Two weeks!

Hi again all,

As I was reading comments about my blog, I came upon one that asked why I hadn't blogged yet, and I've tried to blog once a week, but I'll definitely try to blog more often now!

Not too much has happened this week. I had two midterms last week (in Chem83 and CompSci4), which went fairly well, I think. This weekend was pretty hectic. On Friday, I had work, class, then headed straight to the Chronicle sports meeting. After, I had big/little reveal which was plenty of fun! I had been receiving presents from my big (my "big sister" in Chi Omega) this entire week and couldn't wait to find out who it was! We had to put together a short jigsaw puzzle with our big's name, and it took me a while because I'm unbelievably bad at puzzles.

After, I found out that my big was sophomore Katy Wood & my big big was junior Miki Nishitani. I was super excited because Katy is the sweetest, most adorable and fun-loving person EVER, and Miki had been studying abroad in the fall in Australia, but I met her because she's also president of the club tennis team, and she's so approachable, friendly, and always ready to have fun. I couldn't be happier with my family! I haven't taken pictures yet (or haven't had people upload them), but I'll definitely put up pictures later of each day's presents and a family picture!

After that, we all went to a nice family dinner at Nosh's, a quick eatery a little bit off-campus. I had a grilled cheese sandwich with cole slaw. I'd definitely recommend going there. It's delicious! After dinner, we headed to some of the senior girls' apartments again, where we hung out and had some social events, where we got to know more of the girls and bond with our families.

The next day was just a free day to hang out with my friends, and at night was the Lunar New Year show. This is a show held every year by Asian Students Association celebrating Lunar New Year, so there were a bunch of performances relating to Chinese dance, musical groups (Korean, Chinese, etc.), and DefMo (Defining Movement, one of our best dance groups). Tickets were free, and they had a suggested donation of $6 to REACH. (Read about it here.) After, there was a Lunar New Year party complete with food and dancing.

On Sunday, I had a delicious brunch at Marketplace, where I made my own waffle--delicious! I did some work in the early afternoon, and at night, we had Chi Omega New Member Retreat, which was tons of fun. We made little paddles for our bigs and got to hung out with our pledge class while learning more Chi O history.

Finally, I came back and had a nice dinner with friends at Marketplace and arranged our rooming arrangements for next year. Then at 12pm, a couple of my friends and I went for a late-night Waffle House run, where I had covered hashbrowns (with cheese) and a lite waffle (with buttermilk). I don't know why it was so delicious.. maybe because it was so late at night.

And now today, I had work and have Computer Science later, and then I'm heading to a Chronicle sports meeting and a Duke Journal of Public Affairs meeting after that. Then it's time to do homework!

And something I just realized yesterday.. Chi Omega semiformal is Friday (I'm super excited!) & Spring Break is the week after!! (And the UNC game, of course!) I can't wait! Four of my friends are coming home with me, and I'm going to show them around!

I'll put up pictures ASAP so this isn't just a boring, wordy post. Bye!

Hectic, fun weekend!

So it's been a week, and here I am writing again! This week has been relatively mild with nothing much happening. Midterms are all up in the air (I have two this week, one in chem and one in computer science), so everybody's busy studying.

I'm currently at the McClendon Towers near Edens (definitely the farthest dorms on west campus). It's a great place to study & has five floors, I think, all with tables, chairs, booths, you name it! I just grabbed a White Mocha from the Bella Union (the coffeeshop in McClendon), and it is amazing! It is almost my last dose of caffeine for 40 days since my friends and I all decided to give up something we can't go a day without and place $10 in a pool per person for the person who lasts the longest. Ah, it just hit 12. I guess that was my last sip for a while now. I'm currently on what I think is the second floor, and it has an air hockey table, a pool table, a foosball table, a diner-esque booth, two large tables, a bar-type shelf/stool combination, and two couches and two armchairs with two televisions. The place is super quiet right now since everybody seems to be studying or doing homework, and it's definitely conducive to my productivity!

Here's a picture of my laptop, my mocha, & my winter gear!

I've finished my homework for the week (I love being ahead!) and now just have reviewing and studying to do. This past weekend has been super hectic, so I'm glad I get to have a small rest to recuperate. Friday was Chronicle Editor-in-Chief elections, which lasted for 12 hours (from 4pm to 4am). It was long, but it was definitely a great experience hearing people's thoughts about the paper in general, and all agreeing on the best candidate for the job. That I was one of three freshman on the sports staff who were allowed to vote didn't hurt the experience, either.

