Today wasn't all that exciting. I had class for three hours this morning, followed by an interesting lunch talk where we heard some women tell us their experiences with abortion, and then I had small group. After class I came home and Skyped with Christine for a bit before going to CVS and Kroger to get some food and stuff. Pretty exciting right! I then came home and cleaned up around the apartment in preparation for packing again to leave for Arizona on Friday night. I had practice tonight and it was fine, and now I'm going to do some work for class tomorrow before I head to bed and get some sleep! Tomorrow is going to be a long day!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Congrats!
A big congrats to my little sister who has now been accepted to architecture school at UCLA and Michigan! Still waiting to hear from the rest of the places she applied, but it's only been great news so far. So proud of you :)
Purdue
This weekend about as soon as I got home from the airport I unpacked, repacked, and headed to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana for a water polo tournament. I'm pretty tired of writing after the cruise post, but the tournament went really well and we are still undefeated. This tournament was important because it is one of two CWPA tournaments (Collegiate Water Polo Association) that determines our seating for the Big Ten Tournament in April. We played Ohio State, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Purdue this weekend, and at the next CWPA tournament in April at Iowa we will play Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, and Ohio State again. It was fun to play all weekend and spend some time with the team, though I am pretty beat, but luckily we have today off school to read an immunology book for our next sequence.
The Cruise
Okay so I am finally going to write about my cruise last week. One week ago today I flew down to Miami and seven of my classmates and I boarded the Majesty of the Seas for our spring break cruise! It was so warm outside and amazing and it felt so nice to not be completely bundled up. The rooms were quite small (especially after being spoiled on my last cruises with rooms with balconies) and we could barely walk around in them, but they were perfectly fine for sleeping and that's really the only time we spent long periods of time in the room anyways. On the ship we spent some time hanging out by the pool and in the hot tub before we went to our first dinner aboard, which was quite yummy. Since we were just at seas for the night we hung out and played Cards Against Humanity and talked about what we wanted to do during the short week. I also helped my friend Ashley book a dolphin encounter at the Atlantis which took a little longer than expected, but she got it all booked.
When we woke up on Tuesday morning in Nassau, Bahamas we went to the buffet breakfast (oh yeah and I forgot to mention that stop number one once aboard the ship on Monday was to the buffet for lunch!) and then my friends Kelly, Stephanie and I booked a short snorkel tour. We took our time eating, got ready for the day, relaxed a bit on the upper decks of the ship, and then went on our little snorkel trip. The boat was near the dock and it took about 45 minutes or so to get out to the reef. On the way we saw some of Atlantis (mostly the tallest of the buildings, though I think we saw the part that our time share allows us to stay in) and tons of celebrity homes (Beyoncé and JayZ, Chuck Norris, Shawn Connery, Tiger Woods, Oprah, the list goes on). When we got to the reef we snorkeled for a bit, though I must say I was a little underwhelmed by the diversity of landscape, fish, and the overall size of the area. It was still nice to be in the water and look around for a bit. On the way back to Nassau we laid on the top deck of the boat and took a little snooze in the amazing sun. Once we were back on land the three of us wandered around Nassau and I bought a new pair of cute Havianas that are goldish and have a braided looking strap. After wandering we went back to the boat to shower and have a snack and then Kelly and I headed back into Nassau to wander some more. We ended up buying a cute little soap dish and some scrolled soap and a place near the ship and when we check out the cashier lady let us try what I heard was a "corn fritter." Turned out what they really were were conch fritters so people were really confused when I half way through eating it found out there was conch in it and asked if thats what was in them, haha. We took our time wandering and eventually went back to the boat for dinner.
Dinners on the ship were quite wonderful, and every night we got extra starters, entrees and desserts! Our waiter brought us crazy amounts of food and it was delicious. After dinner we all got ready again and went back out to Nassau to Señor Frogs for yard long blended drinks and some dancing. We had a great time and headed back to the ship a little after 11pm since the boat was leaving Nassau at Midnight.
