PEACHES DE LA PAZ

Hello everybody!

I apologize for not updating in a while. My summer has been very busy!

I left off when I first began my job at L'Oreal. I have been working since then, and it's a great job with many great benefits. L'Oreal visited St. Peter's in May a few weeks before the summer holidays began. I gave them my resume, got interviewed, and voila! I am now very luckily employed. There are a lot of job and career opportunities that can be found through St. Peter's-the Discover and Co-Op program here at St. Peter's is very, very good, and nice as well! I recommend stopping by, even for a little bit to introduce yourself.

But the most exciting time I've had this summer so far is visiting Las Vegas and California with my family during the 4th of July vacation week. I got to visit all of my relatives who live there--I didn't know I had so many! But I got to see all the amazing sights that the West Coast has to offer. I definitely plan to go back because one week isn't sufficient for both cities.

Las Vegas was very hot! But I wouldn't mind living there all year. My family and I stayed in one of the hotels on the strip. Las Vegas is truly like how the movies portray it, I wish I could have done more there. We went up and down the strip, went to downtown Las Vegas and saw the Fremont Street Experience-with all the fancy lights. There's a lot of free shows and activities you can do there. We also took a bus trip to visit Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon in Arizona-it's 300 miles away from Las Vegas! But it was worth it, the view is absolutely breath taking. I want to go back so bad and camp there!

On the other hand, San Francisco was freezing, I kept my sweatshirt on the whole time. My cousins who are also from New Jersey met up with us and we visited Pier 39, the Fisherman's Wharf. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the Golden Gate Bridge because it is constantly hidden by the unrelenting fog. But we did get to drive on it. I wish we could have seen it though.

Traveling was a nightmare, but it was all good fun. I love visiting all of these places! Next year I would love to go to Europe. But the West Coast is awesome-it seems so different from the East Coast.

Here are some pictures from my visits:

With my Great Aunt and Uncle and family-we were eating at Jollibee, a very famous fast food place in the Philippines that I miss. There's one in Las Vegas AND near San Francisco!

With my Great Aunts and family inside Excalibur

In front of Mirage

At the Grand Canyon-so beautiful!

In front of the infamous San Francisco trolley. The hills there are really steep!

My cousins and I in front of the Palace of Fine Arts-it was such a beautiful scene, where I would imagine a fairy tale wedding would be.....

Now it's back to work, and back to New Jersey. I really miss the West Coast, especially all of my relatives who live there.

Last Sunday I got to visit Toms River in New Jersey by the beach and visit a couple of my friends from St. Peter's. It was fun, except the beach was still freezing cold! But we went in anyway. It was nice to see everybody again-I miss them all a lot. So we had fun just laying on the beach and catching up on how everybody's summer is going. Summers always seem to fly past.

My friends Rob and Albert at the beach!

Now I am currently waiting for the new Harry Potter book to come out this Friday-I'll be staying up until midnight to buy it. Yes, I am a very avid fan of the series, and I can't wait to know what happens. It's sad that it's finally the end, but then again we've been waiting for so long to know what finally happens to Harry. I really hope it's a good book.

We have about a month until the fall semester starts, and I can't wait! I've missed NYC a lot, with all the Broadway shows and impromptu visits to Little Italy and Chinatown. I get to live in an apartment this year on the West side of campus with my friend Veronica, from California, and two of my good friends from Bulgaria. It should be a lot of fun.

For those new incoming freshman: Good luck! Maybe I'll be meeting you around campus