Tis the Season

Hey everyone! Pweft! This weekend will finally be a relaxing one for me because I finished all my college applications! Most of the regular applications are due by January 1st, so I had to finish everything this week. I am very excited because now I can spend my rest of my Holiday Break doing other fun activities with my family and friends.

Ice Skating at the Del

A couple days ago I celebrated Christmas with my family. I traveled down to San Diego to have Christmas dinner with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin. It was delicious! We even ended the diner with a chocolate cake shaped like a yule log. The next day we went down to the famous Hotel Del in Coronado and ice skated right next to the beach! It was so fun to be able to experience two different climates. Just be careful if you fall--since it is so warm the ice melts fast and leaves puddles of water!

Disneyland with my Friends

I have been doing a lot of other fun things over the break with my friends too. On the first day of Holiday Break my friends and I went to Disneyland! Since I live so close to Disneyland, I can go with my friends for an afternoon or night. We went on all my favorite rides like the big roller coaster called California Screaming and the ride that drops you up and down called Tower or Terror. It was fun and a great way to start off the Holiday Break Season!

Gift Exchange with my Friends

I've also had Christmas baking parties, like I talked about in my last blog, along with a big Christmas gift exchange. All my friends bought presents for each other to celebrate the holidays and we went to dinner and gave them out. I got so many great things like my favorite perfume and a pink necklace.





I hope all of you have a wonderful rest of holiday season! What do you do on holidays with your family and friends? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Holly College-y Christmas

Hey everyone! This last week at school has been pretty hectic because it is the last week before the two week Holiday Vacation we have here in the United States! All high schools have at least two weeks off around this time to celebrate Christmas, New Years, and all the other holidays and most colleges have up to a month off! Because of this large time frame off of school, its the perfect opportunity to spend with family and friends, especially if you have been away at college until now.

For students like me who are in the middle of college applications, Holiday Break is the final time to finish and submit your applications. Since almost all applications are due to schools by the beginning of January, the days off school beforehand are perfect for checking over your applications and making sure they are perfect before you submit them. Once you have submitted all your college apps, you can celebrate by getting together for the holidays with all of your family and friends! I know I will be! I already had a cookie party with all of my friends, where all made and traded different cookies and desserts we made from scratch together. It was delicious!

What do you plan on doing during your Holiday Vacation? How much time do you get off school? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Extraordinary Extracurriculars

My Tennis Team

Model UN Team

Hey everyone!  For most colleges and universities in the US, Extracurricular Activities are an important part of the application process.  They want to know how you have spent your time outside of the classroom, and what talents and interests you have other than academics.   Colleges want their students to be interesting people, ones that will participate in the variety of activities that are offered and help make their school a fun place to be. 

Whether its sports, music debate, drama, or community service, or a part time job, pick something you like to do and get involved!  It’s never too early to start!  Don’t try to do everything.  Pick a few activities that are your favorite and get involved in depth.  Colleges like to see personal development and leadership within a few activities much more than a list of a dozen activities that you just tried out.  As they say, quality is better than quantity!

My blog AmericanAmanda

Volunteering-Serving Meals
to the Military

Some of the extracurricular activities I have been involved in are 4 years on my school’s varsity tennis team and track teams, community service volunteer with the National Charity League, Model United Nations delegate, and of course, American Amanda blogger for the US Embassy in Oslo.  Being involved with each of these areas for several years has given me the chance to hold leadership positions and win awards, plus feel like a had a chance to really make a difference in each one. 

Track and Field Long Jump

The pictures all show a different extracurricular activity I am involved in! 

What extracurricular activities are you involved in?  Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Admittance Attitude

Hey everyone! November 30th was the deadline for the public schools in California, the UC schools and Cal State schools, and December 1st was the deadline for applying early to many private schools like USC. (Check out my October 14th post for more on these schools!) However, almost all private colleges have a January 1st deadline for regular decision.  The upside to applying to these institutions early is hearing back from them earlier! A lot of my friends have already heard back from colleges they applied to, and they are all super excited that they are going to college! The great part is there are many different schools you can apply for early, so you might hear back from multiple schools in the end of fall or early winter. You might even get into your dream school early and not have to apply anywhere else!

One of the best parts about applying early is, of course, getting in. Since I am applying to college right now, my friends and I love watching college acceptance reactions on YouTube! Watching other people get so excited when they get into the schools of their dreams motivates you to try for your dream school as well! Plus, they are always funny and a good relaxer during the stressful college application time. Watch my favorite reaction video below! (Watch your volume, there is screaming!)

To everyone who has already submitted early applications: Good luck! You will be hearing back soon and I know you will end up in the perfect school for you.

To everyone who is applying regular or who is too young to apply: It's never too early to start on your application to your dream school! If you put a lot of work into it, who knows what the outcome will be. I know you will also end up in a school perfect for you.

Have you applied to any colleges early? Would you? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo