Its been so long

Last Thursday, my Grandparents, my Dad and myself went to Manchester, NH to go to the Hungarian restaurant. My Grandfather, my Dad and I all had the beef goulash and my grandmother had the sauerkraut goulash. It was so delicious. For dessert, we all had something different and shared with each other. I think the one that my Grandmother had was the best.

Afterwards, when everything was bought, my Grandmother and I went across the street to the store across the street. When we were there, we saw many different kinds of ornaments and other things. When we were in there, my Dad sent me a text to ask me how much longer we were going to be. In the process of answering him, the lady that owed the store yelled at me for using my phone. She said that she doesn't allow phones in her store, yet she was on her phone and there was a blackberry right next to the cash register.

Christmas was a blast. We went over to my Aunt's house and we started to play our new wii games. We played Life, Clue, Yahtzee, Mario Brother's 25th anniversary and a few other games. It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, I went to my parents friends house to help him move stuff out of his office so he can change the carpet in there. Well a lot of the big stuff which was left was moved by Billy and him, so I felt that I was in the way, so I went downstairs to play with their new puppy. It was a blast.

And today, I am babysitting my Aunt's four kids again. I love to babysit them. We are going to have fun.

Babysitting and Gingerbread houses.

Today I went to my aunt's house to watch her little one while she was out. So far we have watched Herbie and run aroud the house doing different things and eating snacks. She keeps walking over in front of the tv and just standing there watching the movie. She loves it and I love watching her do it.

The other day I went to my Grandparents house to make gingerbread houses. I really enjoyed this. My boyfriend came over and helped decorate the cookies too. After I was finished, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands and saw Fridays paper. I picked up because I wanted to read it, but on my way out of the bathroom my Grandmother called me over. She asked me if I wanted to go on a mystery car ride on Thursday. I said sure and asked who else was going. They said just me, but later on I found out that they decided to invite my dad. I am excited to see where we are going. They said that I will enjoy it.

Home At Last

I am finally home. I can't wait to see everyone. I have already seen my parents and one of my sisters, but I have yet to see my other two sisters and my brother. I got to see my dog and I found out that he cries everytime everyone leaves in the morning. I get to spend tomorrow by myself, but oh well. I can't wait to spend time playing games with my siblings.

Now that finals are over for me, I can relax and not worry about much. I am so excited.

Study...Study........Study???????

I went to my wellness final yesterday and I think I did good. This final was just like everyother test I have taken. After that final yesterday I came back and did my video, which I was so happy to finish and finally post it up on the blog. And now I am studying for two exams tomorrow, theatre and geography. I don't think I am going to have a problem in geography, but studying for theatre is possing to be a problem. I can't seem to focus on the material. It doesn't interest me. I keep trying to get through it, but it seems like it is taking me forever to read through a few pages. I hope that it will get easier soon. I still want to have some time to pack up some of my stuff tonight, so I don't have to rush after my exams tomorrow.

I can't wait to leave for the break. I want to spend time with my family and my boyfriend. I hope to have some kind of fun everyday. I already have a busy saturday.

Well I should get off and start studying again. Hopefully, it will get easier to study at some point, but the music and the phone calls from the roommate aren't helping me any. I just can't seem to get away from the distractions. Oh well, I guess I am going to have to force myself to get through it.

Final Video Project

This took much longer then expected.

Final Assessment

This semester was great. I learned about different things and about myself. The classes themselves weren’t very hard, but they needed a lot of study time. In high school, I never studied. I would understand and retain everything, but I knew that in college I would have to change my study habits. I studied in my room just about everyday and I went home on the weekends. I quickly learned that I haven’t made time for my new friends.

As the semester went on, I tried to make room for them and slowly it started to happen. This one weakness was finally starting to turn around. I went from only talking to people in class too having dinner at least once a week with a friend. Now I study with my friends and have meals with them too. I have been to a friend’s house for dinner with my boyfriend. It was a blast. We talked and watched television afterwards.

