First Day of Classes

Today was my first day of classes, which was really exciting after so much anticipation!  Now, the great thing is that my first class on Tuesday and Thursday is that it starts at 1:15pm.

So this morning I slept in until about nine o'clock, at which point I got up to take a shower and get ready for my classes.  I had a few hours, so I played around on my computer and just had some time to relax.  It was sort of weird not having to go to class immediately, which is one of the nice things about a college schedule.  Unfortunately, I got up a little late for breakfast, so I decided to go to an early lunch at 11:15am.  After lunch I had a little more time in my room before my class started.

The first class I had of the day, and my whole career at Mudd, was Computer Science 5 Black (which is the medium level course available).  It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it because it was great having a class that seemed productive and worthwhile after everything that I sat through in high school.  We started out with a basic class introduction, but quickly moved on to talk about Picobot and Python.  I am really excited to get started on the actual work for that class, because it seems really interesting.

Next, I had my intermediate Spanish class, which seemed sort of overwhelming after the lack of practice I have had in the last few months.  The teacher talked completely in Spanish, and while I could understand a lot of what she said, it was still a bit intimidating.  Not to mention the fact that I have that class almost every day.  The good news is that it is a small class right now, with only 10 people in it.

After the class was over, I had scheduled some time to talk with Professor Lyzenga: a Professor who has a lot of experience with rocketry.  I had tried to talk with him yesterday, but I just missed him.  He sent me an email that evening saying how he was sorry he missed me, and we scheduled to meet today.  It was a nice conversation - we talked about the USLI (University Student Launch Initiative) and about the potential difficulties of organization here at Mudd.  It was nice to finally meet him, and I am excited to start meeting actual rocketry students.

I went back to my room and did my Spanish homework (and when finished, was able to get the printer working).  Then I went to dinner with the other members of my suite for a "suite meeting."  It was mostly talking about the logistics of the suite, which was very important.

Then, I came back to my room for a quite evening and am now going off to bed to sleep before my early classes tomorrow.  It was a good first day, to say the least.

Update and First Semester Schedule

I know it has been a while since I have had time to update my blog but I will now let you know what I have been up to.

For the past few days, I have been participating in various orientation events including: various lectures on health and safety, a campfire with "Muddlore," and various "educational" skits put on by the sponsors, proctors, and faculty.  It has been basically constant work (and play) but has lead to very little free time for other stuff.

Today, the main event was that we received our schedules for the coming semester.  We woke up early and went to Galileo (one of the academic buildings) and received our schedules.  This was then followed by a introduction to the academic department at Mudd.

Click the image to enlarge.  This is my schedule for the first half semester of classes.  To clarify, the first column is Sunday and Saturday is not shown.  Also, it is important to recognize that Intro to Academic Writing and Chem: Energetics are both classes that are only a half semester long.  At the end of the half semester, they will be replaced by Physics: Special Relativity and Chem: Structure respectively.  The number beside each name is the course number for my own reference.

After the meeting, we were supposed to meet up with our academic advisers for lunch.  However, my adviser, Professor Ekhert did not show up to the luncheon.  So I ate lunch with Professor Townsend, his students, and the other people who were without their adviser.  It was interesting talking to him, though I wish I had met my adviser instead.

That afternoon, we had some activities planned by our mentors.  The first was finger-painting signs for each floor of the dorm (I skipped it, too sticky).  Next, we all walked to the Claremont village - or "the village" - to get frozen yogurt from Yogurt Land or something like that.  It was delicious.  Next was a stop at the Consortium bookstore to pick up some more supplies and then back to Mudd.

Over the course of the day I got both of my boxes from home, and therefore have a lot more clothing to chose from.  I put all of that away, organized my new supplies, and ordered my textbooks online from Amazon.  They had a great offer for students that provides free two day shipping for a year if you use a college email address, which is great!

Tonight, we had a skit put on by the faculty, which was kind of funny, but mostly informative - which is not necessarily a bad thing.

