More about California...

A did a post about California a few days ago but I didn't really say what we did while we were there. On Tuesday we flew into San Diego at about 10:30  their time. On our flight we flew over the mountains. We checked into our hotel and rented a car. We drove over to Cornado Island and hotel, we went to the beach, and to a few shops. That night we went on a harbor tour for about two hours. On Wednesday we went on the USS Midway which is a Navy ship. They have it set up like a museum so you can walk through all the rooms and go on the decks. We were on the Marine base all day Thursday and that night I went and hung out with two of my friends that live there. On Friday Chasten graduated and we flew home and landed in St. Louis a little after midnight.

Usher

For my best friend Jamie Chambers birthday I bought us tickets to the Usher and Trey Songz concert in St. Louis. We had so much fun we rode the metro from the Belleville campus to the concert and met some of our friends from volleyball there. The concert was about 3 and a half hours long. On the way home we didn't realize that the metro stopped for service close to midnight so we were stranded at the fairview heights stop. We then had to get on a Metro bus and ride back to Campus. We did run into some girls we went to highschool with on the bus. Overall we had a really good time.

U.S. Marine Corps.

Going to California was amazing! We got there on Tuesday and did some site seeing until Thursday. Thursday we went to the MCRD and got to spend time with Chase for a few hours. It was so hard to send him back! Friday Chasten graduated the Marine Corps as Private First Class Hecht. He said boot camp was really tough at first and that the cruciable week was hard! He's happy those 3 months are over! We are all soooo proud of him! He gets to be home until January 4th, then he goes back to California for some more training and school. Saturday we had his coming home party at my house and it was a blast!

Cali!

Tomorrow at 2 a.m. I'll be leaving for the airport to fly to California! I've never been there and am super excited. My cousin Chasten that I talked about in an earlier blog will be graduating the United States Marine Corps. Chasten has had boot camp for the last 3 months in San Diego. We will get there two days before he graduates so we can go site seeing. After Chase's graduation he gets to fly home with us on Friday and have leave for a month. I can't wait to see him and spend time with him!

Volleyball...

The 2010 Swic volleyball season has officially ended. Our last regular season game was on Wednesday Oct. 27 at home. It was sophomore night and Dig Pink night. It feels like our season went by so fast. I can't believe it's already November. We started practices in July and time went by so fast from there. We had our ups and downs throughout the season like most teams do but overall it was a really good experience. Whenever you are forced to spend at least two hours a day with a group of girls you are basically forced to become very close with them. So therefore I've made some very good friends. I love them all!

Swic Volleyball

I have a scholarship to volleyball for SWIC at the Belleville campus. I've played volleyball for the last 8 years of my life. It's always been my favorite sport. When I was in high school I was never sure if I wanted to try to play after high school but when I was offered a scholarship to play for SWIC it quickly made up my mind. I really enjoy playing and I love the girls. Playing a sport and going to school can be very stressful though. It's hard to find time to do anything but play, practice and do homework. It was very overwhelming at first and took a lot of adjusting! It's still really hard though when we have away games and I have to get up for class the next morning! Overall I like it and have made a lot of new friends!

All through high school we had teachers, parents, and peers pushing us to decide what we are going to do after school. For some of us it is going to college, some are trying to find a job, but as for my cousin Chasten he has decided to join the U.S. Marine Corps. At first I disliked this idea. Chase and I have been close for our whole lives, so when he told me he wanted to go into the military I just couldn't imagine being without my best friend. Chase had met with his recruiter several times through the summer and went to Marines training once a week. His leave date was scheduled for September 13, 2010. The closer it came the more I didn't want him to leave. We threw him a going away party and a few days later, Chase got a call from his recruiter saying he would be leaving a week earlier. As if Sept. 13 wasn't coming fast enough now he was leaving on Sept. 6! Even though I didn't want him to go, I told him how proud I was of him and couldn't wait until he was done. I just received my first letter from him last week. On December 3 I get to go to San Diego for Chase's graduation.