Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Well we thought it was spring

Hey everyone,

Sorry it's been a little longer than usual, I didn't want to distract anyone from clicking my scholarship link by adding more posts, but that's over now. I'll let you know how it turns out if it goes well. I've also been SUPER busy and still am, which is why I've been slacking.

Last weekend was a good one for sure. Rugby ball was friday night and we all had alot of fun there, dancing and singing and such. Saturday was my birthday! I turned 20, which I still can't believed. It was probably the more beautiful day we've had this semester so far, and all of us were outside in shorts and t-shirts and flip flops. I spent the morning cleaning a little and baking a birthday cake with my friends (I love homemade cake). Then we went outside with everyone and lounged on blankets, took pictures, went for a walk, listened to music, ate cake (my parents sent me one in the mail :]) and played a great game of wiffle ball. Later a big group of us went to dinner at Koto, a hibachi place nearby where they cook your food in front of you. It was SO GOOD. We got back to campus for cake and nightime fun with everyone who stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. Overall a great time.

Sunday it was rainy and I spent all day inside, mostly doing nothing but eating Chinese and watching TV, with a little homework. My roommate returned from LEAP, a retreat we do here, and she was telling me about it before we got to bed and prepared for another week. It's been pretty rainy here since Sunday morning, and we're pretty sure we see some snow flurries every once in a while. We're hoping for more of the warm weather, but until then we're waiting out the rain.

I hosted another student for lunch yesterday and I hope she had fun. I think she did (we had cupcakes so that's always incentive for a good time). I'm super busy this week with alot of work, a bunch of meetings and tings to write, another career appointment tomorrow, and tour guide training tomorrow too.

THURSDAY IS ANOTHER VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE. Last week's went really really well so I hope more of you attend this one. Don't be afraid to ask us questions, we love it! This Saturday is also an open house, accepted student open house. There's two this year and the other is on the 18th. I hope ALL accepted students come to one because it's definitely a big help if you're not sure about SMC, want to learn more, or just want to spend more time here (who wouldn't). I'll be up early and out on Rt 15 screaming and greeting students as they pull in, so look for me. I'm also shadowing a tour later in the day to help learn how to do it. If you see me, don't hesitate to say hi or that you read my blog or anything, I won't think it's creepy, I'll be pumped. I'd love to put some faces to my readers anyway.

I think that's all to say for now. I'm hoping to update again later this week so I'll have more to talk about then. Here's some pictures from the lovely weekend, and other than that peaceee.



rugby ball playing outside birthday friends


matching and more matching

-Christine

Monday, March 23, 2009

Spring?

Hello everyone,

First, annoying reminder again. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE scroll down to my scholarship post and click the link at the end of it. That's all you have to do (to prove you were here). Then you can scroll back up and read this one! THANKS!!!

Sorry for the lack of update while I was on break. It was relaxing and fun, though I didn't really do much. I celebrated St. Patrick's Day with my dad in the afternoon and then with friends in NYC that night. I spent the day after (a 70 degree day!) in the city too, mostly walking around Central Park, which was so nice. I also visited my high school to chat up SMC and enjoyed going back there and meeting up with a friend of mine. Other than that, just a lot of sleeping, eating, and nothingness, which is always nice.

Returning to campus after "spring" break didn't really feel that way with how the weather is here. It's still rather chilly (not over 30 today) and I think we're in for a little more snow before we move on to warmer weather. Last year we had a week in April with 70+ temperatures, so I think we're all a little spoiled after that. Hopefully it warms up soon.

In other news, I've got a non-academic busy week this week. Tomorrow I've got some meetings and swim lessons, and then Wednesday I finally have an appointment with career services (hopefully we can find me some kind of internship opportunity). I worked on my resume over break so we're going to look at that too. I'll let you know how it goes. I've also got to find a few tours to shadow, being a new tour guide in training. Thursday is another VIRTUAL OPEN HOUSE so I encourage all you accepted students to sign in and chat with us (7pm-9pm come and go as you want). On Friday I think I'm taking a trip with the Italian program up to the little Italy of Montreal, and returning in time for the SMC Rugby Ball, a dance/fundraiser for the rugby team. SATURDAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! haha so I'll be celebrating with friends, and then Sunday I'll probably rest...a lot.

