Music Sunday.

Hey everyone!

Do you want to have your own radio show? I've thought about the idea for a while, since St. Mike's offers up the opportunity at the beginning of each semester to any individual or duo who wants their own 2-hour show on WWPV the Mike (St. Mike's radio station), and I think I might go for it next semester since it's a little too late at this point. I like the idea of just having a couple of hours to relax, perhaps with a friend of mine, while playing some tunes while getting some work done. I've always used music as a solace and a tool to get in the zone when I have responsibilities to uphold or even if I'm just getting a good workout in at the gym, so I think a radio show would just deepen my love for it that much further!

I usually listen to harder music like rock, metal, or hardcore when I'm at the gym or just feeling like I'm in the mood, but when I'm in the car or hanging out with a few friends, I'll usually play more pop or hip hop. I'm not gonna lie, I can get down to some Miley or some Ke$ha, but I try not to overkill that kind of music since the radio does that enough without my help.

WWPV's new setup on the second floor of the Dion Family Student Center (photo courtesy of WWPV 88.7 The Mike)

The station's old setup in St. Edmunds Hall (photo courtesy of WWPV 88.7 The Mike)

From what I understand. the school leaves it pretty open as to what you can play and when, but the only rule is there can't be any profanity in the songs that you play. I'm definitely going to look into this for next semester, and if you're interested in learning more, here are some links for you to check it out!

WWPV Website: http://wwpv.smcvt.edu
WWPV Blog: http://wwpv.wordpress.com/events/

Friday (K)Night Dry!

It seems like I might as well move my blogging schedule to Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday at this point since I'm always doing something exciting around campus on Friday nights - last night, it was Friday Night Dry!

For those of you who may not know, Friday Night Dry is something that St. Mike's puts on usually once a semester where they'll hold a bunch of games, concerts, performances, and a raffle for everyone to come enjoy and participate in! It's a great way to get out, meet new people, and become involved in an unconventional way (as opposed to drinking and partying, for example, which is why it's called Friday Night Dry).

First I went to see Dog Sees God, a play that the St. Mike's Drama Club put on in the Trapdoor Theatre in McCarthy, and it was awesome! (If you haven't seen it, you should go tonight at 7 because they're putting it on again! Same time, same place). I had a few friends in the play and I met a few new people there as well, and I loved seeing the talent of St. Mike's Drama Club live!

My friend Julia and I at Dog Sees God last night - she's the best!

A shot of the Acabellas performing last night - Maggie Bogan, one of my best friends, is in the middle (please don't hate me for this!)

In short, I had an awesome time going out with some friends and taking a break from the usual homework-filled nights I tend to have. That being said, now that the homework is piling up and my time is running out before Monday, I should probably get to that, but if you didn't go to last night's Friday Night Dry, you should totally go to one next semester! I promise you'll love them.

The Dion Family Student Center.

I feel like this is much overdue, but better late than never! Today, I thought I'd share my love of the Dion Family Student Center, a new building that was built over the past year for both additional housing and academia. I spend roughly 3/4 of my life in this building, whether it be visiting friends in their dorms or doing homework (but mostly the latter), and it's been so helpful to me in just the short time it's existed.

Let me name all the beautiful things about the Dion Family Student Center for you:

1. It's new and beautiful. I mean, I know I already covered this, but come on - it has three stories with tons of room for studying and meeting in groups, probably close to a dozen new plasma screen televisions, and a cardio workout room on the second floor. This eliminates many of the reasons to use any other building on campus (which is especially beautiful in the winter time when I'm constantly cold without even going outside) and I really really appreciate it.

2. It has a pool table. I know, Eddie's has one too, but this one is closer AND it's new, and it seems to be much more popular with everyone across campus. This pool table has revived my love of pool by making it easy to play with friends and it's convenient location (just a minute walk from my dorm in Alumni).

