So, hi! My name is Lauren Hassan. You might have seen me wandering around the halls of HBHA. I’m one of the four freshman of the Academy. I’m fifteen and I guess the best word to describe myself would be quirky. I’ve never written a blog before so be patient with me. I love to write (if it isn’t obvious). I write songs and poems and books. I also love music and the only genres I don’t really like are rap and metal. I have to say that one of my biggest pet peeves is when people criticize others’ tastes in music.

My friends often say I’m a hipster, but I don’t really agree. The word “hipster” has been used so often that the definition is a mystery to me. My best friend is Ellie Sorkin and I’m probably going to mention her a lot. Sorry. I’m not the most interesting person. I don’t talk a lot and I’m horrible at making conversation. But I’m a good listener so I tend to smile and nod a lot when people talk to me. I probably talk the most out of my class during lunch. I swear technology is consuming everything because lately at lunch (which is usually pretty quiet), my classmates haven’t even looked at each other. Don’t worry, we’re not mad. Our eyes have been glued to our iPhones and iPods.

Though my birthday is during winter and it’s the “holiday season,” I think this season is fairly miserable. Sure, the snow is pretty and sometimes it prevents us from going to school, but it has its flaws. When you walk outside, the snow is blinding during the day time. When there’s snow on the ground and I step outside, I feel the need to cover my eyes. It’s like when you get up to to the bathroom in the middle of the night; when you turn the light on your eyes hurt.  Plus, snow might be fun to walk around in, but when you get snow in your gloves or boots, it’s almost as annoying as a mosquito bite.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the cold. I’d rather be sinking my toes into burning hot sand than shuffling my feet in the freezing snow. Maybe it’s because my dad’s from Panama, a tropical country. That might explain why when spring rolls around, my skin has lost its color and I look sick. And by sick, I mean pale. I start to look like a vampire in desperate need of a tan. Sometimes I envy my best friend, Ellie, with her ivory skin and rosy cheeks. She looks like Snow White no matter the season (unless she gets a fake tan; that just makes her look orange). I can’t even compare myself to a Disney princess (not that I really want to). I just look out of place.