Saturday, December 19, 2009

You say goodbye, and I say hello...

So here it is.



I'm home. The semester is done. I know I've been awful short with the blogs the past month. But I'll try to update as best I can on the craziness that's occurred.


The semester came to a quick close. With two articles, a photojournalism picture story, a paper, a test, and a portfolio that was it. It was a crazy month of running around, finishing up, and then finally the dreaded goodbyes :( I'm off to Ireland in three weeks exactly from today. It's crazy how fast this semester went. It was such a learning semester for me. I learnt how to live up on North Campus and never miss the bus when it mattered...(some days a little dilly dallying lead to be a little late, nothing major), I learnt how to successfully write for The Defender, wrote some poetry, and took over 2,000 pictures for my photojournalism class. I learnt how to live in apartment with three of my best friends, cook and sometimes clean and make some delicious chicken parmesan (right, Ellen?) I had to be dedicated to my swimming and I learnt to be an upperclassmen, which in itself required some major growing up.


This week it hit me. I'd have to miss my professors that knew me by name not number and my friends I'd had since the very first day for a semester. I'd be missing the seniors who's leadership inspired me, a coach that helped me grow into not just a better swimmer but a better person, and most importantly the school that made me who I am today. I know I'll only be gone for six months and even in Ireland, I'll still be part of St. Mike's. It's still so weird to think that I'm going to leave the school I feel literally HOME at. I know it will be even more of a learning process and I'm so excited (and nervous) to see what this will all bring me.

I'm also excited that my abroad-er friends are returning home! My roommate Catie, studying in Denmark, made it home today!! I'll be seeing her hopefully this weekend. Just hearing her stories and seeing her pictures gets me excited. At St. Mike's we have such a great opportunity to study abroad. More than 30% of our students do it, and I've never heard any with regret. I'm hoping to take lots of pictures and enter some in the Global Eyes photo contest where students submit their pictures from abroad and the winners are hung in the library all year long.

The last few weeks I've been finishing up schoolwork and swimming but making the most of my last days for sure. We've had some cold and some snow but that's definitely something us Vermonters are not afraid of. :) Here's a picture of my roommates and I: Cassy, Sam, Me and Ellen. Clearly we're excited for the holidays! I was kicking myself though yesterday cleaning all the fake snow off the floor from our apartment. But, the decoration aftermath is a small price to pay for some Christmas cheer :)

I'm ridiculously excited for Christmas this year. Although, I am missing the swim team training trip to Puerto Rico. I've heard the weather will be 80 degrees, sunny and warm. So jealous. I'm so excited for them though. The training trip brings everyone closer as a team and every single person improves so much. I've been doing some Christmas shopping, too. Today, while walking by Lowe's in a shopping center there were fireworks?! It seems everyone's getting excited for the holidays, even Lowes. :)

Anyway, I hope everyone has a lovely holiday. I'll be updating in the next week on packing, nerves, and whatever else may be on my mind. Congratulations to all of the seniors getting their acceptance letters to SMC! As always please comment, ask questions, or just say hi! Talk to everyone soon!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

When did it become November?

Hello again everyone!
The weather has been so weird lately. Last week it was about 50 degrees and today I'm quite chilly. Gotta love Vermont. So after a slight break in posts there's lots to catch everyone up on!

Swimming season is in full swing. We had our second home meet of the season this weekend and the girls won by ONE point. yes. one. It was amazing! We had some great competition against Skidmore and I had a lot of friends come support! Athletics are a pretty big deal here. The men's hockey team also had I believe there season home opener this weekend as well. Basketball has three games in four days coming up...wowww. Here are some pictures I took of the swim meet on Sunday :) I checked out a telephoto close up lens and used one of the pictures for my photojournalism assignment!

Yesterday we had another swim meet vs. Norwich. It was also a Founders Society meeting, so I had to miss the meeting which I wasn't too excited about because they had cupcakes. :(
Founders Society is the club on campus that works with prospective students and admissions. If you're applying to St. Mike's you've probably already come into contact with one or several Founders members. They're always outgoing, friendly, and love to talk about SMC! I've been giving a few tours lately and I have to say this years prospective students are smart, athletic, personable and great all around kids. I'm excited too see what next years incoming freshman will bring. Which reminds me I'm applying to be an orientation leader for next fall! Orientation for St. Mike's happens the week before classes start in August. Orientation leaders organize orientation groups and activities for first years to get to know one another. Some events include the freshman dance (always a HUGE turnout!), hypnotists, ice breakers, and some informational things like library tours etc. They also help you move in alll of your stuff on the first day!(something I wish I had for the rest of my years here!) I'm excited to hopefully be a part of it.
This week is Hunger and Homelessness awareness week which is sponsored by M.O.V.E (Mobilization Of Volunteer Efforts). This week there are a bunch of food drives, speeches, and even a "shack" in the middle of the quad that students can stay in for an hour/day and even overnight! I stayed in the shack last year but this year I'll be attending one of the talks for my Writing for Media class. I've had to do a lot more out of class assignments this semester but I've found I learn a lot more from going and experiencing something myself rather than just sitting and hearing about it. It's something I've definitely had to learn how to manage my time this semester but looking back I've also learnt so much!

