(R)- Back Where it All Started

I have typed a few words and then deleted it all about five times now because I just do not know what to say.  It ended for real.  I could handle class being over, but now Chicago is two hours ahead, and it is saddening.  The past three weeks were amazing, and it all ended with a shuttle picking us up as the sun rose for the last time on Summer Session 2.  I think it was pretty symbolic.

Final group photo. It all started in front of this tree and now it ended there too.

We got to the airport at 6:15 AM and the clouds looked ready to start pouring rain at any moment.  Part of me wanted it to rain so that I could be in Chicago longer, but I also did not want extra troubles for ourselves and especially Don, so I (mostly) prayed for us to get through everything without a hitch.  We ate breakfast at the airport, and the french toast I ordered was actually tasty.  I expected to have a previously frozen piece of cardboard, but they made it to order which I thought was awesome.  As we sat and waited for the plane to board, we all started to fall asleep and woke up to stand in line, just to fall asleep once we sat down again.  I was asleep from before take-off to after we entered the Pacific time zone.  Once I woke up, I started reading my train letters and, although they did not make me cry, made me emotional.  I felt so grateful to have met all these people.  I hope my letters to them made them feel the same because they all mean a lot to me.  And I could not even write one to all of the friends I made. 

Hugs to go around as we parted ways.  Alana was a great
chaperone, and I am sad that she will not be teaching at
Hercules High next year.

We landed at 10:30 AM and spent what felt like nearly the same amount of time waiting for our luggage and the shuttle as we spent on the plane.  I was happy to see the Bay again with its hills and bridges.  We got on the shuttle at 12:00 and had next to no traffic on our way back to El Cerrito High.  I walked out of the van to see my mom with open arms, and she gave me a big hug.  I thought, "When I go to Chicago for college this will be an even tighter hug." And then I caught myself because I just told myself that is where I want to go to college.  I had kept dodging it when I would talk about it there because I was not quite sure if I wanted to go that far for school.  At that moment, however, I knew I would go there in a heartbeat if I got accepted.

After some pictures and goodbyes between the cohort, I hopped in the car and went to lunch before I had a haircut.  As we drove on I-80, I felt like nothing had changed or, at least, I had just been on it.  And then I thought about how I could take this same freeway all the way back to Chicago.  Of course, this made me miss it more, and I had to remember that it's good to be back.

I finally got home to start packing for my next trip to Southern California.  Right upon getting back, I am leaving again.  Now I am typing this blog in Corona, California, and I have two more blogs to write.  This is my last daily blog.  The next two will be reflections on my experience as a whole.  See you all in the next post.

Goodbye is Never Easy: Last Day Post

Me and our TA, Marjorie

Me and our Professor, Kate

I'll write about my last day and my return home as one giant day, because that is really what it felt like. Friday was the last day of class. Our professor showed up with two boxes full of doughnuts, which were delicious and an incredibly sweet gesture (pun totally intended). We spent the last few hours of class time giving our presentations on our final research projects. My group went first, and spent the rest of class sitting back and listening. I realized that I didn't actually know many of the details of my classmates' studies, so it was great to listen to them explain their various findings. After the last group presented, that was it. Class was done! That was the first moment that I really started to feel the sadness setting in. I hadn't let it fully hit me yet, but this is when I first started to feel like everything was over. Luckily I wasn't the only one -- everyone else in the class was on the same page. We all exchanged plenty of hugs, and got together for group photos and individual shots with Kate and Marjorie. 

Class selfie, courtesy of Hannah

Angelica and I went looking for mixing bowls,
but found a month's supply of black beans
 instead. College, everyone.

After lunch I went to my room and finished up packing. The afternoon seemed to go by so slowly. Most other people were still in class, and the dorm seemed so empty. Luckily, after wandering around for a while and running into a couple different small groups of people, my friend Angelica and my roommate Michelle invited me down to the community kitchen to help them bake brownies! We had to improvise a bit (the lack of mixing bowls and baking dishes was easily remedied with a nonstick saute pan and some muffin tins), but the brownies turned out great in the end. Before they were done baking, I found out that my friend Hannah would be leaving early. I ran over to say goodbye to her and she gave me the hugest hug ever. I'll miss her so much! Once the brownies were out (and once each of us had had our fill) we ended up bringing them to the lounge where the ice cream social would be and donating them to the line up. We crumbled them up so that others could enjoy them as an ice cream topping.