Wednesday morning we tendered off CocoCay, the small island owned by Royal Caribbean. We ate breakfast in the morning and then took the small ferry to the island for a relaxing day. Nothing too exciting happened in CocoCay, mostly just a lot of relaxing on the lounge chairs on the beach. We found a few live conchs and saw the animals inside them and also saw a ton of the smallest hermit crabs I've ever seen. There was a BBQ lunch on the island (free of course since the island is owned by the cruise company) and we could have rented some fun water things if we had wanted to as well. I really wanted to rent the Hoby Cat they had (there were two of them) but there was literally no wind all day long. We left the island around 3pm and went back to the ship where we hung out until another wonderful dinner. Oh yeah, and before dinner I played my customary round of Bingo! which of course I did not win. Always one away; I still remember to this day that I only needed I23 to win blackout Bingo in 1999 on my cruise in Alaska and that was literally the next number that would be called. Ugh, so frustrating.
Wednesday night was pretty fun on board the ship because there were a lot of activities that we went to. We did karaoke and then there was an 80's dance party followed by the crazy game called "The Quest" where people had to do lots of crazy things to get their team points. I ended up doing the splits for my team and I must say my left hip flexors still kind of hurt haha. After the game we danced a little bit longer and then went back to get some sleep.
On Thursday morning we docked in Key West, so we were back in the USA and I got bombarded with emails since my phone worked again (at least until we pulled out of port in the evening). We had breakfast in the morning again and two of my friends saw a manatee from the ship. I am so jealous I missed that! We spent the day wandering Key West, eating, and shopping though I didn't actually buy much (I got some Key Lime Cilantro Salsa, and some Key Lime Pepper bread dipping herbs). We shared the biggest cookies you have ever seen, saw the southernmost point in the continental US, had a delicious lunch with our classmates cousin who lives in Key West, saw the outside of the Ernst Hemmingway house, and had some Key Lime sorbet (a few people got pie, but I decided I did want any that day). We walked so much that I was exhausted! We got back on the ship around 4pm and I did a little reading on the upper decks before dinner time. We also saw a beautiful sunset from the ship! Thursday night was our last night so we went all out at dinner. We had so much food it was ridiculous, but it was amazing. After dinner we took some "awkward family photos" together with the ship's photographer, and then played Cards Against Humanity by the pool and had so much fun laughing and playing. My personal favorite of the night was the round where the main card said "Jesus is _________." and I played "Gift wrapping a live hamster." It still makes me laugh just thinking about it. I was literally crying from laughing so hard at the time. After we finished playing we went down to the third floor to see and buy our photos and then got to packing and bed.
Friday morning we woke up back in Miami, had a quick breakfast, and then got our stuff and disembarked. It is always so sad to leave vacation! We got to the airport insanely early (not my choice, I would have rather spent another hour or so in the boat relaxing on the top deck than that extra time at the airport, but I lost), and just hung out until our plane boarded. The flight home was pretty uneventful and we got off the plane to very cold grey weather and a white covered ground. Rude awakenings.
All in all we had a wonderful trip and now I can't wait until it gets warm here! I wish I could just be on vacation all the time. Makes me wish a bit that I'd done the synchro show on Oasis, but oh well. Back to real life for now.
When we woke up on Tuesday morning in Nassau, Bahamas we went to the buffet breakfast (oh yeah and I forgot to mention that stop number one once aboard the ship on Monday was to the buffet for lunch!) and then my friends Kelly, Stephanie and I booked a short snorkel tour. We took our time eating, got ready for the day, relaxed a bit on the upper decks of the ship, and then went on our little snorkel trip. The boat was near the dock and it took about 45 minutes or so to get out to the reef. On the way we saw some of Atlantis (mostly the tallest of the buildings, though I think we saw the part that our time share allows us to stay in) and tons of celebrity homes (Beyoncé and JayZ, Chuck Norris, Shawn Connery, Tiger Woods, Oprah, the list goes on). When we got to the reef we snorkeled for a bit, though I must say I was a little underwhelmed by the diversity of landscape, fish, and the overall size of the area. It was still nice to be in the water and look around for a bit. On the way back to Nassau we laid on the top deck of the boat and took a little snooze in the amazing sun. Once we were back on land the three of us wandered around Nassau and I bought a new pair of cute Havianas that are goldish and have a braided looking strap. After wandering we went back to the boat to shower and have a snack and then Kelly and I headed back into Nassau to wander some more. We ended up buying a cute little soap dish and some scrolled soap and a place near the ship and when we check out the cashier lady let us try what I heard was a "corn fritter." Turned out what they really were were conch fritters so people were really confused when I half way through eating it found out there was conch in it and asked if thats what was in them, haha. We took our time wandering and eventually went back to the boat for dinner.
