An Update on Life in California!

Well, I have to say it does not feel like November here..it’s 75 degrees here pretty much every day..I’m still wearing flip-flops and short-sleeves and…will you believe it….shorts.  I know it sounds pretty nice ’cause you’re having 30-degree weather, but I do miss NY and the cold, November weather that prepares us for the holday’s…no, definitely nothing like that here.

Things are going well here. I’m very busy with work both for my dearest ERA Decker Real Estate in NY and the office of career services here plus classes and maintaining friendships.  I have some really neat friends here…I’ve been blessed.  My closest girlfriend is named Audrey.  She’s from a town near Portland, OR.  She has been an amazing and faithful friend who is SOOO much fun as well as a such an encouragement in my walk with the Lord.  She is a dear friend who is unafraid to call me out on my sin and challenge me to walk straight. God bless her!

I don’t remember how much you guys know about my first sememster here, so forgive me if I repeat some already-known facts.  I’m taking 5 classes: Journalism, Spoken Communications, Old Testament Survey I, World History I, and Biblical Fundamentals. I’m doing well in all my classes except, unfortunately, World History 1… definitely not my forte.

I’m not involved in sports here … not officially anyway.  I had thought about playing basketball but for various reasons didn’t end up trying out.  It’s worked out as a blessing though. I do play ultimate frisbee on 9 out of 10 Saturday mornings.  That’s fun. I could be playing dorm vs. dorm flag football but again, not my forte; and as it turns out, a ton of girls have broken bones (they can get rough, I guess) from playing.  Each girl I see with a cast reminds me that I made the right decision.  I twisted my ankle in Aug (hahaha..the second day I was here) and twisted it two times a few weeks after that.  Unfortunately, it still gives me problems….hm..maybe I shouldn’t have continued to play on a black ‘n blue ankle..whoops.  Honestly, if it’s still giving me problems when I come home in December, I’ll probably get it checked out.  Mom is concerned I broke it because it was black ‘n blue. I guess we’ll find out.

I am involved in a collegiate singing group and having fun with that.  It’s kind of hard because I don’t read music, so I have to learn it by ear and memorize it.  Considering that factor and the fact that I didn’t join until mid- to late-September, I think I’m doing pretty well and getting to know the songs well.  We have Christmas concerts, which will be really fun, the week after Thanksgiving break.  The group is split up into different frozen scenes around the gym (where we’ll be giving the concerts), and I’m in the “living room” scene, where we’re supposed to depict a family on Christmas morning. I get to wear pj’s, so that should be silly and fun. hehehe

I miss NY…a lot. I was up really late the other night…eh he…morning..(welcome to college life, where you’re days and nights run together with homework)…. doing homework and listening to music to stay awake, when a song I normally listened to on my way to and from work came on… immediately, I got a flashback to driving on Rte 79 coming from Richford right before hitting the center of Lisle… I also got a major whiff of pizza from Ricoh’s….aaahh…homesickness at 3am…hahahaha.  I can’t wait to have NY pizza again.  The stuff here is not terribly horrendous but definitely NOT New York pizza.  The water’s not great here either… I drink bottled water.

Well, I need to run for now.

I hope all of you are doing well.

I miss you guys!