I have so much to do tonight so this post will be a short one. Last weekend, three of my best friends from home came to visit me and Amber. One of them didn’t tell us she was coming, so it was a great surprise and we had a wonderful four days together! It was really fun. It hardly seems like it’s already almost Friday; this week went by super quickly. I have my first French paper due tomorrow so I have to edit it and fill out a worksheet for it and I have to do a bunch of vocab and my online econ homework, and I have a meeting for the literary magazine editorial board tonight, which I recently joined and am excited about.

Otherwise, everything is pretty normal around here. RDG is underway, which is nice, and classes are starting to really get into the thick of things. Everyone I know had first tests and papers due this week. And only three weeks until spring break!

The end of the semester was stressful, as usual, but we all got through it. I decided to move out of my dorm into the French house, which is one of the university-owned theme houses, so I was kept extra busy hauling all my belongings across campus. Now that I’m all moved in, though, I’m really glad I made the decision to live here. I ended up with a single because no one else applied to fill the spots of the two girls who went abroad and it is very, very nice. I’m friends with the three girls in the house, so it’s lots of fun to be able to walk into each other’s rooms and chat or do homework together, but it is some sort of novelty to me that I can also go into my room, shut the door and work in solitary peace. So as much as I miss living with my other three friends, I think I made the right decision– and I still visit my old room all the time.

Winter break was amazing. We had a little over four weeks, and it was SO nice to be able to be home for that long and just relax. I still have a really close group of friends from high school, so we’re always so, so happy to be together again, and it was great to hang out with my parents. My friend Michelle from Puget Sound came to visit me and Amber, so that was also very awesome and she got to really see California for the first time.

And then, suddenly, everything was packed into my two well-worn suitcases and Amber and I were back on flight 2474 to Seattle, as usual. Moving into my room was fun, and I’m still in the process of decorating the walls, although at least now it looks like someone actually lives here. It was so great to see everyone again, and there are still people I am running into who I haven’t had a chance to hang out with yet. It always feels so good to be back, and it’s always better than I expect. When I’m home, I get really sad about leaving again, mainly because I’m so close with those high school friends, but whenever I come back I am reminded of how much I love it here, and that makes me so grateful.

Classes started on Tuesday, so as of right now, I have had one session of each class. I’m taking International Econ, French, International Relations, Fundamentals of Acting and Chorale– and they all seem really great! I’m excited and optimistic about this semester. I feel like now we are truly upperclassmen– we’ve gotten all our requirements out of the way and we can take all classes that pertain to our majors, and it makes it that much more enjoyable. Another indicator of this is that we all have way more work than we had before, but since it’s only the third day of school, I’m still in my super gung-ho academic mode and the idea of sitting down with books and essays sounds nice.

Aside from classes, I’m just waiting for other activities to start up again. I have my first tour on Friday, which will be nice, and RDG auditions are next weekend, I believe. Tonight is the choreographer interest meeting and afterwards we’ll do the officer transition so I will learn all about how to be secretary! I’m really excited for this semester of RDG. I’ve choreographed about a minute of a contemporary piece, which is something different for me, so I hope it goes well. Last night my friend Kayla and I went to the dance room and showed each other our choreography, so we both got/gave good feedback and were able to make improvements. It  felt so good to be dancing again!

And I think that’s it. Yesterday I finally got to go to Office Depot/Target/Safeway so now I actually have binders and notebooks so I can be organized and food in my refrigerator. It also hasn’t started raining yet, so that has been nice, although I’m sure it won’t last for long! All in all, it’s been a smooth and fun transition back into school and I’m looking forward to this semester!

I haven’t updated this in a while, but that probably reveals as much about college life than anything I could write! Busy busy busy.

It’s starting to turn quite cold and the ground is covered with golden leaves. I try, despite all my hurrying back and forth all over campus, to stop and appreciate the beauty of fall.  The season surrounds us in a completely different way here than where I’m from in California, and although I detest the cold (I walked out of class yesterday at 3:30 and could see my breath!) I am always somewhat in awe of the way the season’s change is manifested in the trees.

