Im already really sick of this cold weather. I know I've lived in Wisconsin basically my whole life but I don't think I will ever get used to this weather. Im so thankful that we have a bus that takes us to lower campus and back up so I don't alway have to face the cold weather. But for the most part you can't get out of it, like when I have to walk to the caf, or walking from building to building on lower campus. I had to buy a winter jacket because I never had a good one during high school because the farthest you had to walk outside was form your car in the parking lot to the building and that wasn't that far. I just wish I lived somewhere where it was warm all the time.

This weekend I went to the blugold hockey games. Hockey is one of my favorite sports to watch and its great that we have a pretty good team. I had a really good high school team too, so I was happy that our team now is just as good. It kinda sucked getting to the game though because they don't have a shuttle or anything from the dorms so on Friday we walked there and on Saturday we walked to Water street and took the bus there but had to walk home. It was all worth it though because the games were really fun.

This weekend my boyfriend came to visit me for the first time. I hadn't seen him in over two months so I was really happy that he could make it. He goes to University of Minnesota so the difference is pretty big in terms of size of the campus. I showed him around and he agreed that our campus is really pretty. I made him walk the hill a couple times too, and he thinks he's lucky he doesn't have to deal with that everyday. He got to meet all my friends I've made here and they got along with him really well so I was happy about that. It sucks going from seeing him almost everyday to seeing him every two months, but its gotten a lot easier sense the beginning of the year. I'm hoping he can come visit again soon.

On Tuesday I went to the forum that Bob Harris spoke at. I thought that it was very interesting. First he talked about how everyone and everything in the world isn't as scary as the news portrays it to be. He talked about how everyone he encountered on his travels treated him like an old friend, and even when he was in the bad parts of a city someone was there too help him. Then he talked about his old job, working for Forbes and being able to stay in the most expensive hotels in the world. He thought that he shouldn't have this opportunity when the people in the city that the hotels are in are very poor but hard working. He wanted to help them out but he didn't know how. Then he heard about a website called Kiva, where you can give a $25 loan to someone who is struggling to start up their business somewhere in a poorer country. He started giving out loans and then visiting the people he gave the loans too to see how they were doing. Almost all of the people he gave loans too were getting out of their struggle and starting to make a profit that they could live on. I really enjoyed hearing about his outlook on life and the people around the world. Its true that the news makes the world seem like such a scary place to be in, but in reality its not as bad as we think.

Back in high school I really had a problem with procrastinating. I would watch Netflix until really late and then remember at the last minute that I had stuff to do or a test the next day. Since I've been at college I really surprised myself because I haven't had many problems with procrastinating. I've figured out when I have free time and when I get my homework done best. I know that if I don't do my homework right away I will want to push it off later and later, so I usually try to do it right after I finish all my classes. If I'm really tired that day and want to take a nap, I do my homework after I eat dinner. I think being close to my friends I've made here actually helps because when they're doing their homework I have nothing else to do so I feel obligated to do it too. I also know that I don't want to be up until 1 am doing my homework because then I would never catch up on my sleep.

Last week was the first time me and my roommate got into a fight. We usually get along really well and we have no problems, she's one of my best friends here. But of course living in a small room together, I knew we were going to run into some kind of problem at some point. I've been having problems sleeping for the past month or so. I wouldn't be able to fall asleep no matter how tired I was. The night I got upset with my roommate I was finally able to fall asleep without a problem and I was in bed at a early time compared to usual. My roommate was still up watching Netflix. At about one in the morning I heard a drawer slam close and it woke me up. This was followed by the door opening and slamming closed and a lot of other noises keeping me up. Then my roommate turned on her desk lamp, which was pointed right at my bed waking me up even more. By the time she was done getting ready and in bed I was wide awake. I couldn't fall back asleep for another hour/hour and a half. I talked to her the next morning, when I was still pretty mad so it probably came out meaner than I meant, but after our classes we talked again and now everything is okay.

A couple weeks ago my roommate, my two other friends and I signed our lease for a house next year. The whole process was really long and annoying because the guy who were leasing from had three houses that we looked at but his grandson got first choice. He took a while to decide which one he wanted, and when he finally chose, of course he took the one that we wanted. The other two houses were still really nice so we weren't too worried about it. Then for our second choice, one of the guys that was living there this year wanted to renew his lease but he needed to find more people by a certain date or we got the house. Thankfully he didn't find enough people and we got it. Now that our lease is signed I don't want to live in the dorms anymore, I'm so excited to live in my own house with my friends.

This weekend was my first weekend going home. It was really nice to get away for the weekend and see my family. My grandparents even came down to visit for the day on Saturday. My favorite part of going home, besides seeing my family, was the food. On Friday we grilled out steaks and on Saturday we went to my favorite sushi place. I also got too catch up on my sleep which was really nice. I am glad to be back though.

On Wednesday I went to the study abroad fair too look around. I'm an international business major so I am required to study abroad. Looking around and talking to the students who have gone abroad made me really excited to go. I want to go to Spain or any other spanish speaking country because I am thinking about a spanish minor.

This past week I had my first two big tests, one for philosophy and one for spanish. I wasn't very nervous about them because I know being nervous isn't going to help me in the long run. I was a little worried about how I was going to study for the tests because I never had to study in high school. I figured it out though and I think I did really well. I guess we will see.

So far I haven't made any connections between my classes. I was trying to think of some and the two things I came up with was that in a lot of my classes we talk about opportunity cost, but usually in different context. I first learned what that meant in my econ class, but I've heard it in a few of my other classes. To be honest I don't really know what the other classes were really saying when it was being said. The second thing I came up with was that in my philosophy class and in this class we had to read about liberal arts education and discussed the readings. In both classes we discussed basically the same things.

Last week I went to business major meeting to talk about our plans for the next four years. We planned out our class schedule for the remainder of the time that we are going to be in college. The whole process was really boring, but it made me excited for my future here. It was also really helpful to see my future classes basically planned out, it will be a lot less stressful trying to schedule classes later on.

On Wednesday day night I went to the health and wellness fair. Me and my roommate walked around the tables for a little bit and got free humus which made me pretty happy. Then we did a Butts and Guts class and a Zumba class. The Butts and Guts class as kinda difficult but it was fun.

My first two weeks have been pretty good. I've met a lot of really cool people and I enjoy all my professors. My roommate and I get along really well so I don't have any problems there. I do kinda miss my friends from my high school, but we still talk almost everyday.

My expectations when I first came to Eau Claire was that I was going to have way to much homework to even handle. In high school I rarely had homework and if I did I was able to get it done in my study hall. So far I haven't had that much homework, and the amount of free time I have helps a lot. Not having classes all day every day from 8-3 helps a lot. I'm able to get most of my stuff done and still have time too myself. I'm happy that my assumption was wrong so far.