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...

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 ...