Days 6 & 7: Reflecting on the Semester.

So it looks like I dropped the ball on day 6, I got to be a bit busier than I expected. Nonetheless, here I am for my final post for the semester, and what better to go into winter break than reflecting on all of the highlights.

Favorite Class

I had a lot of difficult classes this semester, probably because it's senior year, which made me want to just crawl into a hole and disappear forever at times. That wasn't always the case, of course. In fact, I would argue that I actually learned more than I ever have in any of the previous semesters of my college career this semester. That being said, I'd say my favorite class of the semester would have to be my Media Studies senior seminar. I got to research the LGBTQ community, which is a topic I'm very passionate about, expand my horizons about the topic, and go to class every day with great friends and even better teachers - Professors Hyde and Sultze. What more could you ask for?

Favorite Memory

It's hard for me to say that one particular moment of the semester was my favorite, so I'd say that anytime I got to go out on weekends around campus and hangout with both old and new friends were my favorite times. I've had such a drastic change in my outlook on night life at Saint Michael's from my freshman year to now, and I couldn't be more thankful for it. I used to go home pretty much every weekend when I was a freshman because I just felt like I didn't belong here, but by putting myself out there more and giving the campus a chance, I found that I actually love it here. It's a spectacular school, and I'm glad I realized it before it was too late.

Jesse, Paul, Kathryn and I on a Friday night - love these goons!

 Favorite Activity

This semester, I found myself getting more into biking around campus than I ever have been. When I was younger, I used to bike everywhere because I lived in a rural part of Vermont, but I forgot about biking pretty quickly once I got my license. When my roommate Paul brought his bike this semester, it just revived my love of biking and I rode it everywhere at least four or five times a week. It was a great way to de-stress and explore Saint Michael's campus and the surrounding area.

In my natural habitat.

Sweet rainbow over one of the suites that I took on a bike ride!

Final Thoughts

Going into winter break, I have some new friends, fun adventures, and more insight about myself and my future than I thought I'd have. I'm so excited to begin writing my book with Tara about the LGBTQ community next semester, and I'm stoked for the classes I'm taking in Spring 2015. For those of you who are curious, I'm taking Fiction Writing, Poetry Writing, MJD Senior Seminar, and Global Communication. It's going to be another busy and challenging semester, but it's also going to be my last one, so I'm definitely going to make the most of it.

Love these winter days.

I hope you all have a great winter break, and good luck on your finals!

Day 5: Campus Beauty.

Happy Thursday! Today, I decided to take some of my own advice that I shared with you guys a little while back, so I'm gonna share some pictures of campus that I've taken over the semester. Saint Michael's has a gorgeous campus, and I find that I often don't acknowledge that as much as I should.

This is a picture of the radio tower on North Campus that I took on one of my many bike rides around the area during the semester. I love this spot!

Here's a picture of cross on the campus green. It looks amazing on a cloudy evening.

Of course, who could forget the many massive evergreens across campus! I especially love when they get lights put on them - I call this picture "attempting to be artsy."

Looking back, I remember distinctly loving Saint Michael's campus on my first tour. It was one of the deciding factors for coming here, aside from the fact that everyone on campus is so friendly and that everything is basically within a five minute walk from any of the dorms. Now that I'm always in school mode, I don't appreciate my surroundings nearly enough, but I hope that this post has inspired you to get out and enjoy the campus as much as it has for me.

I see snow fort building in my future - keep on the lookout for that!

Day 4: Friends of the Semester.

Hello everyone! Although it looks like I'm getting sick I slept nearly eleven hours last night because of that, I am still alive somehow. Last night, we got the first big snowstorm of the winter season! Even though I'm not a huge fan of being cold all the time and I have no coordination whatsoever, I love the look of snow and how you can use it as the perfect getaway from homework.

Looks like some students got a little too carried away...

Winter snowstorm aside, I wanted to use this post to share some of the new friends I've made this semester with you all. I always find it funny how drastically different each semester is for me, and just when I think I've met pretty much everyone on campus, new people come along in a slew of different ways.

