go bruins!

As I sit here reading this quarter's Encore (alumni newsletter for my fraternity) and following the 2nd round Women's Basletball NCAA Tournament Game on CBSSports.com (so far so good! up 15-6 against 1 seed Nebraska! fingers crossed!) lots of thoughts come to mind. I think studying abroad, and the separation it has forced upon me that at times is incredibly difficult, has also already made a big difference in my attitude towards things back home. For instance, at the end of fall quarter I was feeling rather burnt out on several of my activities back at UCLA and was no longer really able to appreciate them fully and get the same joy out of things such as band and others as I had gotten in previous years. This really freaked me out, but I think it turns out I just needed a little break. Being away from things and watching them happen from afar and see how much fun my friends are having and how lucky they are to get the opportunities they do through things such as band and Psi has brought back the excitement and love that I too have for those activities. This experience has already flourished a whole new appreciation for so many things in all aspects of life; from band and Psi, to how incredibly lucky I am to have the friends and family I have, to how lucky I am to have all the opportunities I do have. Anyhow, that's my I love my life blurb for the day. GO BRUINS!

In other news: today I finally accessed all of my readings and eeek! 213 pages of readings in Spanish for the first test in one of my classes, which would be far less daunting if it weren't in a book only accessible on reserve in the library that you can only keep for 4 days! However, since it's so daunting I've set out a plan of reading ~60 pages a day for 4 days straight and succeeded at that goal today! 3 more to go! Today's reading was actually a lot more doable than I thought it would be before I started, I think my Spanish comprehension skills have vastly improved, but of course I've still got a ways to go! That being said, I definitely still speak more English than Spanish, but I'm not really sure how to change that. We'll see.

I love the feeling of being back in school and having work to do, I guess that's my inner UCLA nerd :).