All Good Things Must Come to An End!

We started our very last leg of the trip from Harrisonburg Va. to Elmira early early this morning at 6am. Of course we are all about food so we didn't go far before we stopped at Mr. J's where we shared our last meal of the trip together, a delicious bagel! Of course the ride was full of sleeping, chatting and some great singing, but it came to an end way too quickly. We soon hit Elmira where we unpacked the family truckster for the last time and said our goodbyes.

Later in the afternoon it felt so strange looking around and not being around the same 6 other people I've been with every day for the last to and a half weeks, it was quiet, empty and a little sad. The Kentucky crew had an amazing time, we made friendships and memories that will surely last forever. I enjoyed and will cherish every experience and memory that we shared on this trip, it was a great opportunity for all involved! A special thanks to Ted for going out of his way and making this trip possible, providing us with experience in the field, and all of the adventures, memories and friendships that were made; also for dealing with us crazy, outgoing, outspoken, and way to open girls for two and a half weeks straight!

I'll miss my Kentucky crew that's for sure! I wouldn't have wanted to spend the last term with anyone else, this was for sure an adventure and experience that will never be forgotten!

<3 Ashland

Almost home!

We had an early start this morning leaving Berea, Kentucky at about 7:30 am. Packing only took about half an hour and we were headed north. We stopped for breakfast at a Waffle House. For most of us it was our first time at one. It was a seven hour drive to Harrisonburg, Va where we are spending the night at a Hampton Inn. Many of us slept for almost the entire drive today! Jill lives pretty close to where we are staying so her parents picked her up and she is home! Her parents were very nice and brought us a sweet treat! Georgetown cupcakes!

Georgetown Cupcakes! SOOO YUMMY!!

 We got settled in our rooms and rested for a while then had one last dinner together at a place called O'Neils. It was delicious! Especially the fried pickles! We are relaxing on our last night together preparing for the drive tomorrow to Elmira!
We have had a great trip and made many memories together! We have grown into a family and I would not want to change any part of this experience. Thank you so much to my friends and Ted who have made this trip one of the best times of my life!

<3 Haley

Our last day in Berea, Kentucky

Hi everyone!

Well It's Friday and that means today was our last full day in Kentucky. We got to sleep in this morning which was nice! However, us girls wanted to take advantage of our free day. We got up relatively early and ate lunch at Berea's dining hall. The group enjoyed a new dish, broccoli casserole. After lunch, we walked into town and did some souvenir shopping. The weather was perfect, the shops were interesting, and the town was ours.

Here are two photos of some shops in Berea. Bright colors! 5/24

Here is a picture of Ang. Yes, she is wearing two different flip-flops!

After walking around the town, us girls went back to the dorm to relax for a little while. Then Haley, Ashland, and I went to Berea Old Town with Ted. We went to shops, art galleries, and more.

The Welcome sign for Berea Old Town

While in Old Town, we stopped by a glass blowing studio. The studio had many different glass objects. We even got a chance to go in the back to meet Michelle, the glass blower. We observed her making a glass vase and it was so cool to watch before our eyes.

Here is Michelle making the beautiful purple vase. So talented.

Next, we stopped by a Pewter Store owned by a very interesting man. This man made different pewter objects such as cups, charms, necklaces, etc. We also went to the Pewter studio and watched him make a Pewter cup. He designed this type of cup himself. It was cool to see him take a flat, round piece of pewter metal, and shape it into a cup.

The steps toward a Pewter cup!

It was nice to walk around Berea and to enjoy the friendly environment. After,Ted took us for some ice-cream! After our adventures in town, we headed back to the dorm for some relaxation. Soon after, us girls got ready for our last family dinner together at the Boone Tavern. We dressed up and headed over to meet Ted. At dinner, we talked about our trip and all the hearing screenings we did. It finally hit me that it's our last night in Kentucky! It is a bittersweet feeling for this trip to come to an end. The food at dinner was delicious and overall it was a nice time.

Of course I have to add a photo of my food! Delicious steak.