So anyway, this semester is flying by for me. I can't even fathom that I'm going to be in a completely different country and culture this time next semester. It's funny where life takes you. I've been keeping in touch with my friends from Ireland and I'm excited to see them over there.
I promise to keep you all posted on how the last few weeks of my semester go! Things are going to start picking up work wise but hopefully I'll be able to get everything done for finals, move out, pack, and somehow find my way to Ireland all in one piece. It's going to be quite interesting :) I hope everyone has a lovely restful Thanksgiving and talk to you soon!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Rainy Friday....

Hi all!

Today's another rainy Friday :( I feel like we've been having lots of those lately. Last night was our first Blogger Chat of the year. It went really well! We had a lot of good questions and talked to a bunch of interesting students...Blogger Chats are fun and great ways to meet current students.
This week has been busy as always. I'm kind of working backwards but oh well. Yesterday I had religion class, writing for media where we were assigned to cover one interesting aspect of halloween and write a narrative story on it. I think I'm going to write about either how costume stores prepare for the halloween season or how maintenance and public works departments handle the halloween after-math clean up. Haven't decided yet. Then I went to poetry class, swim practice, a Defender meeting where I picked up my story for next weeks paper, and then to the blogger chat. Wednesday we had our Founders Society meeting. I got to decorate with candy...favorite activity...drink apple cider and eat cupcakes :). Monday and Tuesday were busy days as well taking pictures for my Photojournalism "Classmate" assignment. Our teacher assigned us a classmate to use pictures to tell their story. It was really hard trying to capture good moments and a lot of work but I think mine came out okay...hopefully.
Today I'm just doing some laundry and then I'm going to Montreal tonight for the Jay-Z concert! I'm so excited! And tomorrow is the Halloween Dance which everyone on campus gets excited for. I'll be sure to update everyone and post lots of pictures in my next post! Until then I hope everyone has a safe and fun halloween weekend! Talk to you soon!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Almost Halloween!!

Hi all!

It's that fabulous time of year again...almost Halloween! And I couldn't be more excited! I just got back from going costume shopping with my roommate and the stores were crazy to say the least. I'm going to be Alice in Wonderland this year but I have yet to find a good costume. I'm thinking a home-made one might have to do the trick....
But anyway it was very busy past couple of days for me :) I'll start with my most exciting events first...
Thursday I went to A Taste Of Ghana, a dinner and fundraiser for SMC students traveling to Ghana, West Africa for their West African drumming class. (yes, you can get college credit for doing awesome things such as African drumming...) We ate some Ghanan food, very spicy but delish, and learned a dance to the drumming beats. I have a new found love for African drumming, seriously YouTube it, it's great.
Things have been busy with swimming of course! On Monday we have our inter-team meet. We practice everyday from 4-6 and we've added some lifting and dryland to our workouts. I've also been getting into photography club along with my photojournalism class and finding that I love taking pictures. I've written two stories for The Defender, our college newspaper, and writing some interesting (not the best) poetry in my Poetry Writing Workshop class. Mid-terms are approaching for most of my classes, I had one last week, so I've definitely been spending lots of time in the library!
Last weekend, I was a tour guide at our Academic Preview Day. The day is like an open house, with a tour, and admission counselors available to talk about the school but also they've added a new aspect to the program with students being able to learn more about academic subjects and specific majors. The day went off perfectly and I was able to meet a lot of perspective students.
We're also having a blogger chat THIS THURSDAY!!!! Blogger chats are a GREAT way to have your questions answered and just to chat with some of the bloggers, and me of course. (They're not creepy either, I sware.)
So next weekend I have some big news as well, I'm going to MONTREAL on Friday to see Jay-Z perform at the Belle Centre! I've never been to Montreal but it's only about an hour and a half away maybe closer from campus and a bunch of students go to Montreal for a little vacation away from VT. I'm soooooo excited. Then when I come back on Saturday it's the Halloween dance!!! Usually, the swim team has a meet that weekend so I'm so excited we'll be able to go this year. I'm sure I'll have many pictures and stories for you all to share :)
This morning I was able to Skype with my friend Catie studying abroad in Denmark. I miss her loads but I can tell she's having an awesome time! As for my Ireland update, I'm starting to get my things together for going in just a few months. Scary that I'll be in a completely new place for so long, but I'm excited to be able to try new things and see some of my family over there.
I know most of the college seniors are starting to narrow down their applications. Please let me know if you have any questions at all, I love getting facebook messages, IM's or e-mails!!! Hope everyone has a great week and talk to you all soon!!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

October break!

Hello again,


Sorry for the slight break in posts! Things have been crazy leading up to the break! I've been doing lots of work for my journalism classes; Photojournalism and Writing for Media I. Last week, my story on the admissions program "Coffee With a Counselor" was in our school's newspaper "The Defender" you can check it out here!

So let's recap a bit...


Fall is in full bloom here in Vermont! The leaves look beautiful and this time of year is one of my favorites at SMC. There are so many things to do like apple picking (I'm going next weekend!), hiking, pumpkin picking...etc. Vermont is a prime area for all sorts of fun fall activities! A weekend or two ago, I went on a swim team trip to Stowe, Vermont. The team stayed in a precious ski-dorm and we did some team bonding activities like develop our social and team contracts. The next morning we woke up early and hiked to the top of Stowe. It was definitely a challenge for a clumsy person like myself...but I actually only fell once! (My coach was incredibly surprised...) Here's a picture of my friend Kaytlyn and I on the top of the mountain!




Right now, I'm enjoying a semi-relaxing break at home. Although I absolutely love weekends and life at SMC the October break couldn't come at a better time. It's good to get away and have home-cooked food and be able to sleep in my own bed :) I was able to get a ride with my next door neighbor and my friend. It's usually really easy to find rides back and forth from SMC. Leading up to the October break there are usually a ton of e-mails and ad's on our classified website KnightsList for people needing/giving rides to MA, NH, VT, NY etc. St. Mike's students are always friendly and willing to give rides in exchange for gas money or just some company! :)

So that's it for now! I'll be sure to update you on all the craziness to follow in the next coming weeks! Also, I'm starting to get things all ready for going to Ireland next semester...I was accepted to my program in Galway, Ireland and sent in my intent to enroll form this week...So I guess I'm really going haha!! Hope everyone has a nice relaxing Columbus Day and talk to you all soon!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Last day of summer :(

Hi again everyone!

It's Sunday night and I'm procrastinating on my work...good thing I have a blog to distract me :) This weekend was absolutley amazing. Yesterday, I spent the day going to the rugby game and then downtown with my roommate and her sisters who were here to visit. It was family and alumni weekend so there was a bunch to do on campus and tons of familiar faces downtown.


Today was the last day of summer...sadly.... so a few friends and I went down to North Beach on Lake Champlain and I took a few pictures for my photojournalism class and the weather was absolutley gorgeous. It was such an awesome day and surprisingly warm after the past few nights being verryyy chilly. Here a few artsy pics to enjoy :)

The past week has been busy as usual for classes and such. I actually love my classes this semester. My photojournalism class has been a lot of work but definitely one of my favorites so far at SMC. I went down to Battery Park around the waterfront last week to take 7 pictures of 10 total strangers. I was first really intimidated and nervous but I actually did pretty well with the assignment and met some really nice people. I felt kind of creepy but everything worked out in the end haha.


Last Monday I went downtown with some of my friends to Nectars to see Tom Cadrin and Fink, two really popular SMC musicians. We're really lucky to have so many talented bands and artists here on campus and they are able to play at Turtle Underground, a live concert or night of music in Purtill Hall's basement on saturday nights. A few bands also play at Townhouses some nights and give concerts at Higherground, Nectars and other fun places in the area. You should check them out if you haven't already!

Tomorrow starts the first day of swimming...eeeek. I'm really nervous but excited for this year. We have some really good first years and a few transfers as well. Our captains are also really awesome this year so I'm looking forward to see how well our season will turn out.
I'm also starting to get things all ready for going abroad next semester. I'm having so much fun here this semester already I think I'm going to be a little sad to leave come December. But, I know it will be an amazing experience that will be worth it all. Alot of my friends are abroad this semester including my blogger/teammate/friend Christine and my roommate from last year Catie. Christine has an awesome blog going on right now, if you haven't checked it out you should! She's studying in Italy and Catie is in Denmark. I miss them very much :( I've been having so much fun looking at their pictures and talking to them about all their exciting stories and I can't wait to have my own in Ireland next spring!


So ack to homework.... but lots to look forward to in the next few posts! Hope everyone has a great week and talk to you soon! :)

Monday, September 7, 2009

Aaaand we're back...

Hi everyone!

After quite the blogging hiatus I'm back and in full swing of my junior year at SMC. I moved in last Saturday into my apartment and started classes last Monday. I must say I was so sad to see this summer end but this year has already started nothing short of amazing.

In my last post I was just starting my summer on Martha's Vineyard. I had the time of my life working at The Boathouse in Edgartown as a swimming instructor and met some awesome people. The Vineyard was definitely crazy packed at times but I actually do love everything about the island. I was super lucky to score such an awesome job and I definitely think I made friends over there for a lifetime. I was very anxious though for move in day to arrive and its been absolutely crazy trying to get everything settled in my apartment :) and I've also been super busy with classes, meetings and getting everything ready for this crazy semester ahead of me.

So as I've probably mentioned about 3,000 times, I live on North Campus (best place on earth) in the Ethan Allen apartments. It's been so funny/scary trying to grocery shop, cook my own food, and do other grown up things. We've been decorating like crazy and I think our place is coming along quite nicely to say the least. Here's a picture of our living room, its kinda bad quality because I took it off my phone but I'll definitely be posting way more of these as the year goes on...
In other news, I've been meeting a lot with the Founders Society and the Admissions staff in trying to make our blogs, Facebook page, and Youtube even better for the prospective students this year. If you have a chance check out our new YouTube page there are some awesome videos from move in day, orientation, and some pretty funny ones as well.
So that's just an update on how things are going so far. I'm so excited to be able to blog again this year and share all of my experiences. It;s definitely going to be an interesting semester with classes getting harder, preparing to go abroad in the spring, living up north and everything else that just comes with being a SMC student so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Hope you all have a great week and talk to you soon!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

No, I haven't forgotten about you blog...