I haven’t quit studying. I have just cut it down some and it has seemed to work for me. I have still kept up my grades and have done my homework. I enjoy going to my classes and learning about different things. I don’t enjoy taking notes but that happens to be part of studying. This is because if I don’t take notes then I have nothing to study off of. This would make it nearly impossible to try to study. I would have to always ask someone for their notes right before the exam and even that wouldn’t do me any good. They might not let me see their notes and even if they did I wouldn’t have enough time to learn all of the facts.

I feel that I have grown as a person. I am still quiet and socially awkward. But I have learned to make sure that I do make friends. I don’t want to go through college without any friends, especially when I need help with homework or there is a partner assignment. I enjoy going to school down here even though I am away from my family. I still get to see them on the weekends. I don’t see them every weekend. I think next semester, I am going to try to see more of them on the weekends and try to get a good mix between my friends and my books.

Goals

Next semester, I would like to make new friends. I am going to keep my old ones, but I would like to have a few more friends then what I have now. I am going to try to keep the same study habits. I have gotten good grades in all of my classes and I would like to keep that up. I need to make sure that I keep my GPA up so I can stay in my major.

I think that next semester is going to be easier then this semester and I am going to make goals as I need them. As for right now I don't feel that I need anymore goals. But if and when I decide that I need another one I will be sure to make one.

Successes and Failures

One of my strengths was being prepared for college. In high school, we talked a lot about college, not just who was going where for what major, but about what it was going to be like. In the beginning for my senior year, I would talk to my friends as if college was so far off even tho we were waiting to hear back from the schools to see if we were accepted. But towards the end we started to talk more and more about what college was going to be like and how hard it was going to be.

But this was also my failure. I thought I was ready because of all of talking on how we needed to study and make sure that our studies came first. I have been doing that, but my social life isn't great. We never talked about making new friends. Yea, it was assumed that we would make more, but my friends and I swore that we would still talk to each other. Well that didn't work out so well. This was one of the worst blows that I have had since I got here. I miss my high school friends so much and because I am also doing something for class, I hardly ever have time for my new friends. I am trying to make that work. My friend Lyndsay and I have sat in the library and done homework together. She told me how she is thinking about living on campus next year and if she does we might room together.

So I have learned that even though we each have failures, there is always something good that comes out of it.

Two Classes...Same Group Of People???

My English and Inquiry class is consisted of the same group of people. I like this. It was easy to make friends and get to know everyone. I made a good friend, her name is Lyndsay. She and I hang out outside of class and do homework or talk about things, such as family. I am going to miss everyone next year. It was fun while it lasted, but all good things have to come to an end. This semester went by so fast. So while I got to know everyone at the same time I did, but that is what happens. I enjoyed the time that we had together and I hope to continue on with some of the friendships. I will have to wait and see how things will go next semester, but I hope I will still have time to hang out with them.

My Ideal Life

If I were to graduate college tomorrow, this is how I would like my live to go. I would like to get a job at Center Elementary School, which is in my hometown. Shortly after, I would like to get married and move out of state, possibly Vermont. It has to be somewhere with a great view. But of course, I would have to get another job. I would love for it to also be at an elementary school. After my husband and I get a place of our own, I would like to have three or so children. With these children, I would show them that family is the most important thing in live, well it is in mine anyways. I am not sure what else I would like to do with my life. But I guess I will take each battle one at a time.

Final Project

I have gotten the video outlined pretty much the way I want it. I found some Hungarian music to use and I think its good. I have yet to interview my grandfather or my cousin but hopefully that will happen soon.

I would like to know if the Hungarian music is a good touch to it and also I'm not exactly sure what to ask my cousin. I want to talk about where the country is right now. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

Roommate Troubles

In the beginning of the semester, my roommate and I didn't get along well. She would do things that would make me so angry. For example, one night she lent her math book to some guy (she didn't even who his name). She told him where exactly our room is, so he could return the the book later. Well at 2 o'clock in the morning, this guy is in my room trying to return the math book. She left the door unlocked. I wanted to yell at her and ask her what she was thinking, but I didn't I held my temper and I asked her to not give out information like that, because not only does she live here but so do I.

