Don't stop believin'.

Well I certainly hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays. Mine hasn't been too bad, I suppose. I haven't done anything worthwhile, literally. I haven't decided whether that is a good or a bad thing yet. I worked pretty hard all semester long so it's very nice to have the break, but I've become slightly lethargic. So instead of procrastinating and waking up close to noon, tomorrow I will wake up, workout, and start my to-do list. It's not a very long list, but it is definitely full of things that should get done before going back to school.

One thing that I have done though, is watch A LOT of hockey. For being such an avid hockey fan, I didn't have time to keep up with the NHL as much as I normally would. One of my favorite things about coming back home is to watch hockey with my family, AND the fact that we have the NHL Channels on TV. It was just as much fun during the Winter Olympics last February because I would constantly check the statistics after daily games. One day, I literally watched hockey from 8am to 3am. And what a great day that was. :]

Other than hockey, I've discovered the joy in television series that is Glee. I've had the first 12 episodes on DVD but I didn't watch the first few of them until today. If you haven't gotten onto the Glee-train, please do! The talent that the actors have is simply incredible, and it's not just another high school drama television series. I'm definitely going to get the soundtracks as soon as I can!

I'm off to bed now, but here's to the increase in my productivity tomorrow beginning at 9am! Buonanotte!

Oh, I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.

I'm not going to sit here and be all cliche saying that Christmas is my favorite time of year, because truly, it isn't: Fall is my favorite. Right now, it's too cold, the sun doesn't shine as often, the roads are always slick, and you have to wear four layers of clothes plus boots and hats and gloves just to walk down the road to class. Yeah, not my kind of thing.

What I will tell you though, is that Christmas is a beautiful holiday tradition that I always seem to take for granted. I am blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas more than once with not only my immediate family, but with my extended family as well. But this year, it's been a little different. Normally, I would have spent the past couple of days baking cookies and wrapping presents at my mom's parent's house up north. Sadly, this is the first year without them, so the day has been a little out of sorts.

What I have discovered though, is the development of new traditions that I can enjoy with my family for years to come.

Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy the day, the food, the family. Enjoy life, and God bless.

She's about to break, break, break.

It's only four days into a three week break and I'm already bored! I already was ill too; go figure I would get sick as soon as I got a break from school. At least that bout is over with though, so now it's time to relax!

So far I have watched several movies, spent time with family, did some christmas shopping,... and that's about it. As soon as my last paper was turned in, my productivity level fell through the roof and it's pretty much stayed there ever since.  I'm hoping it will go back up soon though, considering the long list of things I have to do before January 7, 2011 arrives.

Speaking of which, it's going to be 2011? Where in the world has the time gone?! I swore it was 2002, like, yesterday, wasn't it? Like I said before, time is just going by too quickly! Whenever I feel like that happens, I tend to take more photos of my everyday happenings, which is shown by my increase in uploads since the beginning of December. I'm hoping to take a photography class this summer so that I can actually learn how to use my camera to its maximum potential. We'll see how that goes since I must also take classes pertaining to my major and balance three additional jobs. :]

Just a suggestion for those of you who read this, go see Tron: Legacy in your free time! It's an incredible movie with tons of action, AWESOME special effects, and a few of my favorite actors (Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund). I'm definitely going to go see it at least twice more before the break is over!

Ciao!

'Cause I'm as free as a bird now, and this bird you can not change!

Fall Semester 2010: You are officially over. And WHAT a semester it has been! It feels like the summer was so long ago, but also that this semester flew by in a breeze. How is that possible?

 I, for one, cannot believe that I'm halfway through my sophomore year of college. Didn't I just get accepted to Michigan State University like, yesterday? My life is flying by too quickly for my taste, but I've enjoyed every second of it. This past semester was simply incredible, insane, stressful, sleep-deprived, amazing, busy, and everything that I could have wanted. I was finally able to settle on a major, minor, and concentration that I know I'm going to stick with, especially since I'm now taking classes that pertain directly to Biosystems Engineering. I've made tons of new friends and improved my social networking skills. I've done so many new things, taken risks, learned more about myself, made great decisions, made awful decisions, which ultimately formed who I am at this moment.

