Adventure Journal 2

This week on Monday my mother and I embarked on a day trip to San Juan Bautista. There we visited the mission and took the quick tour. Being there sparked memories from the fourth grade when I had to do the same thing, but for the Santa Cruz mission. It is astonishing how people lived in the olden days and how far we have advanced as society. After our tour, we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Jardines. The food was ok but they had a quaint garden in the back that we walked through. I brought along my camera to snap some pics, which are posted below. It was a good day overall, my mom and I used to do things like this all the time but school became so demanding that we don't get to hang out a lot anymore. I enjoy my moms company and I like getting out of the house to go take pictures so this was the best of both worlds for me!

Visiting Dominican University

On September 27, 2014, I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning to travel up north to San Rafael - twenty minutes away from San Francisco. As my mom and I drove pass the Golden Gate Bridge, I was at awe as to how tall and big the bridge was. Don't get me wrong, I've seen the Golden Gate before, however, it still leaves me speechless whenever I see it again. After an hour and twenty minutes, we finally arrived at Dominican University.

Dominican University is a private college residing in San Rafael, California, surrounded by nature and a beach 10 minutes away. Built in 1890, Dominican University is a very old school with Victorian-looking buildings. In addition, the school has many sponsors and donators making it a very rich school that provides a lot of scholarships, grants, and financial aid.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by Dominican Student Ambassadors, dressed in black, whom led us to Angelican Hall. Angelican Hall is like our school's theater, but with two stories and better facilities. I told them my name at the Registration Desk and they handed me a name tag, a folder filled with informational papers, meal tickets, and a college shirt. As I observed the building's hall, my eyes immediately stopped at the table stacked with croissants, coffee, water, and scones. Having left home at six, I didn't have the time to make breakfast. My body gravitated towards the table and I ate two croissants and drank some coffee.

After filling my stomach with delicious food, my mom and I sat in the theater-like room and waited for people to arrive. Once the majority of the families arrived, there was an opening introduction by important figures such as the Assistant Director of Admissions, Joshua McCoy. This was the schedule of the tour followed by the name of the buildings where sessions were located:

8:30-9:00  Registration - Angelico Concert Hall
9:00-9:30 Penguin Preview (introductions) - Angelico Concert Hall
9:40-10:40 Campus Tour with Student Ambassadors
10:50-11:20 Information Session I (exploring your major session, in my case, I went to the Nursing, Guzman Lecture Hall)
11:30-12:00 Information Session II (Pre-Occupational Therapy, Albertus Magnus 105)
12:10-1:00 First Year Students - Penguin Life, Guzman Lecture Hall (Get all your student life questions answered first hand by current Dominican students.)
Parents - Financial Aid, Angelico Concert Hall (Learn more about how a private school education is affordable through this presentation about the financial aid process, including scholarships, grants, and loans that are available to your student.)
1:00-2:00 Lunch - Be our guest for lunch at Caleruega Dining Hall

Observing each building during the tour, I felt like I was in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since I was surrounded by nature and the buildings were old, but not run down. Previously a Catholic school, I saw angels mended into the upper corners of the wall of Guzman Hall. The lecture hall had wooden carved Renaissance looking plaques hung around the wall, a statue of a priest in the middle of the room like in church, and two chandeliers that looked like it came from the dining hall of Hogwarts.

Even though the lecture halls looked like it belonged in a different time, Dominican's gym, exercise, sports, library, health and sciences facilities are brand new. Also, at the time of my visit, they were constructing a new 3-story facility, specifically for the nursing program, which is set for completion in 2015.

The food was my favorite part about the entire tour. Not only was the food delicious, but also it was free. I am not a picky eater so I tried almost everything they offered. Though I do not remember the names of the food, I know I ate some gluten-free macaroni and cheese, yellow Indian rice, these mushrooms that looked like sliced beef, and garlic French fries. The cafeteria itself was bright, comfortable, and clean. Due to being a lit up room with tall glass windows, it is definitely a great place to start your day and become more motivated.

Overall, I enjoyed my first visit at Dominican University and I would definitely visit more colleges in the future. I love how I am surrounded by nature which makes it a very calm and relaxing environment. The campus of Dominican was like a small city - a community. The location of the University was far from home, but not too far so that I can go back home when I wanted to if I do decide to attend the university. The class sizes range from 16-25 students so everyone knows each other and students have a one-to-one connection with their teachers. I look forward to applying to this school.