Hi everyone!

So, its been quite sometime since my last post. I'm currently on my favorite place on earth MARTHA'S VINEYARD and the summer is flying by. I did surprisingly well on my finals, and I'm already psyched for next year at SMC! I'm working and living on the vineyard this summer at The Boathouse, a private resort/club, teaching swimming lessons and being a camp counselor. I took the ferry out last night and had my first day of work today! The club is absolutely beautiful with three pools, tennis courts, restaurant, spa, and its brand new this year. My job doesn't officially start until the 19th but today we did some cleaning and preparing for the opening. I'm working with a lot of college kids, my age, from Ireland who are all really nice and funny. Which reminds me on another important piece of news:

I've been accepted to go abroad to Galway, Ireland next Spring :). Now, the whole going abroad thing has been an issue for me for a while. I really wanted to go but I was very apprehensive about leaving my friends, family, and missing a whole semester of my beloved SMC. But after talking with a bunch of family and friends, I decided that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that I should definitely take advantage of it. So if all goes as planned, I'll be attending my spring semester at National University of Ireland, Galway. And hopefully, I'll learn all the ins and outs from my Irish friends this summer. (And as an added plus, they know how to pronounce my name right on the first try! Perfect!)

I'm still getting everything settled out here on the vineyard but I did spend the last 3 weeks or so since schools been out babysitting, spending time at home and hanging out with my friends. Last weekend, I went to the Dave Matthews Band concert in Hartford, CT and met up with some of my SMC friends and it was a blast. I love their new cd, Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King. If you haven't heard it already, you really should :). It was a great show and it was so nice to see my friends from school.

I already miss Saint Mike's a bunch and I can't say how excited I am for August 31st when I pull into 1 winooski park to begin my junior year. But some news today put a little damper on my excitement...
My assistant coach, "blogger boss", and good friend Drew Millikin told us of his resignation from Assistant Director of Admissions position at SMC for a position at a very reputable school in Groton, MA. Drew has done amazing things for not only for the swim team, campus bloggers, and the admissions office but has had a lifelong impact on the school community as a whole. Drew has given countless hours of his time to not just coach my teammates and I, but to be there as a friend,and a person many of us aspire to be. His hard work and dedication with the campus blogs, social networking, and of course Facebook has helped thousands of students see the very best this college has to offer. He has been a personal mentor for countless students, friends, and faculty of SMC and is a person who I believe defines everything that this college is about. His friendliness, intelligence, commitment and dedication is something that will be truly missed even if he does wear sweater vests everyday...:) I wish him the absolute best in everything and we will miss him very much.

So on that note, I will try to update very soon. I'm sure there will be many more summer adventures to write about but until then enjoy the sunshine and talk to you soon!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Spring is here!

Hello everyone and so sorry for the big break in posting!!

Spring has definitely hit SMC!! Right now it's 80 degrees and everyone is outside hanging out on the quad. It's beautiful!!

But anyway, I can hardly believe there are only two weeks left!! This is the final week of classes and then next week are exams. This weekend was a blast though. On Friday, I was in the MLK Talent Show, for Irish Dancing of course. There were so many great acts such as three guys doing the "Single Ladies " dance, and the winner was Maggie Ecker a sophomore who sang Whitney Houston's "I will always love you". She did such an awesome job and the entire auditorium was on their feet cheering for her. It was our P-Day weekend also which stands for "Preparation Day" but really it's a great excuse for Student Life to give us ton of free food, inflatables, and to have fun all day long. The entire 300's field was covered with big food tents, and inflatable bouncies and slip n slides. It was a really good way to almost end the year (I'm not quite ready to say it's over yet..:) And when I get some pictures I will post them here ASAP!

So two weeks and I'll be home for the summer! I found a job teaching swimming lessons and being a camp counselor on Martha's Vineyard and I could not be more excited. I love teaching lessons and MV is pretty much my favorite place on earth so I have a feeling it's going to be a great summer! :) I'm really looking forward to next school year living up North, swimming, and everything else! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and I will talk to you all soon!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Twenty years old!!

Hi everyone!

Well, I'm making my first blog post as a twenty- year old non teenager!! My birthday was on Monday and it was actually a really great day. The only bad part was I had an anatomy exam that morning which wasn't too fun but afterwards I went out to dinner with a few of my friends to Tiny Thai restaurant in Winooski. I had never had Thai food before but it was actually wicked good! I highly recommend the chicken Pad Thai which was a sweet noodley chicken kind of thing and I will most definitely be going back there soon :).

