Poll #1397755 End of Freshman Year Poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 0

How much did you enjoy this blog? (pick one)

What topic do you wish I'd discussed more in depth? (pick as many as necessary, but please comment with details)

What improvements should I make for next year's blog? (feel free to expand in the comments section)

It's weird to say this, but this will probably by my final entry of my freshman year. I've got so much to finish this week - 20 journal entries, 4 exams, 2 papers, and 1 assignment. Luckily though, I'm done Friday at 3 PM. From now until Friday though I'll be working myself to death to get all my assignments and studying done in time. At this moment I'm working on my journal entries, and then I want to finish the assignment for American Studies. I'll try to start one of the papers this weekend, and then do the other paper on Wednesday during reading day. I'm very lucky I'm completely finished by Friday. Some people have to be here until next Wednesday. I will not, however, be relaxing while my friends are still here. I'll instead be starting my internship bright and early (more like so early it won't even be bright yet) Monday morning. It'll be nice to keep busy during the summer. I'm used to constantly having things to do here, so it shouldn't be too difficult of a transition. I'm just going to focus now on getting through this week and getting home in one, sane piece. Have a wonderful summer everyone! I'll be blogging again next year, and I'm looking forward to it! Please fill out my end of the year poll! <3

This week has been intensely hectic, with everything winding down. It's hard to believe I only have one week of classes left of my freshman year of college. Luckily I don't have too much homework to do this weekend, although last weekend/week was a totally different story. All I really have left to do now are journals for my Humanities seminar and a book to read for American Studies. Luckily the book is a novel, so it won't take as much time as a textbook to read. I also have a bunch of emails in my inbox I need to respond to. I miss my friends from home so much, but it's really difficult to keep in touch when our schedules don't coincide. That's why I'm glad email exists. It means we can catch up on each others lives even if we're not free to talk at the same times. :) That's one thing I'd recommend starting when you go into college, if you don't already do this. Over the summer before our freshman year, I started emailing 2-3 times a month with a few of my best friends to get into the habit. It actually proved to be a really good decision. Okay, I should go now to start that novel and respond to those emails. I hope everyone had a good time making their decision about the college they'll be going to next year! :D

I can't believe how little time is left of this semester! It definitely feels like my freshman year of college just flew by. I'm extremely busy right now overall, but at this exactly moment I do have a little downtime. James' friend Megan is coming to visit UMBC this evening and she's going to stay overnight. She's going here next year, along with a few of James' other friends from high school. The best part about today though is that my 10 page paper for social work, which was supposed to be due tomorrow, is now due this upcoming Tuesday. This means I technically have no more homework due for the rest of the week. I do have a lot to do this weekend, but it'll be a low-key weekend, so I'll get it done. I also have 2 classes canceled next week, so that's awesome as well! :D Also, I got an A on my Psychology exam I took today. We only have 6 grades in that class, our exam grades, and I've gotten As on the first 5 exams, so I think I'm going to pull of an A overall! Woo! I'm also thinking about applying to be a Marketing Intern for next year, because I'd really like to get back into layout and design. We'll see where that goes. I know a guy who is going to help me get more information about that and the application. Overall nothing really knew has happened. Homework this week has been a little different than normal because Jenna, Christina, Lena, and I have all been doing it together each night. I hope we're a little more productive next year when we're all in a suite together. I think just because it's new the 4 of us will talk a ton as we work. Last night's conversation was a big hypothetical discussion about survival on deserted islands or in the woods. It was really fun! :) I got to go now and have dinner with James and Megan. Have a good weekend everyone! 

I just got back from the Humanities Forum event where author Elise Levine read experts from one of her novels. Then, after the talk, a group of about 12 women - Humanities scholars, English students, and faculty - had dinner with Ms. Levine (this would be the first type of girl talk I mentioned in the title). Our dinner discussion ranged from scuba diving to astrology to actress. It was pretty wonderful. :) I got to talk to Ms. Levine about the novel I'm in the middle of writing, and she said she'd be willing to read part of it if I email her. I am so lucky I get experiences like this. And it's all because of the Humanities Scholars Program. It has definitely made my college experience a million times more fulfilling than I imagined possible. :D As for the earlier part of my week, I'm been EXTREMELY busy. In the next week, I have 2 exams and 3 papers. It's getting to the final stretch for grades, which is why all of this is happening at once. Monday night was wonderful though, because Christina and I went down to Jenna and Lena's room (this will be our suitemate group for next year) to do homework, and the 4 of us ended up talking for like 4 hours! (This is the second kind of girl talk I'm mentioning...) It was so wonderful! I'm really lucky to have made such wonderful friends here at college. That also has made my college experience a million times more amazing. :D Okay, I'm off to workout with Lena, read a short story for American Studies, and then watch a movie for Humanities! :D Bye! <3

It's Easter break, so of course I'm sitting in the dining room with my cousins, family, and aunts on my laptop doing homework while my cousin and sister also work on their homework. Haha, I guess that's how it works. They're all crowded around my sister's laptop right now looking up Physics help for her homework. Now we're talking about general education requirements as my mom and aunt dance to my sister's rap music. Haha. My family is special. It's nice to work on homework in a different environment though. I've got to write my 10 page agency paper for my social work class, as well as finish this American Studies reading and my American Studies extra credit. I adore my family and these trips, but I also miss my boyfriend and friends from UMBC. We really do have such a good time together at college. I love UMBC and I've had an amazing freshman year, but I am looking forward to this summer. My internship is going to be amazing, and I can't wait to see all my friends from home. That's the thing about college, you have two homes, and you miss the one a little when you're away from it, but are also so at home in the other place. Well, I'm just going to enjoy this break, get through my last 4 weeks of school, and have a great summer! I know everyone is looking forward to summer and the upcoming college experiences. Just remember to enjoy everything one day at a time! :)

The weather has been amazing this weekend, and it's definitely put me in a great mood! :) Although this weekend didn't turn out anything like I expected, I had a great time. I was supposed to host a new student from Friday to Saturday, but my girl never showed up. I did go to the reception with President Hrabowski though, and I got to talk to this really nice girl from New Jersery named Gaby. I actually ended up going shopping with Lena in the evening since I didn't have to stay on campus anymore, and then we came back and hung out with Christina, Tommy, James, and Colin. We played Rigamarole, which is this awesome game I bought from Five Below. I also finished the second book in the Mortal Instruments trilogy that night. In the morning I woke up really early to go work admissions' New Student Day. I actually had a great time, especially giving a tour. I met a girl on the tour who I'm talking about applying to an LLC floor. She was really nice too. :) I think I'm going to sign up as a tour guide for next year. Salwa does it now and seems to love it. :) Then James and I went out to lunch and just hung out together for the rest of the day. I actually read the entire third book of the trilogy yesterday (I bought it at the mall on Friday). It was amazing! I'd definitely recommend the series to anyone looking for some good urban fantasy books. Now today I'm just going to be doing homework, like every Sunday. I'm hosting someone tomorrow until Tuesday, and she's going to classes with me too, so that should be fun! Then this upcoming weekend I'm going to Pittsburgh with my family for Easter! YAY! :D I know a lot of you are on spring break right now, so I hope you're having a great time!