Another night she and her boyfriend were having problems, so she was yelling at him while I was trying to sleep. I have been woken up time after time because of this. I had to ask her to leave the room to talk to him because she didn't have any respect for me.

We have gotten along recently, but I don't know if it is going to last. I hope it does.

Delicious Food

Food at thanksgiving is so delicious. I love the turkey, the mashed potatoes, corn, pumpkin pie and all the other desserts that come along with Thanksgiving dinner. I was looking for recipes for pumpkin pie (I have been wanting to make one for a while), and I came across a website that has a few recipes. They all seem so good and I want to try some of them. The no bake turkey cookies seem like a fun treat to have after a Thanksgiving dinner. I would love to try some of these out and refresh my cooking skills. I haven't cooked since before I came to school, unless I was cooking pasta or the microwave.

I took a cooking class in high school. I loved it and it was so much fun. After we made it, we would eat it and give some of the leftovers to the teacher of our choice (that was my favorite part). I always liked to see what others outside of the class thought about the food that we worked so hard on. It always felt good when the teacher said that it was delicious.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving dinner, not only for the food but also to see my family.

Captain

June of 2009, I was elected Captain of the East Hampton Junior Volunteer Fire Department. I wasn't to surprised that I got it, because the person that I was running against wasn't well liked. I had been in the Junior Fire Department since may of 2004. January of 2005, I became the secretary/treasurer of the Juniors, because no one wanted to do. I had done that job until I became Captain.I decided that before I was too old I wanted to hold the Captains position.During my time as Captain, I tried to make sure that everyone else knew where everything was on the trucks and if they needed to go over it, I was available to help.

I enjoyed this experience. I felt like this was my time to try out being a leader again. I had been the president of CARLY (Connecticut Amateur Radio League of Youth) for a few years when I was younger. I enjoyed doing that but I was never able to do much, because of the adults. This experience was so much fun. I was able to help others and get the feeling of satisfaction for myself.

Most of the time that I was a junior that Captain was always a male. The Captain before me was a female and the Captain after me was a female. We have been done a great job and I think that since we have been doing it in the Junior Department that there will be a chance of having a female Captain in the Senior Department. I loved this experience and wish that I would have run sooner and had a longer term, but I don't regret having the six month term that I did.

Where do you study?

I study at my desk in my room every day. I tried to study in the library once, but I wasn't able to concentrate with the doors being closed loudly or the random people walking by. One day I went down to the basement (in Wilkinson Hall), because I had heard people talking about it.

I went downstairs and there was this table in the middle of the room.

I have taken my books down there to study, because it is quiet and there aren't many people that go down there. I don't bring my laptop down there and if I do my computer doesn't have access to the wireless so I am able to work on my homework without the distraction of the internet.

"Think, think, think" ~Winnie The Pooh

Inquiry is a class where I have to think. Most of my classes this semester are really laid back. My wellness class, I basically just sit and listen and then before that test he goes over the study guide (which has the exact questions and answers on the test). In theatre and geography, I take notes and study those to get an A. English I have to think a little, but not nearly as much as I do in Inquiry. My professor asks us questions that really make us think to the point where the whole room in silent. With this class, I always have something to think about in class and for homework, but I also think about the things talked about in class out of class and even with my boyfriend. He and I have gotten some pretty good conversations.

Courtesy?

I was in the basement studying earlier so I didn't disrupt my roommate, who was trying to sleep. I was down there for maybe fifteen minutes before two other people came down. I wouldn't normally have a problem with this, but these two people were being really loud and playing their music up loud and talking on the phone, but on speaker phone. After about another fifteen minutes, I had had enough. I couldn't focus on my studying. I have one test and two quizzes tomorrow that I have to study for. So now I am back in my room.

I don't understand how some people can be so loud if they can see that someone else is trying to study. Do the people my age know what courtesy is? I don't understand how the people my age act the way they do without common courtesy to others.