As you can see on my schedule, my first classes start after lunch tomorrow.  It should be an interesting experience, and I am anxious to get started.  So now I am going to take some time to relax and get ready for the coming stress of homework and classes.  It is time for an episode of Futurama.

First Impressions

It has been a while since I have posted because I have been swamped with stuff to do here in California.  We have been shopping every day to try and gather all of the stuff that I need for my move into the dorm - and I still do not have everything I need.

When we landed on Monday the 23rd, the first thing we did was travel to Harvey Mudd so that I could try and get in and see my dorm.  I was let in to look around and it looked wonderful!  It is much larger than I expected considering all the horror stories about tiny rooms and little space.  It is painted in some bright red and yellow colors which is pretty fun.  Katie was doing the Summer Institute, so she had already moved in and settled down.

The campus itself seems beautiful, though it is considered one of the ugliest college campuses.  Yet, it has large patches of green grass between the buildings, and a bunch of beautiful trees.  My dorm, Atwood, has a balcony looking out onto a stone square and a lovely tree.

Monday, August 23rd 2010 - A view of my dorm, Atwood.

Here is the outside of my dorm, and in this pictures you can see my balcony (which is the only one visible on the third floor).

The remainder of the 23rd was spent shopping around Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and similar general stores.  On the 24th, we went to Ikea and Home Depot to do some more shopping - I got a very cute looking storage unit to set up in the dorm.  Today, we went to a patio furniture store to get some stuff for the balcony - which now seems to large to fit having seen it again - and some plants from Home Depot.

We then decided to do about an hour of shopping at the mall.  Nick bought me a cute stuffy to bring with me to college since I choose to leave Pup at home where he would be safe.  It was very sweet and I love my new puppy.

We had a welcome dinner scheduled at the college, so before that started, I talked to Katie and ended up dropping off a load of my stuff today, so I would not have to worry about as much tomorrow.  This way, I was able to get some things situated early, which will make tomorrow much easier.

The dinner was fun; I met a lot of the incoming freshman class and a couple of the sponsors who are helping with the Orientation activities.  While the dinner itself was not the best, I had a nice time talking with people and hearing from a member of the faculty.  It was a short dinner, but a nice introduction to the campus.

On the way out, we saw these sign posts that had the names of all of the incoming class (about 200 students, over 50% of whom are female) and their home towns.  It was very cute and helped to make the campus feel welcoming and personal.

My name on the sign post.

The time has finally come to move into the dorm - early tomorrow morning I will become officially moved in.  The orientation that follows is packed with activities, so I will do my best to blog but it may be a little while before I am settled enough to do so.  Until then...

Last Minute Packing

Today is my last day at home in Seattle - in a perfect world, it would be at least sort of laid-back and relaxing. But unfortunately, I have had an incredibly busy and wild day.  This is mostly because I had not really packed any of my clothes, and therefore had to get all of that last minute packing done today.

A couple days ago, I created a registry of all of the clothes I own in a word document.  I sorted it all into categories (tank tops, t-shirts, skirts, etc.) and then divided those sections by color.  This way, I have a list of everything that I own and may therefore check it to see what stuff I have at home.  To make this process easier, everything that I am bringing to college is marked.  Now, if I want to see what I have at home, I can check the list and have it mailed to me.  Of course, while I was packing I had to go and record everything.  Which, while it helps my organization, took some time.

With my clothes packed, I turned to the next step, jewelry.  I selected the items I wanted to bring with me, and placed them in small zip-lock bags to keep them separated and not tangled together.  This part was fairly easy, but another thing that had to get done today.

Finally, I had to move my music over to the new computer, because I just could not go away without it.

With all of that done, I think that I am finally ready to leave early tomorrow morning (at five am).  I am sure there are things I have forgotten, but I will just have to have them mailed later.  For now, I am finished.

