Happy Holidays

I have been spending a lot of time trying to find new music. There is something so gratify finding a new song that just talks to you. It's really amazing. I've found a few new bands/singers across the genre spectrum that just are awesome. I know that my music taste can be... unique sometimes though. One of my favorite artists is a UK rap artist name Mike Skinner (aka The Streets). Randomness!

The music really helps though. Whatever mood I'm in can be changed or enhanced simply by putting on a song or two. "Music is the only thing that makes sense any more. Play it loud enough, it keeps the demons at bay." Great quote from the movie Across the Universe.

Because of the holidays Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and all the Christmas classics are coming back into my play list. I also got this really great Celtic choir Christmas album which I'm enjoying. The picture you see is a peace sign I made on our wall out of Christmas lights and I thought was kinda how I have been feeling lately.

Finals are over after a grueling week and I am so happy. Unfortunately I am not getting a break from the stress because I am trying to finish up the application process for Scotland and it has been meeting after meeting with advisors, professors and the like and email after email just trying to get information to make everything work out. When all is said in done I will be able to relax ... well until next quarter starts.

Next quarter is going to be tough I am going to be taking 19 units. Mostly math and science classes and an art history class. I have learned a thing or two about my study habits this quarter though so I think I can do it and do well.

Other than the new music things around here are pretty plain and boring. My flatmate Tim is moving to Mammoth so I will have a new flatmate David when I move back for winter quarter. I have talked with him a few times he seems to be a good guy and he has three younger sisters so he knows how to live with girls haha.

I have read some really great books this quarter and have shifted my extra money spending lately from DVDs to used books online or from a bookstore downtown. It's almost as exciting as new music. Reading used books is so fun. Someone before you read this, read what you are reading and that underlined sentence meant something to them. And the date in the cover is when they felt what you are feeling while you are reading it now. Very exciting!

I hope every one has a great Christmas full of love and happiness. Listen to Happy Christmas by John Lennon just once and you get that happy bubbling feeling inside.

Peace and Love-
Liesbeth

Oh November

I started out the month with a real nasty cold, which turned into bronchitis. Not fun at all. Other than that Santa Barbara is settling into it's fall weather of 60 degrees or so. Fall Quarter is more than half over and finals seem just around the quarter. YIKES.

Work is in full swing and I'm reffing more than 10 games a week and getting paid fairly well. I'm always making new friends through work so I never complain when I get more hours than I expected.

I have officially lost 3/4 of the weight that I put on in my freshman year which is pretty exciting. I am missing not having practice like last year though and have been finding it rather difficult to find time to hit up the gym. But on a lighter note old clothes are starting to fit again which always keeps me from having to spend money on clothes for the "winter". :)

Halloween in Isla Vista this year was INSANE. Over 40,000 out of town idiots flooded out little square mile of college utopia to get drunk and get arrested. The county spent $1 million this year on protecting and controlling our community. The police presence was more comforting than anything this year when I had to walk two blocks sober while everyone around me was a drunken mess. My costumes were anything but original but I had to go cheap. Hot Lips from M*A*S*H* (or something along those lines) and a referee. My flatmate (that sounds so much more hip than apartment mate) Liz, in the picture with me, invited me out with her friends and we had a blast. I am always happy when I get to meet new and fun people. She is 22 and definitely has a great group of friends up here in Santa Barbara.

Some of the costume that people come up with are just great. Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures of them. Our neighbors were the Jamaican Bob Sled team from Cool Runnings complete with a working bob sled which they somehow maneuvered down Del Playa (the "party street" adjacent to the ocean). My friend from high school, Allie, and her teammates all dressed up as the Power Rangers which I thought was pretty clever.

The process of making my M*A*S*H costume got me completely obsessed with a new hobby of stencil making. With the help of adobe photoshop I have been taking pictures and turning them into stencils for the last couple of weeks. I have only physically cut out about three but I am looking into investing in a few more colors of spray paint and maybe some more materials to make some neat shirts for the holidays... or just for fun.