The ice cream social was incredible! The RA's really went all out, with tons of different flavors of ice cream and all sorts of crazy toppings. After almost everyone had been served, they set up a karaoke sing along up on the projector. Not everyone was willing to participate, but a small group of us sang our hearts out to classics such as Reflection from Mulan and Bohemian Rhapsody. As the sing-along wound down, I ended up sharing a great moment with Ernestina when Mauricio requested "Fly Me to the Moon" as performed by Frank Sinatra. We sang while swing dancing and had a blast. As the evening went on, I made my rounds to try and visit all my friends. I ended up in one of the fifth floor lounges, where a bunch of people had gathered to watch a horror movie. It was so much fun huddling together and screaming as the suspense was built and released. A wonderful last memory with my new friends.

California here I come, right back where
I started from!

Somehow, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, it was 4:30 AM and time to go downstairs and check out of our dorms. A whole group of people came down to see us off, and after some hugs and sad farewells we went out to meet Ms.Scott. We said goodbye to Doris and Jim, who were committed enough to see us all the way out, and then got in the shuttle to the airport! 

From their it was a full morning of relatively smooth travel. I sat next to a lovely woman and her four-year-old daughter on the airplane. She was an AP Spanish teacher from Chicago traveling to California on vacation, and we had some excellent conversations about the similarities of schools in Chicago and California, our experiences with the Spanish language, and Developmental Psychology. Her daughter also told me all about Dora the Explorer and her favorite superhero, Spider-Man (my favorite, also!). While it has and will be so great to be back home with my family, it was hard to say goodbye to everyone -- especially my fellow cohort members who went through this whole experience with me. Parting is such sweet sorrow. I will definitely hold on to all the memories of this great experience! So long, Chicago!

F - FRIDAY, FRIENDS, FATE

Dear Reader,

I am SO UPSET BECAUSE I WROTE A SUPER LONG BLOG POST FOR THIS AND IT DELETED ON ME. No way to get it back. I wish I had saved it somewhere. AIYA. Regrets.\

edit: after rewriting, I'm pretty proud of this blog post. I think it says everything that should be said, so far. Just know there are still more coming. :) Don't forget us~

IS IT A SUNRISE OR SUNSET??? It's playing tricks on your mind.

Okay, let's see if I can remember this. God, I wish I could remember this. Let's start over then. New view point. Fresh start. I am so salty. The day started me getting to class EARLY (by a couple minutes) for once, which is absolutely CRAZY. Oh wait, no, it started before that. Here's a continuation of the Thursday night's sunrise ventures. It's our last morning together, and Kevin, Nicole, Kathy and I are spending it watching the sunrise, because why not, you know? It was absolutely gorgeous, and my camera caught a few shots that look more like a fiery sunset than a pale pink sunrise, but either way, it was breathtaking. Classy. 

Sunrise squad: Me, Nicole, Kathy, Kevin.

I wanted to go outside, but my peers judgments override my own, and perhaps it wasn't the most rational decision, either. Kathy and Nicole left around 6 AM to nap before their final presentation that day, and Kevin fell asleep on the clothed bench we were sitting on. I tried waking him up; it's pretty much impossible without the help of my handy dandy alarm ring tone. If poking one in the face will not wake them up, play the song His Name Is? from Bravely Default on high volume as an alarm. It will wake any living soul up, I guarantee.

check it out!

I snapped a couple blog worthy shots on my camera, and then took a nap from our lovely seventh floor view, waking up in time for a good breakfast with Jessica, and arriving to a class not-so-surprise of donuts. Our professor -- Patrick Reichard --, brought chocolate and glazed and toasted coconut donuts to class from Abundance Bakery, along with an abundance of Kevin jokes.

