Mi Familia Española
When picking a study abroad program, most people are either really turned on or really turned off by the idea of living with a family. Personally, I was pretty indifferent, but now that I'm in Madrid, I cannot imagine study abroad without my host 'rents. Seriously.
I remember meeting with my study abroad director and going over my housing questionnaire with her, which I filled out in a moment of complete study/sleep depravation delirium while fantasizing my future abroad and romanticizing the host family experience. I wrote something along the lines of, "And I imagine us going to church together and them being very understanding of all of the changes and things I'm going through while in Madrid." I know, I'm adorable. Surprisingly, upon reading my romanticized description, Susan Sanchez Casal did not laugh. She did not mock. She understood exactly what I meant and worked with it.
Then we were placed in families. And I found out about mine earlier because my busybody mom just HAD to...
Fa11: We Grew Up
After a semester everyone came to know as my personal “semester from hell,” I can honestly say I’ve never been happier to be home!
Excuse the negativity, but this semester… it was a trying one. Not just for me, but for most people I know. My closest friends and I were all dealing with deep dark things we’d never experienced before: getting over a love, handling a long-distance relationship when a significant other goes abroad, and thinking of the future (scary!). Within that, I feel like this semester, we all awoke to the reality of college. When I mean “the reality of college,” I’m talking about how we all have a hyped idea of what college is, whether we envision a deep intellectual environment or a party overflowing with red solo cups, we have an expectation. Freshman and sophomore year, I feel, we lived those expectations, and this year, we came to see how our ideas of college match up with reality once the shiny newness of college went away.
But beyond that, we realized the necessity...
EDIs Unite!
EDI decisions come out tomorrow, and though I'm going crazy with (late) papers, performances, and end of the year to-do's, I had to take a second and reflect on the decisions that will come out tomorrow. As the title implies, I was an EDI kid, and I remember the day I got into Tufts like it was yesterday.
I think I may have mentioned before that I didn't exactly fit in my high school. Blonde, tan, and incompetent has never been my flavor, and that's all my high school offered. It didn't help that by some freak accident I beat a tan, blonde, and questionably incompetent girl from my high school in an election and became class president our senior year. All of her friends, who were the only people involved in the activities I ran and also happened to be in all of my classes, made sure that I had the worst possible senior year. It was awesome (not). And I still don't understand why people would go through so much effort to make someone else unhappy--or why they still hang on to those feelings...
Off the Struggle Bus and Into the Finals
THE FINALS ARE COMING! THE FINALS ARE COMING!
A Very Jumbo Thanksgiving
While most Jumbos flee from the hill to their parents' cooking on Thanksgiving break, a couple of us stay on the hill (some for the second year in a row) and throw our own Thanksgiving bash.
I spent the entire day making my mami proud by cleaning my entire suite top to bottom, making sure it was acceptable for guests. Then I cooked brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, and spinach and artichoke dip in. My friends took care of the turkey, oyster stuffing, Mac&cheese, pumpkin pie, and other delicious things.
We dressed to impress, gathered at my suite, and had our meal while Sinatra played in the background. It was a gloriously classy affair :)
Before beginning to eat, we continued a tradition we'd started the year before and went around the table saying what we're thankful for. Though we were all there for different reasons, we were all thankful for the same thing: the family we choose and the people that make Tufts home
Hope everyone had as great a Thanksgiving as we did!
So much...