Now that it's over, I thought it'd be fun to share some photos and memories from winter quarter of my senior year at UCSB. Here are some highlights!
Here's Leah and me at the Born This Way Ball in January!
Here we are scraping the Staples Center ceiling! Even though we had two of the worst "obstructed view" seats in the house, Leah looked five feet to our left at one point and said with ironic sincerity "it would suck to be them." The concert was a lot of fun! As you'll hear in the video below, Leah and I sang every word to every song.
My very favorite Gaga lyrics:
"Tonight I will return
the fame and riches earned.
With you I'd watch them all be burned."
Emily's all booked to come visit California this summer! We still gotta get Cesc on board!
Here's that one time I slept during Winter Quarter.
Here's my roommate, Lauren, taking family dinner out of the oven!
It was fun hanging out with my work friends more this quarter! Here's Brittany, Emily, Justin, Leah and me. These people make it fun to work at DLG, and I think that guy in the v-neck's pretty cute.... shhh.
I decided a little before Christmas to train for the LA Marathon in March. Here's a picture I took on one of my more euphoric runs. There's nothing quite like this scenery, good music, and that runner's high!
This was one of my favorite weekends of the quarter! Justin and I took a weekend road trip down to hang out with his best friend AV in Granada Hills.
Justin, my roommate and me - "We're all here!"
Not until I got home from bowling one night did I realize I was still wearing these. They are cooler than the Old Navy shoes I left as collateral for them, so I'd say I made a pretty good deal.
It's always a Kodak moment when we get to eat outside of the dining commons. Coffee, waffles and bagels with Justin is weekend happiness :-)
Here's Nkem, Tyler, Jenny, Justin and me at Jenny's 22nd birthday party!
I thought it was funny that my brother and housemate both texted me about how fantastic Beyoncé was at the Superbowl.
Justin's surprise b-day party with some work friends!
I completed my marathon training goal with no problems! Twenty smooth miles meant to me that I was as ready as I was going to be to run from Dodger Stadium to the Santa Monica Pier in just a few weeks.
Dustin came up to visit one Sunday! We had pizza, beers, and some laughs. I was happy to show him where I live and introduce him to my housemates and Justin.
Gio's with Dustin and Justin
This slide from my Evolution and Cognition class was the last slide of my last psychology lecture at UCSB.What an eye-opening privilege it has been to study psychology at UCSB. It's the end of a big chapter, but I don't think this is the end of psychology for me.
I'm actually extremely comfortable in this picture. This is right after I finished the marathon last weekend. I can truthfully say that I gave it my all, so when I crossed the finish line and that endorphin rush of mile 26 ended, my body was DONE. I walked over to a clear sidewalk and planted myself there until the pain cleared.
When I could drag my ass off the concrete to go find my family, everyone was there to welcome me with open arms! Here's my dad, Dustin, my mom, and JR greeting me in Santa Monica. I was so pleasantly surprised at how well the race went. I shaved over 45 minutes off my last marathon time, finishing in just under four hours.
My family made this a special day.
Winter quarter was full of changes and happy memories. I'm ready to recharge over spring break and come back to new classes and a new work schedule next quarter. What I'm not ready to do is face graduation and leave UCSB, but the fact that it's only a matter of weeks away will be a constant reminder in the spring to make the most of the moments I have left in this place.
