building websites...

for one of my classes i had to build a website for an assignment...

so if you are interested i thought i would share it with you! 

check it out at 

myhome.spu.edu/vandalenl

have a great weekend! 

moving on to new topics

well since we seem to hit the point of no return on ever seeing another Netherlands post i might as well simply move on and update more recent happenings in my life! 

besides school - which does anyone really want to hear about? no i don't think i feel like talking about it either. it's not as thrilling as one may expect. back to what i was saying - besides schoolwork i joined the SPU speech and debate team this year. 

a month ago (yup that far behind) i went with the team to my first tournament at Western Washington University. I had an informative speech prepared and knew that i would be giving it friday evening (which my family got to watch!) and then saturday morning. i figured thats a good soft introduction since i've never done this before. 

however that was not the case. saturday morning one of my teammates asked me if i would be willing to take her place in debate because she was not able to do it. 

ummmm i've never done this......

i've never even practiced......

or attended a team meeting.....

sure? 

so 3 hours later i'm about to receive my first topic. for my first ever debate. without practice. or a coach. or help whatsoever. this should be fun! 

let me just recap what happens for the normal population that doesn't get into arguments for recreational purposes. They announce the pairings and both people go up to receive a list of 5 topics. taking turns they each choose one they don't want to debate until there is only left. then each person goes their separate ways and have 20 to 30 minutes (depending on the hosting college) to prepare arguments and get information using the internet, teammates, coaches, or whatever is available. then the round begins. The set up of speaking times is simply like so:

Affermative - 5 minutes

Cross examination from Negative - 2 minutes

Neg - 6 minutes

Cross examination from Aff - 2 minutes

Aff - 3 minutes

Neg - 5 minutes

Aff - 3 minutes

the first day I had 4 debates and felt down about all of them. the following day were 2 more and then the elimination rounds. for each round there were 4 of us that would prep together but our coach was in a different building so it was just us or sometime we were all on our own. in order to advance to elimination rounds you must win more than you have lost. 

shockingly out of the 4 of us that were debating i was the only one who made it to the next round! 

the entire team was there to help my prepare but i was shaking as i thought i had lost all 6 of the normal rounds. as it turns out i won 4 of 6 specifically the first 3 rounds!! that was certainly a huge confidence boost and gave me no way to tell my coach that i still didn't want to do it. 

i lost my last round by a 2 - 1 decision so at least i won one of the judges over! 

needless to say i was surprised and excited to see that i did so well for never practicing or even knowing what to do. maybe it just comes from having 3 siblings.... whatever it is i'm excited to see if i can get better!