I’ve Got a Friend in You

I have made a TON of new friends from LEAD including upper and lower classmen, and in my first day of English class, I created our first study group! One sweet heart of a girl, in particular, is Marialisa, she’s from Italy! She’s Catholic, we both wear cross necklaces, and she has the same beautiful personality as Ashley Bruce. We share the same viewpoints on many different subjects, and best yet we have two classes together—English and LEAD Seminar. She’s a freshman LEAD commuter student, so she lives with her family in San Jose, but now I have a friend with a car!

Gratitude Corner

Thank you all for always believing in me and telling me to chase my dreams. I had my first theatre class today and knew that I was home with the world as my oyster. You are all ALWAYS in my hearts. I love you!

The Blessing of LEAD

The time I have had during LEAD week has been indescribable in the sense of how valuable it is to get a head start. Our classes all have mentors in them so we can ask for help and us LEAD students get free printing, tutoring, counseling, and medical services (as well as a lot of free food). After just two days I learned where all my classes were, found that I definitely have a giant, heavy backpack and need a bike, we were taken to all the nearby restaurants and cafes, and have an overwhelming amount of resources for everything you can imagine. Our LEAD seminar class teaches us skills to keep up with time management, jobs, mental and physical health, and WAY more—so know that I’m in good hands! I can’t envision moving in just two days before classes start like everyone else, and am forever grateful to be a LEAD Scholar!

It’s Week 1 and I Need a Nap

It’s a CRAZY first week of college! I have a 4-6 page English essay due on Wednesday, an audition also on Wednesday, an involvement fair to attend, a religious club meeting to attend, a theatre meeting to go to and also manage four and a half classes! I am definitely keeping busy and have found a few niches to study in the library,. What’s nice about a party dorm (aka Swig) is that it’s pretty quiet during the day and in the early evening. Let’s not talk about how noisy it gets at 2 FREAKING AM in the morning when everyone comes back from partying. Anyway, it is an adventure for sure, and I’ve already spent the night at friends rooms in other dorms to get an uninterrupted night of sleep. I’ve met a lot of really cool students that I recognize around campus now. It’s pretty cool to see LEAD students and wave at each other as we pass by going to class. My schedule is pretty perfect and my Italian professor is adorable! My history teacher is shy and socially awkward which gives me humor in the morning. Paulina (Olympian) and I sit next to each other in history class, and we got breakfast together also! She has an undeclared major but is sweet and shy also. My first experience in theatre class was amazing. We did a viewpoints exercise which I was exposed to at OSF Seminar both times. A lot of the students in that class are really nice and open, and like any theatre class, only two guys! Unlike my history class where 1/4 of the class is us girls and we are sticking together because the testosterone level is high in that room. I can’t believe we worked so hard these past 18 years and what it brought me to was true paradise. I have found my home after only a short time and have met amazing people. I learn something new about the world every single day, and it’s beautiful. I’m in true thanks and feel so honored to be here.