Honey Bunnies

One of the primary things that I have thought about when it comes to going away to college is the fact that all of the food I love and am used to will be no more.  So for the past couple of weeks, I have been demanding the food that I love - tacos, spaghetti and meat balls, flank steak - so that I can have it before I go away.

And of course, honey bunnies.  Who in the world does not love honey bunnies?  Besides the people who are ignorant to their goodness, nobody.  They are a wonderfully sticky and sweet breakfast food that my brother and I have adored the few times that we have had them over the years.  They have become a sort of wistful desire, one that is often thwarted by the grievous amount of time they taken in preparation.  But they're sweet deliciousness is the thing of dreams, and it perpetually follows those lucky enough to taste they glorious fluffy sweetness.  The name comes, of course, from the adorable shape - each honey bunny is made of two buns, with two adorning ears and a cute little tail - and the incredible flavor.

I have been seriously looking forward to them since I had the wonderful excuse to request they're creation.  Of course, they came out wonderfully and were a complete success this morning.  Thank you Mom!

Feast about their glorious image, for you may never see them again.

Mmm, I ate two and was way too full to have any more.  But they were great and I sure wish I could have.

In other news:

I hung out with Kerry for the last time before college.  She moves into her dorm tomorrow, and I am leaving very soon - Monday the 23rd.  It was kinda sad, to have actually reached that point after anticipating it for so long.

Also, I cut my hair fairly short yesterday and I love it!  It is cute and clean, and feels fresh.

That is all for now.  Until next time.

Ummelina's International Spa

Both the trip to Tanzania and the general stress of having to get a million things ready for college caused my mom and I to organize a spa day to get some much needed rest, relaxation, and cleansing.  This morning, we had a ten o'clock appointment at Ummelina's International Spa.

We checked in and where then escorted to the changing room where we abandoned our belongings in exchange for a comfortable robe and some quiet time.  Then, we walked back to the 'Sanctuary' which was a room containing a number of chairs which looked out over a shopping square in the city.  We were given some tea, and then joined by our masseuses for an exfoliating leg rub and a tub of warm water for our feet.

Next, we were each escorted to the spa showers.  These showers were absolutely incredible because they are not the everyday shower.  The spa shower was made up of two shower heads - each placed in a different place - and four jets on each side (a total of eight) all pointed at a single spot.  This created a perfect sphere in which to stand and be soaked from every direction.  It felt incredible!  Of course, there were a number of shower products also - shampoo and conditioner, face moisturizer, and some exfoliating scrub.

After the wonderful shower, I returned to the 'Sanctuary' where I was joined by my masseuse and then led to the massage room.  The massage had a couple of interesting aspects.  The first was some sort of brush that felt great and presumably removed dead skin.  The second was a nice sort of lotion - which I believe was called the desert sands treatment.  Finally, the massage.  Having identified the main areas of tension during the first two aspects, my masseuse focused mainly on my neck and back.  It was incredibly relaxing and absolutely wonderful.

With the massage over, I returned to the 'Sanctuary' again where I met the woman who would do my facial, Kat.  We went to yet another room, where the facial would take place.  It began with some moisturizing lotions (probably), which felt cool and smooth.  The next step, was a fruit enzyme which ate away dead tissue, with the side effect of a fairly unpleasant stinging.  While the enzyme was left to do its work, Kat massaged my arms and legs, and then placed my hands and feet in some heated cozies.  These were really comfortable and enjoyable.  Next, came the worst part of the facial, the cleansing of pores through force.  Kat used some sort of tool to scrape my pores clean, and while it was not fun to have done, looked great.  Finally, she applied a cleansing mask to my face and placed some warm stones on my stomach and chest.  At this point, she left the room to create the basket of products that they would try to sell me at the end.  With the warmth of the stones and cozies, and the soothing background music, I think I managed to doze off for a few minutes until Kat returned.

