You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home

Posted on by

If you asked me what I missed about home I would be able to give you a really long list (see bottom of post), and if I talked about home for a long time I think I may cry. It’s been nearly four months I’ve been away and with only two weeks left to go, it’s rough. I’ve reached the point where most people are pretty comfortable around each other, and I can see who’s a true friend and who isn’t, some characteristics that may have been hidden in the “make nice, make friends” stage of first semester. I’m happy to say I’ve made some really great friends and will definitely miss them over the winter break but also have met people with different interests than me. But no one can quite compare to the friends I’ve performed many concerts with, attended muddy service projects at ungodly hours in the morning, overnighters of fun planning for our next conference or performance. Yet I miss home now that I’m away and I’m sure I will miss my friends here when I go home.

I wish I could just combine both of my worlds, my home and family in Hawaii with my home and friends here at Puget Sound. But that could not be, besides the point these locations are 2,657 miles away from each other. And when I’m in one place I’ll be thinking of the other, I’m so glad Puget Sound has become like home, comfortable, fun and full of so many memories from this first semester and I can’t wait for the spring to jump right into crew season of early mornings and regattas, new classes, Luau preparation and many more wonderful things! But right now, exactly two weeks away from feeling the warm Hawaiian sun and cool trade winds on my skin in a shirt & shorts, I am desperately dreaming and waiting to be home again.

Here’s a list of 5 Things I Miss About Hawaii, people and places that I can’t wait to see, spend as much time with and wish I could do.

1. I miss hanging out at school with my friends, doing nothing but silly crafts and games in the SA Room, playing music or cards in the Band Room, competitions of Jenga, Connect 4, Chess and some homework in Mrs. Nak’s Room with cheeseballs and pretzels. The lazy afternoons of fun before rehearsal, a meeting or just because. I miss my music geeks, SA girls and OBH sillies with their jokes, dancing, puns and inside jokes.

2. Going to the library and renting enough books that I need a reusable bag to carry and the help of my sister, to sit in the air conditioning and browse the numerous books I’ve already read, but to read them again just because. And when I check out have the librarians recognize me as they always did.

3. Doing nothing in my house, absolutely nothing in my room, watch my brother hog the TV for SportsCenter, prove I’m reading my books than my sister and mom, and tell my dad to be quiet because he’s snoring to loud.

4. THE ASIAN & LOCAL FOOD, to get jasmine tea and dim sum early in the morning at Empress, eat a full plate Rainbow’s after a long day in the water at Waikiki, eat honey toast at Shokudo, eat spicy ahi don at Kuru-Kuru, get a plate at Panda Express, eat lots of meat jun from Young’s Kal-Bee, veal provenciale from Palazzo, a whole enchilada from El Charro and so much more food places

5. I miss going to my brother’s numerous baseball games, at CORP, Han’s, MoHS, Aiea Rec, Pride Field, on the Windward side or anywhere. To be tanning (which I will be doing a lot of in Hawaii) and reading a book, and maybe paying some attention to the game. To be eating the delicious potluck but most of all being goofy and catching up with all the coaches, aunties, uncles, grandmas and the entire baseball family.

In two weeks I’ll be able to do everything on my list.

“You can learn to fly and you can chase your dreams
You can laugh and cry but everybody knows
You’ll always find your way back home”

Fun fact: winter nighttime temperatures in the TCI rarely fall below 65 degrees.

Posted on by

No, the School for Field Studies did not get a Thanksgiving break.  But we go home on Thursday, December 5, so I guess that’s understandable.  And we did get a Thanksgiving dinner, despite the fact that (1) as a study abroad program, we’re kind of by definition not in the United States, and (2) half of the staff members are British and are therefore horrified by the thought of sweet potato casseroles with marshmallows.  It involved a bit of logistics, because if you want to make something, you have to order the ingredients far enough ahead of time for them to arrive via the infamous food ship, and then juggle the baking of various things with the restraints of having a single functional oven to cook for 50+ people.

I suppose the "big blue" beyond the wall of the reef is rather aptly named.

I suppose the “big blue” beyond the wall of the reef is rather aptly named.