 

My sunday brunch adventure

                I am totally obsessed with The Cheesecake Factory. Not so much for the cheesecake but the pastas and salads (I have an intense addiction to their ranch dressing). I go to The Cheesecake Factory more than I care to admit but I usually go on Fridays or Saturdays with my boyfriend as dates or on Wednesdays with my mom before screen acting. However I had never gone on Sunday for the Sunday brunch and had always wanted to try it. So last weekend I went with my mom to try it. She ordered the Cobb salad off of the regular menu and I ordered the lemon ricotta pancakes off of the brunch menu. I’m not a big pancake lover but it sounded interesting and I wanted to be adventurous so I went ahead and tried it. They were amazing, completely indescribably but totally perfect; of course they were also so big that they lasted for my breakfast about four days in a row. I highly recommend the Sunday brunch for a fun, tasty, and adventurous dining experience as they have unusual but amazing dishes. I liked them so much that I went the next Sunday to enjoy them as well.

Adventure #1 Brass Quintet.

Every now and then, I rehearse with a brass quintet because life can get pretty boring.  Just to be clear, a brass quintet is where five instrumentalists, who chose a lifestyle of playing brass based instruments, join forces and play music together.  The effect can either be mesmerizing or distressing. 

Now, those who know me well can say, without difficulty, that I can be quite a douche.  Today, I felt a little flippant.      As I walked into the rehearsal room, I passed out some music, Ewald's Quintet No.3 to be specific, and I got some nasty looks.  As the trombonist gazed at his part, he noticed the five flats in the key signature and the tenor clef transposition it demanded.  Not a good day to be a trombonist.          The two trumpeters stared at the rhythmic perplexity of the piece due to the post-romantic Russian design.  The decadent and lifted nature eluded them throughout the entire rehearsal as they lost themselves in the most obvious places.             The French horn player nearly quit as the ostinato in his high register crushed his face.  And there I was, enjoying myself as everyone suffered.  Unfortunately, I realized that the piece weighed the ensemble down, and I was brought down with it. 

Too many wrong notes, too many wrong rhythms, and such dry skills of sight reading that day.  Alas! That is the ONLY way for a chamber ensemble to improve.  The most demanding skills to learn within an ensemble come exactly from confronting new and new pieces everyday.  It is simply what it takes. 

My first away game of the season!

On September 19,2014, Our football team traveled to Monta Vista high school in Cupertino. They are an A league team and we are a B league team. I was nervous going into this game because I didn't know what to expect out of them. We started the game off very slow, and it was disappointing. Then me and Zack Rubio made some fantastic plays on the defense. Our defense helped the team a lot by only allowing 14 points in the 1st quarter. We were losing at half time 10-14. We came into the second half with our heads held high. I finished that game with five tackles, a pass deflected and a fumble knockout. Our record was 2-0 and we were excited for our next game.

My first dog.

     On September 20, 2014 I got my first dog, and his name is Man. I didn’t name him Man, my neighbor did. The dog was my neighbor’s first. She gave us the dog because she got to have her old dog and they didn’t get along. It has been a week with the dog and it is not easy caring an 8 month old cane corso. Especially since he’s still growing, it’s going to get harder and harder. Since

he is going to be a big dog, I have to take him to obedience classes and that’s going to be really expensive. This dog needs to know who is boss and he’s not it. My neighbor tells me to not be afraid of him or he’s going to think he’s in charge and I don’t want him to think that. I hope soon he learns who’s in charge.

My Outside Adventure

Knowing that it's good to have a peaceful environment while studying, I decided to go at the back yard of my house and spend three hours studying there. To avoid my school supplies from dirt and moist of the grass, I spread a sleeping bag. It felt so relaxed to see and to feel nature while doing school related works. The sweet breeze of the wind combined with a delightful music made me forget  all my worries and just focus on my work. The calmness of the atmosphere did not only help me finish all my works but also puts me to sleep. This experience of mine made me feel some sort of connection to nature. Furthermore, the aura of freedom helps me realize how lucky McCandless, the main character of the story Into the Wild, to be able to explore nature without any fear of being alone and being independent.

Adventure #1

On Thursday I attended my first and last Homecoming Rally as a senior in high school.  To start, I entered the packed, hot, and wild gym and found my way over to some of my friends sitting in the senior section.  Soon afterwards I was called over to the entrance of the gym where I awaited my turn to participate in the Varsity Captain’s game.  My friend and I then played a game where we held a ball in between our backs, latched our arms together, and ran to the end of the mats and back.  Representing the Varsity Cross Country team, we finished second according to the poorly positioned judge.  Afterwards, I returned to the senior section of the gym.  For the remainder of the rally I cheered my lungs out, jumped up and down excessively, and all-around had a great time.  I enjoyed all of the rally games, especially the balloon stomp, because the hype increased tremendously when it became one on one, against a senior and a sophomore, both of which I know fairly well.  The Lip Syncs, Break Dance Club performance, and Homecoming Court ceremony were also enjoyable.  Afterwards, I helped a friend ask someone to the Homecoming Dance.  Overall, it was an extremely well-spent evening and a wonderful experience.