Grade Inflation at its Best

I missed class on Tuesday because I was sick. I was looking through the blogs of the students that made it to class to see what sort of things they talked about in class about grade inflation. I read Kristen's blog about grade inflation. I agree that grade inflation isn't fair to outside students. The students that go to these colleges that inflate the grades probably don't think much of it, except for the fact that it will make their resume look better then other students that will be applying for the same job in the future. But these other students earned their GPA fair and square. They didn't have their college add and additional .333 to their GPAs. The students that go to the colleges that do this, will probably get the job because of their higher GPA, but they didn't earn it, it was given to them. And the students that earned their grades will be shown the door, but in reality they will be better.

STRESS

Last night, I went to the mock car accident that the school put on. Before the accident started someone had told us what had happened. It was about two girls who wanted to go out partying and another group of friends that did the same thing, but none of them made it home. They got into an accident, two people had died, two were unconscious and one was a little bruised up.

After the accident, we all went back into Wilkinson Hall and listened to Michelle Bassi tell her story about what happened to her grandparents and parents one Christmas. After we listened to her story, we listened to other student come up and tell their stories. I wanted to get up and tell my story, but I couldn't. It was too stressful when it happened and I really don't like talking in front of a big group of people which would have made it even more stressful. After open mike was over, I waited to be able to talk to Michelle. I told her my story, which made the whole situation less stressful.

Talking about things, whether it be with someone close to you or with someone who has gone through similar things helps. Someone who is close to you will be willing to listen and hopefully be sympathetic, but someone who has gone through something similar, could tell you how they deal with things and possible give you ideas on how to help yourself. I personally can't always talk to someone who has gone through the same thing, but when I can I take every minute that I can to better understand how I can help myself.

Grades...uh oh

So the other day, I went to look at my midterm grades online. I wasn't sure what to expect for grades in some of my classes, but the other ones I knew what they should have been. This semester, I am taking Wellness, Theatre, Geography, English and Inquiry. I was hoping for at least a B in all of my classes, but I knew that I was doing well in some of my classes, so I expected higher grades. My lowest grade was a B-. I was so happy when I found that out. But of course, I am going to try really hard to make that B- go up. My study habits are easy and its working for me. I am just going to have to work a bit harder to make that one grade go up.

Wilk Halloween Party

Today was the first college "party" that I went to. It was the most boring thing that I have ever gone to. There were maybe twenty people there when I got there and even less when I left twenty minutes later. I'm not going to let this one experience ruin the rest for me, but I will think twice before going alone again. Maybe next time, I will have a little bit more fun.

Inflation of Grades??

Some colleges are inflating their students GPA by .333. How is this far to the other students who are competing for the same job and they don't get it because their GPA was lower then the student who went to a college who inflated the grades? I will tell you how. It isn't. The students who work hard for their grades deserve the good grades and those who slack deserve the grade they earned not one that is given to them. This could mean the difference between a 3.2 and a 3.5. There is a big difference there, don't you think?

Other schools are simply eliminating D and F's. The students that go here cannot fail. If they don't do the work and don't study, they will still get a C and pass to continue to go through school. What isn't fair for these students is that when they go to college and do the same thing they did in high school and they fail. They aren't going to know why, because what they were doing in high school got them to pass and continue on to the next grade. But it doesn't work like that in college. You have to do the work in order to continue to go to school and pass classes.

Midterm Project

I did my midterm video on geniuses. I did all the voice overs, sorry but there are no video clips.

I hope you enjoy it.

Sibling Night

I am so excited for this weekend. This weekend is homecoming and part of homecoming there is sibling night. My ten year old sister has been wanting to spend the night down here for some time now. But she hasn't been aloud to because of her age. This weekend she is going to come down and spend the night and go to "Bye Bye Birdie" with my grandparents, my boyfriend and myself. I can't wait to spend this weekend of fun and games with her. I hope that we have a blast, but of course there are no guarantees that everything that is supposed to or wanted to happen is going to happen, but we are going to make the best of the weekend.

This is my sister and I having a good time with the webcam on my laptop.

Peer Mentor: good or bad...hmm??

