Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thanksgiving, Reflection, and Classes.

Hey everyone!

Wow, I'm a little late with this post, but I guess that's how things are going to be at this time in the semester. I can't believe there's just one week left after break before finals! I'm so excited for next semester, but I'm kinda sad to see this one go to. Going to miss all of my friends and fellow juniors who are studying abroad next semester! (It looks like I'm going to have to take up letter-writing...this should be interesting!)

Anyway, now that Thanksgiving is just two days away, I think this is a really important time for people to reflect on the year they've just put behind them and how truly fortunate they are to be going to college, working, or whatever they're doing in life with their friends, families, and loved ones. Even though I only live thirty minutes north of St. Michael's, I know I don't see my family as often as I'd like to from time to time, and although they can get annoying and clingy, they're family - gotta love 'em. Fortunately for me, my family has invited two other families to come celebrate Thanksgiving with us this year as well as my grandparents. It's gonna be a full house with tons of food!
Don't mind if I do!
Aside from the food, fun, and thoughtfulness that comes with Thanksgiving, I've also been excited recently because I finally solidified my schedule of classes for next semester! This is huge because I originally didn't register at my scheduled time because I thought I would be studying abroad, but I was finally able to make things work to create a schedule of classes I'll need with the help of amazing professors and coordinators in the registrar's office - you guys rock!

EN-403-A - Film & History (HON)
MJD-210-A - Photojournalism in the Digital Age
MJD-219-B - Communication for Social Good
PY-103-A - Acoustical Foundations of Music
EN-306-A - Shakespeare Performs: On Screen

Hopefully I picked a good mix of classes that will challenge me while offering me different kinds of work (not all papers, for example) so I'll be able to stay sane! I'm focusing heavily on English and Media Studies next semester, primarily because I only have 4 Business classes left to complete the major! It feels odd and almost uncomfortable being so close to completing my degree requirements, and after next semester, I'll only have 4 MJD classes left and one LSC!

Well those are the big events going on in my life lately. I know I'm ready to get home and have some downtime (although PLENTY of homework will be getting done), and I'm sure many of you are already home and enjoying it! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving - I hope you all take some time to think about just how fortunate you are too.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Decisions.

Hey everyone!

So recently a lot has been happening in my life, and I think this week is a good week to share all of the big decisions I've had to make lately and why. Once you hit college, life kind of just comes at you quickly, and you start realizing that you need to make more than a few huge life choices.

Originally, after returning to Saint Michael's after basic training and tech school in July, I was planning on studying abroad next semester in Leeds, England, but that all changed in what seemed like the course of two days. At the beginning of last week, I heard that I had been awarded the Buxton Scholarship, a scholarship given out by the Air National Guard for students who're enlisted, and it gives me 12 credits for free.

At first I was ecstatic, thinking that this scholarship would cover the rest of my fees for next semester and that study abroad was all paid for, but after I emailed the woman in charge of Veterans Affairs, she told me that this scholarship could only be used for Saint Michael's.

This would leave me with thousands of dollars to come up with for next semester that I had no way of getting without the scholarship, so I made a very important last-minute decision - I decided to postpone my study abroad plans until the summer.

A lot of factors came into this decision aside from the scholarship though, such as Christian Camerota, the man in charge of the blogging program at Saint Michael's, offering me a paid blogging position if I stayed at Saint Michael's and getting offered seasonal job at RadioShack just yesterday. With all the opportunities arising here, it just didn't seem like the right time for me to study abroad. While it was definitely hard to give up England, I think I made the right choice.

I'm sorry Leeds - maybe I'll be there this summer!
Sometimes you need to sacrifice what you really want to do for what's most practical, and other times you just have to go for it - it all depends on the situation. I think it was right for me to give up my dreams of England to gain more support at home first. I'm now looking into some summer programs in England and Scotland, and I'm hoping to start the process for those very soon!

Well that's my big news, do you all think I made the right choice? I'd love to hear what you have to say if you want to share - in the mean time, I hope your semester is wrapping up nicely, and if you're studying abroad next semester, I hope you have an incredible time and realize just how lucky you are to be going!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

The Story of My Roommate.

Hey y'all!

So since the semester's been dragging on and I haven't really done anything exciting within the last week, I figured I'd focus this week's post on my roommate Jesse. He's come up a few times on here, and I bet at least some of you are wondering how we came to be friends, so here goes!

Jesse and I went to high school together in Saint Albans, Vermont at a school called Bellows Free Academy. It's funny, because we never used to talk too much while we were there, but we were locker neighbors all four years of school (go figure). When the time for applying to colleges came around during our senior year, we were talking in-between classes one day like we usually did about whatever came up, and he brought up his acceptance to Saint Michael's.

I remember feeling really excited because I had applied there and was waiting for my letter of acceptance as well, so I asked him immediately if he wanted to be roommates. I wasn't a fan of the whole random roommate assignment thing, and I figured it'd be better to at least know someone a bit beforehand if you're going to room with them for at least a year. He said yes, and we began talking a lot more over the summer before coming to Saint Michael's as freshmen.

