San Francisco and the Space Needle

I have been so amazingly busy! Over Memorial Day weekend I went on a giant road trip with about 100 other SPU women down to San Francisco. It was a service trip called Quest. On Friday we drove 18 hours in 19 cars, through the night, to San Francisco. There were several stops to use the restroom, switch drivers, eat some food, dance, etc. We finally arrived Saturday afternoon in SF. We ate lunch and had an hour or so to see what we wanted to see before we headed over to the Rescue Mission in the Tenderloin district. We spent about a day at the Tenderloin with everyone doing a variety of things- office work, cooking, organizing the donation closet, teaching Sunday school, and cleaning. We slept in the Rescue Mission on Saturday night. The most interesting thing that we did was bring meals to various apartment buildings in the district. In the apartments we went door to door offering free food and prayer to people. We also enjoyed In-N-Out while in California. A lot of people were very excited about that. Sunday night we stayed in a church gymnasium and headed back to school early Monday morning! It was quite the trip!
On a different not, this last Thursday night we had Ashton Hall Ball (the dorm where I live this year) in the Space Needle. It was a lot of fun!

Finally, in a week from Tuesday I will have completed my first year of college. So much is happening in such a short amount of time!

When the sun shines...

Seattle is so beautiful this time of year! All the rain makes everything green. It's a big difference from Southern California, for sure.

Time Well Spent

I had spring break just last week, although it already seems like it was weeks away. That's the thing about school, you go back to it and it feels as if you never left. I don't know if that's ever a good thing. In other circumstances it's good though. For example, when you see an old friend again and it's as if you were never apart.

Anyway, I actually had quite a long spring break because I was finished with exams on a Tuesday, so I had from Wednesday the 18th until Sunday a week and a half later. First I went to Salem, OR and stayed with Nick and his family. I would just say "The Brouwers" but that's a little ambiguous in this case. It was a very relaxing break once I finished a final paper I had to email in on Friday. I went paintballing for the first time there but I don't know if I really got the full experience because I didn't get any huge welts. I did actually get hit a few times of course but there was no lasting pain. It was pretty fun! I would put in a picture but unfortunately, this computer in the library lab won't let me. Maybe I'll add one later.

On Thursday, the 26th, I took the train and bus from Salem to Bellingham to see the TeVeldes! I have been so close to them all school year but I hadn't seen them yet. I got a lot of sleep there so that I could be ready to start a new quarter. I also went into Canada and got my haircut. It's now ten inches shorter and hopefully what I got cut off will make a nice wig for some child. I hadn't originally planned on sending my hair in because I didn't know how many inches I was getting cut off but I had enough! On Sunday I returned again to Seattle, to a week of rain, new classes, and hanging out with friends.

Beginning of the End and the End of the Beginning

That's pretty much where I am right now. I am in the last quarter of the year but it's only my first year of college. This quarter I'm keeping busy with Spanish, Texts and Contexts II: Medieval and Renaissance Culture (T&CII), Spreadsheets, Physics,and Intro to Family and Consumer Sciences. I'm excited for my Intro to FCS class (which is the only one I haven't had yet) because it is a class for my major and it is a prerequisite for other classes I want to take. I think that all my other classes pretty much explain what they are all about in the title. My Spanish class only has seven students in it, which my 'profesora' told us was the smallest class she has ever had. Usually a small class for that Spanish is about 15 students. Our T&CII professors seem very interesting and entertaining that that class will definitely be more interesting than it probably sounds. I know half the people in my Physics class so that should be partly fun at least. So far, there is a bright outlook for all my classes. Hopefully I haven't overdone it by taking five at once. The Spreadsheets class and the Intro to FCS class are only for half the quarter so even if it is a little busy at first it will get easier. I think it will be time to start the countdown to summer pretty soon though!

Please pass the spring!

Sunday morning I awoke early to discover it was snowing!  This wasn't really too epic because it's already snowed a few times and it usually doesn't stick at all.  But what was exciting was how much snow was coming down at once.  The snowflakes were huge! Or rather there were lots of snowflakes clumped together!  So my first thought was, "Wow, snow again!" and then I remembered, "O great, I'm taking the bus to church."  Everything worked out just fine though.  The buses were on time and I made it to church right when I was expecting to.  I did end up getting on the wrong bus once, then I was told to transfer to a bus that doesn't run downtown by the bus driver, but then I was told the right place to go.  When I got to the right stop I looked at the schedule and figured out which one I needed to take, and I still got where I needed to go.  Public transportation is sometimes confusing but it always gets me where I need to go- just not always where I want to go or how I want to get there.

The other picture is actually from the weekend before last.  I went downtown on Saturday and saw the  Seattle Central Library for the first time.  It was really cool, everything was very modern.  It has eleven floors and opened just five years ago in 2004.  If you like books or architecture, it is something you should check out next time you're passing through this great city.

And guess what else?  I'm done with Winter Quarter now!  Well not exactly--I have a paper I need to finish by Friday. But the finals are done! Two quarters down, one to go.

Countdown

The end of Winter Quarter quickly approaches and I couldn't be happier about that fact.  After Winter Quarter comes the beauty of Spring Quarter with spring break in between.  Then after my first Seattle spring I can enjoy a San Diego summer.  Tomorrow I register for my next classes, hopefully I can get the ones I want/need.  Today I gave a very persuasive speech on why students should use ratemyprofessors.com.  It can be a good resource for college students who want to avoid classes with bad professors, like professors who are not helpful, do not teach well, or any number of things.  There is a website for high school teachers as well but there is not as much flexibility in choosing classes in high school, especially not in small private Christian high schools like I attended.  And of course, there is no flexibility in choosing teachers if you are homeschooled but in that case hopefully you like your teacher because you'll have more problems then not enjoying class if you don't.