Oregon Trip - Deer

I went up to Oregon for Grandma's 80th birthday. It was very raining but wonderful to see the extended family that I don't see very often. 

Chocolate and Coffee Festival and Friends

It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing

Madde and going swing dancing! We practically matched :)

I miss the swing community. I really look forward to it while I am home. 

I missed that New Mexican Food

I love coming home from break and having a vegetarian burrito smothered in green chile from the Frontier. 

Home Sweet Home

It was so wonderful to be home and see the family. I slept and relaxed (maybe watched a little too much tv) and spent time with family and friends. 

Done.

Burritos at Stern - Why haven't I done this before?

Maia loves burritos. Today she made me come along to Stern with her to have burritos. I usually just eat at the Wilbur dining hall for convenience sake. And the previous times I have been to Stern I had never gotten burritos.... but they are SO GOOD!

They have a burrito bar and fresh make these DELICIOUS and HUGE burritos. I had rice, beans, tofu, green salsa, pico de gallo, mango, and sour cream. It was really good, really satisfying, and really filling. There was also HORCHATA! I love horchata. Rice milk with cinnamon. A wonderful meal, especially at the end of the quarter when I am just getting a little tired of dining hall food. So I am really happy Maia brought me along.

Turned in that Political Science Paper!

You know what that means? Gelato time :)

I turned in the hard copy of my final paper and then headed over to Munger for some gelato. I got Strawberry Basil and Mint Chip. It was a refreshing and satisfying addition to the beautiful day and the relief of having a class off my shoulders.

Now on to Spanish and Philosophy :)

Maybe after a little more of a break.

Dorm Days - Miracle Berries

Because we are ALL feeling like this:

Sarah got Miracle Berries for the dorm. They mess with your taste buds to make sour and bitter things taste sweet and sweet things taste bland. 

It was a really interesting sensation. We had the berries and then tasted lemons (tasted like sweet lemonade), hot sauce, pickles, gold fish, donuts, and sour patch kids. It was a fun distraction and procrastination.

Studying at the Pool

Madde, Alice, Miranda, Maia and I made the most of the sunshiny day by going to the pool to study and swim for a couple hours. Apparently my parents used to do the same thing while my dad was going to graduate school here. Another example of how I have changed while coming here: I actually went into the pool! Twice! I know! It was really nice and fun. I only got a little bit of work done though so I am cracking down a little harder now that the sun is going down. Taking time to be outside is really important though. It clears my head to outside and despite the fact it feels like I would be more stressed because I get less work done, I am much less stressed. It just feels so good to spend time outside. And I so I can just say I am getting my mental health homework done. Yay!

Teo's Birthday Dinner

One of my good friends, Teo, had his Birthday dinner in Palo Alto on Friday. We went to Crepevine and had a really nice time. I had a Stanford Crepe: crepe with nutella, caramelized banana, strawberries, whip cream, and ice cream. It was amazing!! Teo made a really sweet toast about the friendships and wonderful people here at Stanford.

A little bit of advice from someone who has no right to give it

So I have this political science paper due monday...

That I haven't started....

It is about the emerging security threats to the United States....

And I had no idea what to write....

I was watching too much television...


Until I knew that it was hopeless....

But then, I had an idea...

I got some air......

I went to Trader Joes to get some pie for Pi day!

Biking there, in the first two minutes, I figured out what I was going to write about!


The fresh air felt great!


So, the moral of the story is... fresh air and a change of scenery always stirs those brain waves.

Plus, one can always have another flower to brighten the dorm room and some raspberries as a break and special treat from the dining hall food :)

Academic Episode - Last day of the Art of Living

For my last philosophy class (The Art of Living) we sat outside to discuss the meaning of life. What can I say, it was really college. But it was also really peaceful and enlightening. I really loved this class. At times it was difficult because it was so challenging and many of the texts were difficult to understand at the level our professor was challenging us to. However, by the end, I feel I am able to synthesize the texts together and see how they all discuss the meaning of life together. I learned a lot about how I see my own life and how to live an intentional life. The class always made me think in new ways and the other students were incredibly smart and intellectual. I am definitely going to remember the class and miss the students and professor. 

Dorm Days - Dead Week Pick Me Up

Our amazing dorm staff brought in a personal barista to the dorm. He made coffee and hot chocolate any way you wanted!!! How incredible!!

Here is me drinking my decaf hazelnut mocha. Think about it: it is nutella coffee!!!!!! What could be better!! And it had to be decaf or I wouldn't sleep :)

Sick during Dead Week.... bring it on!

Although I feel like this:

I am aiming at that spring break :)

#Naptime

 After 5 hours of sleep... this was me this morning:

Me in class:

When I got back to my bed after class:

Now.. though, I am feeling better :)

And ready to take on more homework!

Let's do this!

Bedtime, waking up, why am I still awake?

So I finished what I absolutely had to get done for tomorrow. Which was not including my rough draft for my essay that was really quite important.

But I decided it was time to go to sleep. So I got all ready for bed:

Then I was lying in bed thinking about my essay, when this happened:

And I just felt like I could write some more of my paper. I don't know why. I am not happy about it. But I got out of bed and worked for another half hour or so on my paper. 

Now I am getting less than 6 hours of sleep tonight and I am going to be like this in Spanish tomorrow:

Somehow I am not tired though. Why am I still awake?

Things are stressful - back to finding gifs :)

So I am back to the essay writing. I have to get my final philosophy paper done today to turn into my professor. But get this.... it is a rough draft. But he wants the rough draft to be a final draft. The final isn't due until a week from Friday.

Whatever, basically, right now, I am like this:

In addition, I still have all my normal homework. Like I have 100 pages of reading for political science and philosophy plus two Spanish assignments and preparing for a Spanish presentation. Oh and two response papers, I can't believe I almost forgot. 

These are my feelings about that:

But! Spring break is around the corner. And this will be me:

Weekend weather is wonderful!!!

It is hard to start working on finals when it is such a beautiful day. I laid out on Wilbur field and listened to music for a while. Very relaxing :)

Is this a job? - "Ari, don't let Stanford distract you from getting an education."

Cardinal Nights took a trip to the San Francisco Exploratorium last night. It was really fun. I thought that I was going to go and do homework for most of the night. Instead, I looked and participated in many of the exhibits, which were all fantastic. I was somewhat stressed about my homework, but my co worker John assured me, "Ari, don't let Stanford distract you from getting an education." I thought it was extremely profound and important to keep in mind.