CREATIVE WRITING @ UCHICAGO SUMMER 2k16

Jim, Mauricio, Kevin, Siva, Nicole, Kathy, Me, Jessica

We had a guest speaker named Bayo Ojikutu, who had a poetic sort of voice, but wasn't as interesting as Cris Mazza in my opinion 1) probably because I was more tired and 2) he wanted to know more about us, rather than talking about his own writing experience. He took a group picture for our class though, and we are seriously the best class. After Bayo left, everyone exchanged t-shirts and signed each others (the summer session t-shirts, because we were all relatively fashion conscious and knew that we would never actually wear those shirts out).              

Conceitedness at its best.

Honestly, I think we had the most fun class, and had the greatest relationships. I'm going to miss everyone, and this summer, intensely. We had a group lunch, and Jim asked Jessica and I to go with him and Mauricio to shop downtown. We hopped on the 6 up to Michigan Avenue and walked by hoards of people dressed Lollapalooza ready. Mauricio really wanted to get in, but tickets for Lolla are 400~ some dollars (actually, I think Ms. Scott went, LOL) and we didn't have the time. You could hear the bass from Lolla all the way from the Bean, where we took some v cute pictures. We stopped by the Bean because Jim hadn't seen it yet (in all these three weeks, wow), and the Bean looked much nicer

because the rain cleaned off the dirt and peoples' fingerprints that accumulated over days of tourism. It had a sort of shiny, foggy aesthetic to it, which was nice for photographs.

J-JEM, because we're precious..

We walked down to a mall that had an Adidas outlet in it, which is what Jim was looking for. It was about 4:30 PM at this time, and we were going to meet up at 5:30 PM. Jessica and I walked around different stores, eating chocolate strawberries and other random chocolates from Godiva, and by 5:20 PM we were done, and went to check on Mauricio and Jim, who were nowhere near done...and they say females are the ones who like to shop. We ended up leaving around 6:40 PM because of international credit card problems, and I was getting worried because I promised Doris I'd eat dinner with her at 6:30 PM, as well as getting antsy about missing people who were leaving tonight.

College, what of it.

We finally got back around 7:30 PM, and Doris and I head over to Noodles etc., and on our way there we run into the people who just left from there (Kevin, Shravan, Shiv, Eddie, Kat, I'm not even sure if these are all the right people, etc.). I'm told to order the chicken pad thai and
spring rolls, so Doris and I eat family style and order a chicken pad thai, veggie pad see ew, two mango drinks, and shrimp spring rolls. We sit outside, and the weather is nice for awhile but it gets cold, so I ask for hot water. It's almost 8:30 PM by now and I actually start to get anxious and tell Doris that we should leave.

Artsy spring rolls.

I speed walk, under the guise of chilliness, and when we're almost to the dining commons/dorms, I get a call that scares me out of my wits. Did I mention my ringtone and alarm tone are the same song? It's from Jessica, she says that they've been waiting for me and where am I? I say I'm right outside and sprint the last 40 paces inside, slightly out of breath and so glad that I didn't miss it.

Jessica, Doris, Aaron, Jim, Me, Kevin, Mauricio, Shravan, Shiv, Eddie

The best of the best.

I see Kevin, Mauricio, and Jessica in the lobby, and then see the others from our main Sherlockin', baseball, breakfast squad. Kevin is leaving, and Shiv was supposed to leave but he forgot his laundry and came back, and we all came to say our goodbyes' and see you agains', and I'll miss yous'; I'll miss you, I'll miss you, I'll miss you. We get to meet his legendary parents too, and sister, who take photos of us and for us.

UChicago? Yeah, UChicago.

I'd like to say that was the happy yet sad end to our day, but it really wasn't. After Kevin and Shiv left,  we had our own packing to do for our flight in the morning. I take a walk with TALAN (Teague, Aileen, Leandra, Angie, and Nikolai), as well as Katerina, and we talk about what we'll miss and more importantly, who we'll miss. After we come back to some very intense Sinatra and Valli karaoke (Alice and I start swing dancing), Doris and I chill in Nikolai and Teague's room for a bit, and decide to help each other pack (or rather, sit there while the other packs). That didn't exactly work out because at around 2 AM we went to my room first, and we both fell asleep on my bed after attempting to pack. Doris woke up though, said she was going to take a shower and she'll wake me up at 4:30 AM (I don't recall any of this, though apparently I nodded my head). We eventually finished packing, and around 4:45 AM, I go to knock on Jessica's door because she said she wanted to see me off. We ran into Kevin Chi, Jim, and the TALAN crew at almost 5 AM, and they come to see us off as well.

I'm glad to have made friends that will wake up at 5 AM even though I didn't ask them too, that will carry my luggage even though I didn't ask them to, that will wait for me even though I didn't ask them to, that will make me a part of their life even though I didn't ask them to. Friends that matter. A massive part of my life, somehow, and I am overwhelmed with love. <3

The flight was largely uneventful, possibly because everyone on the plane was asleep, including myself. I didn't wake up until our landing in Oakland, and was thoroughly mystified how could the flight gone by so quickly. We return to standard Californian blue skies, but with a longing for the warmth of a Chicago summer. The bay is so deceptive, in photos it looks absolutely amazing, but it's positively cold. Well, I did wear my California shirt for this arrival.

Can't stop missing Chicago. Won't stop missing one of the most important summers of my life.

Obligatory wing pic.

It was nice seeing my parents for the first time in a month -- we had salmon and steak for dinner, two things that UChicago just can't do as well as my mother. I'll also miss Ms. Scott, a great chaperone and great teacher, though she's leaving us this upcoming year. D':

Yours,
for a last daily blog -- but don't worry, there are a few more. :)
eh.

Families reuniting at long last.

(R)- That's All Folks

Last day of class, last day of Chicago, last day of the best part of my summer.  I can not understate how amazing this has been.  Class today was not sad, but rather everyone felt relieved.  The case I was a part of today won again, so I am technically two for two here.  The sad part is that everyone is going to their separate corners of the country, and even the globe, extremely soon.

American Law and Litigation Session 2.  Fun, but stressful.
Would recommend.

I got out of class and went straight to the dorms because it was raining, again.  I had to write "train letters" to some of the people here because they wrote some for me. The whole point is for all of us to read them as we are heading home.  I guess it started when trains were the primary mode of transportation and letters were used instead of phones.  After I had written about everything I love about each of the people, I packed up my mess of a room.  It took me an hour to get all my clothes, papers, and other belongings together and into my luggage.  My backpack is completely stuffed now, and I look like a turtle.

I went to dinner for the last time in the dining hall and then tried to find a place to take an Instagram-worthy picture. While I did not find a good enough picture, I got a trip around campus one last time.  I am going to miss this city a lot.  The more I think about coming here, the more I want to.  I pictured the ground covered in snow and the crowded sidewalks when the whole student body is here.

A fountain in the middle of campus that I had not seen before.

The RAs had an ice cream social, and I got to say goodbye to all my new friends that are leaving.  I now have three hours until a shuttle takes me to the airport.  I will be in California soon, and it is unbelievably bittersweet.  I know California is my home, but I think Chicago could be a great substitute for four years.

Bye UChicago, it has been unforgettable

L - Leaving With No Regrets

 it's clean!

Dear Reader,

It's almost the last day, and I am, to simply put it, sad. We're leaving, and I don't want to leave the memories I've made behind.

Let's write this as a normal blog post until I get hit with the feels.

Today....well, today Jessica woke me up by knocking on my door. Ahh, I have such kind friends. I couldn't wake up myself and my hands were shaking (happens at home too right after waking up, not uncommon) so I couldn't pick up my croutons. :'( But the rest of the day after that was fine. The henna, originally almost invisible darkened considerably over night, and I got a few compliments on it too. Hehe.

dysfunctional class.

Apparently it's tradition in the creative writing classes to go to the English Ph. D classroom towards the end of the summer session (because our teacher somehow has the

code....hmm), so all 17 of us trekked up some dangerously spiraling staircases to a tiny circular but fabulous tower right in the center of UChicago's main quadrangle. Turns out, however, there's no Wi-Fi up there, so it was quite the struggle to bring up documents, especially as mine was the one (one of them) being read. The feedback from others was mostly positive with a few needs for clarifications, which I am supposed to fix by Sunday (sent through e-mail). OH! I got an A on my last essay. :D Happy.

Emma, I, and Jim at the Gym.

