Over Halfway There!

Hey everyone!

So it's that time of the year again - midterms are coming and going, it's getting colder quick (although the summer lingering was nice, it's most-likely over), and everyone is preparing to head into November, the last full month of the fall semester. Hard to believe that there's less than two months left until Christmas!

I've been plenty busy writing papers, studying for midterms, and trying to get ahead as much as possible, but that doesn't mean there's absolutely no time for fun, either. Since the semester is already more than halfway over, I thought I'd recap some of the highlights:

The Champlain Valley Fair this past August with Jesse on the far left, and two friends from high school, Brandon and Tiffany!

My roommate Jesse and I after the EPIC Color Run in Vergennes, VT at the beginning of September! It was literally a blast!

Great times downtown with friends - we frequently go to Boloco since we're addicted to their Nutella milkshakes!

Just one of the many beautiful sight pictures I took last weekend in Providence, Rhode Island while visiting a friend. The city was amazing!

I can finally go back to work again since the government shutdown is over!

There's always some time to spend at my quiet home in Saint Albans, VT too with this big lug. He's my half Rottweiler, half Springer buddy Duncan!

Now with all of the excitement of this year comes a lot of thinking about the future too. I'm a junior this year, and my college experience is already more than halfway over, so I need to start thinking about what the plan is going to be once I graduate with my MJD and Business degrees. Originally when I started my schooling at SMC as a freshman, I was thinking I'd go into advertising and graphic design with my majors, but with the two law classes I'm taking this semester, I may want to go a different route and pursue something law-related. Who knows, maybe law school would be neat (and challenging of course, but that's life)!

That just goes to show how taking classes and floating through your college career can actually shape it into something entirely different! I love how much variety and how many differing perspectives there are here at SMC, even within majors!

Anyway, I hope everyone's as stoked for Halloween as I am, and I hope your midterms were aced with flying colors!

Fall Break Rhode Island!

Hey everyone!

So, fall break has finally arrived - a nice, four-day weekend to catch up on school work, do some traveling, and relax! This fall break, I decided to come down to Rhode Island to visit my friend Ian, who I went to technical schooling with for the Air Force down in Mississippi this past summer! I've never driven out of state on my own before, so this was a pretty big adventure, but four and a half hours later, I arrived safe and sound in Johnston, Rhode Island.

Ian showed me around Rhode Island, and the first on our list of stops was his high school, Johnston Senior High School, where we watched is younger sister play a volleyball game. Later, we went to the University of Rhode Island in Providence, where I went to my first college football game!

Look how huge that stadium was! To get up to the bleachers, we had to go up multiple staircases! Coming from Vermont to here was definitely a huge change, especially going to Saint Mike's where we don't have football teams.

After seeing the college life, we decided to go out to downtown Providence and visit the Providence Mall and Thayer Street, a street bustling with excitement, tourism, and a whole lot of restaurants, outlets, and other places to explore.

The buildings were huge, and Providence Mall was a blast! I go back to Saint Michael's on Tuesday, but I've been loving my mini vacation here in Rhode Island so far. There's even a little river by the mall where they put on a "fire on the water" show that lights up the night by lighting flames along small sections of the river (unfortunately they didn't put one on last night though - bummer!)

I hope you've all been having a great fall break too! If you're worrying about homework or stressing out, remember to take some time to enjoy the world around you! Sticking to your studies and doing well is imperative, of course, but exploring and being with friends is a huge part of the college experience too!

Today is mine and Ian's "homework" day (since he's in college as well), but tomorrow we'll be going on one last adventure before my departure around the city! College is definitely a balancing act, but when am I going to be in Rhode Island again? Might as well enjoy it!

Study Abroad Madness.

Hey everyone!

So, this week's definitely been a busy one, but getting a couple of my midterms out of the way has really helped my workload (only one left in Business Law!)

October can be a really stressful time around Saint Michael's, with everything like midterms, class registration, and, if you're a junior like me and you're looking to explore the world for a semester, then study abroad paperwork also starts to dominate your life. This week is the week that almost everything is due for my trip to Leeds, England next semester, from class registration forms to passport paperwork to program down payments.

My plan is to take a media-heavy course load at the University of Leeds through the API program to explore the British view of media and communication with classes like Digital Cultures and Motion Graphics while knocking out a class or two for my LSE requirements. I wanted to take a couple of business courses as well, but the school wasn't offering any courses that I needed for my major for next semester, and since I'm a double major and a minor, I have NO wiggle room whatsoever (which is a bummer!)

So one of the components of my application that was due this weekend was a passport photo to use for my school IDs over in England. Passport photos can be done at places like Walmart or Walgreens for a fee, or you could save a bit of money (every penny counts in college!) and take your own. This is actually pretty simple and feasible to do with a camera, a sunny room, and a white or off-white background to work with!

I made this my project for the weekend, and here's how it came out:

I could've done a little better with getting the shadow out in the background (the less shadow, the better), but here are some basic guidelines for submitting a good photo to use for your passport:

1. The photo must be 2 inches by 2 inches, preferably 300 dpi.
2. It can only include your head and shoulders.
3. A white or off-white background must be used.
4. Make sure it is taken in a well-lit room to diminish shadows.

I haven't heard back from my program yet about whether or not they accepted this photo, but I'd say it's a pretty good attempt! Traveling is a huge part of the college experience, and for those of you who are interested in study abroad, the Saint Michael's page on it is located here. Also, my program provider has been really flexible (since I had to do much of the paperwork while I was away in military training), offers good variety of programs and locations, and they representatives are super awesome and great at getting back to you quickly and efficiently. You can check out API here.

Hope this helps for all of you looking into traveling in your undergraduate career, and here's hoping my passport photo attempt was a good one!

It's About That Time.

Hey everyone!

Looks like it's about that time again - fall! Fall is my favorite season by far. I love the way the leaves cover the ground in myriads of red, orange, yellow, and green, how the air becomes a bit colder, and how everything just smells so, I don't know, fall-y! Plus, I get to wear sweaters now, and I've been waiting too long to break some of those out!

Anyway, as the halfway point of the semester approaches (it's really going fast!), I like to stop and take some time to enjoy the outside, get away from the stresses of work and homework, and just relax with friends or by myself. The foliage around campus is already really beautiful, and now that Quad Commons is finally finished, there's no more construction to detract from it!

I snapped this photo on the way to class the other day. The colors around campus create such a nice, homey feeling, and I'm loving every day of fall! Definitely the perfect time for tea and Netflix for hours or cracking open a good book. (homework permitting!)

Now, funny thing about work lately - since the government shutdown occurred last week, I've been out of a job. This has its perks and nuances, of course, but so far it's been nice to have some extra time to catch up on homework, sleep, and enjoy the semester a little bit more! It's stressful enough having 6 1/2 classes for sure, but work on top of that just breaks me some days. 

Air Force, HUA!

I've been going downtown a lot more lately as well, which has been really great. It always surprises me how many places exist downtown that I had no idea about every time I go, and when I went earlier today, my friend Shelbie showed me a place called Delia's Tea. And I was not disappointed! The tea was exquisite, and she ordered us some sort of treat with lumped rice and bean paste that tasted really...peculiar. It was one of those foods that I didn't know if I should classify as good or bad, but I just kept eating it anyway...weird, right? But the calm atmosphere, the quick service, and the antique shop itself were all really awesome!

Just look at that teapot! I'm also an excellent creep when it comes to taking pictures of people. :)

Well, that's basically been my week in a nutshell! Over the next two weeks, I have three midterms to deal with...bummer. I'll try to keep you all updated as much as possible between breathing and studying, so keep me in your prayers!