michelle rivers - my adventure blog

This summer my friend Jennifer, her husband Keith, and I went to Florida for five weeks. We tried, for the first time, Couchsurfing , which is a great way to meet fellow travelers and get to know the area like a local. Basically, people open up their houses to you for a night or more and you stay (sometimes on their couch) for free! Each couch host is different, but through the site you are able to find people who match your wishes. We were very fortunate to find the most wonderful people to stay with! All of them were very friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this form of traveling if you're into it. I'd be happy to help you set up a profile to host or surf. We left only a few days after I got back from school, and started off by snorkeling with manatees in Crystal River (about an hour North of Tampa.) Manatees are HUGE animals ("sea cows") and do not mind being touched. Unfortunately for them, they get hit by many boaters who aren't careful to obey th...

Relaxing under a huge tree in Santa Cruz. These past 7 months have been crazy, but that shouldn't be any surprise if you know me well. I just got back from a month vacation in Florida with a couple friends. You're going to have to wait to hear about that one though, since I'm still weeding through all the pictures - it was a great trip! Santa Cruz has been treating me well. I love living so close to a multitude of hiking areas, most near rivers or streams. The trees keep me sane throughout long bouts of studying. There's nothing like walking to class under a green canvas that's so alive.  Winter quarter was pretty tough for me - I was in and out of the health center trying to figure out why I was so tired all of the time. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm slowly getting better. Somehow I still managed to do well in all of my classes and hike every now and then, thanks to the support of friends and family. My Mom came up and visited me to chee...

School ended successfully- Finals went well, and my GPA is 4.0! I was also initiated into a National Psychology Honors society called Psi Chi. When it was all over, I was not ready to come home, I really love it in Santa Cruz. Now that I'm here, though, I don't want to go back! I'm thankful to be happy in both places. Since I've been home, I've been busy. Break ha s flown by, as I knew it would. I started December with a trip to Long Beach with my friend Jennifer. We stayed at her in-law's beach house, which wa s absolutely gorge ous. We also checked out the Long Beach Aquariu m, which was much bigger than I expected. We spent a good chunk of the day there seeing all the sea life. We even got a behind-the-scenes look at the back, where they keep cute little artic foxes (look at its nose!) The next day we walked/drove around the city, stopping at cute little shops and a fancy Spanish restaurant called Sevilla, where I tri ed rabbit for the first time... not ...

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! I had some pretty big assignments due at the beginning of the week, so once they were done I was able to enjoy myself. Monday night was my roommate's birthday, so I took her out to a local Italian place. We got all dressed up! Tuesday afternoon my Mom arrived in Santa Cruz. Being the busy- bee that she is, she was stopping by for a "lay-over" on her way home from New Zealand! She had a wonderful trip, and we spent the last couple of days exchanging stories. We spent Tuesday at my campus's arboretum. The lighting was perfect so I went a little picture crazy. Here are a few: That night we headed up to San Francisco, with a quick sto p at my friend Erica's house to say 'hi' to her family who were also visiting. On Wednesday we explored Fisherman's wharf and ate our traditional "clam chowder in a bread bowl" while watching the sea lions. After a drive down Lombard Street, we went to Ghirardelli Square...

Allow me to update my blog to procrastinate the papers I should be working on! In my defense, I had a big assignment due yesterday, so I need a break. This quarter is going by ridiculously fast. A part of me feels like I just got here, but at the same time, I feel like Santa Cruz is my home now. I just chose classes for Win ter quarter - they are really impacted! Literally A LL of the upper division psychology classes are full, but I'm going to talk to a counselor to work that out later today. I officially declared the Intensive Psych major (research oriented) and the education minor, so I should be able to get the classes I need. Last week I had some time to explore campus and the surrounding area some more. I went to Natural Bridges State Park with a friend, which is a beautiful beach nearby. Here's why it's called "Natural Bridges": We also explored the tidepools and saw tons of colorful sea stars, sea urchins, anemones, crabs, and plants. The day was very ...