What I got for Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! In our family, there is an on-going tradition of doing absolutely nothing on Christmas day because (1) we go to sleep super late at night, (2) my sisters don't go to sleep at all and therefore wake up at crazy hours of the night (like, 3am) to open up their presents, and (3) my uncles come to our house to bring their presents. So, there's no reason to go outside (in addition to knowing that almost no store is open so we just chill and listen to Puerto Rican music)! Today, since all the hype is down low and we're chilling even more, I wanted to share the things I got from Santa Claus this year. So, without further ado, I will just get on with it because I'm too excited to keep explaining.

19

On December 12th, I turned 19 at 2 different times. Back home, the time is pushed back by an hour so I turned 19 at 11pm in here, and at 12am, of course. Nothing magical happened, though.

It was a super busy/crazy/fun day. I had to work that day because we are on finals week so the library is super crazy. Plus, my co-worker decided not to show up so I had to cover two shifts. It's kinda not what you would like to do on your birthday but, hey, I get paid and that's all that matters.

I was supposed to be off by 6pm but a ton of crazy stuff happened just at 6:01pm so my supervisor asked me to stay for 15 minutes until everything settled down. I finally left and called my girlfriends for a trip to *drum roll, please* the Mall! We took an Uber there with a guy who spoke french but didn't know 2/4 of us could understand him. He left us in Willowbrook Mall which is a good mall but not impressive, if that makes sense.

I got to buy quite a few things. Firstly, I gave in to my obsession and bought Lolita by Kat Von D. I'm wearing it now but I'm not as in love as I thought I was going to be. It's stays put forever, like, even after I eat/drink/talk/wipe my mouth, and it kinda throws me off because it makes my anxiety strike super bad. Today I wondered if my lipstick was still on or if it looked normal like 47 times just to come back to my dorm and see that it was still intact. It's a stressful item. I also bought a couple of things from H&M but I can't find them online to link them here, sorry.

We stopped to eat afterwards and that's when the craziest thing happened. Two boys (like, high schoolers) came in to our table and just started talking to us. They even pulled up a chair. My friends and I were super uncomfortable because not even 5 minutes before, we were already deciding that we were going to leave and call the Uber back to the university. And, just when things couldn't get worse, three more appeared out of nowhere. Now, I can't even remember most of their names but this one blonde boy said his name was Zack like five times and he even asked us where we were from, how old we were and how often do we come to the mall. When they discovered we were "college girls", they all giggled like a bunch of five year olds. I still think we just stumbled upon a movie scene from which we all wanted out.

But, anyway, at the end of the day, we took a bunch of Polaroids to make the memories last. I was super happy that I got to spend my birthday with my friends, do something different, and mostly have fun without thinking too much about finals. And, at the end of the day, I'm super grateful for all the opportunities I've had: the fact that I'm studying abroad, have made incredible and international friendships, have had a great academic year, and that I've got a job and things to look forward to in life. It's been a while since I felt happy about my current life because it's been hard and complicated for a while but the fact that I'm kind of making it on my own, in an amazing city, close to the best people, with the most awesome opportunities, just makes me appreciate how top-notch my life has been recently. Thank you to everyone who has made me feel so lovely; you're awesome sauce.

I hope you had a lovely Wednesday.
PS: I'm going home tomorrow! So excited!

Hectic.

Hey guys. This week, or for this post, I wanted to write an update on life. It's been real hectic to the point where I don't know what day it is most days. But, you know, we deal with it because it's college and you can't expect it to be peaches and cream all the time, right?

On Thanksgiving, my friend Gabby invited me over to her house which is up north in NJ and I just think it was the kindest thing. I told her I was planning on staying on campus on Thanksgiving break, which meant I would be by myself 95% of the time and I would have to pay an excessive amount for extra housing (which I believe is stupid), and she stopped me and said "No, you're staying at mine". I had the greatest time: we watched like 5 movies, put up her tree, went to the mall, and ate so much we could almost explode. Also, fun fact about our trip to the mall: we went to the Palisades Mall to ice skate for a bit and roam around and I fell in love with it so badly only to realise it is in New York. So, we went to another state and I didn't have to pay anything to get there. It was fun, sorry for sounding like an alien (I'm a hillbilly from Puerto Rico).

This week, I have two exams (Stats and Chem) and they are both killing me. I wish I knew what I was doing most of the time.

I've been taking my time to find music, or at least update myself on the one that's currently "in", and I'm in love with this one. Also, Taylor made a video for Undone with this song and I've been obsessed. By the way, you guys should check out Taylor if you haven't because I'm obsessed with her even though she probably doesn't know I exist.

There's only 16 days until I get to go home (yay!) and this makes me so excited to the point where I can't sleep most nights.

My coffee maker broke and coffee makers are expensive (especially those that colleges let you use) and I'm mad and frustrated because I love coffee and now I have 0.

And, I'm going to stop because this post is getting lengthy. But, you get the gist. I've been busy, having fun, educating myself and just having a nice, frustrating but balanced life. Hope you're having a balanced life, as well!

Thanks for reading, xx.
PS: Happy 1st of December!