling as blessed in your lives as I have been in mine! God is so great; I'm thankful to be reminded of this everyday. :)

-T

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

I know the sun will rise!

I realize it's been a while since I last posted an update about my life. A lot has happened, so I will be brief about each. Spring semester at UW-Madison is well underway; at the end of the month, I have 4 midterms in 4 days. That being said, however, I'm managing to stay afloat much better this semester. Classes are difficult, but my base level of happiness and peace is leaps ahead of where it was in the fall. Winter is dragging on and on, although the high of 40 today brings much needed relief from the cold!

This morning, I bought my subscription to Coaching Actuaries, a website designed to give us actuaries the best chance of passing the actuarial exams. I used their services for Exam P and was very pleased with the result, so I've decided to use it again for Exam MLC, which is now 69 days away! I'm a little nervous, but I'm also hoping that I will be studying little by little to avoid the awful stress when my countdown reaches single digits.

This Thursday marks the 4 year anniversary of Natalie Bolin's death. Natalie was a swimming teammate of mine in high school, who died in a car accident involving 3 other swimming teammates. It's an emotional time, although also an inspiring one. Natalie's motto was I know the sun will rise. I've been striving to apply that mindset to my daily life. Natalie's birthday was also in February, on the 27th. This would have been her 21st birthday, so my home swim team hosts a memorial swim in which swimmers complete 21 repetitions of some distance. I didn't go to the event this year, although yesterday I swam 21x100's on my own. It was a tough workout, considering I have not been staying in shape as much as I'd like to, but I finished it! It was thrilling to finish in honor of Natalie.

Finally, my other big news is that I'm planning to study abroad next fall! I have almost completed my application, and will be submitting it shortly. My finalized list (at least for now) of top choices is:

  1. Oslo, Norway
  2. Vienna, Austria
  3. Copenhagen, Denmark
To say that I'm excited would be to understate my enthusiasm. Not many of my close friends at school know about it yet, because I wanted to wait until it was finalized. Regardless, the friends that do know about it are excited with me!

I should probably be getting back to studying, so goodbye for now! Prayers for God's will in my adventures next fall, as well as all those who are affected by/remembering Natalie this week would be greatly appreciated! May the sun keep shining down on all of you. :)

-T

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Well, wow. I've survived another semester at the University of Wisconsin. It's been quite a while since I've posted, but this just means I have lots to catch you up on!

After struggling with depression for the first couple months of this semester, I can joyously say that God has been helping me recover, slowly but surely. I have a few friends who have tirelessly been there for me throughout this entire process, and for them, I am eternally grateful. God graced me with extremely patient, kindhearted people to stay the course with me, and most importantly, to constantly lead me back to Him even as I continuously push Him away. With that, however, I have had some trouble separating my emotional stability from these friendships. One in particular, prayed with me countless times, and I found myself often turning to him even before I reached out to God. In the past couple of weeks, through little fault of his, he has been distanced a bit and we've been talking less and less. At first, this was excruciatingly difficult for me - an unanswered text left me in tears and feeling distraught. Little by little, however, I've been praying that God help me to rely only on Him for my joy. At this point, although I still find myself sometimes feeling like I need to talk to my friend, I have been much more content to let him be, focusing my attention on God instead. As my winter break continues on, I'm not sure if God is planning for our friendship to pick up again or fizzle out quietly, but I'm learning that as long as God is in charge, I will be ok with either outcome.

After over committing myself to Cru at the beginning of the semester, I took a gigantic step backward. What last year had been something I eagerly awaited to connect me to Jesus had become an obligation. By association, therefore, spending time with Jesus had become an obligation - something that I had to do, and therefore began to dread. In order to find my own personal passion for following Christ again, I stepped back and began a more personal journey with God. I still attended a Bible study each week, but stopped going to the large group meetings and decided to stop leading the freshman Bible study. Looking back, I'm glad this decision was made, and I'm looking forward to becoming more involved once again with Cru this coming semester. I plan to begin an in-depth study of Romans with my discipler and continue to grow closer with the wonderful group of ladies in my bible study. To begin this next step in my faith journey, I'm soon headed to TCX, a winter conference held by Cru in the twin cities. I'm both scared and excited - although I know several people in Cru, I don't know any of them well. I'm hoping that God provides people willing to room with me and take me in, so I can begin to develop closer friendships with my fellow Badger Cru members.

