life’s not a paragraph

last night i attended a benefit dance at MIT. it was called glow 2009: stand up against poverty.

it was a really inspiring event. i went with a few of my friends. when we got there, there was a man speaking about his life. i missed the beginning of his speech, but from what i did get to hear, he has had an extremely hard life, and now he appreciates everything he has in america. after him, a girl from northeastern university (i think her name was michaela) told us about her experiences in venezuela, jamaica, and china building playgrounds and school buildings. to get the dancing started, a drumming group from mali played some traditional music. they were so great! i could tell they really loved the music. they were having so much fun! at 11:30, we all stood up against poverty. they took a video, as did all of the other stand up events across the country, to send to the united nations to show them that we want poverty to be a priority.

poverty, for me, is a really important issue. i wrote my term paper about poverty in latin america for my english 101 class. through my research, i discovered how much poverty restricts development. i found michaela’s speech really inspiring. if she’s already done so much to help the world, why can’t i do something?

actually, thursday i passed in my application for alternative spring break. i have always wanted to go a volunteer trip. i am so excited to have the opportunity to go this year! i don’t know where i am going yet but i know it will have to do with environmental justice or disaster relief. either way, i am really thrilled to do something different and great!

so i don’t know if i mentioned this, but both my roommates are on the tennis team. i haven’t been to one of their matches yet because i’ve been so busy and most of them have been away. this weekend, however, they had one over at emmanuel on sunday. of course, i went to support my girls!

i have been to two volleyball games briefly since school started, but other then that i have not been to any other sporting events. it was really great to see them play! they lost unfortunately. 🙁 but my roommates are a doubles team and at least they won their doubles match!

through them i have been able to meet some of their teammates so i practically know the whole team now! going to games/matches/meets are always better when you know at least some one on the team! i am not a huge sports watcher. i actually really dislike most popular sports. i am a swimmer. so i like swimming obviously. but other than that volleyball, soccer, hockey, and basketball are the only other sports i like to watch. but actually, i really don’t know all the rules for most of those. hahaha i’m slowly learning the rules for tennis. so maybe i can add that to my list of sports i like to watch soon!!

winning!

crazy serve

just reminiscing…

el parque del buen retiro

guggenheim museum. bilbao

i know it’s a little strange that i am thinking about breakfast at 9:30 at night. especially since i already had dinner and i’m completely full. but everyone gets those weird cravings sometimes.

breakfast is my favorite meal. i love pancakes, waffles, toast, scrambled eggs…. haha sorry if i am making you hungry. but as you can tell, i have a really hard time deciding what i want to eat when i go out to breakfast. hahaha but anyways.. specifically, i am craving vips brunch. for most of you americans, you won’t not know what vips is. vips is a restaurant/bookstore/convenience store in spain (and according to my roommate, in mexico too). they have a lot of american/english things there (i got a cadbury cream egg there during easter! it’s my fav!). they are a bit expensive, but the one awesome, cheap thing they have is called vips brunch. before 11 everyday, they had an american style brunch where you could get (among other things) pancakes, eggs, home fries, bacon, and a drink for €3.50 (like 5 dollars-ish). it wasn’t the best food ever, but it was pretty darn good compared to the toast i had for breakfast everyday. my friends and i used to run from our class on tuesdays and thursdays to get there in time. we used to sit there foreverrr and have our little american moment in the middle of madrid.

one of my roommates and i have been talking about going out to breakfast sometime soon. supposedly, there is a really good breakfast place close to chinatown that she knows about. i would really love to go soon and maybe create some new memories!

i know you are dying to know how my weekend went! haha

i always get a little nervous when my “different lives” are going to come together.

i have been having a bout of forgetfulness lately. i pretty sure it’s because my brain is running in five hundred different directions. i lost my klean kanteen water bottle last week. i lost my ruler yesterday. and i am hoping that i don’t loose anything tomorrow. i rush from place to place everyday so i save time. but obviously all this rushing is taking a toll. :/

so it was warm today… again. :/

so i am home for the first time since school started. technically it’s my first “weekend home” from college. is it strange that i am excited!? hahaha

so it’s the second full week of school and i am still adjusting, which is to be expected. i am essentially a freshman again. i am still learning the campus, meeting new people, and getting situated in a new city. on top of all that, i am taking art classes.