Christine's birthday was this weekend as well so it was a big birthday weekend for the SMC Bloggers! This weekend my parents came up for my Irish dancing show. The show went amazing and I didn't mess up or anything thank God. I'll actually post the video of it below. This was our hard-shoe performance that I did with four other SMC girls who also dance with me at the McFadden school. I think the music was really cool and everything went really well!

I can't figure out how to put into the blog...so maybe someone could assist me? (Drew?) But until then here's the link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeYbn7PgNI4

After the show my family and I went out to the Vermont Pub and Brewery and then my brother came up and stayed for the night. We just hung out around campus and the weather was so nice so everyone was outside. Saturday was gorgeous with like 60 degree weather. This week has been so crazy with everyone work-wise but at least the weather has been somewhat nice and everyone is looking forward to Spring!!

This afternoon I have my advising meeting to pick classes for next year, and then tour guide training. I'm thinking about taking, African American Literature and The Nineteenth Century, Writing for Media, Photography, and a Religion Class. I'm actually really looking forward to next year being on North Campus and being able to change things up a bit. I'm also REALLY excited to be a tour guide and be able to show people around campus and maybe even meet some of my blog readers :). So anyway, as always congratulations to all the possible members of the SMC class of 2013 (wow I'm getting old) and I'll talk to you all soon!!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Back into the swing of things...

Hi again!

I hope everyone had a relaxing and fun break! Today classes resumed after spring break and everyone is (or attempting to) get back into the daily routine. I definitely needed a week off though and I had a great time being home and visiting my friends. At the beginning of the week I spent some time hanging out at home, going out to dinner and seeing some of my friends that were also home. On Thursday, I road-tripped it with my friend Brittany to visit my friend Erin at Syracuse University. It was a long drive but it was so much fun. Syracuse was a HUGE change from life at St. Mike's. SU is a pretty large university with a lot of fraternities and sororities, off campus housing, and it seems like everything is pretty spread out. It was so cool though to visit another school and I definitely had a lot of fun, but I missed my St. Mike's though. It was hard for me to imagine going to a school that big. I mean, Erin loves it and some people feel just as at home there as I do at SMC. But, I was certainly glad to come back last night to my quad and dining hall and everything within a 10 minute walk :)

I got in late last night and ordered some Wings Over Burlington. Probably my favorite food slash best wings ever and then I reunited with some friends and then went to classes this morning. Tomorrow I have my lab practical for my anatomy class....eeeekkk. I just got back from a help session and tomorrow's test will be on the muscles. Wish me luck. I'll need it. And right now I'm off to dance class to practice for the big show on SATURDAY!!! Everything is coming together really nicely and I hope I do well! I think my parents are going to come up to visit this weekend because on Monday I will be turning 20, thats right TWENTY years old. Ugh. Scary. But anyway, acceptance letters went out last week so hopefully everyone will be hearing and making their final decisions!! (cough* choose SMC *cough) I haven't posted pictures in a while so here's a picture of some of my roommates for next year and I at the Mardi Gras parade a couple weeks ago! I had so much fun. Also don't forget to send me any questions and check me out on twitter!! (I think I'm becoming a twitter-holic) Talk to you all later!!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

A Springy Break..

Hi again!

Well the last week before break was busy busy of course. But I have a few pieces of wicked good news. I got accepted to be a tour guide for this spring and next year! Which means maybe some of you reading my blog will get to meet me in person (yes, I am real) when you sign up for a fabulous tour of SMC! I just have to shadow a few tours, attend tour guide training, and then sign up for as many as I want to give. I'm very excited to be involved in another aspect of the whole Founders Society and showing off everything that St. Mike's has to offer!

In other news, I made a Twitter!! If you haven't heard of Twitter don't be alarmed because before Drew, the Assistant Director of Admissions and King of All Things "Creepish" (ex. Facebook) , explained it to me ,I was thoroughly in the dark about this whole "Twitter Mania" thing. Twitter is kind of like Facebook without all the pictures and profile stuff and it's kind of like a series of updates. People can follow you and see what you are up to and leave you comments and things. I'm still trying to figure the whole thing out but I think it could be another really cool way to reach out to people and give people an inside look to what SMC life is really like. And, of course, another really cool way to creep people and see what they are doing all the time. I mean not that I want to or anything.... so, follow me, add me, or whatever it is you do on these social networking sites and I'll be really excited!!

I'm at home now in lovely Sagamore Beach. The weather is 50 degrees which is solid flip flop weather if you ask me. I drove home with my friend on Friday afternoon went out to dinner with my mom and then yesterday went out to dinner with my other friend from home to celebrate her birthday which was last Thursday. She goes to Syracuse University in New York and I'm currently trying to plan a trip to visit her this weekend if everything works out okay. I'm also in the midst of trying to convince my mom to post-pone my wisdom teeth extraction till the year 2056. It's doubtful that will happen but maybe I can put it off at least till summer? I don't know we'll see. I have a bunch of errands to run this weekend. One big priority is securing my job for this summer. Last summer, I worked at the Pine Hills Golf Club in Plymouth, MA as a beverage cart girl extraordinaire. I absolutely LOVED my job last summer so hopefully everything works out and I'll be cruising around in my snack cart serving golfers for yet another season! :)

But anyway, I'll update this again soon and I hope everyone has a great week. Talk to you later!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Oh lovely vermont weather...