Election time around campus was pretty hectic. You couldn't walk anywhere without getting some sort of voting material forced on you. It was really annoying. I was very relieved once I turned in my vote and got it over with on the fourth. We shall see how everything plays out from here I suppose.

Fall Quarter

Fall quarter is well under way and I'm really feeling it ever day... and I had no intention in making that rhyme. I think I can officially say that Organic Chemistry is running my life. I have yet to decide if that is a good thing or not. If anything I can honestly say that this year is at least five times more challenging academically. I'm actually happy about that. Last year I got bored with school a lot... this year there is no time to get bored. :)

Even with all my classes I have still found time to play soccer. Mostly when I get a forfeit while I'm reffing. I spend the hour playing instead of going home. Sorta neat to think that I'm essentially getting paid to play. This year I'm a "senior ref" because I have been there for a year. I still remember last year when the older refs would take all the good shifts because of seniority so naturally I have pulled that card with the freshmen a few times. One of the guys said he's going to keep tabs every time I call a "senior ref" forfeit. haha.

I tried out for the club soccer team this fall as a goal keeper. It was three days of intense soccer but I didn't make it. I wasn't that upset about it. The try-out kicked jumped my need for some serious soccer time and the girls are all really nice so I have become a big fan. I have gone to several of their games. They are a great team and fun to watch! My friend from high school is on the team and I get to cheer her on for another four years.

Over the last month I have made a big decision about next year. If all things go as I want them to, which does not happen as much as I would like, I will be studying at the University of Edinburgh all of next school year. A year in Scotland is exactly what I think I need. Actually I have no idea what I need but the idea of being in the UK for the premiership league play has me absolutely giddy over the prospects of studying abroad. Why Scotland you may ask? Well they have really amazing chemistry programs and I picked Edinburgh just because of that. Amazing chemistry.

That's really what's new right now. I'm sure in a months time or so I will have more to tell.

Checking In

I am terrible at picking up the phone and calling people. I don't know if anyone remembers when I was younger and my dad would have to fight with me to talk to most of you on the phone. I still quite haven't figured out why I did it but the habit is still with me. That's the main reason I'm making this blog. It's not a "I'm on a great life adventure and read about it"... not that interesting though I hope that I will be able to do that some time in life. It's just a place that I am going to put updates about my life.

You don't realize what you are missing in someone's life when you don't get to see them every day. Right now my new roommates know more about what's going on in my life than the people who actually matter.

I guess I should hit the basics first.

I just entered my second year here at UCSB. I'm currently living in Isla Vista in a small apartment with three strangers who are sorta becoming my friends. I say sorta because I'm still putting up "walls" and I don't see myself hanging out with them once next year rolls around. My apartment is too small and costs too much, but the awesome spice rack Auntie Molly and Uncle Robbie got me makes my food way better than my roommates. I share a room with a 20 year old who is out on her own for the first time in her life. I have learned patients from this cohabitation.

I am a chemistry major and I love it... strangely enough. This quarter is jam packed with intense classes. I have organic chemistry and the lab for that class, physics (waves and electrostatics) and the lab for that class, and a math class (differential equations and linear algebra).

I decided to try out for the club soccer team last week and sadly did not make it but even if I had I don't think I would have had the time to play. However the tryout has sparked my obsession with soccer again and I find myself playing two or three times a week. I referee intramurals for work(money) so I'm around the beautiful game ALL the time. I gave up on rugby after three serious injuries last year, one that landed me in physical therapy for about a month and a half.

Freshmen fifteen... well more like freshmen twenty definitely hit me like a brick last year so this last month I've been researching ways to get healthy. Basically I need to put down the freebirds(local burriot place with HUGE servings) and go run some more... which I am implementing in full effect. I am starting to feel better but I have a long way to go to get back into pre-college shape.

I have already started downloading Christmas music. :]

Love you all and hope all is well. Sorry this was so incredibly long.