In the spirit of recognizing that the semester is almost over, our last two dives were yesterday (diving in December without wetsuits!), so our gear will be ready to be packed up once it’s dry.  Those dives, incidentally, are worthy of a blog post in and of themselves – the divemaster said we were going to drop in “over the big blue,” and none of us realized what that was until we backrolled off the boat into the water, let the air out of our BCDs, started descending, and realized that, despite the perfect tropical visibility, there was nothing around us.  We descended without a single point of reference, freefalling into a sort of vast emptiness, before levelling off when we hit a hundred feet and swimming up to the wall of the reef, watching it slowly appear through the blue haze.  I don’t know why we haven’t been doing that all semester, but at least none of us will ever forget those final dives here.

Final exams are over, data collection has finished, directed research papers are turned in, and research presentations, cleaning, packing, and an afternoon visit to the tiny and uninhabited Long Cay are all that’s left.  When we first got to South Caicos, it took a while for me to really accept that this was going to be my home for three months.  And now that it’s just about time to leave, it’s hard to accept that I am, most likely, never going to see this place again.  I won’t miss the mosquitoes.  But I will miss Cerano’s Jamaican jerk chicken.

It’s also just about impossible to picture the transition from 90-degree weather here to 30-degree weather at home in Northern Virginia.  I don’t think I’ve felt a temperature below 75 degrees since May in Washington.  You know the scene from Cool Runnings where the Jamaican bobsled team flies to Canada – how they feel the icy grip of below-zero temperatures through an open door in the airport and gape in horror?  I’m unspeakably glad to not be flying from the Caribbean to Minnesota, like one of my roommates.  Call me Sanka, but I somehow suspect that my cold tolerance will be a bit lacking for a while.

How is it December Already?!?

Posted on by

It’s December, and I can’t believe it! I haven’t written a post since October, and not because I’ve had nothing to talk about, but because I’ve been so busy exploring I’ve been forgetting to write it all down. After my last post of October, our program went to Madrid for 5 days to visit el Prado, la Reina Sofia, el Palacio Realel Escorial, Toledo, and Segovia. Several students in my program, myself included took the opportunity to see a Real Madrid fútbol game, visit ham fest, find some delicious tapas restaurants, and wander around the city’s parks.

Real Madrid Game

Real Madrid Game

Paella

Paella

The Castle that Inspired Snow White in Segovia

The Castle that Inspired Snow White in Segovia

November has been filled with family barbecues, hikes around Granada, a visit to Alpujarras and Jerez, midterms, salsa dancing, a flamenco show, lots of tapas, shopping at the gypsy market, finally taking the DELE exam, and planning out my post-program travels.However, rather than review the details of ALL of the amazing trips and memorable events from the last month, I’d like to focus on a few of the more recent and unique experiences.

Alpujarras:

Alpujarras :)

Alpujarras 🙂

The white walls of Alpujarras were incredible and there were flowers everywhere

The white walls of Alpujarras were incredible and there were flowers everywhere

Loving the chocolate of the mountains
Loving the chocolate of the mountains

In mid-November, I traveled to Alpujarras in the mountains north of Granada for a day with a student travel program (Low Cost Trips Granada). We bussed up to Capileira where we got out and were able to see the highest point in the Iberian peninsula. This was one of the towns that was built by Muslims in hiding when they were exiled from Spain in the late 1500s and early 1600s. The cities used to be built with brown houses to blend into the mountains, but now they are all completely white. From there we hiked over to Bubión where we got to see a tailor at work. We then got back on the bus and went to Campaneira to visit a chocolate factory, Abuela Ili, where we were able to try a ton of the 60+ chocolates they had in their factory. I was immediately turned into the child I am and tried every single sample they put out at least two times and bought 3 bars of chocolate and 2, large, pieces of chocolate bark. 🙂

 

 

We then went to Trevélez, the highest city in Europe, which is famous for its Serrano ham. We went into a ham factory where we were able to see the curing process and then had a tasting of a variety of hams paired with a sweet wine. I, of course, was compelled to buy ham as well. Then, as we were waiting to hop back on the bus and head back down to Granada, it began to snow! I have never been so thrilled to see fluffy white flakes falling from the sky as in that moment! There is something about being so close to the mountains in Granada, much like in Tacoma, that makes me feel like it should snow. Watching the snow fall down as I stood in the highest city in Europe made me long to go back to Steamboat to ski the mountain on opening day, but it also made me feel like Spain was more like home than I had given it credit for: just like Colorado, it has snow, chocolate, and wonderful small towns that I love so much!

Ham Factory in Trevélez

Ham Factory in Trevélez

 

The highest city in Europe... Trevélez

The highest city in Europe… Trevélez

 

A Week in Granada

A paseo (walk) around Granada

A paseo (walk) around Granada

The week after Alpujarra’s was the week of the DELE (the standard Spanish language placement exam), which meant no traveling the following weekend. So we spent the week doing our final practice exams and interviews before finally heading into the 4 hour test on Friday morning. And I’m happy to say that, despite being dreadfully long, the test was not too bad. Our program had done a wonderful job of preparing us for it, and there weren’t any surprises hidden in the test. However, upon completion I looked forward to a very relaxing and rewarding weekend. Immediately after I went with a few friends for Churros and Chocolate at one of the nearby cafes to celebrate. We went out for tapas near the Plaza de Toros that night and celebrated a 21st birthday the following day with a walk around the Albaycin and a discoteca to round out the evening.

That Sunday we went to our host mom’s niece’s house in the pueblo for a barbecue. We had chorizo, pinxtos, carne, peppers, and miga (kind of like stuffing), accompanied by sangria. Then my host cousin (who happens to work in a bakery) brought out dessert, bonbons, apple tart, and a plate filled with a variety of pastries. I had a slice of apple tart (since it was as close to thanksgiving pie as I was going to get) and a pionono, which is a classic pastry from Granada that tastes like a cinnamon roll on steroids filled with cream sauce. As to be expected I had no appetite left for dinner that night and had a hard time even eating breakfast the following day.

A delicious plate of bbq food

 

 

 

 

 

Jerez 

Finally, this past weekend, I went to Jerez with two other girls from UPS to explore the city and taste the world famous sherries. We took the train and got there on Friday night and went to our apartment (we stayed in an apartment that we booked through airbnb). After checking out a map to figure out where we were in the city, we wandered down to a wine bar about 10 minutes away. The streets in this  part of the city were virtually empty with a few pedestrians and the occasional car. They were little streets that wound this way and that around the buildings. Eventually we wound up in a little plaza filled with people and headed into the sherry bar. We had a few glasses and a few tapas and hovered by a little table along the wall of the crowded bar before deciding to try another place. We walked down the street a little farther, came to another plaza, and found a little restaurant tucked away where we sat and ordered more tapas and a bottle of Tempranillo. We soon discovered that there was another plaza in practically every block of Jerez.We also went sherry tasting at the famous Tio Pepe bodega, the largest in all of Jerez, and rode around the bodega on a golf cart in our own personal tour with one other man who was from Japan.

To get a taste of home while we were away we also decided to cook ourselves some of the breakfast food we’d been missing… pancakes, hash browns, fried eggs, and of course latkes for Hanukkah 🙂 Having the ability to pick my own eating schedule and what my meals consist of is one of the luxuries I miss most about home, so this trip came at the perfect time to remind me that home is not that far away and I can always do simple things to ease the homesickness that is so common with traveling.

December…

I am very sad to report that our program will be over in just 17 days and then I will leave Granada, my incredible host family, and the amazing friends I have met this semester. I know that when I got here the first few weeks dragged on and I thought I would never be able to understand the language or feel comfortable ordering in restaurants, talking with my host family, or listening to tours in Spanish. However, now that we’ve come into the final month of our program I am amazed at how fast it has all gone by and at how distant that first month seems. Although I am looking forward to the next phase of my travels, including Prague, Italy, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, I am cherishing every moment I have left in Granada and hoping that these last few weeks will drag on the way I thought they might at the beginning of the program.

 

 

November farewells

Posted on by

I just hugged my sister and parents goodbye who came up from CA for Thanksgiving. I am feeling confused, loved, and reflective; a good emotional recipe for a blog post. So before I dive into the December pre-finals college world I will share a few fond memories from my November.

  • Performing the first movement of Lalo’s cello concerto with the North State Symphony. Such a thrilling, rewarding weekend after 3 months of hard work! I am grateful for my UPS friends and the UPS cello studio being such constructive and encouraging listeners, for the support of my family and friends, and for the inspiration and guidance of my superhuman cello professor. My dream is to someday play the entire concerto with orchestra.

Lalo with North State Symphony

  • Taking a lab exam in the pouring rain at Point Defiance Park with Rite in the Rain paper which was invented by two brothers & UPS grads (Go Loggers!) It may seem strange to call taking an exam in pouring rain a “fond memory” but somehow it is. I felt like a true student of science shivering in the rain with my waterproof paper, identifying and classifying organisms. I don’t have any photos from that day– the rain would have been lethal to my iPhone– but I’ll share this picture from our lab trip at the beginning of the year of my professor & classmates looking for sea squirts:

lab at pt. defiance

  • Exploring the streets surrounding UPS, alone and with friends. I love looking at people’s houses and decorations, smelling their flowers, and petting their animals! Here are two beautiful cats that I met on afternoon runs:

  • Watching the sun rise from behind Mt. Rainer on the steps outside my dorm. Georgia O’Keefe said of the Pedernal,

“It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it.”

Sometimes I feel this way about Rainier– that perhaps if I pause enough times to appreciate it or if I take enough pictures of it, it will belong to me.

sunrise behind mt. rainier

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, November!

 

Loggers in L.A.

Posted on by

I love the Northwest. I really do. If my life lasted another 80 years I’d plan on being based here for at least 70 of them. That being said, sometimes Southern California just feels really, really nice.

This recent visit was my first time in Los Angeles. Growing up in my house LA was always the bad guy. The big polluted city full of nothing but rich jerks, airheads, and gangs, all either pushing or using drugs that they wash down with water stolen from the poorer outlying towns. And they don’t have seasons! That’s the way I was raised. Blame my father.

After that you terrible description you might be wondering why I would ever visit LA. Well, I work in the student programs of the Associated Students of Puget Sound. I work in the office that brings performers to campus. Lectures, comedians, movies, musicians – stuff like that. There are 7 of us in the office and this year three of us got to attend a conference called NACA West.

NACA stands for National Association of Campus Activities and is kind of like a showroom for college performers. Agencies submit members of their roster to be showcased for the students and advisors that make the decisions and we in turn choose whether or not to book these performers for dates on our campus. It is a great opportunity for the school to tap a new source of talent as well as a wonderful experience for those who get to attend. We are lucky that Puget Sound sends students every year and I am lucky that I have been able to attend twice.

Now, to be fair, NACA West was not in Los Angeles. It was about an hour East in Ontario, California. Where is Ontario? Well, its East. That’s all I can tell you. They have an airport. And three In-N-Out. And a mall. And two movie theatres sharing a parking lot for a total of 52 screens. And hotels built for the sole purpose of servicing the people who visit that mall. And of course a convention center where we held our conference.

Luckily (I guess) the cheapest option for travel was to leave Tacoma at 3 AM on Thursday and arrive early in the morning in Los Angeles. Registration didn’t start until that afternoon and we didn’t see any reason to explore the Ontario mall, so we did what any other vitamin C deprived Washingtonian would do in the middle November, we went to Venice Beach. Despite never getting used to the fact that the shapes I saw on the horizon were not mountains but smog (gross), those two hours on Venice Beach almost made up for a childhood of brainwashing I endured about California. Yes, I saw a lot of those problems but they didn’t seem to bother me. Maybe it was sudden rush of sunshine, or maybe the smog was cutting off my oxygen supply, but I actually enjoyed my time there.

And then we made it to the conference and I saw Zero from Holes ruin my childhood by enlightening me about his new rap career. Maybe that knowledge would have been palatable on the beach, but not in a dark conference room turned theatre. Despite Mr. Zeroni’s efforts, I still flew North with a better appreciation for Southern California, and you know what, maybe this is the lack of sun talking, but I’m not sure I’d object to joining the So-Cal alumni and spending more than a weekend down there.

Taking a Break

Posted on by

Although there have been many times that I had downtime, just browsing the internet, I haven’t had a real break from college or doing work since my mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago. The time passes by quickly, but at the same time moves viscously; it’s Monday and suddenly it’s the weekend but you have a paper due on Tuesday plus as exam. This cycle is constantly repeating itself and I can’t wait to finally see the end. Yet there is still a solid two weeks left of the semester to keep learning, growing and working hard for finals before I can take a serious break and go back to Hawaii. And going home is the driving motivation for me, and many students, to get through these last few weeks of my first semester of college.

I’m so grateful I could visit family in San Francisco over this short Thanksgiving Break because it’s definitely made me less homesick and tired for the semester to end already. Now is the time for me to finish strong, keep going until the very end. And I know now that there are many opportunities on campus to take little breaks such as  going to the student market, an acapella concert, visiting Zoo Lights or just going outside to appreciate our beautiful campus. There will never be anything as comforting as lounging on my couch in front of my TV at home, but I can still take a break from the busy college life.