My Adventure

For this week's adventure, I went to the Homecoming rally Thursday night. In the past, I've never been able to go to one of our school's spirit rallies. I've been sick, busy with school work or theater, or just unable to get a ride. That's why I was so excited to be able to go to the rally with all my friends. Although I've been at school late before during the school shows, I hadn't before walked around the school campus when it is so dark. It was a lot of fun to see all the games and entertainment. My favorite part was the junior and senior lipsynchs because I didn't get to see them during lunch Wednesday.

Honor the Game Conference

Elec Soto

Ms. Gomez

9/25/2014

Period 3

Honor the Game Conference

                In my first adventure, I was selected along with a few student athletes from our school to go to the “Honor the Game” Conference during school.  We were selected to represent our sports for our school along with other schools.  There were student athletes from Del Mar, Prospect, and Evergreen Valley just to name a few.  This conference was to bring to our attentions good sportsmanship and life after high school, whether it be playing a sport collegiately, at a professional stage or just going to college as a student.  There were many accomplished speakers that represented their sport, but the most influential speaker to me was ex-NFL superstar Johnnie Johnson.  He was the most impacted speaker because it seemed like everyone was paying attention to what he was saying and they understood with what he was saying.  There was a story he told us about that I will always remember because of its humor.  So he said that he was in 8^th grade playing on the varsity football team as their punt returner.  The very first varsity game he played in, he walked out to the field and told us that he was “praying to god so the punter wouldn’t punt the ball to him”. The punter did it anyways and Johnnie fumbled the ball.  Then he went on to say this same situation happened to him on his first game in college at the University of Texas and followed him to his first professional game with the St. Louis Rams.  The experience of meeting all of these accomplished athletes was so humbling and I will always remember this adventure.

For my adventure I went to the movies with three of my friends, we went to AMC 14. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy and we also watched Lucy. Guardians of the Galaxy is about 5 criminals (Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora, and Star-Lord) who become heroes by saving a planet from being destroyed by the bad guy (Ronan).Lucy is played by Scarlett Johansson .Lucy is about a girl who gets to use 100% her brain. which allows here to move objects with her mind. She also doesn't feel pain and gets lots of other power. I enjoyed watching both of the movies.

Adventure Journal 1

Throughout this week I struggled trying to find a nice place to go to see something different; to get a different view. As I was contemplating where my first outing should be, I stumbled across a new place, an Egyptian Museum right near Downtown San Jose. This museum is formally known as the Rosicrucian Museum. In all my years of living so close to this area, I had never been to this beautiful sight. I was never the person who was fascinated with past life or mummies, but looking at all these beautiful sculptures outside of the museum left me in awe. With such specific detail in each and every sculpture and painting, you can tell this museum is a landmark, especially to Egyptians. I did not get to go inside of the museum, as it was closed when I got there, but I asked the front desk questions. The lovely woman told me many facts about the museum such as: it being the only museum in the whole world with buildings constructed with Ancient Egypt architectural style, and that some of the mummies are actually real. These little facts amazed me due to my thoughts that San Jose does not have anything to do and no where fun to go. Although it is educational, even the building of this museum draws you in; making this academic place more inviting and enjoyable. I would recommend everyone living in the Silicon Valley goes and visits this wonderful museum, and I cannot wait to get to go back and see the inside!

Lost on the Way Home

September 21, my friend and I traveled down to Santana Row after making a stop at the cafe down by Mitsuwa Market. We didn't do particularly much, actually, all we did was walk around and hate ourselves for not being able to afford some pretty nice stationary in one of the many stores around. Beautiful but expensive pens are a curse I tell you. Don't walk into a store with a bunch of various pens and notebooks unless you really do have the money to buy what you want. Anyway, since we weren't doing much except for walking around, we decided to head back to my place after our feet started aching in pain from moving around pretty much all day long. Unfortunately – for my friend – our source of directions died a few minutes after we got into the car. The result? Me trying to guide us by memory, but naturally having us turn just a bit too early. As you would expect, we got lost. I had the pleasure of playing intense music to set the mood, at least up until we finally did find our way back to my home. Let it be known that for me, it was a great experience; my friend, not so great.