3. It has Einstein's! At first I was a bit skeptical of St. Michael's taking out the Knightstand (a former convenience/sales booth located in Alliot) in exchange for Einstein's, the new bagel shop they built inside the Dion Family Student Center, but I've got to say I'm already really addicted. I frequently go there for breakfast sandwiches (one of my guiltiest pleasures) and strawberry banana smoothies, and while it may not be great for my bank account, it helps me get through a long night of studying!

Here are a few photos that I will use to further express my love (photos courtesy of smcvt.edu):

First of all look how pretty it is - SO PRETTY!

The beloved Einstein's  - I call all the asiago bagels!

This is the glorious mezzanine on the third floor. It's a great place to get work done in peace and quiet (but it can get really hot that high up!) 

My favorite pool table - look how new and blue it is!

So basically, if you haven't checked out the Dion Family Student Center yet or if you want to learn more about it, definitely go exploring! It's by far my favorite building on campus, and I'm glad St. Michael's made the addition.

Running!

Hey everyone!

So today, while I was at the gym, I was thinking about how much I enjoy running and how it helps me to relieve stress and forget about all of the things on my plate for a while, so I figured I'd share some fun facts about running with all of you in case you didn't know!

First of all, running helps with depression. I know, I'm thinking the same thing - I bet the last thing a person who's feeling depressed would want to do is run, but it's been proven that your brain produces chemicals that help combat depression and anxiety, making you feel much more relaxed and in control after a good run. Who would've thought?

Running leads to good heart health. This shouldn't come as a huge shocker if you didn't already know, since running is a cardio-intensive activity that strengthens the muscle tissue in your heart, making it able to pump more blood and often increasing your life span as well.

Running is freeing! This isn't something I found anywhere online about running, but I know it for a fact from personal experience. Whenever I'm running, I can feel myself forgetting about all of my worries and feeling like I was a thousand miles away, on a whole different planet with no worries to be had. It's an exhilarating and liberating experience for sure, and there's nothing else like it.

This is my roommate Jesse and I after doing the Color Run in Vergennes - we ran over 8 miles!

Running with a friend can make it that much more enjoyable too - I've also registered for another color run coming to Vermont in the summer because I loved the experience so much!

I always go running outside if it's nice enough, but in the chilly winter months like these, I usually go to the indoor track in the Ross Sports Center. It was specifically built to make it easy to track how far you've run, and I find the repetition of the track and the feeling that you're actually moving (as opposed to using a treadmill) to be really calming and satisfying.

If you wanted to know more about the benefits of running, here's an article about it! And if you don't already run regularly and you're feeling stressed and overwhelmed often, why not give it a shot? I know I'll be putting in my miles for years to come!

Mini-Break.

So as you all probably know, we got this past Friday off, and many people are taking advantage of the opportunity (even though it's just one extra day tacked onto the weekend, basically), by traveling home and seeing their loved ones. Since I only live half an hour north of campus, I figured I'd do the same and see my family and my pets (I missed them so much!) since I hadn't been home since mid-January.

Home is a magical place when compared to college. It's the land of flipflopless showers, no alarm clocks, and pigging out on whatever food you can find. I love that my house has become a sort of sanctuary because of college in some ways (mainly because I can avoid homework and do nothing), but I also love being at college because I feel so much more productive and I get to see all my friends. There are pros and cons to both I suppose, but hey I'm not complaining about doing nothing for a couple of days.

The drives to and from home may be my favorite part about going home - I love listening to my music on full blast and singing my heart out! Plus you get to see some awesome views like these :)

Have I told you all that I love cats? Because I really do. This is my cat Suri being a diva on my lap.

 And here's my other cat Troy, on the prowl for more food after he just got some...what a scrounge!

After nice drives and spending time with my animals, I got to my other favorite at-home activity - watching movies with my family. This weekend, we watched Monster's University, the prequel to the Disney classic Monsters Inc. - it was really good! I won't spoil it for you all in case you haven't seen it, but in the film you see completely new and different sides to Mike and Sully and how their relationship came to be through coming together in scaring school.

In essence, I suppose my weekend consisted of letting my 14-year-old self run free. If you don't ever do that, you should try it sometime - it's a nice way to relax and de-stress from the often stressful environment that is college.

