Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

I almost escaped Michgan before the snow came, but just four days before I was to leave we got DUMPED on. So while it was 80 degree's in California it was 7 in lovely Michigan. I was actually very pleasantly surprised by myself in dealing with the snow. I have yet to leave the house and realize that I didn't wear enough clothing, I have learned how to successfully shovel off my car (though this did take me driving a few miles wondering why my lights weren't on to realize that you have to scrape the ice and snow off of them in order for them to work), I have been unable to stop while slidding straight towards someone and managed to live through it, and I have shoveled inches of ice off of our sidewalk after the city gave us a lovely warning. Overall I think I am doing pretty well and might actually survive this winter, though I am not sure I will every want to deal with another one. Here are a couple of snow pictures.

So now I am home and even though California went from 80 degree's to raining everyday I have been here I am very thankful for tempatures above 30 degree's. Living in Michgian has made me even more thankful to have grown up where I did. Though, I do have to say there is something about sitting inside by the window drinking hot chocolate while it snows outside that makes me very happy.

Since being home I have watched Jared play basketball, played with all the cousins (who are all getting so big), eaten sushi, gotten my hair cut, eaten El Rey taco's, made cookies at the cookie party, and made christmas cupcakes (below) with Sophie. In all, there really is no place like home!

California comes to Michigan

So the weekend before last (wow time is flying by) I had the pleasure of showing three of my best friends from home around Ann Arbor. Maris, Morgan, and Carolyn flew the thousands of miles to Michigan and got to experience some of the cold weather, football games and tailgates, and old buildings that I have gotten to experience in the three months I have been here. In fact the night I picked Morgan and Maris up from the airport it snowed (more or less) for the first time this year. Granted it was only a few flakes and we haven't had anymore (THANK GOD) since, but is was fun to get to share it with them! The weekend included but was not limited to: lots of cabs, lots of dancing, good food, football tailgates, COATS & BOOTS, football game in...THE BIG HOUSE, family dinner, and lots of laughs. Here are a few pictures from our weekend!

Only 1 month till I get to go home!!!

The wonderful world of SEASONS!

So one of the great things about having seasons is the seasonal activities. One of which being Cider Mills! Last Monday my roommate Kate and I went to a couple of cider mills. Shortly after I moved here I started hearing people talk about these cider mills and the more I heard the more I wanted to go to one. For one, I heard they had cider which the grocery stores also have but it doesn't get better than getting it straight from the source and I also heard they have homemade doughnuts and well, lets me honest once I heard that I was hooked on the idea. We had a little break from school and took advantage of it by going to not only one but TWO cider mills. They were great! From the first one I got three doughnuts, some cider, and some corn kernels to make popcorn with. The first one didn't have a whole lot going one since one of their big things is apple picking and apparently we were told the apples fell early this year so there were no more on the tree. We were a little bummed but were able to find another cider mill not to far away that was a little bigger. The second one had some fun picture spots, a little farm type thing, and a store where I bought another doughnut. We were also able to watch the whole doughnut making process which was cool. Bottom line cider mills are great and would be a very fun family activity. I kept wishing I could bring all my cousins and family there, to bad we don't have them in California!

Doughnuts fresh out of the maker. They were soooo good.

Making doughnuts. YUM!

Bags and bags of apples. I had just got a bunch at the store so I didn't get any but they all looked great!

Michigan roads in general are pretty crappy but they also seem to have a lot of dirt roads which have LOTS AND LOTS of holes in them. We had to go on one of these lovely dirt roads to get to the cider mills and I was cringing the whole time. This picture does not do it justice but seriously it was like being on the Indian Jones ride at disneyland. I was feeling very bad for the mini.

Leaves Leaves Everywhere...

These past couple of weeks have flown by. School has picked up, the Michigan vs. MSU game came and went, and the weather has definitely been changing. The past two weekends have been extra sunny which has been a very nice surprise from mother nature considering that during the week it has been around the low 50's high 40's. I find myself as I go about my daily life wondering how I am going to do certain things and how much more time they are going to take once winter comes. My roommate Courtney and I were talking the other day and she graciously informed me that every so often your car door freezes shut... yeah, WHAT? I feel like I already wake up far to early in the morning on internship days and now to be told that I will have to take extra time driving to internship to ensure I don't wreck my car and I will have to start my car a good 15 minutes before I leave and get all the snow off of it. Did I mention we have to shovel the snow off our sidewalk (we also live on a corner which means we have double the side walk). Wow winter is going to be very time consuming. I have already planned out my life so that I only have to leave the house by car on the days that I have internship. I will just have to do all my shopping and everything else on those days as well.

