Recap

NOTE: Beginning of post written in December.

Interesting that the only time I update my blog is right before finals. At this point, I have gone to all of my fall classes for the very last time - no more Greek Thought Seminar, Macroeconomics, English 5 Honors, or Bible & Its Interpretation. All that remains is finals week, with my first final in three days. Yikes! I have two actual finals and four essays. I've been working hard on not procrastinating, and I'm only writing this as a break from work.

I guess I have to go back and explain how October, November, and part of December went for me. Let's start from October and then move forward.

October


-Made some new friends and had some good fun with them - they love books as much as I do, so we fill in each others' reading lists and play nerdy games.

Here's a few.

-Started dealing with some really horrible weather at crew. It was pouring rain this one practice, and as soon as we drove up to Briones, we got a call from our coach to turn back to the erg room. Good thing, too - I think the boats might have capsized.

-Speaking of rowing, we new recruits got some more gear, like our splash jackets. I love splash jackets. You have to understand how awesome you feel when you put one on. It doesn't matter that it's not really waterproof and you end up getting wet anyway if it's *actually* raining - it's for rowing, not a downpour.

-We had our first race of the fall season, at Head of the Port. I rowed in an 8+ and a 4+. Back to back 5k's aren't fun, but I loved being back at my home course. Some of the RCRC girls cheered my boat on when we started our race. Even though it was incredibly foggy and you could barely see the oar in front of you, they somehow recognized me and cheered "Go Michelle!"

-Took Stacey home to visit, and introduced her to the friends who were still in town. We played pool and hung around, biking places sometimes (gasp!).

-Midterm break was rough; we rowers had to stay back the entire time and have double/triple-practice days. We had a 6k test and seat racing for Head of the Charles all backed up against each other. Ouch.

-Our final race of October was at Head of the American, and I got to see my RCRC team there again (always a treat). I raced twice again; once in the varsity 8 and once in a 4. It was my first time racing in that lineup and it was a treat.

-Trick or treated at Halloween (you're never too old for that) with some new friends from crew.

November


-Got into doing puzzles and shenanigans with some crew girls.

-Stroked the novice 8 at Head of the Lagoon to a first-place tie with Stanford! :) That was exciting. Also got to see RCRC and hang out with some old teammates.

-Said goodbye to my house as my parents moved out. :/

-Had a wonderful SF Thanksgiving with my family, grandparents, and aunt and uncle.

December


-Studied up for my upcoming exams, wrote those essays, did all that stuff.

-Took all my finals, turned in essays, and got them all back with my first ever 4.0!

-Had a wonderful (but short) Christmas break in four different states (lots of flying) and got to see the new place where the family now lives.

Stacey and Becca decorating Brother Ron's tree.

January


-More on this month later! I'm in my JanTerm where I just take one class (Intro to Fiction, a short story writing/reading course) but for 2.5 hours per day. Rowing's getting tougher, so we'll see how that goes.

This was long overdue, sorry!
-Michelle

One Month Down

I know I've only been at SMC for five weeks, but I'm already calling it home. After tomorrow, I'll have survived a month of classes – not as easy of a feat as I'd thought. It's so tempting to come to college thinking “wow, 13 hours of class a week, I have so much free time.” Ha. Well, I'm free to choose which class to study for first...

Transitioning to college work has been difficult for me in many ways. At Da Vinci, every class had some element of technology, and we never took notes. There were no lectures, just powerpoints we'd later receive copies of. I think I had one essay my senior year; it was around three pages long. Turns out college isn't quite like that, my school especially – none of my teachers use powerpoints for their lectures. There are chalkboards in the classroom, and teachers either outline their lecture on the board, or in handouts. Luckily I come prepared to take copious notes, and try to look like I've done this before.

I had three tests and a paper this past week, only one of which I've gotten back. I guess I exaggerate when I say three tests; one of those was an indoor rowing test for crew. That didn't make it any less stressful, though! Speaking of which, rowing's been great. A few weeks ago the team went to run at Jog for Jill, a fundraiser for finding a lung cancer cure.

From left: Me, Stacey, and Maryann after jogging for Jill

Next weekend, SMC will compete at our first race of the fall season: Head of the Port, at my old home course! I can't wait to race, and to see all my old teammates as well. It'll be fun to visit the old boathouse and say hi – and to row on familiar waters. Briones is beautiful, but I still don't know the difference between the 1000m mark and the 4000m.

