Great Semester

My first semester at SJSU has been a memorable one...I couldn't ask for any better. I met so many new people and had so many new experiences. I learned in class and outside of class everyday. I definitly like college wayyyy better than high school. I am so glad I chose to attend a college far from home because it forced me to become independent in many ways. I am so grateful for the chance I have been given and I can't wait til next semester!

Christmas in the Park

I had an awesome pre-finals week, especially knowing that none of my finals involved too much studying so I just chilled all week. Starting Tuesday night, my friends and I all went to Christmas in the Park. Downtown San Jose is like a mini-carnival. The park is sprawling with decorated Christmas trees from all different local organizations. There's food and rides too. And every 2 minutes, the light posts drop "snow" (after catching one on my tongue, I confirmed that it was not in fact snow, but soap bubbles). We went around taking pictures and laughing, just having a good time. Then we went on the rides. After the Ferris wheel, I dropped my only remaining ticket so the nice operators gave me 5 free tickets which I shared with all my friends who didnt get the unlimited ride wristband. We passed by the game booths where the workers shouted at us "You are guaranteed to win!" and stuff like that. After going on a weird swing ride and rollercoaster, we headed back past the same game booth guy who shouted "You guys back again? Come play!" I said "Only if its completely free!". He didn't hear me initailly so we kept walking but Abby, who was just a few paces behind heard him say "Sure! If you take me home with you!".  She ran up to me and the rest and told us what he said. We all laughed our heads off and when I turned around, he was waving at us...CREEEEPYYY! I didn't go back to that side of the carnival for the rest of the night. It did provide for some good laughs later on though. After Christmas in the Park, we went back to the campus and to the DC for some hot food since it was freeeezing cold. Then six of us went back to my room where we played Catch Phrase til 3am. It was a fun night!

Things are getting better

My roommate Elaine and I haven't really gotten very close this semester. Its not that we have disagreements or fight, we are just different people who probably wouldn't be friends in any other situation. Things have been getting better recently. She and her boyfriend watch Ellen with me sometimes in the afternoons. She liked the decorations we put up in our room...I texted her making sure it was Ok before I did it but she didn't know what to expect before getting to our room. I saw that the lights we put in the window had fallen down because the tape became loose so she helped me put them up. The night I got back from Thanksgiving break, she came in around 1am when I wasn't expecting her and I was laying in bed watching Jerry Springer cuz nothing else was on. We talked for a bit about our weekends, her ventures in Black Friday shopping and other stuff...and get this! she slept in her bed overnight for the second time this semester. It was nice having her there although I do enjoy my privacy when she's away. I feel like our small conversations have become more frequent even if its just "hey hows your day going?" or offering eachother snacks we are eating. I know we will never be best friends but its nice to know that we're getting more friendly and open with eachother.

My non-academic week was even better

   On Monday, I had lunch with Abby and then we watched Steve Wilkos(basically Dr. Phil meets Jerry Springer) in my room until class, complete with the chants "Steve, Steve, Steve!" as the audience does similar to the Jerry Springer show. I went to dinner with Alli and grabbed a delicious Tully's peppermint hot chocolate before heading to CVC and joining Grace to watch 2 1/2 Men and The Big Bang Theory. Reyna finally got back to campus after flying back from LA so we had a late dinner and then we went to my room and spent a good hour putting up Christmas decor. We put on my Holiday playlist, hung up lights and tinsel in my Window and on my door. We decorated my mini Christmas tree with lights, ornaments, and bells. Now everytime someone walks in my room, they get in the Christmas spirit. And my roommate Elaine was amazed with all the decor and wanted me to turn on the lights in broad daylight so she could see...eventhough it didn't give the whole effect.
   On Tuesday night, in the place of girl's bible study, we all went to Lily and Dave's house and decorated holiday cookies. It was funny because they had just arrived back from San Diego on Monday night so while they were gone, a few Crusaders decorated their small condo in Christmas decor, including a real tree with lights, ornaments, candy canes, and topped with an upside down red plastic party cup with a wite-out star on it. The whole house smelled Christmassy and got us, close to 20 freshmen girls, in the mood to decorate cookies. After decorating the cookies and drinking hot chocolate, we all watched Elf and the kitty Chase came up and layed on my lap and purred the whole time. I would have never left but Reyna, Alison, and Krista were anxious to get to Target before it closed at11pm.
   On Wednesday, Reyna and I had an early dinner at 5pm and went to my room to chill out until 2nd dinner with Alli at 8 and finally, Glee at 9pm. Altogether, it was me, Alli, Grace, Emily, Reyna, Krista, and Jezeca. I didn't have any homework so I went with Reyna to Lauren and Alisons room where we hung out until midnight.
  On Thursday, me, Reyna, Alison, and Lauren chilled in their room while watching som shows, taking pictures, and goofing around, as usual.
  On Friday, I got my swine-flu shot at the student health center on campus. That night, Reyna, Alli, Grace, Emily, and I had dinner and then went to join some other Crusade peeps to watch A Goofy Movie in CVB.
  On Saturday, after I woke up from my nap in the afternoon, my friends and I went to the Subway in CV and then we watched the RHA's Wild N Out show outside Hoover. It was semi-funny and unorganized and freakin cold so it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. A nice warm shower changed that. We all headed to the Crusade house at 8pm for A Charlie Brown Christmas CDP (Crusade Dance Party). They hired a DJ from within the Crusade family so we all danced for hours. I learned the Cupid Shuffle and some other dances, we all did the Macarena, and at one point, we were all dancing in a circle, arm-in-arm, doing some sort of can-can to folk/square-dancy music...oh fun times :)  After I got back, Abby, Krista, and I all drove to Denny's for some breakfast at 3am.
 And now its Sunday, 3pm and I'm still in my PJ's...Waitin for our last Nightlife of the semester and then Pizza My Heart...Reyna's buying me pizza cuz I won a bet :)

My school week was a good one

I had a really fun week so I decided to write about it. On Monday, I was still tired from our car ride back to San Jose. In my English class we were assigned to do an in-class essay based on a prompt from last fall's final which, according to my prof, was really difficult. It was something about how government shouldn't place regulations on businessmen and companies because then we'd turn into a communist nation. My first reaction was Holy Crap, what am I supposed to talk about? My prof then discussed how he would respond and I took notes...and when it came time to write it out, I just took his arguments and added my own thoughts. Apparently he liked it because he said he vividly remembered mine out of the 40 other ones and I got the best grade in the class. On Tuesday, I gave my persuasive speech about child labor and my prof commented saying it was my best one yet. On Thursday, my Linguistics prof decided to make our lesson fun by looking at the differences between men and women in conversations so we got seperated in groups of girls and guys and discussed our views and then integrated to see what the other sex had come up with. It was really interesting. On Saturday morning, I had to wake up at 7am for an 8am English final (deadly for me since I don't wake up before 9am, if that). I think the prompt was easy to respond to so hopefully my grade reflects that. As soon as I got done, I went back to my dorm and slept til the afternoon.

Thanksgiving

Last Tuesday, I went home, back to San Diego, after being away for 3 months straight...It was nice to see my family, friends, and my pets. I had a lot of fun with my friends on Wednesday. We went to Nickel City and Olive Garden then went back to my friends house and watched Up! On Thanksgiving, I spent time with my family, including my grandma and grandpa. On Friday, I got my hair cut by my mom and then we went ice skating with family friends. On Saturday, it was raining all day so we stayed inside, watched a few shows, and I packed up my stuff to leave on Sunday.