A Rush of Adrenaline

I suppose that the title of this post accurately represents my skydiving experience. J

From the time that we left San Jose to when we arrived to the Hollister, CA Municipal Airport, I was extremely surprised that I wasn't freaking out about jumping out of airplane and freefalling for 11,000 feet. I even signed a waiver saying that I know this is crazy and I might die but I still want to do it, and THAT didn't even freak me out! I just figured that at least by the time we were flying up to our free-fall location I would start to be nervous. Hmmm

The Experience:
Skydiving is something that a only .000001% of our population actually wants to do and does. It is dangerous and risky and often times it is only associated with people who are considered "adrenaline junkies".

I never ever considered myself an adrenaline junkie. I was scared to do most things like jump off cliffs (which I have done with a lot of persuasion), jumping out of airplanes and even riding roller coasters. I learned that it isn’t the danger of these things that I am afraid of, it is the pain. I am truly scared of pain. I would much rather jump out of an airplane and have the exhilarating feeling of free-fall, then jump off of a cliff into a body of water.

Free falling through the sky is unexplainable. It is an experience that although almost no one has, but one that everyone should have. It doesn’t matter if you are scared of heights, or scared of pain, or scared of death, the feeling is so surreal that once you’re up there, nothing even matters anymore. You are literally flying. It’s truly magical, and for me, it was not scary at all!

I would also like to give credit to my amazing jumpmaster, Scott. He is the one who helped make this experience so enjoyable! He walked me through the whole entire process and the only thing that I had to do was open my mind and take it all in... Oh and smile at the camera, of course. Jumping out of an airplane 15,000 feet up in the air with Scott was awesome!!



I have found a passion/hobby that I am sure I will be doing many more times in the future. I have decided that my New Year’s resolution is to become a certified skydiver, enabling me to jump solo and pretty much whenever I want to. I asked my mother this question when we found out that this was our Christmas present, “What if I want to become professional skydiver instead of a businesswoman/ (what would you do if I dropped out of school to skydive for the rest of my life)?” Her response was, “I have always told you that I would support all of your decisions and that if you don’t want to live an average life then that is fine with me!”
…..Hmm, I wonder how she feels about that question now.

My "New" Blog!

I originally created this blog to write about my crazy college experiences, however I realized that is what Facebook and Twitter is for. I have now decided to focus on writing about my travels, the books I read, the art I make, and the unique experiences that I have. I am going to have a more professional yet casual writing style, opposed to my random thoughts. So I hope you all enjoy my "new" blog!

Thanksgiving Break

Oh the lovely weather of California.... is not here this week! Normally it is 70 degrees and sunny here in San Jose, however for the whole week that we are here, it is not supposed to get up past 60. And it has been raining for the past 3 days, which is sort of a bummer. However, I suppose it is better than the weather in Boston.

Guess what we are doing on Friday? TANDEM SKYDIVING!! We are so excited. Hailey and I talked about it a lot this summer and our mom remembered and decided that it would be tons of fun if we did it for Christmas. So, at 11am on Friday morning we will be jumping out of an airplane :) .

Recently, I have felt as if my life has no excitement. Yes I am going to Ghana which is AMAZING, and I love my classes and I am a junior and I have some great opportunities coming my way, but I just feel a little bored. So I know that skydiving is going to give me a whole new perspective on life... If I can jump out of an airplane and free fall for 5,000 feet, then I can pretty much do anything.



More posts will be coming later this week! Especially with pictures from Friday!

Spring Semester 2011 Schedule!

I finally have my schedule filled in for next semester! This is both good and bad. Since this semester has been relatively easy, this means that next semester is going to be pretty difficult! I am taking difficult classes and on-top of that, all my friends are going to be abroad! I honestly do not know what I am going to do without them.

So although I am not looking forward to my friends leaving and the classes I chose, I do get to go to Ghana and that is something that I can definitely look forward to!

Here is my schedule:

Monday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entrepreneurial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mail room (2.5)
Tuesday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mail room (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Wednesday- 8:00am- 9:35am - Entreprenuerial Finance
9:45am- 11:30am- Strategy
11:30-2:00pm Work at the Mailroom (2.5)
3:00-6:00pm Babysitting
Thursday- 8:30-11:30 Work at the Mailroom (3)
11:30- 12:45 Biotechnology
3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting
Friday- 3:00-6:00 Work Babysitting

Ghana Program January 2011

I haven't written a post for my blog in a while A. because I haven't had much time and B. because I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about. Well I realized that I have had the opportunity to go on this amazing trip with other Babson students and I want to be able to remember all the details. So writing posts about the preparation for this off-shore course, the trip itself, and the semester after, are perfect topics.

