changes abound

it's been just over a week since my last blog, but life has drastically and expectedly changed for me, in more ways than one.

saying goodbye

on monday the 13th, early in the morning, i said an emotional heart-felt goodbye to my younger brothers and sisters (sans Monika). it's hard to go into, and relate how emotional this was to me. in particular, i did not want to let go of Jessica or Angela during our hugs. finally, i cleared my eyes got into my car, smiled at Monika in the back seat, and followed my parents as we headed toward san francisco.

we made pit stops in roseburg, medford and redding before making it to my brother's apartment by about 6:30 at night. i got to drive Monika down during the first and last legs of the trip, and we had a really great time talking and singing along with some cd's. i also got a chance to talk with my dad (second leg) and mom (third leg). that was a really special time for me. it meant so much to have that one-on-one time with each of them.

we stayed the night at Brian’s, though i couldn't sleep. my mom got up in the middle of the night to find me sipping coco on the deck. i was too excited with anticipation and too deep in thought of the future. my mom joined me for a couple hours. but we didn't speak of what will be. we spoke of what has been. we exchanged stories. stories about a little brown-haired girl asking her mother a million questions about everything; stories about a wide-eyed little girl trying to keep up with her two older brothers; stories about a little girl with a smile so bright as she cuddled next to her father so they could spend time watching sunday football together. it was just what i needed that night. it put a lot into perspective for me. it's just as if, as always, she knew just what i needed.

we arrived just before noon. i checked into my dorm and picked up my parking permit. my dormmate, Julie, arrived about 45 minutes after we did.. it was wonderful to me, like a beginning. on the other hand, it was extremely difficult to say goodbye to my parents and youngest sister. i watched as they drove away and turned the corner, almost expecting them to turn around and realize they forgot to take me with them. of course, i knew better. i really don't know exactly when i stopped waving goodbye.

arriving and beginning school

Julie and i spend most of that day unpacking and getting settling in. we have everything for which we can hope! small fridge (small, mind you, not mini!), microwave, hotplate, tv and … well, anything else two girls might need (except maybe our own bathrooms!). we've connected amazingly well. neither of us seems to worry about the little things.

we toured the campus together, then took an official tour of the campus with our dorm's resident assistants. it was very informative. we also spent part of the day at the beach on saturday (i'm so glad i have my car with me!). we also got tickets to stanford's game against wake forest saturday night. the latter was made even more fun when we clobbered wake! go cardinal.

classes started on the twentieth and my first impression is one of optimism. from what i can tell of the first two days, this atmosphere is catered to my style of learning; reading, listening, reviewing and testing. i can sooo totally do this!

a little something extra

i don't know if extra is the correct word, but i'm going to use it anyway! so thursday we were walking around and decided to sit down outside the quad. Julie kept nudging me and i'm like, “what?” she kept smiling and finally, on the other side of me, i heard this voice. it was asking if we were getting settled, if we were finding out where things were around campus, and if we had our tickets for the football game two days hence.

i turned and smiled. the voice was extremely cute! we started talking and i told him – Adam – that we hadn't planned on going to this particular game because it was only non-conference and didn't count toward our goal to win the pac-10 title, even though we still had to go through oregon, oregon state, usc and arizona to get there.

Adam’s eyes got wide.

he said after hearing my response, he just had to ask me to the game. i said sure (did i mention he's cute?!). he and his friend would take me and Julie to the game under one condition. i had to have lunch with him on friday so we could get to know each other.

we spent most of friday afternoon together and all of us met up for a bagel and went to the the game saturday evening. i had specifically planned not to become involved with someone the first half of this year.

i'm seeing him again thursday night. maybe i'll let you know how it goes!

~ Kassandra