So nothing too exciting to talk about now, but definitely the promise of some good posts later on. Remember, if you've got a question you want answered, don't hesitate to comment or email or facebook or IM or twitter or anything. And reminder again (I know I'm getting annoying) scroll to my scholarship entry (2 down) and click the link at the bottom to prove you were at my page today (and then do this every day until the end of March). Thanks!

-Christine

Thursday, March 12, 2009

It's vacation time :]

Hey everyone!

So first thing I want to say, which is VERY IMPORTANT: the post before this is entered into a scholarship contest and between the 18th and the 31st everyone needs to scroll to it and click the link at the end of it. This will show the traffic to this blog (it won't count if you don't click). PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help me out with this. Tell your friends.

Moving on, this week has been so hectic. But before we get into that let's discuss the weekend, which was anything but. I did alot of my work ahead of time last week so I could use this weekend to just hang out and relax, and that's just what I did. The weather on Sunday was beautiful and so some friends and I went across the street and down into the trails in the woods by the river. We did this thing called geocaching that I had never heard of. I definately suggest you guys check it out and try it if you have time. It was really cool and really fun. Basically you find te GSP coordinates of a "geocache" and you find it. It's a box with things inside and people do like a take-one-and-leave-one type of thing. I'm glad I found out about it and only wish I remembered my camera to take pictures of how pretty and nice it was out there. Next time! (the weather is back to chilly now but it's been getting warmer and we're all itching for full fledged spring time)

Also on Sunday a majority of campus picked housing. The process is difficult to explain in full detail, but basically this year everyone got assigned a lottery number electronically based on class year. Then depending on the day of the housing you want (4 person housing like townhouses and apartments as well as 8 person suites went Sunday) you go, wait in line until your number can go, and then pick where you're going to live. Alot of people don't get their first choices but we can't please everyone. No worries though, everyone has somewhere to live and I know they'll end up loving it. Since I'm going abroad I didn't get a number and didn't have to pick housing, but my roommate Sarah did (I'm moving in when she moves out to go abroad in the spring) and we got a suite in Pontigny Hall, which is awesome. The suite is 8 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a common room. The building also has a kitchen and study lounge on each floor and big common room for the whole building, as well as laundry and vending. Needless to say we're all excited to move up from the dorms.

In other news, spring break starts tomorrow! So we on campus know that means LOTS of work this week so we don't have to do anything over break. It's also right around mid-semester so alot of papers and exams are happening. I had a busy day yesterday but I got to relax today (Sarah and I watched Nick and Norah's infinite playlist from my netflix). Tomorrow I've got one more test and then I'm good to go until we come back.

In addition to my work, I've been pretty busy with other stuff on campus. I got accepted to be a tour guide, so I've got to shadow some tours in the next few weeks to see how it's done. I also just got ALOT of information from API for study abroad regarding how to get a student VISA (it's crazy stuff). **I'm also on twitter now too, so you can check that out on the sidebar and follow me if you've got your own!**

Yesterday I also attended a Resume Workshop, which is an hour long session that teaches students how to form a good resume. After you go to the workshop you can schedule an appointment with a career counselor at career services and they can talk to you about your resume and tons of other things. I'm bringing my resume next week and talking to them about finding an internship near home for this summer.

My March callender in my planner looks like my pen threw up on it, but that's good because, aside from class assignments, most things on there are fun and exciting things I can talk ALL ABOUT when I write for you haha. Some possible future exciting things? scholarship fair, acepted students academic day, my career appointment, the rugby ball, and more! So obviously keep checking back for more fun stuff and CLICK THE LINK IN THE LAST POST between the 18th and the 31st. THANKSSSS!

Enjoy the break, I'm sure I'll update before it's over.
-Christine

Sunday, March 8, 2009

About SMC "online admissions"

Hey everyone! The following entry is being submitted for a scholarship contest from onlinecollege.org, so send the link along to your friends and CLICK ON THE CONTEST BADGE AT THE END OF THE POST. The focus is on “higher education online” and I think simply discussing how important everything we do as bloggers is would be a perfect entry. Additionally, it’ll be great for all of you to know everything we really do aside from writing our blogs.

