Dance Team Retreat

Every year the CLU dance team goes on a weekend retreat to work on the competition pieces. This year the retreat was in Valencia at one of the girls houses. We had a 7 hour practice on saturday, and a 5 hour practice on sunday. It was so exhausting. But we also had team bonding time, which was a lot of fun. We did a white elephant gift exchange one night, and went to California Pizza Kitchen the next. We also played a few other games and activities to get to know each other better. I think the retreat really helped me feel like part of the team. Since I joined late, I was struggling to learn the dances that they already knew quickly, and I really didn't know very many of the girls that well. But the retreat really helped me get to know them, and feel like I was really part of the team, and not just a replacement. I loved the retreat, even though the practices were excruciating. I'm really glad I'm a part of the CLU dance team.

Finals Week

Finals week and the week before finals week was very very stressful. I have a 15 page paper to write, a website to make, and four other papers for english. I got it all finished, but it took a lot of late nights of staying up till 3am doing work. I realized after this that I really need to stop procrastinating. I didn't really procrastinate on the 15 page paper, but I definitely did on the other four papers. They had been assigned a while ago, and the due dates had technically already passed, but our teacher allowed us to turn in papers way past the due dates, and everyone in the class had gotten into the habit of turning them in late. So they just kept piling up for the end of the semester. We learned our lesson though, I am definitely not going to leave 4 papers for the end of the semester ever again. I am so glad to be done with all the work and finally being able to relax and have a break.

Christmas Chaos

Christmas Chaos was a lot of fun. When they told us there was going to be ice blocking and snow, I definitely was not expecting it to be enough snow for a snowball fight, or enough for very many activities, but there was so much snow, and everyone had a big snowball fight. It was really nice because it doesn't snow here, so it was fun to have "weather" that was out of the ordinary. We all got pummeled with snowballs, but it was still a lot of fun. My friends and I went ice blocking also. That was a little bit more of a challenge though. None of my friends had ever been ice blocking before, and we were having a little bit of trouble getting the ice block to go smoothly down the hill. We also made christmas ornaments, and there were carriage rides, but the line for the carriage rides was very long, so we didn't go. Christmas Chaos all together was a lot of fun.

Homecoming

Homecoming was so much fun! I definitely was not expecting as fun of a night as it ended up being. The homecoming dance was at Jillian's in City Walk, and although I have been to City Walk many times, I had never been to Jillian's. It was very fun, there was a dance floor, music, games, fake poker, and pool tables. My friends and I danced for a while, and then played some games when we got tired. There was also food and soft drinks available at the bar, which I definitely was not expecting. I had never played black jack before, but they provided us with 500 fake dollars, and I learned how to play, although I wasn't very good. The dance ended early, because someone got in trouble for underage drinking, but it was still a lot of fun, and a nice break from school work.

Dance Team Tryouts

I had been planning on trying out for the CLU dance team at the beginning of the year, but I unfortunately did not realize that the try outs were back in April, and I had already missed them. I was so bummed. But after a few weeks of school, I found out they were having late tryouts, and looking for one member to add to the team. I was ecstatic! When I got to the dance room, I was expecting a lot of people to try out, but there were only a few people there, and the current dance team only had 8 members, it was not nearly as nerve wracking as I had expected. But I was still nervous. First we warmed up and did some "across the floors" and then we learned a short routine, and performed it one by one for the judges. It was a really fun routine, and I tried my best to be enthusiastic and sharp in my movements. The judges then left the room to decide who they would add to the team. I ended up making it! I was so excited. I'm very happy to be on the dance team now, and we are performing at Nationals in Florida at Disney world in January. I'm very excited.

Venice Beach Outing

I really enjoyed the Venice beach trip we took with our peer group. I had never been to Venice before but I had always heard stories from friends so it was cool to finally experience it myself.
It was very interesting and different there. It was defiantly an eye opening experience. I enjoyed observing the different people and how they acted and the things they said. They were far different from what I’m used to. I loved all of the artwork the people were seeing at the different booths there.
However, I didn’t like how a lot of the people were high, drunk, or smoking. I saw a man tweaking out on drugs when we were driving down one of the streets which kind of bothered me. Although, it made me think and reflect about the world and the things people do these days.
My favorite part of the trip was the canals. It was so pretty and I felt like I was in Venice, Italy. The houses surrounding the water were so pretty and each one was unique.

Homecoming Weekend

I really enjoyed homecoming weekend. I had a lot of fun at the homecoming carnival even though only one ride was working. My friends and I went on our own adventure around the school. I even met someone who ended up becoming a good friend.
I was going to attend the homecoming football game but I was too tired from the night before. The next day I went to the homecoming dance with some friends and I had a lot of fun. Although, on the way there we were almost hit by a car who wasn’t paying attention on the road. I had fun dancing with people and playing games with the free game card. Sadly, the night went by really fast. But overall it was a fun weekend.