I can't believe I've only got one calendar left of my freshman year of college. By that, I mean I've got a big whiteboard calendar in above my desk, and last night I filled it out for the last time this year. It doesn't look to be too stressful of a month, minus the last week. For finals week I have 4 exams, a paper, a portfolio, and a website. For only 5 classes! Talk about insane! :P But after that I'm done for 15 weeks. Of course, I'm going to be interning full time and waitressing (hopefully) part time, so I'll be busy busy busy then too. I am looking forward to summer because (1) I get to see all of my best friends from home, (2) I've got a beach trip with all of my college best friends and my boyfriend planned in June, and (3) I'm going to be a director's assistant again at my favorite yearbook camp in July. My internship is also AMAZING, and I'm really looking forward to waitressing. I just hope I get the waitress job at the restaurant I love (Bertucci's). It'll also be nice to have a break from all of the homework. I'm done with almost all of my general education requirements, so it's on to all upper level classes for me next semester. It's going to be more work, but it's also going to get more specialized and more interesting too! :D Also, I'll be working at Admissions 10 hours a week next semester. And I'm the new president of the American Studies Council of Majors. Yay! Okay, I need to go how because I've got lots of homework due tomorrow - a PowerPoint, a book to read, and a chapter to read. Woo, college is... college! :P

I'm back at UMBC after a very relaxing and eventful spring break! :) Whenever I arrive on campus after a long break, everything is so familiar. I definitely have two homes now. When I go home, it's all familiar and comfortable, but when I come back here I get that same feeling. It's going to be weird to switch dorms going into next year though, because I'm so used to Chesapeake. I'm excited to be living on the Humanities Floor in Harbor though, and I can't wait to room with Christina and be in a suite with Jenna and Lena. I'm also really happy James is on the floor, along with Tommy, Alex, and Colin. We've got the two best suites ever. :P Today was actually pretty eventful, concidering it's only Monday and the day is no where near done. I had American Studies this morning. We had a good discussion, and I asked my professor to be my advisor. I really enjoy going to advising because it makes me feel a lot more secure about the fact that I will complete my requirements in 4 years without any problems. No matter how many times I check over my 4-year plan, I still worry. That's just how I am. Then I had lunch with James, Christina, Tommy, Alex, and Alan. And then I filled out my application for GYE for this summer. And then I went to Psychology. And then I went to dinner with James. And now I'm back in the room doing homework. :) I hope everyone had an awesome break! If you're looking to visit UMBC anytime soon before you make your college choice, I definitely recommend attending New Student Day. It's Saturday, April 6th from 9:30-3:00. I attended before I chose UMBC, and it really helped my decision. Plus, I'll be there, since I'm am Ambassador. :P Hopefully I'll see everyone there!!!

I apologize for only posting once this week. This have been absolute madness. I wrote a 17 page paper Sunday night, a 2 page paper Monday night and watched a movie for Humanities, read a Chapter and studied for an exam on Tuesday night, had 7 straight hours of work/lecture/class on Wednesday night, and now I'm studying for my midterm in American Studies that's tomorrow. Jackie has been staying with me this whole week because it's her spring break, but she's been spending more time with James than me because they both don't have homework. I'll be writing a paper and they're behind me playing cards/dice and laughing. It makes homework seem horrible. Haha. Studying right now isn't bad though. I think I'll do well as long as I review these flashcards I made over and over again. The class had two big themes we discussed, so I'm able to tie all of the articles to one or both of those themes. Also, my American Studies professor asked me to run for an officer position in the American Studies Council of Majors. I'm going to do it. I really like her and I'd like to be a part of more extracurricular activities. Okay, I really need to go back to studying... After this midterm tomorrow morning it's my spring break!!! :D YAY! Everyone have a good time, even if you're not on break! Talk to you in a week!

This weekend is going to be absolutely awesome, starting tomorrow once my classes end. Here are the plans -- Tomorrow, around 2, Ellen and Val are arriving. I've finished all my homework for the week so I've got that evening free for them. We're just going to hangout in my room for the most part. We're going to play Hand and Foot, the best card game ever. (Google it if you've never heard of it, because it's the best ever!) We'll then grab dinner at the Commons at some point. At 7:30 we're going with James, Jenna, and Lena to the open telescope at the Observatory. Then James and I are going to see the SEB movie for this week, 7 Pounds, at 10. It's gonna be fun evening! :D Friday will be just as fun too though. After lunch I'm going shopping at Columbia Mall with Salwa. I'm glad we're going there because the mouse for my laptop broke earlier last week, and there's an Apple store at Columbia. Then Jackie's arriving around 9:30 that night. Leah's sister, Rachel, is also coming around 10 and staying the night because she's got a morning plane back to school. Saturday morning though all the Humanities scholars have Scholar's Selection Day where we talk to the prospective scholars while they wait to be interviewed. We're all EXTREMELY excited about this! :) Then in the evening we'll probably be hanging out as a group because it's Jenna's birthday! Then Jackie is staying a bit longer. I can't wait for this weekend! YAY! I better go get a head start on homework for next week now so I'm not busy with homework when my friends are here. Bye! <3

It's a snow day today!!! :D It's nice to get some extra sleep and relaxation time. :) I should be doing homework right now but instead I'm just relaxing with everyone while watching Legend of the Seeker. I've got two episodes to catch up on. As far as homework goes for tomorrow I have to read a chapter for my Social Work class and then do some online stuff for my Technology class. It's not too much, luckily. This week should be fun actually! :D Ellen and Val are coming to visit me on Thursday, and then Jackie is coming to stay starting Friday. It's also Jenna's birthday on Saturday, so we'll probably all do something then. Saturday morning is also Scholar's Selection Day! :D I can't wait to meet all the new scholars! :) I'm off right now to relax some more. I'm still kinda sick, so I need to rest lots. Later!

