Musicals, and selfies, and classes, Oh my!

Those were some good times. I was there for that round of Mr. Headmaster, sir. Nathan made that call.

My top ten... in no particular order

1. Playing pranks on my roommate from first year. Kaelynne is a doll, but she gets scared really easily. We had her convinced our room was haunted. I can actually be a pretty convincing liar when I want to be.

2. Going to see Aladdin! #friendswhogotomusicalstogetherstaytogether!

3. Having my professor hook me up with Wycliffe and being able to go to Cameroon! Life changing experience, right there. And it never would have happened if I hadn't gone to Canada.

4. Napping in Sarah's room all the time during second year. Being roommates without living together. (And watching Tangled every. single. day. Remember when we watched it with descriptive audio because I wanted to know what it would be like?)

5. All the selfies with Kyle.

6. I'll do all the academic ones in one, so it won't take up space from the fun ones. Finally getting my AP credits accepted, receiving the e-mail that said I could graduate, and passing my Philosophy of Language class. Also, meeting the Reynolds and Drivers, babysitting their kids, and learning from their wisdom.

7. Moving off-campus and living the introvert life in my off-campus housing. (Yelling at the boys to get out of my house, but only to Sarah, not being able to get food because people were in my kitchen, being forced to stay up late on Saturdays because there were loud people in my house... I actually had a lot of fun and enjoyed my house.)

8. All the adventures we had together. The Stellar Kart concert, the opera, the festivals, the banquets and events, the movies, and shopping. I miss you....

9. Leading two missions trips, one to Alaska the other to Cameroon, and being able to be part of the Tyndale community in that way. Also, being able to go to Cameroon with Kyle was the best thing ever.

10. Taking Former Prophets with Keith Bodner! And Advanced Greek with Dr. Reynolds! (Hey, I'm a nerd and I'm proud of it.)

So those are my top ten. Challenge completed! Your turn! What should our next challenge be?

....that's not my name + Top10 University Moments

in a previous post karima referred to me as "sarah elizabeth maria frances"......which is oh so very close, but not quite my name. just thought i'd throw that out there.

So here are my top 10(ish) favorite or most memorable moments from my three years at tyndale in chronological order, more or less.

(also, why do i have to go first? i'm the worst at coming up with top 10 lists)

1) "can i have a vegetarian pizza????? oh and can i have bacon on it?"

So there's this one time in first year (karima i have no idea if you were there for this or not), but we used to always play this game called mr. headmaster sir (which is complicated and confusing and i still dont understand the rules to). SO one night we were playing and someone lost, so he had to do a dare. So he fake ordered pizza and made this huge order and made a big deal about it being vegetarian...and then he was like "can you put bacon on it?" and it was hysterical apparently. it sticks out in my mind.

2) That time my sister came to Toronto! And we spent a lot of money, met steven and chris, won prizes, went to the CN tower, niagra falls, canada's wonderland, and buffalo, NY to see the lion king! So much fun :)

with steven and chris :)

3) Seeing my favorite band! I was super bummed that stellarkart was coming to YC in newfoundland the one year i wasn't there. but then we found out that they were coming to Toronto the next week! This was also before karima and i were BFFs, but its nice to know we loved each other back then!

so cute

4) WHEE! that one night we went and saw les mis (the movie version) and then had a subway car to ourselves and we danced and sang les mis songs and the conductor loved us! 

 5) What do you mean all of these are just me and karima hanging out? idk what your talking about

6) SEEING THE ALADDIN: A NEW MUSICAL PREVIEW! and the little girl sitting next to us dressed in a jasmine costume.

7) FINALLY going to the aquarium during reading break with a crew of newfies :) a dream come true bc the ocean is the most wonderful thing in the world!

8) Senior Students Event at dave and buster's! food + arcade games because what else do you need to have fun? also where i recognized my gambling addiction and realized i should never go to vegas - i'm unlucky AND love playing games, bad combination.

9) That time when we moved in together and it was a rough going trying to fit all of our crap into one tiny room. That was fun! hahaha

10) Finally, this semester when i got to go to toronto, hang out with this chick (tamarah aka my almost-baby sister) AND got to interview for the disney international program and eventually get in to it!! so much good food and fun packed into a couple of days that were well needed! 