Snow!

Hey y'all,

So since I was pretty negative about the snow in my last post, I decided I'd try to redeem myself and share some fun facts with you all about the most recent storm this past Valentine's Day and another storm that was similar in date but much more drastic - do you all remember the Valentine's Day storm of 2007?

Well if you were around Vermont (or anywhere relatively close in the North East for that matter) at the time, you surely remember it. Cambridge, VT got the most snowfall in the 2007 storm at 36" (I remember almost the entire bottom half of my front door being covered in snow!) It was a beautiful day for children around Vermont and quite possibly an awful day for adults, especially plow workers, because of their worries about work, getting out of the driveway for basic needs, etc. But since I was a kid (as were many of you most likely), I'm sure you share my happy sentiments about it and enjoyed a nice few days off because of it!

Cars off the road from the most recent Valentine's Day storm - scary stuff! Photo courtesy of the Burlington Free Press

Look at all the snow at Stowe from the 2007 storm!

While winter can be beautiful, it's important to keep in mind how unpredictable and dangerous it can be as well! Here's a link about the most recent storm for your perusal if you're interested too! Although I don't look forward to getting school off like I used to (come on, it's Saint Mike's! You know I wanna be in class), I do like to wake up to a completely new, white world of snow - something about it just makes me feel so at home and relaxed.

The England Lowdown.

So I'm sure you've all been wondering about what's going on with my England trip since my post last week about all of my classes, so I figured I'd set aside some time today to tell you all about it!

My Shakespeare class and the trip included with it came to my attention last semester, when I was looking into options for study abroad (which is required if you're a Media Studies major) and my original plan to go to the University of Leeds in Leeds, England for this semester didn't end up working out due to financial complications. I met with Professor Griffith, the chair of the Media Studies Department, about possible options and she brought up many of the trips that were going to happen in the summer of 2014, including the trip associated with Professor Clary's "Shakespeare Perform: on Screen" class to England.

As you can imagine, I was ecstatic to hear that there was going to be a school-sponsored trip that would not only make my plans that much more concrete, but it also happened to be going to England, the country I'd wanted to go to all along! I was stoked when she told me, and I immediately set up an appointment to discuss the prospect of me joining the course (since it was already full by the time I found out about it), and after a short application process and waiting time, I was accepted!

I'm not going to lie to you all, I'm not much of a Shakespeare aficionado whatsoever. I came into this course knowing it was going to be challenging and interesting to find out more about, and boy have I not been wrong. The language associated with Shakespeare's writing coupled with the fact that I'm always searching for more information to compare and contrast to his original scripts keeps me busy just as much as a four-credit course even though it only counts for 2, but I'm hoping the skills I learn in this class will help me better observe and analyze what I see in England when the plays are live and unable to be rewound and replayed.

For the trip, we'll be traveling as a class to the Wroxton Abbey, a section of Wroxton College in Oxfordshire, and staying in an extremely lavish and beautiful castle for two weeks!

A view from outside the castle we'll be staying in - it's huge!

This is the inside of the gorgeous Guliford Library - I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time here!

This is the Above the Knot Garden on the property - it's too beautiful not to make some time to explore!

Aside from the outstanding living situation and the amazing opportunities I'll have with this trip, it gets even better - Professor Clary allowed me to extend my ticket home in order to stay for five extra days with my friend Liz at Oxford College, where she's currently studying abroad. We're going to go full tourist for this experience, and i figured since it cost me relatively nothing to extend my stay, why not?

Liz and I from last year after going to the movies - she's a beaut!

I am so thankful that this class and the trip associated with it caught my attention, and it's unbelievable how many awesome experiences I'm going to have because of it while fulfilling a variety of requirements I need to graduate! I'll definitely try to find time to post on here during and/or afterward, so look forward to some posts from abroad of my many experiences!

Well, it's time to get back to working on my presentation for that class tomorrow about Macbeth (one of my favorite plays I've read so far, I highly recommend it!)

As the English say, cheerio!