Happy Birthday Renee!!!

It is a lovely Saturday because it is the birthday of my "neighbor" and friend Renee--:) She lives in the dorm room diagonal from mine... So what does this mean?? Tonight we will go to a reputable Sea Food restaurant and then off to Dance-a-Teria... I don't know about the dance place.. but Sam's been practicin his "six-step" for it.. ! So the hope is that Renee will have a memorable 18th bday-- we've gotta savor these times, right?! I mean, I will admit, this afternoon I have been quite caught up in the school work.. but sometimes ya just have gotta get out there and do somethin different!

Soon to come: details of last nights "First Avenue" experience
---Fabulous; absolutely fabulous.

With love to Martin Sexton and his music,

Annika.

go get your shorts, nate-- it's time to work out

the challenge ive been finding myself encountering a lot lately is having heavy eyes in class.. i truly feel so bad, because it's just one of those things where you know the teacher can see you.. and they probably are thinking that you are very bored and not paying attention at all.. when really, you are trying extremely hard and thinking about how long 25 minutes seems, how maybe if you woulda brought a latte to class you wouldn't be doing this right now, how your writing drifted off into scribbles once your eyes and cognate skills started slipping, and how the heck are you gonna remember what the teacher is saying if your head keeps following the downward motion of your eyelids!! aahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

please dont let this make you think that i do not try hard-- i mean, jeez, i am trying to get ample sleep and the thing that really keeps me up the most is doing my homework (even though i do it during the day and especially in between classes, also)-- but the days just go by even faster here!

so i was just wondering if anyone else can relate to this trying feeling of being a victim to "rebellious eyelids"-- while at the same time being a good student!

aha!

side note: when feeling tired before/during studying-- take a quite work out break! that will be the necessary replenishing factor in a lot of cases

if you need a buddy to do that with-- nate is fun!!
:)

restless saturday

So have you ever felt like no matter what you do, your energy will not be satisfied and you just can't seem to feel productive enough..???
Well today has most definitely been one of those days!
aaahhhh
but it is ok. i am accepting this. we all have to have days like this, right?
it has been a good day being around the people that i am growing to care about a lot-- but- a distracting day, at that! i think soon jessie and i will go for a run.. good.
very good. i can let some of that "dead energy" out of me.
a soccer game is going on outside, some friends are down in Christensen, and we want to pierce Peter's ear, danget!!! ayy the variety of options...
well first the night's "final plans" started out with a movie-- consisting also of good woman chat, kettle corn, and other yummy treats.. now we are thinking Uptown diner eating good breakfast late into the night... hmmm where shall the road take us??
--side note: one of my main highlights of the week was going to my aunt and uncle's house in Blaine-- it was a really good refresher, and, as much as i hate to admit it- i didnt have to do a thing-- !which sounds horrible to say but they wanted to treat me and it was just one of those nights where i just needed it-- so thank you, loving family. i'll bring the dessert next time!!
;)
also-- my parents bought me a "little kid bed guard"-- those things that you stick on the side of your bed if you're on the top bunk (which i am on)-- it's pretty damn adorable.. and just a tid of funny.
love it.

que tengais una noche muy esporadica..!
y ojala miya sera tambien
:):)

studying in the room just cannot be an option ;)

alright,
so i absolutely love socializing in my room. It adds this great vibe and you get to have some "studying laughs" with your friends... Chatting with people that just stop by for a sec lets you take a breather and relax for a bit... but eekk there are many times a problem with that "bit"... usually it turns into longer.. and then before you know it, it's 1:08 am and you are still up writing your blog post!! :0)
smiles...
but i am not by any means complaining. Im not feeling stressed right now but just a little jumbled... just on the verge of being stressed... but i received a lot of love tonight from the friends so the moral support is always helpful!! and al's mom's cookies are always a delight, too... especially with my chunky pb.. !
I love you guys-- all of you that come into my room and most importantly- that let me come into yours.
the quote of the night, as Mr. Bob Grover said: "Pretty soon you will figure out the things that you have to read that are assigned to you..and the things that you can get away with not reading..." --or something like that, --but coming from the head of the Honors Program- that got me feelin pretty good!

night!(morning, actually.. :)

Let's get it started!

