This week has been crazy. I experienced for the first time what Texans call winter. We had the lighter end of the large winter front that moved through the country this week. It was very cold, and there was some ice on cars, trees, etc. It wasn't much compared to what I am used to when an "ice storm" occurs. To many people here, however, this was a major winter storm that constituted the university being closed for two days. I am still amazed that my second and third snow days ever happened in Texas!

Our classes were supposed to start on Tuesday, however they are starting today. Having class cancelled was a bittersweet thing. I was excited at the thought of a snow day, but also sad for a couple of reasons. The first is that not having school gets relatively boring pretty quickly. I have learned that there are only so many hours you can spend in front of the t.v., or napping. I am in desperate need for a consistent routine! Secondly, having the entire state of Texas virtually shut down, made check in for Hobby a pain. Even though the hall reopened a week ago, I still have quite a few students who have not yet checked, for various reasons. I guess a sign that you are becoming an adult is when you would prefer staying open in winter weather over the headache that being closed causes.

Another crazy thing happened this past weekend. My friend, Ana, and I went to Houston for the morning on Saturday. We were going to order a bridesmaid dress for one of her friend’s wedding and to have lunch at some local joint. On the way home, a small rock or piece of gravel hit my windshield and broke it! There is a small star shaped place where the rock hit and then on either side of that star, the window cracked. It's probably on about 6 inches in length, but is still cause to have the windshield replaced. I could not believe that a tiny rock that wasn't even visible could do that much damage to my poor Rav4.

If the rest of this semester is anything like the rest of it, it should certainly be filled with many interesting stories and experiences. I love and miss you all!

Happy 2007! I can't believe that it's already time to start up a new semester. It literally seems as thought it was just yesterday that I left for Christmas break. Now I'm back in College Station starting my second semester. Classes start in about a week and a half, but right now work is taking up a lot of time. The halls open for the spring semester next week and RAs return this weekend. Therefore, myself and other hall directors are busy preparing for these students’ arrivals. I've been back less than 24 hours and I already have a lot of work to do.

Christmas break was a much-needed time to relax, however by the end of it I was anxious to return. It seems that I have grown more attached to this place and the people here than I had originally thought was possible. Although I had always expected that I would grow to love my classmates (cohort members) that respect and admiration came much sooner than I would have thought. We are single handedly the most rambunctious and funny cohort. I have so much fun with those folks, so I'm ready to get back to rousing Dr. Mario Tournaments when we should be writing papers, as well as what other distractions may develop along the way.

I am also excited about the classes I'll be taking this semester. One of them is a practicum class, which is essentially an internship. This consists of me working 10 hours a week in another office on campus and going to class for 2 hours during the week. I will be working in the Adult, Graduate, and Off-Campus Student Services office. My duties will entail putting together a childcare guide, planning a block party for graduate students, and shadowing the planning of Graduate Student Research week. It will be a great experience to learn how to program for such a large, diverse group of non-traditional students. It will also be very beneficial to have practice in publishing a brochure such as the childcare guide.

A couple of my classmates and myself will be taking one of our electives this spring as well; therefore I'll have a total of 15 hours. The elective class that we're taking is about social justice in a global society. I am looking forward to learning more about social justice issues and theory, which is a developing interest for me.

I hope to be more diligent about posting updates in the future. I can't promise anything, however. My job, class work and cohort are often unpredictable and there is no telling what the rest of the semester holds. Keep your fingers crossed!!