It's hard to believe the semester is already about halfway over. I had my first midterm last friday, and I'm moving along on my studio project for digital representation. We actually started using rendering programs on the computer to add light and shadow to the virtual three-dimensional model we made, which is really exciting to see.

(image of my design)

There's been a lot going on for the past few weeks too. For Mardi Gras, Stetson East dining hall was opened late full of traditional foods, dessert, decorations, music, favors, etc. and games that encouraged a lot of student involvement. A lot of students came out to enjoy the festivities.

Next weekend, I'm looking forward to my intramural soccer game; I'm on a co-ed team with students from my building, which is really fun. We play in Cabot gym almost every weekend, and it's nice to just get my feet to a ball once in a while after playing soccer for about thirteen years.

Next Saturday also is my residence hall's dodgeball tournament arranged by the hall President, which should be interesting considering I know very little about how to play.

And soon enough, break will have begun. I'm really excited to go home and see my friends and family. I haven't been home since classes started again at the beginning of January, so it has been at least six weeks. Can't wait!

Hope everyone's semester and midterms are going well!

So it's already been over two months since I came home for the summer. Hard to believe I've got another two more to go before I return to NU. I did just get my room assignment information in the mail the other day though with my move-in date. For those of you incoming students or prospective students that don't know how the housing works, it's a lottery system from sophomore year on. Students are assigned numbers randomly and group up with who they want to live with for that next year; then, essentially, the person with the best number goes on the Northeastern website and is able to see what rooms are still available and choose from there. I was able to get a studio double apartment with one of my roommates from last year, which I am very excited about. I'm already anxious to get back into the swing of things in Boston.

So it's hard to believe I'm heading back to Boston in about a month. I just received my move-in information in the mail a couple days ago. And for the incoming students that are curious about how the move-in process works...you park in the lot assigned to you where there are plenty of people there to help you move everything. Almost everything can fit inside the wheeled carts that you check out to bring all your stuff from the car to your room. Once you get to your building you wait to get your key and information from your RA's. It all goes pretty smoothly; last year I was very impressed at how easy it was considering we are in a city and there's a lot of people and traffic constantly.

I'm also excited to be volunteering as a team leader for the Honors Outreach Project in September. I participated last year as part of the Honors Welcome Week activities. My group and I spent a day (from about 9 to 3) helping to rehabilitate a youth center in Jamaica Plains where we worked to clear out the backyard area and build a retaining wall from recycled brick. I look forward to find out what I will be working on this year!

I'm really excited to be back for my second year! I moved in Sunday afternoon into a studio double apartment with my roommate from last year. We're in one of the older buildings on campus, but our room is great. It has a lot of character, which makes up for the smaller size in comparison to the majority of upperclassman apartments.

Reuniting with friends over Thai food.

It's been really busy trying to get the apartment in some form of order before classes start. But I'm really looking forward to getting back into somewhat of a routine. My schedule was set by my major, so I'm talking Structures and Statics, Physics, 19th Century Urbanism, and Studio 1.

Unfortunately, I did not receive work-study this year, so I have not found a job. But on the bright side, it should leave me with some more time to participate in some new activities because my schedule last year was a lot busier. I'd like to possibly apply to be a a mentor in the Big Sister program. I am starting off the year with being a team leader for the honors outreach project that I mentioned last time; I'm not sure what my project is yet. Last year, I worked on maintenance outside an after-school center in Jamaica Plains.