Happy Sunday night, everyone!
:) and that is said with an excitement for a week that I feel will add a lot of positive busy-ness to my lifestyle in these upcoming five days.
Last week we just had the "Activities Fair" and "Poster Sale"... luckily Erin (roomy) convinced me to go down there... so I consequently spent around $20 on three posters- which I would defend buying to this day.! Our room gets Home-y-er by the week!
--But that is beside the point- what I am trying to get at iiis--- there is so much offered for you to do (and buy) wherever you go.. so for me this past week, I signed up for 3-4 different clubs. Yes, I would love to pour my whooole heart into each of them, but I truly know that I will most likely be able to do that with one or two - which is fine. Until then, we will just "test out the waters" and see where I really want to put a lot of my time into. Tuesday has got everything going on-- from Yoga to Tai Chi, Urness Hall Council Mtng to CSA mtng, and Honors Review mtng to an outdoor club meeting, and then I've gotta make sure to get that "centering thy self" time in-- moral: when being pulled in many (hopefully positive) directions, keep in mind your sanity
---i will be sending this message to myself on Tuesday while trying to still establish my grounds in this new, growing in depth life here. :)!

buenas vibraciones...*

So I have realized just how fast each day is going by... today, after my only class for the day-history, I found myself not being able to use my cognitive skills very well.. it was just one of those "wake up early and try to enjoy the day while getting 'a ton' of stuff done" days...:) well, after seeing that fruit fly hovering over our dirty soup/cereal/fruit/yogurt stained dishes; i decided to stop the history for a bit and basically clean our whoole room... so dishes were done, beds were made, laundry was finnnally folded (after letting it sit in the basket for a week).. febreze was sprayed like nobody's business, and the pungent lysol scent still is wafting in the air.. alright, so erin (the roomy:)) and i are not obnoxiously dirty people-- by any means... it's just that, sometimes other things just deem themselves more important! so, that may seem like i am rationalizing... but maybe i'll give myself a break tonight.. after my history notes/reading
..there goes the bedtime for tonight!
you tell the people that are in our room to leave!

sonrisas..
annika.

im letting it go for tonight... sleep is just more important

so tonight was my first night of Flamenco dancing here in "The States" - at Zorongo dance studio. It was truly great-- there was even a guitarist. Anways, the point of me telling you this is to get out the good point of finding something that you're passionate about while in college-- and seeing the beautiful ability it gives you to "get away", let out that side that is sometimes in the shadows of every day college life.. breaaathe a little bit.. :)
Well, the Zorongo studio has the potential to do just that for me!

My roommate and I have a whiteboard on our door-- tonight's writing was: "Studying... see you tomorrow! ...(And that is just a passive way of us saying 'If you knock, we won't be answering') ".
That is just an example of the limits I have learned that need to be set more-- sometimes having your room with a few people in it-while trying to do homework- just doesn't work out the ideal way you would like it to! So I have opted for the library and "the fish bowl" in the Christensen Center-- it gives studying a little variety.. and we all know almost everyone enjoys a little bit of that in life;)

tomorrow my roommate and i will do some more "neighborhood-seeing" when we get up at 6:30 am and go for a walk! yes for early morning wake ups!
also, I would recommend "True Thai" restaurant-- many girls from my floor and I went last night-- the shrimp spring rolls will get your taste buds a-goin... side note: paul at the ice cream place a block away from "True Thai" will give you one of the best baby cones you've had in your life--- tell him Annika sent you.

signing out and having sweet dreams already...
buenas noches.

annika

Post- First Week Reflections...

Hello everyone!
So, after last week I can look back and sigh reflectively, with content feelings inside. .. ahh.
After getting here September 1st and having the fun move-in escapades, I feel like I got to know the girls on my floor at an ever-so-fortunate fast rate. Really, I mean I will let you know, that is where my blogger name came from - annika del quinto - literally saying "annika from the 5th". I just felt that I couldn't go without including the pride I already have for my floor. ..:) Also, that title holds even more significance because of the fact that it purveys another love of mine- spanish. To give you a little background info, I have grown up with a cultural love instilled in me (one specific reason being my mom's field of work)... So then when I traveled to live in Mexico last summer with a close friend and her family (who live in Chihuahua, Mexico), my love for the spanish language and cultures burst into a whole new realm... Thus, fast-forward to January 2007--I was finishing off my senior year of high school in Andalucia, Spain.
Ok, so now I'm here - in my second week of college. I'm getting used to.. having the window open 24/7, two fans constantly circulating air throughout my new habitat, sharin' space with "Rooms"(Erin- my lovely, sisterly roommate whom I can be quite goofy with already:)), staying up late and getting up early to (hopefully) trek over to the Kennedy workout center, having Christensen as "the meeting spot" before heading up to meals with friends, doing a lot of good (that's what we've gotta tell the subconscious) reading for class, exploring The Cities on "the basket bike", asking people to tell me their names again, trying to go to eeeverryyy event that Augsburg offers, and having some good laughs and conversations with some people that I'm really excited to develop deeper friendships with-- There is a lot, a lot, more that I am getting used to and just soaking up-- but I will save that for later :)
As of now, about three novels are calling my name for three different classes...
Hopefully I will make my self-initiated bedtime mark of 11pm tonight.. alright, let's make it 11:30 --there's always that steadfast coffee at the caf in the morning that is an option..
Goodnight mom and dad!!

--annika.