Goodbye 2011 and Hello 2012

One of my main goals of 2012 - well my only goal is to actually blog and be consistent with it.  To start off the year I thought it would be a good idea to give a little reflection on the year 2011 - what I have experienced, what I have learned, how I have changed - things of that nature.  Before going into detail, I would just like to make a point of saying that 2011 I think was the best year of my life so far.

I started off the year with a bang and hopped on a plain to Madrid, Spain for a unforgettable experience.  I was granted the opportunity to study abroad for a semester.  As most of you know I got to travel the world when I was studying abroad - everywhere from Morocco to Rome.  I had the most wonderful host mom a student could ask for - she really become another mom to me and I will never forget here.  It is hard to explain an experience like spending four months in a foreign country not knowing many people at all - well none when I boarded the plane to Madrid.  However, I made friends quickly and there is not one part of the adventure I would change.  I do believe studying abroad widen my view on what is important and made me grow up.  There are things that can only be taught while studying abroad - the bond made with the people you experience traveling with is like none other. I wish I could explain in words how much I appreciated every moment - literally every second.  If you want to know more about my experience please see the blog I kept while in Spain.  I went through a lot of ups and downs over the four months I spent abroad, but they all made me stronger.  I would not be the person I am today if my parents did not allow me to go on this adventure.  

Following my semester in Madrid, Spain was one of the best summers of my life - maybe the best summer.  I thought it wasn't going to be good, because I had to take summer physics, work at Pick n Save, and friends were not going to be in town.  However, despite all the potential downers of the summer season - I will never forget this summer.  If someone asked me "what made this summer so great?"  I would not hesitate to answer with the response "my friends".  This summer I became even closer with my older brother - our friend groups merged and it was perfection.  My friend Katie, Steven's friend, Paul, Steven, and I became what was known as a "family".  We spent a lot of time together and I once again enjoyed every moment of it.  There are so many memories of this summer that will NEVER be forgotten - afternoons on the boat, nights of drinking, water skiing, the banana, and the list goes on and on.  Besides the social aspect of the summer - my summer physics course went very well.  I ended up with an A in the course - I think.  One of the best decisions I have made was taking physics at Carroll University this summer.  I have always knew how important friends were, but I really think this summer showed me how important it is to have those close friends.  A close friends is 34958493857098 times more valuable in my opinion than having a bunch of just friends.  Both and very important and a combination is a must - just be aware of who is who and know where they stand in your life.  I have found I can come to friends with ANYTHING and I can always be honest with them - no matter what.  Yes, it is hard sometimes to express how you are feeling to someone especially if you are potentially hurting them, but just know they are there for you and will be there for you if they are your true friend.  I have blogged about friends before so you all know my opinions on friends.

Summer came to an end and I was once again worried what the future had in store with me - since three of my best friends at SLU were no longer there.  Scott and Kelsey were spending the semester in Madrid, Spain and Steph had decided to transfer schools.  Yes, I knew I had plenty of old friends at SLU and new ones from my semester abroad, but there is something about knowing that your three best friends would no longer be there makes it scary to go back.  Once again, despite all the potential downfalls the semester was overall great.  I made new friends that I know are life time friends and reconnected with old ones.  The semester was on my hardest yet, but I did well and I am happy with how things turned out.  There were some rough patches in the semester, but that is what makes the good times oh so good.  As with summer there are stories I will never forget about this semester, TKE events, Halloween, basketball games, wine nights with the roomie, and the list goes on and on.  Oh and to end the semester I am dating a wonderful guy.  Life is great.

Well that in a nutshell is how my year went - amazing.  Hands down one of the best years I have had.  I have learned so much about myself in the past 12 months that it will be hard to top that in the year 2012.  I have grown to love myself - even though that sounds cliche and over said it is true.  Being comfortable with yourself is something most if not all people struggle with.  I have realized I have some of the best friends any girl could ask for.  They are ALWAYS there for me - whether it is to make me laugh, joke around with, a shoulder to cry on, work out with, just anything - they are there.  With all the great times I had this semester I have relearned that school/grades are not the most important thing about college - college is a time to grow and learn who you are.  Friends, social events, religious activities, and volunteering are all things that have allowed me to realize there so much more to life than an A in a class.  Yes, I do understand that grades are important and they will allow me to land the first internship or a job I need, but they are not the only thing I need to succeed in life.