The peer mentor in my class makes us think about things that my professor probably wouldn't do. I enjoy her coming into the class and working with us. The first class that she spent with us, people were really rude and she told them that they could leave. Quite a few of them did leave, but some of us did stay, she told us about herself and didn't expect us to tell her about ourselves. The second time she came in, she had us do a laughing exercise. It was so interesting and funny. I believe that she is a valuable asset to the class, not only to the students but also to the professor. She is a helpful tool for around campus and is also full of insight and knowledge at a student level. She is easier to relate to then the professors.

Did I make the right choice?

When I put in my application for Southern (and all the other colleges I applied to), I put my major down as Communication Disorders. I ultimately want to become a speech and language pathologist. I am on a five year plan for my Bachelors Degree and I still have to get my Masters Degree. I will be in school for a few years.

I choose this field because of my brother Phil.

This is a picture of my brother and myself from a few years ago.

When my brother was born he couldn't hear very well. When he was young, he had to have tubes put in his ears to drain the fluids. He went to school at an early age to get help with his speech amongst other things. As he got older, I thought it was amazing how his speech got better.

One day I was looking for different majors that I could go into and this one fell in my lap and I knew that this is something that I wanted to do. I want to work this elementary students in an elementary school. That is my ultimate goal. I don't like hospitals very much, so that wouldn't be the place for me. It would either have to be in a private practice or in a school. I can't wait to get out and do this job, but at the same time I want to make the most of my experience at college.

Fantastic Blog Posts?

What makes a good blog?

A good blog should engage the reader at the beginning, whether it is because of a picture or simply words. A good blog should have pictures and possibly a video. Each person has there on way of making a blog entertaining and captivating. People who bring their personality into a blog is very entertaining and makes a blog unique. But there are many other ways, such as putting pictures in between paragraphs or putting them at the end. Or changing the font or color of the words to add emphasis to the words. So as you can see there are many great ways to make a good (or possibly a fantastic) blog, if you try new things to see what works and what doesn't, you might happen to find something new and creative.

Midterm Project

I am doing my midterm project on genius. I am not quite sure where I want to go with it. I was thinking about doing something along the lines with 10,000 hours. I have been thinking about it but have not gotten very far. I am open to suggestions.

I have already thought about possible people to interview. But I am not really sure who I am going to interview yet, because I have not gotten the questions yet.

This project involves a video. I have made one in the past and thought it was lots of fun. I am excited about this aspect of the project. I enjoyed playing around with Windows Movie Maker and now I have a reason to play around with and learn new aspects of the program.

HAHAHA

On Thursday, September 16, my boyfriend, Billy and I went to see the college humor. I thought That the two guys that came up first were going to be the show, but as it turns out I was wrong. After their little bit, they introduced someone else, who wasn't as funny as the first too. I was disappointed with that. I thought that he should have been funnier but he wasn't. He gave 50 dollars to the person with the worst tattoo. Me, being in love with my two tattoos didn't go up on stage. There were people with waldo, a cow, a stick figure and some other things. The girl that won had the cow tattoo on her butt. Shortly after his bit. The two guys that were on before came back on and did a trivia show. I watched as people went up, said the right answer and got a price. At one point, someone really wanted to go up on stage, so he just jumped up there while they were looking for someone. I loved the show. It was hilarious. I will definitely be going to it again next year.

Investigating Blogs

I was looking online for blogs to look at and read. I came across two that were really interesting to me that I thought I would share with you. I love to bowl and I came across a bowling blog. This blog talks about bowling balls, shoes, bags and much more. It has great information on lots of things related to bowling.

Another blog I found was a firefighting blog. It talks about 9/11 and forest fires, pretty much anything related to firefighting. There are great pictures and videos.

These are two things that I did while I was in middle school and high school. I started bowling on the youth league in my town in middle school and stopped after my senior year in high school, not by choicce but because of the fact that I was no longer considered to be a youth. But I still love to go bowling every now and again. I started in the East Hampton Volunteer Fire Department in May of 2006 amd ended shortly after my senior year was over. I didn't have the time to do it anymore. I held the secretary and tresurers spot for two and a half years and the captians postion for six months.

I wish I had more time to do these things, but even if I did I live to far away. These blogs are great and if you are into either of these topics you should look at these blogs. Check out the pictures and the videos and read about all the information on the topics given.

