college searching.

When I went to visited Lafayette College, I was astonished by the beautiful landscape of the campus. Upon arrival, I saw the exquisitely constructed buildings, that all were within walking distance of one another. As I was greeted by the students of the college, they were all glowing and seemed very happy; not one of them seemed dissatisfied. I like seeing the students at the campus because then I am able to get a better feel for the kinds of students that it attracts, which says a lot about the school. At Lafayette, there were many students that were studying in the library in each of their own study rooms. As I was looking in the aisles of books in the library, I was exculpated by one of the librarians, since she thought I was "snooping around".

After I saw the library, I went to one of the building that had freshman girls' dorms. The dorms seemed pretty jejune to me, just like the ones that were in movies. My student guide showed me her room which was covered in posters and pictures of her friends, and it had two bunkbeds for her and her roommate. A dorm room is definitely not the location of my personal "Mecca", but I know that I am going to have to deal with living far away from home. It does not bother me that I am not in my own house, but it does bother me that I will be living with a complete stranger. What if I have a malevolent roommate that steals all of my personal belongings?! Even if that does happen to me, I am going to have to be resilient and learn to adapt to my new environment. If I have a crazy roommate, so what? I'll just never be able to sleep because I will be so paranoid, but it is completely fine.

I am a very ingenuous person, so I am hoping to not have a roommate that is really wild and crazy. I just want to be able to dorm with someone that is somewhat normal...is that so hard to ask for? I just hope that this person, whoever it turns out to be, will not harass my and put bugs in my pillowcase. But, besides that, I am so excited to embark on a journey of self-discovery once I go away to college!

relay for life!

This year Pascack Valley is hosting Relay for Life on our track, which is very special and exciting. I volunteered to be the captain for the team of juniors that are going to be participating and I am so proud to support such an august cause with my friends. Many people do not realize how much work goes into making sure an event this large runs smoothly and successfully. When I arrived at the first meeting where all of the captains met who was responsible for creating the event, I was stunned at the many events that were going to be taking place on that day of Relay for Life, as well as the amount of people that were going to be participating. The women in charge were very adamant about making sure that no one was ostracized, and there was no limit on the amount of teams that could be created.

As they began to talk about the different aspects of the event, and what we should be telling our teammates, I remained obsequious, and wrote down every thing that was being said. I was overcome with emotion because the determination and strength of these women were expressed to everyone at the meeting, and helped us believe that one day, cancer could be defeated forever. They then began to explain to explain the concept behind "Luminaria bags". I was a neophyte to this topic, and was eager to learn about their significance. What I learned about them was that hold candles, and can be decorated with pictures in order to pay tribute to someone that is currently battling cancer, has survived cancer, or has passed away due to cancer. I thought it was a beautiful way to pay respects to people that have unfortunately encountered this life-threatening disease.

Lastly, the meeting concluded with a tutorial on how to construct team flags. The materials that were given out to make the flags with was a pillow case, which would be attached to a dowel. The women stated that the flags could be as panache as the team desired, and should be creative. Many members of my team are very artistic and have a predilection for decorating and embellishing different kinds of things. Once the meeting had come to a close, I was ready to get my team members pumped about this fantastic event, and I had really become an erudite team captain!

things that help me to relax (:

Now that we are approaching the end of the year, all of the final projects are due and my stress level keeps on increasing. I feel as though I am bereft of time to myself, and I am always moving and doing something. Sometimes I wish I had a remote to pause my life since school gets so hectic. It honestly takes a Herculean student to survive four years of high school at Pascack Valley. So, I have a few methods that help me to stay relaxed, and have a clear mind.

1. Always drink herbal teas.

I am in love with tea, and it is probably the most soothing drink that you can choose to consume. My mom is the reason as to why I am addicted to drinking tea, even though my younger sister is quite blasé with the powers of herbal tea. I have developed my own concoction and whip it up whenever I feel overwhelmed. First, I brew some traditional Lipton tea, and make sure that it reaches a deep hazelnut brown. Then, I take about four spoonfuls of sugar and make sure it dissolves in my mug of tea. One half of a juicy, ripe lemon is then squeezed into my delicious mixture, making it ready for the final ingredient: honey. I always go to my cabinet to grab that golden teddy bear bottle in order to squeeze out about three tablespoons of honey. Finally, my beverage is complete. My cats seem to find the sweet aroma of my tea to be quite noisome, and often run out of the kitchen whenever I make it. But, for me, it serves as pure therapy.

2. Go on facebook.

Yes, I know it sounds weird, but if you take thirty minutes out of your day to browse facebook, you will rid yourself of all school-related stress. Looking up links to post on your friends' walls, posting pictures, and utilizing facebook chat has the ability to distract a person for hours. Even though this works as stress-relief, I always need to make sure that I set an ending time for how long I surf Facebook. This is because a side effect that I have found from spending too much is that I have lost a lot of energy since Facebook can sometimes be a soporific pastime.

3. Watch favorite shows on hulu.com

Whenever I have had a long day at school, I find it very rewarding to lay in my bed and watch some episodes of my favorite sitcoms on the website hulu.com. I usually fall asleep while tuning in, but it is relaxing and makes me laugh right before I say goodbye to my day. Even though some of the shows I choose to watch are full of bunkum, they always put me in such a good mood. The sitcoms on my laptop screen transfix my eyes, and soon the lights and sounds lull me into a deep sleep.