Life's A Journey

Stepping Stones: Watkins- Corporate Social Responsibility

2010-08-20T00:31:00.000-07:00

Many of your that are keeping up with this blog and my updates know that I left my job in Flagstaff for medical reasons, and like most people around the country have been unable to find work in my new city.

Well I decided to take work into my own hands. I figured if I couldn't find work in my field right now, while I apply for graduate school, I decided I'd focus more on working from home to make ends meet till I could start graduate school full time. This is also really allowing me to spend the time I need to help get my health back under control while also working on my business and leadership skills, that I hope will help me in the future.

I've already written about why I choose to join my good friend Jen's Scentsy team, but I decided to join Watkins as well.

Watkins falls in wonderfully with my goals and dreams. Over the years I'm become even more socially and environmentally conscious. Especially with health problems, I've learned that its not just better for the environment and ethical business but also for my own health to use natural products. This is why I joined Watkins, I was introduced by a fellow AmeriCorps member a year ago, now not only am I now able to get the products I love at a great discount, but I also get to share this incredible socially and environmentally responsible company with others.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about the Watkins products and company, becoming a Watkins associate to get your own discount on everyday products you use, or ask me about the incredible business opportunity with Watkins.

I love getting to work for companies that understands my values and interests in corporate social responsibility, but also supports me in my growth as a person and a professional. You can contact me about Watkins anytime at My Watkins Email

So say hello to Watkins Independent Associate #390038! I'm exciting to be getting great discounts on products I love and I get to support and share the mission of this amazing company as well!

I will be writing another blog post about citizen philanthropy soon, as I think explaining this incredible new section of philanthropy will help everyone understand why I'm such a firm believer that even if you make $800 a month, which is where I was as an AmeriCorps member, you can still make a difference for people in your neighborhood and world.

For those of you interested in citizen philanthropy here's a sneak preview.
I'd hugely recommend Give a Little, by Wendy Smith and to check out Citizen Effect one of my favorite organizations and the one I currently work with. This organization has truly shown me how one individual with their social network can truly be a force for positive change in the world. To check out the latest update on my current CP project you can read the Citizen Effect blog at Coral's Citizen Philanthropist Project

Wishing everyone a great end to their week!

Coral :)

*Disclaimer: The statements made and opinions expressed on this page are those of an Independent Watkins Associate who is the publisher of this document, and are not to be construed as the statements or opinions of Watkins Incorporated. *

Summer Update on my Citizen Philanthropist Project

2010-08-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Many of you know that I'm a Citizen Philanthropist for Citizen Effect and that last year I signed up to do my first project to continue my Clinton Global Initiative commitment. I immediately started on my second one as soon as I finished my first over the holidays last year. I have a separate blog through Citizen Effect's page, but I wanted to repost part of the post here to those of you who haven't checked out the blog there can check it out here. If you want to see pictures and information about the community in Peru I'm currently working with check out:

http://citizeneffect.org/blog/chincha-multimedia-classroom-equipment-project

In May I did indeed have my first art gallery show in Flagstaff at the new Criollo Latin Kitchen, they were wonderful and very helpful since this was my first art show ever. Unfortunately we did not sell any art the month the show was up, but I was able to begin getting some exposure for the art and the project.
What I've decided to do in terms of the photography for sale for the project is to use either eBay and donate a percentage of the proceeds to Citizen Effect through Mission Fish and/or opening an Etsy store online with the art. I currently have my work on Fine Art America, but I have not found that to be a very effective place for photography so I'm thinking about changing it around. I will keep everyone posted on where the photography will be going for the next few months. I just recently changed computers so I will upload some photos from the show soon. Below was a blog post about the show, if you'd like to see some of the photography that will still be up for sale for now you may view it here:

http://criollolatinkitchen.com/2010/04/29/new-artist-at-criollo-this-may/

I've recently become an independent consultant for Scentsy, an extremely social responsibility focused business that sells wickless hypoallergenic beautiful ceramic candle warmers. My best friend was already working for this company and I really loved their mission: simplicity , authenticity and value. A simple beautiful product perfect for homes, dorms, offices, cars, and more. The fact that the company follows the highest standard of business ethics that the Direct Sales Association has was very impressive to me. And the value they place on guaranteed satisfaction for customers, hosts, and incredible personal and business training for consultants was a huge appeal to me.

My biggest reason for joining Scentsy besides the fact that they hold such an importance on business ethics but they fact that they have a philanthropy branch as well was a huge reason why I wanted to be a part of this company. Each catalog they donate proceeds from one warmer to charity,they have a campus collection where universities get to fundraise for their schools, but also what I love is they also allow independent consultants to work with groups to develop fundraisers for them, providing scentsy as the product for the fundraiser. The independent consultant gives all of the commission from those sales to the charity or group. I absolutely love this, because it not only lets me focus in on organizations I'm already working with like Citizen Effect, but also hopefully expand and help other organizations and small groups as well.

To spread the word about Scentsy, a company that's really concentrated in just a few states right now I really want to focus on the basket party model and the fundraising to spread awareness about this great company.
To learn more about this amazing company I've chosen to be a part of check out,

http://scentsy.net/en-us/about-scentsy/scentsy-story.aspx

and to learn more about what I'm hoping to do through Scentsy check out,

https://coralz.scentsy.us/bio

Currently I've hosting a digital launch party for the month of August, everything in the spring/summer catalog is currently 10% off, it's a fantastic time to check out what Scentsy is all about.

To contact me about scentsy please visit https://coralz.scentsy.us/Contact

I'd be happy to send anyone a catalog and some samples that may be interested in checking Scentsy out, just email me at the contact address above.

I'm also considering joining Watkins this fall, another organization I truly believe in and love their products. They hold some of the highest environmental and social responsibility standards in the natural products industry, to learn more check out http://ow.ly/2oOJG . I will keep everyone updated as to when I join their team, and as with scentsy I plan on using various ways to provide some of the proceeds to continue to support charities and projects I believe in.

Enjoy! I hope everyone is having a wonderful end to their summer and as always thank you for your continued support of my CP projects.

Coral :)

Food Diaries of a Life Long Picky Eater Part 1

2010-08-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

I promised on my new twist to the blog I wanted to not only talk about some of the things that I've been getting involved with to help use my skills to work on projects and with companies I believe in but I also made a commitment to myself to write more about life as a young adult living with chronic illness.Well today I wanted to write about my major transitions with food in the last few years and why it's not only helping me get healthier little by little, but also helping support sustainable agriculture and the environment.

When I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at 16 never once did anyone ask me about the foods I was eating, this continued to be the case over the last few years until last year, a month before my 22nd birthday. You would think that doctors would ask what you eat and see how it relates to your health.

I never really realized my stubborn eating habits, were not just for silly reasons, although trust me I will admit as my lovely boyfriend Rob likes to point out, sometimes I have the worse excuses for why I don't want to eat certain foods. Just ask about seafood and Mexican food, and you'll understand.

After spending 5 amazing months in Costa Rica in fall of 2008, I was SOOO healthy and happy. Before that my final semester at Elon I had gotten very sick even though I was probably the least stressed I'd ever been in my college career. Spring of 2008 I had been determined to eat very healthy, which to me at the time meant switching to all whole grains, lean meats, etc. Low and behold, it didn't take me 5 months to gain over 30 pounds. When you're a former competition gymnast, gaining 5 pounds is rare, gaining 30 is unheard of.

Of course this freaked me out, and as I was soo busy writing my thesis my final semester,I had been doing Tibetan yoga as a class to help keep my stress down in a semester that was truly either going to break me or make me stronger ( think spending 20 hours a weekend working on your thesis). I thought my eating healthy plan and scheduling my relaxation time would work wonders. And it did mentally, but physically it took a huge tole, which didn't make a lot of sense.

Well it wasn't until Spring 2009, when I returned from Costa Rica and moved to Arizona to start working that puzzle pieces started to come together. In March 2009, I started getting super sick again, fainting and black out spells were extraordinarily uncommon. It wasn't till I went to an MD who was also a licensed naturopath that someone actually asked me for a full medical history and that included my diet!

To my lovely surprise, I knew I have never really liked food, yes yes I know that's weird but it's absolutely true, but there was a reason!!! I knew people had food allergies, but I had never known that people could get food sensitivities. Who would have thought that half the odd feeling you get from certain foods are because your body is sensitive to them and doesn't digest them right. I truly had no idea that this could account for a some of my fibromyalgia symptoms.

Well the doctor prescribed a yeast-free diet, which at that time when he handed me a list of what I could eat, which was not a whole lot in my opinion then, I seriously felt like I was being handed a death sentence. I had never eating and especially didn't know how to cook what was essentially a vegan and gluten-free diet.

At the time I was working at a boarding school, and as part of that all of your food is paid for, so to have to use the little money they actually give you since housing is part of your salary as well, so I didn't have a whole lot of money to start experimenting with food. But I started to try.

For a while I didn't even know where to begin, I really had a very low level of cooking skills so I went straight to cookbooks. I really like Gluten-free girl, a memoir of a true foodie who didn't know till she was in her 30s that she had Celiac disease, and while I don't have celiacs our diet requirements are very similar. Yeast-free is essentially gluten-free/dairy-free , and while you can have meats so it's not vegetarian or vegan, you are supposed to really minimize your intake.
The shock of this type of diet to someone who basically lived off of starches and dairy is a small trauma in itself. Yes I was really that ignorant growing up to think my picky diet would never catch up to me.

So needless to say I've been going through the roller coaster of trying to live out this diet for a long time. I wanted to make this a series of posts that reflects my changing attitude towards food, and how it's helped me be even more aware of the environmental impact of food and why that's now a very important place in my life.

Next time around I wanted to send some shout-outs to some amazing people who don't even realize that conversations I've had with people over the years have truly helped me to get where I am today with my relationship with food and how it is so very much intertwined with my interest in environmental sustainability and now sustainable food. I'll also love to tell everyone about this fantastic blog that I frequent often and how it's really helped me change my opinion about food.

I hope these posts really help someone else or others who might be living with some of the same issues and facing all the struggles that come with chronic illness and that hopefully this information that it has taken me years to understand and really start applying will be helpful to others that are in the constant struggle as well. I also hope that starting the dialog with others about sustainable food and environmental responsibility will encourage others to really start learning and exploring and realizing what a difference it makes in our lives and that of the world around us just when we start making little changes.

I want to end this series of posts with an explanation of why I'm always talking about how little changes make a difference and why that's so important to me, especially now when as Suze Orman likes to call us: young, fabulous, and broke :). But I really want to show how that doesn't stop me and many others I know in their 20s and early 30s from wanting to make a difference in the world with what we have to offer both skill wise but also with the little money most of us have.