This is my friend Casey and I back in September. I knew who she was last semester, but being 21 has led me to go out more often and we've hung out more that way.

Shannon and I have been friends for a little while, but I feel like our friendship really took off this semester since we have a class together.

Jessica and I met over the summer through a mutual friend, and I was surprised to learn that she goes to Saint Michael's because I'd never seen her before! Ironically, we have a class together this semester too. Go figure.

So, I guess the point of this post is just to always be open to making new friends or becoming closer to people as time progresses. As small as Saint Michael's is, I'd say I meet someone new and become friends with them at least once every week or two, and it's not always through having a class with them. In a community like Saint Michael's, everyone tends to know everyone, but there are always great people out there that you still haven't met. That's one of the many reasons I love going here.

Day 3: The Holiday Season at Saint Mike's!

Hope you've all been enjoying your Tuesday despite this awful weather. I literally can't even walk one step outside without falling flat on my face. I can only imagine what my car will look like in the morning.

Speaking of winter, the lights have officially gone up at Saint Michael's for the holiday season! For those of you who may not know, every winter when students return from winter break, staff at Saint Michael's decorate some of the larger trees around campus with lights to commemorate the holiday season, and I love when they go up not only because they signal that finals will be over soon (how did we get to the end of the semester again by the way?), but also because their presence just makes the campus feel that much more vibrant.

Blurry lights by the chapel.

Personally, Christmas is one of my favorite holidays. I love how happy everyone is and how I get to spoil my friends and family and not even care how much money I'm spending (to a reasonable extent...I mean, come on, I'm still a college student). But presents aside, I just love the mood of the holiday season more than anything else. Despite the cold, people always seem to be happier to talk to you and more excited about life in general, which are two qualities I could really use in a person right around this stressful time of finals studying and no sleep.

I'm sad to see the semester coming to an end so soon, but I'm also stoked to take on my last semester at Saint Michael's and a whole new variety of courses! I'll have to keep you all posted on those, but I think it's going to be my best (and busiest) semester yet.

I hope you all have a great holiday season. While dealing with the chaos that is finals week, make sure you try to get outside, look at the lights, and de-stress!

Day 2: Environmental Journalism.

Hey everyone, happy Monday!

So today, I thought I'd share what I've been working on in my Environmental Journalism class with you all. This class has been one of my favorites this semester not only because I am interested in the topic, but because Professor Williams makes the class that much better. His teaching style and enthusiasm about the environmental journalism field really brings the class to life for me and reinvigorates my interest in the topic that much more. It's a great MJD elective class for those of you who may be interested or need an elective to take!

For my final project, I made a blog about wind power in Vermont and the controversy surrounding it. I'm sure that for many of you, you likely share the same opinion that I did going into this project. Wind power sounds like a great alternative energy source that doesn't require a lot of production to make, so what could possibly be wrong with it? As I found out, there's actually a lot more controversy surrounding it than one would think, and many of these controversies stem from environmental, economic, and health-related issues.

Windmills on the Lowell Mountain ridge line in Vermont.

A breakdown of windmill statistics in Vermont.

While it's true that wind energy doesn't cost a lot to produce and doesn't have nearly the same environmental impact as fossil fuels or other mainstream sources of energy, it still has its flaws as well. I talked to a Vermont state senator, a representative from Green Mountain Power, a a few other people from around the state about the issue, and they all brought to light some things I never knew about wind power. Industrial-sized windmills, like many of the projects in Vermont, have the potential to disrupt wildlife patterns in the area as well as decrease property value for those who live near them. Furthermore, there has been talk that the acoustics of windmills cause those who live close to them to suffer from constant headaches and nosebleeds, effectively forcing them to move if their health becomes worse.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that wind power is bad altogether. On the contrary, I think that wind power has some amazing benefits and could work in Vermont wonderfully as long as it is established correctly. These industrial-sized projects seem to be the main issue in my opinion. Many of these projects are built this way because ridge lines are where most wind comes from, and so the grand size of the windmills in these locations allows for the most wind power to be harnessed. However, I think that if the state were to invest in several smaller wind projects rather than these industrial-sized ones, it would be a bit more costly, but it would create the same benefits while reducing environmental, economic, and health impacts.