So my life for the last few weeks has mainly been RDG, classes, RDG, tours, RDG and my friends. And maybe some more RDG. The show is exactly two weeks from today, which is a scary though, but everything always comes together and I have confidence in my dancers. I’m really pleased with how my dance is coming so far, and of course the other dances I’m in are really fun and going well. Classes are still going well, as before, and my friends and I have spent plenty of evenings pretending to study in the SUB while laughing like crazy. So everything has been normal, but next week marks the start of the most hectic two weeks I’ve had here yet! I have two exams, and then on Friday, my best friend from home, Haley, is coming to visit! I don’t know if I’ve really gone over this, but one of my best friends from high school came to Puget Sound also, so it is even better since she is here as well and we are all part of the same group of friends at home. So Amber and I are eagerly awaiting Haley’s arrival. We’ll show her around Puget Sound and she can get to know our friends here. On Sunday, it’s one of our friend’s 20th birthday, and my 19th birthday is on that Thursday, so we’re going to go out to dinner on Sunday. Monday is the beginning of tech week for RDG, but I’m missing it to go to see A Fine Frenzy in concert in Seattle with Haley and Amber. I feel bad about missing, but we already had the tickets, and A Fine Frenzy will be amazing! Then the rest of the week is hectic tech week business and getting ready for the show, and hopefully I’ll find time to do something for my birthday on Thursday. Haley will leave on Wednesday, and the show is Friday and Saturday! Saturday morning my mom is flying in and she’ll stay until Monday, which i am SO excited about– she called me a couple weeks ago and surprised me with the news that she’d be able to come see the show!

So, as usual, my life is jam-packed, but in a very good way! As I was discussing with one of my lunch tours yesterday, college is what you make of it, and unless you get involved with things you’re passionate about, it won’t be anywhere near as enjoyable as it should be.

And so now I’m going to go do some Spanish homework….

Going along those lines, I suppose the other biggest thing that has happened in my life lately (I haven’t written in a couple weeks because I’ve been SO busy with everything– LITERALLY not a spare moment) is that I’m probably going to change my major from Foreign Language and International Affairs with Spanish as my language to having French as my language, and minoring in Spanish instead of French. I’m meeting with my French teacher soon to talk about it but hopefully it will all work out.

My grandparents will be visiting next weekend and I’m really excited! They’ve never been here before, and it will be nice to show them around. Tomorrow is my mom and grandma’s birthdays (yep, my grandma had my mom on her own birthday) and my grandparents will be visiting my parents before heading up here. I still find it weird when my family and friends have birthdays when I’m away– I wish I could be there!

I’m going to go finish up my studying now and head back to my room for a shower and perhaps some coloring– one of my best friends from home sent me a hilarious Harry Potter coloring book, and I’m finding it quite relaxing to spend part of my evening bringing life to outlines of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Good night!

Last night I finished all my homework that’s due all the way up until Tuesday and I’m feeling QUITE accomlished and proud! Today I’m auditioning to choreograph for RDG, and if we make it, I’ll have to do dancer auditions and then place dancers and it will take literally all day Sunday. So I figured I’d better get things done. I was tired all week (and it was only a four-day week!) and I don’t want to be dying in class on Monday.

Every day this weekend was a mix of happiness and stress, satisfaction and angst. I gave a fake tour to practice for tour guiding, and that was fun. I’ll give my first tour Monday! Some of my fellow Perspectives leaders and I always get lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so that’s been fun. I had a bit of frustration with my Spanish assignments this week, and I was stressing about finishing all my homework because of RDG this weekend. I didn’t end up applying for the Trail, which I’m kind of sad about, but I have too much going on to handle the time commitment. Hopefully I can just start up again next semester. On Wednesday, Colleen (one of my roommates this year and my roommate last year) took me to a local ballet studio and I checked it out and talked to the lady and got a schedule, and it looks great! I’m going to my first class this Wednesday. There was a beginning pointe class warming up when we were there and so we watched, and I just wanted to run onto that lovely marley floor and jump in and do the exercise with them! And my theater class is continuing to be amazing. On Thursday we did a free write for ten minutes about a favorite place, and it was so nice. I’ve loved to write since I was young, and I have countless notebooks filled with my writing, but since I got back to school I haven’t had much time to do it. Those were the best ten minutes of my week. So that was nice, and we’re going to write our own monologues soon and I’m excited about that!