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone has had a great weekend! Yesterday it was almost 50 degrees out and I was walking around in a long sleeve shirt and flip flops and I wake up this morning to blizzard like conditions. Okay maybe not blizzard like, but it was intensely snowing. Hopefully spring is right around the corner? Such a tease... But anyway...

It was the last weekend here on campus before we go home for spring break on Friday. Spring break could definitely not come at a more needed time. It's getting a little stressful around here with work for all the students so I'm sure everyone will be happy to go home and relax. I unfortunately will be getting my wisdom teeth out St. Patrick's Day which I'm wicked bummed about but hopefully I'll have a speedy recovery and its much better that I'll be dealing with it all at home on my couch.

This weekend was definitely awesome. On Friday, my brother came up to visit with a few of his friends. They're really funny guys so it was really good to see them. On Saturday I went to the lacrosse and hockey games in which the Knights came out on top for both! The lacrosse team beat Dominican College 13-1 while the hockey team won the NE-10 Championship 3-2 against Stonehill. There were a ton of students at both, especially the hockey game where the Student Association provided a bus full of fans to the game at Cairns Arena. It was sooo much fun and it was a great game to watch.

Yesterday was room selection which is always kind of stressful but I think its really fun and exciting to see where you're going to end up living for the next year. The suites and apartments are typically where Juniors end up, but there are no guarantees. Three of my girl friends and I decided to put in a ticket to request living in an 8 person suite with four other girls, as well as try for a four person apartment. It turns out one of the girls got a really great lottery number so we were able to get to live in Ethan Allen apartments next year. I'm so excited because Ethan Allen is on our North campus which is actually not even that far away from Main Campus, but there are shuttles every 15 minutes going back and forth so that won't be a big deal because North is a really cool place to live and everyone says you have to try it at least once. On top of being on North, Ethan Allen has a kitchen, a living room and a bathroom. So needless to say, I'm so excited. It will be a nice change and I'm glad I got the whole room selection figured out and we actually scored a really nice deal out of the whole thing :).

In other news, now that swim practice is non-existent, the team has started to do alumni swim lessons for the kids of alumni parents and I think some staff members as well. Most if not all of the team has some sort of Lifeguarding, Swim Lesson teacher background so all the kids seem to really enjoy it and we have a great time being there too. I'm teaching Level 2 so my kids are little but so adorable. The only problem is having them stay in the cold pool for a half hour. I used to teach a lot of swimming lessons two summers ago so I've definitely missed it!

Also, the Celtic Knights have been anxiously preparing for The Concert For Saint Patrick, where I'll be dancing with the Celtic Knights as well as doing a little something for the McFadden Academy where I take classes as well. So if you're around March 28th you should come and we'd love the support!

So anyway, lots of things going on! I'll make sure to update everyone from home but until then have a great week and talk to you soon!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

March!

Hello again!!

Things have been so crazy with everything lately but I'll try to recap. Championships were amazing!! The team did so well and everyone was happy with how they did and how the team did as a whole. We ended up getting 3rd overall only to Keene State and Bentley. And we received the inaugaral sportsmanship award for the weekend. It was a huge accomplishment and our coaches were really proud of us. Everyone was cheering on everyone else and its always so awesome to see how the team comes together during these stressful and important meets.I got to see my parents and family so thats always nice, of course, and I was able to go out to lunch with them in between sessions. Overall I'm so happy the season is over, but its amazing how well everyone did and how fast it went. We definatley need a break, but I'm excited to see how much the team can improve over next season.
So now that swimming is over, I'll have a lot more time on my hands to do work and get things organized. Celtic Knights are starting to get busy around this time and we have our upcoming show on March 28th so thats always exciting :). I also had my interview for becoming a tour guide this week as well, so fingers crossed, I'll be able to do that this spring or next year :)
This weekend was also an amazing weekend. Yesterday, a few of my friends and I went downtown to the Mardi Gras Parade on Church Street. It was so much fun!! There were so many people, the parade had so many cool/funny/kind of weird floats and they were throwing out beads and the crowd was great. I wasn't able to go to the parade last year so I was so happy I didn't miss out on it this time. It's definatley a great time.
So thats all for now, I'm looking forward to spring break which is fast approaching in two weeks!! If anyone has any questions please feel free to let me know and talk to you all soon!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Happy almost Valentine's Day!

Hello again everyone!

It's been a little while since my last post but everything here has been going well :) I've been surviving my classes, barely, thanks to vertebrate anatomy, and swimming is starting to wind down and we're all getting focused for championships in two weeks!

Last Thursday, I headed to Smuggs to do some skiing in the afternoon with my friend Kim. I have to say my skiing is getting a lot better. (Friends, hold your comments) I'm starting to actually pick up the pace a bit and I didn't even fall once last time! Although the time before I had a couple of epic spills that would probably make up for it. On Friday, the team went down to Boston to compete in the MIT invitational. There were so many fast swimmers and a bunch of great teams there like Tufts, Williams and Wheaton to name a few. I had some really good swims and I was so excited to be at my favorite pool. MIT has such a great facility and my mom came to watch and brought me some goodies. :)

I love to hear that people are reading my blog. I had a comment last time about managing time and schedules. First years pick their classes in the summer at a summer registration day. At first, it's a little weird coming from a blocked, action packed high school day to being able to chose your classes and schedule them when you'd like. After the first semester you generally get a feel for what times you like and work all the ins and outs about which schedules fit you best. I tend to work best when my classes are in the morning and I'm done around 1 or 2. I tend to get really tired in the afternoon and I like to get my classes over with early. But some, or most students like to spread their classes out throughout the day or start them in the afternoon. Most classes have different time sections with different teachers so you can chose the ones that work out best for you. Our practice runs at 3:30 to 5:30 so if we have a class that runs past 4, we have the option of going at 5:30 am or a two hour time slot we may have during the day. 5:30 am isn't as horrible as it sounds and it actually wakes me up and it feels good having practice out of the way. (I know, I'm nuts.) From my understanding most sports teams have different options for classes that run late, and I know all Coaches are more concerned with academics and know that school always comes first. I hope that helps a little bit and please let me know if there are any more questions I can help you with :).

This weekend is a long weekend so a few students will be going home, but us dedicated swimmers are staying here on campus and relaxing, getting some work done and preparing for only 5 more practice days of the season!!! Today after practice, a few of the kids in my lane were playing around with an underwater camera and we got some really cool pics such as this one. You'll notice another fellow blogger Christine next to me on the right. It was only after a million tries I realized I have a hard time sinking slash holding my breath so I happened to ruin a couple good ones. But this one came out surprisingly well! But in any event, I hope everyone has a great weekend and great Valentine's Day. Keep those comments coming and I'll talk to you soon!

Friday, January 30, 2009

TGIF!!

Hi Happy Friday!!!

I'm so excited I've been getting so many comments on my posts! It's so good to hear that people are reading and enjoying my blog!! I've also been receiving some Facebook messages about what life is like here and I just recently joined KnightSpace (the social networking thing for accepted students) so hopefully I'll continue to do my best letting everyone know what St. Mike's is all about :) But keep the comments coming, I love them!

On my last post, I received a comment about the Journalism program here. I'm a journalism minor and some of my most interesting classes are my journalism ones. My roommate Catie is actually a journalism major. She loves it and is looking to do public relations or maybe some TV reporting :) A journalism major/minor is such a cool thing to have because there's so many things you can do with it! Our Journalism program, I think, is one of the best at St. Mike's. The department has great faculty that are willing to help and who come from all different areas of expertise. And although it is a lot of work, it definitely pays off. Your freshman year journalism classes usually consist of the entry course for a Journalism Major/Minor, Mass Communications and Society. Followed by New Media or Writing for Media I. I'm taking New Media right now and I'm loving it. We're doing all sorts of cool computer things like working with Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver for building web sites. If you're looking into reporting, we have two publications. The Defender is our print newspaper here on campus that covers really interesting stories about what's happening around Campus. The Echo, is the online journalism publication. They're both student-run and journalism students usually provide most of the stories for both. The Journalism Department offers courses in a wide range of classes to cover different interests. There's different feature writing courses every semester, Acting for the Camera, Photojournalism, and Newspaper Management just to name a few. I know that Catie is always running around interviewing people, covering events, and spending a lot of time in Bergeron (the journalism building) and she's had some great stories published in The Defender last semester. If you haven't already you should definitely check out the journalism department website http://catalog.smcvt.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=7&poid=586&bc=1 and I hope I helped a little :)

But anyway, right now I've finished all my classes for the day and sooo looking forward to the weekend! In my comparative vertebrate anatomy class we're studying the anatomy of a cat so I've been spending a lot of time in the bio lab examining cat bones and such for my practical on Tuesday. In our lecture, we're learning about the evolution of vertebrates and why vertebrates have many of the bones they do. It's strangely interesting and I'm actually enjoying it haha. I've noticed I haven't posted pictures in a while so until I take some really interesting ones of me frolicking outside in the Vermont snow or doing something incredibly riveting here's a nice picture of Me, Catie and Maggie. Enjoy, have a great weekend and keep those comments coming!! :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Tuesday Things...

