Summer is coming!

So I have been back from Ohio for a while now, but I remember the entire trip like it was yesterday. We drove for six hours and visited my friend’s parents, dog, and two cats. I remember the animals because we Hollins students joke that we are deprived of animal interaction, haha. Cleveland was really pretty. It had just stopped snowing for the winter and the lake was frozen almost solid at the edges, so naturally all three of us walked on it and took pictures. In Columbus we drove around the city while the friend we came with was in a meeting. The parks were really nice there but it was cold outside. We drove back at night, which was taxing so we all took turns, and sang really loudly in the car.

For Spring Break this year, I went to Texas! It was a really good time, and spring was beautiful there. My plane landed in Houston and the friend I was staying with (Kelsi)  lives in a small town called Danbury, which is an hour drive from Houston. In Texas we went to Kelsi’s niece’s soccer game and then had dinner with her family on the first night. That weekend we went to the beach and made s’mores over a bonfire in her backyard. We drove to Kemah to go on the boardwalk and the rides, but they were closed because it was Monday, so we went to the aquarium and pet the stingrays. Later that week we decided to visit some of Kelsi’s friends that go to school in Austin. On the way to Austin, we visited some of my friends at their lake house in a tiny town called Coldspring. That was fun, we went on the lake in kayaks, but the water was way too cold to swim. We each had our own rooms which was nice and the house was really cute. We only stayed overnight, so we weren’t too much of a burden, and left in the morning to get back on the road. Once we got into Austin, we parked our car and started to walk around. Austin is so green and pretty for a city. We went to the huge dog park across the river from the city. There were so many types of dogs there! It was awesome. Overnight we stayed at a hotel and in the morning we met up with Kelsi’s friend Denise. She took us to a hamburger joint, which reminded me of in-n-out from the west coast (just not as good), and we talked and they caught up. We left Austin that afternoon because I had an early flight back to Roanoke the next day. Overall the trip was a success, as I got to see almost every type of landscape in Texas and meet all of Kelsi’s family, who were extremely nice and made me feel right at home. I’m glad that I got to see a little more of the United States last semester, I feel like I will see most of the U.S. and some other countries, maybe Spain and Costa Rica before I graduate from Hollins.

This summer I am hoping to live and work in Roanoke. I will be working at the Hollins soccer camp for sure during June and maybe a nearby pool as a lifeguard. I want to work outside if possible because it will be nice and hot outside during the summer, just like I’m used to in California. I can’t wait for school to get out, but I am not looking forward to finals!

Posing next to a shark in Kemah. The rides in the background were closed but it was a beautiful day!

The sunset was beautiful over the river in Austin.

This was the first time I had seen Blue Bonnets, Texas’s state flower.

Haven’t blogged in a while!

This will be my first blog in a log time. I blame my lame computer for breaking and the LONGGG walk from Tinker to the Dana Science Building where I feel the most comfortable. I have done a LOT of stuff since then. I went through a lot over winter break in regards to getting home through the snow storm that hit Roanoke violently (I think we got somewhere around 18-20 inches). I’ve made more friends and experienced traditions like Tinker Day and Ring Night. I’ve been to more restaurants in the area, visited the Roanoke star, and have been on drives around Roanoke and the areas surrounding. We have begun our spring term and I am taking some fun and interesting classes: Environmental Science, Precalculus, Intermediate Spanish 2, and American Cinema. On top of that, I am taking an evening Spanish conversational class.
Tomorrow I have plans to go on a seven-hour drive to Ohio with two other girls, one of which lives there, so we can visit the area and have a “mini vacation”. I can’t wait! We’re going to Cleveland and Columbus. I’ve never been there but they said to bundle up, so I don’t know how good this vacation will be…haha, I’ll make sure I talk about what happened on the trip in my next blog.
Update: I cut my hair and it is about three or four inches long. I really really like it! I don’t have to worry about brushing it, conditioning it (even though it needs it after about six washings), or doing something with it besides making bed head go away in the morning. My head also feels a lot lighter since I don’t have all the usual hair weighing it down.
So that was my last couple months in a nutshell, I will have more next time!

My first couple months at Hollins.

My first couple months at Hollins were pretty rough considering I was trying to adjust to the campus and environment. I am from San Diego, California so I had a lot of adjusting to do. People in Virginia are a lot nicer than any other place I’ve been. For example if you walk into a restaurant or a store in California, it is more likely for the sales clerk or hostess to be rude to you than anything else, however, in Virginia everybody is very courteous and they greet you with respect, even if it is just a person walking past you on the street. Not only are the people nicer in the state, but they are very welcoming at the school. The very first person I met was a sophomore and she went out of her way to help me find my way. It also helped that I was an athlete and got here early to begin pre-season because I got a lot of stuff done before anyone else had shown up on campus.
The first month was almost unbearable because I didn’t have any friends yet and I honestly wasn’t making an effort to make any. The only people I really talked to were the girls on the soccer team and the coaches, of course. The person who finally got me to break out of my shell was a senior named Colleen Thamm. She brought me out to dinner and to see downtown Roanoke. I realized it wasn’t such a bad place. Plus she introduced me to other students who are now my friends. Now I am enjoying my time at Hollins and am actually dreading leaving for winter break because I’ll miss all my friends and the campus itself.