My Freshmen year at Babson I learned about this off-shore course that a group of students take with Dean Hanno. It is a 2 week trip to Ghana in January. During the trip the students are assigned a high school where they teach the students how to write business plans, act as consultants to the local business and individuals in the nearby towns, and to essentially learn about Ghana and it's culture. And from that.. I was sold.

I applied as a Freshmen, but was way to inexperienced and uneducated on entrepreneurial practices and consulting. At the time, I felt completely qualified. I knew that although I was only a Freshmen, I knew that I could handle it. And luckily, Dean Hanno felt differently.

Sophomore year rolled around, and I decided to remain persistent and apply again. That year I was very confident that I would get accepted. I had taken entrepreneurship and economics courses, done extensive research about Africa, and knew that that year would be the year that I would take this course. Well, yet again, I wasn't accepted. I was sad for a while, but knowing that I still had two more years to apply for the course made me feel better. And I won't lie, I held a grudge for a little while... but still decided not to give up. I wanted this and I was going to get it!

So..... 3 months ago, the time came when applications for the Ghana Program January 2011 were due. I emailed Dean Hanno and yet again expressed my interest. He told me "Harmony, you really think I would turn you down 3 years in a row?". That little email exchange got my hopes up , however I knew with all of the applicants there was still a big chance that I wouldn't be able to go. Well, lone behold, Dean Hanno emailed me 2 weeks later tell me that I had been one of the 45 students chosen for the course. I was ecstatic and could not wait to get started!!

Since that day. We have had 2 weekends of classes out of 3 and I have learned a lot about Africa, Ghana, and the program itself. I would tell you all about what is going to happened and what I have learned, however, my Macro class is about to start and I don't want to get it trouble typing away on my computer :).

I will post again soon!

Oh Babson

Wooo we have now been back in school for a week, had a couple classes, alot of Sigma Kappa recruitment training, and of course some other fun outings.

As for tonight, it is our last night of going out for a few days and our last night to relax. Recruitment is this week so we will all be very busy once tomorrow rolls around. Therefore, we figured we would attend the ABC party.

I guess this is sort of self explanatory.. basically we are allowed to wear anything but clothing. I am wearing a pillow sham, made into a dress, Dana is wearing a plastic table cloth with the Disney princesses on it, and the average outfit is either a trashbag or body paint... However, since we are a nice group of respectful girls, we figured we would go in theme, yet stay covered :)

Here are some pics from our outing last night....

I have to go get ready for tonights festivities, but there will be more posts this week about recruitment and the fun things we are all doing.

Last Day of Work!!

Well hello...

I am currently sitting at work, done with all my projects, waiting for the clock to reach 5:15.

It is currently 2:47.... will I make it? (i doubt it)

So to kill a few minutes, I figured I would post something. My flight leaves tomorrow night at 10:50pm. I am taking a redeye (on purpose), which logically speaking it was a good idea. This way I will be able to sleep the whole time and when I wake up, I will be clear across the country. I am already completely prepared for this.. I have a neck pillow, sigma kappa blanket, eye cover, and ear plugs... And I can't forget to buy some tylenol PM to take when I get to the airport so I will pass out as soon as I sit down...  Therefore, I think it will be a successful flight.

And when I arrive bright and early at 7:30 am... Hopefully Hailey will have remembered to pick me up! :)

Good-bye San Jose, Hello Boston.

3 Days in Counting

1 more day of work and 2 more days until I fly to Boston. I am so excited to go back and see all of my friends and get moved in and have fun for the first week before we get slammed with work! These passed few days cannot go any slower.. I am going nuts.

There is only one thing I am not looking forward to and that is .. the New England weather.. I have been lucky enough not to have seen ANY rain for the past 3 month which has been pretty much amazing. However, as soon as I get back the rain will start and then in a couple months time, it will start to snow... oh joy. Luckily we will be back to California for Thanksgiving  and of course again around Christmas :).

Anyways.. I can't wait to write again when I get to Boston and see everyone.. This is when I will start to post more pictures and document all of the crazy things that happen!

TGIF

I am SO glad its Friday... This means that I only have 2 more days of work left and 5 more days until I am back at Babson! So exciting!!

So since I wasn't sure what to write about I decided that I would just share some things that I have purchased recently :).

I bought these sheets in Blue for my NEW full-size bed that I bought off of Craiglist. I am so excited about them. I also bought a new Duvet cover (pic below) that hopefully matches the sheets. I decided to revamp my room for the remaining 2 years of college. I needed a change and now I think its going to look awesome.

I also bought a white shag rug which I think will look great as long as it doesn't get some sort of alcohol, probably tequila, spilled on it the first day back.... hmm, we'll see.

My next purchases are going to be a nice floor lamp and a mirror for the wall :).

As for clothing.... This has been a good summer in the retail sense. I don't normally splurge or go shopping at all so, this summer was a lot of fun.. I really needed some nice new things. However, I still have not bought a pair of oxfords, which I have to get for this winter season. They are definitely on my yet-to-buy list.

Countdown until I get to see my friends! 5 days :)
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What a weekend!

This weekend was very nice and relaxing! Hailey left on Friday, which was a little depressing even though we pretty much talk to her every other hour anyways! Hailey, I am glad your back in Boston, now I can buy stuff off the internet and it can be sent to you! haha

Anyways, on Saturday night we went to the Jazz and Salsa Festival in downtown San Jose. It was a lot of fun! There weren't as many people out as we expected, but the music was still really good. We mostly stuck around at the Salsa Stage, and had a blast watching everyone dance, especially the drunk Americans falling over while trying to shake their hips. It was quite the party!

Later that night we went back the the same Hookah Lounge, Tangerine, that we did for a birthday a few days earlier. It was even more fun this time. There weren't that many people there, but all the waiters kept coming over and talking with us about whatever came to their mind. They were very entertaining! We had French Kiss flavored Tobacco this time... which I don't know what exactly a French Kiss is supposed to taste like but we decided that a good way of explaining it would be, well, it tasted like a white cherry slurpee from QuickTrip... Basically it was my favorite one yet. :)
Tangerine:


And now the fun part happens... as we were waiting for the light rail (which is basically in front of strip of night clubs and bars) we decided to just people watch. This was very entertaining for us. As the man who sat next to us said, "It looks like those girls had to lube-up to fit into those dresses" and he was exactly right. Lets just say that if you are a little pudgy/overweight, you probably shouldn't be wearing skin-tight clothing with your ass hanging out and giant stilettos. A. you will fall and all your goods will fall out of your latex clothing (yes this happened). B. It's cold, people feel bad for you and no one thinks that you look "hott". I felt sorry for most of them... maybe it was just the location we were at? I dunno, but never is clothing like that okay to wear.... trust me.

I do have to say how happy I was when we saw the two 80 year old women who were dressed in their red-sequined party clothes leaving the Lido Club at 12:30am. I hope I still get to have fun when I am that age...... hmm.......

And Sunday, we just hung out and laid by the pool. I started reading the 4th Twilight book for the 5th time. Lets just say this week is going to fly by.

My very first entry!

I am so excited to write my first entry on my new blog! I have been talking about creating one for about a week now and have finally done so. This blog is for me to write about all my experiences in college and anything that happens to catch my attention and gives me a reason to write.

As of now, I am waiting waiting waiting for the day that I get to go back to Boston to see all my my friends and start school! I love it here in California but its just not as fun when your friends are all the way across the country. I am pretty sure that all my posts for the next week are going to be about how I am preparing to go back and what I am looking forward to, but to keep it less boring I will try to upload some photos to help describe my feelings :).

To make my first post more interesting I will tell you about me and Hailey's 2 1/2 month overdue birthday dinner with our mom! Well who cares that it was overdue, it was still a ton of fun! First we went to a Sushi restaurant in downtown San Jose which was really good! Although, while we were eating my mom pointed out how she thought it was bizarre that they were playing Eminem in a nice little Sushi Bar. I had to agree.... After we ate, my mom had bought us this adorable cake that was decorated like Tinker Bell, I wish I would have gotten a picture, but Hailey and I demolished it before we would have even gotten the camera out :).
What comes after cake.... presents!
We each got these adorable Tiffany key necklaces and a string of pearls! We were so excited! The last couple of years we haven't been able to spend our birthday with our mom so this one definitely made up for it!
Here is a picture!

Following dinner we took mom to smoke hookah for the first time. We went to this new hookah lounge called Tangerine in downtown San Jose. It was really nice with comfy couches and trippy lights. We ordered Sea Breeze, which was very tasty. We all really enjoyed it and will definitely be going back!

Last night was a nice way to send off Hailey and celebrate our birthday at the same time! Mikey will miss hanging out with you all day Haibay.