Sorry about how spaced out my posts have been lately! I'm definitely going to try and write more often. Promise! :) Things have been really busy with me, but I've finally got some free time now. Right now I'm sitting in Jenna and Lena's room while they do homework. I'm just listening to music and playing Scrabble with Colin online. I'll probably play a few other online games tonight to kill some time. It's rare I get an evening (aka 11 pm) to just do nothing. Luckily I only have one class on Friday, and all we had to do was read one article, so I'm done with all my homework for the week! Today I spent a lot of time updating my resume and writing cover letters for the internships I'm applying to for this summer. I'm really exciting to see which ones I'm accepted to. I've selected four that seem absolutely perfect for my major. I really hope I get into at least one of them. There's one I'm really enthusiastic about, but accepting it would mean I'd have to miss being a director's assistant at this yearbook camp I love. We'll see what ends up happening. Ideally I'd like an internship that fits with my major of social work AND has a flexible schedule. Any money earned from this also goes straight to my Europe trip fund. I'm considering waitressing on the weekends as well. I think I'd make a lot in tips because I'm such a people-person. It's gonna be a fun summer! Back to the present though... I'm just trying to get through the next few weeks (which are packed with papers and exams) and get to spring break. But this weekend is going to be fun because I'm having a Girl's Night with Christina, Jenna, and Lena. Then Jackie is coming to stay with me for a bit the week after that. And we've got Humanities Selection Day next weekend!!! It's going to be AWESOME. I can't wait to meet all the new Humanities kids! :D Okay, now this is turning into a really lengthy entry... See, I'm making up for the shorter entries and curbing my boredom! So I'm just going to focus this weekend on (1) doing my annotated bibliography for Technology in Social Work (2) completely relaxing during the Girl's Night (3) making sure I get rid of this cough and James gets better -- the whole hall is sick. It's just that season! Okay, I'm actually done now. Hahaha. Have a great weekend everyone!

It's Friday!!! :D Right now I'm relaxing and watching Legend of the Seeker while I wait for James to get back from class. I'm not sure what I'm doing tonight with my friends, but we always end up having fun, so I'm not too worried. :) I only have one class on Fridays, and today it was very fun and interesting. We split into groups and created discussion questions for the class. Then we lead the class in discussions. The conversations that ensued were actually very engaging. Then I went to lunch with James, Christina, Tommy, and Alex at Chick-fil-A. I ran my essay by my teacher to edit it, and now I'm back here! :) I'm sorry this entry isn't too interesting... I don't have any real plans for this weekend to talk about. My week was busy and long, but I've been in a very good mood lately nonetheless. I'll write more this weekend once things actually start happening. :) Good luck everyone with your college decisions! <3 

Busy, busy, busy, as always. Despite this, I'm still exceptionally happy and loving every minute of this semester. Here are the things I have due tomorrow: (1) watch "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," complete the viewing guide, and review it for the quiz (2) read the article for American Studies (3) write at least my thesis statement for the paper due next week (4) read Chapter 3 for my Personality psychology class. On top of that I have a paper due this Thursday in Humanities, and a whole lots of homework due every other day of the week. I'll get it done though. :) Now about this weekend... It was so much fun! :D Friday I went to the Vagina Monologues with Christina and Jenna. They were fantastic! The actresses at this school are truly amazing. It was also a nice, empowering bonding event. :) Then Saturday was Valentine's Day, so I spent the day with James, of course. At the end of the day we went to Arundel Mills, had dinner, and then saw Paul Blart: Mall Cop. The theater was filled with little kids, which just made it better because they were adorable when they laughed. The movie itself was really good and funny! Once we got back I hung out with Christina and Jenna. We talked for like 3 hours. It was really fun! Today is just a homework day. Even so, I had a great weekend and I'm really relaxed, which I know will make this upcoming week better. :D

At the moment my only homework is reading "The Art of Teaching" for my Humanities seminar, so I'm taking a little break to post here. :) Tomorrow I'm done with class at 12:45, which is awesome because my only Friday class got canceled so my weekend starts at 12:45 on a Thursday! YAY! I'm excited for Saturday because it's Valentine's day. I'm not really sure what's going on yet, but I know it'll end up being great. Otherwise I'm just going to hangout with my friends, like most weekends. I'm having a really great time this semester and I'm keeping friends and work very balanced, so I'm in an overall much happier than I was last semester. :D Right now though, I'm just really sleepy. It's only 9:45, so something is wrong with this picture... Haha. In college, midnight is really early, so being tired before then is something you must fight off. It's not bad though. I get at least 8 hours of sleep every night, and I never go to bed before midnight. That's the beauty of adapting your schedule to your sleep pattern - you get a lot of sleep while also getting the most out of your days. Now to completely switch topics... I had a pretty good day today. I had my first exam. It was in Personality Psychology, my first and only 300-level course thus far, and I only missed 3 of the 55 questions! :D That's a 95% and makes me very happy! And I had work (calling accepted students and talking to them about UMBC). It was great because I talked to this one guy for about 45 minutes and I think I helped him to really consider UMBC. :D Okay, I better go back to reading the book for hum class.... :D More later! <3

It's been a crazy week! Between the billions of articles I've had for Multicultural America, all of the homework for my other courses, and starting my job with STARS, my time has been maxed out. I'm excited for this weekend though! Tonight I'm going to the Folger's theater to see Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale" with the Humanities scholars. Tomorrow night I'm going with James, Christina, and Tommy to see the SEB movie of "Role Models." And then Sunday we're going to try and see a movie at Arundel Mills amidst all of the homework. We'll see how that goes! Right now I'm just hanging out in my room with James, Jenna, Christina, and Tommy. In 15 minutes Christina and I are going to walk over to the library to drop off the applications for the Humanities Floor next semester and then watch "To Sir, With Love" for Humanities class. I love it here. There's always something to do here, and I've got the greatest friends. :) I probably should go now to get ready, but I promise I'll write more after this weekend! :D

Also, on an entirely different note, I watched this video this morning that brought me to tears, and I figured I would share it. I've done LGBT activism for over 4 years now, so posting this on my journal goes along with that. Check out the video and potentially sign the petition. www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce

I had a wonderful time this weekend, but then this week started out really hectic, so I wasn't able to post about it right away. Friday night I went out to Friendly's for dinner with James, Jenna, and Lena. We had a great time together :D James won me this adorable dragon stuffed animal from the claw machine. I wanted to name him Claw and Lena wanted to name him Murphy, so we decided on Murphy's Claw. :P Hehe, we're all such dorks! It was so much fun getting off campus to visit nearby Catonsville. I'm going to try and get some of us to go over and look at the little shops this weekend! Then Saturday James and I went to his friend's house to watch the original 3 Star Wars movies, since I'd never seen them before and they wanted to culture me. I actually ended up enjoying them a lot, even though I'm not usually a sci-fi fan. Then we came back to campus and hung out with Christina, Tommy, Jenna, and Lena. The 6 of us played Zombie mode on Halo, which has became our new game night game. At midnight my little sister called to wish me happy birthday, and that started out an awesome day Sunday for my 19th birthday! In the morning the 6 of us went to Friendly's for breakfast, then I came back to the dorm and worked on the massive load of homework for this week, then James and I watched the Superbowl, and then I stayed up talking to Jenna all night. So overall, it was a pretty amazing day! Simple, low-key, but awesome nonetheless. :D These past two days have again been hectic with homework, but it seems like this week is the busiest homework, work, and event-wise, so I guess that's why. Tomorrow night, Jenna, Christina, Mary Beth, and I are joining a few other Humanities scholars to attend the dinner with Jeannette Walls, the author of "The Glass Castle," our summer reading book. Then I start my first day of work as a STAR this Thursday. (I talk to prospective/accepted students for Admissions.) I'm off to class now. More later!

Welcome back to my blog! It's the beginning of my spring semester of my freshman year. I've only been here 4 days so far, and I'm only on my 3rd day of classes, but things are already a little crazy! But I'm the happiest I've been here and I know that this upcoming semester is going to be one of exceptional learning for me. I'm taking 5 classes, which is one more than I took last semester. My classes are Multicultural America (MWF), Personality Psychology (MW), Introduction to Social Welfare, Social Policy, and Social Work (TTh), Humanities seminar (TTh), and Information Technology in Social Work (T). These are all either courses for my majors (American Studies and Social Work), my minor (Psychology), or my scholarship (Humanities). I only have two general requirements left (Culture classes), but luckily I can take American Studies and Psychology courses that fill that requirement. It's pretty awesome! :D I love taking just classes about topics I love because even when I'm spending hours on homework I feel like I'm learning so much and loving learning it. My American Studies class (Multicultural America) is probably going to be the more rigorous homework-wise, but I already feel like I've learned a lot, after just 2 classes. My Psychology class (Personality) is probably going to be the most difficult. It's my first upper level class (300 level) and I could tell from just the first day that it's going to take my ability to think critically to a whole new level. I'm about to go to that class actually... It's on the complete other side of campus, but it'll take make less than 5 minutes to walk there. That's what I love about UMBC - unlike most of my friend's colleges, you can walk from one end of this campus to the other in under 10 minutes. But there's still so much here. Oh, and one more fun thing - the new Chick-Fil-A is on campus, so we've been eating there on occasion and it's AWESOME. :D The Starbucks is coming soon too!!! Woooooo!!! Go UMBC!!! :D Haha. I'm off to class. More later! <3

It was so much fun writing this blog this semester! :D I will probably post about my life periodically over the winter break just because I enjoy posting. :) I actually got an internship for this winter break! I'll be an administrative assistant at the Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse. This works perfectly with my future goal of being a social worker. I am extremely excited! It'll be a bit of a Metro ride from my house though because it's in Rockville, MD. I think it'll be worth it though. I'm very curious about exactly what I'll be doing and when I'll be working specifically. Back to the present... Right now I am finishing my 10 page research paper for Humanities and studying for my final exam in Science tomorrow. Tomorrow is my one and only final. We're having a holiday party in the evening, so that'll help to end my day on an amazing note. I'll also have to pack tomorrow though, because I'm leaving really early Saturday morning. I'm going to miss all of my best friends here and my boyfriend. I know I'll probably see them over break though. I am SO extremely excited to go home however. I miss all my best friends there way too much and it's been forever since I've seen them. Winter break is a wonderful amount of time between all of the work of college for each semester. I'm looking forward to next semester with great enthusiasm though! :D It'll be great! I hope everyone enjoyed my account of my semester! I look forward to continuing writing next semester. See you all in Spring! <3

Hey everyone! :) This week is going to be extremely hectic, but I'm really excited about it. I can't believe it's my last week of the first semester. It went by so fast! It's weird that college is only 8 semesters total. If they all go this quickly, I'll be graduated in no time! Hopefully break doesn't speed by. I'm looking forward to spending time with my friends and family. :) I miss all my best friends from home way too much! I'll miss UMBC like crazy though! My boyfriend is here and I've also made so many new amazing friends. It's going to be weird not having them right next door to me. :( We're making this week fun though by having it be Secret Santa Week!!! :D We traded cards (secretly) today, then we're doing candy (secretly) on Wednesday, and then we're trading gifts on Friday. It's awesome! My card was so sweet! I love all this festive stuff. Well, I'm off to Humanities seminar now. I can't believe it's the last one!!! I've got to do a presentation though... :/ I'm nervous! Hopefully it'll go well!!! <3

I have one week left until classes are done and a week and a half left until 1st semester is over... This is crazy! :D I have a lot of work to do in these next 2 weeks, whether its final projects, research papers, or studying for final exams. Today I filmed my final project video for my SCI100 class. This video is completely hilarious. I'll post the link on YouTube to the full video once it's up. We're doing an introduction to our entire project (which I'll say) and then we're going to show our video. We made a "educational children's show" called Ranger Dave's Super Variety Funtime Wilderness Magic Hour. My friend David plays Ranger Dave. We also have Paola as Wendy the Water Bug, Tim as Freddy the Frog, and Marcello as Bill Nye the Science Guy. It's hilarious. :D I'd love to hear what people think if they watch the link once I post it... :) Besides that, I have to write my 10 page research proposal for HUM120. We're not actually doing the research, but we have to design a research project about a topic relating to language and do all the background information for it. My research aims to determine the effectiveness of teaching an infant ASL (American Sign Language) prior to learning spoken English. The cool thing is that my boyfriend's aunt actually did this with her daughter and kept a detailed journal about it, so I hope to read some of that to help me out. The topics are all really interesting, but it's definitely not an easy assignment. I have a feeling though that I'll feel very accomplished when I'm done with it. :) Hmmm... I really must leave now to continue working on the massive pile of homework I have. I'll post the link later!