Enjoy.

Tick Tock...Times up

Time management is a skill that every college student needs to master, it won't come over night, it takes time to figure it out.

We all often practice procrastination because we don't want to do homework when we can be off doing something else. I write my blogs on Thursdays because on Fridays after class I get picked up and brought home, every week. You might say well you have til Saturday night still, because you can use your parent's computers. You would be right, except for the fact that during the weekend I am usually spending time with them or at my boyfriend's house, which leaves me with no time to write a blog after class on Friday.

In order for people to not procrastinate all the time, we need to see what we do in the day and if there are blocks of time where we are doing nothing or spending way too much time on the Internet or in front of the television, then we can use that time to do other things like homework or cleaning. Some ways you can find out how much extra time you use for other things instead for homework or house cleaning could be, write down everything you do for a week or two (times included) and analyze what you do versus what you need to do or you can not use any electronics for the day.

However you choose to figure out how much extra time you have is up to you. But every person, never mind just college students should learn how to do this.

Hated then LOVED

My eighth grade language arts and reading teacher and my social studies teacher, both put me in level on english and history because they thought I would do well seeing as I did well in their classes.

The first day of classes at the high school was so confusing. There were yellow, blue and green lockers. Some were big enough to put a person in and others were so small you could hardly get your backpack in it. There were brick walls and walls that looked like painted cinder blocks. During the next couple of weeks there would be people putting up posters, some bright and others black and white.

After a few weeks, it came time to write our research papers. But instead of this being just for my history class, it was also for my english class. After I wrote my first draft, I had my history teacher, Mrs. M, look at it for me. She marked up my paper with the things that I needed to fix and as she marked it up, she told me how I should fix it.

I went home that night to fix my paper just the way she said I should. I printed out two copies to bring to school the next day. I gave one copy to Mr. Dunn, my english teacher, to edit the grammar. I also gave a copy to Mrs. M to revise again. She told me that I did everything wrong. I asked what was wrong about what I did. She didn't give me a straight answer, she just kept saying that I did it all wrong. I didn't understand what she was talking about. I ended up with a C for a grade.

My sophomore and junior year, I was in level two english and history and I did just fine, but i hated to write. I would procrastinate with writing, even if I had to write two sentences. My junior year english teacher, Mr. Holloway decided to put my in level one and I agreed to it. I want the challenge again.

My senior year writing workshop (a required class) teacher was Mr. O'Donnell. He had a caterpillar moustache. He looks like Tom Selleck. His classroom was full of books and a fireplace. He had a huge crossword puzzle on his side board along with card of various artists.

During his class he would give us a topic to write about for a minute before changing it again. He would do this about ten times each time he did it. We would have to go home and write a creative piece about one of them.

Slowly with the more creative pieces that we did and with he way he corrected them, I began to like and then eventually love to write.

Miss You Poppy

A year ago today, my Poppy past away. I miss him very much, but I know that one day I will see him again.

I remember one thursday evening, I went downstairs to go visit with him while everyone else was upstairs visiting with Nana. When I went down there, he was sleeping. I sat on the bed next to his and watched him sleep. In his sleep, he was making noises. The noise he was making sounded like the noise little kids make when they are pretending to play with toy guns..."pew pew".

After work during the summer, I would get dropped off at Nana's. Poppy and I would be downstairs watching Judge Judy while Nana was off doing house keeping or cooking. He and I spent many hours watching it and now when I watch it I think of him.

These memories with never be forgotten along with the many more happy memories I have of him.

Rest In Peace Poppy
7/28/1940-9/16/2009

Outcasts United

Tonight as I listened to Warren St. John, author of Outcasts United, I become more intrigued with his book. Not only did he tell us about how he found this story, he also told as about his experiences and how Clarkston has changed.

He told us about this one little boy who thought he was rich. When he asked the boy why he thought that, he said because you have a different car all the time. He had to explain to the little boy how he rents the cars.

