Spring Break Bliss

Hey everyone! This week, I traded study sessions for sleeping in and textbooks for tan lines. This can only mean one thing: it's spring break for Stanford University students! Since Stanford is a quarter system school, spring break falls in-between winter quarter and spring quarter. And no quarter is complete without its share of final exams. Last week, I was basically living in the library preparing for my final exams. But now, finals and winter quarter have passed and I have time to relax on my week-long break before spring quarter begins. Schools on the semester system have spring break in the middle of their semester, normally after midterms. However, an advantage to the quarter system is having no work to do and no classes to worry about while on break!

College students on spring break normally travel somewhere coastal and warm. For southern schools, Florida is a popular destination while Mexico, especially Cabo San Lucas, is the hot spots for west coast students. Most freshman, myself included, take this time to travel home and visit family and friends. While I may be at home this break, I am still enjoying sunny southern California! I really wanted to spend the week relaxing and rejuvenating after my stressful finals, and there isn't any better place to take time off then at home. Even though the weather has been cloudy, it hasn't stopped me from visiting my favorite restaurants or hanging out with my hometown friends!

Best friend dessert run to celebrate being home for break

Reading on the beach even though its chilly!

Beach trip with the family

What do you like to do on your breaks from school? How do you relax after big exams? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Exhausting Exams and De-stres Diversions

Hey everyone! This past week has been filled with coffee, late night studying, screaming, dares, and puppies. It can only mean one thing: finals week. Yes, fall quarter has come to an end at Stanford and each class ends with a final exam or paper as a culmination of everything learned. What's most stressful is the exams or papers are always a large portion of the final grade--sometimes up to 50 percent! Although this can be rough, Stanford does a great job at trying to de-stress the students and pump them up for the weeks after finals: Winter Break! There are always study breaks happening around campus, like dog petting days, coloring in the library, or even free massages to help students cope with all their work. Check out the photos and video below to see how I am surviving finals week!

De-stressing massages

Puppy petting! Perfect way to relax

Getting my dorm ready for the holidays is a great study break

Library study break -- selfies on my phone!

Secret Snowflake dares!

Finals Survival Care Package

Luckily, once finals are over, I have a three week Winter Break from school before winter quarter begins! How do you cope with final exams? How do you get ready for the holidays? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Formal Festivities

My friends and my puppy

Strike a pose

Hey everyone! This weekend was the end of our first semester and the end of our final exams! To celebrate, our school threw a big Winter Formal Dance! The fun part about this dance is that girls ask guys to be their date. This means that all the girls asked guys to the dance. Once the girls have carried out an elaborate and cute way of asking the boy, they must start to prepare for the day of the dance! Since it is a formal dance everyone gets their hair and makeup done, and the dates buy each other matching corsages and boutonnieres to wear. The boys get suits with ties to match their date's dress. It's a fun way to coordinate! And don't forget to get together with your friends and take pictures before.

A big Winter Formal picture group

Also, the dance took place at Soka University this year, so there was a lot to do along with dancing. There were casino tables set up with pretend gambling, along with food and drinks, a chocolate fountain, and even a swing dance room with a live band for more formal dancing. Overall, this was a great way to celebrate the end of final exams with all my friends!

How do you relax after a stressful week? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Exam Exhaustion

Gotta hit those books!

My friends and I taking a "study break"-very important!

Hey everyone! Now that we have been back from our Holiday Break for two weeks, it's time to begin our week of final exams. My school is on a semester system, so two semesters per school year, and the first semester ends next week. The last week of the semester is always filled with final exams, and then there is a big Winter Formal dance at the end of the week to celebrate being done with exams and the first semester. My friends and I are studying hard this weekend because this semester grades are important for colleges. After first semester, every senior applying to college needs to send the mid year grade report, which has all your grades from first semester, to all their colleges. Colleges will look at this along with the application already sent in to make their decision.

My date for the Winter Formal Dance

My hardest exams will be for the classes AP Spanish and AP biology. These classes are college level classes, so they are much harder and have harder finals. Luckily, if you do really well you can take a test at the end of the year to get college credit so you do not need to take certain classes while in college. Because of this, I am really motivated to do amazing on my final exams and then rock out with my friends when it is all over!

How do you study for your final exams? What are your hardest courses with final exams? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

The End of the Beginning

Hey everyone! This week is very stressful for students at my high school, since its final exam week! Our school is based on a semester system which divides the year into two parts. We have final exam periods at the end of each semester. Each class gives one large test, that takes about two hours, which influence your end grades! Most finals are 20% of the final grade! With this is mind, this week and the days before are very stressful and filled with studying! Many people get together in study groups to productively study for a specific subject. Once this week is over, we have a formal dance to celebrate!
This dance, winter formal, takes place the weekend after first semester finals each year. The unique part about winter formal is it is a girls ask guys to be their date dance! This means that girls have to ask guys to be their date to the dance! Many girls carry out elaborate and cute methods of asking, like with balloons, puzzles, cake, etc.
Its a fun twist to a formal dance, since guys usually ask girls to be their date. It makes this end of finals dance truly memorable. Plus, since it is a formal dance, everyone wears their favorite dresses and gets their hair and makeup done! For the boys, they get suits with ties matching their date's dress. Its a fun way to coordinate! Also, the dance takes place in a country club, so there is lots to do along with dancing. Last year there were casino tables set up with pretend gambling! It was a fun way to have an activity that everyone liked that was all in good fun.

How do you like to celebrate the end of a stressful week? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo