First day back and it was gorgeous, just look at all those blossoming buds.
It’s been exactly one week since I arrived back on campus after enjoying my spring break. Been tough getting back into the swing of things, but the blooming flowers around campus are making it easier, crazy how fast they seem to be changing color- already they have gone from white to pink. I spent my spring break down in California visiting with my family, as well as prospective students from a few different high schools in my area. Though it may have been easier to fly down, I spent 14 hours on the road with a few of my friends. Made for a more interesting and memorable experience. On campus freshman year it was nice not having a car, got my exercise by walking everywhere, and spent my time learning to skateboard. Besides skateboarding, other people ride bikes or scooters around campus. If you don’t have a bike, no worries! Our Bike Co-Op on campus has a bike loan program, as well as offering free bike maintenance. In addition, there is a discounted taxi service for students which our Student Government pays half of the costs for a ride to anywhere in McMinnville, you don’t even need to carry cash since it can be charged to your student account. Finally, we have two U Car Share vehicles on campus as well which you can rent for an hour, or an entire day. If you want more information on these three transportation modes I’m including the link here: http://www.linfield.edu/sustainability/sustainability-at-linfield/transportation/ .
I definitely didn’t need the car my freshman year, but now it has become a necessity just because I decided to try coaching a 4-6th grade soccer team this year. Something that I have wanted to do for the past few years, and am lucky to have had the opportunity to do so up here in Oregon. Besides coaching I spend a majority of my free time volunteering off campus. So far this has included helping out at an elementary school, currently mentoring at a middle school, and starting to volunteer weekly at our local food bank called YCAP. These are all activities in which you don’t need a car to get to, unless your me and packed too many great extracurriculars on top of a work study job and 18 credits worth of classes. In my case, the time constraints from a busy schedule make having a car important. If you do plan to bring a car on campus you would need to buy a parking permit which costs a total of $85 per year, cheaper than some of the other colleges I had been looking at attending back in California. There are no age restrictions either, anyone can bring a car up to campus whether you are a freshman or a senior.
Enjoy the spring weather!
Until next time,
Isabella 
This photo was from Monday, and the picture on the right was from Thursday of last week. They changed colors so fast! Started out with these white blossoms shown above, then before you know it they were pink. Seasons are such a nice change up here in Oregon.