I hope you continue to enjoy these posts as much as I am enjoying really taking a different direction with my blog.

Enjoy, and I hope everyone is having a fantastic end of summer!

New Life Step 1: New Job

2010-08-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

To my many friends and new friends, those of you that know me know that I typically do not just jump into a venture without really thinking it through, that's why entering graduate school has been on hold for me for a while even though I've been looking for the right fit for several years. So you may be wondering why I've chosen to join a direct sales organization, well the answer's is pretty easy: Simplicity, Authenticity and Value plus my best friend and Scentsy sponsor, Jen Lindsey. Scentsy's mission spoke to me, over the past several years I have truly become a supporter of organizations that have a high standard of ethics. Whether it's a business that truly believes in fair-trade and giving workers around the world a fair living wage, or its organizations that either started from the beginning and are taking a major turn now to environmentally friendly, or charities like the one I have been working with for almost the last year Citizen Effect that allow individuals just like me to make a big impact on global problems; I value companies with high ethics. I believe Scentsy is one of those companies.

I've chosen to be a part of my best friend's Scentsy team to spread the word about a product I believe in, and a company that believes in me.

I'm a graduate of Elon University in North Carolina; now I live in Tucson, Arizona with my incredible boyfriend Rob, and near my wonderful aunt Vida. I have a bachelors’ in International Studies and Latin American Studies. I'm currently in the process of applying to start my masters program in the spring. I'm a former teacher, tutor, advisor and education facility coordinator. I value education, social justice, and citizen philanthropy.

I truly feel that every person can achieve their wildest dreams, and that every individual can make an impact on our world to a cause they believe in if they just set their mind to it.

I love the fact that Scentsy is helping me develop more as a leader and I hope that once you start learning about Scentsy you understand why this company matches my values, and why I've chosen to support it.

Please take a look around the site. Whether it's your first time checking out Scentsy take a look at the clearance and discontinued items where you can check out our products and get a 10% discount. Don't forget each month Scentsy has a warmer and scent of the month where you can also get a 10% discount.

Are you a huge supporter of your alma mater? Check out our Campus Collection, where $5 from every sale goes to your favorite school. But don't stop there, each month Scentsy features a charity where one warmer each month is designated as the cause of the month, warmers cost an extra $5 but similar to our campus collection these funds go straight to the charity.

Are you as big into philanthropy as I am?? Check out our Scentsy fundraisers. If you group or organization is looking for a product to use to fundraise for your favorite charity, ask me how I can help.

I also plan on setting aside one month twice a year to donate all proceeds to my favorite charity, Citizen Effect, where I have been able to fund education projects in rural Peru. I hope to continue these efforts for many years to come.

I hope that you enjoy Scentsy, and if you have any questions about our products, hosting a party, or joining our Scentsy team, please do not hesitate to ask.

To check out my new Scentsy site, and check out my August digital launch party go to:

coralz.scentsy.us to learn more about this great company I've chosen to join!

Mid-Year Crisis = New Life, New Blog :)

2010-07-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. So I committed to writing more often and as usual life gets in the way. It's funny I really want to ramp up this blog, I've read some pretty spectacular blogs and I'll love to be as connected to my readers as other bloggers are, so I'm going to work harder to write more often and truly start changing up the content of this blog.

From now on this blog will still have personal updates for all my friends and family that read it but also hopefully to bring in a larger audience to this blog. If there is something I have learned in the last 12 months when I lived in Flagstaff, AZ it's how very different and alike us young professionals really are from previous generations. We are truly moving back towards being like the 60s idealists, and while some of use have parents who grew up in that era some of ours did not, and we tend to have very different viewpoints from our family on specific topics.

Well I want to use this blog to talk about the ups and downs of being a young idealist professional that still has the optimism and drive to actually work to see a difference in our world. Many people tell me don't ever loss that spirit because so many others have lost their spark with the discontent they've had with our government, our country, and our world. And trust me sometimes I'm one of them. But something I really learned at Elon University was we can't just complain, we have to go out there and make it happen. And guess what that's exactly what I plan to do. I welcome you to the roller coaster ride that is my life. I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride.

Another area I really want to talk about more on this new blog, is chronic health issues and how it is affecting so many of us now. I have had a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia since I was 16, a "syndrome" that using doesn't affect people till there late 30s and usually more women who are typically type A. People who don't know about this and find out only when I get really sick, typically tell me they had no idea I even had health problems because I've always had such a hard time admitting that I have limitations. I pretty much want to be wonder women, which as I'm truly seen over the past few years, is the biggest reason why us women have a hard time with not only traditional roles but also with our modern roles. The older I've gotten and the more time I've spent out of college, the more I realize why my mother wanted me to start changing my life around when I got the fibro diagnosis. She told me that we women are far more likely to not know how to say no, be workahoics, but then expect to have a normal personal life, we just want to make everyone happy. Which in the last 6 months I have learned harder then ever that she's totally right and always has been. My health has deteriorated in the last several months and I knew it was time for a drastic change. I need to learn balance better, I'm always been great at the academic and work life, but it's my personal life where I really struggle the most. Whether it's my friendships, dating relationships, or the lack of time I spend actually taking care of myself, when I ended back in the hospital 3 weeks ago, I knew everyone who has always tried to help me have always been right. But like they say, until the individual has had enough and decides to change it themselves they will never change. Well guess what, I'M THERE!

3 Weeks Ago, I left my job, moved to a new town to live closer to family, after long discussion Rob and I decided we'd actually take the plunge and live together, been going to countless doctors to get to the bottom of the most recent major flair in symptoms. As I've always thought there was a missing diagnosis and that the fibromyalgia was just modern medicine's way of saying " we have no idea why you are the way that you are" . But answers have slowly been coming in and I've been able to set up an appointment with a specialist in Fibromyalgia who actually takes a look at medicine from an integrative standpoint, so I can't wait to actually go see him, and start getting this healing process to go into overdrive. I'm now just contracted to tutor, and have been looking at some new opportunities to start consulting. I also FINALLY after many years have found the perfect masters program for my interests and personality and will be applying in the coming months to hopefully start in the fall.

For those of you that are new to this blog, the post below is a quick update of the last several months, so you can catch up. But from here on out I hope to make a major change to this blog and my life.

I hope you enjoy riding on this roller coaster with me, and that the personal and professional growth I am so deeply seeking might be an inspiration to others who may be experiencing some of what I've been going through. Please comment and post, and contact me through LinkedIn or twitter to connect. I love constantly expanding my network of incredible people around the country and world.

I look forward to enjoying this adventure as much with any new readers and getting to finally focus on what matters most, living life one day at a time and enjoying it!

Till Next Time, Coral :)

Life Got Busy, AGAIN :)

2010-07-28T15:20:00.000-07:00

So here's a quick update. Hold on for the roller coaster it's going to be a long ride...

Last time I wrote it was about to be the grand opening of the new facility that I had been working on to open in Flagstaff, AZ. Well now the facility has been opened for almost 4 full months and we are gearing up for a new school year, but without me.

About 3 weeks ago I left Flagstaff due to medical issues and am now in Tucson. I had been trying to moving there for quite sometime but like everyone else these days, the job market is a little rough for my taste and I hadn't been able to find anything. The last two weeks that I had been there I was at least able to go to some interviews and I just going to be doing some tutoring again for the time being.

I just came home to visit family this past week to take a break to recuperate from the endless Dr visits before I went back for more.

I've always been interested in consulting and working for myself because I have so many interests that span a lot of different fields. So I'm currently looking into that and thinking I may continue working in education access but offering cheap alternatives to high end professionals so I can continue my professional growth doing what I love. So we'll see how this all comes together, I've been talking with some of my very trusted friends who always have great information and am looking at my options.

I was able to find a great masters program that I can actually start in the Spring, which is great, I've been looking at graduate schools since I was a sophomore in college and I have missed the academic environment, I know I want to teach ( as a professor) and do some consulting so I can work on different projects. So I think while it may seem that having to just up and quit my job and move was a rash move, even for me, someone who likes to move around and try new things, I think in the end things are coming together better then I could have ever planned.

I get to live in a fantastic new place I live very close to my aunt who I'm very close with. And I think the opportunity to just do contract work for various companies now will really help me grow my network and let me really finish tunning down my interest areas so I can design my masters.

The neatest thing about the masters program I found is that it is completely self designed perfect for someone like me who has a hard thing following anyone elses idea of what I should learn and study. I know I want to be a professor and with my masters I can at least start teaching at a community college and I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. So it seems all you have to do is stop being so type A like me, let go for once and see what happens. I think better opportunities have come the minute I just decided to forget it leave town get the medical help I needed instead of constantly putting it to the side, and now I'm also finding incredible professional and personal opportunities in my new town.

I'm excited for my new adventure and I promise to write more frequently for the rest of the year. My best friend Jennifer has even got me looking at doing Scentsy just so I can continue to develop my business skills, so we'll see that's still up in the air, but I feel like for once I'm breathing more even though more things are just floating right now. I'm happy and starting over. I'm excited for the new challenges and opportunities, and I'm sure I'll have some interested stories to write about soon.

And most importantly, for those of you who know I am a Citizen Philanthropist for Citizen Effect and that last year, 2009 I raised money to improve a school in Peru. I am still doing this work, although with all my personal life changes it is currently at a standstill, but soon I will be auctioning the photos that did not sell from my first art gallery show in May on eBay and will be posting all smaller pieces of art on sale on Etsy, keep checking the blog for more updates.

As always stay in touch, many of you who read this have my email address, if you do not feel free to connect with me through LinkedIn or twitter. Both those profiles can be found on the left side of the blog.

Signing Off! Hoping everyone is having a great summer and enjoying it!

Waterfalls and Chaos haha :)

2010-03-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone.

It's been another crazy few weeks for me, but hey I'm still hanging in there.

The Northern Arizona College Resource Center, the new college resource center that I am coordinating is finally opening after the 8 months that I've been in Flagstaff working on this project.

I'm totally pumped and we are in crunch time right now trying to get everything ready, it's been crazy chaotic because we have a space in another facility so all of our actions can't be taken until they are ready which has been very interested these last two weeks, but it's getting done and I'm trying to remember to breathe!! But I'm exciting to be moving into the facility and am excited to see the facility start having students come in.