Again, I waited in the 'Sanctuary' where I was rejoined by Mom who had been having the same treatments somewhere else in the spa.  Together, we were escorted to our final destination, the manicure and pedicure room.  Here we had a basically normal manicure and pedicure experience, barring one aspect.  First nails were clipped and shaped with a nail file, then the cuticles were pushed back with the help of some sort of liquid and their cuticle shaping tool.  The nails were buffed and shined, and at some point during the whole process, we had our hands and feet massaged with a nice lotion and placed in the same warming cozies from the facial.  An interesting, and unusual, step was when both our hands and feet were dipped in a tub of hot, melted wax.  They were completely and thickly coated, then left to dry and relax.  When the wax was no longer needed, it came off cleanly and easily and was thrown away.  This was very strange, but looked and felt very cool.  Finally, I had my toenails painted a light pink, and my fingernails painted clear (to avoid chipping).

We returned to the 'Sanctuary' for the last time in order to give our nails some time to dry.  When this was done, we exited the 'Sanctuary' and returned to the changing room.  Here, we changed back into our normal clothes, checked the time (three o'clock), and entered the lobby.  We paid for the spa experience (and some of the products they recommended) and left, greased, content, clean, and relaxed.  It was an incredible experience and I really enjoyed the pampering.  It was much needed and a great use of the day.

New Computer

After a long period of anxious waiting, my new computer has arrived at last.  It is a beautiful and comfortable Toshiba laptop which will be my computer for college.

Of course, this is the first post that is being written on its elegant keyboard, and so far it seems to be a wonderful machine.  It has a separate number pad on the right-hand side of the screen and a bunch of other cool features - such as the various scrolling techniques that are available on the touch pad - and more to be discovered.

I am still getting used to the layout of the keyboard, and still have more to do to set up everything that I will need to have a fully functional college computer.  But it was a wonderful start and a great surprise - though it was anticipated - this morning.

The next step is to get Photoshop up and running along with the Mozy backup for the whole computer and my portable hard drive.

And that is all for now.

Tanzania and Zanzibar

At last, I have finished sorting my photos from Tanzania and Zanzibar!  I started with 2,479 photos, narrowed it down to 208, and then clipped it to 90 for easy viewing.  I have captioned every picture in the following two albums to provide information and explanation.

To see the "Abbreviated Best of Tanzania" please look here:

http://janehoffswell.smugmug.com/2010/Tanzania-and-Zanzibar/Abbreviated-Best-of-Tanzania

And to see the "Best of Tanzania and Zanzibar" please look here:

http://janehoffswell.smugmug.com/2010/Tanzania-and-Zanzibar/Best-of-Tanzania-and-Zanzibar

Now, for a slight teaser of the pictures to come with their captions:

The trip to Tanzania was huge: it consisted of two days of flight to arrive and could be imagined as another world.  It has a culture and style all its own, and it looks nothing like the comfort of the United States that we know as home.  Because of this, I was definitely nervous about taking such a trip.  But it turned out to be an incredible and fun experience.

We spent July 15th and 16th simply with constant plane flights.  We met Bruce at the airport and flew from Seattle to Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam, we met up with Chuck - David's dad - and flew to Tanzania.  Even though it was only two flights for us, it was still two full days of travel.

On July 17th we woke up in our hotel called Kingangoni and left for our first day of Safari in Arusha National Park.  As we were pulling up to the gate of the park, Bruce spotted our first safari animal: the giraffe.  Since our guide Allan needed to get paperwork, we had a little time to walk around and look at the giraffes in the distance.  We then entered the park for a few hours of safari inside our vehicle.  That afternoon, we had a hike scheduled with an armed guide to protect against the cape buffalo - one of the more dangerous animals in the park.  During the hike, we saw a pack of cape buffalo, and a group of giraffe.  Halfway through the hike, we stopped for a picnic lunch that Allan had set up.  Then we continued for a little while longer.  When the hike was finished, we returned to our hotel for the night.

July 17, 2010 - A giraffe that we saw up close during our hike.

