T.G.I.F.

I don't know why I'm tired, considering that I had a four day weekend with Hurricane Sandy over here, but I am so glad that it's Friday. The weekend is something I always look forward to and I always tell myself that it's the perfect time to get my stuff together and organize my course materials for the following week.

Does that actually happen? Of course not.

Friday I work three of my four jobs on campus and by midnight all I want to do is watch Family Guy and call it a night. Saturday is my "me" day. I usually just go to the mall with my friends and then hang out until the wee hours talking about nonsense things and enjoying our youth. Then comes Sunday and I have meetings after meeting after meetings and, of course, have to get my reading done that I should have started that Friday night; but we already talked about that.

Although, I may regret my procrastination (I should really work on that), the weekend is definitely something I need in order to recharge my batteries. If I didn't have those days to not think about scholarly work, I think my brain would melt.

I just wasn't trained like that.

I can't spend forever doing school work. I need breaks to enjoy my time at college. I'm a Junior now and next year will be my last year in college. I want to spend time with the amazing people I've met throughout my time here before we all go our separate ways.

So I am going to take a step back from my planner and just go with the flow....at least for these two days.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Here's a little something to amuse you. Enjoy!

Stevie Wonder: Isn't She Lovely?

Today, I was riding in my school's van to Target and on my way there, I heard this song that I am now officially obsessed with. It was called Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder had the most beautiful voice for this song. It's just perfect to add to your pandora's christmas/winter songs.

I was talking to my friend, who went with me to Target, and we both agreed that people don't make music like this anymore. Sure, there are still some artist who can put moving music, but, now days, you have to really look for it. Now, I'm not saying that I don't love my generation's music, but I feel like there are so many artists who are following the trend and what's popular than putting out deep and quality work. We forget the past that has influenced us so much and, sometimes, it's nice to go old school.

I love the lyrics to this song as well. It's about the birth of a child.

Now that's music.

Passport Central

After the whole issue with Hurricane Sandy, I was worried that my passport was going to be delayed. Well, I had nothing to worry about. Yesterday morning, my passport came in the mail and I have never felt so excited about anything else. I have never had a reason to get a passport and now that I have one, I just feel that much more anxious about my study abroad trip.

I was going to take a picture of my passport, but I just keep forgetting to do it.  It looks just like this, but mine looks so much better!

This upcoming spring, I will spend 7 months in France: the first 4-5 months in my study abroad program and the rest working at an internship somewhere in Paris. Having this passport in my hand has made the trip that much of a reality and, I'm not going to lie, I feel kind of nauseous (I swear I'm going to be that person to cry on the plane when I take off).

For so long, traveling abroad was always a dream of mine and I sometimes feel like I have to pinch myself to make sure I'm not sleeping.

Now, I just have to apply for my visa and get that process out of the way.

It's all coming together.....I think I need to lie down for a second.

Hurricane Sandy

A problem about going to school in the East Coast are the random hurricanes that we get over here. Last year, we had Hurricane Irene the week before school opened and my school had to push our whole academic calendar a week.

I was a student advisor, so I was fortunate to already be on campus before the hurricane hit. If I flew out to campus all the way from Chicago, I would have been sleeping in the airport. That would have been a trip to remember, huh?

The freshmen, however, were not so lucky. If they were not an international student or lived very far away (as in more than 2 hours) they were sent back home.

This year, I now have to deal with Hurricane Sandy. Hopefully, it's not as serious, but my school has canceled classes for the next two days.

I don't know about you, but I am definitely going to try to do some work before Wednesday class (note keyword: try).

What about you? What are you going to do during lockdown from the hurricane?

Email Overdrive

Lately, my email inbox has been getting the best of me. It's as if it created a life of it's own and has been multiplying ever since.

I currently have over 200 unread emails and I have no idea what they're about! I knew it was bad, but I didn't know how out of control I was with my inbox until I was told that there was an event on campus about post-graduation campus. Needless to say, I missed it because I didn't see the email and, therefore, never RSVPed for it.

Anybody that knows me can tell you that I love all things related to organization. I am obsessed about that and love to read blogs on how someone was able to organize their homes.

So my goal for today is to go through all of my unread emails and delete things that I no longer have any use for. I'm for keeping things in case I need it in the future, but I'm pretty sure that I don't need three different reminders that Charlotte Russe is having a sale or a coupon for something that I never even heard of. Don't you agree?

...Ahh, I need coffee.

Reminiscing on Hobbies

Image retrieved from deviantart.com by Lady-Tori

Do you know what I miss? Writing.

When I was in high school I wrote a ton of stories based on my favorite shows. If you ask anyone, I am a hard core anime and fan fiction lover. Writing about them just make it so interesting to see how you could make fictional characters become so human. It's amazing what people can come up with when it comes to fanfiction, too.

I love being in college, don't get me wrong, but, sometimes, you don't have enough time in the world to do the things you want to do when you have to study for an exam and write that 10-page paper you put off until the last minute (on a side note: is it just me or does it seem like the work never ends?!) But papers, exams, and presentations are just the tip of the ice-berg of what usually takes up a college student's time. You also have to take into account of club activities and on or off-campus jobs. 

But writing is not the only thing that I miss. I also miss the time that I had in high school to read for fun. Having to read articles and textbooks for class, I feel like there is just not enough time in the world to read that new york times bestsellers novel because you have to read 100 pages by the next day. Not to mention that I am a Psych major with a History minor, so all of my classes are reading intensive. It's interesting work, but sometimes I just want to read about someone being able to throw fireballs from their hands and saving the world in the end. Is that so wrong?!

Either way, my goal is to try to get back to my writing and reading. I loved it when I would get lost in my fictional world and just pretend that I was an awesome, kick-ass, superhero.

First Day of Classes and Whatnot

Last Thursday marked the beginning of the semester for me at my school. I have to say, that week was magical. This is the first time in two years (I'm a junior now) that I can finally enjoy my Thursdays and Fridays. Usually I have 9am classes where it kind of makes it hard to spend time with my friends into the wee hours of the morning; especially if I have to sit through a lecture the following day without  falling asleep.

I have had to deal with party noises outside my dorm when I was studying for a test and although my school isn't a huge party scene like other universities (thank god), it can still get pretty annoying when you keep hearing screaming. I'm not going to lie, there have more times than I can remember when I wanted to throttle them all in the head until they got the hint that they are not the only people in the whole campus.

With that being said, I'm pretty sure now you can understand why I am officially satisfied with my schedule this semester. Yes, I still have classes on those days, but it's only one on Thursdays at 11:50am and Fridays at 2:45. I will be forced to get up and make something useful with my day, but not too early where I end up feeling like a zombie.

Now back to the magical part of my week. That is the reason why I wanted to share with you all about that day. Although the semester has barely started, my Friday class was canceled and thus I was able to go to the beach with my friends to enjoy the last few days of the summer. I haven't been to the beach in about 10 years, so going with my friends was not only nice, but memorable; considering that one of my closest friends was going abroad for a whole year and I will be without her for my Junior year. It was a nice last hoorah before the first full week of classes started and we got to see her off at the train station for her to fly out.

Aren't these pictures amazing!

It was sad to say good-bye, but it was still nice to at least spend the last few days with her and other friends and enjoy each others' shenanigans.

And now, I venture off into the beginning of the first full week of classes and try to make my little friend proud of me....and to take many, many pictures for her while I'm at it.

Till next time....