I had a really great weekend! Not only do I have almost no homework because this week is Thanksgiving, my sister, Julie, also came to visit! Friday night I went out to dinner with my family and James, and then we came back to the dorm to hangout. Christina's sister, Courtney, came to visit as a surprise to my sister, because they're friends. They were so excited! It was adorable. :) Julie and Courtney hung out, while Christina and I hung out in her room and read. (We both have series we're really into right now... Yay for teenage vampire/fantasy series! :P) On Saturday we just hung out during the day. In the evening, Christina, James, Julie, and I drove out to Columbia Mall so I could buy the Twilight series (because Christina is reading it. Then we went to dinner at Mimi's. It was so much fun! We just talked and laughed all through dinner. :D We then drove back to campus so Christina could make it to work at 8 and we could watch Walle in Sports Zone. I really enjoyed the movie. I thought it made a really good point. :) Then Alex and Laura came back with James, Julie, and I and we played Loaded Questions in my room for a bit. Today, James and I went out to lunch with my family. In about an hour we're going with Christina, Emma, Sam, and Alyson to watch Role Models and Twilight at Arundel Mills. All I have to get done before then are my journals for Humanities! This is awesome!!! :D I'll post again once I'm in Pittsburgh, PA for Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a great break!

Sorry this is my first post of the week! This week is officially my busiest week of the whole fall semester. I've had an insane amount of homework and a bunch of non-class events (like advising appointments and lectures). Tonight I have to attend the Humanities lecture because it's about language (and our seminar is called "Language and Control," so it's very appropriate). Tomorrow night (at midnight, to be exact) I'm going to the premiere of Twilight with a few sophomore Humanities scholars. I'm really excited for this! After reading, and loving, the books, I can't wait to see what they did for the movie. I hope they did it justice! On Friday my sister is coming and she's going to stay the whole weekend. I'm extremely excited for that as well. On Saturday we're going to Alex's house in the evening to hangout and then all day Sunday we're going to Arundel Mills to watch movies. I can't wait!!! It'll be nice to have a relaxing weekend and then a light week next week. Yay Thanksgiving! 

**Just a note: The LiveJournal server is going down on Tuesday and I'm not sure when it'll be back up. I'll try and post one more time before then, and then I'll post as soon as everything is back up again. Thanks for the patience! :)

This week has been really busy but really relaxing, all at the same time. I've had a lot of work to do and I've been getting it all done, but I've also felt more relaxed than I have in a while. I think it's because I mapped out all my homework for this week and then planned what I would do on what days. In my free time I've been playing Pikmin with James, napping, or just hanging out. Tonight a bunch of us are going to see The Dark Knight on campus. Alex is coming over before that and him and I are going to hangout until it starts. All I have to do homework-wise for tonight is finish my Works Cited for my Humanities research proposal. I went to the used book sale yesterday and bought a few books about psycholinguistics for my research. Today I've just gotta get through class and finish my homework, and then it's weekend time. I love that the only class I have on Friday is my lab. It makes my weeks a lot less stressful. Although, this weekend is going to be completely crazy! I've go so much homework due next week. I'm pretty sure it's my most hectic week of the entire semester. The awesome part though is that there's less than one month left until winter break, and we get Thanksgiving break right in the middle of it all! I'm so happy I only have one final this semester. Right now I've got all As and I really hope to keep that going through the end of the semester! Completing my first college semester with a 4.0 was my goal and I really hope I achieve it! :) I'm off to Sociology with Emma right now! I'll post again this weekend. 

This weekend was really relaxing and much needed. On Friday, James and I did a whole "date" evening. We went down to the Commons for dinner, took a walk around campus, sat and talked in Harbor courtyard, watched Pineapple Express in Lecture Hall 1, and played Pikmin on his gamecube. I'm not completely addicted to Pikmin. Not only is it really fun, but the pikmin are cute little plant like creatures. When they level up they sprout flowers. :) Saturday morning, really early, his family picked us up and drove us to meet his grandfather. We spent the rest of the day with his grandfather and his grandfather's fiancee, touring the town and the high school, going out to dinner, and going to the high school's football game. His grandfather is the sports information director and the announcer, so it was really exciting. Our team won 50-0, and managed to score in the first 12 seconds. The rest of the game was just as exciting! Afterwards, James and I watched The Matrix Reloaded. This morning we went to church, went out to lunch, and then drove home. Now we're just sitting around and doing homework. The whole weekend was really relaxing, especially because the town was so quiet and pretty, and it really helped to rejuvenate me and get me ready for the week. :D

Last night was definitely one to remember. It feels really amazing to have voted in such a monumental election. A few of us went over to the Commons to participate in the Election Night Extravaganza that was taking place. They had giant TVs with different news channels playing coverage of the election. Upstairs there was pizza, drinks, and games. I played pool with James and Alex for about an hour. At first we started off with me playing against the two of them, but we just started hitting anything in towards the end. :) It was really fun! It had been a while since I'd played pool. When it got closer to 10, we headed back to the dorm. At 10 we turned on Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert's Indecision 2008 and watched that for an hour. They're both hilarious, but Colbert is definitely my favorite. (The title of this journal is something he said during the show.) After it was announced that Obama was president, we headed back to the Commons to watch Obama's acceptance speech on the big TVs. That was definitely the best part of the night. The energy in the room was just amazing. It can't be denied that Obama is a brilliant speaker, so it was wonderful to listen to him talk. I'm anxious to see what kind of puppy he gets his kids... Haha :)

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days! It's been pretty crazy here, as always. I just wanted to post real quickly tonight, so that I can update everyone on what's been going on. Last night, I spent halloween hanging out with James, Alex, Jenna, and Jesse. We were just sitting around, but then we decided to go to Arundel Mills and see a movie. We saw "Nick and Miri" and it was so hilarious. Then we went back to the dorms and just hung out and talked. It was nice to just relax for the night. Right now, I'm at home visiting for today and tomorrow. I came home this morning so that I could vote. They had an in-person absentee voter day. My dad and I had to wait in line for 3 hours, but it was really exciting to cast my vote and hit the giant "VOTE" button. It feels really empowering knowing that the first year I'm old enough, I get to vote in a presidential election and really make a difference. :) I spent the rest of the morning after I voted just hanging out with my dad. We then came back to my house for a bit and my sister and I hung out. Then my whole family went out to dinner. It was really nice. :) Then we went shopping. I got a really cute winter jacket. I love it, and I really needed a new one, but it sheds a bit. I hope it'll go away. Now I'm sitting all bundled up with my sister and we're going to watch a movie on my laptop. :D It's nice to be home. I do miss UMBC though. I'll be going back tomorrow. It's a nice break from everything, especially because I know I have a lot of homework to get back to. Back to school work in the morning... Until then, I'm going to relax, enjoy time with my sister, and get to sleep.

