Oh, so many things! I was in L.A. all of break. I went to the beach; I miss the beach a lot. I miss my car, driving around, blasting my music, seeing different parts of the city, meeting up with my friends at Chipotle or In-N-Out ... and my family, of course.
This interview will be in The Student's Valentine's Day issue. What is your favorite holiday?
My favorite holiday definitely would have to be Christmas. I go home, spend time with my family and we stay up until midnight [and] open all the gifts. It's nice to walk home and have the Christmas lights on, and the Christmas tree. You get to go back and have a pseudo-type of Christmas when it's 70 degrees that you wouldn't have on the East Coast.
You're the co-president of La Casa, the Latino/Latina culture house on campus. What do you like about living there?
It is a great place to live. You're living with your friends; that's the best part. It's located in the third floor of Moore, right next to Val. We put on a lot of cultural events. On every Sunday night, we have our house meetings and café con leche. House members will buy cookies or other snacks and sometimes make hot chocolate or coffee. It's a nice study break for everyone.
What else are you involved in here?
I was involved in ARIEL. Amherst students become mentors to students in Holyoke, who are in middle school and in their early years in high school. ARIEL holds workshops in Holyoke every couple of weeks. We have students come over, and you discuss different aspects about the college application process. The students feel comfortable asking you questions because the age difference is not that large. They ask, "What do you do on campus?" "What do you do on weekends?" [and] "How did the roommate situation work out?" I [also] do telementoring. We help students from underprivileged backgrounds who do well academically and have more or less everything that you need to get into college, but they don't have the knowledge [about how] to apply. We answer their questions and read their essays. Everyone is assigned certain mentees, and they're either juniors or seniors in high school right now.
Your Facebook profile lists "The Office" as one of your favorite TV shows. ("That's what she said.") With which character do you identify the most, and why?
I really like Pam. I feel like she's one of the most developed female characters. I consider her to be nice, kind of like a jokester. She likes to pull pranks. I enjoy pulling pranks.
What was the most recent one you've pulled?
[The La Casa students] decided to pull a prank on a friend who was visiting. We told him he couldn't stay in La Casa because the Amherst Campus Police were becoming strict with their enforcement of non-Amherst students coming to visit [overnight]. [We told him that] if anyone spotted a non-Amherst student on the floor, La Casa would be charged $200. As president, I said, "You can't stay here. La Casa can't afford to pay $200 when you visit." For a little while, he was running around trying to find somewhere to stay. He was worried about staying on our floor, but then he figured out that we were lying to him. He said he didn't believe it for a second. We had him worried for a while, though.
What is your favorite food?
I love food, first of all. One of my many favorite dishes would have to be enchiladas. I love enchiladas. My mom's enchiladas are so delicious.
And least favorite?
I don't like tofu. I know a lot of people like it, but I think it's weird-it's in a cube, and kind of rubbery! Also, [I don't enjoy] just seaweed [by] itself. I can eat California rolls, but my friends gave me just seaweed, and I was like, "This is really salty and really fishy."
What movies have you seen or heard of that you would recommend?
I'm really into foreign films, especially Latin American or Spanish films. I recently saw "Pan's Labyrinth," which was amazing. I really want it to win the Oscar. I want to see "Volver," because I've heard good things about it. I want to see "Children of Men"-my friends have told me it's great.