On a happier note, fall here in Michigan is absolutely beautiful. There are leaves everywhere and I mean everywhere and by now most of the trees that are going to change colors have and they are amazing to look at. I tried to take some pictures to show all you Californians since we don't really do the whole season thing but really the pictures don't do it justice.

And now on to the Michigan vs. Michigan State game. Well, as I have mentioned before football here is insane, but I hadn't seen anything until the Michigan Vs. MSU game. There were THOUSANDS of people here. There are so many people here that it wipes out the cell service and if you are anywhere near the stadium good luck using your cell phone. There were over a 113,000 people in the stadium that day and the energy was out of this world. Unfortunately we lost so I can't even imagine what it would have been like if we had been doing better. Here are some pictures from that day.

This cute man was standing outside of one of the many entrances into the stadium. This little sign says 1 ticket. He was just so cute I had to get him in a picture. Also, like this man it seems like people only every shout out the amount of tickets and fail to say if they are looking for them or selling them. Maybe I am just not educated enough about the world of scalping but I am always very confused.

It is kind of hard to see what is going on here but that car is in the front yard of some frat house and the car is painted green and white (Michigan State's colors) and says MSU all over it. People were taking turns with the sledge hammer and well you get the picture....insane but awesome.

This is pretty much what the streets/slash houses looked like: people, music, and lots of beer.

These last two are obviously from within the stadium. It was a fun game despite our loss.

Fairy doors, cupcakes, and being thousand of miles from home...

This week was probably the hardest one I have had here in Ann Arbor. For a few days, I was overcome with the fact that I am thousands of miles from home and from anyone I know and anyone who really knows me. It has been hard to accept that sometimes I am going to feel lonely and there is no aunts houses to go to and hangout with cousins, or dad's business to go and read people magazine at, nor are there those "places" like the cross and the beach that bring comfort. I am not very patient when it comes to accepting that making good friends and finding those "go-to places" takes time. I since have snapped out of the lonely feeling and have decided to really work on accepting that these things take time and that maybe in the mean time I am supposed to learn something from this whole "alone" feeling.

On a brighter note, this Friday I discovered an "Ann Arbor" thing that is quite interesting. My roommate Courtney and I were on main street walking to the cupcake store after having a lovely dinner at the Brewing Company when I spotted what looked like a tiny little door in a wall. Some people were crowded around it and I really didn't think that much of it, mostly because I was very caught off guard by it. At some point I said something to Courtney and she ever so casually said, "Oh it's a fairy door".......ummmm what? I asked question after question wondering what the heck these things are for and why in the world they exist and all she kept saying was "I donno, they are just fairy doors." On our way back to the car she took me to another fairy door sight.

In this particular case the fairy door is right next to the big door however this is not always the case.

And here it is up close. Still I am wondering WHY in the world these doors exist. From what I have read so far a man in 1993 discovered these fairy doors in his house that was over a 100 years old when he did some remodeling. Since he discovered them people have put their own fairy doors in various places. There will be more on these fairy doors because I am determined to go on a little fairy door hunt.

I also must confess in this blog post that I have become a cupcakeaholic. It is an addiction I plan to do nothing about. Today, Kate and I went to our favorite cupcake store Just Baked and were pleasantly surprised to find a "All cupcakes $1" sign out front. Since we were already going to spend around $6 on cupcakes, we decided to buy 6 and wow was that a good choice.

Anyone who comes to visit me I will buy you a cupcake!!!

GO BLUE!

Since last time I updated, I have been to two football games in the Big House and let me tell you, it is BIG. It is so big that the field looks small, and well unless you follow the ball from the very beginning of the play (and even then it's hard) good luck trying to find it. The Friday before last weekend, aka the Friday before my first game, Kate and I drove by the local high school while out and about and there were campers and RV's camped out and ready to tailgate and cheer on Michigan. It felt like it was out of the movies. These people travel from all over the state, park their RV's at the local high school (only a few blocks from the stadium) or wherever for that matter, families in tow to participate in the legacy of Michigan football. Walking to the game there are hundreds of people and people of all ages, the young the old alike wearing their maize and blue and more than likely drinking beer and screaming "GO BLUE." Once you actually make it into the stadium it is like you are in a whole other world. At my first game there were 110,187 people in attendance. That is nearly the size of Ventura. Wow. The student section stands the whole game throwing people in the air periodically and cheering at the top of their lungs. To experience it has been a pleasure.

Courtney (one of my roommates) and I before the game.

An another note, fall is coming! The leaves are starting to change colors and I am loving it. It is seriously so pretty and other than the mess the leaves falling everywhere leave it is beautiful.

Kate took this picture while we were driving and from my phone so it isn't the best but it is what a lot of the trees look like right now. Every once in a while I will pass a tree that is completely red or orange and it is kind of breath taking. I think I am going to like this season!