This weekend was so much fun! On Saturday my family came during the day to visit. I loved getting to see my siblings and parents and just hangout and have fun. :) We went out to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays, along with James, Christina, Justin, Christina's sister (Courtney), and Christina's friend (Emily). It was really nice to get to eat off campus, and we had a really good time. I had an amazing meal - awesome mango tea and this really good pasta with parmesan sauce and chicken. We talked and laughed all the way though dinner, and then rushed right back to campus to see the Stephen Lynch comedy show. The line was a mile long, but we got really great seats, right next to the stage on the left side. The whole show was hilarious. I honestly think we laughed straight for the entire 2 hours. After the show we ran back to the room and got ready for the halloween party. That was a half hour of all the girls running around the hall getting our outfits together and our makeup done. I dressed in all black as a goth and Lena did my makeup (my lips were black). It looked good! We then drove over to Alex's house. We danced, jumped on the (indoor) trampoline, and just hung out. Pretty much everyone there was from our hall, so we were all friends. It was a nice small group (maybe 12 people), so we had a really great time. Dancing was probably the most fun, because everyone had been working really hard on homework lately, so that took off a lot of the edge. The next morning I slept in way too late, and then woke up and got ready for President Hrabowski's Exceptional Student Reception. We all got fancy and went over to the event. It was great to socialize with other scholars, especially older Humanities scholars. Plus, the food was exceptional. I can't even put it into words... Our whole floor kept gushing about how amazing the catering was all through the event. The speech by Hrabowski was also brilliant. He is one of the most wonderful public speakers ever. I also got to meet Dr. Osherow's daughter, who was so cute. She told me about her baby sister and cats! :) After that we went back to the dorms and worked on homework. Before we went to bed, we watched The Lion King, which Sam has to watch for her project. As a whole, it was a really great weekend! Today was a little hectic with classes and volunteering, but a generally good day also. We'll just have to wait and see about what the rest of the week holds... :)

( Photos from the halloween party (edited by me in Picnik). )

Yesterday evening was so much fun! Around 6:30, I went down to the bonfire with Sam, Alyson, Talyia, Emma, and Mary Beth. Colin, Christina, and James ended up meeting us there. The fire was so pretty and it was really nice being outside and surrounded by a ton of students who were all just hanging out and talking with their friends. We took a few crazy photos. I've attached a few photos from Talyia's camera under the cut. The music they were playing during the event was really good too, so I definitely think that made the event better. I also really enjoyed the fireworks. Although they didn't last too long, they were really pretty and it made me feel like it was summer instead of winter. :) We went back inside after that, and James and I ended up watching Jumper. Mary Beth, Emma, and Colin went outside to watch the movie on the lawn (Tropic Thunder). James and I would have done that, but I was really cold and the movie didn't really appeal to me. After watching the movie, Alex showed up, and a bunch of us (Alex, James, Mary Beth, Alyson, Emma, and me) went into Mary Beth and Alyson's room and watched Jurassic Park. They were all really excited about watching it, especially since I hadn't seen it before and needed to experience this part of American movie culture. I actually really loved the movie. I only screamed once! (When I thought the little girl's leg was going to get bitten off by a velociraptor.) After the movie, we went to Late Nights, then ate in Harbor Courtyard. It was so much fun! I love those times really late at night when we're all hanging out and talking. After this, as we were walking back to the dorm rooms, I decided to do my dinosaur impressions for everyone. They would yell out different types of dinosaurs and I would act like them. :P Lucky for me, Emma got all of this on videotape. I attached the link to that (it's on Facebook) for those who would like to see that unique experience. Tonight we're going to the talent show (another Homecoming weekend event). I'm really excited for that too! :D

( Photos from the bonfire. )

Video of me acting like a dinosaur.

Sorry it's been a few days since my last post. :) I've been pretty busy, mainly because I spent all weekend hanging out with a few of my friends from home (Jackie - who stayed all weekend, Paul - my best guy friend who visited on Sunday, and Julie - my sister who also visited on Sunday). Actually, on Sunday, my whole family came to visit for a few hours. It was really nice. :) They'll also be here this weekend for Parent Weekend (which doubles as Homecoming weekend). I really haven't worked on much homework this week, mainly because I've had a really light load, for once. I did get my grade back for my Science midterm (the only midterm I had). I got a 143 out of 150, which is a 95%. That pretty much made my week! I'm really proud of myself. I can't really think of many other exciting things from this week... I did discover a new favorite show called Valentine, and I hung out with Alex, my commuter friend, for a long time today. The show is awesome and I love Alex, so those were both great. :) Tomorrow is the kickoff of Homecoming weekend, so we're going to go see fireworks and The Dark Knight on the lawn. I'm really excited about that! Then we've got the Stephen Lynch comedy show on Saturday, and then Alex's Halloween party right after that. I am so extremely excited for both of those things! :D I've got to go now and Skype with my sister, but I'll post again later.

Last night was probably the most fun in the entire world. It started off with Tommy arriving around five. (Christina's boyfriend, who goes to Philadelphia University, but is transferring to UMBC!!!) Everyone did the little extremely happy hello in the hall, and then we went to dinner. As soon as we got back from dinner, we started getting dressed for our Humanities field trip. These fancy events are so much fun for all of the girls in the hall. We run around like crazy people trying to figure out what to wear, borrowing clothes, shoes, and jewelry from one another, and passing out "OMG, you look so cute!!!" compliments left and right. It's quite a commotion, but also extreme amounts of fun. :D We finally got all dressed and gathered all the Humanities scholars in the hall way to leave. Justin was still in the shower, so we left him behind. (He made it to the bus though, don't worry.) We also left James and Tommy to hangout together, and Talyia to lock herself in her room and watch Serenity. :P I sat all the way in the back row of the bus between Christina and Jenna. The bus was pitch black, with only two little red lights for light. It was kind of weird... When we arrived, we all filed inside, had a little trouble finding a bathroom without a line a mile long, and then settled into our seats. My ticket sat me between Jenna and Christina again, so that was awesome. :) Oh... I should probably mention what the field trip was for now! We went to the Meyerhoff building in Baltimore to see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra play Bernstien's Mass. The entire thing was really amazing. We had read the text for it in our Humanities seminar, and all of my favorite parts from that ended up being my favorite parts during the play. Some of the lines were really funny, but overall it was really deep and emotional. Jenna kept making cute little gasps of happiness throughout the show because she loved it so much. The bus ride back to UMBC was a little more eventful than the ride there because we yelled "Daniel, Arthur!" and he started singing the Arthur theme song. (Remember that kids show with the talking aardvark from wayyy back when?) I know almost all the words, so I sang along, and all of the other Humanities scholars sang to the parts they knew and did the background "HEY!"s whenever it was necessary. It was awesome. :D When we got back to the dorm, everyone (me, James, Christina, Tommy, Sam, Emma, Jenna, Justin, Mary Beth, Alyson, Talyia, and Catherine) crowded into my room. We ordered Chinese food and talked about the most random things while waiting for Jackie to arrive. When we finally got the taxi in the right direction, and she got to UMBC, I freaked out. It was so amazing to see her again. I love it here, but seeing my best friends from home makes me so exceptionally happy. We got inside and she got introduced to everyone. I had told them all before that she is the funniest person in the whole entire world and that they'll love her, but I don't think they realized just how true that statement was. We played Loaded Questions, and she had everyone in tears from laughing so hard. It was a really fun game, as always. We always get the most hilarious answers when we play, and people say the funniest things. At one point, Katie (on of my friends from McLean) called, and I talked to her on the phone for a while. It was so nice to hear her voice again. :) We started playing around 11:30, and didn't stop until after two in the morning. Then we hung out some more in the boys' room (because our room had gotten so hot from all of us being in there) and talked. Around 4, everyone went back to their respective rooms to go to sleep. Jackie and I stayed up for another hour talking and catching up. We finally got to sleep around five, and just woke up now. I didn't get too much sleep, but I feel well rested and I'm reallyyy excited for today and tomorrow. (Today we're all just hanging out, and then tomorrow my sister, Julie, and my best guy friend, Paul, are coming to visit as well.) Jackie will be here until Tuesday, because she's here for her whole fall break. So... this is just destined to be the best weekend in the whole world. :D

