The Last

It feels like just yesterday we started blogging and I was a dead end because I did not know what to write about. Well today is our last time blogging and I am still don’t know what to write about, I guess some things never change ;) I still cannot wrap my head around the idea that high school is over! I will never sit in the computer lab with my English class trying to figure out what to blog about…this is the last time haha I get very sentimental when I think about the end because I’ve been with some of my classmates for about twelve or thirteen years! Even the people that have come in at different grades fit right in and it feels as if they’ve been with me for this entire chapter of my life. Although we are not all super super close I think we still care for each other. I am so lucky to be able to say that I love my classmates, yeah we may get on each other’s nerves, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

            We have that bond of growing up together, we have different friend groups, but regardless we have seen each other grow up. It is so weird to look back at how things were at the beginning of Freshman Year. When we walked through those doors the first day of school before us lay the challenge of being in high school and trying to semi figure out who we were. Now we face a bigger challenge, going out into the world and having the courage to be ourselves. Some of us might have and idea of the person we are, but being out in the “real world” will most likely change that. We are going to encounter different stations that we were not expose to here at St. Joes. Quite frankly that is kind of scary…the part that gets to me is that we are not going to be together to once again expand our knowledge and grow.    

            If you are reading this, I want you to know that I am thankful that you were part of my high school experience. Whether we were close or not, thank you and just know that you have made an impact on me and who I am. I have learned something from each one of you guys. Thank you for teaching me how to be fearless, determined, hard working, open minded, and most importantly thank you for helping me find who I am. Good luck in all of your future endeavors. I hope you never forget the awesome high school memories that were made on this beautiful campus.
           Thank you Mr. Wood for everything, you're an awesome teacher and a great role model :)

Is It Real?

A week from today will be our last day of high school, yeah we have to come back for graduation practice and stuff, but we will never ever be students of St. Joes. Even though the end of high school is here it doesn’t feel real...I know that we only have one more week left, but in my mind it feels like it’s super far away. I have mixed feelings about graduating and moving on, one day I’ll be stoked and the next I’ll be sad that this is all coming to and end. I swear it does not feel real! Like is this really going to happen? The answer is obviously yes lol.

I think the part that I will most miss about high school is having a close connection with the teachers. I am not too worried about not seeing my friends because we are all staying in Utah and we’ll be able to hangout, but with the teachers that is a different story. This makes me sad because all of the teachers here have greatly influenced me and have helped me become the person I am today. I am so thankful to have had such great teachers from whom I not only learned many academic things, but also how to be an overall good person. Having such a close relationship with the teachers is what I most like about St. Joes. They truly care about you and your learning and that becomes very apparent when you take the time to see how much work they put into their job. I appreciate all the teachers at this school, but there have been a few that have personally helped me grow as a person, one of them obviously being Mr. Wood! ;)

So as high school comes to an end, take the time and appreciate the teachers that have seen us grow because are days are literally numbered.

Another Last...

     In honor of Prom being two weeks ago, today's blog post will be about that night. Preparing for Prom was pretty hectic. Since I was in Mexico all of spring break, I only had a week to find the "perfect dress". To be honest when I tried on my dress I was not too fond of it, even still I would have rather worn a better dress. Regardless what made me fall in love with the dress were to shoes I wore. Those shoes are literally the love of my life ;) haha jk but when I saw the shoes at the store I knew they HAD to be mine. The week of Prom I had to go shopping for something Prom related every single day...
     So this was supposed to be my blog post for last week, but I forgot to finish it...sorry Mr. Wood. Anyway back to Prom, that day was actually pretty calm. I woke up and didn't really have anything to do until 2:30 PM, which was the time for my hair appointment. The entire morning I watched Netflix, cooking shows to be specific, I cleaned a little bit, and I was actually starting to get bored. Thankfully the time for my hair appointment finally came. Alejandro's older sister did my hair. She is the sweetest, funniest person ever and she makes for a great hair stylist. I love her whole vibe so she was the perfect person to do my hair. I was feeling pretty happy with my hairdo until I got home...my sister greets me with " You look like Anne Frank's mom!" I was taken aback, like what does that even mean?!?!
     At this point I was running short on time, Porter was going to be at my house in less than an hour and I still had to finish getting ready! Somehow I finished getting ready as soon as I heard a knock on the front door. Everything about Prom was so much fun! The food, the atmosphere, my people and even the music. I wouldn't trade that night for anything else in the world and I am so happy I got to spend my last high school dance with all my friends.

Spring Break pt 2

     Once again I am sitting in an airport waiting to board the plane, we're on our way to Tijuana to spend some time there. Whenever we visit Mexico I always have mixed feelings. I love seeing family. There is so much culture, getting to see that, even if just for a few days is great! On the other hand, you also get exposed to the living conditions people have to live in...for me that's especially hard to see.
     While I was in my mom's hometown I met this 17 year-old girl named Tere. She currently works for my aunt's produce store along with her 12 year-old sister. They are forced to work in order to feed themselves and their mom who is unable to work herself. It's really hard to see them working everyday instead of going to school because it makes me wonder how they'll continue with life without any schooling. Anyways I felt guilty coming into the store with a different outfit everyday because they were wearing the same sweatshirt and pair of jeans from the day before. The part that killed me was knowing my little sister and I could be them...
      It's really frustrating having to see that and know that they aren't the only people living in a country in which that is the norm. It is quite sad that the government doesn't seem to do much for the good of their people, they just appear to care about their wealth and power. Seeing the conditions in which people have no option, but to accept and adapt, makes me that much more grateful to have the life I do. At times we get so wrapped up in our own little world that we forget how truly blessed we are. That is something we can't forget because we are few of the fortunate ones.