I can not wait to see what 2012 has in store for me.  I have a feeling I will not be disappointed with 2012.  It is already off to a great start - this Sunday I am leaving for my Global Environmental Brigade to Panama for seven days - expect a nice long blog about that when I return.  I have been granted with so many life changing opportunities and I really have to give all the credit to mom and dad on that one.  They have allowed to reach my dreams - they are the best parents a girl could ask for and I am so blessed to have them in my life.  Thank you for everything, Mom and Dad - I love you!! I will be 21 in a month and four days - oh so very exciting!!! I am ready to take 2012 on with family and friends by my side - I can not wait to see what will happen this year.

Also safe travels to Audrie and Steph as they depart on one of the greatest adventures of their lives - studying abroad - your life will be forever changed my friends.  Be safe in all your travels and take in every moment, because it will be over before you blink.

In Rome - best trip of my life.

Steph and Kelsey came to visit me - always a fun time!

Summer lovin'

Elizabeth and I with Flat Stanley on our last weekend in Madrid.

20th Birthday in Madrid, Spain - one to never be forgotten.

That is all for now.  Keep on smiling.

Paz y Amor.  God Bless.

A long time coming!

Hello,

Woah.  It has been a very long time since I last blogged.  To be honest I kind of forgot about blogging, and I am not sure why that happened.  As I have stated before, blogging is a great place to get out my frustration, happiness, joy, sadness, or whatever is on my mind.  There is something about blogging that is so soothing to blog and it always makes me think about things that are going on in my life and how I truly feel about them.  I also believe that it helps be more of an open person (even though I sometimes think that no one will read it - when it is actually open to the entire world to read).

Well since it has been so long since I last posted I am not really sure where to start or what I should share for this blog.  I have some exciting news - I will be traveling to Panama for 7 days on an Global Environmental Brigade.  I have had mixed feelings about this trip for a while, but it seems to be all coming together now.  At first it seemed way too disorganized and as most of you know I like to know what I will be doing, when I will be doing it, how it will be done, how I am getting to Panama... all that kind of information, but I was not giving this information for the longest time - well at least it seemed liked it.  Anyways everything for the trip is coming together now.  Here is a little about the trip:

The trip will be January 8th to 15th, 2012.  We will be working with rural families and community leaders near Panama City, Panama, to improve the environmental sustainability and the livelihood of the community.  Some of the activities that we will partake in are the planting of native trees to help restore biodiversity, creating and utilizing organic fertilizers and natural pesticides to improve soil nutrients while minimizing erosion, and educating community members on the hazards of waste burning and the benefits of composting and other waste-diversion methods.  

School wise this semester is coming to an end.  We have five more days of real classes and then a study day and then finals start... oh snap!! Finals are that soon, I better get myself in gear and start studying - like now.  Actually my finals schedule isn't that bad, but I do still have to put in a decent amount of work to do as well as I would like to in my classes.  I have three real finals - Soils, Chemistry, and Statistics.  However, I have a 8-12 page paper for my theology class that I am struggling with a little bit and then a project for my stats class that is coming along very nicely, which I am happy about.  I have enjoyed this semester for the most part regarding classes, but I haven't found all of my classes that interesting.  I enjoyed theology, even though it wasn't the best class I just really like learning about the New Testament - the theme of my course.  For the paper I am trying to defend that "Pilate was simply fulfilling his roles as the governor of Judea and cannot be blamed for the death of Jesus despite having what some scholars consider a weak character."  I thought there would be a greater deal of information on Pilate, but there doesn't seem to be the information I need/want, but I will work through it and hopefully I find what I want eventually.  

This year socially was been great.  Yet I still miss my friends that are studying abroad in Spain right now - pretty jealous of their life. They are in Italy this week exploring one of my favorite cities - Rome.  I have hung out with different people this semester and have made some really great new friends.  AHHH it is snowing outside!! I am soooo exicted!! It looks so pretty - sorry ADD moment!!! Anyways, I really don't have all that much to say right now.  I am just thinking about all the stuff I have to get done before finals and how excited I am to go home for a while, but I will miss SLU for those 2.5 weeks.  I am going to think of some creative blog topics or things that have been on my mind this semester and go from there.  Right now I am at a writers block or I just don't feel like sharing - sorry guys.

To end I will leave you with a couple pictures from the semester:

APO Formal - some of my Alpha family

APO Actives Only dance - again Alpha Fam

Friends.

Cornmaze before Halloween - Have you seen my beach ball? Its about this big!!

Just a normal night with Megan and Audrie!

Real Life.

Halloween 2011 - 80s nerds

One of the first weekends back at SLU - we like white shorts

Roomie love :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and week!!

Paz y Amor

God Bless

Love,

A snow loving girl - for today!

Happiness.

What do you think of when someone asks you "are you happy?"  A simple three words formed into a question -theoretically should be pretty easy to answer.  However, as I am sure most of you know that is not the case.  One thing that always comes to my mind when someone asks me if I am happy is what are they meaning?  Is it one of my close friends who I truly know wants to hear how I am doing or are they just trying to be polite and could careless about what is going on in my life.  A simple question brings many complications and questions to my mind.

What made me think about happiness was the last couple days.  I am loving life back at SLU.  Everything seemed to be falling into place - my major, friends, volunteering, clubs, just life.  However, I always get this feeling that something has to happen since I am feeling so good.  For those of you, who know me I bet you would say I am a pretty outgoing person and I try to make the best of the situation and be happy - well at least I hope you see that in me.  Last night was the first APO (Alpha Phi Omega) meeting of the semester.  APO is the service fraternity that I am involved in on campus.  Since there are over 300 hundred members, the club is divided into what we call families - or smaller groups.  Having families always everyone to get to know a smaller group of people and become close with them.  I am in Alpha family, and every family has a family head every semester.  This semester my family basically picked me out to be the family head - they told me what while I was abroad they decided I was going to be family head.  I am really excited to be family head this semester, because Alpha has become the best family in APO - we are all very close and have a lot of fun together.  After the APO meeting last night I was extremely high on life - there is something about APO that makes everything seem okay - I think that is partly my family.  They are all so great. Anyways, besides APO everything with my major is coming together - I am becoming more involved within the department.  I have been understanding most of my homework and the class lecture and staying on top of the readings and homework.  Life has really been great, and I want everyone to feel the way I have been feeling the last couple of days! Find that thing - anything - something - that is your niche and run with it.  Everyone deserves to be happy - everyone.  Please get involved on campus or in your community even if it is just one little thing - anything.  I know you don't think you have time and you should be focused on school, but seriously you will grow more as a person being involved in an organization then just studying and partying away.  Trust me on this one.  I know I am only a Junior in college, but I think you can trust me to get involved - I don't think you will regret it!

On a sadder note - my Grandma was admitted back into the hospital yesterday.  Like I said something always happens - but this does not mean I am not happy.  I just ask all of you to pray for her - I would really like the doctors to finally figure out what is going on so my Grandma can get better.  I love you Grandma and know that you are in my prayers everyday.  Please feel better.

An Alpha get together :) Some of the best memories.

Alpha family photo at our formal dance!

Here are a couple songs I listen to when I am not in the best mood and they always bring a smile to my face:

Move by MercyMe

This Life by MercyMe

Sweet Redeemer by Steve Angrisano

Let me know what you think of three Jesus songs.

God Bless. Paz y Amor.

A New Way of Thinking

Hello readers,

It has been a while since I have last blogged and my apologizes for that, but life has been a little crazy lately.  I was enjoying the last month of summer vacation by working and seeing friends.  I have been wanting to blog for awhile now and I am finally getting around to it.  Over the last month or so I have had a lot of random thoughts on what to blog about, therefore this blog might be a little random and unorganized.

Let's see where I should start... I am back at Saint Louis University ready to take my Junior year head on.  This semester is filled with science and math (Chemistry with lab, soils, environmental seminar, GIS, and stats) along with my lonely theology class.  As most of you know I am an Environmental Science major with a focus in Biology and Geoscince, but that might change.  The more and more I have thought about it the more I wanted to focus on hydrology and sedimentalogy.  But that issue is a for another blog.  So far everything is great at Saint Louis.  Since my three best friends at SLU are no longer here this semester (two went to Spain and one transferred) I have been hanging out with a bunch of different people.  Like I said in an earlier blog - I love meeting new people.  But that does not mean I don't miss them - Steph, Kelsey, and Scott.

Something I have learned in the last week is how important faith is.  Not just my personal faith but the faith I share with my friends.  Since my Catholic faith is such an important aspect of my life it is great to be able to share it with friends.  Now, I am not saying I will not be friends with people who do not share the same faith as me - that would just be wrong.  But I do know I have a stronger connection with my friends that have a religious background as well.  One of my best friends is not Catholic, she is Lutheran and I can tell her anything.  There is something about knowing your friends share a similar faith that brings comfort to you - at least in my opinion.  I also believe that since coming to SLU my faith in God and just the Catholic faith has grown stronger - faith is about the journey and mine has just begun - I can not wait to see what the future entails for my relationship with God.

Well after chatting with Kelsey, one of my best friends who is in Spain, I have decided to talk a little more about school and what is all going.  I am pretty nervous but excited for my classes this semester.  It is going to be a lot of work, but I think it will go very well.  Confidence is the key - in my opinion.  Anyways I have a wonderful opportunity this semester to be a TA for the introduction environmental science lab with one of my favorite professor from my department.  The first day of the lab I was pretty nervous, but I really had nothing to be nervous about.  It will be a wonderful experience and it will help refresh the concepts I learned two years ago.  Along with taking a bunch of classes at SLU I have decided to join a couple new clubs on campus - I want to become more involved (one of the reasons I took the TA postion).  I have not been to any of the new clubs meetings yet - Just Earth (tree hugger club) and Students for Life (Pro-life group).  The first meetings are this week and I will keep you guys updated on how they are going - and if I will stick with them throughout the semester.

The more and more I have thought about my career and what I want to do with the rest of my life I really think my calling is to volunteer for about two years after college and then hopefully go to grad school!  I really want to go to graduate school for hydrology.  I can not express my love for water enough.  I don't know exactly what I want to do with water - I have thought about working for a non-profit organization and promoting safe drinking water in countries or cities that have water issues.  I have also been thinking about working on the preservation of coast lines - so many options! I am really excited about taking my soils class and who knows maybe that will be something I am interested in.  The future is so open - I will just see where life takes me!  But I know that what we need is someone to fight for water!

I know my last blog was about friendships, but I would like to restate how important friends are. However, a friendship is a two way street - do not let someone not give anything back to you.  If you put effort into a friendship make sure people are putting effort back.  Trust me it can be very draining on a person to put yourself out there numerous times and not have people put anything back.  One thing I have noticed over the past couple of weeks is how it is so easy to become friends with someone new, but oh so difficult to just let the friendship die.  I have seen it with one of my best friends - she is going through a difficult time in a friendship right now.  It is extremely hard to let a friendship just die.  To all my readers out there - make an effort with friends - show them how much they mean to you.  And if you are really not feeling a friendship, be honest with them and explain that to them so they are not waiting around for you to make the effort.  Honesty - got to have it and love it!

Well I think that is all I have on my mind for right now.  I am sure I will think of more soon and keep you all updated.  Please enjoy.

A couple pictures of friends - they mean the world to me.

God Bless. Paz y Amor.

Friends

Friends. Friends is such a simple word.  But it is a word that contains more meaning than most.  Boyfriend, girlfriend, best friend, close friend, semi friend, just a friend, a friend of a friend.  Just think about all the friends you have - whether it is a close friend or someone you just met.  I bet all those friends have a special meaning to you - right?  Well I want to take a little time to reflect on friendships in general and maybe express my feelings on some of my friends.

First I have a confession - I am a friend whore.  I love meeting new people, making new friends, meeting friends of friends - the whole deal.  New friendships are so exciting to me!  Don't get me wrong I love my friends of many years, but there is something about meeting new people that just makes me happy.  I literally thrive on meeting new people.  Going to a college where I didn't know anyone and I met people I know will be my friends for life.  Going to a foreign country and not knowing anyone and having a life changing experience.  I wouldn't trade any of the friendships that I have made for anything.  I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  I know they will ALWAYS be there for me no matter the situation.  Some of them are the sisters I never had and the additional brothers.  You know who you are.

When asked "who is your best friend?" I have to take a moment and think about it.  I don't think I have a best friend.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I think it is good.  I have a handful of friends - maybe two handfuls of friends - that I know I can turn to when I am in need of something or I just need to vent - those would be my best friends.  I might turn to one friend more often than another, but that doesn't mean they are better than the others.

I have met some pretty amazing friends over the years.  I don't really want to put names in the blog, because I don't want anyone to feel left out if I didn't mention them, so we will save those names for another time - but I am sure you all know who you are.

Friendships might fade away out of our control or we might have a fight that ends a friendship, but just know friendships are meant to be healthy and rewarding.  That is not to say they won't be challenging at times and take extra hard work, but in the end it should be healthy and rewarding.  Friendship is a two way street.  There is only so much one person can do on their own in a friendship.  I challenge everyone - including myself - to take another look and all your friendships.  The first questions we should ask - is this healthy?  Maybe that is a little broad of a questions but I look at it as an overview and then we can dig deeper into the friendship... Next ask yourself what makes you friends with said person - maybe you guys are party friends or maybe church friends or sisters - whatever it is just make sure you know it.  Then ask yourself do you trust them?  The keepers are the ones you can trust with just about anything in my opinion.  I love the friends where you can talk for hours another absolutely nothing or about something super important like future goals or religion and you can also sit in complete silence with that friend and it is not awkward at all - those my readers are true friends.  Again these are just my opinions and thoughts - take them to heart or let them be.

