The Week Before the Break

Wow! It's Spring Break time and I finally got a good night's sleep last night. It's been a while since I've done so, and where better else than my own comfy bed in Los Angeles. I feel great being back in my hometown, seeing as last week was a trip...

It started Monday with first final, for Math 2B (aka Calculus). And I must say that it was pretty damn hard. Even my friends Cynthia, Alex, and Kristen thought it was challenging. But I think I did well enough not to fail (fingers crossed). Next was my Social Problems final, which I did a decent amount of studying with my friend Andy. What sucked, though, was that all the terms for the short response came from one book, when we were told that it could encompass terms from all the readings. Damn you, Meyer! Anyway, most of the terms had to do with terrorism, so I'm sure I got some points there. And I think I did well on the essay portion. By the way, I also got my term paper back and I got an A-. Holla at cha boy!!!

The next few days were a bit more relaxed, even with one more final to go. Wednesday, I turned in my Rhetoric in Practice paper for my writing class, sold my Social Problems books (I only a measly $14), and played Super Smash Bros. Brawl for many hours (which left me with fewer hours to study). Thursday was my Chicano Studies final, which was okay. I wish I was able to squeezed out a bit more information on my essay, though. by 3:30pm, I was officially done with the Winter quarter!!! And all I did afterwards was relax, eat, and play Super Smash Bros. Brawl 'til 5am.

The next day, I headed out to Sacramento with my fellow MEChistA's to Nationals. And boy, it is one hell of a drive. And although I lapsed into sleep several times that weekend, I still enjoyed myself. I never knew how big MEChA was from beyond the school. I met with high School MEChistAs, and many from colleges around the United States. What also amazed me was the closed-mindedness of some of the Arizona people, who don't feel that strongly about feminine equality within MEChA, specifically with the main issue being dealt with at Nationals: changing the name.

The problem was that the "Ch" (which stands for Chicano) doesn't encompass women of the group, as many women associate with the word "Chicana" instead. Then to take progressivism even further, some felt that the name should also encompass those that either don't associate with either gender name or haven't "come out". So the term "Chican@" was thrown out to solve that problem. Variations like "Chicana/o" were also thrown out, but all the SoCal MEChA chapters decided to go with "Chicano y Chicana" for the "Ch". Since MEChA de UCI doesn't have voting rights, we didn't stick around for the proceedings, seeing as we had a long drive back home. So I don't know how it turned out. I guess I'll have to see when I get back to school.

Overall, MEChA Nationals was a fun experience. Especially the dancing on Saturday night. Whoo!!!

After Nationals, we decided to go to San Francisco. I really didn't want to go; I was really homesick and wanted to get back to LA. But many have not been to San Fran, including myself, so to San Fran we were off! And I must say, that it is a very beautiful city. The hills, the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, were all a sight to behold. Since we did have a LONG drive back to SoCal, we only stuck around for lunch at Fisherman's Wharf. After that, we headed back home from the Bay Bridge (which is a fine piece of construction, to say the least). I would really like to return to the Bay one day, but on my own terms. All in all, it was a great trip for my first time in Northern California.

I got back at 11pm, to the welcome of my Family. Funny thing was that Francis brought a Wii for my bro's birthday party, and I arrived at the time he was leaving. Hilarity ensued. Anyway, I'm goin' to enjoy my spring break. If I get to see my friends, let the people rejoice. If not, it's not going to bring me down like it did during the Winter Break. I'm going to take advantage of all the extra sleep, free food, and time with my family. And with that, I hope my one or two readers have a great Spring Break as well!!! Peace...