School ended on June 8th, and I couldn't have been any happier. Not only did this mean the end of my very stressful and long junior year, it meant that the Columbia trip was only ten days away! Now, sitting here on June 15th, only three more days loom between me and New York City!
To make a long school year short, junior year was very, very hard. I took two AP courses: AP United States History and AP English Literature & Composition, two Honors courses: Spanish 4 Honors and Pre-Calculus Honors, and four regular courses: Advanced Photography, World War II, Psychology, and Physiology. I had a lot of schoolwork and spent a lot of my nights up until the wee hours of early morning finishing off whichever project I had due the next day or test I had to study for. On top of that, I took the SAT, two SAT subject tests, ACT, and two AP exams. I ran one club for 75 percent of the school year, was Editor-in-Chief of our school's Literary Magazine, swam on our school's varsity team, wrote for two newspapers, and did a lot of community service through my church. Does that sound like a lot? Well, it was. Thank goodness it's all over! I ended the school year with a 4.25 GPA for the quarter and an overall GPA of 4.0 for the whole school year. I'm really proud of myself for powering through by taking challenging courses, even if it got really stressful 99 percent of the time.
I got through second semester of junior year by getting super excited for New York City! I can't believe it's almost here. I have so much to do: packing (thank goodness I'm fast at it), making sure I have all issues straightened out here on California, and spending a little more time with my friends before I leave. I'm especially excited to learn more about political science; I really enjoyed all the debates and political topics that came up in my APUSH class. Since the beginning of junior year, I've been lusting over Columbia University and the Constitutional Law class, so it's pretty much a dream to be given this opportunity for another summer as a part of the Ivy League Connection.
I have never been to New York City, so I'm very excited to see how it will be. At the same time, I'm nervous because I've heard from everyone I've talked to that it's extremely fast paced and I'll have to keep up with it. I'm confident that I will be able to do this, though. Another thing I'm ecstatic for is...well, not only the sights, but the food! I want to see if New York pretzels, pizza, and bagels can live up to their reputations. I'm not trying to gain a pre-freshman 15 over, I promise!
I really hope we get to see at least one Broadway play. Either I'm getting overly excited about this possibility or I've been watching the opening number of the Tony Awards too many time (Neil Patrick Harris is my hero). I'm a big sucker for musicals, theater, and dramatics. Even if I get to pass by Broadway I think I'll be somewhat satisfied.
Aside from all these concepts, I am very happy that I will get to know my cohort more. I know Lucas from school (we've been in classes together since elementary school), and so far the other cohort members are wonderful. I feel like we're going to have a great time together, having debates in the wee hours of the night and bonding over food. I can already picture of it. Ms. L is a wonderful chaperone as well and I'm excited to get to know her better through this trip.
Only 72 more hours until a month long adventure in New York City...I'm counting down and can't wait to get on the plane!
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