When I ended my internship last year I never could have imagined how much I would miss doing social work. For some people seeing the awful and unjust things that are common in the field leave them feeling defeated and sad. What I have realized after taking a break this summer and now being back in it for the past two weeks is that it makes me feel alive in a way that I'm unsure words could explain. On my first day I attended a case consultation and though the cases that were presented were frustrating, hard, and even tear jerking I could feel a part of me waking up. A part of me that had gone into hibernation over summer and a part of me I didn't realize I had missed as much as I had. It is easy in my everyday life to forget about what else is out there and while the things that remind me are hard to both see and hear I am happy to be reminded.

Suttons Bay Weekend

This past weekend felt like the perfect way to end the summer. In California it seems we measure our summer months by when school ends and when school begins. In Michigan summer seems to end when the 90 degree days suddenly turn into 60 degree days. This past weekend really felt like the end of summer as Kate's (my roommate) parents started pulling the boats and dock out of the water for the winter, and we started digging through the coat closet to pull out what would be needed for the months to come.

On Friday, Kate and I stocked up on road trip snacks and began the four hour journey that would lead to a weekend filled with new experiences! Before we left Kate had told me that her dad wanted to take us fishing. I have never been fishing, that I can remember, and I was excited to try it. When we got up there we packed up a cooler and set out to do some "trolling." Both of her parents seemed pretty sure that we would not be catching any fish. Maybe it was beginners luck but I caught a 18 pound Salmon! It was both exciting and way more challenging than I had through. I still have a bruise on my stomach from where the pole rested.

Kate's dad telling me what to do!

I have to admit I got a case of the giggles

After we caught him we tied him to the side of the boat and I was starting to feel bad for him, who actually ended up being a her. Her mouth was moving and the poor thing took forever to die.

Kate and I after the successful catch!

There she is!

Trying to hold this thing was the hardest thing ever! It was slimy and very very heavy!

So we ended up smoking the salmon but this is before that whole process. There was so much!

On Saturday it rained the whole day so we explored the town a little bit in the morning and then watched the football game (GO BLUE!) and relaxed. That night we went to a restaurant where I tried smelt fish for the first time. Good thing it was fried because apparently when eating smelt you eat the whole fish minus the head aka tail and all ewww, but I had to try it!

Sunday was a little windy but a beautiful day so I was able to take some pictures. So here is where I spent my weekend and will be spending my Thanksgiving!

This is from the stairs right across the road from Kate's house.

And this is zoomed in a little bit but is taken from Kate's deck. The water is unbelievable! The teal water is really shallow and goes out for quite a while. Then, the point that is dark blue is the drop off point. I can't wait to swim here next summer!

Heading North

I am almost done with my first week of real life here in Michigan. I have gone to internship for my 16 hours a week and I have gone to two of my four classes. I have one more class tomorrow and then I am going on my first little weekend adventure to see the northern part of Michigan.

I will be traveling to a little town that looks something like this

My roommate Kate is from Suttons Bay and is being gracious enough to take me home with her for the weekend. I have looked at some pictures of this lake front town and have been itching to check it out, not to mention be by some body of water again, even if it is a lake and not the ocean. While I am very excited to go I am finding a side of me that is surprisingly going to miss my new home/room in Ann Arbor. I have only been here for two weeks now but apparently I am more attached that even I was aware of.

Here are just a few little peeks at my humble abode

It is actually quite difficult to take a good/whole picture of the room so hopefully this paints somewhat of a picture.

See you on Sunday Ann Arbor! I will miss you!

"It's a Michigan thing"

I have been living in Ann Arbor for 12 days and while at first I wanted to get on the plane back to California with my mom, I am growing to love it. I am learning all the Michigan things, like weird hanging lights, indoor tracks at any and every gym, Michigan time (aka your classes start 10 min past the time they say they start), the subtle accent that now my roommates are insisting I have. My school is only a short walk from my house and in between is pretty much everything I need. Thus once winter comes I will only need to drive to and from internship and to and from the grocery store, hopefully I can survive that much.

Last Friday my wonderful roommate and I roamed around the city and she introduced me to Cupcake Station aka my safe haven for the next year.

Peanut Butter cupcake! Yum

On Saturday I went to my first football game and realized the full blown craziness that occurs on home game days here in Ann Arbor. The streets were filled with people and there are parties, music, and maize and blue colors everywhere. The whole day was super fun and I am looking forward to the next game!

Today was my first day of internship and while I am absolutely terrified to drive there in the snow I enjoyed my first day and I am very excited to start. Kate took this "first day of internship" picture of me :)

Also today, Kate and I went on a little shopping/dinner date. I bought some snow gear which I am beyond excited to wear.

Tomorrow classes start and I am excited and looking forward to them!!!!