Weekend at the Beach House

Thomas, Nick, Alice, and I drove up to Uncle Brian's Beach House for the evening. Ben and Sarah drove up for dinner. Alice and I took a walk on the beach. We went shopping and made quesadillas with homemade guacamole and salad for dinner. We then sat outside on the crash pad and talked for a couple hours. Then everyone went back to the dorm. I stayed and had a really relaxing night by myself, which was such a relief. I slept and woke up to have breakfast with Brian and Katherine and talk with them for 6 hours before heading back to school. It was exactly the break I needed. I loved it so much.

I love my cousin Chou Chou.

There was a beautiful rainbow when we arrived.

It cleared up to be a gorgeous day.

I loved getting to buy berries to eat :)

My breakfast :) I couldn't have been happier. 

Spotlight

Our dorm has a recurring event called Spotlight. Three people tell their stories and people ask them questions to get to know those people really well. Yesterday, I had my spotlight and it was really difficult to try and sum up life in a few minutes and then figure out how to answer the questions. Aaron, the RA who sponsors Spotlight, advertises the evening by get the spotlighters to submit two fun facts about them that few people in the dorm know and would be interesting enough for people to come.

Mine were:

I have every lyric of Wicked, the musical, memorized.

I spent the night at Reed Hastings', house. 

Afterwards I also realized that I have every lyric of Avenue Q, Legally Blonde the Musical, The Book of Mormon, Hairspray, Hair, Pippin, Spring Awakening, Rent, and possibly more memorized. That made me feel crazy!

Screw Your Roommate

Last Wednesday our dorm held Screw Your Roommate. It is a double date times 30 :) Basically, your roommate set you up on a double date with someone and the entire dorm does something together. We went to Dave n' Busters, think Chuckie Cheeses for old people or essentially just a big arcade. Jasmine set me up with someone inside the dorm and so it was pretty chill because we already knew each other. So we just spent the time hanging out. I set up Jasmine with one of Kaya's friends. Overall it was really fun and exciting because everyone got to meet a lot of people from other dorms and it was an arcade, so it was fun. A fantastic, awkward tradition!

Parent's Weekend

I spent the weekend with my parents. They came to class. We went to the museum. We watched tennis. We ate Ike's. We went out to dinner. We hung out with my friends. They watched me perform in Swingtime! It was a great time. And since I postponed writing this for so long, I can't go into too much more detail.

Basically, though, I miss them a lot. Fall quarter is really exciting and new and I was really ready to be on my own. I didn't have as much time to miss my family. However, winter quarter is a lot of school and not as much distractions. Plus, I settled in here so that I really miss their presence. It was hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the weekend. I can't wait to see them again. I love you Mom and Dad! Thank you for coming. I am so fortunate to have your love and support both over video chat and when I get to see you person.

Plus! There was gorgeous weather for them. It was 70 and sunny all weekend long.

Crossing the Line

I have been a little late in the blogging. I apologize.

A week ago we had an event in our dorm called Crossing the Line. It is a winter event that is meant to let us get to know each other better and become more comfortable with serious topics that require us to show vulnerability.

The entire dorm lines up on one side of a line. There is a moderator who will then say, "You are the oldest sibling." If the statement applies to you, you cross the line and turn around to face the other students. The entire activity is entirely silent and no reactions or noises are made after someone crosses. It can take a lot of courage to cross. Sometimes, it is unclear what the statement is saying but you are supposed to use your best judgement and you given the opportunity to clarify later. Some of the statements are straightforward, but others are really difficult to decide about. The statements focussed on different topics: politics, family, body image, relationships, or mental health. 

The best part of this activity was it made people feel like they were surrounded by others with shared experiences. It made us feel more open to talking about serious topics and being open with the dorm. 

It was a really wonderful experience!

Getting closer

One application and two essays finished :)

Took a break for dinner:

Good Morning

Me waking up:

Realizing how many hours left until my paper is due: 

Trying to start my paper:

This will be fun 

Check in

This is how I am doing right now:

And http://stanfordguyproblems.tumblr.com/

Stanford Guy Problems made things a little better :) partly because it inspired more gif use!

Like, seriously....

These are what these essays are doing to me:

Too much fun, I need to work

So I am sitting down to work for maybe six hours straight on some essays and assignments. Wish me luck. I am going to be so relieved when I get to Wednesday. Although I have done some really fun things this weekend, a lot of it has been overshadowed by the anxiety from all the work I have. These next 48 hours will be pretty stressful, and I can't wait for it to be over.

 This how I am preparing for the night. The beginning.

How I will feel tonight, all night, and tomorrow. 

What my Wednesday night will look like. 

P.S. Sorry to people who don't understand gif culture. 

A weekend of outings - Boba Tea with Sarah

Continue in this tradition of getting fresh air and going off campus, I went to Boba tea with Sarah. It was wonderful to talk with her and have another break from studying. I got Rose Milk Green Tea. Really really tasty.

PHEbruary Day 16

Do something outdoors today.

I went to Palo Alto for gelato with Ethan today. I got Lavender Honey and Green Tea gelato and we walked around outside. It was absolutely amazing. We talked about the startup his is working on which has to do with identifying voters views and helping voters find political candidates to support that align with their views. He is also an Science, Technology, and Society major, which I am interested in studying and so he imparted wisdom to me on the major.

PHEbruary Day 15 - Dinner in Palo Alto

We biked down to University Ave for dinner for our one hour off campus PHEbruary assignment. It was such breath of fresh air to leave campus for a couple of hours. We went to a place called CrepeVine. I had a greek crepe that was very yummy. It was so much food! A giant crepe with a side salad and potatoes, but it felt great. Walking down University was beautiful and I had great company. Along with me was Riley (in the picture), Andrew, Jordan, Alex, Jacob, Jorge, and Joey. I would love to do it more often, but finding time and energy can certainly be difficult.

A tasty and relaxing treat

I studied this afternoon with green tea and tiny amounts of chocolate by my side. It is delicious to bite off a small piece of chocolate and then drink the tea. The tea melts the chocolate so beautifully :)

Thank you Mommy :)

My mom sent me beautiful flowers for Valentine's Day. She always has done really wonderful things for Valentine's Day for Eli and me. I love you mom!

One of Jon Stewart's Best!

The first ten minutes or so of this Jon Stewart episode are absolutely amazing :) He is my favorite. I watch his show as I eat breakfast every morning. This is a particular good episode though and I wanted to share it. Enjoy!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-february-6-2014-robyn-doolittle