Happy Spring Break!! :)

Spring Break

     I am currently sitting in the airport in Tijuana waiting for out flight to Mexico City. Since I have some time on my hands I thought it would be best to finally write my blog entry ;) After driving for 12 hours, we crossed the boarder at 3:33 in the morning! For me the drive seemed extra long, I don't really know why haha. Road trips aren't particularly my favorite because I get tired of sitting really fast. Sleeping in the car is the biggest hassle...I just really don't like it. Lately I've been feeling uneasy about airplanes...I just try to push the idea that something will happen out of my mind. I pray to God that our travels are safe!
      On a more positive note, I am sort of excited to visit Mexico because I haven't been there for there years! I bet so many things have changed since I was there. Just as a side note when we crossed the border Maria rolled down the window, stuck her head and said "My hair is in Mexico!" Hahaha she so excited to go on this trip, it's adorable :) Something that I am not looking forward is not being able to be on my phone 24/7...I know that sounds super lame, but I can't even imagine a life without a phone! I will still be able to go on it, but ugh it won't be the same. I hope you all enjoy your spring break because it's our last one as high schoolers!

In honor of my best friend, Maria Laura Jorges’ birthday this week I’ve decided to share the story of how we became the best friends we are today. Before Maria J came to St. Joes from NDPA, my best friend was Maria Garcia. She had been basically my only close friend since third or fourth grade. Anyways, it was the first day of seventh grade; Maria G and I were standing with the rest of our grade waiting for the teachers to let us inside. All of a sudden we hear a voice ask “Don’t you know Tristen?” The voice was obviously not addressing me…Tristen was Maria G’s friend from dance who apparently also went to NDPA with Maria J. That is how our duo became a trio…this is not to say I was very happy with this. For mostly all of seventh grade I readily disliked Maria J, and according to her I made that quite apparent ;)

It wasn’t until the summer before seventh grade that I began to like Maria J. We had planned a sleepover and a day at the mall. She came over to my house and the next day we went hung out at the mall and then saw Shrek 3 (I still have the movie stub from this memorable day). This was the day I realized that Maria J wasn’t that bad, she was genuinely a sweet person and she was definitely not faking it as I had previously thought. Throughout eighth grade Maria, Maria, and I became the best of friends. I was there for Maria J’s Justin Bieber phase, I even watched his movie about 100 times, that’s how obsessed she was ;) Our friendship has only grown stronger throughout high school. Even though we may butt heads at times, we are quick to forgive and forget. Mostly because we have funny things to share with each other ;)

To this day I have never met a person as truly sweet at my little Maria. Even though at first I really didn’t like her, now I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world. Maria is so genuinely sweet and caring, she will always put your needs before her own. Maria has so much potential and I know she will work hard to get far in life. I admire her a lot.

We’ve been through these crazy high school years by each other’s side and I don’t know how I would have survived without her. Happy 18^th Birthday Mary George! Here’s to many more years of our friendship, I love you!

Uncertainty

     This past week I’ve been thinking nonstop about the future. I don’t really like thinking too much about it because I know that nothing is set in stone. Things change, people change, everything changes. I have mixed feelings about change. I want to grow up and experience life, but at the same time I want to be a kid forever, it’s a catch 22. For me it’s hard to not be able to know how things will end up. Sometimes I wish I could just see myself in the future and know everything is going to turn out fine, but obviously I can’t do that. 

     Quite frankly, not knowing scares me. I can’t just let things happen because I care too much, I want to know. It seems like time goes by so fast that before we know it we’re going to die. I know that sounds drastic, but that’s just kinda how I’ve been feeling these past few days. There are certain things that I want to just be guaranteed, again I know nothing in this life is guaranteed, but I would feel a lot better having some reassurance. Even though I feel scared, there’s nothing I can do to slow down time or have a glimpse into the future. So I guess I will just have to trust in God that in the end everything will be okay.

The Big 1-8

This weekend was probably one of the best weekends of my entire life…my 18^th birthday was on Saturday, but I started to celebrate on Friday. I usually do something special everyday of the week leading up to the day of my birthday, but I was at State for most of the week. Even though we were only at State for a short time, it was full of many memories. I had planned being in Richfield for my birthday so nothing was really planned out. Because there was no set plan things were just spontaneous. After school on Friday I went to eat at Zupas, one of my favorite places to eat, with Maria, Marivel, JJ, and Des.

At around seven o’clock something pretty awesome happened. I got this call from an unknown number…it was someone from the admissions board of UC at San Diego. I received the best news, I GOT ACCEPTED TO UCSD! I love San Diego so much and I was so happy that I got accepted! San Diego is the best place to be, I probably won’t attend UCSD because the U also has a great chemistry program. But the fact that I got accepted is just amazing. On Saturday Maria had planned a surprise birthday breakfast that I had no idea about. We went shopping and had a crazy experience with a hairdresser. I went to get a haircut and she totally messed up my hair. It was a good thing I told her I only wanted two inches off. In such a hurry we had to find a different place to get my hair fixed. We were running all over Ogden like crazy people. We had to get home to get ready for dinner and my hair was literally a mess. Finally we stumbled upon a place to get my hair cut right.

After that horrendous ordeal, I finally get home and waited for P.Okey to come over so we could go to dinner in a few hours. Dinner was so delicious and I got free ice cream because it was my birthday :) I cannot believe I am 18! It really feels no different except for the fact that I have to now figure out what I am going to do with my life. Sincerely I have no idea, but no matter what I know I’ll always have great people by my side.