Highlights from this semester were:

- Lady Gaga concert with Elli and Stacie
- managing six classes and three jobs
- meeting so many new people!
- Quidditch World Cup in New York City
- 3OH!3 concert
- BIG TEN CHAMPS (even though we're tied with two other schools)
- hanging out with my friends every second I'm not doing homework or sleeping

I can only hope that the next semester will bring me more memories, more amazing people, challenging classes, and so much more fun! I hope everyone has been having a great week despite finals! Now it is back to packing so I can go home in the morning. Buonanotte!

Technologic.

I am officially cutting myself off from the Internet. Except for emails and writing my paper!

Next time you hear from me, it will be
WINTER BREAK!!! :D 
Good luck to everyone on their finals!

Oh, and snow in December? Finally.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Just a reminder to everyone on campus that quiet hours begin tonight! If you haven't already, now is the time to crack down and study all of the information you've accumulated over the past three months. Freshman, don't worry, they're not as bad as they seem.

Also, congratulations to all of the seniors who are graduating at the end of this semester, especially to Stacie Sharples, the first friend I made at my first job ever. I'm going to miss you, dear. <3

Have a great weekend everyone, study hard!

Look what I found!

Hello there from the Engineering Building!

I had a vast amount of time after my Biosystems Engineering class and I didn't want to go back to my dorm just yet, so I decided to stop in the EB and work on my paper and some homework before my next class.

I never realized how nice it was in here. Even though I am an Engineering major, I unfortunately do not have classes in the building just yet, so I've never really come in except to cut through when it's -18 degrees outside in the winter. There's tons of open computer labs and lounges to just relax and do homework in a different setting than a distracting dorm room. Mind you, I'm still easily distracted by the Internet and people-watching, but the change in loction makes it a little better. I am also a fan of the dual computer screens. For those of you who are not aware, it's simply just two monitors hooked up to one computer to maximize desktop space. That way I can have a word document opened up on one screen and all of my resources opened up on the other making paper writing less dreadful!

Alright! Time to go submit a paper and walk to class across campus! Hope everyone is doing well with studying and writing papers!

IZ-ZO!

I had quite the sports related experience on Saturday. First of all, I went to my first MSU men's basketball game! Luckily enough, I also got to sit in the first row, lower bowl, center court. It was such a blast! I sat with hardcore MSU basketball fans, so they were able to teach me the ways of the Izzone. I found out that it is very similar to the traditions we have for the MSU hockey games, like special cheers and cat calls during certain points in the game or when a certain play is made. By the end of the game, I truly felt like an avid basketball fan. And boy, was I exhausted! All that jumping around and screaming your lungs out, it'll get to you after a couple of hours.

But my day wasn't over yet.

I still had the MSU hockey game to attend! It was our third game in a row vs. Ferris State University, but sadly we lost 0-1 in overtime. FSU is a great team and an excellent challenge to us, but we just didn't perform to our greatest this weekend. Hopefully that won't be the case this weekend at THE BIG CHILL AT THE BIG HOUSE! For those of you who are unaware as to what this is exactly, it is an outdoor hockey game between the MSU and UMich teams held in either of our football stadium. This year it's being held at the Big House, since a few years ago it was at Spartan Stadium, and of course with the two schools having such a large rivalry, the game is naturally SOLD OUT. I am so pumped for this weekend! The only problem is that it's the weekend before finals, so that just means I have to get everything done sooner!

Speaking of which, time to go write a ten page paper.. Ciao!

Let it snow.

The title is a little cliche, but it fits perfectly.

Thanks December for bringing us this cold, wet weather. That was a little sarcastic. It's not that I don't like winter, it's actually one of the most beautiful times of the year, I just don't like the biting cold wind. It blows things around, messes up your hair, pushes your body around in unintentional directions. I rode my bike from Case Hall to Holmes Hall yesterday; it took me an extra six minutes and my legs were so sore from pedaling against the wind once I got there. It was one of the worst biking experiences I've had on this campus. Well, that's an understatement. I've been in a head on bike collision and got hit my a car (all with minor injuries) over the past two years, but that's beside the point. The wind just sucks.

But, it's the first snow of the year! It's not much, but it's definitely enough to wear winter boots and maybe put on a few extra layers of clothing.

Enjoy it while it lasts!