Struttin' for Student Groups

Hey everyone! There are so many great things about American universities, but one of my favorites is the hundreds of student groups to join! There are clubs for everything on campus, and there is a group for every interest. It is a great way to meet new people at a big school who have your same interests! These next few weeks I am going to show you a look into a few Stanford's student groups that I am involved in!

A photo from the Mint Magazine Shoot

One group that I am a part of is Mint Magazine, Stanford University's only student-run fashion and culture publication. Not only is this a great way for me to meet other students interested in fashion, culture, journalism, and photography, but we get to see all of our hard work come together in an actual magazine circulated around the school! In this issue, I modeled for a few articles with my good friend from my dorm. Check out the online version of the magazine issue below, and see if you can find me!

Mint Magazine Winter 2014 Issue

This magazine is a great way to learn about things happening at Stanford and in youth popular culture. It is such a fun group to be apart of, and I cannot wait to start working on the next issue! When I see students around campus reading the magazine I helped make, I know all the hard work is worth it.

Come back next week to learn about another student club I am involved in!
What did you think about Mint Magazine? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Winter Break...More like Warm Weather Break!

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!

xoxo

Refreshing Recess - Holidays at Home

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!

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

Big Game - Riveting Rivals

Hey everyone! Here at Stanford, we have a big rivalry with the school across the Bay, University of California, Berkeley. To decide the ruling school each year, both teams face off in an American football game called the Big Game. This is a huge game for all Stanford fans, since we want to beat our rivals more than any other team, so the entire week on campus there are events to pump up the school against Berkeley. The fountains are dyed red, there is a rally and firework show, and there is a huge set up to protect the Stanford Axe and countdown to the big game. What is the Stanford Axe? Learn all about its history and tradition by clicking here. Basically, the winner of the game gets this prized axe as representation of the champion school. The week leading up to the big game the axe is under constant surveillance so it is not stolen and a horn is set off every hour on the hour leading up to the big game. This makes the actual game so enjoyable because of all the fun traditions leading up to it!

Red fountains all over campus

Beat Cal posters all over campus

The horn! Goes off every hour on the hour

Countdown clock

Beat Cal set up in the middle of the quad

Check out the video below for my experience of Big Game week!

How does your school celebrate a big rivalry? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo

Midterm Mayhem

Learning all about the world of economics

Hey everyone! These past couple of weeks at Stanford University have been extremely stressful. Lack of sleep, high levels of caffeine, and absorption in textbooks are traits seen throughout the student body.  Why you may ask? One word--midterms. In high school, there were plenty of homework assignments, projects, papers, and tests going into your grade, so the stress levels were lower for each individual assignment. However in college classes, there are only one or two midterms (every test in college is called a midterm even if it is not in the middle of the term--weird right!) or papers and a final that makes up the majority of your grade. This means that one midterm or paper could make or break your entire grade in a class! Talk about pressure! Since I am a typical Stanford student, I take my midterms very seriously and have been studying like crazy! Last week, I had a midterm in calculus and I have a midterm in economics next week. While I'm reviewing the latest recession theories, one of my roommates is studying hard for her chemistry midterm and another is writing a research paper that serves as a midterm in her writing class. Safe to say, midterms are unavoidable tense time in every college student's life. Luckily, there are curves in most college classes, or introductory ones at least. That means that if a test is really hard, and the majority of the class struggles on it, then the average will be rounded up to anywhere from a B or C and all the other grades will be adjusted as well. Even though you could get a 78 on a midterm, which is usually a C, this could still count as an A in the grade book because most of the class did even worse. This serves as even more incentive to work hard no matter how difficult the class is. Plus, having study parties with your friends is the perfect way to learn and socialize. My dorm even has a couple of upperclassman students that act as tutors to help us with difficult questions in math and science. If I can't study in a group, I love to go to the library. It's a great environment to make sure you get things done and are not distracted.

Working hard or hardly working?

Study party at the library

Even though midterm time is stressful, that doesn't mean students don't have time to let lose and burn off some steam from studying! Last week, we played Oregon in football, one of the best teams in the country, and won! It was so fun watching this extremely close game, and we even got to storm the field afterwards. Also, this weekend we had frosh formal! This was like a high school homecoming dance but at the college level--it was the perfect excuse to dress up, take pictures, and dance the night away with my friends! 

Storming the field - Stanford victory!

Stanford wins 26-20!

Roommies at the game

Stanford fan section! Can you find me?

Walkway to the formal

Girls headed to Frosh Formal

Dorm loving for the formal

Although midterms can be rough, the experiences I've had in college outweigh any pre-test stress. I can't wait to share more of my Stanford adventures with you!

How do you study for midterms or tests? What do you like to do for a study break? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo

Homecoming Happenings and Alumni Antics

Go Stanford!

Hey everyone! Last weekend was homecoming at Stanford University. Homecoming in college is different than homecoming in high school, because the main aspect of college homecoming is the alumni reunions! Every 5 years after you graduate, your class has a reunion back on campus. There were 14 different classes back on campus this year, with the even the class of 1943 back for their 65th reunion. Although there are a ton of events for alumni on campus, like tailgates, dinners, and class talks, there are events for current students as well!

We had the homecoming American football game on Saturday against UCLA, one of our main rivals! Not only did all the alumni and students go to the game to cheer on the football team, but all the alumni from the band and cheerleading squad got to go preform during halftime with the current students. This was such a good experience to witness, as hundreds of people preformed on the field, quite a difference from the normal halftime show. And to top it all off, we won the football game! It was an extremely tight game, but I like to think all the spirit from the student section helped pump up the players to score those extra points to bring us to victory. Check out my video below to follow me around campus during homecoming alumni weekend and see all the events going on!

It was so fun seeing all the alumni back on campus, and I cannot wait for my first reunion after I graduate!
What does your school for alumni/homecoming? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo