Goodbye October.

October has been so so good to me and I am sad to see it come to an end! October has always been my second favorite month (April being the first) and this year was exceptionally wonderful.

I kicked off the month with the trip to D.C. with some of my favorite people in the world. I toured the West Wing of the White House, visited two of my best friends at George Mason and Georgetown, and devoured some delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.

I celebrated my 20th birthday (with a test in my Juvenile Justice class... which didn't go so well) with a nice long Columbus Day weekend. I got to see some friends and spent quality time with my family, which I always love.

I went zip-lining and conquered the high ropes course once again on my student government retreat, which was so ridiculously fun.

I got to celebrate my childhood friend's homecoming from the Air Force while he was on a two-week leave. It was the first time I had seen him since January and it was great being with everyone.

I dressed up as a cute birthday present for Halloween and received an abundance of compliments from everyone :)

All I have to say is that October will be a tough month to beat, so BRING IT, November. Let's see what you've got in store for me!

Stressed Out.

My Juvenile Justice midterm is making me feel like this boy right now...

Overwhelmed with Joy

Well that's an oxymoron if I've ever heard one...

But anyway, today has been a great day. The president of my school attended our SGA meeting tonight and we got to hear her concerns and visions for the new year. She really is a wonderful lady who wants nothing more than to make the students at my school happy. She is so open to new ideas and I especially love how approachable she is. She definitely makes Salve a better place to be at.

Tonight, I learned that our vice president, who has become like an older brother to me, came in first place at some sort of competition at UConn over the weekend, winning over students from Harvard University and Yale University. He presented his research project on the effect of pesticides on human beings and became the first undergraduate student to come in first place. Once I find out the proper name of the event, I will post it. Regardless, this is such a wonderful achievement, especially for him, and I am just beaming about how lucky I am to know such an intelligent person! I definitely admire him in so many ways and this just adds to it.

To add on to that, the other older brother that I never had (and our president) has his final interview for Teach For America tomorrow morning. Teach for America is a non-profit organization that allows recent college graduates to teach in low-income areas of America for two years (if I was an education major, this would be right up my alley. Luckily, I'm still able to experience this kind of work in my own major). He made it through the first interview round with no problems and had a phone interview for his second round. Tomorrow, he will be meeting with the people from Teach for America and will present to them a five-minute lesson plan, among other things. If there are two interviewers, then it means that twelve people made it to the final round. However, if there is only one interviewer, then it means that only six people made it. To be one out of twelve, never mind six, is a great accomplishment, and I am also so so proud of him. Please cross your fingers for my friend and pray that gets the job! It definitely is his calling in life and I can't think of anyone else who would be perfect for this position.

I just feel like such a proud little sister right now and I'm so happy for them. These two are exactly the type of person that I aim to be. They are such an inspiration to me as I see how their hard work and dedication has helped them reach one step closer to achieving their dreams. I hope that one day, I will be able to do the same. :)

Boy, it certainly is a good day for the Salve community.

'Cause I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for.

I swear that after my trip, it is like I became a completely new person. To be honest, I am slightly shocked to see what a different person I have transformed into. When I look back and see how unbelievably homesick I was, it makes me sad, yet slightly optimistic as I tell myself that I should never become that girl again.

I am certainly much more positive about everything that is currently going on in my life. I no longer feel the need to cry after talking to my parents on the phone every night. I choose something to look forward to every single day to make the day much more enjoyable. I am more confident and more outgoing. To justify this, I went on a zip-line yesterday morning at a high ropes course. Yes, you read that right. I. Went. Zip-lining. I even volunteered to go first, but had to wait to go after two other people. This is coming from the girl who is so terrified of heights, but I reminded myself that it was not an opportunity that comes every day so I decided to toss that fear aside and just go with it. It was exhilarating and nerve-wracking at the same time, but I obviously do not regret it one bit.

At the end of the day, I smiled as I congratulated myself for being brave and more importantly, for allowing myself to actually have fun. That, I believe, is one of the best feelings ever.

So take a good look around... I'm gonna miss this.

I apologize for the lack of blog posts and for not finishing the 30-Day Challenge! Maybe one of these days, I will finally get around to it.

Since my last post, I have done two major things. The first was my summer program, in which I had the best time of my life (I know I said that last summer, but I mean it this time). I just can't describe the sense of happiness that I feel whenever I think about the summer and all the good memories and bonds that I created. This may be a future post, we'll see.

The second thing was returning to school as a sophomore. It is safe to say that for the entire month of September, I was living in mis-town. I didn't want to be here and I cried every time I talked to my mom on the phone. It has been a rough month as I dealt with this internal conflict of mine. There were days when I didn't think I was going to last another day here; however, there were also days where I realized that I had to make some changes in my attitude. I never really got around to it, until last Thursday (yup, the last day of the month).

I recently came home from a weekend trip to Washington D.C. with the executive board of our student government. We were there from Thursday to Sunday morning for the National Student Government Summit. I am almost certain that this trip could not have occurred at a better time for me. It was exactly what I needed to get over that homesickness/miserable phase of mine. To get away from school and to bond with a small group of people -- ironic, I know, but I definitely think it worked!

This trip to Washington D.C. was one of the best, if not the best, trips I have ever gone on. I had an unbelievable amount of fun, saw some amazing sights that I will never get to see again -- Oval Office, anyone? -- and grew close with some of the most wonderful people ever. I am still in denial that I won't be back there with the e-board this weekend, or ever, but I will certainly keep the memories close to my heart.

(A real detailed description with pictures of the trip will soon follow this post.)

I am overjoyed with the fact that I am part of such a wonderful executive board. To be an underclassman and hold a prestigious title such as mine is a great privilege, and to hold that title with amazing upperclassmen is an even greater privilege. Although I still have some doubts as to whether I like it here enough to stay for the next two years, I am now more comfortable with the idea of staying to keep our president's legacy going. A few weeks ago, he introduced me to someone as his "protegee" and later told me that he would love for me to run for president my senior year. I consider that in itself such a honor already, because the president is exactly the type of person that I strive to be. One who is dedicated, ambitious, and involved in everything. I don't think there is enough time in the day or enough space in a blog to fully describe this person and how I aspire to become half the person that he is.

It completely breaks my heart to know that our president, vice president, and public relations coordinator will all be graduating in a few months, but I now know that I must cherish every second that I have with them, whether it's our weekly senate meetings on Tuesdays, a quick meal together, or just a simple hug with one of them. I realize that I cannot dwell on being homesick anymore, but rather appreciate the time that I have here at school with the people that I have gotten to know.

To quote Trace Adkins, I know I am going to miss this and I am going to want this back. So I know that I just need to put a smile on my face and believe that everything will soon fall into place for me, because this year is going to go by before I know it and I am never going to get these seconds back.

"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back." -- Harvey MacKay