One of my best friends just called me upset abou something. It’s times like these when it’s hardest to be away. I want to be at her house so badly! My friends from home and I have a really uniquely strong bond. It’s hard to describe. And we all want to be there for her now, but we’re spread out everywhere. Usually I don’t miss home that badly, but sometimes I just feel like I need to be there. Also… well I should back up for this story. There are eight of us in my group of best friends at home and one of them, Amber, came to Puget Sound too. So we’re each other’s constant; we never have to miss each other. And when we do, it’s weird. Haha. Anyway, Amber’s mom is here to visit right now and I saw them in the SUB this morning and it was very strange. I didn’t know they were going to be in there and suddenly there was a piece of Santa Rosa in the SUB!

On a happier note, it is ridiculously warm outside today! Actually, the last time I checked it was sixty-six, but it feels ridiculously warm. It’s weird how I can acclimate to Tacoma weather so quickly. I’ve been here for four weeks and the high sixties feels boiling! Our room is especially warm because it’s on the fourth floor.

Well, I’m going down to the sub with Amber and Michelle now. And then auditions… crossing my fingers!

So I’m a sophomore here and I’m so excited to be starting the new school year. I had a great summer back home in Santa Rosa, California (it’s in the Bay Area, in Sonoma County, about forty minutes to an hour north of San Francisco depending on traffic). I was a camp counselor at the same camp I worked at the summer before, which was so fun and rewarding, and I got to spend all my time with my family and my best friends, which was great. I was a Perspectives orientation leader here so I’ve been back since August 15. We had five days of training followed by ten days of orientation for the first-year students. It was so fun and such an amazing experience. I met so many new people– I have a Perspectives family now! It was so great to help all the freshmen, and all we leaders agreed we really grew from the experience. But it was basically non-stop for two weeks so I haven’t had very much time to talk to my friends at home or hang out with my friends who were already here. Then before I could get a break, school started! And today and tomorrow I had/have tour guide training at 6:45 in the morning, so I’m pretty much doomed to be tired until this weekend. At least everything I’m doing is enjoyable. This semester, I’m taking Spanish Contemporary, Intermediate French, Econ and Theater. I’ve only had one class of each but so far I’m really excited about everything.

Aside from classes, there are a bunch of activities I plan on being involved with. I’m only slightly worried about how I’m going to fit everything in. I managed just fine last year with my many obligations, but I’m putting a little more on my plate this semester so we’ll see how that goes. Right now I’m worrying about RDG (Repertory Dance Group). I’ve done ballet for eleven years and so of course I joined RDG when I got here as a freshman, and now I’m trying to choreograph a dance for this semester! It’s basically done but I have my doubts about it and the choreographer meeting is on Saturday, which kind of scares me.

Right now I’m in my room studying with friends, but I’ve miraculously finished everything already so I can just shower and review a few French conjugations before bed. I live in a quad on the fourth floor. It’s not a whole floor so it’s called the tower, and we have a huge room. I really enjoy being in here and there’s lots of space so people can come over. We have a rocking couch that my roommate Michelle found at an antique store and it’s in this little nook with a TV and near the fridge and microwave. It’s quite comfortable and our friends usually come up in the evenings to study with us.

Well, today is Thursday. I wrote the preceding stuff yesterday. The week is almost over and I’m glad. I’ve basically been sleep-deprived for the last three weeks, thanks to Perspectives and then tour guide training early in the morning two days this week. Labor Day weekend couldn’t come at a more opportune time. We definitely need an extra break after the first week of school. There’s always a lot of class-switching and stuff– yesterday and today I tried to get into a new class and drop another, tried to get into another class and then changed my mind after rather a lot of folderol, added and then (probably) scrapped a second minor and talked to my advisor (who was very helpful, as usual)– and it’s just stressful. But now, having had a productive and successful day, I am in quite a good mood. My french and econ homework only took me like twenty minutes and I don’t have anything else due until next Tuesday. Everything is starting to fall into place, and I’m excited. Next week I’m going to check out an off-campus ballet studio, so I’m really hoping that works out. I miss ballet a lot, as great as RDG is. Applications for the newspaper, The Trail, are due and RDG auditions are that weekend. Also, I’m starting to work out everything for study abroad, which I plan on doing spring semester junior year.

Well, I think I’ll work on some study abroad stuff, or wash my hair. More next week!