Being far away from hom during the school year is pretty challenging. I am from Maui, Hawai`i and it’s a challenge dealing with weather and climate, the time difference, and the seasons. All of this just reminds me how far away from home I really am.

Today, in particular, is fat tuesday or mardi gras! In Hawai`i, we celebrate by eating delicious malasadas. It’s a pastry covered with sugar and it’s delicious! I’ll have to post a picture. Anyway, I thought about it so much today, that I posted something about it on facebook. Every once in a while, you just have to think about your family and how everyone is doing at home. And the thought of my family eating malasadas while I was in Spokane, not only made me miss them, made me jealous.

You meet so many people here at Gonzaga, though. I feel like being here at Gonzaga has allowed me to create a new family. Whenever I feel like I want to go home, I simply turn to them for comfort and I know that I can always get it when I need it. The best advice that I ever received from this “family” here at Gonzaga is this: “If you were at home, how much more would you really be helping your family?” And I thought about that for a while, and realized that me being here meant so much more than being home. Gonzaga is preparing me for success and is allowing me to experience new things that I could never dream of at home.

So if you’re still trying to decide on which school to go to, I encourage you to broaden your horizons and consider those schools that may be a little farther away from home; it will surely give you a chance to spread your wings and soar!

Here is a photo of a Malasada!

Ruben ’14
Accounting and Human Resource Management