Tag: friends

Unforgettable Summer.

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Summer vacation would never be better than spending time in a big city like New York.

I personally always consider the Big Apple an artist. She paints herself into a large, colorful picture that embraces different views and various culture.

However, instead of hanging out and having fun in the crowded city, my summer was mostly spent at a more academic spot –NYU.

Before my summer started, I applied to NYU’s precollege program and  waited a long time to start the exciting experience.

When I arrived at the campus, which consisted of lots of different buildings located around the Washington Square, my heart started to beat strongly and eagerly. God, I do love this place.

Then my six-week school prgram started. Just like colleges, each student had their own schedules and for me, as I applied to the journalism program, I chose “Report in NY” and “Multimedia Journalism” in order to get a more professional experience as a journalist.

The classes went well. For the Multimedia class, we stepped outside the classroom and shot pictures and videos, and interviewed people -basically everything about the topic of the story we were dealing with. As for me, I did a profile story on a subway musician at Times Square Station; a story about the heat in the city and how the weather affected people’s lives; and a review story on the CNN Tour we went on as a class. My favorite -or my most successful- project was the final which was about, “Dining at NYU.”

It was a brand new experience for me to present news via multimedia ways. I learned a lot about shooting skills, and the editing process of videos and what should be shown or not shown. Six weeks were absolutely not enough to become super good at it, but at least I got a unique opportunity to start something valuable.

Walking around in NY with my camera shooting the life of the city, has been my dream for a long time, and it came true. I did enjoy it.

“Report in NY” class was more traditional compared to the other one. We found stories by ourselves and did all the interviews and edited them until it reached the perfect level.

The most part I liked about NY was that it was not hard at all to find stories. Things were happening all the time around us. The city was busy and so as the people.

Talking to different people and listening to their stories only made me more obsessed with journalism. Because I do want to share them with others and let more people know about the world around us. And I guess that’s what I’ve learned this summer.

Besides studying, I also went to other places in the city to relax. It’s New York, as long as you are in the city, it would never be boring.

My summer was busy with classes but at the same time, I felt fortunate to learn something new, to meet new friends, and to get more knowledge about New York.

It was a life-long unforgettable experience for me and I will miss that purple place very much.

Hello, Love, Goodbye.

eternity1030Leave a comment

Dear Junior year,
Hello! Hope everything is going well with you.

I really haven’t noticed that you are leaving me shortly. Therefore, I want to thank you for this fantastic whole school year.

I still remember the first day we met. I was nervous because I thought you would be a tough year. As I expected, you were difficult.

However, you were not as horrible as I imagined even though there were hard AP classes, homework, SAT and so on.

I became the junior class rep this year which was such an awarding experience.

We had “Team Competition” and my team the “Eagles” got second place for the first semester and the third place for the end of the school year. We had the funnest event of the year – Spuds Fest and I had great time.

Starting in September this year, I ran the Crosscountry for my very first time in my life. That was hard indeed. I wanted to challenge myself and fortunately, I did it. For the first time, I felt I was actually faster than a lot of people. I found confidence.

This year I also started journalism class for the first time. I felt so lucky that I actually enjoyed the class. We found and wrote stories. I learned how to look at the world differently.

Life is a story, and the best way to learn it is to write it.

Sincerely,
SX

Dear Junior year,
Love.

I was lucky enough to meet lots of new people this year and they were all lovely friends who colored my year with laughters and joy.

From you, my junior year, I felt I had become closer with our community. You brought me courage and confidence to talk to people more openly and comfortably.

But why you taught me a lesson by hurting me though?
Why did you take him away and told me brutally that love did not equal to ownership?

And then I realized that love had no right or wrong indeed. You were correct, some people were supposed to come into your life, taught you something and then left. So don’t worry about me, I’ll be ok.

Then our junior class organized a fairly successful prom with a theme of “Candy Land.” I had great fun with my friends and that was an unforgettable and “sweet” time.

After the prom, I headed to New York and Chicago for my spring break. That was a trip to heal my heart.

Days always got busy after the break. AP tests, finals and tons of projects were thrown to me.

But overall, thank you to make me feel love.
I grew up a lot.

Love,
SX

Dear Junior year,
Goodbye.

You’ve given me so much more than I could remember.
And then you told me it’s time to move on to the next station and Senior year is waiting for me.

Please remember me like I would never forget you.
Take care and farewell.

I’ll miss you, my Junior year.

Yours,
SX

It’s a Whole New Year

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Most people measure their years beginning and ending at New Year’s Eve. But when you’re in school, Summer marks the beginning of a new year. You have three months off, to relax, sleep, recuperate from the endless studies and homework. Then in the fall, you go back to school and you start a new year.

Some people never want the year to end. They want to stay near their friends, and they don’t want things to change.

