Photos are brilliant

and I enjoy taking them.  

I do it for fun and just discovered that our campus has a lot of great places to shoot photos.

Take a look...

Easter Break aka 2nd Spring Break

The beautiful thing about going to a Catholic University is that they celebrate Easter.  We were given an Easter vacation that lasted from Thursday (April 21) to Monday (April 25).  A lot of students went home, but I decided to stick around campus for a few days because I had a friend come down to visit me from Chapman University.  We hung out around campus and she was definitely impressed at how beautiful this school truly is.  

On Easter Sunday, we even had brunch at La Gran Terraza, the fine dining restaurant on campus.  It was delicious!  And the best part, they take dining dollars.  Meaning we can use our meal plans to pay for these fine dining meals!

On Monday, I went to Disneyland with my friend Dana, who also attends USD.  We had such a fun time and it was great since the lines were so short!  Our campus is located only about an hour south of Disneyland so the drive isn't bad at all and we're hoping to go again very soon, especially since we both have annual passes!

Kickin It Hawaiian Style

 My sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, along with the brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon hosted our sixth annual "Kickin It" Soccer Tournament to raise money for Julian's House, a local center for victims of domestic violence.
The event was a huge success thanks to all the teams that participated.  It was a great day to host the event and reminded me of my favorite reason why I love San Diego...the weather, of course!

After the tournament, I rushed over to the UC Forums to the People of the Islands Luau.  Although I have never felt homesick during my time here at USD, I do appreciate Hawaii and the culture and unique place that I come from.  So, it was really nice to be able to dance hula and tahitian again and eat some delicious local food!

The luau ended with a concert by a reggae band called "The Green".  A lot of my friends from the mainland hadn't heard of them before, but they are EXTREMELY POPULAR in Hawaii, so it was a big deal that we got to hear them perform right in front of us.  

Go Padres!

 Coming from a state with ZERO professional sports teams, I have never been to a real game.  That's why I jumped at the chance to watch the Padres take on the Dodgers at Petco Park.  USD sold its students tickets for only $8!

We were seated in great seats in the all you can eat section.  What a deal!  They even had buses that took us to and from the park and campus.
And because the game the night before had to stop early due to the weather, we technically saw two games for the price of one.  It was sweet!

My friends and I had such a fun time watching the game and we're hoping to make it out there more often!

Fighting Back Together and Never Ever Giving Up Hope

Cancer NEVER sleeps.
                                  So neither did we.


For 24 hours, the USD community camped out on and walked around the Valley Field in support of the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life.  The event raised over $40,000, but more importantly, it raised awareness within the community about cancer.

 I participated on the Alpha Chi Omega team and we were able to raise $4,575 as a team!  We had the second largest team total at Relay.

Earlier in the week, I organized a fundraiser at Urbane Cafe which is down the road from campus.  A bunch of students came out to eat sandwiches and support a good cause, and through that we were able to raise $400.  


This event is really special to me, because I currently know someone who is suffering through Breast Cancer.  I walked in support for her.  Many of the other girls in my sorority, as well as all the other supporters of Relay, had incredible stories and reasons for why they were there, so it was nice to see the USD community working together and supporting each other.

Being out there was a nice change to the typical Friday night routine.  My friends and I played volleyball and soccer on the field and teamed up with some of the boys from Beta Theta Pi to literally "relay" for life around the field.  It was fun, but made me realize that I am way too out of shape to be sprinting!

 On Saturday morning, our friend Jesus, aka DJ Swish, played at the event.  He did a great job and got everyone pumped to circle the track.

The Asian Student Association also had participants make a 1,000 paper cranes that will hopefully be hung up in the Student Life Pavilion to raise awareness for the American Cancer Society and to be displayed as a sign of hope to those currently fighting the vicious illness.

Overall, the event was a huge success in not only raising money, but getting people involved. 

Although this was my first time participating in a Relay, I can't wait to walk again next year.

Greek Week 2011

Every fraternity and sorority (and even the Rugby team) went head to head to compete in Greek Week 2011 which was Disney Themed!  Each day of the week had a different excited and challenging activity for the sororities and fraternities to compete in.  Each sorority was paired up with a fraternity, and Theta was paired up with the Rugby team.

On Tuesday, we all went out to the Manchester field to play a bunch of different "Disney" themed games.  There was a tricycle race, sponge pass, and even a tug of war.  On Wednesday, we all participated in a letter writing event to fundraise for St. Judd's.  We wrote letters to our friends and families after hearing stories from a child that had just received help from St. Judd's.  It was so inspirational and everyone had a blast stuffing their envelopes while devouring pizza and soda.

 But it all came down to....SKITS!
Each pairing had to perform a skit with a disney theme.  We were paired with Lambda Chi Alpha.  Our skit was about Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber putting on a contest to see who could make the best music video using a song from a Disney Channel original movie.  We did dances from the Cheetah Girls, the Kim Possible Movie, Zenon, and LifeSize.  It was so much fun!  The best part was seeing what everyone else was creative enough to come up with.  The Kappas and SigEp won with an AWESOME skit!  They used their dancers really well and they did a great job!
But overall, we placed SECOND in all of Greek Week!  So proud of my AXO's! :)

As Greek Week came to a close, I spent Saturday morning at the beach watching the powderpuff tournament put on by Alpha Phi and Lambda Chi Alpha.  It was pretty intense!  Most of the teams had matching uniforms and came to win!
Alpha Chi also had a 4Pack with Theta, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and PhiKap.  A 4Pack is a dance with two sororities and two fraternities.  It was a lot of fun to mix it up with the different chapters on campus.  The theme was toon town and I dressed up as Hello Kitty.

 This may sound like a BUSY week, which it definitely was, but it was also a lot of fun!  And I was even able to play in my first intramural softball game!  By no means am I athletic, but I did hit the ball and made it to home plate!  It was really exciting!

Overall, as hectic as it was, I can't wait for Greek Week 2011!!  It's always great when the Greek Community comes together to work hard and play hard!

Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend, the spirit team traveled with the men's and women's basketball team to Las Vegas for the WCC Basketball Tournament.  Although the men's team lost during the first round, the women made it to the semifinals.  They were AMAZING and we were so proud of how well they played.  The Women's team played St. Mary's during the semifinals and only lost by 3 points!  It was heartbreaking, but they are such great athletes we were so proud to cheer for them!

We also had time to walk the strip.  Although I had been to Vegas tons of times before, it was the first time for a lot of the girls on the team.  So, we were able to explore Vegas and see all the pretty lights on the strip.  It was an amazing weekend and once in a lifetime opportunity to cheer in the Conference.