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!
Hey everyone! Now, my Winter Break has been very different than most. Instead of cozying up by a fireplace with a hot chocolate in my hand, I have spent it outdoors in the sun! Yes, the cold weather has evaded Southern California and instead a constant 70 degrees Fahrenheit, around 21 degrees Celsius, changes the potential activity list. However, my family wanted to do something in the winter spirit, so we headed up to Mammoth Mountain for a skiing trip! It was so fun to be able to ski in the snow (even if most of it was artificial because of the warm weather up there too) and spend time with my family. It didn't even feel like we were in the mountains at all as the sun was shining the entire time.
Shredding with my brothers in Mammoth
While I was at home, I had to take advantage of the warm weather. I spent one day at LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art just enjoying all the outdoor pieces with my friends. One of them was a giant rock, not sure the purpose but it makes for a great photo opp!
Loving my friends and this rock
Lamppost art...works for me!
And of course, who can forget about New Year's Eve! I rang in the new year with my friends and family, and as tradition had to watch the ball drop in New York City on TV! But for me, the most exciting part was what came on New Year's Day... the Rose Bowl! Every year on January 1st the college American football team the won the Pac12 devision and Big10 devision play off in an epic game watched by viewers around the country! And Stanford (Pac12 champion) was in it! As a student, I got to actually go to the game in the student section instead of watching it from my house. It was an amazing game and even though Stanford lost in the very end, I had a great time cheering on my school at such a famous event and arena.
New Year's Eve with my friends!
Rose Bowl!
At the tailgate before
Loving the student section seats
Check out the video below for some highlights from my warm break!
How was the weather on your winter break? How did you celebrate New Year's Eve? Let me know in the comments below!
Hey everyone! Well, finals are finally over and the break from school has arrived! Each school is different, but I have three weeks of vacation until the next school quarter begins. It has been so nice to take a break from the stress of school and relax at home with my friends and family. So while I am home, I have to take advantage of all the things I can only do at home! Of course, I had to make a trip to Disneyland! Being only 20 minutes away from my house, its the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season. Everything throughout the entire park is decorated, including a holiday themed parade and fireworks show. I love Disneyland as it is, but the holiday spirit makes it a unmissable experience!
The Disneyland Castle decorated for the holidays
Mickey Mouse! A Disneyland must
Another tradition I have with my friends at home is an annual Christmas baking party! My friends and I each bring our own recipe for a delicious dessert but there is one catch--everything must be made from scratch! This makes the experience much for fun and meaningful, plus provides a little challenge! I love trying all my friends creations while we dance around the kitchen to holiday music. We even have extras to bring home to our family! Holiday baking--especially from scratch--is a must for any winter break for me.
My finished creation! Chocolate Hazelnut Puppychow YUM
Baking party with my besties
I am having such a fun holiday break celebrating with my friends and family. Check out the video below for highlights from my break leading up to Christmas!
How do you celebrate the holidays with your friends and family? Let me know in the comments below!
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!
Hey everyone! With the season of winter coming to an end, so are the winter sports. And with the ending of a sports season comes senior night! This night is on the last home game played as a special tribute to the athletes who have played that sport throughout high school. Now that they are seniors, this is probably the last time they will play that sport, especially at our high school. We make posters for them to line the gym and they get to have a speech read about them while they walk through a balloon arch with flowers. It is a pretty cool event! Senior nights are very sad because it celebrates a huge part of an athlete's life coming to an end, but it is heartwarming because it shows moving on to a exciting future. Don't worry, all the spring sports still have their entire season before their senior night! So there will be lots more opportunities to support those sporty seniors.
Fans cheering them on
How do you celebrate students who are graduating? Let me know in the comments!
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!
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!
Hey everyone! Now thats it is getting into the winter season, all the sports are changing! All the fall sports like American football are over, and another sport has stolen the center spotlight... basketball! Basketball is another popular sport here in the United States. Since it takes place inside the gym, not outside on a field like american football, it is perfect for the chilly and windy winter weather. Although basketball is not as popular as american football, it is still a fun occasion to get together and support your school. People paint their faces, wear team gear, and participate in chants that engage both team's fans. The best part is when a player slam dunks the ball! Another fun winter sport is football, or soccer in America. This is played on the field when American football is over, and is another fun sport to watch as well! All of the games end up being close, normally with 1 point difference!
Although all sports at school are fun, winter sports are some of the best! It makes these long cold months truly enjoyable!
What is your favorite season for sports? Let me know in the comment below!
Hey everyone! To celebrate my last week of winter break my family and I took a skiing trip to the mountains! One nice thing about California is you could be at the beach in the morning and be in the snow by the late afternoon. For the last couple of days we skied (downhill) at Big Bear Mountain. Although most of my family skis, my brother and most of the Californian population snowboards! Snowboarding is one big board strapped to both of your feet, and is very popular in the United States. Maybe even more than skiing!
Snow making machine
Since we live in southern California, the weather is extremely warm here, Even when we ski we are still in about 60 degrees F or 23 degrees C. This is extremely warm for any snow sport, so most mountains here make their own snow! They use big machines to automize the atoms in the water particles to create the snow. Man made snow is exactly like real snow, only made through a machine. Is is very helpful when you want to ski but the weather is not cold enough for it. Its such nice weather that you can ski without a jacket, some people ski and snowboards with only a t-shirt on.
Although we normally travel to Big Bear Mountain because it is the closest to us, one of the main skiing and snowboarding places in California is Mammoth Mountain. It's one of the biggest in the country! It is in central California, so it is colder there which results in more snow. I have been there a couple of times and it is really fun! However, I do not care where I ski as long as I can do it!
Do you prefer skiing or snowboarding? What kind of weather do you like to ski/snowboard in? Have you even been in man made snow? Let me know in the comments!
Hey everyone! This week is a great time for American high schoolers because its winter break! Since the holidays are just around the corner we get two weeks off from school to celebrate! We begin our break the week before christmas and then go back to school after New Years. Its a great time to relax before the hectic holiday season, along with doing many winter activities like skiing trips and seeing Christmas plays. Many people travel during these two weeks off from school, either to the mountains or a tropical location. I love to downhill ski, but many Americans are into snowboarding! Either way, they are both fun activities to do during winter break.
Disneyland ride!
Christmas Pajama Party
Some other fun things to do around this time of year is go shopping for Christmas gifts or have holiday parties with friends. Also, winter is a great time to go to Disneyland! I live only 20 minuets away from Disneyland, so this vacation is a perfect time to go. In the winter, Disneyland is filled with holiday decorations, including a huge Christmas tree and snow falling on Main Street. Its the perfect way to kick off the holiday spirit.
What do you enjoy to do on your vacations from school? Let me know in the comments!