On a different note however, visiting my family has made me realize what things I miss about home. I miss showering without slippers and taking my time in the bathroom, singing in the shower with no one listening. I miss those lazy Saturdays, falling asleep on my couch in front of the TV. I miss going to my brother’s baseball games and feasting on the delicious potluck, and talking to all the aunties and uncles. I miss TV, watching Say Yes To The Dress, Full House, Friends and all kinds of reruns on the big screen and not just computer. But most of all I miss the company of my family. And I want to make them proud and this separation and investment in my future worthwhile by finishing this semester strongly. And if I need to take a break I will, but I know that I’ll come back stronger and more focused than before.

Barnraising

Posted on by

We left the SUB on a cold, clear Saturday morning, and I sat like a zombie through the car ride, munching on my container of kefir and Uncle Sam cereal.  This was to be my first Habitat for Humanity “build,” although technically there was no building involved, just a lot of hauling, dumping, shoveling, raking, wiping, painting, and washing.  Since the build site is not just a house but a whole development (a “gated community without the gate,” as one future resident told me) there was ample work to be done for every stage of the process.  Many of the tasks called to my mind and muscle memory the work that I did this last summer, picking up odd jobs all around the Tacoma area.  It was fun to get back into the rhythm of manual labor, to be in a place for several hours with the sole intent of putting as much of my sweaty efforts into that development as I could.  Well, I guess not the sole intent.  Along with a sense of well-being, the other volunteers and I got paid in baked goods and good company.  The homeowners who were working with us were very friendly and appreciative of our work, and the ones I met seemed happy with the process as a whole, even though it involves a big investment of time and work.  There is time spent waiting to get approved, the time it takes to build a house, and 500 hours of work they are required to put in.  Even though the housing is designed to be affordable, it is still out of reach for many.  Nonetheless, it feels to me like a substitute for the old-fashioned helping one’s neighbor raise a barn.  I’m told the world’s getting smaller, so it seems reasonable to help some neighbors who live a couple towns away.

habforham

Here’s a picture of some volunteers from the University of Puget Sound chapter, in front of our pet dirt pile that we were shoveling out to make nice, even lawns.  There will also be a big park in the middle of all the houses – I like all the green space!  Anyway, that’s one way to spend a Saturday morning and afternoon that will get you outside the college bubble, while still hanging out with some college friends.

Fun fact: the TCI Department for the Environment and Marine Affairs has twelve officers nationwide.

Posted on by

There’s nothing like the feeling of being done with exams – which I now have been for several delightful days.  So here I am on my tropical island, no more classes, and two weeks until I go home to DC; clearly, all I’m doing with my life right now is tanning and swimming in the clear, warm, turquoise ocean, right?

Actually, right now I’m sitting in my room wearing a fleece jacket and looking through the window to grey, Tacoma-esque skies.  I just got back from a snorkel at a site called the South End of Long Cay, and for some reason the elements never cooperate when we go there.  Last time, there was a huge current; today, it bucketed rain.  But hey, an eagle ray swam right next to us, so there’s that.

Lectures are over, but we’re still collecting data for our directed research (DR) projects (thus the necessity of the stormy snorkel).  Our papers are due a week from tomorrow, which is an absolutely terrifying thought, and then we spend a few days presenting our research to the community and the rest of the Center.  And then we return to the world of normal winter (as opposed to winter here, which means sleeping under a sheet and without a fan on).

DCIM100MEDIA

But before that, we have to get these papers written.  It’s already looming over my head, and we haven’t even finished collecting data – and then there’s the analysis of said data.  I’ll be creating a management plan based off of my group’s findings regarding the abundance of the invasive lionfish Pterois volitans, which basically means that I’m acting as a middleman between the scientists and the policy-makers, synthesizing and interpreting our results to suggest methods for controlling the lionfish invasion.  Think about it as a report for a government environmental agency, giving them scientific knowledge in a way that gives them a basis for creating policy – because may be what it turns out to be.  Fun things can happen when you’re at a prestigious field station in a small island nation.

Wheels

Posted on by

It doesn’t have a name, or a gender.  If you’re around campus you may know it as the blue Centurion LeMans waiting for me outside Thompson, missing some of the foam padding that came with the seat, the handlebars mostly bare metal at this point, the derailleur bent out of shape from being dropped too many times, with broken baskets for my feet and, if you look closely, two spokes on the rear wheel popped loose.  I’m working on getting these things fixed.

The seat (mostly unnecessary anyway):

It was only recently, when I started racing cyclocross, that I got into the habit of standing up when pedaling up a hill.  Or at any time.  My new trick is standing up without holding on to the handlebars, which only works on a downhill or briefly on a flat.