We're doing a huge event on Saturday and it's basically our huge marketing campaign day as we're platinum sponsoring a major event in the city. I'm also getting to really start getting out and doing community presentation on the project, and that's honestly one of the best things about my job, I love meeting other individuals that are passionate about similar ideas and living in a small community has definitely been the advantage of this whole project. Other college resource centers typically take several years to get up and off the ground but we've been able to do it in 8 months because of so much community support, without all the partnerships I've formed we would definitely not even be close to where we are today.

In what little free time I have right now, Rob has been incredible as well as other great friends like Lin Marie and Leveta use who just been phenomenal and making sure that I am taking time to enjoy the little free time I have. I had a great dinner with Lin Marie last week, and Leveta and I are meeting up Friday to finish getting everything together for our Saturday event. Rob had the brilliant idea last Saturday to get me out of town, he knew I had to work on Sunday and that I only really got one day off last week so he took me to Strawberry to the Fossil Creek waterfall. It was so great to get out of Flag and enjoy the day on a short hike to the waterfall.

Flagstaff has just been fantastic for me. It's definitely been that crossroads that everyone tells me is so traditional for Flagstaff. They have this saying here that you aren't really a local until you've been here 10 years because it is such a transient town. But I love it, it's been a place where I'm really been able to establish myself as a professional but have been able to explore a lot of my personal interests as well. I'm been able to start dancing again in Flag and even though it's crazy right now I'm typically been going multiply times a week. I also have gotten huge support for my art projects and have really been able to use that as a way to fundraise for the schools in Peru.

I have two shows going up in late April and May and am excited for all the events we are planning and hope that I can at least fundraise half of my goal for this year by June, so we'll see!

That's the latest update, I hope everyone is doing well. You know how to contact me so please do stay in touch!

Coral :)

Dance Shot Pics, Enjoy!

2010-03-11T21:01:00.001-08:00

Dancing in the Streets!

2010-03-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. So here's the latest update. 2010 has truly been so far a year of major ups and downs, lots of new exciting, lots of changes but it seems like it is all coming together now for the better.

Some moves aren't supposed to work, I ended up leaving my friend's house in a month and just realized sometimes you can be very good friends but you really aren't meant to live together, so that's ok. I now have a very cute little house close to the university and a roommate who is only here part time as they split their time between Flagstaff and a community about an hour away from here.

Rob and I had a phenomenal dance photo shoot on V-Day. I have been working with a local photographer who has been helping me put together my first gallery show, that will be going up the second week of April and will be there till July. He knew I was a dancer and thought it would be fun to photograph Rob and I and then some solo shots and potentially incorporate them into the show. So after pushing stuff back a lot with scheduling conflicts, it was funny how V-Day feel on a Sunday and that was a good day for everyone so we ended up having a photo shoot on V-Day. I'll be posting the top 100 pictures on a photo slideshow on the blog, so I hope that you enjoy them. It was truly an awesome way to spend V-Day, Rob and I are both really not into the commercialized aspects of it all but we got to do something that was soooo us and just have a good time. We hope you guys enjoy these pictures.

More past the dancing, life has been incredibly good lately. Dating Rob has been an experience, that's for sure :) . I've never really been much of one who likes food and have been picky from a very young age but Rob's actually been patient and is actually teaching me how to cook. He is a FANTASTIC cook, I mean we have smoked chickens, flambeed them, stuffed them like chicken cordon blue with our own twist = AMAZINGNESS!!! Not only does he cook like my own personal chef, because he's such a good cook he's very selective when we actually go out to eat, and since I'm not really explored food much in my life, each week's date night is for sure an adventure. Just last week I had Sushi for the first time, Greek the next night with friends, Indian for date night, and Arabic at his house over the weekend, yeah not only are my travels hopefully going to get more global, I'll actually know what to try when I get there!

It's pretty incredible to have someone that loves dance as much as I do, is also a Latin American focused individual, loves to travel and escape like me, yeah I would definately say it has absolutely =ed AMAZINGNESS!! (Finding a theme here :) )

Work is going great, we open our brand new facility in a month so I'm getting really pumped as I'm started to meet and talk with groups individually in the community and tell them about this great facility that we are creating as a free community resource, we are actually up live now, check out the project I've been working to establish since I moved to Flagstaff in July, it's www.nacrc.net . I'm really excited about what we've been able to create and I'm happy that I'm helping to bring a badly needed community resource to a place I have fallen in love with.

It's funny when I first took my position it was suppose to be a one year contract, a lot of things have played out this year and I now know that I will be looking to relocate to Tucson at the end of the summer. While I absolutely loves this community and am truly integrated now, cost of living is high and it's not a good place to save for graduate school. So Tucson actually has the graduate program I am looking at, and since it is so Latin AMerican centered and that's my region that I want to continue working with I think it honestly makes a little bit more sense. I'm so happy for the opportunities I have had in Flagstaff and I finally feel that I am stepping into my role as a professional more then a student now, and am happy. But I do miss the academics and I know my goal has been for a long time to go to graduate school and I feel that Tucson will allow me to do both graduate school and grow professionally, so we'll see how it all plays out but hopefully I'll head down to Tucson in August and see where we go from there, I'll be applying to grad school to start the following fall.

SO that's the latest update. I'm having fun and living life outside of school and it feels great to know that life finally seems to be falling into place, I'm getting to do a lot of things I love and I feel very blessed.

I hope everyone is doing well, please send updates I love to hear from everyone and we'll chat soon!

Coral :)

Wow how time flys! Major Recap :)

2010-01-23T20:14:00.001-08:00

I'm always amazed at bloggers who actually find the time to write everyday about their lives or about the things they are passionate about. I've become a HUGE fan of the Huffington Post, Change.org, and Social Earth incredible blog websites that discuss global topics and have bloggers who are hugely recognized within their field.

Wow well here's a quick recap of November 2009- till today!

The job in Flagstaff is still as wonderful as ever, I feel so happy that I've found a place that I truly fit in and absolutely love, Flagstaff is known as a major transient town because most people leave after spending less then 5 years here, it being a college town and all this seems to be the trend. People in Flag say that unless you've been here 10 years you are not a local. I always find that interesting and am curious in seeing what happens in the future, this place has truly been where things started coming together for me in so many ways, I think reading the recap below you'll see what I mean :)

The biggest and most important excitement of the end of 09 was most definitely the completion of my first Citizen Philanthropist project with Citizen Effect, we were able to raise $1200 for a new school in Ica, Peru. We had two awesome dance events that we were able to raise money for these students, then I had a really fun holiday dessert party at my home, and the best part of it all was the week before I left for Texas for the holidays I got the most incredible news ever :) I got my first gallery show to display my Latin American photographs at the new Criollo Latin Kitchen here in downtown AND I made an incredible new friend, Amita, the owner of Mayan Magic, she agreed to helping me get the word out about my non-for-profit photography initiative benefiting education in Latin America, more updates on that below.

So the new year seemed like it was going to be one of the best years ever.

After such an amazing natural high that was the month of December, I went home and visited family for the holidays only to end my trip by taking my amazing dog Tux to the vet. I had adopted Tux in January 09 when I graduated from Elon and had moved to AZ for an internship. Tux was my first dog ever and I had fallen in love with him the minute I saw his video on the adoption website and got him the 2nd week I moved to AZ. Tux ended up having a chronic kidney condition that the adoption agency didn't disclose so unfortunately Tux had not been treated all year and ended up passing away when I arrived back in Flagstaff. It was a huge shock for me because he had been running laps with my crazy brother, Eddie, just a week before so I was baffled and confused.

Thank goodness for my incredible co-workers/friends in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is such a huge dog friendly town it's pretty much expected and accepted to take some time to deal with a pet's loss. My wonderful wonderful friends, Leveta, Juanita, Lin Marie, and Rob have been incredibly wonderful. They all made sure I had someone to stay with for a couple of days, picked up lose ends for me at work, and made me amazing dinners! I honestly couldn't have been with better people that week and I am sending them a HUGE shout out for their incredible support and friendship.

With a new move (lease ending jazz) I'm now super excited to be working with Amita the owner of Mayan Magic at this incredible cafe and living with her.

A new year also came with a new job for me, I'm transitioned out of my AmeriCorps role and will actually be working for the university now. Still doing exactly what I've been doing but at a part-time capacity and with a little bit of a change in supervisor structure.

In my free time I've been increasing the dancing finally that my past injuries seem to be under much better control. I've been dancing about three times a week and have been learning tons of new ballroom styles, while I've always loved to dance I've never really done it formally (unless you want to count drill team for a year in HS). The dance community is the first big thing I jumped into when I got to Flagstaff I knew it would be a way for me to meet people in my new community and it most definitely has and I've been having a fantastic time doing it. I got to dance in an exhibition in Phoenix the first weekend of January and it was an incredible rush,I got to go down with fellow Flagstaff dancers, Rob and Jamie. I miss so much the performance side of dance that I enjoyed so much when I grew up as a gymnast I'm loving getting to do it again. I even got asked if I wanted to compete in a Pro/Am competition in the spring, and while it may not happen immediately I'm super excited about the possibilities of getting to perform more again.

The projects with Citizen Effect and the Citizen Philanthropist projects I've been working on continue to be a key part of my "free time", I love that even though I can't live in Latin America right now I have been able to find a way to combine my interests in photography, social enterprise, and philanthropy into a way to provide education for students around the region. It's a huge thrill getting to tell new people about the work that we are doing and constantly getting help and suggestions from an incredible group of people. This project is ever evolving and I'm actually just recently been in contact with Rachel Zedeck of Backpack Farm, an incredible Social Enterprise that Rachel helps create sustainable communities in Africa by teaching sustainable farming techniques check out her information here: http://www.socialearth.org/social-entrepreneur-with-a-backpack-feeds-an-african-community, she has many years of experience in ngos and is going to help me to figure out if the photography initiative can grow into something bigger to be able to make a bigger impact in the lives of students in Latin America. I'm so excited, I feel that life is finally starting to come together and I'm actually getting to spend my time doing things that I absolutely love and am passionate about.

