Alumni Weekend

     Last weekend was Alumni weekend! Normally it really would not have meant much to me, but last year I lived with 3 wonderful seniors that I became really close with.  Two were able to visit and stay the weekend!  Sam and Caitlin came and stayed with us in our townhouse and one of the fun things we did was go to Apple Island, north of here, to visit a farm and enjoy the fall foliage.

the Main Floor

     Previously I stated that the main floor of our townhouse was not blog ready.  What I really meant was that we didn't really have decorations yet and hadn't finalized the placement of the furniture!  Now it seems that we're all ready and organized for a photo shoot:

This is the entrance to our house: as you walk in you see records

This is our combination dining room and common room

Some extra shelving to help organize

Some record sleeves

Our cozy kitchen

 

 

     So that's it! I went to the Salvation Army up the road with my girl Taylor and we bought the records for $.25 each and the blanket on the wall above the chairs for $1.  Pretty good deal for all of that and now our home is comfy and cool!

Warts and all

When I got back from class today, I noticed something interesting on my window ledge.  It was an itty, bitty FROG! How it got there I have no idea but I took some pictures because I knew my dad would really enjoy this!

 

 

 

Update: my friend is gone.  When the rain storm started he disappeared! Hopefully if he jumped his parachute deployed.  

3 Classes? WHAT????

Ok so I previously wrote that I was going to be signing up to take Italian 101 as my fourth class this semester.  However, I checked my smcvt mail and I had gotten my senior packet! BLAH! In it was an intent to graduate form, some other forms, and this baby:

 

 

This fabulous form lists all the classes I have taken, the ones I still need to take, and most importantly exactly what I need to graduate.  It tells you how many credits remain for you to graduate, what you need overall to graduate, and what you currently have.  So after deciphering the form (I had a little trouble) and going to the Registrar to double check, I learned that I do not need any more credits to graduate on time.  That means that as of now all I have to do is take the necessary courses to graduate.  I made the executive decision to take my Spanish Senior Seminar, my French Senior Seminar, and la France Medieval this semester and not stretch myself too thin when I'll need to write two thesis papers this semester. 

 

 

So, that's that and I just wanted to write and say that sometimes it is ok to take only 3 courses instead of 5 or 6.  It's better to do what you can and do it well, rather than over exhaust yourself and get not so great grades.   

DIY your room

     So I'm super into crafts and DIY projects, always have been always will be.  I also think that it's fun to add special handmade things to decorate your room with.  Here are some cool things that I made this past year to put in my room:

These (elephants) I just cut out on scrapbook paper using a print out from the web

Here I used clean tuna cans, covered them in ribbon, attached a string and used an BATTERY OPERATED tea-light (remember candles and fire etc are not allowed in the dorms for fire hazard)

For my curtain I sewed together 4 long silky scarves

This is just my bulletin board but I really like it hehehe

(p.s that's Gary Cooper one of my favorite actors)

This is a picture from my last blog post but it shows my blanket on my bed that I

knitted over winter break that's over 5 feet long!

 

 

Right now our main floor is still in limbo for the time being, but hopefully soon it will be complete and ready to be photographed for my blog!

4 days in

     So I moved into my new townhouse in the 200s Tuesday (with permission) because I played in the Liturgical Choir at the welcome mass for the new class of 2017.  So, so far I'm a bit nervous about being back because now I'm a senior so it's like being the big cheese on campus.  I mean I look like I'm too young to be a senior: 

                                  Taken in Madrid with my roommate about 3 months ago

so my upcoming graduation is kind of intimidating!  I'm still only 20 too!  On top of the nervous feelings I have for being a senior I also have to cope with the fact that I'm going to be taking 2 senior seminars this semester: Spanish and French.  That means that I'll be writing my 2 thesis papers in other languages where I still have to constantly look up words and research grammar rules.  It's gonna be tough.  With these two classes I'm also taking a French history course (in French) and Italian 1 (actually not signed up yet woops).  All language all the time!

      So in addition to all this craziness I also had to move in and organize my things.  So here are the first images of my new room, additions still to be made:

on top of my bed is a blanket that I knitted

my messy desk

     So there it is!  I don't feel like taking pictures of the rest of the house yet so you'll just have to wait.

College is NOT like High School

     For all you incoming first years I would like to clarify something: COLLEGE IS NOT LIKE HIGH SCHOOL.  That's not to say that if you loved high school you won't like college...it's just that they are two completely different entities. 

     different people, different location, different lifestyle. 

In college groups/cliques don't matter.  You can be a theater major, hang out with athletes, and be in knitting club.  Walls come down and group lines disintegrate.  You can be friends with anyone you want to and....NO ONE CARES! It's fabulous! This was the most defining part for me.  In my high school there were distinct lines that you couldn't cross: if you were in band you stayed with musicians, theater kids stayed within their group....etc.  Saint Michael's is the epitome of my theory.  I'm a language major & friends with many other language students, I'm in knitting club, I'm part of liturgical choir, I do MOVE activities, I do yoga and love going to the gym.  I'm friends with people who are involved in things that I do as well as people who partake in other activities. 

This is your opportunity to make friends with people outside of your comfort zone, do new things, take classes just for the fun of it, and do as much as you can!  Go to poetry readings for the free snacks and then go the next time because you LOVED it!  Now is the only time in your life where you'll be living with all of your friends, with "no" responsibilities, with more freedom than you can handle.  It's college.  It will be over before you can even imagine.