Ahhhhh happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone stuffed their faces full of food not only on Thursday but continuously throughout the weekend, I know I did and it was absolutely wonderful. It was so nice to be home, to have access to a kitchen, and to eat really good food.

I took the Amtrak bus up Wednesday afternoon and my sister got on the same bus in Salem. It was a long bus ride filled with traffic and anticipation but it was so worth it. I was home a week ago for the Justin Timberlake concert so it wasn’t the first time being home since school started but it was still really great and comforting to be home, especially for more than twelve hours. My house looks and feels basically the same. It was a little weird to be home and see how everything keeps going on and changing without you but it still was comforting to be back in the house that I have lived for twelve years. My room was so clean, honestly cleaner than its ever been, that was probably the biggest shock for me. It’s not that I am that messy of a person but I’m not the cleanest either but still.

It was nice to have time to just hang out and relax with my parents without having to worry about anything, I probably didn’t worry enough about the things I have to do for the upcoming weeks. A lot of my friends did not actually come back to town for Thanksgiving so I just spent a lot of time with my parents which was a lot of fun. My older sister has finals this upcoming week so most of the time she spent in Portland she was studying therefore my parents and I just hung out the three of us (we were somewhat exiled from the house so she could studying in peace). Thanksgiving day was really relaxed, we hosted dinner which was absolutely delicious and we just spent the day spending time with our family and friends eating, drinking, and having a good time. Friday I really just spent time with my parents, we went shopping at the Columbia Employee Store where I picked out some birthday presents, and went to one of our favorite restaurant and hung out and played Scrabble. Saturday (today) I got to go out to breakfast to the Black Bear Dinner with my mom, my best friends mom, and my best friends little sister which was amazing. They are like my second family and it was so great to be able to see them especially because my best friend didn’t actually come back for the holiday.

This will be my last blog post and it was been an interesting experience. I have never been a blogger; I was always terrible at keeping journals and this wasn’t my favorite activity but it was good for me in someone ways because it made me write down and think about my first term of college more than I would of otherwise. I think the biggest challenges was trying to find things to talk about sometimes and trying to make my writing sound more natural. I don’t think I’ll keep on blogging but it was a good experience for me.

Currently I am sitting here so tired yet so content. My friend Serrie is sitting on my floor unsuccessfully trying to figure out what to do with her life while playing Kim K. {Hehehe I feel like I am Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City}

Oh my goodness I am so flippin’ glad that it’s finally Friday because man oh man this week was rouuugh. I feel like that week eight is always rough for everyone because you are so tired and it’s the end of term but there is still so much work to do and its just too much. Luckily though I didn’t have any tests or assessments this week which saved me. Next week though I have a spanish test on verb conjugation on Monday, my second in class essay in my history class on Tuesday oh and a Ethnic Studies Quiz. So I will be busy doing all of that and then it’s going to be Thanksgiving!! I am somewhat super excited for– we are hosting this year and I always find that somewhat busy and stressful but I am excited to spend time with my dog and family.

Speaking of my dog and my family I got to see them last night!! My friend Abby and I took the train up to Portland yesterday afternoon and left this morning at 7 am all to go to the Justin Timberlake concert, which let me tell you was so worth it. My mom got me the tickets about a year ago when I kept on dropping hints about them and she gave them to for a graduation present. My parents picked us up from Union Station and then we got to spend a couple hours with them having dinner and just catching up. It was nice to just hang out and talk with my parents about everything, all the random details of our lives without fighting or getting mad or passive aggressive or anything. My mom made us pesto with fresh bread and roasted broccoli and it was honestly so nice to eat a home cooked meal– i mean it was nice to eat anything but dorm food. After we all caught up Abby and I started to get ready and my parents let us use their car and we were off. The concert was probably one of the best concerts that I have gone too. Justin Timberlake and can sign, dance, and play instruments. We didn’t have the best seats but we it was still so much fun to sing along and dance especially because he is such a good performer. It was overall just a really great and fun break away from college and was so nice to be back in my hometown and to see my family!

¡Es viernes, es viernes, es viernes la día mejor!

This week is finaaaaaaaallly over and I am so excited– I feel like I was just constantly on the struggle bus this past week, I got sick on Sunday night and had a lot of stuff to do so that wasn’t the best combination but all is well that ends well right?