Finally, I've got some time to just waste. It's a wonderful concept. I worked insanely hard this week, but I think it all paid off. I studied literally 8 hours straight for my Science midterm on Wednesday, but that definitely paid off, because I think I did really well on it! It was all free response, so we had to write paragraphs for most of the answers, but I knew enough information to write really detailed answers for everything. :) Then, last night I spent 4 straight hours working on my Child Development workbook for Psychology, and then today I spent another 2 hours studying. But that all proved worth it as well, because I finished the workbook and turned it in, and I also think I completely aced the exam today. There were 60 questions, and I only didn't know one. Even for that one though, I was able to narrow it down to two possible responses. I'm not too worried about that class though, because my exam right now is a 97%. I'm really proud of myself. Psychology is definitely my strong point, probably because I adore learning about it. So now I'm just sitting around, playing around on my laptop and listening to music (Relient K, mostly). I'm going to watch 90210 once I'm done with this so I can get all caught up on the episodes before the new one airs in two weeks. I just wanted to write a quick post today though. :D I'm so excited for Jackie and Paul to visit me this weekend! It's going to be awesome!

I'm sleepy... as always. It's yet another really hectic week homework-wise at UMBC. I mean, this is college, so it's expected. This week I had two quizzes, an exam, and a midterm. I've taken both the quizzes already. The first was an online one for Psychology and I got a 100%. The second I just took this morning in Sociology, and I think I did really well on that one too. My exam is on Thursday in Psychology and my midterm is tomorrow in Science. I'm not too worried about the Psych exam because I know the content really well and I'm really good at Psych, but Science will probably be a bit of a challenge. As soon as my classes end today at 4:00, I'm going to sit down and study until midnight, only taking a break for dinner. I've already reviewed the content a lot, but now I'm going to go really carefully through the review sheet and make sure I know everything exactly. The midterm is also a lot more challenging than my other quizzes and exams because it's not multiple choice. The entire thing is free response - we get questions and situations and have to explain and answer questions in paragraph form. I did a practice question earlier this week and my teacher said I gave the perfect amount of detail, so hopefully I'll do that well on the real thing as well. Despite how hectic this week is though, one of my best friends in the whole world, Jackie, is coming to visit this weekend. She's staying for 5 days (from Friday to Tuesday) because it's her fall break. She's the funniest person in the whole world and we always have so much fun together, so it's going to make my stressful week entirely worth it. :D Christina's boyfriend, Tommy, is also coming. Everyone adores him because he's the nicest guy in the whole world, so that's going to be so much fun too. :) And also, on Friday evening, the Humanities scholars are going to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to see Bernstein's Mass for a field trip. I'm really excited about that too! We read the text for it in class, and it seems like it's going to be an awesome and enlightening experience. Right when I get back from that Jackie will arrive. :D I hope Friday comes quickly, but in the meantime, I'm just going to cross my fingers and study lots and hope for good test scores!

I'm home right now, for the first time since the morning of move-in day. It feels weird to be at home, because my room is empty - all of my stuff is back waiting for me at the dorm. However, my boyfriend, James, came back with me, so it feels like I brought a really important part of UMBC with me, so I'm not too homesick for it. I'm only here for today (although we arrived yesterday by train) and it's so nice to see my family again. It's great to catch up with my mom and dad and talk to all my siblings. My littlest brother, Jameson, broke his ankle yesterday at school, so he's in a lot of pain. It makes me so sad. :( I asked him if he missed me and he said "yes, when my ankle hurts," because I'm always the one babying him whenever he's sick. Poor little guy. (He's the cutest thing in the whole world, so it's really sad when he's not all hyper and happy and running around.) It's also awesome to get to see my sister, Julie, again. I miss her so much while I'm at school because we're only 2 years apart and the best of friends. In a few minutes, I'm going out to breakfast with my mom, Julie, James, and Kennedy (my other little brother). We're going to this local restaurant I like that has really good breakfast foods. A taste of home is nice, but it's also really weird to walk down the streets and not see anyone from my graduating class, because they're all off at college as well. It's good to be here, but I also miss UMBC, and the little life I've created there. Now I guess I'll always have a home to miss, wherever I am... But I'll make do. :) Visiting is good. I'll probably come back one more time before Thanksgiving break... We'll see. I'm always torn when I leave UMBC about how I feel. I think I'll just have my whole family come visit me instead. :D

Last night I went to see La Traviata, an opera at The Kennedy Center, with the Humanities scholars and the Humanities Live & Learn floor. It was definitely an experience to remember. Sam, Emma, Christina, Brittany, and I all went straight back to our hall after our Humanities seminar to change into our fancy clothes. We then got James, and all headed down to the Commons to grab a sandwich, chips, and drink for dinner to bring on the bus. The bus experiences were definitely ones to remember as well. On the way to the opera, Christina's salad went flying in the air, so it took a bit of time to get that all cleaned up. We also talked about Disney movies and Disney characters, as well as musicals. On the way home, we made up songs about Alfredo sauce, and sang them, since the leading male in the opera's name was Alfredo, and it made us all crave pasta. The opera itself was gorgeous. The costumes were elegant and beautiful, especially the women's dresses. The setting was also magnificent, because they transformed the stage into a ballroom for one scene, and inside of a palace for another. It was a love story, so of course Christina and I were gushing the whole time. I think the whole thing being in Italian made it even more romantic, but it was definitely the English translations of some of the times of the supertitle screen that made us gush. :) Although I'm still pretty sick from this weekend, and Christina and I had our purses stuffed with tissues and cough drops, the entire event was perfect. I definitely recommend that everyone attend an opera, or some play of that sort, at some point in their life. I know I'll remember this experience forever. I hope we go back soon, whether it's to see another opera, a ballet, or a play. 