Because this is already turning into a long-winded post, I'll cut my other updates into shorter little tidbits:

  • I have started swimming a bit again. The first half of this past semester I was attending Club Swimming practices fairly regularly, and hope to schedule them in more consistently for the coming semester. 
  • I have officially accepted a summer actuarial internship position at a consulting firm near Milwaukee, WI. After a month or so filled with extensive interviews and even a few plane rides and fancy hotels, I am confident that my coming summer will be a wonderful opportunity to grow both professionally and personally.
  • I finished the semester with a 4.0! My appeal to apply to the Business School, despite being over the credit limit, was granted, and I plan to apply this coming spring. 
  • My roommate from first semester is studying abroad next semester, so I will be soon assigned my fourth random roommate - prayers that God helps me use this situation in whatever way He plans would be greatly appreciated! 
  • As some of you may remember, I had some issues with my current group of friends at the beginning of the semester, many of which stemmed from my depression as their root cause. God has faithfully and gracefully worked to restore these friendships through honesty and forgiveness. Although there are still some moments that are tough, I'm so grateful that God has blessed me with these women in my life. 
That's all for now - I doubt that I will post again before leaving for TCX, so I wish you all a very happy new year! May God bless the end of 2013 and bring in a wonderful 2014!


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Well, Wow.

In the past week and a half or so, my life has been a rollercoaster, as cliche as that sounds. I've been struggling a lot with sliding back toward depression and pulling myself away from my friends. At the same time, I've been exceedingly overcommitted with classes, work, various clubs and organizations, and BadgerCru. Just as my excitement and passion for being back on campus was being drained away by all of these things, my closest friends here and I had a fairly large misunderstanding. I'll spare you the details, but basically what transpired left me in a much worse place than where I had started the week - not the thing I needed to be added to my plate. So, that was last Wednesday night - I was up until 3:30 AM, crying, tossing and turning, frustrated, and angry. As you may imagine, that's not a good combination.

Luckily, even though these friends were not understanding what I needed, I latched onto my family and a couple other close friends and through the grace of God, I made it through the remainder of the week. During the weekend, I hung out with other friends and my sister, brother-in-law and niece came to visit! Even aside from the turmoil happening with my friends, however, I've been feeling discontent.

This brings me to the next "big thing." As you may or may not know, I was planning to co-lead a freshman bible study here on campus. The troubling thing was, however, that I had begun to dread all things having to do with Cru and the bible study. I am so overcommitted, that I started viewing this bible study as an obligation - something I was being forced to do instead of something I wanted to do, something that I was choosing to help me pursue Jesus and help others to do the same. In turn, I could tell I was starting to feel resentment toward my faith in general. The things I was doing last year because I wanted to grow closer to God were now more like things I had to check off my list for the week. I have been growing farther away from Jesus. After praying and talking this through with my co-leader and mentor, I decided to take a step back and focus on my personal relationship with God right now. As with backing out of the summer camp counselor position, I can't help but wonder if I'm doing this for selfish reasons - if I'm just afraid to commit to anything lengthy involving my faith. It's something I'm still struggling with and I'm trusting God will help me see what he has in store for me/give me the courage to commit to the opportunities he wants me to commit to.

So, though a lot of things have been stressful, I have been focusing on the little blessings in my life. The next few weeks are when a lot of interviews for summer actuarial science internships occur - and I already have 4 interviews scheduled! I don't know what will transpire, if anything, from these, but I recognize that I'm blessed to even have the opportunity to interview with four different companies.

Additionally, I have started swimming with the UW-Madison swimming club! It seems to be the perfect commitment. I've gone to two practices so far, and it's so great to be surrounded by people who like to swim and will keep me somewhat accountable for working out. I'm not sure yet if I will be travelling with the team, but either way - it seems to be a good fit for me and a wonderful way to relieve some of the stress.

Lastly, perhaps the most troubling thing of the past few weeks has been the spike in violence in and around campus. On Wednesday night, much of the University of Wisconsin campus went on lock down, as there were shots fired on a street just off campus, and the gunman fled into campus. Additionally, there have been numerous armed robberies/muggings/break-ins. While I have never been afraid to walk across campus before, extra safety precautions are a must now - even as early as 9:00 at night. It's both saddening and frightening, and I am praying that God protect our campus and strengthen the men and women working to keep us safe!

I hope you are blessed by the little things this week. As for me, I'm off to the Badger game! On Wisconsin!

-Theresa