 

The handlebars (grab life by them):

When I woke up this morning it was dark, I mean inky middle-of-the-night dark, which I am getting used to on my early Friday mornings.  It has been so cold these last few days that I was tempted for a moment to drive the five blocks to the SUB, before realizing that my boyfriend’s car was covered in frost and it seemed like too much trouble to scrape.  Instead, I got my bike from the garage.  As I was wheeling it out, I noticed something strange.  Stars.  Bright stars, shining in close proximity to a half moon.  The frigid clear air made their light so piercing that I woke up out of my zombie state to say good morning to them.  And I pedaled to work, holding my back light behind me and looking over my shoulder at the moon, and I was the only person on the street, the only person in the world to observe the hidden treasure of an early morning skyscape.  By the time I reached my destination, the hand on my handlebar felt frozen on, a claw that I could hardly unclasp from the icy metal.

 

The baskets (make a little noise):

I bike around campus a lot, end when I round the corners my foot baskets tend to graze the ground, because they’ve devolved from baskethood to pieces of metal that are tied to what should be the pedals on my bike.  They’re good for alerting pedestrians, who dart glances at me to find the source of that ungodly noise.

 

The rear wheel (heading in a different direction):

I went in to get my wheels tightened and trued at the bike shop on campus, only to find that Friday afternoons are apparently a rush time for them.  I curled up on a couch with a friend who happened to be there and watched Daniel fix someone else’s bicycle for about an hour, before telling me that he would stay late to fix mine.  I tried to protest but he insisted, lifting it with care to the operating table, by which I mean the clamp that holds the bike in the air (I’m really bad with these terms).  I told him about the bike’s significance, how it’s my first road bike, salvaged from a garage sale, used to commute to work and school from high school onwards.  How it took me from Seattle to Portland with my four siblings and brother-in-law during the 2011 STP.  How it doesn’t have a name, but its value to me is far higher than whatever someone would pay for it, and so I’m going to go on fixing it and keeping it alive as long as I possibly can.  He nodded, understanding, and made it rideable once again.

 

The gears (clicking into place):

When I came home this afternoon, after hours of work and class and homework and play, the sky was a hazy shade of winter.  Not as striking as the stars in the morning, not a spectacular vision of colors, it was just enough of a sunset to ride off into on a broken-down bike like mine.

Registering for my Future

Posted on by

Everyone told me college wouldn’t be easier, it’s only four more years (well three and a half now) before I’m thrust into the real world to live my life. Yet registering for next semester was way more complicated than I thought it would be. The requirements in college are different from high school, but I actually enjoyed this opportunity for me to see the various classes all the disciplines offered. My advisor gave me some pretty good advice, “Take something that interests you.” So many times the news reports the current industry booming and parents drive their parents towards pursuing a career in those successful industries, but I think it’s up to every student to figure out what they truly love to do and how they can turn that passion into a life. I could take something I never considered before, to see where my other interests may lie. I browsed the system and quickly found a multitude of classes I was interested in and began looking at how they would fit into my schedule and back-up schedule since there was absolutely no guarantee I would be lucky enough to get every class I wanted.

Registering was organized by those with the most credits getting to register first with freshmen registering last. It was saddening to hear others rave about the classes they wanted and see them just as quickly become closed, as my advising group registered in the late afternoon on the second to last day. My registering period opened during my biology lab, and I remember furiously refreshing my account throughout to lab and see the status of all the classes I wanted, the first schedule, back-up schedule, and back-up to the back-up schedule become filled. Luckily my lab finished a couple minutes before registering and I clicked furiously to try and claim the last spot in that open class or quickly get on the waitlist. Two of the classes I wanted were already so far down their waitlist that when I emailed the professors later that afternoon inquiring about my possibilities they thanked me for my interest but suggested I try again next semester. Talking over my choices and options with my mom helped me figure out what I would enjoy the most and help me figure out what my interests truly are.

Registration was an unbelievable stressful and crazy experience. These classes I’m taking are meant to  fill me with the skills and knowledge that I will use in the future. And that thought right there is crazy for me; that my future is here and  I need to do everything I can to make my dreams and passions a reality. But I need to figure out what those dreams and passions are and I strongly think that my spring course load will help me truly figure out who I am as a person and how I want to change the world. The future is definitely closer than it seems, especially closer than how it felt six months ago at graduation.