For me, it’s different.

At the beginning of every year I’m excited for what it will bring. For the new friends I will make, and the new things that I’ll learn. But a couple months in, I start getting tired. Tired of school, and of a lot of the people at school.

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True Friends

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

I think a lot of people, including myself, struggle with the concept of friendship. What does it mean to be a friend? What the difference between friends and best friends? How should a friendship play into the romantic relationships in your life? In all honesty, I think the answers to these the questions depend on each individual person. Friendship may mean something entirely different to someone else than what it means to you.

To me, and this is just my opinion on the matter, friendship means knowing someone so well that you can laugh at each other, know what they’re thinking based on the look on their face, support them through hard times and all the times they make the absolute worst decision possible.

A best friend is when you tell someone things you never tell anyone else. You laugh with each other, spend time with each other whenever you can, listen withought judging, and can buy the perfect birthday present no problemo. All because you know that person so well, you know their reasoning behind their actions, and eventually you start to see eye to eye with them. And when someone else criticizes your best friend you immediately jump to their defense, not because the voice in the back of your head is telling you to, but because even though they have made terrible mistakes, you know why, and you can honestly stand up for them no matter what. And a best friend doesn’t care if you third wheel, in fact, they relish it. You know without a doubt you are an important part of their life. That is a best friend, and what it means to be a best friend.

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Drama, Drama, Drama

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

As you would expect of a dorm filled with girls, there is a lot of drama here at OVS, and probably more than usual because of the small size of the student body. We’re all friends in the girls dorm. Sure, you get the couple of girls who absolutely hate each other, or the few that don’t bother to speak to the rest. But I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re all here for each other.

That being said, I don’t understand how we can be so awful to one another. It begins with the infamous Freshman drama, which I am ashamed to say I played a part in last year. But looking back now, I see that we argued over the most pointless things we could possibly have thought of. And this years Freshman class is doing the exact same thing.

After the Freshman drama comes the realization of who your real friends are. I imagined this as being a mental process you think about inside your head, and don’t necessarily talk about to other people. After all, talking smack about others is the root of pretty much all the problems.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. I thought the cattiness would end after last year, but it’s far from it. I sit on my bed and watch a stream of girls come into my room to talk to my roommate, either about their drama or hers. I honestly can’t keep up with it all.

We all live together. We go to school together. We eat together, sleep in the same building, use the same showers. We know each other so well, and if we tried we could all be as close as sisters. We just all have to learn to get along. I understand that it isn’t easy when you throw a bunch of hormonal teenage girls into the same radius. But instead of tearing each other apart, we need to learn to live together and start letting things go.

My Second Family

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

As I step off the plane, my friend texts me: “Welcome home!” Normally, I wouldn’t even think twice about this. I would respond saying thank-you, and how excited I was to be home. Only this time, I paused for a second. I had to think twice about it.

I spend the majority of my time here at OVS. I live here, I go to school here. And at some point, withought me even realizing it, I started thinking of it as home.

My family is in Colorado, and when I’m on break that’s where I go. Aspen is beautiful, but at the same time it’s hard for me to be there. The friends I had while going to school there I have grown apart from.

It’s hard to go from living in the dorm, where almost all of my friends are around me 24/7, to Aspen where I don’t have very many people to connect with. When I came to school here my friends slowly became best friends, and from there they morphed into a second family.

Image.

And while I miss being home at times, when I’m home I miss being at school.

So when my friend texted me that welcome home message at the beginning of break, I thought to myself that it’s just one of my homes. The home where my family is. But my life, my life is back in California.

The Happiest Place on Earth

callmemaybe32Leave a comment

So, much like a fellow writer, I too took a trip to Disneyland this past weekend.

It has been about a year since I had been to Disneyland, and I was glad I got the chance to go.

We left Ojai early in the morning in the pouring rain.

When we got to Disneyland it was cloudy, but not quite cold enough to wear a jacket around so I ended up carrying mine most of the day.

I spent the whole day hoping it would get cold so that I could put on my jacket and stop holding it.

So when we got the park I was with two very close friends of mine, Sarah and Cameron.

We took this trip to celebrate Sarah’s mother’s birthday.

When we got the the park her parents split off from us and another friend met us at the park.

We walked around for a bit and then Gavin, Sarah’s brother, met us to surprise his mom for her birthday.

The surprise ended up working perfectly.

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South America Bound, Jack Marcus’s Journey to Chile

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South America Bound!.

^^^^^Here is a great blog from a very close friend of mine.

I have known Jack since we were younger, but we became close friends my freshman year of high school.

I am also close to his younger brother Peter, and we spent many great days and nights together.

I am incredibly proud to have a friend who has the guts to pack up and go to a country where he can’t really speak the language, and leave all major civilization for nine months to be in Patagonia.