Class ended at 3 PM, but we had the reading session at 7 PM so no one really knew what to do. Angelica, Alice, Jessica, Emma, and Kain walk through puddles barefoot on the way back to the dormitory. We took basic barefoot puddle photos that really showcase our lovely tans. Just to let you know, I didn't have a flip flop tan before this trip...AT ALL.

Basketball with Mauricio, Emma, and Jim in the Gym. So basically, we didn't have anything to do before the reading, and not enough time to go out, so we decided to go to the gym! Normally I only go there to swim, but we played good ol' bball and I realize that I suck at basketball as much as I remembered! Literally, I stood no more than three feet away from the hoop. Couldn't. Make. A. Shot. Anyway, RIP my athletic career.

ANGELICA.

Doris! Honorary cohort member.

Creative Writing Reading! Okay, this was definitely the most interesting and fun and amazing part of my day. Instead of reading an excerpt from my stories and what not, I chose a selection of two poems that I am quite proud of writing. The turn out for the reading was a full room almost (ehehe, though half of it was our class), but about 20 people who weren't in our class showed up, which was nice. Kevin was early, so he got to see our class preparing our little skit, haha. Ryan, Mauricio, and Alice came too, so I felt very loved and supported when reciting my poetry. I was so nervous, I crumpled my papers to bits.

Kevin! Honorary classmate.

After the writing reading, Angelica and I had a mini photo shoot of sorts, where we boasted our theatrical talents. I also took a lot of photos with people from our class, and some honorary class members too. :) Ryan, Alice, Kevin, Doris, and I ordered a deep dish pizza from Giordano's, and while waiting for that, we were at the piano and such. When it arrived, we feasted. Although, I'm not the biggest fan of deep-dish and still am not. I've tried both the Chicago hot dawgs and deep-dish pizzas so far, and still have been most impressed by its cupcakes. :/ 

I changed after getting some oil on my dress. D': And then finally decided to give away the fluffy for sale otter I got from the aquarium; it's better off in another's hands than in mine. Then because it was Kathy's last night with us, Nicole, Kathy, Kevin Chi and I decide to watch the sunrise together. I think those morning shots should go in Friday's blog.

Oh did I tell you the interesting fact that was read aloud at the reading tonight?

I have made more memories that matter to me in the last three weeks than I have made in the past three months.

Yours,

eh.

Have to go for the LAST DAY OF CLASS! D:

The Long and Winding Road: The End is Near

I thought about asking to be exempt from the blog tonight, but decided that it wouldn't take long to share some of the details of today with you. Nothing much to say except I can really tell that we are gearing up for the end! Today barely even felt like a real class. We had our last quiz, briefly went over the major themes that we had covered in class and the major takeaways that our professor wanted us to remember, and spent the remaining hour working on a short project. The project was a but unusual: design a product marketed to a specific group of people based on a concept we learned about in this class. I chose the unit where we learned about the vocabulary and cognitive development gap that develops between families of high and low socioeconomic status, and designed a toy and book library delivery system that would give disadvantaged children access to educational resources and encourage parent involvement with the child. It is possible that this already exists, but if it doesn't then it definitely should! We all shared our products with the class, and I was touched by how thoughtful and creative everyone was.

After lunch, we were released to finish working on our slideshow. My group worked pretty efficiently, and with a few more rehearsals later tonight I feel confident that tomorrow's presentation will be excellent. Go team! I also finished the bulk of my ten page paper, and only need to give it a final read through before submitting it.

Next, I went and listened to Ernestina and the rest of her creative writing class present their work. Really loved Ernestina's poems, as well as many of the thoughtful and imaginative pieces that were shared. There was everything from plays to poems to short stories, and each piece captured some unique aspect of the human experience. Excellent work by all.

Once the speakers had finished, Ernestina, Ryan, Doris, Kevin, and I ordered deep dish pizza delivery from Giordano's, a local chain. I almost made it to the end of my time in Chicago without eating deep dish, which would have been unacceptable. Once the pizza came my group from psych was supposed to meet to rehearse our presentation again, but instead most of us decided to join some of the RA's to be signed out to play sports on the grassy midway after curfew. I played Frisbee for a while before deciding it was too dark and going to join the soccer game. My team lost, but I still had a great time. It was a great way to relieve stress and spend time with people. Early morning tomorrow to finish preparation for our presentation, so goodnight to all!

