Wow I can’t believe it’s already December- time to start listening to Christmas music and wind down for finals! It has been quite the crazy semester, and here are my top 10 events which include everything from labs to AIChE events to Football to Disneyland!  Be sure to check out  too since I go into a lot more detail about a lot of these orgs and events!

10. Volunteering for Friends and Neighbors Day to help with Ability First through Order of Omega!  We got to help them with some tasks around the warehouse and help make sure that all the employees had the opportunity to take Thanksgiving break off, and it was a super fun morning giving back to the local community!

9. Korean BBQ with AIChE!!! I got to relive my experiences in South Korea this summer through iPodia and practice my Korean (lets be real I only know how to say hello, goodbye, thank you, and food), and hang out with some of my favorite enginerds!

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8. Spending Halloween at Universal Horror Nights! LA has so many cool things to offer, and this was something I had always wanted to go do- definitely an ideal way to spend Halloween!!

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7. Hearing George W. Bush talk.  It was such an amazing opportunity offered to students to see him speak, and I’m so honored to have gotten to sit front row.  He was so open, candid, and hilarious, and it’s an experience I won’t soon forget.

6. My Nanotech classes!! This was the first semester I took classes for my emphasis in nanotechnology, and I absolutely loved them! I had so much fun learning about different applications of nanotechnology, how to make stable nanoparticles, and then actually making all of them in various labs.  It also helps that Dr. Lee and Dr. Armani are two of my favorite professors I’ve had at USC so far!

5. Spending the weekender in San Francisco with some of my best friends.  It was my first long road trip with my friends, and we had so much fun cheering for USC at the Berkeley game and also exploring San Francisco.  We also stayed at Cal Alpha Phi, which was a really awesome opportunity and excellent for me since my best friend from high school is a member there.  It’s really cool that even though we go to separate schools we are still connected and visit each other and definitely stay in touch.

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4. My weekend getaway to Hawaii.  My family goes to Hawaii at least once a year because we have a lot of family there, and my parents went out in October and I was able to tag along for a few days. Studying on the beaches in Maui was definitely preferable to studying in Leavey.

3. My Freshman Academy Class.  Being a coach is one of my favorite things I do here at USC, and my class this year definitely helped make that true.  Watching them grow into themselves and helping them balance having fun and surviving engineering has been an exciting journey, and working with Brenton has also been awesome.  I’m so sad this is my last week with my class, but I know I’ll still see them around campus all the time.

2. Storming the field after beating Stanford.  We’ve had a depressing few years of football thanks to some (mostly unfair) sanctions, and that win was kind of a we can still do this- we are still relevant victory.  That was the first time USC has stormed the field in 45 years, and it was absolutely amazing to be there for that.  It’s a memory I’ll have forever, and it’s something I probably won’t get to experience again.

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1. Alpha Phi Big Little Reveal at Disneyland!!!! Disneyland is definitely the happiest place on earth, and getting to spend the whole day there with my best friends was unforgettable.  I also love my little sis Catherine who is one of my best friends from high school, and she’s also an engineer.  It was without a doubt the best day of the semester.

It’s been a busy crazy and exciting semester, and as sad as it is that I’m slowly reaching the end, I’m still so excited for the next year and a half here!

Lyssa Aruda-2015

Lyssa Aruda-2015

Chemical Engineering (Nanotechnology), Class of 2015, Learn more on her profile here!