Hi again everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their week. Things are back to normal here on campus and everyone has gotten into the swing of classes and things after break. We've had some pretty cold weather up here but as students in Vermont, we're pretty used to it so we bundle up and do the best we can to survive it! I on the other hand seemed to have contracted a sinus infection so I decided to head home last weekend to get some rest and get better. We didn't have a meet last weekend so it seemed like a pretty good weekend to take a break. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE weekends at St.Mike's but once in awhile, heading home to rest and eat some home food sounds lovely. And indeed it was. Even though I live in Cape Cod, MA there's plenty of ways to get home from if you need some time away. Usually, there's at least someone going home around the same time and area that you can catch a ride with, and as always, there's the bus which isn't too bad and not that expensive. So I had a lovely weekend sleeping and reading Twilight (yes, I'm one of those). It's strangely interesting, and a ton of my friends are into it too! I'm waiting to finish the first book so I can see the movie when it comes out on DVD. It's quite addicting, I highly recommend it. :)

In other news, 3 more weeks of swimming left!!! (I'm not THAT excited or anything, okay well maybe I am.) The season is flying by and before you know it we'll be at champs and done with swimming until next October! Last night I had Irish step dancing. My calves slash every bone slash muscle below my hips are killing me. But it's totally worth it. I had a ton of fun and it went surprisingly better than the first practice. Irish dancing I found is a lot like riding a bike. I haven't competed since 8th grade but you never really lose or forget how to do it. It might take you a few classes to get back into shape, but once the initial shock of "wow, I can't remember the last time I used these muscles" passes, everything else seems to come. And thank God for that. There are about ten or twelve other kids in the class. And yes, I mean kids, or teenagers, and they are all SO good and really help me out. The Celtic Knights along with a ton of other Irish performers are preparing for a show sometime in March for the Celtic Festival here in Burlington. I was in a few shows last year around St. Patrick's Day and it was so much fun. I love performing :)

But in any event, I'm looking forward to the weekend. Our last home meet, and senior meet is on Saturday against Norwich and Assumption and then on Sunday I'll be heading to Smuggs to do some skiing. Wish me luck, hopefully my friends won't be too frustrated with me. Let's just say I'm not the "quickest" one on the slopes. As always, I love to hear that people are reading and if anyone has any questions at all please let me know! I think most of the upcoming freshmen should be hearing or already heard if they've been accepted or not so good luck and I look forward to hearing from you!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Welcome to Antartica...I mean..Vermont.

So current temperature in Colchester, Vermont right now is....(brace yourselves) 1 degree farenheit. Which is today's high temperature, with a low of -13. This week has had record setting temperatures so everyone has been bundling up to brave the cold outside :)

In other news, classes have started :). I have a pretty good schedule this semester. With British Literature 2, Anatomy, and Spanish on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Bio Lab with New Media on Tuesdays and just New Media on Thursdays. So overall not a bad combo. I'm sure it will be a lot of work though so I'll really have to stay on top of things. I'm looking forward to my New Media class. It's a requirement for my Journalism minor and it seems like a really cool class. We're going to learn how to build a website, do some programming, and use programs like photoshop and dreamweaver. I'm excited! :)
I'm also starting Irish Dance this semester. I'll be doing some things with the celtic knights, the irish step dance group at St. Mike's, but some of the girls in the group and I will be taking extra classes with the McFadden School of Irish Dance in Essex. I took a break last semester from it to concentrate on swimming but I definatley missed it a ton. I'll have dance class on Monday nights for an hour or two which I'm so excited for. Swimming is still going well, only a month left until championships. It's amazing how fast it's going by, and the end of the season is always my favorite because you can always see how much everyone has improved :). We have a home meet Saturday against St. Rose, and I think on Friday night the girls team is going to see Bride Wars at the movies so that should be fun! I'll update after the weekend, until then stay warm!! :)

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Break, Florida and everything else! :)


Why hello again! :)

So I'm back at SMC after a short but very eventful break. I made through finals and everything just fine and a few days after christmas the swim team made their annual training trip to florida :). Florida is always such a great time for the team. We're able to put everything aside, without any distractions and focus on being with our team and working hard. We do double practices everyday , one in the morning and once in the afternoon and we're able to get some sun at the beach in between. So overall it is a ton of work but its defiantly worth it. Here's a picture of some of the team outside our hotel before we went out to dinner for New Year's Eve. We stay at the Bilmar in Treasure Island (near Tampa Bay) Florida. Our beloved Bilmar is soo beautiful, right on the beach and the sunsets are absolutely amazing. Another plus is swimming in outdoor pools so getting a nice tan is obviously a priority. The team after Florida comes up early before classes to do some more doubles. Tomorrow will be our last day of doubles and then we have our meet against Bentley on Saturday at home :).

I hope Santa was good to everyone and everyone had a nice New Year :). I got a new camera for christmas which I'm pumped about so videos and pictures can now return to my blog! Last night, my mom asked me what my new years resolution was. I told her I didn't know, but since then it's got me thinking to what exactly I want to do this year. I know I want to do well in swimming, and get good grades and all of that typical stuff. But looking back, 2008 was a great year for me, and all I want is to have another one. I have great friends and family at home and at school, and I'm a pretty healthy, active person, and everything seems to go pretty well for me most of the time, so I guess all I can ask for is that to continue through 2009 :).

So I'll try to keep this thing a little more updated now that classes are starting on Monday. I'm excited for everyone to move back in and get things rolling again to a great spring semester. I'm so glad that I've been getting comments lately. (okay so some of them are from my friends, but hey at least people are reading! hahaha) A nice little comment was from my Dad's cousin who graduated from St. Mike's its so nice to hear that she's reading too :) I hope everyone has a great week and talk to you soon!