I am getting to know Rachel through an incredible website called changents.com that allows individuals who are working to make the world a better place to connect with others who are doing the same and with individuals who are interested in helping to make things happen. I'm so excited to be a part of this site, excited to be a part of this incredible citizen philanthropy movement that is encouraging individuals to actually take action and help create the change they want to see in the world, I love being a part of it and can't wait to see where it takes me. To check out my Change Agents profile click here: http://changents.com/coralzayas

A good friend that I've made here, is Amie, her and I meet through Gear Up a federal program about college access in low income schools, I'm a Big Brothers Big Sister mentor once a week and help Amie at one of the local high schools. Amie and I learned that we have LOADS in common, more specifically with our interests international education, Latin America and global citizenship. Amie is a few years older then me and has been working on a project now known as Casa Verde since she graduated college. Her and her husband Joe now own stunning property in Nicaragua where they hope to have an international education center, a place that will benefit both Latin American education, rural development, global citizenship through an international education after school curriculum and so much more. Me and Amie spent substantial time in November working on an application for the Unreasonable Institute, a project that would have created start up funds for the organization so that we could make this dream into a reality. And while we didn't back to the finals that doesn't mean we are giving up, we've created this idea into something that builds on Amie,Joe, and my strengths and hopefully one day we'll all be able to work on this project full time and get to work in areas that we all feel are hugely important to create positive change in both the US and Latin America. So we continue to look out for opportunities that may be in the future allow us to get to go this work full time.

The photography will be on display in my first art walk on February 5th, and will go up for my first gallery show at Criollo Latin Kitchen in March. I'm hoping the more people that learn about the initiative the more students we can help throughout Latin America.

Well that pretty much sums up life right now, while 2010 started pretty rocky for me with incredible friends I'm moving on and hoping for a great 2010. Dancing into the new year with my friend and now more formal dance partner, Rob, always brings a smile to my face. Dancing, helping Amita with the incredible Mayan Magic, and continuing work on my Citizen Philanthropy projects and with the exciting spring opening of my work the new college resource center couldn't be more exciting.

This year I hope my blog takes on a new light, it will no longer be just the exciting moments of college life like all my travels, but also more about personal growth. I'm come to realize not very many people know why I do the things that I choose to do and I think taking you all along this journey of exploration will be a great way to transition out of the college updates and into this amazing adventure that has been post graduation and everything that it brings. I'd love to hear your comments and support through email or through the blog comments. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I am even though many of us never get to see each other since we now living in such far off places.

Excited to be back on top of the world :)

Coral :)

Life in AZ pics

2009-11-08T20:01:00.001-08:00

Another Month has Flown By!

2009-11-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm loving life here in Flagstaff my time is flying by soooo fast.

This month has been a traveling all over the state month! I'm been in Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott, Sedona and Flagstaff in the last month!!

I had our yearly VISTA training this year in Prescott and got to see some friends from regional training come together for the first time since we started our projects. It was fantastic getting to see them and we had a blast at training.

I also got to spend a few days in Sedona with Leveta where she lives and got to meet our new colleague who starts now this first week of November. So I have some fantastic pics from a short hike we took while I visited her.

I also got to see Elon students this month as they came to Tucson and Mexico to do a trip with BorderLinks, an organization that does educational trips down to different Mexican border towns so that students and organizations can learn about the specific issues that affect border towns. It was a blast to be back with Elon students and I even got to see an old professor and another 2009 graduate who also now lives in AZ like me. It was a complete blast and I got to learn more specific issues about my regional focus so that was fantastic.

This month just went by sooo fast. It's been fantastic and I got to see my first day of snow here in Flagstaff, but it definitely wasn't too bad. I'm sure I'll have pictures when we start getting FEET of snow!!

Hope everyone is having a great fall and getting ready for the holiday season!

Enjoy the pics!

Give 1 to Get 1 Please Support my Citizen Philanthropist Project this Holiday Season!

2009-11-08T19:16:00.000-08:00

This holiday season Give 1 to Get 1. By helping us raise $1200 this holiday season your purchase of these prints, greeting cards, and canvas prints is helping bring education to 300 children in Ica, Peru. An area devastated by the earthquake in 2007. Your purchase will help to build a new multipurpose classroom where children will learn and community workshops will be held.

For every greeting card purchase $5 will be donated to Citizen Effect and you will receive a tax-deduction.

For every 8 x 10 matted print you purchase $7.50 will be donated in your honor to Citizen Effect and you will receive a tax-deduction.

For every 12 x 16 stretched canvas print purchased a $25 donation will be given in your name to Citizen Effect.

Thank you for giving this holiday season and I hope that the incentive of receiving a tropical print and a tax-deductible donation will encourage you to help provide a badly needed education space for these 300 students and their families in Peru.

Thank you for your support!

Coral Zayas
Citizen Philanthropist- Citizen Effect
Journey 2 Paradise Photography

To view all prints see http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance/Photos4Sale1Well

To purchase prints visit http://journey2paradise.yolasite.com/photos-4-charity.php

Update on my Citizen Philanthropist project through 1 Well

2009-10-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know I really enjoy photography and have it as a hobby. Well this year I was finally able to get hooked up with an NGO that was building classrooms in Latin America. This was my Clinton Global Initiative commitment from two years ago that I have been trying to set up. Well through 1 Well's incredible citizen philanthropist program I have been able to sponsor a new multipurpose school wing in Ica, Peru. What I have chosen to do in order to raise money for this classroom is sell my photography. 100% of proceeds go to 1 Well to finance the new school wing. Please support this project and spread the news if you believe in providing access to education in rural areas of Latin America. If everyone donated $5 I would only need 200 individuals and we would finish building the school wing!

Thank you everyone for your support!! To find out more information check out the following two links.

http://1well.org/subtanjalla_caeclassroom/

http://shop.ebay.com/journey2paradisephotography/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

My VISTA project in the news!

2009-09-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

The new college resource center I have been working has been getting a lot of attention lately, here are the latest articles about the project I've been working on!

http://jackcentral.com/news/2009/09/flagstaff-ymca-makes-plans-to-offer-resources-to-students/
This is the Lumberjack the NAU student newspaper

http://www4.nau.edu/insidenau/bumps/2009/8_19_09/ymca.htm
This is from InsideNAU, NAU's version of E-Net at Elon

We are also featured in the September YMCA newsletter but I don't have a link for that.

Hope you enjoy seeing what I'm been working on lately!

Wow in the News! This is so exciting! Citizen Philanthopist Spotlight of the Week!

2009-09-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

So I don't think I've ever been in the news before and this is so exciting! The two projects that I'm working on have been in the news several times in the last two weeks and I wanted to share the articles in case you guys were interested in seeing what I have been up to. Check it out I hope you enjoy!

http://www.1well.org/blog/entry/http_www1wellorg_blog_entry_featured_citizen_philanthropist_coral_zayas
This is my new Citizen Philanthropist project through a DC based NGO called 1 Well. They allow regular people to give back to a cause they believe in in a creative way. I'm chosen to auction off my Latin American photographs to raise funds to build a new youth outreach center in Ica, Peru an area that has vastly devastated in the August 2007 earthquake. The website is still being added to and next week will have links to the auction site on eBay through Mission Fish as well as the prints I'll be selling. I'm hugely excited about this project because I've tried for two years now to partner with an existing NGO to do work in education in rural Latin America, well I finally got my chance and I am sooo excited!

I hope you guys will pass the word along and the website will continue to be updated with progress on the fundraising and the site project in Peru.

Check out my project's website! http://1well.org/subtanjalla_caeclassroom/

Wow Sept just went through the window!

2009-09-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Wow well my time in Flagstaff is flying by! Sept has gone by so fast I haven't even had time to go dance. I'm been kept incredibly busy with my work, but I absolutely love it.

Last weekend I went and explored Petrified Forest and the Painted desert, I'll have pictures of this and the two national monuments I went to a few weeks back later this week when I have my camera next to me.

I got to play professor for the day today and that was great, like Elon NAU has a freshman common reading, and since I felt that all of Elon's chooses were always fantastic books I volunteered to lead one of the student discussions and I got to do that today. If was great getting to do something outside my job description for the last week as I've been preparing for the class so it's been fun.

I love Flagstaff I barely even drive anymore because there is such a great public transport system here I've used it to get pretty much everywhere.

Some of the exciting events coming up for me are attending a college fair to advertise our new center, golf tournaments for fundraisers at the Y (don't worry I will not be golfing haha), I'm heading down to Tucson and Mexico about mid month to join my university as they come down for a trip with Border Links. I actually get to learn more about that tomorrow as NAU is also planning on sending students in the future.

So hopefully back onto the dancing calendar this month.

Hope everyone is doing well, keep me posted with you lives! I miss living so far away from all my close friends.

Until next time :)

Yes Vanessa I do work! :)

2009-08-18T18:15:00.000-07:00

This post is specially dedicated to Vanessa because when I was in Costa Rica I posted about all the amazing things I was getting to do in and out of the country and she jokingly thought I was even going to class! haha

Well my work here is really exciting, I'm the coordinator for the brand new College Resource Center. The center opens in January so I'm doing all the set up now. I'm basically the liaison between Northern Arizona University and the Flagstaff Family YMCA as they are jointing in charge of this new project. So that means I split my time between the two places, and in the community where I make partnerships with organizations in the area. I'm currently working on setting up the advisory board that we will have up and running in the next 2-3 weeks, which is exciting. I also do a lot of marketing and PE before the center opens and then the website closer to openings. Once we open my role will change.

The center is basically a place where anyone in the community can come to get help with all aspects of the college application process. It's tailered at increasing first-generation, low-income and minority student access, acceptance and enrollment in higher education. I'm really excited about the project as this is definately an area that I'm really passionate about since it's an area I know first hand.

Hope you enjoy the blog and I'll try to update every week or so. Feel free to comment or shoot me an email I'd love to hear from you all!!

Coral :)

Life in Flagstaff!

2009-08-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

So those of you that have seen my facebook status in the last few weeks have some idea of the fun I'm already having in Flagstaff but for everyone else here's a short recap of my first month!

First week I was here I just moved in and got settled, but right away I found out what kind of dance scene Flagstaff had so I could keep myself entertained. Flagstaff has this incredible thing every summer that's called dancing on the square, it's in downtown and they teach a different style of dance for an hour and then its an open dance floor for 2 hours with different styles of music. I'm taken salsa and cha cha so far this month on Wednesdays.

My second week I went to Albuquerque for VISTA training. I meet some of the most interesting and incredible people and that really got be exciting and ready to start this adventure.

My third week I was back in Flagstaff and have been here since. I took Argentine Tango classes for the last two week and now attend the practicas with the other tango dancers in Flagstaff. The dance community here is absolutely amazing! I love them they are the nicest people and I see them at everything which is so cool. I even went to the World Dance Festival show two weeks ago. Last Friday night one of my roommates, Sarah was moving down to Phoenix for grad school so I took her out to salsa rueda, which is salsa done in a circle where you are constantly changing partners, it was the most hilarious and fun style of salsa I've ever done! :)

That's the rap up of my dance life in Flag, I love it and I'm having a blast!

Pictures to come, I'll take some in the next two weeks and post them.