Adventure Entry 1: My first A's Game

September 20, went to my first Oakland A's Football Game with members in the Interact club at Westmont High School. This "mini adventure" turned out better than I had imagined; as I am not particularly a fan of the A's. The seemingly bland adventure was hyped up with friendly conversations and food! One of the highlights of the game included a man asking his girlfriend to marry him on the field. Luckily, she said yes and everyone cheered for the couple. The sight of seeing the man propose at the game was a whole new experience to me. After the 5th inning we decided that it was time to go home. It took us about an hour to get home but in the end I was glad that I went to the "bland" baseball game.

Jones Trail Hike

I enjoy hiking, and I love going on new trails, so this weekend was determined to hike a new trail. My friend suggested that we go to the Jones Trail in Los Gatos. She said that she had heard it was a nice trail, so we agreed to hike it. We went in the evening so it would not be as hot. At one point we accidentally ended up taking the wrong path. We were trying to get to the top of the trail and took a path that led elsewhere, so that delayed our hike. Once we go to the top there was a great view of the city. In total it took us about forty-five minutes to reach the top of the trail and a little less on the way down. I really enjoyed this hike and the experience of going on a new hike with one of my best friends!

Adventure to Monta Vista..

September 19, 2014

Me and my friends Alex, Aleah, and Madi decided we wanted to go to the Westmont High School JV and Varsity away game over in Monta Vista. As my friends volunteered me to drive, we took my car and got completely lost in the mountains somewhere. My friend Madi decided to use some new app as our driving guide and it took us on the 280 and the 85 for miles and then off the most random exits. After 30 minutes of being in the mountains we were literally lost. It took us another hour to find our way to Monta Vista High School and we didn't even end up making the JV game. This adventure was extremely annoying, but it ended up being a pretty enjoyable night out with my girls. But never will I ever go to a football game at Monta Vista again.

Adventure Journal Entry 1

Olivia Massey

Gomez

English 4, Period 2

9/25/14

Adventure Journal Entry 1

The adventure I had this week was not necessarily to a new place, but more of a new experience. The Westmont cheer team practiced the new routine for several weeks, and we finally got to show it to everyone at the Homecoming Rally. It was not my first time performing a routine at a rally, but the entire experience was different, due to the fact that I’m a senior now. The girls were called out on to the mats and we all took our places. All of the cheerleaders were anxious to perform the routine, including me. I stunted, danced, jumped, even messed up a little bit, but actually managed to not pass out during the performance. After we were done, the girls went back to sit in front of our classes. Throughout the rest of the rally, everyone in my class was really pumped up. We were so excited to be seniors at our last Homecoming rally, and that is what made it a new experience. I had never seen my class so happy, or loud, at a rally. It was a bittersweet experience to have performed at, and gone to my last Homecoming rally ever, and it is something I will never forget.

 

Adventure journal 1

Last Sunday I decided to go out with friends to hang around Westgate with some friends. For some silly reason, a few of us, including me, decided it was a wonderful idea to eat ten warheads at once. After preparing the cameras for video and unwrapping the sour candy, we steeled ourselves for what was coming. The burst of pure sour was nearly unbearable and the faces made were hysterical.  My tongue turned black for the rest of the day. Later at night while watching a movie, I realized my taste buds had also been affected and I ended up unable to taste properly for another day. I will always remember this incident, but I would never recommend it to anybody else.

The 2014 Westmont Homecoming Rally

Kat Massey

Gomez

Period 2

Adventure Journal 1

            My Adventure was attending the 2014 Homecoming Rally. I have never been to a Homecoming rally and being a senior made it feel so amazing. I experienced so many things at once. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down and we would all join in dancing to the music. The seniors won just about every game; as expected. At every game, when the senior class would compete, it would get so intense. When every game was nearing to the end, we would all get up and run to the competitors. There were over 30 seniors sitting on the floor; ready to get up at any moment. During the sudden death round of the balloon popping challenge, everyone, and I mean everyone, got up and joined into a mosh pit of sweaty teenagers surrounding them. Another exciting moment was the Breakdance club’s performance. The dancers looked really cool in their coordinating outfits and baggy pants. They were spinning, popping and locking, and doing flips across the gym. Although the one moment we were all waiting for was the reveal of our Homecoming King and Queen. The girls all looked beautiful as they walked out with their fathers and the handsome boys all beaming, with grins from ear to ear. It was a very intense moment when finding out who won. Tiffanie Bui’s face was priceless when she pulled out the end of the cloth from her box. And the very spirited Sourena Shir was lifted and rested on many of his friends shoulders after finding the red at the end of his cloth. It was a wonderful night filled with Westmont pride and showing off your warrior face, but it’s nice to come home after all that and go to bed. Hopefully you don’t have any unfinished homework. I will definitely be going to the next rally, but for now I will just say Good Night warriors.