Clearly, I am very interested in this topic and I learned a lot from my research. It was surreal to talk to some big names in Vermont about this topic, and this class has been a rewarding experience. Writing in a journalistic style has been a challenge for me since starting the MJD major as well, but this class has really helped me to develop these writing skills.

If you want to check out my final project on wind power, click here!

The One Week Challenge.

This weekend has been very busy to say the least. From having drill to balancing homework and finals coming up, I've been burnt out and exhausted more than ever. That being said, I decided to give myself a little challenge since the semester is coming to an end so soon, and that is this: one new post every day for a week straight. Do you think I can do it? I'm not so sure, but I think it's worth trying!

Every day, I'm going to try to find something to share with you guys relating to Saint Michael's or my life in some way, shape, or form that isn't entirely boring (I'll try my best with this, I promise). To kick this off, I thought I'd talk about coming back from Thanksgiving break with my roommate and best friend Jesse.

Roommate selfie!

Jesse has been my roommate and best friend ever since I started going to Saint Michael's. We also happen to be taking a class together for the first time since we went to high school together this semester, which has been a blast and probably won't ever happen again since he's a Psychology major and I'm a Business Administration and MJD double-major.

When we got back from Thanksgiving break, I think we had both had enough of the home life and were more than ready to get back into school mode. But of course, since break had just ended, we had to spend our last night of freedom playing video games and hanging out all night, which was a night of relaxation and a vacation from homework that I needed desperately.

Luckily for me, Jesse will be attending Saint Michael's for a semester after I graduate due to the fact that he had to miss a semester for his Navy training, so I'll be able to visit and be on campus a little bit longer! It'll be weird being an alumni I'm sure, but hopefully I adjust quickly.

So, I don't really know what the point of this post was, as you can probably tell. Maybe I just wanted to express how thankful I am to have an awesome best friend, since it's the season for that sort of thing. Maybe I just wanted to do something more fun than homework, so I decided to write this post. Whatever the case may be, I'm just thankful to have great friends like Jesse around me all the time to make my Saint Mike's experience that much better.

Thanksgiving, Snow, Break, Life.

Happy Sunday! I hope you're all feeling as reinvigorated from this break as I am. This is the first time Saint Michael's has ever given a whole week off for Thanksgiving break, and needless to say I caught up on some much needed sleep. I also managed to do a good amount of work over break as well, so I'm feeling a little less stressed as we're coming toward the end of the semester in three weeks. How is it December tomorrow already?

Let's ditch that thought for now. I don't like to think about how graduation is coming.

On a brighter note, Thanksgiving with my family was a great time. My mom and dad had their best friends from work and their daughters come and join us, so we had about ten people including my Aunt and Grandma who also came. The food was amazing of course, and the fact that it was snowing on Thanksgiving made it even better.

My Thanksgiving feast! We add biscuits from Red Lobster to our meal every year because we're obsessed.

My backyard on Thanksgiving - it was beautiful!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, so I said goodbye to my parents, cats, and dogs (which was particularly difficult) and headed off to campus once again.

My sunset drive back to school.

Although it was sad to leave, I'm glad I'm back on campus again. I missed my townhouse bed oddly enough, and I was glad to have a bit of space after being around my family for a week straight for long periods of time (they're great people of course, but you know how everyone starts to annoy you after being around them for a while).

I'm currently back at work writing up my research proposal for my Media Studies senior seminar, and I'm happy to say it's almost done! It's hard to believe two finals and a paper are all that stands between me and a whole month off. I have plans to visit a friend in Florida in January, so I can't wait to live in the sun for a bit and avoid this intense Vermont cold!

I hope you all had a great break and an awesome Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. I'm sure these next three weeks will be exciting and hectic all at once, so I'll keep you posted!

Senior Seminar Madness.

I can't even believe it's Thanksgiving break next week. Where did the time go? As I'm closing in on the end of the fall semester of my senior year, I'm reflecting a lot on what I want to do once I graduate (STOP, STOP IT RIGHT NOW). I plan on getting my resume worked on through career services here on campus next semester and looking into graphic design, advertising, or digital media jobs around the Vermont, New York City, and Boston areas. I'm excited to begin my future career, but as you can imagine I'm also feeling nervous that the time is coming so close and that I'll be leaving Saint Mike's the May. Oh man.

Let's drop that thought for a second. On a related note, I've been working on my proposal for my MJD senior seminar for my book I plan to publish next semester for my senior project with my partner Tara Keady. We are exploring the perceptions of gender and sexuality on a global scale. As you can imagine, it's been very work-intensive with such a broad topic as we try to narrow it down to what we want to cover within it. We've been going to LGBTQ events, interviewing members of the LGBTQ community as well as those who study it and put on events for the LGBTQ community. It's been such a rewarding experience so far, and I can't wait to see what next semester brings as we put it all together slowly but surely.

This is Johnny Chag, who works at the Vermont Pride Center in Burlington

This is Jesse Thomas, who has transitioned from a female to a male. His story is incredible.

This is a drag queen from the First Friday event we went to at Higher Ground for the LGBTQ community. They happen the first friday of every month!

I'm so thrilled that this research and the final product that comes with it will be a part of my life forever. Being a member of the LGBTQ community myself, I feel very attached to this topic, and it's been truly amazing to learn more about it and find myself connecting with it in ways I never thought imaginable. I think that's been the most rewarding part of college - finding the things that I'm most passionate about and learning about them as much as I can.

I hope you've all found your passion in life as well. If you haven't yet, don't worry - it comes when you least expect it.

That's it from me for now, I hope you all enjoy your break and eat your weight in turkey. Happy Wednesday!

Let's Talk Business.

Alright, so it's been a while since I've posted, but senior year is a much different animal than the rest of my college experience thus far and I'm learning to adjust to not have time to do anything as I go along. Yet, here I am, finally posting, thank god! It's been a long and stressful past two weeks, but all the work I've been putting in is finally starting to pay off, as I can now say I'm officially done with the project for my first senior seminar!

This semester, I'm taking both my MJD senior seminar and my Business Administration senior seminar at the same time (I know what you're going to say - I'm crazy. I know, but I didn't have another choice with the way my schedule worked out), but I just finished preparing my mock business plan for my Business Administrations senior seminar and handed it in yesterday. and now I'm breathing a bit easier!

Here's a screenshot of the cover page - it ended up being over 70 pages long!

So when you're a Business Administration major at Saint Mike's, once you learn about the vast and in-depth worlds of finance, advertising, marketing, management, and a bunch of other business-related topics, you enter your final class to tie it all together - Business Strategy. This class offers an in-depth examination into various different business case scenarios of actual businesses, analyzes strategies to improve upon these businesses' strategies, and to top it all off, you get to make your very own mock business plan based on an idea that's totally your own! This mock business plan has to have everything under the sun, from sample advertisements to more financial statements than you ever knew existed. It's a TON of work, there's no hiding that, but the final product is well worth the stress!

For my groups' business plan, we created a business that will refurbish and sell donated skateboards, bicycles, scooters, and 100% recycled clothing while also donating a portion of our profits to Vermont outdoor movements, organizations, and charities to promote being environmentally friendly and echo our business' values. As hard as it all was to put together on time and as accurately as possible, it was such a rewarding experience! Oh, and did I mention that a few groups from each semester this class is offered get picked to participate in a business competition in the spring for a chance to win $5,000?

Needless to say, with that motivation on top of the motivation to get a good grade, I put my all into this and I'm so proud of how it turned out! My group makes our presentation to the class on it next week and I'm really nervous I'm going to mess something up, but I'm hoping my professor will like it and it has enough potential to get into the competition!

For those of you who are interested in the business program here at Saint Mike's or are in it already, just know that this kind of class is fairly unique to Saint Mike's. Not only is it very rigorous and in-depth, but it also offers you the chance to create a final project that not a lot of other business graduates from other schools can claim that they've done. I'm definitely going to tout this business plan on my resume for future employers, so if you're looking for a business program that's both challenging and sets you apart from the average college student, I would definitely recommend looking into the one here at Saint Mike's!

Fall Adventures!

Hey y'all, happy Saturday!

Having Friday off this week has given me much more time to buckle down and get some work done, but it's also allowed more time to relax and have fun with friends! I'm often so busy this semester (being it's senior year and I'm in 2 senior seminars right now...yikes) that I hardly have as much time to hang out with friends or go out as I used to, but I've still managed to break from the stress every once in a while and have some fun. 

Fall is debatably my favorite season (it's a battle between fall and summer, I just can't decide), but this fall has been especially strange up here in Vermont because it's continued to stay pretty warm throughout October. The other night I was walking around campus in just a tank and shorts and it must've been close to 70 degrees! It was insane, but hey, I'm not complaining.

On a somewhat different yet also related note, here are some pictures of fun fall times I've had so far this semester:

I love drives home in the fall. Look at how beautiful my driveway becomes!

Minecraft paid a little visit to SMC the other day!

Fellow blogger Kathryn Miyahira becomes a soldier!

In short, what's been the most stressful time of my life has had really nice moments of hilarity and relaxation sprinkled in-between to keep me sane. As long as I have great people and even better (preferably warm) weather to live off of, I'll always be happy. That's the great thing about Saint Michael's - sure, you're stressed out sometimes, that's just college, but you're also surrounded by great people that want to see you happy.

Military Life - Senior Year Edition.

So, this past weekend was drill for both my roommate Jesse and I. For those of you who may not know what drill is, it's an essential part of being in the National Guard or Reserve in the military where you go to your assigned based one weekend per month and do the job you were hired to do. For me, that is Client Systems, which is a fancy way of saying IT Technician basically. Jesse is a Navy Hospital Corpsman, so he works down in medical in his shop helping patients who need shots, blood work, and the like.

This is the first semester both of us have gone to drill at the same time while being officially done with all training required to wear the uniform and do the job. Jesse was gone to boot camp and his training school all last semester and some of the summer, while I did my training the year before around the same time frame. We've noticed that even though he's Navy and I'm Air Force, our schedules for drills have matched up oddly enough!

Jesse and I being goofballs after drill this past Sunday - 'Merica!

One of the reasons Saint Michael's College is such a great school is because of all of the support they offer for military members. Katherine Orthman, the woman in charge of coordinating students with the Veterans' Affairs Office for the school, has done everything from submitting paperwork for my GI Bill to selecting my classes for me when I was away training, and I couldn't be more thankful. Aside from that, the Air National Guard and Army National Guard both offer the Buxton Scholarship each semester, which can pay for the cost of up to 16 credits! I've been fortunate enough to receive it for the past two semesters, and I'll find out soon if I got it for next semester as well.

If you have any questions about how Saint Mike's works with the military, feel free to ask me! Im also going to be attending a military ball next month, so stay tuned for a post about that!

Happy Tuesday!

Wait...Senior Year?

Woah, that happened quickly.

Over the past couple days, I've been thinking about how weird it is to finally be a senior in college. In a way, it's the moment I've been waiting for since starting my career here at Saint Michael's, but it's also the strangest, most anxiety-causing part of my life currently. What happens after this? What do I do once I graduate? Do I stay in Vermont? Do I leave? What about all my friends? What about getting a job?

Obviously I'm a chronic over-thinker, and being a senior is not helping at all. Yet, even with the anxiety of senior year and graduating, I've found a balance of good things.

Of course, being 21 does have its perks, but I don't really care all that much about alcohol. Being able to go out with friends to bars and to have a drink on the weekends to relax is nice, but there's something else about being a senior that's even better - appreciation.

Since transitioning into senior year and realizing the "real world" is coming so soon, I've found myself appreciating so many things around me much more that I used to take for granted all the time. For example, I've picked up riding my roommate's bicycle nearly every day since school started and appreciating the beautiful Saint Michael's campus and the breathtaking foliage that comes with a Vermont autumn season. I've been making plans with friends more often. I've been more attentive than ever in class. I've been trying to soak up every little bit of college life that I can because I know it's my last year, and I couldn't be more grateful for it.

I get to walk this path to my townhouse every day - just the fact that I live in a townhouse is pretty awesome.

Kathryn, Paul, Jesse and I walking to Alliot for dinner. I'm definitely soaking up my time with these goons.

A gorgeous view of one of the academic buildings covered in autumn leaves.

Every day feels so surreal, and they all seem to go just as quickly as they come. Hard to believe I'm already on my fifth week of my senior year when it feels like I was just a freshman yesterday. While I may be sad to be leaving Saint Michael's soon, I'm also excited to take all the things I've learned, experiences I've had, memories with the people I've met, and the growth I've experienced within myself and use it somewhere out in the big world. Sometimes I still think of myself as a kid, but I suppose every 21-year-old college senior feels that way from time to time. The truth is that I'm more grown up than I think, and a world of change is coming very quickly.

In short, please enjoy your college years. Reach out to people. Get off campus sometimes. Put yourself out there. Make new friends. Be risky. Go on trips. Study abroad somewhere. Explore your options and find what you love. Don't let the stress weigh you down and be happy.

All I know is that college is a short four years, and you don't want to think back after graduation and wish you'd done it all differently.

Reflection Time.

Happy Friday everyone! I bet you all have some big plans for the weekend. I can't wait to hang out with friends and enjoy a few days off myself.

In the mean time, I made time to visit my parents this past Tuesday and it was really great. Since I only live about 30 minutes from campus in northern Vermont, I suppose I could go home more often, but I just love being on campus so much and I've been so busy this year already that I don't have time to go often.

When I got there, my mom had dinner ready and all my pets were so happy to see me! It was such a good feeling, and it also gave me some time to just get away from school and homework and think about other things.

My boy Duncan was happy to see me. Can't believe he's 10 this year!

Baby Suri lounging on the table. She makes anything her bed.

I'm always thankful to be home, especially when I get opportunities to talk to my mom about life post-college (I know, it's a scary thought). I told her I was thinking about vamping up my resume and looking for jobs in graphic design or advertising in places like New York City, Boston, or California. I picture myself being somewhere where there's a lot of people, and I know that I would enjoy doing those jobs for just about any company.

Fortunately, Saint Mike's has a Career Development Office where I can go to make my resume just right! As weird as it is to be graduating this year, I'm also excited to get out in the world and see what opportunities come up for me. I'll probably start applying for jobs next semester!

All in all, senior year has definitely been interesting so far, and I'm trying to enjoy every last moment of college I have left, but it's always wise to look ahead and prepare for the future too. I hope you all have been thinking about the future from time to time when you have breaks from your busy lives as well. It comes faster than you think!

Enjoying the View.

Happy Tuesday!

So I realized today that I've been taking a lot of pictures of Saint Michael's campus over the last couple of weeks since I've been back, and that inspired me to write a post about it and share them with you all. The campus is a truly gorgeous place, and I feel like I often take it for granted and don't really take the time to stop and appreciate it enough. Saint Michael's being located in Vermont definitely has its perks, especially when it comes to scenery. Since I've lived in Vermont my whole life, I just can't get enough of those trees!

Anyway, here's a few shots I've taken over the two weeks I've been back. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

I took this the first day I was back on campus - gotta love Bergeron!

A few nights ago, we had a full moon and I couldn't resist snapping a picture. I took this using my Nikon D3200 with a really large f-stop and a really fast shutter speed in order to capture the detail without it being drown out in light.

This is one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken. I took this just last night when I went for a walk with my friend Liz. It shows the streetlight shining through the new stone arch in the Word Garden. It's massive and quite a beaut!

I took this picture today while walking back from the gym today across the 3's Field. I love the big puffy clouds we get here in Vermont!

Have you seen any amazing sights around campus and snapped pictures of them? If so, please comment on this and let me know so I can see too! Photography is one of my passions and I'm always trying to get better at it, and Saint Michael's campus is the perfect palette to expand and build upon my abilities as a photographer and an artist.

Well, it's off to the amazing world of finance again for me - hope you enjoyed these shots as much as I did! Until next time, stay fresh people of SMC, and remember to take a break from the hectic-ness of life now and then and enjoy the beautiful world around you!

Family Dinner!

Happy week two of the new semester everybody! Needless to say, I've been super busy kicking off my senior year, trying to balance 4 1/2 classes, working on the Onion River Review, Air Force commitments, going to the gym regularly, and being a blogger of course! (More to come on all of those things, I promise). But for now, I thought I'd talk about the awesome family dinner I had with a few close friends of mine at Sloane today!

For those of you who may not know, Saint Mike's has another dining hall in Sloane Hall on North Campus that you can book for reservation Tuesday - Thursday! It works the same way as if you were to swipe your knightcard at Alliot, except it's restaurant style, so you put in your orders and someone brings you the food! I'd recommend it to everyone to try at least once, plus the food is always fantastic!

Paul, Callie, and Lily looking happy and ready to eat!

Fellow blogger Kathryn Miyahira and I being goofballs! You can check out her blog here!

I call them all my family because I became really close with all of them last semester when all of my friends from my grade were studying abroad, and we've been close ever since! Our goal is to have a family dinner at Sloane every week to just chat, catch up, and enjoy some awesome food!

So if you have a close friend group, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or anyone who wants a change of pace from Alliot, you should totally check out Sloane sometime! The number is 802-654-2253, and you can call to start making reservations for the week every Tuesday at 2! You can learn more about the dining experiences offered by Saint Mike's here as well.

I hope you all have had an awesome second week, and I'll try to post something about my actual schedule of classes for the semester in my next post! Peace out.

Senior Year Move-In!

Well hey everybody! I know, it's been WAY too long since I've posted in this (you know what summer tends to do to you...), but I'm definitely back in action and ready to fill y'all in on all my happenings during my last year at Saint Michael's (wait...what?)

Okay, let's backtrack - so last week I moved into Townhouse 109 with my friends Jesse, Paul, and Danny, and so far it has been one of the greatest living situations I've ever had! I've been friends with Jesse since high school and have lived with him every year of college as some of you may already know, I met Danny my freshman year through mutual friends, and Paul and I only became friends a year ago. We all got together last semester, made the plan, and took our chances (since Paul is a junior and Jesse has junior standing in terms of credit). After all of the anticipation and stressing out over the new online housing system, we somehow ended up getting the VERY last townhouse left! It was a definitely a miracle and the 1's have been great so far!

Anyway, I'll probably make a post sometime next week about my classes and senior-year-ish things, but for this post, I thought I'd show you guys the set up of our townhouse so far! (It's a little bland and undecorated at the moment, so work with me...)

Welcome home!

A really cozy and spacious kitchen.

The boringly decorated living room (I promise it'll get better!)

My desk set up. A cluttered desk is the way to go!

So in short, being a senior and FINALLY having the opportunity to have a townhouse has been absolutely incredible. Living with some of my best friends has been so nice, but of course having a townhouse means communicating with your roommates, making a chore list, and staying on top of your meals (although I got a meal plan, so I definitely don't cook all the time). We've all been great about these kinds of things so far, so we just have to keep it up! It's definitely worth a bit of extra work and communication with people to have your own townhouse.

I hope you're all having a great first week as well! I can't wait to share more about my classes, the Air Force, future career plans, and all the crazy adventures that ensue this year.

End of the Semester.

I can't believe I haven't posted in this for almost 2 weeks...just goes to show how crazy this time of the year can be. Regardless, I'm finally making the time to get back into the swing of things, and hopefully I won't take any more long breaks like that!

Today, I just want to talk about my semester with you all and the typical feelings associated with not only ending a semester, but ending an entire school year. To be honest, I thought I wasn't going to like this semester that much. Almost my entire friend group is studying abroad or taking a semester off, which left me here at St. Michael's, feeling like I was a freshman all over again and trying to make new friends. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to because I was so attached to my old group of friends, but to my surprise, I was absolutely wrong.

This semester was a blessing in disguise to say the least. I've meet so many new and amazing people, put myself out there, become more active in the Founders Society as well as with the Drama Club, and taken the time to just explore what I truly wanted to do and where I wanted to be in my life. I worked up the courage to get the tattoos I always wanted (and I'm sure there are more to come), and I've established so many amazing relationships with people I'm sure I'll be friends with for years to come.

Meals with McKenzie and Maggie are always a good time. Since they were also my friends last semester, it's been nice to have them around!

Leena and I before giving a big presentation for my Shakespeare class. She was also around last semester, but this class has definitely brought us closer!

Zach and Kylian playing pool. I knew Zach last semester, but I met Kylian this semester - they're both pretty entertaining to say the least!

Julia and I at the opening night of Dog Sees God last month! I'm so thankful this semester brought her into my life, she's a fantastic person.

Kylian and I getting our smolder on.

Zach, Michelle, Kylian, Maggie, Julia, and Meaghan all came over to my room a month or so ago to have a Bob's Burgers viewing party! It was a blast.

Me, Ivana, and Brendan ice skating last month! Although we're all juniors, I actually only met them this semester and we've all become really close!

Paul and I eating at Olive Garden before he stayed at my place for a couple days during spring break! It's been nice having him as well since we became friends last semester.

Getting my third tattoo last month of my mother's birthday in roman numerals! 

Lily and I getting some free pancakes at iHop a while back! We became friends thought Paul and his girlfriend Kathryn, and we happened to have a class together as well!

The Drama Club crew! I'm so thankful to have met all of these great people.

Ivana, Brendan and I hitting up Burlington for some frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf!

Callie and I at iHop! I met her through Kathryn and Lily this semester.

Ivana being sassy after our photojournalism class!

A picture of the entire cast of Much Ado About Nothing that some SMC students put on downtown last night! It was incredible.

Clearly, this semester has been nothing short of amazing. While it did have its stressful and low points, those were nothing compared to all of the love I've experienced this semester from all of these incredible people.

Of course I miss my friends who are gone as well, but I don't think I would've been able to experience things quite the same if they hadn't left.

Of course there's my best friend Jesse, who took this semester off to pursue his dreams and train with the Navy. I've had so many good times with him and I can't wait until he's back!

Cait and I last semester before going out to a friend's. She's studying abroad in Ecuador this semester! I miss her so much.

Lauren and I last year at the Champlain Valley Fair. Hard to believe this was almost 2 years ago! She's studying abroad in Morocco currently and I definitely miss her zaniness!

Sheila and I at the Champlain Valley Fair last year. She's currently in London studying abroad, but she's actually coming home in about a week and I'll be able to see her when she comes to move her younger sister Maggie out for the year! I can't wait.

I'm so sorry if you read all of this because I know it's long, but this was definitely eye-opening for me to see how much has changed, how much I've grown personally, and how excited I am for my senior year at St. Michael's with both old and new friends! All it takes is putting yourself out there, and I wish I'd realized that a lot sooner.