Why I Choose to Serve as an Americorps VISTA

2009-08-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

I have decided to serve for a year in an Americorps VISTA position for several reasons. While I love direct service, my skill set allows me to be better prepared for indirect service by using my skills to organize a new program and get it off the ground. I have a major passion for education and its role in empowering those who do not get everything easily. Empowerment is something that is very important to me. I was raised in a family where nothing else mattered as much as getting an education, as the same type of opportunities were not provided for my parents. This love for education has allowed me to want to become involved in community development. This program allows me to bring my skills to the table and also learn new skills to prepare me for my future career and graduate school. I also think that my activist sense will grow during this year of service. I think it will help me really tune in to what areas I feel the most passionate around, and show me how to continue to be involved in this area. I also know that I feel the most empowered when I am helping others and I then in turn get to see them learn how to empower themselves and move out of bad conditions. I also find a greater appreciation for what I have the more I work with others who do not receive the same opportunities. These and other reasons are the main reasons why I have chosen to serve as a VISTA for a year.

I first started getting involved with service when I was 12 and entering junior high. My mom suggested I volunteer at the community library since I enjoyed going. I did enjoy it and continued for several summers. In junior high and high school I continued a major involvement in service especially student government, and some other student organizations. I loved helping my school, even though I never enjoyed where I grew up. I figured that I could change some of the things that bothered me about the schools then I'd feel more comfortable there and enjoy my time, and hopefully allow others to do the same. I've also learned that I meet my closest friends with those that I serve with and am at a point in life where I'm looking to make these kinds of connections again. In college even though I did not serve much due to having to work instead to pay for school, I did learn more about activism and how I play a role in it. It helped me realize how much I love doing this kind of work.

My new life as an Americorps VISTA

2009-08-18T17:54:00.000-07:00

This year I've decided to devote to the Americorp VISTA program. This program is under the branch of Americorps, the federal service organization. VISTA is different from what most people think of service, we do not do direct service like Americorps state and nationals but rather we build from the ground up and create sustainable programs around the country. I'm in charge of a brand new College Resource Center for the city of Flagstaff,AZ. I've lived in Flagstaff now a month and I absolutely love it, it's definately my kind of town, but more on the fun later!

My blog this year is going to take through my rollercoaster ride of serving to work towards the eradication of poverty, and as you guys can see I'm working in the education side of things. It's also going to be the trials of living at the poverty line, because as part of this program we live at the poverty line so we get a better understanding of the position the people we serve typically live in.

I hope you enjoy this year and see how I take my desire for change to another level. Enjoy!

Family and Friends!

2009-08-18T17:51:00.003-07:00

These are just some of my favorite pics from the Holiday 2008 and Spring Break 09 when I came home to spend a week at home in March. Enjoy!!

Graduation Pictures!!

2009-08-18T17:51:00.001-07:00

Elon Graduation!!!

2009-08-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well some of these posts are written way later then this actually happened but I'm trying to catch up!!

I came back from Costa Rica, December 2008 from the most incredible four months of my life!!! I took an internship teaching ESL-English as a Second Language in Arizona. As part of my degree I did an independent study and got my license to teach English that's how I ended up with this job. It's really an international license so it's designed for those that want to teach English in another country. I choose to stay in the US and teach international students. It was definitely an experience let's just say I learned that I'm not meant to be teaching high schoolers!! :)

In May I returned to Elon to walk and receive my diploma!!! Since Elon's a small school I had to come back for graduation since we don't have one mid-year but it was incredibly worth it. Although I didn't get to see many friends since everyone was busy with there families at least we all got to walk at the same time. Above this post you'll see pictures from graduation!

Enjoy!!

Counting down to Finals

2008-11-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

These last few weeks after my fall break away have been interesting. Lots of work has been done and of course with it being the end of the semester the work is basically coming out of my ears! haha. I've done a few things these last few weekends but nothing extremely interesting. I have some pics that I'll put up later. This weekend we went to Arenal which I had already gone to when my family was here but I really like that area so I had a good time going back. This weekend after about 10 changes we are going to the beach, and getting a lot of work done while sunbathing :).

I only have 3 weeks it's nuts that time has flown by sooooo fast!!!

I applied for Teach for America which is something I have been looking at for a long time and have advanced to the next round, so here in a few weeks I find out if I move on to the final round. Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Coral

Guatemala and Honduras Photos

2008-10-27T19:26:00.001-07:00

Guatemala and Honduras

2008-10-27T19:23:00.001-07:00

Where to begin! Guatemala was in my opinion the best vacation of my life. I took a tour with Mundo Guatemala, which for anyone who has contemplated a trip you should all check into this company I was extremely well taken care of and everything was absolutely wonderful. But on with the details, I arrived on Saturday and immediately transferred to Antigua, the original colonial capital of Guatemala and the headquarters when Central America was its own unit during Spanish rule. I arrived late afternoon so I just went to my beautiful hotel and prepared to leave bright and early for Chichicastenango.

Chichicastenango is the world famous Indigenous market in Guatemala. It is the largest market in all of Central America, and while it was spectacular I had suspected many bargains and a huge variety but I found that later in the week was when I actually found more authentic items and better deals, but that does not take away from the fact that it was still extremely interesting to see this market and explore and buy a few souvenirs. After spending the day at the market I took a shuttle to Panahachel, the largest town that surrounds the world famous Lake Atitlan, which is currently being voting on as one of the finalists for the top 7 natural wonders of the world that gives you some idea as to how impressive this place was. I stayed there over night and the next day took a lake tour and visited the surrounding villages, each with their own flair and characteristics. The lake is surrounded by three volcanoes and tons of high mountain tops it is just absolutely breathtaking. I visited San Pedro, San Antonio Palpao and Santiago Atitlan around the lake. Santiago is known for its artist and their paintings, and since going to Paris and studying art I kind of have a fascination for local painting so of course I definitely bought myself one here. San Antonio is like looking at a Latin American version of the Italy or Greece Cliffside with all the houses with a stunning cathedral right in the middle of the town. San Pedro is a very hippie new age oriented place, really different as you tend to not see new age/hippie go hand in hand with traditional Latin culture. I absolutely loved the boat tour it was great.
The next day I was back in Antigua and had the day off from my tour so I actually went with Elizabeth Bell, the owner of Antigua Tours, on one of her tours of the city and in the afternoon a tour of the architectural and art history of the surrounding small indigenous villages. Both of the tours were fantastic and worth every penny I got to learn so much about the city, its history, its people past and present and just really see the city through the eyes of a local expert which was incredible. At the end of the second tour I got to visit a very cool fair trade style co-op run by 12 indigenous families with all their textiles, these were some of the best artist in the country and I got to learn the different techniques and how the styles give you insight into the class structure and community dynamics within these communities just based on this workmanship, really interesting and I bought a beautiful door hanger with the national bird the Quetzal really pretty.
Over night I took the bus to Flores to go see Tikal, the largest Mayan ruins, the following day. It was one of the most mysterious and fascinating places I’ve ever seen. I think after visiting Stonehenge in England I have a connection with ruins and I definitely had the same feeling here. It was like I could close my eyes and just see the Mayans running around or holding rituals, really bizarre but absolutely incredible; I even got to climb some of the ruins. I came back on the overnight bus again to Antigua. The next day was another free day in Antigua so I relaxed and did my work so I wouldn’t have to do it the rest of the time when I was enjoying myself. Antigua is an incredible city; I honestly think I could stay there for much more than a few days. It is similar to Grenada in Nicaragua but nowhere near the same level of poverty, it has definitely prospered the only problem now is its becoming too touristy, that’s the opinion I kept hearing from the locals but despite all that I loved the city and would have really liked to explore more.
Bright and early the next day I was off to Honduras to visit Copan. Copan are the most well preserved ruins in the entire Mesoamerica region, you can still see some of the colors on the hieroglyphics. Copan is nowhere near as large as Tikal but its known for its incredible preservation, and that is no joke it’s incredible how well preserved all the designs still are, and like I said you can even still make out some of the colors on the statues. I stayed in Copan over night and the location in Honduras in extremely rustic but very peaceful. The hotel was incredible so when I wasn’t at the ruins I got to enjoy the beautiful scenery from the hotel into the country and the mountains. Let’s just say me and the hammock had a good time that evening relaxing.
Well that’s the short and sweet version of my stories from Guatemala I hope you enjoy the photographs of this incredible country, I know I sure enjoyed visited this incredibly beautiful country with its extremely friendly colorful people.

Enjoy!

Spanish Accents

2008-10-16T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm not quiet sure why but everyone here seems to think I'm from a completely different place when they hear me speak Spanish. I've had people tell me my Puerto Rican accent is so obvious, which I think is hillarious since I haven't even lived there. I'm also had people think I'm Cuban, or South American, and the most hilarious one was today in a cab when the guy thought I was from Russia or Ukraine can someone please explain that to me!!! I don't really get it, but it's been interesting to see how complete strangers take you just by the way you speak. Well that's my rant of the week. I leave for Guatemala on Saturday and I can't wait, there will tons of photos when I get back.

Hope you are all enjoying them and that everyone is doing well.

Coral

Nicaragua

2008-10-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Well the group just got back from our visa trip to Nicaragua where we went to Granada and San Juan del Sur. Granada is their original colonial capital and has a large contrast between the original building and how they are kept up compared to the more recent buildings and how they are not very well kept. There is a lot more poverty in Nicaragua as well. From the minute you cross the border you have tons of people either begging for money, food, or trying to get you to buy their products. Even the animals are malnourished and is definately a sight that is difficult to forget. Even with all the poverty that was making us feel helpless because we knew if we helped one all of them would want our money or food or whatever we could give, it was very difficult not to help these people. We did though on our last day before we went to San Juan del Sur gave our leftovers from dinner the night before the homeless kids that are always in the main plaza. People really like and take pride in where they are from and don't mind talking to you about the issues, however politics is completely out of the question they steer away from this topic as quickly as possible, you can tell that there is still resentment from their history that keeps them for being too open so they censor their comments as if to not offend the government. We got to visit the beautiful craft town right outside the main area in Granada and were able to attempt at making pottery on a manual machine, well that was most definately interesting! We also got to see the beautiful viewpoint overseeing the huge volcano and Lake Nicaragua which is stunning. We also got to go to the market, where I as usual went crazy, markets are my weakness when I travel because I love getting unique gifts for family and friends. I got some beautiful things for ridiculously cheap so I was able to get a lot more for my buck in Nicaragua then in Costa Rica. I know this next week in the Guatemalan market it will be the same! When we went to San Juan del Sur we really just relaxed until we headed back to the bus the next day as we were all exhausted from a very long ride and day in Granada.

