Fun times.

This past weekend, with regard to the load of homework I had to somehow breeze through, was extremely fun. Friday got started with an Ice Dogs hockey game that wasn't as full of fights as i was hoping for. Thats the only reason I go to those games, the UAF team is not allowed to fight due to their fragile scholarships. The Ice digs however are not only allowed to fight but it seems they are encouraged.

Me and Natalie decided to make valentines day cupcakes on saturday but while waiting on an ingredient we decided to go bowling! My first roll was a strike! beginners luck for sure! lol Im not much of a bowler myself.

nice face natalie! lol We did pretty good. A group of friends and her boyfriend Tim bowled with us. After a game we headed back to make those cupcakes! I used my secret carrot cake recipe to make mini cakes with cream cheese frosting that we dyed red for valentines day : )
They turned out perfect despite our ghetto set up of kitchen utensils. which was missing a large mixing bowl and mixing tools...
They were so good.

The Northern lights have been coming out more so hopefully I'll get a good picture of them soon. Also trying to get a picture of a sun dog which is the illusion of 3 suns on the horizon connected by a small rainbow. Pretty cool huh. I just gotta get it on camera!

Headed to hawaii in less than 26 days! : )

you are my sunshine

So today started like any other. It was snowing! : )

 I got up at 6, made breakfast, got the girls to school and work, got ready and headed to the university. I was pulling into a parking space and had to back up slightly to fit. As i'm backing up all of a sudden BAM! I backed into another car like a boss. We were both alright and there was little to no damage to either car. Not how I wanted to start my day. I headed into my Psych life span development class crying and flustered. But by the end of class I was feeling much better though. : )
My Psych building is a replica of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in D.C. and of course the writing lab is on the 8th floor.

Its a fun hike. Oh and a useless fact about this building, its also riot proof as is the FBI building. Not a lot of riots in alaska I assume but I could be wrong. lol
My classes are all great. I look forward to my 3 hour long Modern history class on tuesday nights, its greatly amusing and my professor is one the most eccentric people I have ever met. I've made friends with a girl in this class who reminds me of my dear friend arianna. Her name is natalie and she is into snowboarding, yoga and hiking. Its easy to say, I think we'll get along : ) Coincidentally she is also going to hawaii and Kauai for spring break as well as me. So that should be fun.
Another friend I've been very fortunate to make here is William. Without him I would have been without a friend for far too long and he was nice enough to take me to my first hockey game and the "best burrito place in Fairbanks". So thanks! : )

Another strange thing about alaska, there are these blue, extremely fat crows that seem to waddle just about everywhere. Thats all for now.

Go Nanooks!

Friday was the first UAF hockey game of the season against Ohio state. The game was nothing to nothing until overtime then nanooks scored, winning the game.

Tonight was the second game against Ohio state.  It was immediately an exciting game when the nanooks scored!  The rest of the game held the crowd in absolute trance as the teams got the score up to six to two by the third quarter.  Me, Maddy, William and his friend (i'm horrible with names) all sat in the student section where most of the chanting happens.  Once the other team has a penalty and one player is forced to sit in the penalty box the whole sections shouts "SIT DOWN BITCH" lol UAF won the game.

So far Alaska has been great and the university has been wonderful.  Every day just keeps getting better.

Another beautiful sunrise here in Alaska : )

A day in the life.

So many of you have asked what my daily schedule is and what my fairbanks life is all about. Well heres some little facts about my average day in fairbanks. Some of its normal and some I'll have to get used to.
First, I wake up in the morning around 6:30 to wake up maddy and get her ready for school. I make breakfast, pack her lunch and we head out the door before 8. Her school starts at 8:30 and then I'm off to classes at the University. After I go to my classes I go and pick up maddy at 3:15. Then we head off to the gym where we go to zumba, run, and swim in the pool. After the gym we head home. Maddy does her homework while I make dinner. She goes to sleep at 8:30 and then I do my homework and catch up with my friends.

Some things that are a little different here in alaska:
1. Waking up to pitch black with the moon still hung in the sky.
2. Having to plug in my car whenever I'm turning it off for more than an hour...

Yeah...everyone does this. Otherwise your oil might freeze and your car won't start.
3.Remembering that when I say I'm from california I have to remind everyone I'm not from L.A. Its like a mini europe over here. lol
4. Sunrise at 10:30 in the morning, which I'm rather fond of. : )
5. finally, the fact that walking anywhere, no matter how close, is a huge adventure.