A couple friends lately have been helping through some interesting times lately - I don't want to use the word difficult, because isn't difficult so we will just go with interesting.  One of the the friends has let me vent to them numerous times over the last week or so and I appreciate that more than ever.  Just sitting in their kitchen eating pasta out of the pot talking about life is perfect.  Another friend has been acting extra cheerful and just being the happiness I need in my life - all the time.  It is great to always have that friend who is happy - well almost always happy to turn to.  The last of the friends I want to mention tonight has just been being themselves.  They are always there with encouraging words, a funny picture they drew, a random text - just seems like exactly what I need at the present moment they already got it covered.  These my readers are true friends - I will never let anyone of these three friends out of my reach - ever.

Sometimes I do get a little overwhelmed with friendships - I feel as though I have too many friends to keep in contact with.  But I am pretty darn sure it is a blessings.  I never feel alone - just overwhelmed by amount of friends sometimes.  I love all my friends, I really do, just sometimes Toria needs a little time to herself.   Sometimes the thrill of meeting new people and making new friends bites you in the butt for a day or two, but then you pick yourself up again and get back to work :)

Well these are just some thoughts on friendship in general and my friendship.  Please enjoy.

College friends.

Brother and longest friend.

Just two pictures of friends - can't use up all my friend pictures in one blog! Stay happy.

Paz y Amor.  God Bless.

Time and Place

Something that is always on my mind is time - I have blogged about it before (Spain blog) but it is a never ending thought.  Time can go fast or slow.  Thinking about my time in Spain feels forever ago - boarding the plane in Chicago not knowing a single person.  However, what really got me thinking about time is this summer - it is going fast but going slow.  Since summer physics ended last week I guess you could say that my 'summer' has started. But in a way I have been a little bored without the constant pressure of school work - I have been a student for so long.  Don't get me wrong the break is nice, but in a way I miss school and it has legit only been a little over a week!  

I have always been thinking about time in the sense of places.  I don't know if that is the correct way to word it, but what I mean is how you can spend so much time in one place and never really understand the place or how little time you can spend in place and know it all so much.  I have come to the conclusion everything is what you make it - college, friends, relationships, etc.  Seriously what you make something is what you are going to get out of it.  Think about it.  One main example that I can think of is religion.  If you don't put anything into your relationship with God it will be hard for you to get anything out of the relationship with God.  We should all put our full effort into everything we do.  I can personally say that I don't put my all into everything I do - I will be the first to admit I am a work in progress. 

Something I have to remember is life is great and no matter how bad it might seem everything will be okay.  I just have to trust in God, my friends, and my family that everything will be okay.  In the end everything will be okay and if its not okay then it is not the end. Well these were just some thoughts for the day.  I think I am going to go for a run or a swim.  A tradition I am going to start is leaving you all with a picture that has a special meaning to me - whether it is a picture I have taken or a friend has taken or a picture I found somewhere.

Steven, Katie, me, and Paul.  These three people mean the world to me. Thanks guys for everything that you have done for me!!

Paz y Amor. God Bless.

Back to Blogging

Hello world,

This is my second blog.  My first blog was dedicated to my study abroad adventure this past semester in Madrid, Spain - this blog will be structured a little different.  For starters there is no main focus of this blog - it is a free for all.  It is a place for me to express emotions, share stories, and be myself.  I might post three days in a row and then not post for a week - it is a relaxed blog.

A little about myself.  I am a Junior studying Environmental Science with a focus on biology and geology at Saint Louis University.  I am in love with rocks but I love water even more - hence the title of the blog - Water for Life.  I have some goals in life that will be difficult to reach, but that will not stop me from attempting to reach them.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for.  The three F's mean the world to be - Faith, Family, and Friends.  Water skiing is a major passion of mine alone with volunteering.  Well as this blog develops you will know me pretty well so I am not going to go into too much detail.

Just one thing - as you read the various posts on my blog please make sure to respect them and take what I am sharing with the world to heart.

To leave you all with a summer picture of my passion:

To keep the tradition alive from my last blog:

Paz y Amor. God Bless.