740 Locust Street

I have a house next year!
I suggest google earthing it. It is precious:) It's two bedroom, two blocks from school, one block from safeway, right across the street from all my guy friends, and REALLY cheap! I will be rooming with Ali again and Kelsey and Alex will share the other room. We got a great deal because Kelsey's dad knows the property manager.
Check one off my year's goals!!!!

Awkward Transition

From Semester at Sea; huge cruise liner, 9 countries and hawaii, elegant living, toooooooooooooo
El Salvador; huts, dirt, hard work, spanish.

i have to decide by tuesday if i want to go. Any thoughts? Call me!

RIP Semester at Sea

Soooo... Santa Clara University, the private, $40,000 a year, Jesuit school in the silicon valley, is having a financial crisis. So, in order to keep our grasses green, our palm trees standing, our Jesuit professors massaged, and our resident's room filled to the brim with free crap like candy and mugs, they are no longer letting scholarships transfer to Semester at Sea. What does that mean for me? Well that means I can't afford to go. Good bye Morocco, good bye big shmancy boat, good bye worldly adventure, fun, education, experience of a life time.
The worst part about it is I was already approved to go, so I've already sent in my application (and $50 app fee), written all my essays, and worked my butt off to get credits and classes to be transferable. This means some day soon I will probably get an acceptance letter to the program I can no longer attend, only pushing the knife in a little deeper into my broken heart.

I should have thought about this new book idea two years ago so by now I wouldn't have to worry about petty things like $10,000.

sooooo....

I think I'm going to write a book. I just wanted to blog that so that some day when I'm on Oprah's Book List I can look back on this moment and remember when it all began.

I'll keep everyone updated.

P.S. My book will be titled: My Ex Boyfriend, Jack Daniels.

Carmel!

This is the House that we stayed at this past weekend in Carmel. Thank you Dom and Stacy!!!! (Alex's parents). This is the view from the beach. It was right on the water!
It was an amazing weekend, so hot we actually got in the water! Maybe more than we wanted to:)
Alex, Ali, and I went and played on the rocks and hung out in the tide pools.
At night we went bon fire hopping, meeting a bunch of airforce guys on leave. They didn't believe the red cup was coffee:)
At night we were put to bed by our man slaves Jeremy and Mike:) It was alright I guess:)
Each night had incredible sun sets and we really made the most of every moment.
This is a small glimpse of the epic rock climbing. My hands are all scabbed up now:(
On our last day we went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium (my first time). Apparently I was excited:)

Swimming!!

My roomie Ali and I bought bathing suits and goggles so we can swim laps and work out in the pool. We've gone four out of the past five days and I'm really pumped about it! My everything is sore today but we're planning on going again today at six.

Swimming=my new love

Week One

So WOW. This first week back was absolutely insane. I feel academically hung over from all the homework, tests... yes two of them in the first week, and readings. But here is the recap of my classes this quarter:

Philosophy 12: About 30 people in the class. Prof seems really nice and interesting but there is sooo much reading each night and a essay quiz to prove that we've read.
Research Methods in Psychology: About 20 people in the class. So far its been pretty boring, but I feel like it will be pretty easy to balance out the other classes.
General Psychology 2: It is going to be reeaaaallly interesting, but the class is huge (like almost 40!) There is a quiz every week so the workload will be pretty heavy too.
Cultural Anthropology: Another bigger 30ish person class. And another class with a lot of reading and pop quizzes so it will be a lot of work. The prof is young and seems to really like the subject.

So looks like a busy, crazy, tiring, hard quarter. Hello winter.

I miss my bros already:(

Final Grades

Thought I'd brag a bit...

Sociology (Race, Class, and Gender in the US): A
Statistics: A
Physics: A
English (Literature in Religion): A

I'm pretty satisfied:)

Reasons I still don't drink

I get asked why I don't drink A LOT. So here it is..
1. Every minute of my life is a gift from God and the least I can do to show my thankfulness is to live each moment fully aware and present.
2. I'm all about living up to your potential, and to do that at all times I need to be sober at all times.
3. There is no need. I don't want to escape nor do I need it to have fun.
4. I've only got one physical body and I want to keep it as healthy as I can.
5. The Buddha says that we learn and grow every moment, through every experience, I want to be aware at all times so that I can gain the most from life and continue down the path of enlightenment.
6. Drinking too much is dangerous and when I did drink those four years ago I was never good at not drinking too much.
7. Things like this happen:) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090101/ap_on_re_us/home_shooting


Is that enough?

New Year Resolutions

1. Semester at Sea!!!!
2. Healthy body, healthy mind
3. Growth in my Spirituality
4. Stay in better contact with all my family
5. The Smith boys to college!!!!
6. Amazing Grades
7. Find great housing for next year
8. Keep financially stable
9. Stay organized
10. Learn a new skill

Break

Well my Christmas break has been pretty fabulous so far. I spent a good deal of my time at home with my best friend Carrie and my "brothers" Dylan and Evan. I also got to see a few friends from Santa Clara who live in the area. I watched way too many movies and ate way too much pie. On new years eve I flew to Nebraska, which is where I am at now. I'm visiting family who I haven't seen since graduation and meeting family that was born since then(baby Molly is adorable). This break has been about being outside and getting my fix of all my small town girl desires because I probably won't be going home again for another six months! All in all very enjoyable break.