Saturday was reserved for Duke basketball and my lovely Chi Omega sisters. After sleeping outside in the snow the night before the game, my friends and I got second-row seats to the Duke vs. Maryland men's basketball game, and we were shown on tv quite a few times!

There am I am in the second row on the left. Definitely not the most attractive picture, but we're fierce!

After the game, I took a nap and then headed to my lovely sisterhood dinner, where I got to talk to all of the sophomores! After, we had a mini get-together with the rest of the girls where we talked and played games in the senior girls' apartments and finally headed to Shooters II, one of our local clubs!

Our lovely sophomore girls!

New pledges and sophomores!

And after that fun-filled day, I had an amazing Valentine's Day with my boyfriend, and we went to the Nasher Museum of Art for brunch and took a look at the exhibitions since I'm a huge art fanatic. After, we went to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens since it was a lovely spring-esque day outside and walked around for a bit. Then, we headed to UNC's Franklin Street, where we ate at Franklin St. Pizza & Pasta, and concluded the night with a stroll around UNC's campus and a healthy dose of almond milk tea.

Here's us on a snowy night in Kville a couple weeks ago.

And after a great weekend, I started the week off fresh, and before I knew it, it was mardi gras! And though there weren't any wacky celebrations because of midterms season, Marketplace (the freshman dining hall) had all kinds of themed foods, and I enjoyed rainbow trout, jumbalaya, and, of course, cajun fries.

That's all for now! I should probably get to studying computer science now..

Oh! Hi there, Duke basketball!

I realize my first blog post should probably be an introduction into the "average" day of a student at Duke, but the truth is, every day is different for every student, so here's a recap of what happened yesterday.

I woke up, went to my CompSci4 class (Programming/Problem Solving) and listened to lecture. I usually characterize myself as more of a liberal arts type who likes discussing, reading, and writing, but I really like this class (as I do all my classes this semester). Our programming assignments so far have been really fun, like coding (in Python, for those of you who are familiar with programming) songs like "The Farmer in the Dell" and "This is the Song that Never Ends." Who knew learning commands and functions could be so fun?! ..Just another affirmation that Duke is the right place for me.

After class, I headed to my tent (Tent 33) in K-ville (named for Coach Krzyzewski) and hung out for two hours doing homework, sipping on a strawberry and pineapple smoothie from Quenchers, and munching on a medley of carrots, celery, and broccoli dipped in ranch. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of tenting (as I was before I came to Duke), basically Cameron Crazies pitch tents on a huge patch of grass (that, at times, gets muddy and squishy) in front of Wilson Gym and Cameron Indoor Stadium and live there for five weeks to get good seats to the Duke vs. UNC men's basketball game. (Check out the K-Ville Chronicles. They have videos and pictures and their own blog!)

My tent! (This is just when it started snowing Jan. 29.)

So, after I finished my tent shift, I went over to Subway to grab dinner with two of my friends. (The $5 foot longs are absolutely genius for college students on a budget, by the way.) After, we all headed toward Cameron together. Like any good Duke student, I harbor an intense dislike (not hatred, of course) of the UNC Tar Heels. Individually, they're all great people, but it's always fun to spark up a "collective hatred" against the school. And with Duke basketball being a HUGE part of the school's culture, I felt obligated to go to the women's basketball game against UNC even though I had a 5-page paper due the next day.

Long story short, No. 8 Duke killed No. 18 UNC (no surprise there!), 79-51. (If you want to read the full story from my colleague, click here!)

But not only did the Cameron Crazies get to revel in the sweet victory that just happened, but they got to witness the long-standing Duke tradition of burning benches for basketball wins over UNC. So though my toes were freezing in the 34-degree weather, I stood and watched in excitement as our benches caught fire. (Don't worry. The activity was safely guarded by firemen and sanctioned by the Duke Student Government. And there was an O drawn around the benches a safe distance away.)

When we just got the fire started..

And the burning continued..

So after watching that for a good hour, I went in to my friend's dorm and did some homework before heading to the tent for the night. My day ended on a great note, getting to hang out and talk with friends while still finishing that paper that was due at a decent hour.

And now the day has just begun, but it's been great so far! It's hard to catch a breather since I have class from 8:30am to 2:30pm with 20 minutes between each. I've had Math104 (Linear Algebra & Applications), Writing 20 (Google Earth's Impact), and ICS125 (Comparative Approaches to Global Issues), and am updating this blog before my Chem83 (Chemistry/Technology/Society) class starts. Quick rundown of today: class, tenting for two hours, and indoor tennis practice later tonight. And in between, it's study time since I have a math midterm Thursday and a CompSci exam Friday. Oops, class is about to start. Ta-ta for now!