Nicaragua was difinately interesting and different I hope you enjoy the pictures of their nature and the beautiful colonial side of Granada.

Nicaragua Pictures

2008-10-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

Ohh Political Science

2008-10-08T17:54:00.000-07:00

So I'm not usually a fan of politic science class wise, most definately into politics but all the theory nonsense is just not practical for my life. SO LET ME TELL YOU what a DIFFERENCE a political science in Costa Rica is like. Can we say field trip (s)!!!!! I have officially been on four seperate field trips with my class to Congress, Tribunal Election Council, Foreign Affairs and tomorrow the Presidency. And yeah I'm getting a grade for this is that not amazing. I'm actually getting to visit and talk to people that are involved with the issues we discuss in class and they are all so willing to help and get connected with students. It's just been really interesting to get to meet people working in this field in another country it's really quite cool. I didn't think I had mentioned these before so I just thought I'd share. Political science isn't the only class I've had various field trips in my GST with Dr.Weston has also had several as well as class outside, even my Spanish class got to go on one yesterday.

Yeah basically I just absolutely love studying abroad, I mean I love being at Elon and that's a huge difference from most colleges but having these experiences abroad has by far been my favorite thing about Elon, and this one is most definately not an exception.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures and this week there will be many more from Nicaragua.

Hope everyone is doing well!

New way to see pictures

2008-10-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well I finally figured out how to get my pictures in slideshow format onto the blog, so below are all the different pictures from the semester and where they were taken. It rotates but if you want to see then in full size all you have to do is click the screen. Hope you enjoy!

Monteverde Pictures

2008-10-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

Manuel Antonio Pictures

2008-10-07T19:31:00.001-07:00

Paragliding Photos

2008-10-07T19:30:00.001-07:00

Poas and La Paz Photos

2008-10-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

San Jose and Cartago Pictures

2008-10-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

San Ramon

2008-10-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ziplinning

2008-10-07T19:24:00.001-07:00

Fantastic Weekend and Countdown for Nicaragua

2008-10-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend I got to go see Juanes in concert on Thursday night and it was AMAZING! It was my first concert which made it even better. The opening band was a local band and they were ok but the real show was definately Juanes, and in proper Costa Rica fashion it started raining of course the minute Juanes came on stage. But it actually made it even better, the atmosphere was just so much more personal and fun the whole group had a blast, and the Professor and his family went too so we all had a good time. Friday four of us headed to Caldera to the beach and on Saturday Jose took us all paragliding and everyone had a great time. Sunday the group had a trip and we went to Cartago to visit the ruins and the basilica, we also went to a traditional farmers market which was massive, and we went to a gorgeous viewpoint and the first church in Costa Rica both in the Orosi valley. This week is kind of nuts for all of us since we go on our visa trip to renew our visas this weekend to Nicaragua and next week I leave Saturday for Guatemala for my fall break and then it's already November!!! ahhh I'm so not excited about that I'm having a great time and really do not want to go home anytime soon. So because the rest of this month is kind of full we have tons of work due this week so we are all pretty busy.

Well I'm sure I'll have exciting stories after our visit to Nicaragua so stay tuned for that.

And as always check the picture link

www.picasaweb.google.com/luvlatindance

Extremely busy weekend

2008-10-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Ok well last week wasn't too exciting so I'm going to tell you guys about the insanely busy upcoming weekend. Well Vanessa as you think I'm just having entirely too much fun this is really going to make you mad. Well I'm going to a Juanes concert, the beach, paragliding, and Cartago yes that's all the same weekend. But don't be confused I am taking class, 5 of them actually so I'm busy all week long with class but the weekends are our stress relief of the week. I hope everyone is doing well and I will have a lot of pictures after this weekend.

Monteverde

2008-09-24T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well this past weekend we went to Monteverde as a group, Monteverde is much colder then San Jose but a really nice temperature. We took a really long hike Saturday and Sunday did the skywalk, some of the others did the zipline but since I had already done that I decided to try something different. Something really interesting I got to do when we got there on Friday was visit two alternative schools, the Monteverde Cloud Forest School, and the Quaker Friends School. I'm really interested in alternative educational systems and other countries systems so this was definately what I enjoyed the most of my weekend, my professor, his wife, and Scott and I went and did this when we first arrived. There are some pictures that you all can see, but because of the crummy weather we didn't see any animals but there are still some nice pictures you all can see. This weekend is still up in the air, the rest of the group is in an environmental studies class but since I'm doing an internship I'm not in that class, well they have a field trip this weekend, so I may or may not go out of town so we'll see. I can't believe it's almost October time is absolutely flying, we have to do our visa trip and we are going to Nicaragua and then for fall break I'm heading to Guatemala and Honduras hopefully and I'm really excited about this!!

Hope everyone is doing well,

Coral

Paragliding, Juanes, IMAS internship, and Español x2

2008-09-16T19:59:00.001-07:00

Well the end of last week and my weekend were quiet interesting. After I wrote the last post I went to my semester internship for the first time. I work at IMAS- Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social, which is basically the government run HUGE social services department. They do all sorts of work basically all the work that you think of a social worker doing except this is on a regional and national scale. I work at the national headquarters in San Jose and basically help out with whatever projects are at hand that week. My focus is within the educational programs and more specifically their ADVANCEMOS program for kids ages 7-21. That was an interesting experience because from the beginning my internship experience here has been a bit of a run around and this is actually the second location where I was sent to as my original internship ended up falling through. It is also really interesting switching from a working mindset in English to one in Spanish, even for me who comes from a Spanish speaking family this transition has most definately been an interesting and challenging experience so far. I literally had more literature to read as "homework" for my internship then my other four classes combined this past weekend. But even though it is tedious it is really interesting to see how this style of company works in another country.

I also found out that day before my classes and internship that the group was going to a Juanes concert, I am beyond excited about this as I've never been to a concert and my first one happens to be an extremely popular Latin artist right now. I am sooooooooo excited so that is in two weeks and I'm really looking forward to it.

Over the weekend I went back to San Ramon, which I've come to feel is my home away from home. I live with a local family here in San Jose and have classes and work in the city but being able to leave the city and enjoy some time with other friends has been a great stress reliever and lets me just get away every once in a while. Well Jose, a friend I visited who I've already mentioned is a paragliding pilot well I got the opportunity to do this again this past weekend and to just enjoy that gorgeous view from where the flights take off, if you don't know what I'm talking about go check out some of the pictures.

Because of some switching around on hours with the internship I'm getting to take a second more focused Spanish class by myself with a professor so I actually get to work on what I really need which is writing and literature in Spanish. Well I had this class today for the first time and I absolutely love it, my instructor is great and I get to work with a lot of interesting material so it's actually great to just have a one-on-one class instead of dredful thinking you are the only one with an instructor, but I really like it and am looking forward to that class.

Well this weekend the group is off to Monteverde, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Costa Rica so I'm really excited and am sure I'll have some great pictures from that too, we are all also doing the ziplinning again so that should be fun. I'll write about that next week.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Rambling Man on Bus, Monkeys, Lizards, and Beaches

2008-09-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

So as you can see it's been another busy week here in San Jose. About mid-week last week I was taking the bus home from downtown and at the next stop everyone got on and off and sat down, and then all of a sudden this man just decides to talk about his school in natural medicine and about different plants that heal, well I'm interested in that but everyone just completely ignored the guy, so imagine this man talked for a good 20 minutes and no one was listening, it was quiet sad but apparently they are used to it because nothing seemed to bother them. I was thinking to myself I'm in London and Paris again in the subway where no one speaks and when they do they look at you like you are nuts, apparently that is the way of life on public transportation in other countries.

This past weekend the group got to go to Manuel Antonio, which on the Pacific side and supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in Costa Rica. Well I've got to say I'm still in love with our beaches in Costa Rica but Manuel Antonio beach was nice, and it was nice to go to the Pacific which I had never been to. Manuel Antonio is really known for its national park more then its beaches so we started out early last Saturday and hiked through the park I got to see monkeys, lizards, sloths, frogs, spiders and a whole lot more extremely close and personal, forget the zoo you should just come hike the park ( and it's much much cheaper). I really enjoyed the park and the beaches but I would have to say the park was better in my opinion then the beach.

This weekend is a long weekend as it is Independence Weekend here in Costa Rica and I was originally planning on going to Panama but unfortunately I wasn't allowed to go, so hopefully near the end I will at least get to go down to the canal and a border city that is supposed to be stunning. Our plans changed way too many times to count in the last week so after everything was said and done I'm heading back to my mountain retreat in San Ramon and hopefully going paragliding again. I've heard about some interesting traditions about independence day so it should be interesting and I'm sure I'll have stories about that next week.

And as usual I am uploading pictures as we speak and you can you go check them out at

http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance

Hope you enjoy!

WII FIT, "usted, vos" and catering mom

2008-09-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

As you can see this past week has also been quiet interesting. My Tica sister, Gabby has a WII and the FIT to go along with it. Well let's just say that she is completely kicking my butt at any game we try but the FIT was the most humorous of them all. Me and Gabby are now having competitions with the FIT so everytime she beats me she laughs and so now its a competition so any time I beat her it is the same way, so you can just imagine miss competitive having her sister beating her is not a fun thing so we've turned it into a friendly little competition ( you really have to visualize us falling over doing yoga and the hulahoop it's quiet funny).

The next random comments are the differences between the formality spoken here and what I've been used to speaking in Spanish. Everyone calls everyone else usted it is never the informal (friends/family) version of tu, even my Tica mom calls her daughter usted, I thought that was so odd. They had told me that they use usted here more but I didn't realize it was even going to be spoken between family members and close friends, vos goes along with that. I was always told not to learn to vosotros form of verbs because that is only used in Spain and you can get around without using that, well my teachers were definately wrong people are always calling me vos or usted instead of tu it's truly quiet odd when you are not used to hearing or using that form.

My Tica mom has been given the honorary title of caterer. She does not own her own catering business but she might as well have one, it doesn't matter what kind of occasion is going on she is always the one asked to cook. So she has been up several days really early or cooking through the afternoon for an event that she is in charge of. It's quiet nice to have the best cook as your host mom, and for all of you that know how picky I am should be happy to know that I have tried pretty much everything they have given me.

