Cali

Oh how I miss In N Out!!!! And my puppy :)
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Hello cold

Time for the knee length down jacket...22 this morning with a wind chill that made it feel like 9!!!
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Happy Holidays

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Happy Thanksgiving

I have been extremely busy the past month with finishing midterms and then getting ready for finals. My mom came to spend a long weekend, which was so much fun and I was able to show her around this city I now call home. We went to all the tourist places and a few local places I like. It was great to see her, and I was sad when she had to leave. I am in the midst of finals, 2.5 weeks left of school and 6 LONG papers to write before I get a break. I am not looking forward to the next few weeks, but am trying to focus on my trip home for Christmas. My internship is getting more demanding too, I am now in charge of a lunch group with 5 trouble-causing 4th graders and then still see my 4 children individually. We are also raising money for the schools annual holiday drive so that the children can get not only toys, but also the necessary warm clothes that some of their parents can not afford to buy. This last month I have started to make some new friends and hang out with them on the weekends when I do not have school or work, but will more than likely not see any of them until I come back from California because the next few weeks I will be lucky to get a good nights sleep with these papers.

I was here for Thanksgiving which was a little weird, first time without the family. My friend Karianne from back home actually came out and spent the week here to go to a information session for a doctoral program she is applying to in NYC, and she spent Thanksgiving with me. It was nice to have a familiar face and not be alone on Thanksgiving. I cooked us a turkey (my first one ever) and a few other "thanksgiving day side dishes" and we had our own little Thanksgiving. Not much new here in NY, it's starting to get cooler and all the leaves have fallen off the trees now, it was so pretty to actually have a fall and see leaves change color this year! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and I will write again after finals are over!

bye for now <3

Halloween

Cop, White and Orange Tiger :)

Midterms!!

Sorry I haven't written for a while. Midterms took all my free time. I am in 4 classes and an internship, so over the last 2 weeks I have had 4 papers due, which doesn't sound that bad but the amount of time that was needed for research and interviews and prepping for the paper and then actually writing it was so much more time consuming than expected. I am defiantly hitting that brick wall of not caring right now, usually happens around midterms for me, but I will be back running full force next week since I do not have any papers due next week. I do have another one in 2 weeks and then finals are only 5 weeks away! I can't believe that I am almost done with my first semester of graduate school! My internship is going great, I really enjoy it and working with the kids, I read for classes on the subway ride there and back and am getting busier and busier during the day there. I am now seeing 3 kids individually and am working with the problem children in a 2nd grade class every day that I am there. I bring them over to a table so they get more one on one attention. We are also putting together a presentation for parents to help them decide the best middle school for their children. I pretty much do not have much free time besides that. I did go out for Halloween this past weekend and dressed up as a cop. It was so packed and crazy in NYC, people just walking in the middle of the streets because the sidewalks were so full that the group I went out with all ended up coming home really early so I didn't get to enjoy the whole night like I had thought, but I still had a great time. I babysat for a family 3 weeks ago, for their 3 month old and I may actually start working for them on a more regular basis, they called today and asked what my weekly schedule looked like and would like to set something up with me. That would be great to get some extra cash flow because the loan money is going quickly, even though I don't feel like I spend often, this city is just so expensive. That's about it here from NYC I've been posting new pics on: http://picasaweb.google.com/cmwright121 More to come early next week! My mom is coming into town for a long weekend tomorrow and I am excited to show her around the city I now call home!

bye for now <3

Fall

Sand art in Union Square and the view of the fall colors from my room
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It must be fall

The ice rink at Rockefeller center opened today! So excited to see an outdoor ice rink!!
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Internship

So I have lived out here in NYC for almost 2 months now. I know my way around the city pretty well and can get to most places in Manhattan by walking or taking the subway. I go out adventuring and exploring alot, but because of my budget I do alot of looking and not much of the fun stuff. This is the city full of massive amounts of restaurants, and everyone is always wanting to go out to dinner or brunch. I unfortunately can't do that often because I still haven't been able to find a part time job. I do go out however sometimes and just don't eat and just enjoy the company. I can't decide if I will actually get a part time job because I am thinking I will not have enough time or energy to work after classes or my internship. I am finally starting to make some friends which is really nice, and have met a few great people in classes that I will hopefully hang out with soon. School is overwhelming, I am finally learning how to mange my time and not read ALL the readings assigned. Second year students tried to tell us it is impossible, and I am realizing now that they are right. I pick and choose which readings to do and may have to do a bit more when midterms come around. Luckily midterms and finals are only papers, so I don't have to study for any tests at all. Midterms are in 2 weeks, half way done with my first semester in 2 weeks! So crazy, time is going by quickly.

I FINALLY got my internship (2 weeks late) on Wednesday. After a long battle with the internship office they finally found me a placement at a elementary school up in the Bronx. Today was my first day and I am exhausted. The experience was overwhelming and it will continue to be like that for the first 2-3 weeks. Today I just observed different classes and was to keep an eye on certain students and interact with the all the students keeping in mind the ones I was to pay more attention to. I will do this for a while and ultimately I will have 5-6 students I see individually a week for therapy, and then will run a few group therapy sessions. They mainly use play therapy and behavioral therapy with the children. I am so excited and nervous to start the therapy sessions, but I happy where I have been placed for my internship since ultimately I want to work with children. Although I'm in this great city I am spending most of my time doing school work and am not able to enjoy all the great things it has to offer, but I am trying to allow myself a day off from school a week to get out and go exploring.

It is fall and wow it is cold! I am not going to survive winter!!! I guess they said that these are abnormally low tempatures that we have had for this time of year the past few days, but it was about the tempature that our "winter" in California. I wore a sweater and a jacket and wished I owned gloves to wear because my hands got cold. I need to go to TJ Maxx or somewhere to get some winter clothing, and soon because I think cold weather will be here sooner than I thought!

Ok bed time for me, I can't believe how much my first day at my internship drained me.

bye for now <3