michelle rivers - my adventure blog

Hi everyone! I am actually sitting with my calendar in front of me to make sure I remember what has happened since I last posted. This summer has been full of transitions. With my housemates on my birthday In a lot of ways, I feel like more of an emerging adult than ever before. Many of my friends are making major decisions or facing mini identity crises as they figure out their next steps. I am grateful that I am starting to find my passion and I feel very secure in my decision to pursue a degree in Psychology and to come to Santa Cruz. I love it so much, I have decided to stay for at least another year.  I feel like I am starting to build a network here, and it would be foolish not to take advantage. Plus, I moved into a gorgeous new home with wonderful housemates. We have a piano, so I've gotten back into playing. It is much closer to hiking trails and huge redwoods, so I've been running pretty regularly. I've also been continuing with holistic health/massage (hop

Sunrise - view from my back porch  As usual, I've been busy with my last year of college! Started this year living off campus in a house only a few blocks from the base of my campus. I live with 2 other housemates who are very quiet and respectful (I barely ever see them) in a large room that overlooks the ocean and downtown. I've had a wonderful time living on my own and learning how to cook. I have definitely gotten a lot more quality sleep and study time now that I'm out of the dorms.  Nature's playground - 5.7  Fall quarter started last September. I took two amazing psychology classes: learning and memory and social psych of flim flam (why people believe in silly things). I learned a lot and was offered a great opportunity to work in my professor's memory lab (more on that later). I also worked to create better educational assessments for a program called " Mariposa's Art ", designed to allow after-school art classes and teaching oppo