Honorable mentions: every fall festival that i went to (and won some killer prizes), all the nights that we binge watched doctor who, seeing les mis on stage, visiting the Royal Ontario Museum, "SAMPLE SALE!", newfie retreats, that night we went to the opera, and playing phase 10 in the hallway!

 You're up karima! these are only a few of the highlights of my university career - and doesn't even scratch the surface of how tyndale has shaped my life + made me who i am today! thank you to every friend or person who made my university life the great/terrifying/wonderful experience that it was!

- Sarah

Hey! Hey! Sarah!

It's been a loooong time. Naturally, Sarah and I haven't used this blog once. Nbd. I'm going to use it now.

I'm living in Georgia and Sarah is in Newfoundland, but, in June she's coming down to Florida to work at Disney!!! She got her dream job of being in the Disney College Program! I'm so excited for her. Mostly because she'll be right there now, instead of 30+ hours away. She's coming up in August to spend some time with me and my family. I'm working at the Starbs, making drinks and taking money. If you want to know more about my life, please check out my other blog.

So, now, since we're both done school (well, Sarah will be done in three weeks) I wanted to issue a challenge, in an attempt to get this blog really up and running. Sarah Elizabeth Maria Frances, I challenge you to share your top ten moments from Tyndale. You have until Friday before the challenge is forfeit. I'll write mine after you write your's.

Karima

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is going to suck. Tomorrow one of my best friends goes back to Newfoundland and I probably won't see her again for at least a year. Tomorrow I'm going to be left all alone in my dorm room which I've shared with her for the last 8 months. Tomorrow a little part of my heart packs a bag, hops on a plane and travels with her.

The first time we met was nothing special. Sparks didn't fly. We didn't hate each other, we didn't love each other. I didn't know she'd become my best friend and by the end of the year, quite frankly, I thought we'd probably drift apart. However, at the end of the year we said our good-byes, didn't hug it out because we're not that type of people, and said we'd see each other next year. And then the next year everything changed. Most of our friends had moved on to other colleges and other paths of life, and we were the only ones left. So started the year of late night pizzas, watching movies, me taking naps in her room, and discovering we both loved musicals and Doctor Who. So this year we became roommates. We've eaten way more pizza than is healthy, she's kept me on-tack and acted as my mom on more than one occasion.

I depend on the people closest to me because I only allow a few people to come close to me. I'm fine like that. I don't have a need for a ton of friends. But it means I feel very deeply when I lose someone close to me. And Sarah isn't even dying. She's just moving. I'm sad, very, very upset, that Sarah is leaving, but I know we'll see each other again. We're going to see each other at our weddings, probably when we have kids. The beauty of a long-distance friendship is that the time we will have together will be all the more precious. Next year we graduate and we'll see each other at graduation. One day I'll get married, and I count on her to be there for me on that day, just like I'll be there for her when she gets married. And since she's my mom, she'd better be there if I ever have kids (along with my real mom. :P).

So this is my tribute to her. Right now, even though it's our last day together I'm babysitting upstairs. When I'm released of my duties, I'll go downstairs and Sarah and I will have a normal night together, celebrating the ending of our week-long intensive class and the closing of this portion of our friendship. We're going to watch Legally Blonde the Musical and sing broadway songs. We'll probably eat food (we have nutella and popcorn and crackers and cheese) and then we'll calm down and do something normal. Like scroll around Tumblr and Pinterest for the rest of the night and share amusing findings with each other. That's our friendship in a nut shell. And tomorrow, I'm going to miss her. I'll probably cry and I'll be lonely, but that's tomorrow. So tonight. Tonight, we celebrate!

~ Karima

Company for Dinner

I've been seeing this post on Pinterest for ages now that asks people if they could invite 7 fictional characters who would they choose and where would they sit (the table is round, with 1 and 7 being on either side of me. But I'm not giving much thought to this part). I didn't really think about it until last night, and I asked Sarah. This is the first list I came up with.

1. Merlin (from BBCs Merlin)
2. Aslan
3. 11 (Doctor Who)
4. Nightcrawler
5. Hiccup
6. Jacky Faber (it's a character from series of books I read as a kid)
7. Data

Maybe I'd change some of them, but those are my favs. Of course, I left out a lot of superheroes and book characters, so I thought it'd be fun to make other lists. What seven superheroes would I have?