The rest of the group got here last Thursday and Friday we had orientation. Saturday we went and visited Poas volcano and La Paz waterfalls, I had already been there with my family but La Paz has been my favorite place so I had no problem going again and I had a great time. After we got back to San Jose I took the bus to San Ramon where we stayed when my family was here as they had there yearly festival yesterday. I got to see the festival which was a little disappointing but me and Jose Eduardo were laughing so much at it that it was still a good time. Our family friend Delia was also here so I had dinner with her and Jose before returning to San Jose. This week will be my first full week of classes and this weekend we will be going on another excursion.

I hope you are all enjoying the pictures and I will be posting some new ones in the next few days. Here is the link once again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance

Hilarious Cultural Differences

2008-08-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

So I thought everyone would get a kick out of some of these differences. First and foremost this is definitely not a country where they dislike Americans, the day I got here we went to lunch as my parents were on the next flight and they immediately gave me an English menu, I don't know what on earth made them think I didn't speak Spanish but whatever I didn't take it to heart I can tell they just try to make visitors feel at home. Driving is hilarious here, for any of you who have visited a Latin American country before know we all tend to be quiet crazy drivers, forget common sense, but the roads are much better here then I imagined, except in San Jose it is nuts here in San Jose especially in downtown people are all over the streets that the cars can barely get through they even had to make part of the street a pedestrian zone. Distance between major points really isn't all that much but since you are driving up and down mountains it takes quiet a while to get to things. Something I found really interesting were the pulperias, they are street side convenience stores and social outlets for people. I haven't seen them in San Jose but once you get out of city limits they are everywhere. Each area I have visited has had its own unique character and that's what makes then a like and different from one another. Forget stress, people here don't even know what that is, everyone is so laid back always its unbelievable, that spirit catches on and I know I've already noticed that I take time and look at the scenery or just let outside and enjoy the breeze, it is pretty darn amazing. Hopefully this stress free zone will last when classes start on Monday. The university system here is also really interesting there is practically no such thing as a four year college everything is set up like career schools no basics only what you want to study. You can even get a law degree in two years after high school it's actually the shortest program of all and many people go that route, so if you ever get in trouble here there are more then enough lawyers to go around. Ever with what for us might seem like a lack of education because of its career specific approach people here are always on top of national and international news. I even had a run for my money the other day with Jose Eduardo talking about Latin American politics which is my specialty and not his. To go along with the crazy driving is the street system there is no such thing as a street name here and all directions are given to you by landmarks and number of blocks in whichever direction, it is completely confusing to get around so at least I don't have to drive I just have to figure out the bus system. Every place I have been to seems to have beautiful landscaping around their homes and the birds are always in the yard singing, we even have a pair that comes and takes a bath in the bird bath in the backyard. There are no sidewalks here or hardly any and even if you take public transportation you still usually have to walk for a little while to your destination, I really don't like walking on the edge of the street but you really have no choose. This past weekend when I went paragliding I noticed that there are a ton of expatriots that live here, they are everywhere , I've even asked some of them what the process of moving to another country was like, they all seem to say that to Costa Rica it's extremely easy. Even though my ear has already switched to hearing Spanish all the time it's funny when you hear English because it sounds so out of place.

Some words I've found hilarious are below

here they call a giant cookie an ear (in Spanish), the first day they asked me if I wanted an ear I looked at them like they were speaking gibberish

perro is what they said for hot dog

palomitas which for our family is a type of bird here they say that for popcorn

I went to the movies with my Tica family yesterday and we saw the mummy I was thinking it was going to be in English with Spanish subtitles but no it was all in Spanish it's hilarious to watch Brandon Fracher speaking Spanish (clearly he isn't talking in Spanish but it's still amusing)

The malls here are also different from ours outside of city limits they call mall what we would say is just a shopping center, but here in San Jose the mall is 4 stories. You can seriously find everything under the sun at the mall it's truly one stop shopping, there are even groceries inside the malls.

I also think it's funny that we all pretty much know that us Latinos do not understand the concept of being on time, well here they call things that you have to be at on time as "tiempo Americano"- American time. However I find it funny that food here is always served at least in this house at the same time everyday no exceptions.

These are some of things I've noticed that are different and amusing, I hope you enjoyed some of the random word chooses they make that I think are funny.

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica

2008-08-25T20:43:00.001-07:00

Well I've officially now been in Costa Rica for about two weeks. My family was here for the first week and a half and now they are back home and I am now with my new Tica family in San Jose, Costa Rica. I'll be referring to my adopted family for the semester as my Tica family as here in Costa Rica they call themselves the ticos just so everyone can be on the same wavelength. In two weeks sooo much has happened. My family and I stayed in San Ramon with family friends for these first two weeks I was here before my classes started here in San Jose. San Ramon is this absolutely gorgeous town located in central Costa Rica in the mountains it is absolutely breathtaking at any hour of the day, whether the sun is rising multiply shades of blue at 5:30 or going down with pinks, blues, and yellows in the evening it is just beautiful. The sun goes down here no later then 6pm and the rosters keep waking me up at 5:30-6am which has definitely been an adjustment but one that I've seemed to made very easily takes to the colors outside you get tired early since it gets dark so early and you wake up early because the sun is out so early. Costa Rica has shades of colors that you didn't even know existed, even with my new really good camera I bought to bring there are not enough shades of blue and green to show all the shades from when you see it in person, but it still takes incredible photographs and really lets you see the true beauty of Costa Rica. When we went to explore other areas we first visited Arenal volcano which is west of San Ramon, it was absolutely incredible to see a volcano so up close and person it is just something completely out of this world. On our way to Arenal about half way between San Ramon and Arenal is San Lorenzo which is known to be the best place to go ziplinning in Costa Rica, amazing!!! Everyone should do this at this once in their life it is just beautiful and an incredible adrenaline rush. We also visited Zarcero which is known for its beautiful gardens and topiaries in their town center which is directly in front of this beautiful church that has really unique architecture, it is just a gorgeous place to see even when it is raining like it was when we got there. After Zarcero that day we also visited Sarchi. Sarchi is the artist capital of Costa Rica, they are known for their wood furniture and crafts, it is incredible what they can make out of wood it is just out of this world. They make all sorts of crafts with the about 10 different styles of wood found here, I even bought jewelry made of it, and you all know I'm not a jewelry person that's how beautiful it was. We also went and visited the Poas volcano and La Paz waterfall gardens. Poas unfortunately was completely invisible the day we went but we got just a brief glimpse and even that was breathtaking. From there we went to close by La Paz waterfalls and gardens. This place has been one of my biggest highlights so far, incredible. The waterfalls are the last thing you see there are multiply exhibits before you start the hike down through the waterfalls. There is an aviary exhibit with all sorts of exotic birds from all over Costa Rica, there is also a monkey exhibit, a stunning butterfly exhibit, and a hummingbird garden. It was just sooo beautiful and that was all before you saw the incredible waterfalls. By far my favorite touristy place in Costa Rica. We went to see my Tica family while my family was here so they could meet them before they left, so that day with the wonderful help of our escort Jose we went to San Jose meet them, saw the Pre-Columbian and the gold museum and the national theatre. From San Jose on the way home we went to Cartago. Cartago also has its own personal flavor, it is known for the ruins of an old church and their Basilica de la Virgen de los Angeles, this was a really interesting cathedral because it was only gray and white on the outside but very colorful on the inside it was really a unique sight to see, but I'm a personal fan of ruins so I absolutely loved those. Those were all the major sights that we saw around the country while my family was here, but we also explored San Ramon where we stayed and got to meet friends of our family friend who we had gone to visit. After my parents left this past weekend me and Jose Edwardo went paragliding. Jose Edwardo is a personal friend of our family friend who invited us to their house in San Ramon, he has just been absolutely wonderful and has really helped my family and I find our way around Costa Rica. Well he is a licensed paragliding pilot and he goes every weekend to Punta Cana about an hour outside of San Ramon to go paragliding. He even owns his own business doing this on the weekends, I will be posted his info later as I don't have it near me but if you ever come to Costa Rica it is by far one of the coolest experiences I have had while here and I highly recommend it and Jose Edward is a great pilot I really felt completely safe flying all over. You really truly feel like you are flying, well yeah I know you basically are, but still it is just incredible to fly over the ocean, mountains, trees, and other landscapes of Costa Rica. I went both this past Saturday and Sunday and it was just an incredible experience. I also got to finally go to the beach after flying on Sunday so that was a great way to end my time in San Ramon. Today I came back to San Jose and have moved in with my host family for the semester. We all get along really great and we have a ton in common so that makes it a really easy adjustment. The house also has three mascots, they have a rabbit and a small parrot, but they also have a beautiful visiting hummingbird set that comes the backyard all the time. As you can tell I'm really enjoying my time in Costa Rica, I just may never go back home :), jk Eddie I promise I will be at your meets :) . I am uploading some photos while we speak and will finish tomorrow. I am posting all of them and them separate folders that are listed as my favorites, for those of you who don't have time to see them all go there and if you love them and want to see more feel free to check out the rest. Here is the link again for the photos

http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance

Hope you enjoy them!

Coral :)

Update from junior year

2008-08-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Junior year was quick and long at the same time. I took full loads both semesters so that I could graduate early in December. My junior year took me on another adventure to Nashville, New Orleans, Mrytle Beach, and home for the first long period of time since the beginning of my college. This year I had two internships, one with the local school district next to my university, and this summer in the language and translation department of a hospital. While I know that's a short and sweet review it wasn't really a year based on fun it was far more academic I did have plenty of new places to see and a few really wonderful nights out with my friends. Feel free to see some of those pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance

I am now leaving this weekend for Costa Rica where I will spend the next 5 months. Check back at the blog and the picture link as I will be posted quite a bit about my new adventures.

Summer 07 update!

2007-08-19T15:48:00.001-07:00

So school is about to start and I just wanted to give an update. First off from now on all my pictures will be on this site http://picasaweb.google.com/LuvLatinDance my photos from this summer and from here on out will be there it was a better place to store photos and upload faster, I highly recommend it if anyone wants a place to store your pics online.

Neways back to the update. This summer I spent part at home in TX and the other half at school, since my job was here. I worked for the Elon Academy a great program for area high schoolers by my school, it's basically a college prep academy with many more activities! I was a counselor and a teaching assistant. Other pics you will see are from a weekend in Wilmington,NC where 2 of my friends live. Their are more from there on the way. There are also pictures with my family in Houston and at home. Their are some photos from when Luke visited TX, and probably some more random ones thrown in the mix. I hope you enjoy the pictures because it was definitely fun!

This school year is about to begin again and I'm officially a college junior!!! Extremely exciting! So you will probably see pictures of my new apartment I moved off campus into a condo my friend owns, so I'm very excited. I'm finishing up my major this year and starting my minors. My new work this also very exciting and I can't wait to get started. So this next year should bring many more adventures as always and I can't wait!

