The week started with the ultimate high (see #1 below). How could the rest of it compare? How can you expect me to go back to living my ordinary life after an experience like that?? It was so hard to find the motivation to do what I needed to get done, so productivity plateaued and that only led to stress, which made for a rough week. To think that we’re only two weeks into the spring semester! During times like these, I need a Happy List more than ever to remind myself of all the things I have going for me.

1. Oh Wonder concert with Kathleen and new friends ♥♥♥
2. I like routine. But at the beginning of every semester I need to find a new one (figuring out which classes I can nap in between, when to catch the bus, who to eat lunch with, etc.). Sometimes I have class with a friend or a few, so we’ll get lunch together. Sometimes I’m not so lucky, and I’m in a class with unfamiliar faces, so I frantically ask all my friends when their lunch breaks are and see which of those fit my schedule. This week, lunch was a full table. I got lunch with a few friends from class, they brought some of their friends, we acquainted one another, and we made new friends. I really hope that we do this again next week!
3. I’m beyond relieved that I got lotteried into my Intro to Data Structures class, but I’m still a little frustrated about it. It’s supposed to be a lecture, but already on the first day we were asked to split up into small groups and work on problems. We’d hardly been taught, and I feel like I don’t have enough basic foundational knowledge. I’ve been stressing out about the lab, but to my relief, my professor announced that he’s decided to push back the due date by a week.
4. I’ve completed my first week of Zumba for PE (which is just 2x/wk). I knew that I was lacking in coordination, but I didn’t know I was that incapable. Who knew there was so much butt movement? Synchronizing my arms and legs is hard enough 😛 I’m also not so great at remembering choreography, but during the second class, there was a moment when the instructor paused in the middle of a song to tie her hair, and I was able to carry on the routine! She gave me a nod of acknowledgement and I tried not to get too excited.
5. Georgina got me a cute lil “get your shit together” pouch from Paper Source! It’s the kind of thing I’d hover over and lust for in a store but would never indulge in buying for myself. The poop emoji means so much to me, and a girl can never have too many pouches 🙂
6. A new study environment really makes all the difference. I’ve talked about how much I like routine, how safe and comforting and put-together it makes me feel, but once in awhile it’s nice to switch it up, and often that’s exactly what I need. I spent Friday after class at Haverford’s Magill library, which I haven’t studied at for awhile, and afterwards I spent the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening at Hothouse Coffee with Georgina. And we were actually productive for the majority of the time! Type A personality incoming: I should set aside part of my weekly routine for discovering new places (in case you didn’t get how that was “type A,” let me point out that I just scheduled non-routine into my routine).
7. I Shazamed a song I heard playing at Hothouse Coffee called Graveyard Whistling by Nothing But Thieves, which is my current song obsession. Finding new music is the best.
8. Lots of Japanese food this weekend! On Friday night I got beef udon at Sushi Land with Georgina and Victoria after our afternoon/evening at Hothouse, and on Saturday afternoon I got salmon donburi at Sushi Sei Express with Georgina after grocery shopping in Ardmore.
9. Skyping with high school friends! Poonie is planning to visit over her spring break, and I’m so excited because I haven’t seen her in forever. And then for the second half of that week she’s gonna go up to visit Kathleen. And then that weekend we’re all gonna hang out in NYC and maybe go to a concert! Last night I caught up with Anny, Courtney, and Jolie from 9:30PM until midnight despite having a quiz the following day that I hadn’t yet studied for, but our Skype sessions are always so precious to me because we’re dysfunctional and are incapable of coordinating between our time zones and Internet connectivity, so when we finally do, it’s quite something. I literally laughed so hard I spit out water.

I want to make an effort to remember the little joys in life, so my 52 week challenge for 2016 is to write weekly Happy Lists.

PS: 4. 3. 2. 1.