Dinners on the ship were quite wonderful, and every night we got extra starters, entrees and desserts! Our waiter brought us crazy amounts of food and it was delicious. After dinner we all got ready again and went back out to Nassau to Señor Frogs for yard long blended drinks and some dancing. We had a great time and headed back to the ship a little after 11pm since the boat was leaving Nassau at Midnight.
Wednesday morning we tendered off CocoCay, the small island owned by Royal Caribbean. We ate breakfast in the morning and then took the small ferry to the island for a relaxing day. Nothing too exciting happened in CocoCay, mostly just a lot of relaxing on the lounge chairs on the beach. We found a few live conchs and saw the animals inside them and also saw a ton of the smallest hermit crabs I've ever seen. There was a BBQ lunch on the island (free of course since the island is owned by the cruise company) and we could have rented some fun water things if we had wanted to as well. I really wanted to rent the Hoby Cat they had (there were two of them) but there was literally no wind all day long. We left the island around 3pm and went back to the ship where we hung out until another wonderful dinner. Oh yeah, and before dinner I played my customary round of Bingo! which of course I did not win. Always one away; I still remember to this day that I only needed I23 to win blackout Bingo in 1999 on my cruise in Alaska and that was literally the next number that would be called. Ugh, so frustrating.
Wednesday night was pretty fun on board the ship because there were a lot of activities that we went to. We did karaoke and then there was an 80's dance party followed by the crazy game called "The Quest" where people had to do lots of crazy things to get their team points. I ended up doing the splits for my team and I must say my left hip flexors still kind of hurt haha. After the game we danced a little bit longer and then went back to get some sleep.
On Thursday morning we docked in Key West, so we were back in the USA and I got bombarded with emails since my phone worked again (at least until we pulled out of port in the evening). We had breakfast in the morning again and two of my friends saw a manatee from the ship. I am so jealous I missed that! We spent the day wandering Key West, eating, and shopping though I didn't actually buy much (I got some Key Lime Cilantro Salsa, and some Key Lime Pepper bread dipping herbs). We shared the biggest cookies you have ever seen, saw the southernmost point in the continental US, had a delicious lunch with our classmates cousin who lives in Key West, saw the outside of the Ernst Hemmingway house, and had some Key Lime sorbet (a few people got pie, but I decided I did want any that day). We walked so much that I was exhausted! We got back on the ship around 4pm and I did a little reading on the upper decks before dinner time. We also saw a beautiful sunset from the ship! Thursday night was our last night so we went all out at dinner. We had so much food it was ridiculous, but it was amazing. After dinner we took some "awkward family photos" together with the ship's photographer, and then played Cards Against Humanity by the pool and had so much fun laughing and playing. My personal favorite of the night was the round where the main card said "Jesus is _________." and I played "Gift wrapping a live hamster." It still makes me laugh just thinking about it. I was literally crying from laughing so hard at the time. After we finished playing we went down to the third floor to see and buy our photos and then got to packing and bed.
Friday morning we woke up back in Miami, had a quick breakfast, and then got our stuff and disembarked. It is always so sad to leave vacation! We got to the airport insanely early (not my choice, I would have rather spent another hour or so in the boat relaxing on the top deck than that extra time at the airport, but I lost), and just hung out until our plane boarded. The flight home was pretty uneventful and we got off the plane to very cold grey weather and a white covered ground. Rude awakenings.
All in all we had a wonderful trip and now I can't wait until it gets warm here! I wish I could just be on vacation all the time. Makes me wish a bit that I'd done the synchro show on Oasis, but oh well. Back to real life for now.