Needless to say it was a huge success! Things were a little awkward at first, but we immediately began opening up to each other more and becoming closer friends than we ever were in high school. It's hard not to get to know someone when you're living with them, and now I'm wondering why we didn't talk more in high school! (I guess I know that actually, we had different from groups and hardly ever had classes together).

So now, almost three years later, we've had so many amazing times together and I don't regret asking him to be my roommate one bit.

This is one of Jesse our freshman year when he was going out to a dinner for his work study - lookin' spiffy!
This is probably my favorite picture of us because we look so ridiculous! This was after a trip to GoodWill sophomore year, where Jesse found a box that sang a somewhat creepy tune when you open it.
Jesse and I in our natural habitats sophomore year - priceless!

This was is from earlier this year, where we went to Vergennes, VT to race in a Color Run 5K that benefits local charities! We loved it so much we ran it twice!
If you already go to SMC or if you're thinking about coming, your roommate can really make or break your experience. This isn't saying that the random roommate selection process is always bad - I've seen more than a few roommates become best friends because of it! Just giving someone a chance can show you a lot more about a person than you'd think, and who knows, maybe your current or future roommate will become a great friend of yours too!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Crunch Time & Positivity.

It's starting to come down to the wire pretty quickly this semester - November is the last full month before finals, I'm getting TONS of complex and time-consuming assignments, and I'm trying to balance it all out with working for the Guard base (while maintaining sanity!) The month before finals is always bound to be packed with tons of things to do and little time to waste, and taking media classes such as Reporting for Media and Media Law that involve interviewing people, transcribing the interviews, and going to various locations around town to dig up public records and sit in on court hearings definitely makes it that much more challenging. 

This is how I end up feeling at the end of most days in school now...my brain is just fried!
Don't get me wrong, I love my classes and I love learning more about the wide variety of subjects i'm taking this semester, but sometimes the work load is just outrageous! I'm sure we've all felt this way at some point, and this kind of stress can definitely take a toll on you socially and psychologically in the wrong situations, so it's important to stay positive!

So for this week's post, I've decided to give you all a few pointers about how to stay on top of your workload and, more importantly, to stay positive!

1. Realize that it's only temporary.

This may be the most important point of all - the classes you're taking the semester, the stress you're under, and anything else that's going in your life that's making it more stressful will all go away eventually. It has to. Nothing lasts forever, and that's even more reason to enjoy the moment and find the good in every situation.

2. Make a list of things to do and organize them into a schedule.

You have no idea how much this has helped me this semester. Making lists and schedules has always been difficult for me because I always end up just ignoring them or forgetting about them, but I've been forcing myself to commit to a schedule and write everything I need to do in it for the past few months and it's helped me tremendously. Planners at the campus store are only $5 (and making your own in a binder or a notebook is even cheaper), and they'll save you a lot of time and energy in the end, trust me!

3. Get plenty of sleep!

You're probably laughing to yourself after reading that one (it's college, who sleeps?), but don't take it lightly. I'm sure we all know how sleep deprivation is, and we all probably don't get enough sleep as it is on a regular basis, but I know that the days I sleep for more than 8 hours are my absolute best days. I feel happier, wake up easier, do better on tests and working through homework, and I'm far less grumpy and irritated! Getting tons of sleep definitely has many benefits, and it'll only help you stay focused on what you have to do while maintaining a positive attitude.

4. Find a hobby, an activity, or something unrelated to your studies to participate in.

We can't be all school all the time, and I'm sure everyone has something they love to do that helps them relax and eases their mind, so do it! Separating yourself from your studies for short periods of time is just as important as getting through them. SMC has tons of clubs on campus that fit a wide range of hobbies too, such as singing, knitting, or even anime-watching! It's recommended that students only study for 30-45 minute intervals and then take 10-15 minute breaks. Calling a friend briefly to catch up, playing a video game, or riding your bike to the store and back are all great ways to de-stress and clear your mind from the heavy course load you've probably spent too much time studying as it is. 

5. Stay healthy.

Go for a run around campus, go to the gym with a friend, play some basketball in the gym on an intramural team! Staying active and eating well-balanced meals will help substantially in tackling your homework load and maintaining a positive attitude too! Take it from someone who worked out every day for six months straight this past spring and summer. After joining the Air Force, I found a new appreciation for running, and my roommate and I have made it a habit to go running a few times a week together (one time this past summer we ran 8 miles around Colchester and Essex Junction - it was a blast!) I use it as an outlet to de-stress, relax, and cope with whatever's going on in my life, and it works.

I hope these tips help at least some of you with dealing with school, friends, work, and whatever else you have going on in your life. Staying positive is the only way you're going to make it through, so try your best and keep a level head - things have a way of working themselves out! But following these tips can definitely help make it that much easier to tackle life head-on too!

And if none of that helped, here's a picture of me wearing a cat mask I found in the Alliot parking lot this afternoon. :p Comedy can work just as well to create some positivity!


Cheers!