The Holidays

Christmas is officially over this year.  I got all my presents, saw both my mom and dad's side of the family, and ate yummy, fattening food, all of which completely lacked any nutritional value.  There was some nutritious food sitting around, but I ignored it.

Don't you love how the older you get, the less money you get as presents?  Even though its so obvious you need it so much more than when you were younger.  I guess it's socially acceptable to earn all of your money with a job instead of generous relatives, of which you likely only see on the holidays.  Now that I think about it, that seems perfectly fair.  I had saved a lot of holiday money and by the time I was old enough to get a job, I was already rich!

The one thing I'm not so sure I like about the holidays this year is the fact that I had to give up my bedroom for 5 days.  I'm sleeping in my step-dad's office on an air mattress that loses it's firmness within hours of sleeping on it.  I can't even attempt to clean my room or find homes for my new gifts until my sister and brother-in-law leave, because their stuff is literally covering the floor, but in a weird way, I like this.  I'm used to basically doing the same thing everyday, seeing the same people, and sleeping in my own bed, so this change of pace is refreshing and reminding me that adapting to any given situation can be good for you and in some cases, it can be slightly adventurous.

Finals are done!

Finals week was definitely interesting.  I became addicted to this Aussie girl's vlog on youtube.  I was watching her videos when I should have been studying, so although I did spend a lot of time studying, I could have spent even more!  The thing is I got As on all of my finals, but Bs in all of my classes, except possibly an A in english.  

I know it's good to be balanced, but seriously, I should be all about studying not just during finals week, but during the whole semester, because my earlier grades affected my final grades.  

Things to ban during the semester for students not good at balancing their lives:

-Facebook

-YouTube

-Television

-Movies

-Cell Phone

-Reading for pleasure

-Friends

-Pets

-Exercise

I bought a daily planner early in the semester to avoid having to completely eliminate these things from my life while still getting straight As.  I planned out every school day; spreading my study time out through the week, so each day wouldn't be overwhelimg.  If I lived by that, I really believe it would have worked, but I rarely did.  

I want to say "I learned my lesson", but I already knew!  

I just need to exercise my will power to study by:

-Putting visual reminders of my goals up around my room (in my case, pics of France, University, A nice apartment, a report card with straight As(real or fake) on my bulliten board)

-Keep everything organized; making it easier to get started studying

-While I'm studying, turn phone off, computer off(unless I need it to study), Tv off, etc.

-Keep door closed (or if house is too loud and crowded, study at the local library)

It's possible to get straight As if a student has good study habits.  In fact, it's very likely.

Disneyland in the rain

Last Friday was another boring and eventless day spent studying, eating,and anything else that could hurt ones' figure, but at least I was looking forward to something...you guessed it! Disneyland. My girlfriends and myself had bought a ticket from my college and it lasted about two weeks. I didn't end up going on the day the girls went, because that was my day to register for classes and it would be academic suicide to wait to reigster since there's so much competition now. They still went and I got to look at the pictures on facebook and regret not going. That was fun...not.
Anyway, Rachel, who has an annual pass, said she would go with me before my ticket expired, so we decided on friday night.
She texts me "It's raining. u still wanna go?"
"Yeah!"
We went on a good number of rides and let me tell you snow white scared me so much, it was rather embarrassing! Aren't rides like that meant for single-digit aged kids? Doesn't it scare them?
Right after splash mountain, on which we got fairly wet, it started pouring rain. We got on the train and got a cute little tour of disneyland. We got off on 'main street' and ate cream cheese-filled pretzels and hotdogs, and drank hot cocoa at the coke corner (cutest corner at disneyland).
What a perfect way to deal with the rain. A dry seat, a big umbrella over your head, hot cocoa warming you up, and the company of a good friend. Even those obnoxious guys peeing on the wall around the corner couldn't ruin it.

Procrastiantion

I like to think I'm somewhat unique and interesting, but as far as procrastination goes, I am no exception!