Keeping a blog for SMC, along with other “online admissions” participation, has been a truly rewarding experience. At first we were worried that no one would read the blogs or that only our parents and friends would read them (as prospective students we weren’t really involved with the online aspect of admissions). However, once we got ourselves up and running, we were able get a hit count for the blogs and found out that each of us receives more hits a day than we ever thought we would get. We receive comments from a ton of people, not only those we know, and we also receive emails with questions from loyal readers. We are able to blog about whatever we want concerning life here at SMC, and it makes a huge difference for prospective students to be able to hear from actual students regarding what we do on a daily basis. A huge confidence booster for us this year was when the admissions office received an application that actually mentioned the blogs and how their down to earth nature really put the school high up on the student’s list. We knew then that, despite our initial doubts or concerns, what we are doing for Saint Mike’s makes a huge difference.

In addition to the blogs, we participate in virtual open houses, where students are able to go online and chat with us and with other accepted students, have their questions answered, and relate to us in a more personal way than the blog allows. We also have a presence on facebook, with two groups dedicated to listening to applicant’s questions and concerns and responding with what we have to say (check them out here and here). Additionally, we’re on SMC knightspace, another outlet for prospective’s questions and concerns. We post photos and videos on our blogs and some of us are starting up with twitter too. The amount of students we’ve probably reached goes far beyond our expectations and the online aspect of SMC admissions is definitely responsible for a huge portion of the applicant pool.

Hope this provided some insight for everyone, and I'll update on my weekend soon! Until then,
-Christine

Online College Edu Blogger Scholarship Contest

Monday, March 2, 2009

last week was a big thumbs up

Hey everyone!

So I’m back again from a long but fun filled weekend of swimming. This past weekend a bunch of the women’s team traveled down to Rhode Island Friday afternoon to watch the men’s championships. We all crammed into a few hotel rooms and went to the prelims and finals sessions of the meet. Overall the men did great, finishing 5th and break a ton of school records (I think 7 or 8). Everyone had best times and a lot of the new freshman did amazing (with their excited parents watching in the stands). The girl’s team got to meet a lot of the parents and chat with them too. While down there, I spent Saturday night at Providence College which a friend of mine and had tons of fun. Two other girls and I took the bus back with the men last night too and that was an experience. Here's a picture of all of us at one of the sessions:





In addition to the great weekend, last week was really good for me (full of acceptance, I’ve been saying). First off, I got asked to be in the Psychology honors society, Psi Chi. I was excited about this and of course my parents were proud. I also how asked to help run one of the POW pre-orientation programs this summer (so if you go on POW 1, I’ll be there!). I had an interview for tour guiding and was told I’d be able to part time tour guide when I return from abroad next year and probably be full time in my senior year too, which was also exciting since it’s something I really want to do.


Speaking of study abroad, if we could put it into a fraction I’m 2/3 accepted? I’ve been accepted by SMC and by API, and now all I’m waiting on is the registrar of the college in Florence to approve both me and my courses. SCRATH THAT, I JUST GOT A CALL AND AM FULLY ACCEPTED! YAY! The course listings came out for next fall and I sent mine is right away so I could get the courses I want. To give you a taste of how great the study abroad experience can be, my top choice courses are: Italian, celebrating Italian style: food and culture in contemporary Italy, foundation oil painting, and a philosophical perspective on psychology. My back up courses are pretty cool too (wine and wine culture? Awesomeeee). If I get those courses at the times I want, my weekends will start at 9am on Thursdays and end at 6pm on Mondays. That’s not to say it’s not a lot of work (Tuesday I’d be in class from 8 to 3 and that’s only two classes), but it definitely leaves time for travel and sight seeing so I can explore as much of Italy and Europe as I can.


So though swimming is officially over, there’s no escaping the water for us. For the next 6 weeks or so we run a swim lesson program for children and grandchildren of faculty, staff, and alumni. We don’t get paid individually but the program makes a lot of money this way and it lowers our cost for the Florida training trip. I’m teaching level one so I’m excited to get to work with some cute little kids!


I think that’s all for now. I’ve been behind on work and am finally all caught up so I’m going to go get a nap in before dinner. Check back soon!

-Christine