Some cool things
People still ride bikes here, even though the roads are covered in a nice sheet of thick ice. Their bikes are equipped with some hefty tires that are about 5 times bigger than a normal mountain bike tire.
People are  NOT decked out in only carhart and surel, they dress normal and reasonably fashionable. (This I like)
People know how cold it is here. They don't hide the fact and they don't "get use to it".

So I hope that covers everything, leave me a comment if you'd like me to answer any questions you have. Thank you and goodnight! : )

Hockey!

I finally saw my first alaska hockey game. It was the Ice Dogs at the local arena. I went with a friend I met through another good friend in SLO. So William took me to see my first hockey game and it was a blast. The game is so brutal and we both didn't know the rules that well we were just hoping for a good fight. Which we got a lot of! : )

Just before they scored. The alaska Spectators are brutal towards the other team with full chants of "Boo's" and "Go home's". It was exciting. I can't wait to see my first fairbanks university hockey game which should be this upcoming saturday. Go Nanooks!! (polar bears) lol

First day in Fairbanks

Today was jam packed with a busy schedule of stuff I had to do. I woke up today at 10:30 the first time I've been able to sleep in for a while and saw a beautiful sunrise! at 10! I love that I can sleep in and still see the sunrise. 

Got ready then headed to the local coffee shop (I'm blanking on the name but I'm sure I'll refer back to it again) got some coffee and breakfast then I was off to the University to take care of some business. Talk about frustrating though UHG! I made a very long check list and was slowly checking things off, first the financial aid office, then placement tests, more registrar visits and my admissions. After all the not so fun stuff I did some semi-fun stuff like getting groceries for the apartment and some warm socks because I'm a dork and forgot to bring warm socks to alaska! lol
It was minus 19 today and the sunset was gorgeous. The harvest moon was even bigger tonight then it was last night.

Did you know Alaska gains six minutes of day light each day? To put this into perspective you main land folks only gain 15-20 seconds a day. So by May 1st Alaska will have 16 hours of sunlight. So THERE! HA! : )

Finally in Alaska

Woke up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight. Sat on a plane for four hours and finally made it to anchorage around 10:00 a.m. alaska time. It was still dark when I landed but the sun finally rose around 10:30. I can sleep in still see the sunrise here : )  The sun was shining and beautiful the whole drive to fairbanks. We drove though Denali state park and the scenery was absolutely majestic.

The drive took about 6 hours and we were advised almost no places along the way were going to be open. We had a full tank of gas but there was no place to eat or....do our business.lol so we started to stop at every post there was. The last one we tried after not eating for almost 9 hours that day had some interesting signs that indicated it was not open.

A paper sign in eastjesusnowhere that told us the place had been closed for some odd time and wouldn't be opening till April! And we weren't about to stick around for 3 months. Another sign that was rather entertaining let us know how people most commonly get around in that area.

So we had to keep driving in hopes we'd soon find a place to eat and rest. Finally about an hour later, two hours from fairbanks we found a post. I don't know if we were just hungry but that was the best food i've ever had. Going there again I probably wouldn't say the same thing....lol
Also along the way we managed to get a pretty good shot of Mount McKinley.

 Thats Mount McKinley. The one towering over the Denali range. Climbers most commonly use this 20 thousand foot peak to train for Mt.Everest. We got out of the car to stretch our legs and take some needed pictures. The temp at that time was only minus 18! A little cold but nothing I can't handle. : )

Oh yeah. Thats right. I'm in high heels. In Alaska. lol dorky pose I know but I just felt like doing something fun : ) Once we had our fun we starting driving again towards fairbanks. The coolest part of this whole road trip was the that we got to see the sun rise and set in a matter of hours. It was one of the longest sunsets I've ever seen and it was one the most beautiful. The moon that night though Oh My God. It was the january harvest moon and it was big! I tried to take a photo but it just doesn't do it justice.

Almost to fairbanks we saw our first alaskan moose! Didn't manage to snag a picture unfortunately. We got to Fairbanks around seven and it was cold! Minus 31! We settled into our temporary home until we can move into our house in march hopefully! Talked to Tony on skype before bed and then passed out! I had been up for a staggering 20 hours. I was pooped! So far thats my Alaskan adventure, more to come! Its minus 33 today with a high of minus 15! yikes.