July 18, 2010 - The day began with a drive towards the next Safari location, Tarangire Park. On the way, we stopped in a village to look at the local market and walk around the village. Unfortunately, like many foreign countries, the obvious fact that we were tourists attracted a large crowd of street vendors who proceeded to incessantly try and sell us souvenirs. After leaving the village, we continued into the park.  One of the highlights of today's safari were the baby elephants and the lion that had just finished feasting on a kill - a poor little zebra. Following the Safari, we drove to our first tented camp, Whistling Thorn. We were greeted by the lovely staff and given a warm, damp towel (which was more than welcome to wipe off the dust from the drive) and a cool, sparkling drink. The tents were very comfortable, and the dinner was absolutely lovely with an incredible soup course to start!

July 18, 2010 - The baby elephant is being very cute, rubbing up against the others.

July 19, 2010 - The day began very early, so that we could enter Tarangire Park as the sun came up. The light was beautiful, and everything had a slightly golden glow. We drove around the park for about half a day, and then returned to Whistling Thorn tented camp to relax. That night, some native Masai men came to perform a dance for the people staying in the camp (our group and another couple).

July 19, 2010 - A baobab tree in the light of early morning. The story of the baobab tree is that he was the most beautiful tree of the time and went around bragging about his beauty and luscious leaves. So, as punishment he was picked up and put back upside down, so that his roots were sticking up in the air. Or something like that.

July 20, 2010 - The day began with a drive to a Masai village for a tour of their way of life. Here, we saw the school (which, unfortunately, seemed fairly poor since the children were not in full health). The children in the school sang a sort of welcome song, which I was able to film. We then visited one of the bomas where we saw the men working on the construction of a new hut. The women in the boma sang and danced a traditional welcome, and then we had the opportunity to purchase some of their beaded jewelry. Next, we drove to Lake Manyara for a safari drive in the park.  It was here that we saw what Allan told us was a black mamba, however, Mom's research has concluded that it was actually a black spitting cobra. That night, we stayed in a very nice lodge, the Bougainvillea Safari Lodge in Karatu.

July 20, 2010 - Allan said it was a Black Mamba, but he did not see the actual snake. Mom believes that it is a black spitting cobra.

Ngorongoro Crater and spent the remainder of the day in camp relaxing and reading.

July 21, 2010 - The Elephant Caves were gouged out of the rock be elephants looking for minerals/salts.

July 22, 2010 - The day was spent solely on safari in Ngorongoro crater. We descended into the park, where we expected to see many different animals. And we certainly did! We saw lions everywhere; the first set was a mother and her cub asleep in fairly tall grass. Next, we came across a pride, with two females, two cubs, and three males. Then, we came across a lone female lion. At one point, we saw a black rhino - which is very rare - off in the distance.  It was hard to see, but in the photos I have, you can make out the tusks. The animals did not stop there - there was a single cheetah, a serval cat, and many others.  The last part of the day was spent relaxing in our camp.

July 22, 2010 - A lone female lion, probably fairly old.

July 23, 2010 - The plan for the day was to take a hike up a mountain to see the view from the top. However, when we got to the top we realized that the hike was much longer than we had expected. Allan also had planned for us to hike down into the valley, then up and down again to leave. So instead, we decided to just hike down to the waterfall, and then back to our safari vehicle. On the way to the waterfall, Mom got scared by the cliff edges which we had to navigate to get down and returned to the top with Allan, Chuck, and Pat. David, Bruce, and I continued down with our guide, William. When we got to the bottom, David stopped at the river, not wanting to risk crossing. Bruce and I continued to the waterfall (which was basically down a cliff face). William held my hand all the way to help me down the edge. The waterfall was beautiful! Two other locals came by, and were absolutely fascinated by my camera.  They sat down next to me and I showed them some of the pictures I had taken. We then returned to the top of the hill, where we learned that Pat had bought a genuine Masai knife from someone passing through the top of the mountain. We returned to the car and drove to a fancy lodge to relax for a little while, with a cool drink. Then we returned to our private mobile camp to relax for the rest of the day.