To the average American, things like this are normal in everyday live, but to a foreigner these things are bizarre and unknown. They don't understand how American society works. But to the average American, life without the things in our society is bizarre and we wouldn't know what to do. In most countries, what you see is what you get, but here there is a whole different aspect. We have the internet where everything from our finances to our social life is at our fingertips.

Not only to the refugees need to learn how to live and about American society, but Americans need to listen to and learn about the lives of the refugees.

Unstructured vs. Structured

"If the human brain seeks structure, then how do some live unstructured lives?"

What might look unstructured to an outsider, might be structured to the person. What do i mean by this? Someone might keep there room a mess, but they know where everything is. On the other hand people who keep things organized also know where everything is. My room used to be a mess, but I knew where everything was. Then my mom and dad made me clean my room before I left for college. But now that everything has a place, I don't know where everything is.

So people have there own method to how they keep there room, whether its clean, messy or some where in between. Some need the messiness, while others need to be neat and organized. If the room is messy to the point where no one can find anything then it is time to clean the room, but no matter how often a person who needs the messiness cleans their room, it will end up being the way they want it to be.

The images are from google images.

Homesick

"When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy." They told me I didn't understand the assignment and I told them they didn't understand life."

When I first moved into my dorm, my mother, father and boyfriend were all helping me get things put away and getting me the last minute things. As they helped me, I thought to myself that I will be able to stay here by myself...no problem. Well little did I know that it wasn't going to hit me til when they were leaving. It wasnt as hard to say good bye to my parents as I thought it was going to be. But at the same time it was harder to say good bye to my boyfriend, which I thought would have been easier to do. After they had left, I went up to my dorm and cried for a little bit before I went to bed. Earlier today I found this quote and realized that this is true. Happiness is the meaning of life and that everyone should be happy. As the days go on at school, it becomes easier to live away from home. I do miss everyone, but at the same time I am learning from my new experiences. I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to stay here and as I push myself through it, I become less and less homesick.

This is me and my boyfriend in the middle of a game of horseshoes.

This is my family in front of my grandmother's garden.

Hmmm...College?

What is college? According to the dictionary college is an institution of higher education that grants degrees. But college is much more. It has many elements such as, academics, social, and personal. Each has its own accomplishments. In academics, I'm striving to do well in each of my classes, which are all different and full of different people, which makes making friends easy and difficult all at the same time.
What I mean by this is, I either have a class three days or two days out of the week. With each class having different people, I can meet many new people, but at the same time I dont see the same people everyday so it makes it hard to make friends. A cool thing is that these new friends are from all over the place, so along with making new friends, I get to learn about different towns or cities, along with other cultures. To me learning about different areas is so interesting. I love to find out differences between places and learning about new things that are interesting.
The personal element comes in with students doing their own thing and adding character to the campus, through art or expressing their beliefs. Everyone is different and each person adds to the campus life in one way or another. I want to accomplish something this year to add life to the campus. I was thinking about possibly starting an amateur radio club, but we shall see what I decide to do.

So college has many aspects. Its not just an institution that grants degrees.

5 Things

If I had to choose 5 things to describe me, one of them would be that when I set my mind to do something I can get it done. I started to make a movie to play at the apreciation dinner for the fire department in April. I started it in February 2010. I wanted to give up a few times because I didnt know how to use the program, but i pushed myself to finish it.

What is a hero?

This is the finished video.

Another thing that would describe me is family orienated. My family means the world to me. When I'm away I try to talk to them when ever I can. I come from a big family, which consists of one boy and four girls.

This is part of my huge family.

This is my brother, my three sisters and myself.

I am also a very good listener. With so many people in one house there is a lot of arguments. I like to listen to both sides and help them solve their problems.

This picture was taken just after a little tiff between the two of them.

I am loving. Besides my family and friends I love animals. I have one dog, many fish, chickens and ducks. My favorite animal that I have ever had would have to be my cat. I had her for 15 years. I miss her so much.

This was my cat Charcoal.

I am very friendly. I love to make new friends, but I often feel reserved when it comes to making friends. I can be very shy. But without my friends, my life wouldn't be complete.

This is me and one of my best friends. Without her I don't know what I would do.