I feel like I have now gotten a great friend group that doubles as my support group, it is actually been such a relief and really helpful. I have made some great friends in my classes and I am really close with everyone on my floor which is super nice because I feel like I can ask them for advice/help about a lot of things and we are always there to support one and other and just hang out and eat food together.

When I have needed help this semester whether it be socially/academically I have really turned to the girls on my floor for help. Academically I turned to the girls in my floor or people I am friends with in my classes– I haven’t  had a lot of struggles in this area so far but it’s nice to have the back-up if need be. Socially, I have turned to my sister, my best friend,some close friends here and my mom for advice which is relatively normal. I have always been really close with my best friend and my mom and I can talk to them about most everything which was true in high school and my sister and I have been talking a lot more since I’ve been in Eugene which has been really helpful especially because she went to UO as well so it’s like having an insider connection.

Personally I feel like help– social and academic, was easier to find at my high school and at my house. This is because I went to a pretty small high school ((650 girls in total) and all the teachers/counselors were really hands on and understanding . They were all were really approachable and it was just easier for me to go up and ask them for help. Here, it is a big school, so its been somewhat of an adjustment and I can feel like it can be easy to be get lost in the crowd here somewhat. But I also understand that the professors and GTFS are here to help but you just have to take the first step.  Also, at my house I was really close with my parents– my mom especially and they were always there if I needed to rant about my friends or ask questions about my homework and stuff like that. I think there’s just an adjustment period.

I can’t believe it’s already week six and November!! It seems like the weeks have flown by but it also feels like we have been here forever too. I think it’s helped that I have really grown closer to all the girls on my floor and classes keep me really busy.

It’s somewhat weird to me to not be at home during this time of year because it’s the beginning of holiday season, Thanksgiving is like three weeks away!! I haven’t actually missed a lot of long standing traditions being away at college yet. I think the only things I have missed are a few Halloween traditions– roasting pumpkin seeds, passing out candy at my friends house, and etc. but I think I replicated those to the best of my abilities here and still had a lot of fun. But besides that I don’t think there are really too many traditions that I’ll be missing being here in college. I am going home for Thanksgiving and I’ll be there for all of our Thanksgiving traditions which most of them happen on the actual weekend anyway. Also my parents are the type of people that will hold off on doing a lot of holiday traditions until both my sister and I are back home, if possible. When my sister was in college and I was still at home if the timing worked out we also waited for her to get home to do all of the things that we do every year. This year Thanksgiving weekend at my house will actually be a little different then it has been in the past because my sister might only stay for the actual day of Thanksgiving instead of the whole weekend because she has finals for law school the next week. It’ll be weird in the sense that she won’t be with me to deal with all my parents weird habits and we won’t be able to go shopping or watch movies together. I mean I understand why she feels like she can’t stay for the whole weekend because in all honesty she won’t be study a lot or get much done if she stays home.

I wouldn’t say that I have established too many traditions yet in these first six weeks of classes yet. Though three people have already had their birthday’s on our floor and for each of them we have made posters, given them balloons, cards, and etc. I am looking forward to making more and more traditions throughout my time here and especially during this upcoming holiday season.

It’s finally the weekend and I’m so thankful, this week was a little cray cray.

Happy Happy Halloween!! It’s officially Halloween and I guess that super exciting for some people, I was originally going to just watch scary movies and stuff my face of junk food and candy but now I have actual plans and have to put together a last minute costume– crop top, high waisted shorts, flower crown, oh my! ( I am going as a hippie, peace and love man). Here are photos, one with my pumpkin (according to my mom I have been carving pumpkins the same way since I was five) and the other one is me with my filled out ballot last night (I just voted for the first time!!).

 

Besides voting and eating candy in spirit of Halloween, I just have been going to classes and stressing over homework and tests. and ahhh. Classes overall have actually been going overall okay. I’ve gotten A’s on all of my tests in all of my classes so far so that’s really coo. So I guess it’s safe to say that I am doing as well as I’ve hoped in them ;).