1. Nightcrawler. Always.
2. Wolverine.
3. Spider-man
4. Superhero Girl (from the comic of the same name)
5. Martian Manhunter
6. Deadpool (even though he'd probably kill me)
7. Professor X

Book characters (for the sake of change, I'll not include comic books) (for the sake of clarity, I'll include the book title)?
1. Jacky Faber (Bloody Jack)
2. Alanna (Alanna: The First Adventure)
3. Kel (Page)
4. Aslan (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)
5. Horatio (Hamlet)
6. Christian (Once Upon a Marigold)
7. Deryn Sharp (Leviathan)

You may have noticed, if you have read these books, that three of my favorite characters are girls who dressed up as guys in order to make their lives better. What can I say? I have a type.

Characters from Star Trek?
1. Captain Picard
2. Chekov
3. Hoshi
4. Data
5. Spock
6. Tripp
7. Dr. Phlox

And yes, I am one of those people whose favorite series is Enterprise. So sue me.

Any other lists you want me to do, Sarah? Do you want explanations for my list? Personally, I think it's all self-explanatory, but then, these are my favorite characters.

Karima

"it's not the giver. it's the taker away-er of my childhood"

if you've been following either one of us on twitter today, you've probably noticed that something has made us very upset.

the giver. the first dystopian novel written specifically for younger audiences.

after the recent hype and success surrounding YA dystopian novels like the hunger games, divergent (which we're super stoked about seeing), etc. it makes sense that this wonderful, amazing novel would be turned into a movie sooner rather than later.

personally, i've been waiting for this book to be made into a movie since i first read it in grade five. it's a story about a society with no pain, suffering, war, hunger, etc. it is also a society without love, happiness, or joy.

the community is governed by the "elders" who control the society and keep this "sameness" (as they have called it) running smoothly.

at the age of 12, Jonas, like all the other children, is waiting to be selected for his occupation. he is chosen as the receiver, who receives all of the memories of the community. he is trained by the giver, who teaches him that this way of living kind of sucks. through this job, Jonas learns things about the world outside that no one else knows, forcing him to take action to leave and seek out the outside world.

so this trailer though.

THIS MOVIE COULD HAVE BEEN SO AMAZING.
but instead, it basically looks like any other recent dystopian movie (that spaceship looks a little familiar...were there even actually any spaceships in the book? (no, there weren't. How do I know, because I READ THE BOOK.))...a hot disheveled boy searching his way out of a twisted society (who is FREAKING 25 IN REAL LIFE, playing a 16 yo, who is supposed to be 12 in the book?), a love interest that can never be, a not-so-inconspicuous way of changing the society ("what would happen if we didn't take our morning injections"? anyone seeing the divergent connection?) and some dramatic thriller music...it's all been done before. add in a love triangle, and this could totally be a hunger games/divergent mash up.

now, i'm not completely disregarding the movie. it still could be good. i'm still going to see it. but i really wanted this to be a "the book and the movie were so amazing" - i really don't try to be a "the book is better than the movie" snob. but seriously. did you people even read the book?

so to the directors/writers/producers who are making this movie possible? before you try and recreate a book beloved by so many people...

thanks :) 

love, sarah + karima.

Who is Karima Horton?

I'm not sure if I can sound normal, but I'll try my best.

I am a Linguistics major/Biblical studies minor here at Tyndale. I'm in my third year and am preparing for going into some sort of ministry overseas.

I like to travel. I like to travel a lot. I was born in Egypt, but we moved to Georgia (the state) when I was three. Now I live in Canada, obviously. I've been to a few other countries and states besides the ones I've lived in, but not nearly enough. I've never been south of the US border, which is a bummer. I plan to fix that sometime in the future.

My other love, which goes along with traveling, is languages. I love languages. Have you ever listened to a bunch of different languages and tried to figure them out? I do, all the time. I have a knack for picking up languages. I mean, I'm not genius, but I find joy in them.

What else do I like? Basically everything Sarah does. We are friends, after all. I'm not as obsessed with Disney and I don't like her dog (she loves it so much. You don't even know.), not because I don't like dogs, but because I've never met him.

That's basically me. You're turn, Sarah! What should we talk about next?

Karima