I'm glad to say I tried something new! Pecan Pie

After a lovely dinner together, the seven of us went back to the dorm and spent some time together. We all sat together and reflected on our time on this trip. We talked about our favorite times and adventures. I know that I loved screening the little kids, but I also loved being silly with the group and making everyone laugh! Also, I loved seeing the smiles on the children's faces after we screened their hearing. We really got to know each other on this trip and I'm very glad I did it. Kentucky was a great experience for all of us! Now, we are getting ready to leave. I'm thankful that Hailey is helping me pack! Tomorrow we are leaving early in the morning for our ride back north. I'm going to miss this place. 

Here is one last picture of us. The Kentucky Crew...The Kentucky Family

Since this is my last post to this blog, I'd like to thank Dr. Johnson for taking us on this adventure and teaching us valuable lessons for our future. Take care everyone and thanks for reading!

-Bre

79 Hearing Screenings Complete!!

WOW! Today was our last day in the CDL and as we completed our very last screening the gang seemed to be a little bit sad.

We enjoyed a later start to our morning today as we arrived to the Child Development Lab at 10:00 am. This morning we screened 6 children, the majority of them were 2 years old. They were so fun to work with, we all love seeing their smiling faces as they walk into the room in which we were performing the screenings. Some of the children were very bashful and were nervous to sit down with us but we turned on our charm and the kids soon warmed up to us. Everyday we like to draw some picture on the white board. This seemed to be a great way to cheer up the kids.

This is one of the cartoons that we drew this week! :)

After our morning at the CDL we had to make a quick stop at Wal*Mart and then went over to one of our very favorite restaurants "Mariachi's"! When leaving the store Haley Armstrong couldn't resist putting a couple of quarters into the claw machine and she actually won a prize in a cup...fangs!!

Nothing too exciting but hey, at least they matched her dress!

Melissa Rediford and one of the students who work at the CDL, Rosa, joined us for our Mexican feast! There was definitely not a shortage of food as the table quickly filled with chips, salsa, burritos, and much more!

Leaving the restaurant very full we made our way back to the CDL. We spent the next 2 hours screening children. During this time we saw our youngest client who was only 9 months old! We really enjoy when the little ones come to visit us upstairs. Most children were very cooperative which allowed us to successfully perform a hearing screening on them. While our 79th client was walking out the door we all realized that our two weeks in Kentucky were rapidly coming to an end. The 6 of us girls really enjoyed all of the time we had here and especially in the CDL. Every person there was so welcoming and kind. We exchanged hugs while holding back a few tears while we made our way out to the family truckster.

Us girls leaving the CDL!

After a nice dinner at the cafe in town, we all relaxed in the dorm for the night. After a great last day in the CDL I think we are all pretty tired and definitely very full from all of the delicious meals we have had this week! Also, Melissa kindly gave us a 6 pack of something that none of us have had before, Ale 8! It is an ale soda that is made right here in Kentucky!

Ashland and Haley drinking their Ale 8 with their Berea sweatshirts on!

Check back in tomorrow to hear what we did for our last day in Kentucky!
-Ang

Bourbon and Thunderstorms

Hey Y'all,


We had our typical morning with grabbing breakfast at the campus and then heading over to the Child Development Lab for some screenings.

After screening children, Melissa Rediford, who has been working very closely with us for the past week and a half at the Berea College Child Development Lab suggested an Italian restaurant, Johnny Carino's Italian.  It was similar to an Olive Garden, but we all agreed it had better food than Olive Garden.

Johnny Carino's Italian was the half way point on our adventure to the Buffalo Trace Distiller in Frankfort, Kentucky.

There we toured the distillery and saw how bourbon was made and the history of the drink.

As well as getting to go into a couple of warehouses, where the bourbon was being housed to age in large barrels.

Haley Armstrong playing between the rows of barrels full of bourbon

Hailey Haigh also playing around in between the row of barrels of bourbon

At the end of the tour there was tasting of the bourbon.

However, only for one person, Hailey Haigh, who is over the age of 21 go to try a couple of the real bourbons.  While the rest of us tried the root beer.

Once we returned from the distillery tour and before we headed out to dinner, we had some downtime, which was when we had some thunderstorms with rain and wind.

After the storm passed we headed over to Papaleno's for some sandwiches, pizza, and chicken to end our night.

Haley Armstron aka mini Dr. Ted Johnson

Tomorrow we are finishing up most of our screenings over at the Child Development Lab and enjoying our last couple of days in the wonderful town of Berea and state of Kentucky.

