Alrighty, so it has been a good bit of time since I have updated. But some very interesting things have taken place in that time.
The weekend of April 16th was the weekend of CAL Day, which is a large open house for the Berkeley community. It allows upcoming accepted freshman come and sample the campus. Almost the same as A Day In The Life: Spel-bound. I had been excited for CAL Day all semester due to the fact that it was a large part of the reason I chose to come to Berkeley in the Spring instead of the fall. I saw pictures of a former domestic exchange student's experience of CAL Day and decided that it was something that I really needed to see for myself.
So, I met up with a friend of mine from my DeCal and decided to explore the festivities for a bit. It was pretty exciting because they had the marching band performing on Sproul. The Cal band is AMAZING in person. And the festivities were quite exciting. There were multiple band performances, the walk ways were filled with people and each department created a booth to represent itself. One of the most exciting things was the animal sciences department out on the lawn, allowing people to touch animals. I got to touch a HUGE turtle as well as a albino python (the same kind Britney Spears is famous for using at the VMAs... Let me just say. CREEPY!)
I didn't spend the whole day but I did enjoy most of the festivities of the day. During the same weekend, there was a special Hindi holiday called Holi. It's also called color fight. It is basically a huge water balloon/paint ball fight that centers around the god Kāmadeva. It was pretty intense to watch take place because there were colors, water and screaming constantly going. They played a lot of festive Hindi music and they kept the party going for hours... As I was walking to the event, I saw people covered from head to toe in colors, laughing.
I had never heard of Holi previous to this day, and I was really glad to be provided with the opportunity to experience something so new. Yet another new thing that I have learned from being at Berkeley. And I'm truly grateful each and everytime my eyes are opened to something new.
Another great opportunity that I had was to go to Cal's Relay for Life Cancer Walk sponsored by the American Cancer Association. I really wanted to participate because it used to be a tradition that my family would participate every year while we lived in St. Louis. My mom was always really passionate about going to these events, so I wanted to participate again to recapture some of those memories. Also, because I know that it is an excellent cause. I went with my RA and we walked the track, which was on Memorial Glade, in front of Doe Memorial Library. They had a lot of exciting events going on at the same time. There was a dance instructor who had a group dance in the middle of the track, there was a bead station that you could make a bracelet out of beads to count the number of times that you circle the track.
I also really enjoyed the Luminaria ceremony at dusk. There were multiple shared stories of experiences with cancer, by students as well as volunteers. It felt like people were able to release into the atmosphere hurts and anxieties that they had been experiencing. One of the most inspriational stories being that of an older woman who had cancer for nearly 14 years before she was diagnosed and has survived 11 years later to continue to tell her story. She makes sure to tour with multiple relays every year, sharing the experience with other cancer survivors.
During the luminary lap, we each carried glow sticks, instead of candles around the track. At the end, we tossed each of our sticks into a very talk "paper bag" (at least 7-8 feet high) that had a drawing of the Campinile on the front, baring the Cal Motto, "Fiat Lux" (Let there be light). It was a truly amazing sight.
As for the Royal Wedding... Ok ok. I was one of the ridiculous people up at 2am to watch the wedding on the internet. I admit it. It's shameful. Let's all just move on, ok?
It's finals week this week and my days at Cal are coming to a close. I know even now, I will leave this place a transformed person. I can barely recognize the scared, nervous and unsure girl who landed in California on January 11, 2011. Now, I know that I can travel the world, do anything and go anywhere. I have confidence in myself that I never would have had before. I was afraid of traveling to far away places, afraid of leaving home for the unknown. I was afraid to fall and land flat on my face. And even though that didn't happen, I know even now that if it had, I would have been strong enough to stand back up. Now I am ready to go, wanting nothing more than to explore more of the amazing world that God has created. I want to lay my eyes on as much of it as possible and experience as much of it as possible... I want to take the world by storm.
So, as always, I will leave you with a quote to think about for your own journey:
“I've learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery
depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.” -- Martha
Washington
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