Since Francis’ birthday was on a Thursday and my suitemates and I all had classes, we couldn’t give her the birthday present we were so excited to give her. But, over the weekend we could!

Francis has never had her nails done before. So, we decided to surprise her by taking her to get them done for the first time! We told her that we were going on a little journey at a certain time so that she would be ready to go. Then, we all piled in the car to take Francis on this little “journey.”

When we arrived at the nail salon, Francis was so excited; she covered her face in her hands as if she couldn’t believe it.

Then, we went inside, picked out our colors, and all eight of us were in and out of there in less than an hour! I still can’t get over how fast they were without making any mistakes.

      

After we finished getting pampered, we let Francis choose anywhere she wanted to go to dinner. She had a craving for In ‘N Out…which is my favorite fast food!

 

Then, on the way home we stopped for some birthday ice cream!

We all had such a fun time celebrating Francis’ birthday and I know I can’t wait for the next birthday to roll around! (Which just so happens to be my lovely roommate’s)

Yesterday was my suitemate’s birthday! Everyone in my suite was born between January and July so this was the first birthday we got to celebrate and we were all so excited to throw a little party!!

While the birthday girl was in class, we decorated the suite with streamers and we each wrote her a card to put on the wall!

Then, we all surprised her and sang happy birthday as she came around the corner!

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday party without cake and ice cream!

This morning when I came out of my room to get ready for class I saw that our birthday cards to Francis had been replaced by Thank You notes she had written to each of us.

Francis is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. She says “thank you” about a million times a day…even when she doesn’t need to! She is always leaving us little notes around the suite. And she kicks butt in Tae Kwon Do. I know I’m not the only one who feels lucky to have her in our suite.

 

Unfortunately, this past Sunday, Allie was feeling under the weather…so we decided to call off our Sunday Funday this week for a day of rest and recovery. But, don’t worry…she was already feeling better by the next morning! Yay!

We could not wait all the way until Sunday rolled around again to see each other…so yesterday Allie came to the Tom Shadyac class with Hannah, Natalie, and me. That’s right – Allie went back to being a college student for the night!

Luckily for her, she ages well and fit right into the crowd of students several years younger than her. (And the fact that she took out a notebook and a pen to take notes helped with her cover too!)

Tom started out the class just right…he brought in tables to the front of the classroom and filled them with candy for us to have so that we felt like we were in a movie theatre. The only difference was that the candy was not overpriced…instead it was free! Boy, does Tom spoil us or what?

He even asked us to “please, silence [our] cellphones.” Okay, he didn’t quite ask us like that…he asked us to stick them where the sun doesn’t shine. But, that’s close enough, right??

Once we settled in and were munching on our candy, the lights went out, and the feature presentation began! This week we watched the movie Ghandi.  But, only Part 1…because the entire movie is just way too long. I mean there is even an intermission built into the movie! Anyway, that’s beside the point. The main focus of yesterday’s class was (and I’m sure you’ve already guessed it by now) “be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Because of its familiarity, this cliché seems to lose its strength in our everyday lives. But, when you really stop to think about it…this cliché is an extremely powerful statement.

Tom kept reminding us that what makes heroes like Ghandi so wonderful and inspiring is that what they have in their hearts can be found in your heart and in my heart. The only difference is that Ghandi, and heroes like him, dedicated their entire lives to amazing causes. And we, on the other hand, are sucked deeper and deeper into society and are shaped in a way that makes us behave how society wants us to behave. It is hard to be the fish swimming against the current. But, despite the difficulty, it is possible to be successful in making a change. Ghandi, and heroes just like him, are proof of that.

So, where do you even begin on your journey to make a change? Just like Ghandi said, it all starts with you and with me. “[You] be the change you wish to see in the world.” Or maybe you prefer the words of Michael Jackson…”if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”

We are the society around us. So, we can’t point fingers. Pointing fingers doesn’t contribute to progress, but instead only contributes to the poison of our society. (And in a way makes us hypocritical) For example: Tom mentioned that one day he was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way to work and he was getting frustrated with the people in the cars around him for creating the traffic. But, then he realized that he was part of the traffic! He was contributing to the problem. So, in that moment, he decided to bike to work everyday instead of contributing to the problem. And that’s what he has done every day since.

Now, I’m not saying that everyone should bike to work. (Because I happen to love my car and traffic has never really bothered me. I know I’m weird.) But, what I am saying is the next time we are frustrated with an injustice in our society (whether it’s big or small), we have to ask ourselves if we are a part of the problem. And if we are, we must try to change it by starting with ourselves. It’s not an easy thing to do – change. In fact, change can often be uncomfortable. But, the change is possible. Because we are the society around us. Therefore, we can change it to become whatever we want. And just the possibility alone provides hope for our future. So, let’s change the world people!

All this talk about making a change makes me want to listen to Michael. So, just in case you’re getting that same feeling…here is the official music video for “Man In the Mirror.”

Okay, now that that’s over with…I must admit that when I heard we were watching the movie Ghandi, my excitement level dropped a bit. I knew exactly what the message would be; I had heard it many times before. But, by the end of the class, Tom managed to use the same message that had been told many times before to stir something in all of our hearts…the way he always does…and I left with a lifted excitement level for the next class!

Allie, too, enjoyed the class as well as her brief time as a college student again…so she decided to be a college student every Monday night! And that means I get to see my sister on Sundays and on Mondays!! How did I get to be so lucky?