Where in the world...

Oh heyyyy.

So as suggested in the title of this post, you all might be wondering WHERE IS CHRISTINE? Seeing as I've been almost completely relying on my formspring questions (which I LOVE by the way, keep them coming) to keep my blog afloat, I felt you all deserved some explanation. In truth, in my real life too (as opposed to my online life) I'm almost always MIA. My friends just expect that I will sometimes be a treat to contact, and my housemates are used to me coming home and leaving minutes later. It's actually inspired me to consider being Carmen Sandiego for Halloween (my favorite holiday!) So, where have I been?

Townhouse 220: That's right, I'm a big bad senior now living in the 200's. They're the townhouse community near the back of campus, at the end of the line of suites. Pros: it's quieter, the people here are awesome, and we're SO close to Dunkin Donuts. Cons: it's "far" from class and the gym...aka 10 minutes and I'm lazy. But we've got new posters on the walls and it's starting to look like a real little home :]

St. Ed's, Jeanmarie, and Cheray: ok so I don't have any classes in Cheray Science hall (no surprise there) but I do go in to the computer lab there a lot to check my email and print. [sidenote, we've got cool new enviro friendly printers, still free, now color. AND we can copy for free too!]. I'm really loving my classes so far. I'm taking Adolescent Development, Epic and Heroic Tradition, Marketing, and Practicum for Psych (definitely more updates to come on this one). Now that I'm a senior, I'm 2 classes from completing my major and finished with my LSRs, so I can just take whatever I want. It sounds great, but it's actually pretty hard to choose classes I like that fit...and it's terrifying to think I'm running out of time to take them.

Hoehl Welcome Center: Founder's Society activities are back into full swing and the year is off to a great start for us. Tours are up and running, our newly renovated SMC blogs page is FULL of new bloggers (both students and faculty!) I'm heading a project to get a blog up and running with all of our athletic teams represented, so be on the look out for that in the next month (I'm really excited to get it started). We had our Welcome Back Bash last week, and got almost 90 people, half of whom were first year students! The new first years are so involved already, it's awesome.

The Gym: In case you haven't heard (or weren't keeping up with the SMC news) the swim team has a new head coach. Our coach Jim Donoghue retired this year, after a 16 year period of coaching and developing the swim program. I was the student rep on the search committee and while it was a learning experience, I'm glad it's over. It took a good amount of time, but we're finally welcoming Eileen Hall (one of our former assistant coaches) as our head coach. In fact, practice started today. Needless to say, it hurts me just to lift my fingers to the keys right now.

The Chapel: So we haven't spent too much time in the chapel, but I will be there at least once a week outside of mass time to meet with the LEAP retreat team, which I'm SO EXCITED to be a part of. After making my first LEAP last March, I knew it was something I wanted to stay involved with. I applied and got chosen to be a part of the support team for this November's LEAP. I can't wait to get started with all there is to do and to get pumped for the candidates to be chosen.

Other things:
I mentioned Practicum earlier, and I'll have a a lot more to say once I get further into my internship experience, but for now I'll let you all know I will be working with Spectrum youth and family services for this academic year and I couldn't be more excited.

Last Sunday I got up early and went with some other members of the Student Association (SA) to the Rockpoint School in Burlington. Rockpoint is an alternative school for kids from all over who, for one reason or another, aren't able to do well in their old school system. We didn't meet too many of the students but they seemed great. We were there to do some volunteer yard work, and we got right to it. I'm telling you, my mom wouldn't believe her eyes if she saw me weeding and digging up dead roots. We even took down an entire bush...and not a little one, a BIG one. It was tiring, but what made it so awesome was how excited and appreciative the people there were for what we were doing for them. I LOVED it.

A year ago today: I would have run 7 miles for marathon training, seen a Fiorentina soccer game, visited Pisa and the Cinque Terre, and walked in the Corre La Vita (a cancer walk in Florence). I actually like to be reminded of what I was doing this time last year in Italy. It's definitely sad, don't get me wrong. I've been itching to go back for months, if only for a sandwich. But I also think it's cool to look at myself then and see myself now and realize how much I've grown and changed. Ok that's enough nostalgia.

BY THE WAAAAAY. If you want to check out some of the places I've been around here, you need look no further than the new SMC Video Tour! Check it out, surreously. P.S. I'm in it...duh. AND it's interactive.

I think that's it for now. Like I said, my arms can only stay up near the keyboard for so long.

Things to look forward to: apple picking AND going to the cider mill, Columbus day weekend at home, the ND vs. NAVY game...yup, and lots of other fun fall treats. I'll be back soon.

-Christine