Overall classes are okay– I mean they are not the most exciting things in the world but the subjects are ones that I am actually interested in which is a step up from all those classes I was forced to take in high school. I have found that lecture classes are as bad (but great) as everyone says they are. In all honesty they are somewhat really boring– the history lecture is interesting, yes, but literally all he does is talk at us and show us a powerpoint– there’s not a lot of interaction between the professor and the class. Which I get it’s a lecture, it doesn’t have to be that way, but still it makes it a little more interesting and I think the class would stay awake more often if there was more to it than just listening to him talk. I actually find the ethnic studies lecture really interesting in my opinion especially because our professor is really into what she is teaching and cares about her students a lot. Her lectures are actually pretty interesting because she is really interactive in her lectures– it’s not just her talking at us. She asks us questions, she allows comments and questions and etc. I like the discussion attached to my lectures to an extent, it’s nice to be in a smaller group of people in the same class that can help and explain things to you. I really like my spanish class, I mean the class is really easy for me but who am I to complain about an easy class. I like the class because it’s a smaller group of people– only like 25 people and the teacher is really nice. It’s nice to be in a small class because you get more personalized attention and etc. I think this term has been a really good learning experience so far about what type of classes I like and etc.– I think I’ll make sure to have a variety of classes next term so it doesn’t get too repetitive.

Overall, I think classes are what I expected them to be and they are living up to the expectations.

 

Wooooooooow this has been a very long and stressful week. I just, woah, had a lot going on and on top of every I got sick so that was stress inducing.

My first college-level assessment was in history last week, it was our in class essay, and it in retrospect it went really well. I personally thought I completely bombed it but I actually did really well and got an A on it? Which is strange but whatever, I am not complaining.

I had two more tests this week– a spanish test and an ethnic studies assessment. There was drama around my spanish test because the day I was suppose to take it (Tuesday) I suddenly got really sick. I either got food poisoning or a stomach bug, either way I am now wary around dorm food especially because I puked eight times on Tuesday which is a new record for me. Because of all the puking, I had to miss my spanish test– I didn’t feel up to it and I didn’t want to get other people sick or be a distraction, because let’s be real, who wants to have a girl puking while everyones taking a test?? No one.

It turns out that I could make up my test (it was a one time deal, thanks prof.!!) and I feel really good about it. Spanish is an easy class for me (it helps that I used the same textbook in high school) and the test was pretty easy.

The ethnic studies assessment is the one I am truly not sure about because I had to take it on Tuesday, the day that I was sick, and I did it really quickly because I honestly just wanted to get it done. But I mean it really was just a reading comprehension test– it was really just testing us to see if we were doing the readings and actually paid attention during her lectures which I’ve done both. I think I did okay on it, which in all honesty sort of means nothing because I’ll say that and then I fail the test or on the flip side do really well, so who knows how I did (well the gtfs do, ;)).

I think my study habits these past two weeks were a mixture of good and bad ones. I did all the readings and looked over all my notes and studied vocabulary for spanish but overall I had a really hard time motivating myself to actually study and holding myself accountable when it came to studying. I mean I think I studied enough for all my tests but I do feel like there is always more I could do. And it’s not like I don’t have study habits, I do, the motivation to put this study habits into practice was hard.

Me with my history test that I got an A on!!

This week has been pretty stressful actually, I had a lot of work to do and had my first midterm on Thursday and that was pretty stressful and nerve wracking. It was an in class essay and I mean I know how to write an essay but still I was nervous about it and halfway through I had second doubts about how I structured my essay but you know what, it’s over now and I have to stop obsessing about it.

Along with studying and stressing out about school I have gone to a few on campus activities. I have gone to a few study sessions with my FIG and they were actually really helpful. It was nice to be able to study with others, you know solidarity sister.

Another on campus activity I went to was hall elections in the basement of my dorm building. I went with some friends in my hall because our RA really wanted people from our hall to you know actually participate. It was somewhat interesting, I guess, I mean it got loooonng but hey we got to vote for the people who are going to represent us sooo that’s cool.

I also went to the street fair the other day and that was probably one of my favorite activities I’ve gone to on campus so far. I have gone to my share of street fairs and saturday markets but I found it really cool that there was one right in basically the middle of campus. I have had the opportunity to go to the street fair a couple of times these past few days. I went with my friend when we had time between classes and it was fun just to be able to look at all the booths. I also went back to the street fair this afternoon for lunch with a couple of friends and it was a lot of fun. There were so many different food options that it was so hard to choose just one thing to eat. I ended up getting a vegan hot dog, fries, and a strawberry lemonade and it was all so delicious. Once we all got food we decided to walk around the different booths which were selling a bunch of different things that you are not sure if you actually need but you know you buy it because why not? Like today I ended up buying a 3d poster of a tree that changes seasons when you move it around for ten dollars. And oh my god it is so cool and I just can’t get over it.