(R)- Breathe Air, There's Lots of it Here

So today started in the worst possible way.  The exact thing I did not want to happen, happened.  I overslept.  Three alarms and I still happened to mess up.  Throughout the entire session, I never once overslept and on the day of most importance, I did.  Sorry, Don.  Maybe now you can tell all the future ILCers not to follow my example.  

Rik was playing a woman today as
a witness.  He was really dedicated
to the part.

So I woke up at 9:43, when I was supposed to be in class at 9:30.  I put my suit on, gathered my case materials, and raced to class in 15 minutes.  I was applauded once I got to class because I got there so fast after I got up.  I did not miss anything, so I only felt like hiding in my suit jacket for about ten minutes.  I have never had anything like this happen to me, and I do not like it at all.  I always get mad at people that can not be timely, so I am officially a hypocrite.  (If you look back to July 10, the story comes full circle because I woke up at 9:45 that day, too.)

We won, though.  After a hard fought case, which took so much time over the past five days, we won.  Now I can breathe.  I obviously have not taken a single breath since last Sunday, but I should have because there is lots of air here, just like the water.  One of my classmates, Sonora, who is reading all of my blogs at the moment and rereading them to me in the most over exaggerated tone, was the jury member that swayed the rest to our side.  Mrs. Scott liked my closing and thought I made good objections, and Doris went above and beyond.  I was impressed by Doris's first time in a trial.  She is a natural at this.  I am grateful for her and all the energy she brought to this tough case.  

After class, it started to rain again.  I went to the athletic center to run on the treadmill and then got to eat some quesadillas at the dining hall.  Afterward, the creative writing class read all their short stories, which were fascinating.  Ernestina read two poems, and others read stories about concepts ranging from romance to death.  I realized I have to pack up my messy room all before tomorrow night.  I also realized tomorrow is the last night.  A lot of pictures are being taken, and tears are starting to come.  I am trying to keep those thoughts out for now.  Tomorrow is the last day, so I want to enjoy it without being sad.

Late night Giordano's delivery

Two More Days

We went over the types of stress that have an effect on the lives of children. They were identified in different categories. For example, Positive which is small amounts of stress like school tests. This type of stress is important for development and requires support from a supportive relationship like parents and friends.

Tolerable stress can sometimes hurt development but, for the most part, is able to be surpassed with the aid of others. Tolerable stress usually happens after a big event, like the death of a loved one.

The Terrible type of stress is Toxic and this is where no one is there to support and will definitely hurt the child. I would like to see further research on the statistics that are associated with each group. For example, how many finish college, become incarcerted, become employed, etc.

Living in poverty causes lots of stress on children. This is because sometimes the parents cannot provide the basic necessities for the child. Good parenting can lessen the impact of the stress , but this becomes difficult more difficult as you go lower on the salary scale. Some things that negatively affects IQ of developing children are inadequate diet, inadequate parenting, and insufficient intellectual stimulation. All of these criteria are greatly affected by how much money a parent has. Like what food they can afford, what education can they pay for, and how much time they have for their child. It would be interesting to see what the recommended wage for raising a child might be. I'm sure it takes a lot of money, but there are those parents who have the money and don't put in the effort.

I've realized that there are two more days of class... I don't know if I'm ready to go back yet. It feels like we've just got started in class and I've just met all the people here. It's going to be a tragic goodbye and it's sad to think I may never see the people here ever again.

E - League of Nature

Dear Reader,

Today we were let out early for class because tomorrow we have to stay later than usual and arrive earlier than usual. Therefore, I am writing my blog post earlier than usual.

I woke up, 8:07 AM, and go to take a shower and get down to breakfast and decide not to eat breakfast even though it's a full hour before my class starts because I'm foolish. I didn't get hungry until we read a story about lemon meringue pie and the cravings hit (thankfully, our last story of the day). We headed to lunch at 1 PM and ate as a large group (most of us, at least), and to my surprise they had paneer tikka masala! Jahnvi's favorite, lol (though she isn't here to try it). It was a refreshing change from American and somewhat Chinese food.

Mini sunflowers? No no, these are daisies.

