Relay for Life and Antonia's visit

Today and yesterday I have been busy! Last night I participated in Relay for Life, a walk that raises cancer awareness. I have been interested in cancer awareness since my aunt was diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago. Last fall (Sept 2008), my mom lost one of her best friends from high school to breast cancer. In January, I emailed my friends and family asking them for donations. Some of my friends and I were on a team together, and had a goal of raising $1000. Although we did not raise this exact amount, we reached about 75% of our goal. I raised a total of $645, thanks to generous donations of family members and friends. I was especially touched on Friday that my favorite English professor made a donation to the cause.

The event itself lasted from 6PM yesterday to noon today. The ceremonies included prayers, introductions and guest speakers (a professor who is a cancer survivor and a parent of a UP alum who lost her youngest daughter to leukima) We also walked around the track, and teams had different booths with food and goodies to help raise money. Since my friend Antonia is going to Univeristy of Oregon (in Eugene), she and her mom drove there from Berkeley to attend a prospective student day. I invited her to spend the night with me, and we had a fabulous time together. We walked 11 laps, met my friends, ate a pint of Haagen-Daaz chocolate peanut butter ice cream, wrote a letter to our friend Megan (who is an au pair in the Netherlands), and explored campus. As luck would have it, we were walking from my dorm to the Cove (cafe in the student center), when we saw my English professor driving in his convertible. I introduced Antonia to him, and she was excited to finally meet him. I've told her so much about him, the first thing she said was "I've heard a lot about you."

My aunt Wendy (dad's sis) was diagnosed with colon cancer (fall 2005), so I took the picture on the right for her


Darling Daisies plus Antonia (L-R): Antonia,
Me, Dana (team captian), Traci, Kaelyn,
MacKenzie, and Ruth (team captian)


Antonia and I relaxing


We shared a pint of Haagen-Daaz chocolate
peanut butter ice cream. Delicious!


Roomies for life!

On an academic note, I'm getting to the home strech. Tomorrow night officially begins Dead Week, which means longer quiet hours in the dorms and intense studying. I have four more days left of classes. Since my psych prof is going to a conference Thursday, we don't have class. I'm ditching bio that day because we'll be reviewing for the test and I'm writing a paper instead. Plus it would be pointless for me to get up early when I don't have to go to class the next day. I'm coming home May 1st, so I will be in Portland for 12 more days. I'm really sad to leave my friends, but will be happy to have a break from school for four months.