2nd semester
Well, everyone has told me that the 2nd semester would be better than the first, and so far it definitely is!  The weather has been pretty much perfect since January (it’s currently around 70 and sunny), and there’s been a lot of opportunities to do some cool stuff. 
I’ve had the chance to go to Lake Thunderbird a few times, as well as Draper Lake, as well as just go around Norman more.  I’m feeling more and more at home in Norman every day. 
Basketball
As far as sports go, everybody is kind of disappointed that the men’s team didn’t make it into the bracket.  But, the women’s team is a 3 seed! So, that will be fun to watch.  And, football started their spring practice a week or so ago, and it seems like the next season is right around the corner!

(Photo: some cows on a hill east of Norman.  I flew a kite with some friends in the field on a really nice, very windy day.)

Dead week/Finals
I’m writing this while I should be studying isomers for Chemistry or practicing song identification for Music.  True to its name, “dead week” (the week before finals) has quieted the whole campus down quite a bit.  I have 4 finals next week, and they are all shaping up to look pretty easy.  (Though it is early to say that…) 

Snow Days
Last Thursday and Friday, the Norman campus was shut down due to weather conditions.  It was easy to pick out the kids from Texas because they were having snowball fights outside.  Though I don’t have too much room to talk because I went snowboarding on some small hills with some guys from my hall. 

Big XII Champions!!!
Look out Boise State, the Sooners are coming to Arizona!  My predictions (for the games I care about):  OU 35 Boise State 14, Florida 20 OSU 17. 
 
Photo: about to snowboard down a hill close to the dorms

Thanksgiving Break
I’m writing this entry from Springboro, OH during Thanksgiving Break.  While a week doesn’t seem like too long, Thanksgiving has proven to be a much-needed time off from classes and the hectic college life!  It has been great to see my family and friends from high school.  I went up to Miami University of Ohio, a college close to home that many kids from my high school went to.  Since OU was the only college I really considered during the application process, my visit to MU Ohio was one of only a few times I’ve been on a college campus other than OU.  I can’t say I was impressed; one of Miami’s selling points is its beautiful campus, but I think the Norman campus is much nicer.  It was also kind of depressing to see a campus without a huge stadium.  What do kids DO there on weekends??

OSU game
Well, the football game at Stillwater was much closer than I expected it to be!  But, thanks to Texas’ back-to-back losses to Kansas State and Texas A&M, OU is now heading to Kansas City to represent the Big XII South in the Big XII Championship!  It’s amazing what the Sooners have fought through this season to get this far.

Photo:  seeing my dog over break!

Midterms
Once again, college exams-even midterms-proved to be easier than they were hyped up to be.  All of my professors gave the classes pretty detailed study guides to help us prepare.  I definitely didn’t except that kind of treatment in college.  I’ve started the advisement/enrollment process for the spring semester, and I’m looking into the possibilities of double majoring in Vocal Performance, or minoring in Arabic.  (Yes, I know those are two completely different possibilities.)  However, if I try to graduate in 4 years with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering (the current plan), it will be very hard to fit in any other kind of degree. 

Texas Tech game/Parent’s Weekend
My mom and dad made the 16 hour drive from Ohio for OU’s Parent’s Weekend and the Texas Tech game, and it was a great visit.  I remember coming with them twice to visit my sister when she was a student at OU.  The Texas Tech game alone was worth their trip; it was a very exciting game (too exciting, actually) and probably the best home game this year. 

Photo: crowd before Texas Tech game

Last weekend was the first time I’ve been home since moving to OU.  It was a great visit!  I loved seeing my family and friends, and it was nice to hear how everyone else is doing at their different colleges. 

Summer Plans
I’m starting to look into jobs/internships for this summer, and a house for next year.  At the beginning of the year, making and updated resume and scheduling interviews seemed like a huge task.  But OU Career Services makes the whole deal very easy.  I’m actually looking at a summer job back home and summer classes at the Berklee College of Music for this year, but when I look for internships starting next school year, I should have no trouble finding one.  (Same goes for everyone who registers with Career Services.)

Football
I don’t even want to talk about what happened to Adrian Peterson.  Even though he’s probably out for the rest of the regular season, everyone in Norman is still getting geared up for the homecoming game against Colorado this weekend. 

Photo: At a hayride with friends from high school during my weekend home

Football
One huge thing at OU that I haven’t written about yet is the football.  While this season has had its disappointments, going to the home games has still been a lot of fun.  Everyone is starting to look forward to the OU/Texas game, and I’m hoping to be able to travel down to College Station to see the A&M game with some friends.  Before the Middle Tennessee State game, I got to walk out onto the field, and it was a neat experience to see the packed stadium from the field.

Tests
Well, I got my first round of tests back, and I did pretty well on all of them.  It’s nice to know that college is similar to high school, because if I stay on top of studying and homework, there are no surprises and the tests are straightforward.

It’s hard to believe that I’m already done with the third week of classes.  My first week of tests is coming up, and I’m starting to study for those.  As far as the actual classes go, school is more similar to high school than I thought it would be.  As long as I stay on top of homework, I’m not anticipating too many all-nighters.  (At least not for studying.)

I’m starting to settle in at OU, which is nice.  I’ve found people to eat with, hang out with, study with, play guitar with, and of course play sand volleyball with, so I’m always busy.  Coming to OU, I wasn’t sure whether I would get involved in Young Life or go through rush and pledge to a fraternity, but after a few weeks here (and rush already past) I’m doing more with Young Life.  (Which works out nicely for me, because I don’t have to get up at 8 am and clean a house every weekend.)

One last thing I’ll write about today is the food at OU.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that, while I can eat a healthy meal at any time of the day, Burger King is about 100 feet from my tower. 
(Photo: my half of the dorm room, which is actually a lot cleaner than that usually.  I swear.) 

Why I chose OU
I’ve had the University of Oklahoma in the back of my mind ever since I saw my sister leave for OU when I was a sophomore in high school.  As college came closer, I knew I wanted a big school with a good football team, but I didn’t especially want to live in a city or have 40,000 classmates.  I also wanted to go to a school with a good engineering department.  The more I learned about OU, the more I realized that it was a perfect fit for me.  OU was the only school I applied to.

Move-in day
Yesterday (August 17th) was freshman move-in day.  I was expecting it to be stressful, hot, etc…but it wasn’t bad at all.  The elevators were pretty crowded, but the people in charge moved everyone through quickly, and my parents and I moved my stuff up to floor 10 without any trouble.

Classes
I bought my books yesterday, and while flipping through them I’m starting to get an idea about what my classes will be like.  For the first semester, I’m taking General Chemistry, Understanding Music, Social Problems, Freshman Engineering Orientation, and Calculus.  I’m only taking 14 hours (which sounds like plenty to me) so I can make good grades while playing guitar, going to football games, and working out at the Huff.