At 2 PM, Jessica and I caught a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry.We were talking about the advantages and disadvantages of polarized versus nonpolarized sunglasses and the strangeness with which they turned electronic screens into rainbows. Both of us have quality sunglasses and fear losing them, and both of us originally wanted aviators but were told they didn't really match our face structure. We got to the museum around 2:30 PM and were absolutely fascinated by the exhibits displayed, most notably the periodic table reaction chamber and mirror maze.

Two dancers, reaching to each other in burning passion.

The exhibits in the MSI are mostly the same to those in the Exploratorium, but ten thousand timesbigger and might I say, a bit cooler too. They have a lot of interactive displays, and those are always fun to use. My favorite display would have to be the fairy castle, though it sounds a bit childish, the engineering spent creating such miniature yet complex objects is so intricate. We spent until 5:30 PM at the MSI, which even though is very large size wise, was enough to cover everything one would want to see.

After the museum, we slipped into the admissions officer presentation, which was, honestly, extremely generic and could have been applied to many, many liberal arts schools.

Dinner was the most interesting part of the day, where I ate with Kevin and Lawrence and somewhat Doris and we talked about League and anime and Filthy Frank and Smash Bros. Melee as well as Antman, One-Punch Man, and how uncultured Kevin was in terms of urban dictionary. That dinner stretched for long after I was done with my food, and afterwards we headed to the fifth floor study lounge and tried on Lawrence's magical headphones. It was as pretty crazy experience, in my opinion. There's different modes so one moment you're on the streets and the other you're under water.

After leaving for 20 minutes to help Doris iron things, I come back to have my seat taken. I leave my salt in my pocket and go upstairs to work on feedback and the night goes on as such, until I come back down to charge my laptop. Sarah brings a henna like substance in and people ask me to draw on them. That--now that--that was fun.

Yours,

eh.

S - Salvation in Memories

Dear Reader,

Little caterpillar!

Completely changing the plot of your story in three hours is a pain, but a worthwhile pain because you know the story is so much better. And that's exactly what I did last night. We have to read our stories/anything we've written/could even be poetry at a reading on Thursday night, and I think I'll read either a poem part of my story. Still haven't decided yet.

New home. :D

Yesterday was me working, actually working, and I think that's crazy because I rarely work without getting distracted, and yesterday I put my wits on the line and thought "This is due tomorrow, and you have to create a fresh idea, change it up completely, and finish writing it by tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow."

Anyway, the day went:

Breakfast, with Kevin, Eddie, Mauricio, and Athena, when upon finishing and heading to class, we come across a tiny green fuzzy caterpillar. I didn't notice it until Kevin abruptly stopped and picked it up with a leaf and gave it a new home on a nearby tree. I wonder if it's in a worse or better place than it was originally situated. Well, at least it has less of a chance of being stepped on. :3

After class doodly-ing.

Jessica!

We then split and went to class, where I read stories about babies being taken on diplomatic journeys through the canyons and the true meaning of Christmas. Analyzing stories that other people write is always fun, especially when they organize it into such novel formats. Another story was a play, which was absurdly cool. We're acting out a scene of it on Thursday for our read-aloud assignment.

The height difference is real. ;-;

I ate lunch with Kathy and Nicole, who nearly made me spit out my food when they said they should hang out more with me so that guys will follow them around. Following that interesting lunch time conversation, we head back to class for more stories. Class ended around 3, and after some doodly-ing on the board with fancy handwriting, Jessica and I went back to the dorms, where I promptly napped a solid three-four hours (aka, through dinner, but I didn't realise that), and worked on my story alone until I was done with only a 20 minute interlude of human contact.

The others were watching Sherlock or out somewhere but I was fixated on my computer screen, hardcore typing something that wasn't completely formulated. But I finished, and I got pretty positive feedback so far through email. That makes me happy. Berry happy. Oh, darn, I really want some blueberries right now. Weird.

Sarah took a photo of me and photoshopped it into a photo of Kathy, Nicole, and Kevin. It's really obvious that my proportions and skin tone really are just out of place but no matter how cringeworthy the photo itself is, the fun while making it was undeniably enjoyable.

Yours,

eh.