Splish Splash & BOOM!

Columbia Pride! Already growing passion for this school, I can't get it out of my head!

Last night I stayed up late reading and working on hard on my coursework, and this morning I woke up early to read even more. I've been working really hard this week, even harder than I've been the past week (if that's possible of course) but I still feel like it's not hard enough. It's just that I have so much to do in such little time in an intensively fast-paced schedule in this program. To be honest, I rememeber almost falling asleep after every paragraph while writing my blog because I was just so overwhelmed with my school work. It's not like my work is due tomorrow of course, but it's just that I don't want to procrastinate and I want everything to be done ensuring that I completed my work to to best of my ability. As for tonight, I have to finish preparing for my moot court debate tomorrow. Since I'm the second speaker which will be speaking during the rebuttal, there really isn't a way I can thoroughly prepare a speech, however, I can study the cases and prepare some potential counterarguments. I already did a lot of the work last night and today, but I still have a little more to finish by tonight. I know I will do fine and finish in time because I already did a lot of the work, so I'm not worried about that at all. Also, tomorrow morning at 9AM I have scheduled a group meeting with my team in order to ensure they are as ready as I, I hope our opponents are ready to go down!

Adrianne and Tomi's ride.

After working an hour or two on my school work, I exited my suite to meet with Adrianne, Tomi, and Aurea for breakfast. It wasn't soon until we all had to get up and approach the metro for our trip to Coney Island with Mrs.L. I, personally, can honestly say with passion that I had a tremendously fun time with the girls today. We ate at Nathan's hotdog place right before watching the world champion hotdog eater, "attempted" to tan and entered the water a few times, and last but not least, Aurea and I rode one (and only one) ride; THE SLING SHOT. Probably the most intense and thrilling ride in the park, we surely ended off today's adventure with a finale.

OUR ride.

The ride practically pulled on down while connected to two simple ropes from each side and upon pressing the button, we were released and the stretchy, black rope pushed us off into the sky, leaving us nearly suspended and twisting upside down and side ways almost hundreds of feet off the ground. From up above, I saw the ENTIRE park, the beach, and the parking lot right underneath me. Mrs.L later told us that ours went the highest compared to any other rider for the past 30 minutes that we were watching the ride. It sure was thrilling, and I really enjoyed the experience! The ride was so intense that we decided that that was all we needed to leave the park satisfied. On the other hand, Adrianne and Tomi did not think similarly. They weren't quite impressed with the "Slingshot" idea so instead, they went to the children's section and rode the dinosaur ride. The ride was very similar to the tea-pot ride in other typical amusement parks, but they too were finally satisfied with one ride rather than trying out all. However, in the overall sense, the rides all looked fantastic and I would definitely recommend readers to visit Coney Island. I don't want to spoil it for you all, but the rides sure are unique!

After our trip to Coney Island, we rushed back home and I went right back to work. I really am using my time efficiently and staying busy. No time is being wasted! Thus, I worked for two hours until it was 5:30PM and we met with the RAs at the gazebo. We were meeting there to attend the Riverside Park picnic event to watch the fireworks there at night. There were three RA's which gave the sense of security, and I met a lot of new people as well! It's crazy how it's been the second week of school but I'm still meeting dozens of people each day.

There we positioned ourselves on the grass and enjoyed our picnic meals. Jimmy, one of the students I met from Australia, was generous enough to buy us all snacks to enjoy! From around 6:00 to 9:00PM, we all played games such as sherades and mingled with one another until it was time for the 4th of July fireworks. I was actually the one to propose playing the game because everyone seemed so tense for the first 5 minutes. At first, they all looked at me with skeptical faces when I proposed the idea, but soon they all gave it a try and it ultimately served to make us all closer. It wasn't long until we were all having so much fun and laughter than we were rolling on the grass laughing and smiles were impossible to be erased from our faces. We truly were having a wonderful time and I was really glad I went on the event because a little before that, I had found myself in the crossroad of decisions as to whether or not to stay home and conduct more research or simply go to the event and enjoy probably the only 4th of July I will ever spend in New York. So in order to compromise, I worked really hard at night, in the morning, and any time I had in between. I didn't waste any time or rest today, but in the end I must say it was all worth it.

People awaiting the annual 4th of July fireworks.

Silly!

It was a fun day and definitely a memorable night. Can't wait for class tomorrow, moot court I'm ready for you!