Next Summer

Next summer is going starting to sound like an amazing adventure for me. My parents and I booked my flights to Italy for next summer and in addition, I will be spending a little time in New York before and after the trip to Italy. I CANNOT wait for this trip. I just know that I am going to learn so, so much and come out of it a completely different person. So my trip starts as soon as school ends. I will drive home to drop my car off at my parents and then I fly to New York for a day and a half then fly to Italy. After my program ends I am staying with my family in Italy for another two weeks then flying back to New York for 6 days to spend with my family and best friend. I am so giddy with excitement, it's ridiculous. I just cannot believe that this is truly happening. I have wanted to study abroad since, oh gosh since I was a kid. At least in junior high. And I just know that it's going to be amazing. It's a little nerve-wracking to think that I will be away from home for around 3 months. I just can't wait. I think I've said that a few times. Well I just wanted to get that out. So this blog is going to be my main way of communicating what's going on while I'm away. Ahh the new year will be here in a few days. Amazing to think about.

Christmas

was here and gone before you could blink twice. The strange thing about this year's holiday season was that I had been so focused on the end of the semester and already in the mindset that there would be no frantic christmas shopping that there really wasn't much buildup to it. I got home this time last week and really it was a quick week up until christmas. and like most years it was there and done. Christmas is obviously not what it was when I was young. My entire family is waiting for my cousins to have some kids so that nervous excitement can once again be experienced. That is the joy of Christmas, really....seeing the excitement on the kids faces. it just reminds you to be a kid and relax and enjoy yourself.

This week home didn't start off happy. I found out a few weeks ago that my mom needs a hysterectomy because of a benign growth in her uterus. Just that is enough to make me nervous, even though I know that the hysterectomy procedure is a very routine one and very common. But on top of that her mammogram scan came back with something "warranting further evaluation". Well that right there, told to me by my very freaked out mother right when I got home, was enough to make me cry several times over the next few days. But thank God (literally because I prayed so so much since finding out about this situation after thanksgiving) there is nothing to be worried about. i was amazed, even though i shouldn't be, at how absolutely loving my parents friends are. My mom has received several cards from friends over the last few days just letting her know that everything will be ok and that they, the sender of the card, is there if she needs to talk to someone. This is the reason I love coming home. My family could not have found a more wonderful group of people to become friends with when we moved here. We know, as a family, that if any of us are ever in need, we can reach out and visa versa. Our church community is like my second family... I even call some of them mom and dad.

But I'm rambling. It's great to be home. It's almost surreal at times to think that I really haven't been home that much since this time last year. This time last year I was preparing to move up to school and be on my own, really for the first time. I was terrified. But surprisingly, it was an easy transition. I could go into this past year more but this post is already long enough. So Christmas is over and almost done with (still have some post-Christmas sales to hit and more gifts on the way from family and friends) then it's New Years with some of my wonderful "brothers". Can't wait. And I really can't believe that I still have a month til school starts up again. Jeez. This time next year I will be a college graduate. Crazyness. OK off for now.

It's really over

The semester is finally FINALLY over. Yes it is. I have to keep telling myself that because it seemed never ending. In fact I still feel like I have one more test to do or one more project to finish. But I don't. For one glorious month, four weeks, 30 days, I don't have to think about school..but I will. However, what I will be doing more of is writing here, reading my good ol' Harry Potter books, baking cookies, hanging with friends and family and watching fun movies. Just relaxing. Because along with going home for a few weeks, I don't have to go to work! Ahh it is going to be wonderful.

So today I did finish one last project for school, the convocation event binder, with my co-chair and got to cleaning out my school stuff and my room. It really is a wonderful feeling to clean after such a long, long time. Already my room is looking better and not a hazard zone like it has been. Clothes are in the laundry, dishes are done and I am starting to pack. Tomorrow morning I will load my car and make my way down the 101. Ahh wonderful. I'm going to miss my friends here but I'll be back soon enough. This year has been full of so much newness I have to sit for a while and comprehend that. But that's for another post at another time. Right now I'm going to cook myself some dinner and get ready to go out with a few of the girls to a fun bar downtown.

Right now..

...all I want to do is get cozy on the couch and have a Disney movie marathon and color with markers and play with playdough. Yes, it is almost the end of finals. I have been fully immersed in studying since last week and let me tell you...it's draining. Tomorrow at noon will be d-day for me and my Media Law and Ethics grade. Like I said before I have NEVER studied this hard for a final. Then Thursday is the convocation ceremony, for which I am co-chair of the planning committee. I know it will go off without a hitch (fingers crossed) but I still worry. Anyone who has worked on an event with me knows that. I always worry even if I know nothing can go wrong. So *knock on wood* the ceremony on Thursday will be amazing and all the graduates will look spectacular and everyone will be happy. Finished my final website today and I'm proud of it. However, I don't know how long it will be on the web since it's on my teacher's personal server and he only has so much room on that thing. But yay know I know how to make a website...sort of. Ok I must get back to studying. Home on Saturday-ish. Can't wait to see everyone!

It's been raining for 2 days...

..and I can honestly say that I have never studied this much for finals. Ever. And I'm not quite sure if that is a good or bad thing. All I know is that this semester seemed to go on for a full year, not a quarter of one. I try to think back to January when I first moved up to school and it just seems like a different lifetime. This week is going to go impossibly slow. I know this because it's only Saturday night and I have all day Sunday to continue my studying. Monday I have a final and then it's back home for more studying continuing into Tuesday. Work will interrupt that and then Wednesday at noon will be the end of it. Convocation on Thursday seems so far away from now. But of course I know that like most things I lament over lasting too long, it will be over in the blink of an eye. Before I know it, I will be once again making the drive down the 101 to home and family and friends for a few weeks. Who knows, those weeks could go fast and I will be sad to leave or they could go so slow that I will enjoy going back to the daily grind of classes, work and all other things that my life is full of now.

I'm relatively new to this blogging thing. Not quite sure how I should go about it. I think I'll write in it when I feel like. About whatever I want to, within reason of course. A lot has happened since I started up here and in the next six to eight months, even more things are going to happen. It's going to be a wild ride, that's for sure. And I'm positive that this time next year, when I am nearing the end of my undergraduate college career, I will look back and be so happy I did what I did when I did it. My motto is that life happens and it all happens for a reason =).

Starting This Blog...for reals

Oook so I am officially done with my class that this blog was required for and now that I've had it, I actually like it. So this is my blog. You can go through my old posts if you like and see what I was up to all semester in my writing workshops class. And I'm also posting a link to my new media class blog, which has my final project on it in the form 3 videos. The theme is my family's christmas traditions. So don't make fun of me and just enjoy this blog. It's my new personal outlet.

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