I'm at William & Mary right now for Leah's parent weekend! Today was a ton of fun. We went to a football game and, even though we lost and I got a sunburn, the energy was awesome and I had a great time. We got to eat non-dorm food all weekend, with the highlight being this Japanese steakhouse for dinner tonight. It's been really great to spend time with Leah. We sat up all night outside and talked. It felt as if things hadn't changed at all, because we talked just as easily as we did when we last saw each other before move-in. Being away from UMBC is really hard though. It's my home now, and I'm actually extremely homesick for it. I think a large part of that is because I'm sick. My throat is all swollen, and my nose is stuffy. When you're sick all you want to do is curl up in your own bed and sleep. Leah and her family have taken very good care of me here though, so I'm dealing. We're driving back early tomorrow and, in the car, I'm going to have to finish up all my reading for my two lecture classes (Psych and Socy) and, once I get back, I'm going to have to write my lecture paper. A lot happened this weekend, and I have a lot of homework, but it's been wonderful to see my best friend again. Hearing her voice over the phone isn't quiet the same as hugging and talking for hours in person. Saying goodbye tomorrow will be really sad, but it'll also be great to see all my UMBC friends and my boyfriend again once I'm back. I guess everything has it's pluses and minuses.

I'm really excited today, because at 3 p.m. my best friend Leah's parents are picking me up, and I'm going down to her college, William and Mary, for Parent Weekend. It's been 2 months since I've seen her, and this is the longest we've ever been apart since we met. It'll be weird to be away from UMBC for a whole weekend though. Before I leave I'm having lunch with all of my friends, and then I have my Science lab. We're going on a walk to this pond on campus so we can run water tests. I've got 10 minutes between the end of my lab to change into non-muddy clothes, get the rest of the stuff together, and get outside to meet her parents. Then I've got a five hour drive, where I'll do all of my reading for my classes next week. Despite all of this, I'm going to have a great weekend. But I'm going to miss all of my friends at UMBC so much. :( It's a difficult thing... I love UMBC so much, and my friends here mean the world to me, and my boyfriend is here too, so I miss all of them like crazy whenever I'm not on campus, but I've got all these amazing friends from home who are at other colleges and my family back at home, and I miss them all so much too. I wish I could have them all in one place... but since I can't, I'll just stick with missing everyone when I'm not with them, and letting these trips to see everyone who isn't at UMBC mean a whole lot to me. :)

I went to the PostSecret event tonight on campus! They had the man who started the website PostSecret, Frank Warren, do a presentation about the site and the secrets. I've been following this site now for over 3 years. Every Sunday they post about 20 new secrets on the website. Each secret has been mailed to Frank, at his home, on a postcard. People write anything and everything. Reading the secrets each week is the most amazing thing, because there are always new and original things and a lot of the time you can relate to at least one of the secrets. I'd been waiting to go to a PostSecret convention since I first heard about them back during my sophomore year of high school, so having this opportunity at my college was so perfect for me. The event was so memorable. It was packed and, at the end of Frank's presentation, students and visitors got to go up to the microphone and tell their secrets and/or ask Frank questions. One girl's secret was so moving that I cried. I love events like this that bring people in the community together and allow them to bond in a way they wouldn't be able to otherwise. I'm really glad they had this at UMBC. Finally, I got to attend a PostSecret convention, and I got my book signed by Frank! It was a pretty awesome night, I must say! :D I definitely recommend you attend a PostSecret event if it happens to be in your area or, at the very least, check out the website.

Also, I enabled the anonymous comments for this journal, so if anyone wants to post a secret on here, you can do so anonymously. I just thought it'd be fun, because at the event Frank said that everyone has a secret to share, they just need the opportunity to share it. Just make sure it's tasteful and actually a secret. The journal will automatically screen them (making them so that only I can see), but I'll unscreen the ones that are fine for the public eye. :) Enjoy!

Today was definitely a really hectic day... I only had 45 minutes of free time between the moment I left my dorm room in the morning until I just got back to the room a few minutes ago. Despite how much I've had to do today, I had a pretty good time with everything. After I woke up I went to the Study Abroad Share for the Humanities scholars with Christina and Sam. We ate lunch and listened to the older Humanities scholars talk about their experiences abroad. (All Humanities scholars are required to study abroad for at least one semester as part of our scholarship guidelines.) All of the stories made me even more excited about that opportunity. The photographs from all of the different places (Italy, Greece, Russia, Germany) were beautiful. I've never been outside of the continental US, so I can't wait to go overseas! I'm thinking about either Prague (in the Czech Republic), Italy, or Ireland. Who knows though, because, with my majors, I can pretty much go anywhere. After that I headed straight to my Science Y class. (A "Y" portion of a class meets once a week and is called a "freshman seminar" because it helps to get you introduced to the UMBC community and being a college student.) We talked mainly about our Cultural Bubble project, where we have to pick a club/event/organization that we haven't done before or experienced, and join. For mine I'm doing this thing called "College Night" for The Choice Program. I work with students who have been recommended to the program to build social, academic, and organizational skills. I actually went to my first meeting tonight. I think the program is really interesting, and will be really beneficial to the students. I definitely am going to look into being a Case Worker for The Choice Program after I've graduated. It goes along really well with my goal of being a Social Worker. It's only a one year job though because it's so intense for workers. It seems like a strong opportunity though. :) Oh, and between my Y class and College Night, I had my Humanities seminar. It was actually a really interesting class today. We discussed the different manners of speaking. (Our class is about language control.) It was really fun to compare formal speech to causal speech, and then look at the different ways of speaking within those classifications. This is a really unique class. That's one of the greatest perks of college - the really specialized and unique classes available. :D So, now I must go and work on my lab report for Science. I'll post again later this week!