 

I was really glad that I decided to go to the street fair today because it was good to just get out of the dorms and do something somewhat out of the ordinary!

 

Well it’s week two and it seems that school has officially started, the homework level went shooting up the intensity scale real quick. It’s somewhat hard to balance it all especially when I think I am officially getting sick but I am managing.

One big thing on my mind right now is friends, meeting people, making friends, and all the complexities that comes with it. In all honesty my social life is all little different but not huge from what it was in high school. In high school I had my own group of friends but it wasn’t huge and I hung out with the same couple of people a lot. I didn’t go to high school with my best friend for 10 years and I don’t go to the same college she does too so I am used to it, to an extent. Even though we didn’t go to the same high school we still hung out constantly and now she’s in Montana and I haven’t seen her since August. It’s been a little bit of a struggle but I know she is having a great time out there and I know that we will still be friends no matter what.

Here at the UO I think I am making friends, well I mean I know I am making friends, but it’s not like I have met my “group of people” that everyone talks about yet. Everyone in my hall are friends and I have become friends with people from my classes and everything so I am not super worried about it. I know that I just have to keep putting myself out there and I am thinking about joining a club or some sort of extracurricular to meet new people and have more things to do. I am not completely sure what I am going to join yet but I am thinking about it. Also, it’s not like I don’t know anyone, I know a lot of people from my hometown and high school that I can hang out with, so right now I sort of feel like I am floating but I don’t have too much anxiety around it which is good. I think one struggle I have had here when it comes to making friends is just me being a tad introverted so it’s hard for me to constantly be around people and socialize and make friends. I think it definitely comes easier to some people which is hard to be on the other side of and it’s only the second week of classes and it seems like so many people have already got it all figured out. It seem like everyone has already met their best friends, they know where all the parties are (not that I am that worried about that but still) and have all this self confidence. And it makes you wonder like how in the world did they accomplish that and why haven’t I?? I know that it’s different for everyone and it’s okay that I haven’t met my group of friends yet but it is still a bit of a struggle.

I am looking forward to this weekend to hang out with some people and being able to sleep in!

After a long, but wonderful summer, I am officially a little freshmen duck at the big UO. The end of my first week on campus is coming to a close and what a long week it was. It feels like I haven’t been here that long but at the same time it does.

My initial impression of life on campus is that everyone is pretty active, friendly, and that you need to watch of the bikers. Also I found that campus is pretty big and you really need to establish some big landmarks early on to help you figure out where you are and what way to go to get where you need to be. I am living in a resident hall and I actually like it a lot. I mean the rooms are pretty small and communal bathrooms are not my fave but the girls on my floor are super nice. We all leave our doors open a lot so we can just pop in and say hi to each other and stuff like that.  We have already bonded quite a bit and it’s really nice to have a small community of people that you can talk and hang out with especially the first week of campus when you are still trying to figure everything out.

Classes, the reason why we are actually here, are actually mostly what I expected them to be. I am in a couple big lecture classes that are somewhat hard to pay attention to but are also super interesting. My spanish class and my FIG class are smaller groups of people and both are a lot more hands on and supportive which is something I really enjoy and I look forward to getting to know people more in those classes. Overall, I think my classes are definitely going to be a bit of a challenge, especially because I am not used to the quarter system yet  but I also think they’ll be super interesting and thought provoking.

Currently I spend a lot of time in my dorm just hanging out, reading, watching Netflix and etc. which I think will change once the madness with classes begins but also when I find that core group of friends. I have made friends but I still haven’t found like my “people” yet which I know can take a while. It’s somewhat hard when you see a bunch of people on like day two already having all of these friends but I just have to remind myself that it’ll happen and that I need to keep being social and putting myself out there. I am also thinking about joining a club or two, not actually sure which ones yet, to meet new people and have something to do besides go to class.

I think my biggest challenge this week was just having to push myself to be social and go out and talk to people because I am somewhat of an introverted person and honestly just trying to remember everyone’s name.