Last night after I got home from my last class at around 8, I knew I had a 7 page research paper due the next morning so of course I ransacked the kitchen, eating everything in sight.  I didn't think of it as procrastination because everyone has to eat, right?  But in the back of my head, I knew I was stalling as I dipped my digornio pizza into the nutella jar(tastes better than one might think).  Finally, an hour and a half later, at 9:30, I made myself some earl grey and got ready to start.  

3 hours into the paper.....

I'm in bed, my eyes are watering from fatigue, my head is throbbing from the stress, I'm eating the salt water taffy my mom got me, hoping the sugar will help keep me awake.

Pheobe, my cat, wipes her drool on my laptop and starts to claw my hair.  Her purring is like a harley.  Is she trying to be affectionate?  I can't reject Phoebe though.  I just keep reading, thinking, and typing while she attacks my hair and face.

I'm too young to care about health care reform!  Right?  That's ok.  This is good practice writing a paper about something I know nothing about to begin with, nor do I care(although I should)

Ok here goes............

So finally at 2 in the morning, I finish the paper, read it twice to make sure I made no mistakes(which I did), pack my backpack for the next day, and hit the lights.  That last part felt great, but still... 

Why do I do this to myself??

French

For all of you out there who are interested in learning another language, I highly recommend Rosetta Stone!  Argh!! I can't believe I'm advertising for free but oh well!  It's worth it.  I can't hold this in.

Ever since I saw this french movie called "Lila says", I have been very intrigued by french language and culture.  I didn't start trying to learn french right afterward but I thought about it a lot.  

By now, I've given into Rosetta Stone and it's great!  I have version 3 and admittedly, I don't use it that regularly but when I do, I remember almost everything I've learned.  They must really engrain it into your head!  Seriously, sometimes I wait a month to do my lesson.

Next spring, I registered for french 180, which is beginning.  A lot of people I know who took french said they had a very hard time with it so I'm doing Rosetta Stone to prepare me.  It couldn't hurt.

Next summer, I'm studying abraod for one month in Paris, France.  By that time, I'll be in French level 2.  I'm so excited!

Things to prepare myself starting now:

-Finish Rosetta Stone before spring semester begins

-Start watching french movies and reading easy french books

-Earn an A in my first french course.

-Continue to immerse myself in french pop culture(books, music, movies)

Well I guess that's it.  It's not as easy as it sounds, but I can do it!

the beginning

I am starting a blog! Is it sad that this is the highlight of my week? Well it is and why bother being ashamed?

What inspired me to write this blog to begin with, was the death of an extraordinary woman I knew. I was her cat-sitter and plant-waterer. After I heard the news from my parents, I went to her website, synergyimages.com, and read her entire blog. I enjoyed reading it so much and was really glad there was some kind of record of the highlights of her last two years.

I'm not writing this blog because I think I'm going to die in the next two years but it was a good reminder to just get what you want to say out there.

What a lovely day. I woke up at noon, did my make-up wonderfully, then spent the whole day on my butt but hey I do look good and that has to count for something! I was waiting for someone to call or text me and some people did! (My mom and cousin)

I noticed it started getting dark and cold and I was thinking "Really, I only woke up a few hours ago" but when I looked at the clock, it was almost five!

A word of advice, in case you haven't already learned the hard way, don't waste half your day sleeping. You really don't need 14 hours of sleep; it just gives you a headache.

My mom and stepdad asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with them and even though I was incredibly bored and lonely, I just really didn't feel like being around them at the same time.

So I was sitting at home alone and convinced I had wasted my entire day when all of a sudden, I got a text from Ema telling me to spend the night!

So now I'm at her house writing in my first blog while she texts people. I know it sounds boring and impersonal but I find myself having a great time when I'm here. We're so comfortable around each other, we don't really make an effort to not use electronic devices.

Now we're going to go rent some movies. Yeah! The life of college girls!