November

Hey, long time no post! Sorry!
It's come to the time where I just feel pretty acclimated to college life. I've got my people, my favorite places, and my go-to pastimes (not to mention classes). Anyway, here's a list of some of the more exciting things that have happened in November:

• I painted my nails.. twice!
  
  
  
  

• I went hiking (and semi-led a group to the coast with College Outdoors! I took a fair amount of the pictures for the group, which can be found here: Coast Hike #2 )

Tryon Creek State Park

• I went out and got tea... many times. :P

• I got my hair cut.

Beautiful

• I survived the "snow day" which cancelled all my classes (yes, really) and the subsequent cold spell.

Pictured: a tiny bit of sleet

• I made pumpkin bread.

Tastes like home

• I experienced dorm Thanksgiving...

Mmmmm dorm food!

• ...and real Thanksgiving.

Eva invited me to her parents' house in Seattle for Thanksgiving. Everything, the ride up, the city, the food, the people, was wonderful! I couldn't have asked for a better holiday away from home. Thank you so much Eva!

Of course I've also gone to classes, done homework, written essays, and taken midterms. I've spent the day in the day in the city; I've spent the day in my dorm (surprisingly, I have yet to spend the day in the library, but finals week is coming up). Overall, November has been a pretty good (and astonishingly quick) month, and I can hardly believe my first semester ends in just a couple weeks! As much as I am not looking forward to finals week, I am definitely looking forward to seeing my family again (17 more days!).

 Bye!

Fall is Here!

This week begins the rain, and thus begins the fall! Here are some seasonal lovelies I've experienced over the past few weeks:

 The last day of my fall break, we went on an absolutely gorgeous hike on the other side of Steens Mountain.

 The yellow alder trees were spectacular!

We walked in a valley with a creek running through the center.

 The colors and textures were perfectly fall! I couldn't stop smiling.

This Saturday some friends and I took a shuttle to nearby Sauvie Island.

They had a corn maze, some hay bales for kids to climb on, cute little 'cow trains,' and...

 ...a pumpkin patch!  (I got gourds at the market area :) )

I made this delicious single-serving apple crisp the other night.. seriously fantastic! I would recommend THIS RECIPE to everyone! (I apologize for the bad lighting, it looks much better in real life!)

And tonight my dorm carved pumpkins in the common room. Fall is here;fall is here.

Fall Break Trip

Oh my gosh, so beautiful and so worth it!  I went on the College Outdoors trip to Steens mountain and the Alvord desert in eastern Oregon and it was absolutely fantastic!

The first day we went on a hike through a valley in Steens Mountain Wilderness Area. We later went to Alvord desert, a large dried out salt flat, to watch the sunset.

The salt flats were quickly nicknamed "the moon" by participants for its otherworldly countenance.

The second day was more relaxed. We went exploring through grass and sage brush in another valley and then drove down into Nevada for a little while (another state to check off the list!). That night we went to some hot springs and watched the stars emerge and the moon rise. It was incredible!

(this house is in Nevada!)

Week Five

This week was much the same as last. On Tuesday, I went to a bank downtown and wound up with a bouquet of flowers and some free ice cream. Go figure!

When I got back, I attempted to make a fancy dinner meal... it turned out highly mediocre, but there's always next time! (for the record, it's roasted sweet dumpling squash, goat cheese, and toasted walnut pasta with baby arugula)

I finally got around to ordering a side-table/shelving unit for my books and radio, and am now officially moved in! It feels like a little living room under my bed.

Next week is fall break (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday), so I don't have labs or chemistry discussion! Yay time!  I'm going on a trip with College Outdoors to the Alvord desert in eastern Oregon. We're leaving at 3:15pm on Wednesday (after classes) because it's a nine hour drive to get there... which would be quite unfortunate, except that there are supposed to be mud hot springs, which make up for everything.

Week Four

This week work has just started picking up, with two essays assigned and my first test last Friday (went well- pretty easy, actually). I'm not going to every club anymore (thank goodness!), but I really want to try to stick with swing & ballroom dance club and the biology club which is going to be doing a project involving mapping the trees on campus. This weekend was pretty relaxed; I stayed on campus mostly, reading and hanging out. I trimmed a plum tree with Gardening club on Saturday. I also got my bike fixed (finally!) and I rode it to Market of Choice, a little organic food store, and got some pasta that was on sale. Hopefully I can find someone with a pot so I can cook it!

Coast Hike

Wonderful hike, beautiful views. Enjoy:

And of course I went through that tunnel. Because of course I did. :)

Week Three

Well this has been a busy week; five club meetings, two biology symposium seminars, and classes with labs. I got my first two essays assigned and will have a biology exam next Friday. This weekend I go to the coast!

I have found some beautiful studying places in the meantime:

I also managed to go to a soccer game with one  of my friends (my first college sporting event). We won!

Fun Things

My forays into Portland have included two trips to a garden center (my friend was on a hunt for a cute bonsai- mission complete), another trip to the Saturday market, more trips to the tea shop (I want to see if I can taste all the flavors in the next four years (I do not believe it is possible, but it's fun to try); five flavors down, ...more than a hundred to go :P), a trip to a sushi shop, and some fun trimet navigation. Getting the hang of the city bit by bit (and taking full advantage of my minor-status to get half-off bus tickets!).

I got my futon! I love it!

My dorm with my futon:

Last weekend I baked nutella-swirled banana bread. Everyone was popping their head into our kitchen asking what made the hallway smell so good. It was decidedly delicious.