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| Downtown Nassau |
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| Just before snorkeling at Athol Island off of Nassau |
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| Snorkeling with Kelly and Stephanie |
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| The ship docked in Nassau |
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| The midnight buffet dessert display |
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| Relaxing on CocoCay |
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| CocoCay |
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| One of the small conchs we found |
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| Tiny hermit crabs |
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| Iguana on CocoCay |
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| Relaxing on deck 12 |
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| Sunset leaving CocoCay |
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| Sunset leaving Key West |
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| Southernmost Point in the Continental USA |
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| Walking around Key West |
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| Key West from the ship |
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| Sunset from the boat while leaving Key West |
Friday, February 22, 2013
Home from Spring Break
Sorry I haven't had a chance to post all week, but I had no internet for the week since I was on a cruise in the Bahamas!! Well, I could have had internet if I wanted to pay $36 an hour, but I most definitely did not. I promise to write about my cruise soon, but right now I have to unpack and repack because I am leaving for Indiana for a water polo tournament! So much traveling today. It was so hard to leave sunny south Florida/the Bahamas to come back to freezing Michigan, but at least we are getting closer to the end of winter (I hope!). Heres a picture to tide you over until I can write more!
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| Last night's sunset over the Majesty of the Seas when leaving Key West |
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Eastern Tournament
This weekend we had a water polo tournament at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti. We played three games yesterday and one this morning, and our B team played two games each day as well. Yesterday we started out with a game against Lindenwood which we won, then had a game against Grand Valley State which we won, and then played Iowa and won again! Yay for winning! None of the Saturday games were very close, but they were all very fun and we still fought hard. Everyone got a lot more playing time in this tournament which was really nice, and I definitely felt like I was in better shape than at the last tournament. The B team also won both of their games yesterday against Eastern Michigan and Iowa.
This morning we got to the pool just before the B team played Dayton and they won by a ton! We then played Michigan State's A team and went up early, but let them back into the game and only ended up winning by one goal. Our coaches were not too happy about that at all. We have to stop making some of our silly mistakes on defense and take more purposeful shots and better offensive possessions. Anyways, a win is still a win and we are still undefeated on the season. The B team had a final hard fought game against Michigan State B, but their final goal was called back after it was determined that the desk did something wrong with the clock and they ended up loosing by just one goal. It was a much better game for them than at our home tournament though, so that's great!
After the games I got home and relaxed for a bit and then some of the people going on the cruise came over to talk about what we want to do. We talked about our plan a little, determined how we would get to the airport, and then made a plan to meet up to make plans once we get on the ship tomorrow. Two of our friends have already left Ann Arbor, so we will just meet them there and go over what we talked about tonight (which wasn't too much, but still good to go over). After they left I was reminded that I had to take my CFM exam so I sat down and did that and just finished. It wasn't so bad and since it was open book I got through it fairly quickly (in maybe an hour, which really is fast since there was no studying necessary). Now I need to eat dinner and then pack and get ready to leave for warmth tomorrow! I can't wait to be in Florida/The Bahamas where I can actually feel my toes again. My apartment is just so cold! Can't wait to say goodbye to this 16º weather for a few days!
So this week should bring lots of sun and fun, and then next weekend we have a league tournament at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana. So excited for some downtime!
This morning we got to the pool just before the B team played Dayton and they won by a ton! We then played Michigan State's A team and went up early, but let them back into the game and only ended up winning by one goal. Our coaches were not too happy about that at all. We have to stop making some of our silly mistakes on defense and take more purposeful shots and better offensive possessions. Anyways, a win is still a win and we are still undefeated on the season. The B team had a final hard fought game against Michigan State B, but their final goal was called back after it was determined that the desk did something wrong with the clock and they ended up loosing by just one goal. It was a much better game for them than at our home tournament though, so that's great!