I'm really having fun at school. The students are great, my professors have been very helpful, the crew team is amazing, and to top it all off, I'm learning a lot. Just look at this blog post and maybe you'll notice that this paragraph sounds oddly like a conclusion. That's what happens in college, I guess.

Weekend of Welcome

It's hard to believe I'm typing this from my newly-moved-into dorm room. It's taken a little getting used to, but I am now settled in. My organization skills still aren't amazing, but most things have specific places. The past three days have really been packed – Tuesday I struggled to get everything moved in, and decorate my room. Look up for a panorama of our room, or below for a close-up of my side.

Yes, my side of the dorm has a stool.

Finally met Stacey, who is just as cool as I thought she'd be. There weren't many people on campus for those first two days; only out-of-state freshmen and people who couldn't make the in-state orientations like myself. In fact, I was all alone in my dorm for the first night. Well, except for the president. Yup, you heard me – the big man on campus has his own separate house that takes up half of our entire dorm. He's great; he even offered to cook dinner for us sometime.

I signed up for my classes at orientation, but, being in the unfortunate last group, I didn't get most of the classes I wanted. Calculus was entirely full, and trying to schedule around rowing meant I had to maneuver my remaining classes around. My final classes ended up being The Principles of Macroeconomics, The Bible & Its Interpretation (required to graduate,) English 5 Honors, Greek Thought (a Great Books Seminar, required of the college) and a first year advising cohort class (F.Y.A.C, .25 credits) called “Champs' Life.” We've already met our Seminar professor and discussed Plato's Analogy of the Cave. Later in the week everyone met with their advisor and F.Y.A.C class. I'm excited for classes to start tomorrow – there's quite honestly nothing as fun as the first day. Honestly, after that, you have real work....

Me and Stacey after painting the SMC sign.

Weekend of Welcome came after orientation, where they educated the freshmen, welcomed them, and treated them to some SMC experiences. It got a little tiring having every second planned out for you, but Stacey and I got through it with a healthy amount of grumbling. One of the more exciting things was painting the SMC sign up on the hill of Saint Mary's. There are no paintbrushes used, and afterwards, everyone ends up looking something like Stacey and I do to the left. 

Everyone else in Siena Hall (the official name of my dorm) has moved in, and there are a grand total of 9 girls living in the hall, excluding the RA. Still, our rooms are very big; way bigger than any of the other freshmen hall's. Our neighbors seem nice, just like everyone else at SMC. I'm excited to make more friends and get to know more of my fellow students.

Maybe I'll post again when classes start. Then again, hopefully I'll be too busy to even think of it. :)

It's Coming

The time has come to finish up dorm shopping and begin to pack for college. After today I'll be jumping in the car and driving 75 minutes to Moraga, California, where I'll move in to Saint Mary's College of California. Soon, I'll be saying goodbye to Davis for a look at a whole new experience – freshman year of college.

I'm starting this blog mainly as a way to keep people I care about updated about my college experiences. I can't wait to start school, and I know that it'll be tough to let everyone know each and every detail of my SMC life, so I plan to cover some of the basics right here. As of right now, I haven't chosen my classes or even gone to orientation; I missed the in-state orientations when I was in Nicaragua with my school physics group. So instead I'll be attending the out-of-state orientation right before school starts, on August 24^th. I move in the day before early in the morning. Let's hope I can get all my stuff arranged before I go off to my math placement exam.

I'm also excited about meeting my roommate, fellow rowing recruit Stacey. We've been messaging back and forth since summer began, and we get along quite well. It'll be awesome to finally see each other in person. We won't officially meet the rest of the team till our first crew meeting on August 29^th. We can work out on the rowing machines at the gym near our dorm before then – got to stay in shape. Then, conditioning begins a week later on September 6^th. Looks like I'll experience two “labor days” in a row. ;)

Back to the dorms, though. Stacey and I are rooming in a double in Saint Catherine of Siena Hall. I'm so happy I'm not in a triple – I really did not want the added stress of fighting over two closets. I'm told our small dorm has bigger rooms – I think I can get over the very Catholic name if that's true. I'm starting to realize that a Catholic school might not be as liberal as Davis, CA....

I've said my goodbyes to almost everyone. There have been tears, of course, and a lot of smiles and promises. I hope I can keep them all. These past few weeks have been a very bittersweet experience, as I knew they would be. But enough on that, everyone knows leaving for college is sad, and exciting. I'll probably post again with some pictures of my dorm room, and SMC. Wish me luck!

-Michelle