July 23, 2010 - A picture of me standing in front of the waterfall. Photo taken by our guide, William.

July 24, 2010 - We woke up early and left Ngorongoro Crater. We drove to a store to do some souvenir shopping, where we bought a number of different things - including some very cool masks. Next, we drove to the airport. At the airport, we were put on a little plane that would take us to Zanzibar. Pat was pulled out of the line getting on the plane and put in the co-pilot's seat for the whole flight. When we arrived in Zanzibar, we drove to the Tembo House Hotel in Stonetown. Everyone took a nice shower (after the short showers we had in our tented camps), and then we went out for a walk around the town. We started out by the water and then walked through a market where we did a little more shopping. For a while David and Bruce looked for an Italian restaurant, and I eventually found it. We sat down for a lovely dinner and enjoyed the sunset, and then returned to our hotel for the night.

July 24, 2010 - We sat down for a nice dinner at a recommended Italian restaurant in Stonetown on Zanzibar. As the sun was setting, the boat came floating through.

July 25, 2010 - We woke up at the Tembo House Hotel, packed up and left our stuff in the lobby. We then took a boat to Prison Island for the Prison Island tour. Here, we went to the giant land tortoise conservatory where we were able to feed and interact with the tortoises. We then walked over to the prison which had also been used as a quarantine area for people with smallpox. When we were done looking around the prison, we spent about 15 minutes on the beach, then took a small boat to a snorkeling area. I got out of the water fairly quickly after being stung by something invisible in the water. We then returned to Stonetown and took a shower in the pool shower to rinse off the salt. We then took our luggage and left the hotel. We drove to a house for an 'opulent' lunch. The lunch was good, but did not really meet my expectations for the word 'opulent.' We left the lunch area, and started a tour of a local spice farm. The tour was interesting, and we saw a huge array of different plants. Everything smelled delicious! The tour guides made us grass crowns, purses, and jewelry - which was a fun addition to the tour. We tasted every type of fruit on the farm, and then had the opportunity to purchase some of the spices. When we left the tour, we drove to the Mnarani Beach Cottages in Nungwi and had the rest of the day to relax.

July 25, 2010 - I believe that this is nutmeg or something in the hand of one of our guides at the spice farm.

July 26, 2010 - We woke up and had a village tour of Nungwi. For the first part of the tour, we walked around the village buildings. It is a very Muslim community, so it was impossible to take pictures of the people - particularly women - and the children were ready to demand money for any photograph. The tour then took us down to the beach where we saw how the curved wooden boats are made. Next, we visited the Nungwi Aquarium where we saw the sea turtles. It began to pour at this point, so we were trapped in the aquarium for a little while. Finally, when the rain stopped, we returned to our hotel, Mnarani Beach Cottages. That afternoon, Mom and I had nice massages.  They were very relaxing with the sound of the waves and beach in the background. When that was done, we got some henna (the synthetic kind) which ended up not holding up as well as I had hoped.

July 26, 2010 - The turtles in the pond were taken out of the wild for safety reasons (I believe) and put in the aquarium for their protection.

July 27, 2010 - We woke up and left Nungwi for our final hotel of the trip, Mchanga Beach Lodge between Pwani Mchangani and Matemwe on the NE Coast of the island. We arrived at our hotel, looked around, and settled down for some time to relax with a book.

July 28, 2010 - We slept in late to relax. In the early morning, we took a nice long walk down the beach and spent the remainder of the day relaxing at the Mchanga Beach Lodge. At night, we could definitely here some sort of animal on the grass roof.

July 28, 2010 - In the early morning we took a quick walk on the beach, and saw these women working in this little enclosed area on the beach.

July 29, 2010 - We woke up for the forest tour. Mom was not feeling well, so she and Pat stayed at the hotel. The forest tour took us to Jozani forest where we saw the rare red colobus monkey, the mangrove forest, and the swamp forest. After the tour, we returned to the hotel to relax for our last real day in Tanzania.

July 29, 2010 - A red colobus monkey with her baby.

July 30, 2010 - We woke up early to drive to the airport where we took a short flight (20 minutes) to Dar es Salam. We waited there for a flight to Arusha. From Arusha, we drove to a large gift shop for more shopping and lunch/dinner. Then on to Kilimanjaro airport. That night, our flight flew to Dar es Salam and then on to Amsterdam.

July 31, 2010 - We left Chuck in Amsterdam and flew from Amsterdam to Seattle and arrived home.

That trip was a great success and everyone had a great time!  For more pictures, follow the links above.  And remember, all of my pictures for everything that I have ever photographed are available at:

http://janehoffswell.smugmug.com/

Thanks!

The Georgian

After I graduated from Ingraham High School, we did not have enough time to organize a nice graduation dinner with all of our preparation for the Africa trip.  So when we were in Tanzania, at some point we started talking about fancy dinners, and decided to schedule a great evening to celebrate graduation.

Therefore, tonight we went to the Georgian - an elegant restaurant downtown.  Everyone got dressed up in nice clothing, Pat even bought a new shirt.  Since it was such an important event to celebrate, we had a good sized party consisting of Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Drew and Teri, Mom and David, Pat, and Nick.

We pulled up outside the hotel for the valet service and went inside the hotel and to the dinning room.  The room is a gorgeous large hall with huge chandeliers and giant windows to let in the light.  The whole room was elegantly decorated and absolutely wonderful.

The evening started out with drinks - a Virgin Mojito for me - and bread with a large sampling of butters.  The menu was amazing with its large array of options.  It would have been possible to order a seven coarse meal, though with the three I had, I am sure that would have been too much.  I started out with a delicious Caesar Salad and had the Morel Mushroom Ravioli as an entree.  When I was finished with both of those, I was stuffed, but still enjoyed a Black-and-White Chocolate Souffle and small taste of another souffle.

With the meal eaten, I opened the nice card that Uncle Drew and Teri gave me as a graduation gift.

Then, with the check, the waitress gave me a nice surprise:

It was such a nice thing to see, at the end of the meal, though I was completely stuffed.

Overall, it was an incredible evening and I really enjoyed celebrating with so much of my family!  It was wonderful and I felt great.  I am glad we got it organized and pulled through, it was perfect.

Hello and welcome!

With the move to college looming and coming closer every minute, there are a number of things that I have had to prepare.  One of which, as a promise to my mom, was to start this blog to chronicle my time in college and therefore make it easier to keep my friends and family up to date on the goings on in my life away from home.  Therefore, welcome to my new blog!  I hope to post every few days on topics ranging from classes and extracurriculars (ie. rockets) to friends and (some) parties.

To help keep the blog interesting and attractive, I will do my best to include photos as often as possible.  To help with this I purchased a Canon PowerShot S90 which will be used for the majority of the pictures seen here, since my Nikon D90 is slightly to large for everyday occurrences.

Now, to start with the real and more interesting news:

On August 23rd I will be flying down to California to move into my dorm at Harvey Mudd.  The orientation starts on the 26th and runs until classes start on the 31st.  It is going to be a huge change, and I am both nervous and excited.

We are given about four hours to initially move into the dorms early on August 26th, and then the densely packed schedule of orientation events begins.  I really cannot wait to see the space, since I have been prepping for the move for weeks now.  I am also excited to meet my roommate, Katie.  We have been chatting for a couple weeks now, and she seems very nice.  She lives fifteen minutes away from campus, so she is probably familiar with the area, which is great!

Now, as an introduction to the campus for those that do not know much about it:

So, welcome to my blog!  Please, check it often and learn the exciting inside story of Harvey Mudd College and my life there.