After the games I got home and relaxed for a bit and then some of the people going on the cruise came over to talk about what we want to do. We talked about our plan a little, determined how we would get to the airport, and then made a plan to meet up to make plans once we get on the ship tomorrow. Two of our friends have already left Ann Arbor, so we will just meet them there and go over what we talked about tonight (which wasn't too much, but still good to go over). After they left I was reminded that I had to take my CFM exam so I sat down and did that and just finished. It wasn't so bad and since it was open book I got through it fairly quickly (in maybe an hour, which really is fast since there was no studying necessary). Now I need to eat dinner and then pack and get ready to leave for warmth tomorrow! I can't wait to be in Florida/The Bahamas where I can actually feel my toes again. My apartment is just so cold! Can't wait to say goodbye to this 16º weather for a few days!
So this week should bring lots of sun and fun, and then next weekend we have a league tournament at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana. So excited for some downtime!
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Swim Meet
Last night three friends and I competed in the IM Swim Meet and we won our league!! We may or may not have been the only team in the all women's league, but regardless we still beat almost every single girl in the coed league! It was pretty fun and so weird to be racing again. I haven't sprinted like that in years. The meet began with the 200 Medley Relay and I swam fly and broke 30 seconds! I went a 29.9 in the first 50 fly I have swam since I was in high school, which I felt was pretty good. I swam the 50 backstroke next and went a 31 (I don't member the milliseconds there) and then swam in the 50 fly individual event and went a 29.8 woo hoo! Right after the 50 fly we spontaneously enter the 200 Free Relay and I literally got out of the pool from my fly and went straight to the block with my friends to swim my 50 free. I swam a 29.86, just a little bit SLOWER than my fly, haha! I was so tired from the fly, but at least I broke 30s. After the free relay we did the 100 T-Shirt relay for fun and had a great time. We even get T-Shirts for winning our league!
After the meet I was going to go watch the basketball game with some friends (well my friend told me the basketball game was being watched) but when we got there it was definitely a Bachelor watching party. So I watched one episode of the Bachelor for this season. The guy seems nice. After the Bachelor I came home and watched Dance Moms before going to bed. Abby is getting ridiculous and I feel really bad for those kids. I don't get why they don't find a new studio. Oh well, all I can do is hope that most of the drama is for the camera and not how their life truly is all of the time.
This morning I had off, so I slept in and now I am going to clean my apartment before I go to a Second Look Weekend meeting and then have my abdominal exam session to learn about how to do it. Fun times. Tomorrow I have class at the ungodly hour of 8am (ungodly for me at this point in life I guess when I'm in the pool until 11pm, though I'm sure I will be begging for 8am in a few years). At least we are learning about massage tomorrow. It will make it a little bit better.
After the meet I was going to go watch the basketball game with some friends (well my friend told me the basketball game was being watched) but when we got there it was definitely a Bachelor watching party. So I watched one episode of the Bachelor for this season. The guy seems nice. After the Bachelor I came home and watched Dance Moms before going to bed. Abby is getting ridiculous and I feel really bad for those kids. I don't get why they don't find a new studio. Oh well, all I can do is hope that most of the drama is for the camera and not how their life truly is all of the time.
This morning I had off, so I slept in and now I am going to clean my apartment before I go to a Second Look Weekend meeting and then have my abdominal exam session to learn about how to do it. Fun times. Tomorrow I have class at the ungodly hour of 8am (ungodly for me at this point in life I guess when I'm in the pool until 11pm, though I'm sure I will be begging for 8am in a few years). At least we are learning about massage tomorrow. It will make it a little bit better.
Monday, February 11, 2013
It's CFM Week Again
So yesterday after I wrote my blog I went up to Novi, MI to go shopping a little bit. I didn't get much, but I got a new swimsuit for my cruise, a cast iron pan, and a french onion soup bowl! Very exciting, right? After shopping I played in our IM indoor soccer game (which we lost), then went to Chinese buffet with some of my classmates for the lunar new year, then watched some of the Grammys, and finally played in my IM innertube water polo game. Fun times.
Today we began another CFM week. The first day of the week is always really long, and this was no exception, but the last hour and a half of our day was quite interesting today. We heard from two women who had been in abusive marriages and it was quite an experience to hear their stories. Definitely one of my favorite presentations we've had this year.
Tonight I'm just going to practice and thats it. We have another tournament this weekend so that should be fun times.
Today we began another CFM week. The first day of the week is always really long, and this was no exception, but the last hour and a half of our day was quite interesting today. We heard from two women who had been in abusive marriages and it was quite an experience to hear their stories. Definitely one of my favorite presentations we've had this year.
Tonight I'm just going to practice and thats it. We have another tournament this weekend so that should be fun times.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Done with Endo/Repro!
Since I last posted on Thursday night not much has happened. On Friday I woke up in the morning to drive my applicant to her interview and then I came home to sleep for another 40 minutes. Oh yeah, it had also snowed a ton over night, though not nearly as much as my sister got in NYC during her last day there! So after I woke back up I had a very long Friday. I had three hours of class, studied for my practical a little, took my practical (100% woo hoo!), studied for the written final, took the written final (passed the sequence woo hoo again!), came home, ate dinner, got ready to go meet my teammates and meet up with them for our water polo party. It was a long day, but ended with being done with the sequence and some quality time with my friends. It was a little weird to be at an undergrad party again, but good times.
Yesterday I basically just sat around at home and relaxed since the first five weeks of the semester were more exhausting then the entire last semester! Late night water polo practice has been exhausting lately because we have been doing a lot of swimming, but it has also been fun. The next two weeks are going to be really chill since we have a CFM week (which means no studying necessary yay!) and then Spring Break! I can't wait to head to the Bahamas for our fun cruise! We also have water polo tournaments the next three weekends so I'm excited for that as well.
Today is a little busier, but I will post about that after I am done with the day! And welcome back to CA to everyone else in my family. Molly, I hope you enjoyed your time living and working in NYC for the past four months. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa, I hope you had a fantastic time in Kauai as usual. I wish I could have been there. Miss you all and hope it's not too many more months until I see you again!
Yesterday I basically just sat around at home and relaxed since the first five weeks of the semester were more exhausting then the entire last semester! Late night water polo practice has been exhausting lately because we have been doing a lot of swimming, but it has also been fun. The next two weeks are going to be really chill since we have a CFM week (which means no studying necessary yay!) and then Spring Break! I can't wait to head to the Bahamas for our fun cruise! We also have water polo tournaments the next three weekends so I'm excited for that as well.
Today is a little busier, but I will post about that after I am done with the day! And welcome back to CA to everyone else in my family. Molly, I hope you enjoyed your time living and working in NYC for the past four months. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa, I hope you had a fantastic time in Kauai as usual. I wish I could have been there. Miss you all and hope it's not too many more months until I see you again!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Busy
Sorry I haven't been posting much this week, I've just been a little busy! Life isn't that excciting though so no one is missing much. I've basically just been going to class, practice, the grocery store, and have talked to various family members in NYC and Hawaii this week. Im jealous of basically everything everyone in my family is doing right now! I have finals again this weekend but then I have two really easy weeks, one of which is Spring Break!! Why it's in the middle of February I do not know, but it is. Okay, back to work a little before I go to sleep!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
I get a day off!
Thats right, I finally have an entire 24+ hours of downtime free of swimming, free of studying, free of anything. I am so excited since I haven't had that in two weeks. Today I basically just finished the lectures I missed earlier this week and studied all day. I took my quiz around 10pm and did well and now I am at home with blissful free time on the horizon. The first week of Endo/Repro was pretty much only repro, but I think it has been manageable. Things are a little clearer than they were for GI so I am happier to be less stressed out. If only I were in Hawaii with my parents and grandparents relaxing poolside with a fun book, sun, and warmth. That would be amazing, but luckily I only have two weeks until I am in the Bahamas!
For now I am super excited for the Super Bowl tomorrow, and I'm extra excited this year because not only do I get to cheer for my Niners, I got the Harbowl I have been rooting for for the past two years. So LETS GO NINERS!
For now I am super excited for the Super Bowl tomorrow, and I'm extra excited this year because not only do I get to cheer for my Niners, I got the Harbowl I have been rooting for for the past two years. So LETS GO NINERS!
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