Can't wait to hear back from some of you!

C :)

Spring Semester

2007-06-04T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well now that spring semester is finally over I can write a bit of an update sorry there was hardly any updates over this semester it's been a crazy one for me. Well let's see as always the academics are always changing but this is the final change since I am on track to finish a semester early now. I went back to International Studies and added two minors because I only had 4 classes to finish the major but I didn't have enough hours, so I added two of my interests and just used them as minors, philosophy and non-violence. I lived in my fantastic apartment with my fantastic roommate, Allie for the semester. We had a great time, tomorrow when I get back to school I will post some pictures since I'll be back on my main computer. I am strongly considering graduate school but hopefully this junior year will help me finalize that decision, but I'm looking into a Master's in Education because I love higher education and would love to stick around in the university setting so let's see. I'm officially a junior now and like I mentioned before I only have 3 semesters left!!! I'm taking that last semester off to hopefully visit graduate schools if that's what I decide if not, saving some money at the very least. Next year I've made some changes I will hopefully be moving off campus that's to be decided within the week, with a good friend so I'm looking forward to that. I've been home for the last few weeks spending time with the family and taking a break. Tomorrow I go back to school because my main job for the summer is with a fantastic program at the university called the Elon Academy. I'll be posted pictures so be on the look out for those in the summer I have more time so they will be up sooner. I'll also post spring pictures by the end of the week. I will be emailing everyone tonight asking for address updates because I'm trying to update my address book and because I'm trying to tell you about my latest and most exciting news, my new business!!! I became a consultant for a fantastic company called Arbonne. It's a Swiss botanically based skin care and wellness company. I'm been using their products for a while and have loved them so much that I decided to become a business builder part time and see where it takes me. I should be opened up my new website within the week I also wanted to send everyone the link, that's another reason I wanted updated addresses and info. If you have any questions about my company please ask I'm really excited I would love to tell you more. And please write with updates I love hearing about everyone exciting news, being soo far all the time I don't always know what's going on so I would love an update every now and then.

I hope everyone has a fantastic summer!!

C :)

More pics of big/little

2007-03-31T14:31:00.000-07:00

I put up my big/little stuff in my apartment

Sisters for Life!!!

2007-03-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yeah ESA!!! Well this spring after getting back from Paris I rushed a service sorority called Epsilon Sigma Alpha aka ESA. We are a group of about 40 girls, and like 5 guys who love to do service. Yesterday was Big/Little Day so the pictures you see are from my gifts from my amazing big. Ohh yea and if you can not tell I'm in the Margarita family.

Everything else in life is going great, it's been a crazy semester but a really fun one. I switched my major back to International Studies because I didn't want to have to stay extra. And I've decided I want to go to graduate school for student affairs.

Enjoy the pictures and I hope everyone is doing really well!

C :)

2007-03-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

2007-03-31T11:50:00.000-07:00

2007-03-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

Eddie visits and Salsa Sunday

2007-03-13T16:24:00.000-07:00

So these are some pics of a few days with Elon hanging around my apartment and all of us dancing on Salsa Sunday in my apartment. Allie is my roommate in my apartment she is in one of the pictures too.

Enjoy!!!

2007-03-13T16:22:00.000-07:00

2007-03-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

2007-03-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Salsa Sunday

2007-03-13T16:19:00.000-07:00

Update from Winter Term and Feb.

2007-02-24T10:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!!! Sorry it's been so long it's been crazy over here!! When as you can see I got back from Paris at the end of January, so please check out the pics there are descriptions of what they are every 4-5 pics. I also moved into a new apartment so there are some pics there, it's more finished now but that gives you an idea at least. I had changed majors in the fall so I'm starting all new classes but I'm super excited and really like them even though I work coming from every direction possible!! Then trying to have fun on the sides so we cook, go dancing to ballroom when we can on Fridays, try to have game nights or movies every once in a while. And just living life!! I have another website now it's http://luvdance4ever.livejournal.com/ since I am doing a teaching practicum and volunteering teaching GRE/ESL students I have to write journals for both classes so I decided to create this website so you could read about my experiences. The first pics you will see are me and Luke those are recent we went to a free dance with my roommate last weekend, so enjoy.

Well that's the update for now. I hope everyone is well, and don't forget to write!!

C :)

2007-02-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Me and Luke at the Snowball dance, just some fun pics!!!

2007-02-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

more pics of my beautiful apartment!!!

2007-02-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

my new apartment!!!!

2007-02-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

hahaha!!!

2007-02-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

Fun pics from throughout the night!!

2007-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

DANCING in Paris!!! This was our second to last free day!

2007-02-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

The gang the last night is Paris!!! We went dancing haha!!

2007-02-24T10:28:00.000-08:00

Moulin Rouge, us on the Seine river cruise first one is me, then the other one is Turner, Ash, Kayleign, me, and Jeremy, the last one is me and Turner in front of Notre Dame, and the last one is obvious but it's sideways because I couldn't fix it sorry.

2007-02-24T10:25:00.002-08:00

French National Opera House, this is where Phantom of the Opera was filmed

2007-02-24T10:25:00.001-08:00

2007-02-24T10:22:00.000-08:00

Sainte Chapel is in the first two, then we have the Louvre, and my friends at the Louvre, and then ppl from by group out in Paris.

2007-02-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

Here we have the Metro, the transit system sign, Notre Dame, and Sainte Chapel

2007-01-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

More pics from Parc Monceau, Hotel de Ville, and the Metro sign ( the old metro sign)

2007-01-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

First three are located at the Dome Church and that is Napoleon's tomb, and the other two are taken at Parc Monceau

2007-01-24T19:52:00.000-08:00

Luxor, was a gift from Egypt, can't remember the next one haha, and the rest are where the war museum is housed Hotel de Invallides

2007-01-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Ok so here we have the Louvre, Venus de Milo at the Louvre, Concorde Plaza, and Tullerie Gardens

2007-01-24T19:47:00.002-08:00

These are still at Versaille but this was Marie Antonette's part of the estate

2007-01-24T19:47:00.001-08:00

2007-01-24T19:44:00.000-08:00

These are all still at Versaille in different buildings

2007-01-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

These are all at Versailles, the first pic of the bunch is Jeremy, me, Ashley, and Kaelyn

2007-01-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

Ok soo in order, you guys know the first two, then I'm at Sacre Coure, and Versaille right outside of Paris

2007-01-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

This is my crazy bro, our family friend's new baby, the cousins at New Year's, and my family, ohh and the Chinese babies!!! (obviously they are not babies anymore but you know... :) )

A few more pics

2006-12-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

Me and my advisor, and the new haircut I don't think yall have seen it short and straight.

Enjoy.

Some pics

2006-12-13T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, hope everyone is well these are just some pics, I've been a little behind on the pics this semester. Well the fall is over and I go home tomorrow. I am going to Paris in January and then starts a new semester with a new major! Yea it's going to be nuts. Enjoy the pics and hope everyone has a fantastic holiday season!

So let's see there are some pics of Thanksgiving at home, Elon at X-Mas, and me and Chae at our professor's house for a holiday party.

Last Post I promise!

2006-11-15T19:49:00.000-08:00

And the below pics are from a holiday party with the other RAs, most of the ones you see are my staff. And I made that lovely pirate turkey you see for our contest.

RA party pics

2006-11-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

All about the crazyness

2006-11-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Ok well I went to a conference in Tennessee, and I actually presented one of the break out sessions so it was fun. And the other pics you see are from the Halloween party I throw for my residents.

Enjoy.

More Pics from Halloween Party

2006-11-15T19:42:00.000-08:00

More pics of Tennessee and Halloween Party

2006-11-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

SAACURH conference tennessee

2006-11-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

Massive Update

2006-11-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

Haha I love how the last time I posted something I said how much I loved Elon, well it's been interesting this semester to say the least and tons of big changes have happened. Probably the biggest one and the best one, was the fact that I changed major to Social Justice Education. But life is nuts and its finally starting to settle down. Enjoy the latest pics, they are from Halloween and an RA party. Ohhh yea, and I got awarded RA of the month.

I love Elon!

2006-10-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

So ok the latest uploads of pics are from us going dancing to the Latin Club last Friday it was AMAZING, no there is no pics of me dancing because the camera ran out of battery but don't worry next time there will be tons. So men if you are reading this make sure that if you even consider asking one of us high class girls out that you have better learn how to dance like Kris, otherwise you have no chance! Sorry boys once you've danced with Kris there is no going back. hehe

And the other pics is my roommate using me as her model for her photography assignments, hope you like.

me :)

More modeling pics

2006-10-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Modeling for Ash

2006-10-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

More dancing pics

2006-10-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

Dancing at Rumba!

2006-10-04T21:18:00.000-07:00

What an AMAZING week!!!

2006-09-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

This has been an extremely interesting and crazy week! So here it goes! So lots of yoga, an incredibly interesting birthday party that I had for my residents for the birthdays of the residents. I'm taking salsa you know to advance the already incredible dance steps( hehe) and my friend is teaching the class so it's a lot of fun. Crazy and amuzing events in my classes especially in my world religions class and I love the professor so it keeps it interesting. Watched the amazing Grey's Anatomy premiere on Thursday night on a big screen and it was a lot of fun. And here is the best part so last night I went dancing to the lovely ballroom club that I FINALLY got to go to. And last night we learned the Cha Cha, so mom fyi me and Ash have officially decided that we are going to become professionals you know to add something else to my list of things to do in my lifetime. Well neways so the cha cha, was AMAZING no shakes and shimmies but lots of fun. I you know mom what I did the first chance the instructor told the girls to go get a guy ( cuz u know there was like 50 girls and 10-15 guys) so I went and got our lovely favorite person that knows how to dance and danced with him ( you know the only guy besides the instructor that could pull off the latin ballroom dances). So then you know us crazy Latin college students decided we were going to do our own thing so we have officially created a new style a dance, I call it the Salcha, salsa and cha cha! AMAZING!!! So yea I thought you might like my lovely story for the day.

Hope everyone has a great week.

P.S. for everyone else I am going to Paris so if you have an tips of the trade I would love to hear them.

Until next week,

Me :)

Parent's Weekend at Elon

2006-09-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

Mom came to visit this weekend, here are some random pictures of our weekend. Hope you enjoy. The pics are of me, Ashley and Whitney with mom.

Have a great week,

Coral :)

2006-09-17T11:59:00.002-07:00

walking through paradise!