-Jillian Colon

Just a typical Tuesday with a Twist

Hey Y'all,

Hailey here to give you a run down of today's riveting activities  Well I don't know if you would find hearing screenings as riveting as I do, but I guess to each their own.

After another nutritiousness breakfast at the dining hall, we headed to start our morning of screenings at the CDL. Today was unique because we worked with some of the younger population at the CDL. Much to our excitement  we even got to screen some... wait for it... BABIES!

Now when screening nearly one to two year olds we do not perform behavioral pure tone screening. We do, however, perform the same Otoscopy, OAE, and Tympanometry. Most of the babies we saw were cooperative and remained happy throughout all of the entire process.

After screening some of the younger children we moved back to screening some of the preschool age children. Below are some pictures of us performing the battery of tests included in a screening.

Ang performing Otoscopy on one of the children

Me performing Tympanometry 

Jillian performing Tympanometry

Ang and Haley performing OAE

Just posing during some down time :) 

Some of the beautiful artwork we drew on the board to keep the children's eyes preoccupied 

We headed to lunch at the dining hall after a busy morning of screenings and then had some down time this afternoon to work out some of our sleepiness. Due to some unforeseen circumstances we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each others company instead of more screenings. :) 

So after an eventful afternoon we had a tasty dinner at Sonic, which I had never been too. It was enjoyed by all and a good experience all around. 

Stay tuned for some great tales from our trip to the Buffalo Trace Distillery tomorrow.

Night,

Hailey

True Southern Hospitality

Hi everyone!

The day started very early as we all got up early enough to get ready and meet Ted at the campus dining hall for another family breakfast! From breakfast we headed to the Child Development Lab for a morning full of screening some more cute kiddos. As all of us girls are suckers for babies we were eager to get closer to them, pushing Ted and the people of the Child Development Lab to try to get a few parents willing to let us screen their very young children or babies. We were thrilled today when we found out we would be screening not only one, but two young children; one 18 month old and an 11 month old. Although we are excited every time we get to screen any child this was an added bonus, and we were able to obtain some experience where we didn't think we would have the chance to. 

Bre practicing otoscopy before the kiddos came!

Jill getting Bre ready for practice pure tone audiometry

Ang practicing tympanometry

Our day at the CDL was very successful as we are all meshing very well as a team and have become more precise in our screening allowing the screenings to flow more smoothly. It was also successful in the fact that we identified a couple of children who could possibly be at risk for hearing loss, which is initially the goal of this trip.

Following our successful morning of screenings we ventured back to the campus where us girls had lunch together, and a couple of us ventured to the local coffee shop for some delicious lattes to wake us up! Later in the afternoon we attended a lecture given by Dr. Margaret Dotson and her husband Adrian Dotson on the history of Appalachian nutrition and common foods that were grown and prepared. We found the lecture to be very interesting, especially because each of them traced their genealogy, sharing specific things about their own family. We had some free time after the lecture where we relaxed and most of us took naps as we are all about taking advantage of any extra time to sleep. For dinner we were invited to the Dotson home for some home cooked Appalachian food. Our meal started off with a yummy salad, the main course included 3 different types of fresh, home cooked beans, and two different types of homemade cornbread which were called Bloody Butcher cornbread  and Boone County White cornbread both named from the type of corn the cornmeal is made from. Dr. Dotson prepared both the beans and cornbread from scratch and it was phenomenal, we were all very pleased with the meal and how different it was from what we are used to eating. As if we weren't full of salad, cornbread and beans we topped our meal off with ice-cream and fresh organic strawberries from the college's garden, and coconut macaroons made by Hailey! This was by far my favorite meal of the trip, and that's saying a lot for how much we have eaten up to this point. 

Eating dinner with our new friends & dinner hosts!

The delicious Boone County White cornbread

Hailey modeling the cornbread

One of the three kinds of yummy beans!

The college's fresh strawberries, ice cream and Hailey's macaroons!

Us girls nice & full after the delicious dinner!

After some chatting and getting to know some new people we headed back to the dorm where we are relaxing and heading to bed to get prepared for our full day at the Child Development Lab tomorrow.

Check back tomorrow for more of our adventures!

-Ashland