File:Cuernos del Paine from Lake Pehoé.jpg

This isn’t his first adventure out of the country alone, his sophomore year he spent a semester in Israel, learning Hebrew, and embracing the life of a jew in Israel.

He loved living in Israel, and while Israel and Chile are very different places, I am sure Jack will love it.

Jack is not known for speaking Spanish, really, he doesn’t at all, and when he does it provokes a good laugh.

Although I have been unable to spend time with him in the past few months, I will be thinking about him through his journey, and hope to go visit him at some point in South America along his journey.

I will keep him in my thoughts, and hope all goes well.

I am sure when he gets back he will have plenty to tell, and hopefully some pictures.

While you cannot read this Jack, stay safe and have fun, we will be thinking about you back at home!

I am sure you will spread your odd humor and good vibes to all the people you are with.

Adios Hermano!

Back to Reality

moustachulousLeave a comment

Camping with third graders can be quite the experience. I went with a small group of seven third graders for three days and two nights. Wednesday morning, I woke up earlier than I usually do to get ready to get camping. I was at the Floyd’s house helping Mrs. Floyd pack up food for her camping trip. Mrs. Floyd, Connor, Taylor, and myself all drove down to Lower Campus to meet our classes. I show up to the Third Grade class ready to go and I see some familiar faces. I see Alex, daughter of Mr. Alvarez, Hayden, who was my reading buddy in 7th grade, and Ryan, a kid who went to OVS Summer Camp this past summer.  It was quite funny to see some of their reactions when they figured out that I was going camping with them. The two girls in the class ran up and hugged me, while all the boys stood there with an expression of disappointment on their faces. We load up the truck with camping supplies and pile into the bus for the hour and a half drive to El Refugio State Beach.

We arrive at our campsite for the next three days with excitement. Personally, I think I was more excited than the kids were. Basically the first day we just set up our tents and then hung out at the beach all day. We had burgers for dinner and sat around the campfire doing improv. I sat in my tent reading while all the kids were playing in their tents before bed.

The next morning I woke up to the sound of a freight train. I wasn’t very happy about that. We had eggs and sausage for breakfast. We packed up for the day to hang out with the fourth graders at another beach. It was really fun. All the kids got to hang out with their friends from fourth grade. I also got to hang out with my friend Connor all day Thursday.  After the beach, we had quesadillas for dinner and s’mores around the campfire. We had an early night that night. I was so tired I don’t even remember getting into my sleeping bag.

The next morning we ate breakfast and packed up- tents and all. Then we had a last walk down the beach before lunch. We got back to camp, had hot dogs for lunch and put all of our stuff back in the truck to go home.

The drive back seem so long. It was actually shorter than the one on the way there. I didn’t want to go back to school because I didn’t really want to do homework, but I did do some while I was camping. Anyways, we get back on campus and unpack and all of that. I’m waiting for Mrs. Floyd with Connor and Taylor. Taylor and Connor were exhausted and then there was me just like “Oh hey I’m perfectly fine, I actually want to go back.” All they said was “Jenna, you had seven kids.” Anyways, we drove back up the hill and I was glad to be able to see my roommate and my friends again. Everyone was still in sports when I got to the dorms, so I just relaxed, took a shower and did some homework. I walked downstairs to get some water and I find Nicole, my lovely and sweaty roommate who just came back from volleyball practice. She attacked me and gave me a big hug. At that point, it reminded me why I go to OVS- for the people I love and the people that love me. We are all one big family here and it is not the same when one person is gone.

(Sorry that this is like a week after camping, but better late than never.)

My Best Friend

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

At the age of two, my parents took me to visit my aunt and uncle at their ranch in Montana. We were sitting on the lawn waiting for them to arrive, and I got up and walked into the pasture. Instead of jumping up to save me, my parents decided to stay put and see what would happen.

I eventually began learning to ride, first in a western saddle at Bar 20 Ranch in Montana, but once we moved to London for two years I switched to an English saddle. It’s been 12 years now, and I’ve gone from barely being able to sit on a horse to jumping 3’9″ fences.

I got my first pony when I was eight, and it was the horse I’d been riding for two or three years at the time. I woke up Christmas morning, at the crack of dawn to the disappointment of my parents, and we opened the presents under the tree. Then my mom suggested we go to the barn to give Razz, the horse, some Christmas carrots. When we got there, my trainer led her out of her stall. She had a red bow stuck to her forehead and streamers around her neck. She was my Christmas present.

I rode Razz until she was too old to continue competing, and then we retired her to my aunt and uncle’s ranch. From there came a couple other ponies, all of whom I loved dearly but outgrew quickly. And then finally I graduated to a horse, Time.

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