Susie's Blog: August 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

One Year Ago...

First of all, let me say Welcome Back to Stonehill, everyone! I am SO excited to be back on campus with all of my friends, especially since we are no longer separated by an extremely large Atlantic Ocean as everyone is back from their semesters abroad and we're all together again! Speaking of abroad, today and yesterday were pretty strong reminders of how much I miss my time abroad, but before I get to that here are the pictures I promised from Arizona:

Here is a picture of my cousin Sara and I at Sprinkles Cupcakes with our frosting shots!

I want to go back to Sprinkles!

Jen and I reunited- first time since March, second time since Paris!

Sara and I on my last night in AZ- miss you!

Obviously I had a fantastic time in AZ as you all read in my last post. So now it's time to move on to the real topic of my blog this week: that one year ago today I was spending my very first day in Paris, not realizing that the most incredible three and a half months of my life lay ahead of me. My friends (and anyone else I spoke to yesterday) can vouch that I was really missing Paris yesterday-- because one year ago yesterday I was on a plane headed across the Atlantic towards France. In fact, as I write this at 11 am EST, it is 5 pm in Paris, so I was probably headed out with my API group to buy our very first metro passes before heading to our first group dinner. I remember feeling so EXCITED that I was finally back in France, ready to use my French for a whole semester in my favorite city in the world. I hadn't been to Europe in about 2 years at that point- I'd been twice before: the summer before senior year of high school I studied with my best friends in Montpellier, France (in the south) through a trip my high school put on and then after high school graduation I went back to France and to Italy with my mom, my best friend and her mom. I fell in love with Paris and couldn't wait to go back, so obviously I was thrilled with my study abroad situation.

One year ago I had no idea that I was going to meet people that are now some of the most important people in my life. I had no idea that I was going to get to see the beaches of Barcelona, have tea in Oxford with my Stonehill roomie, happily get lost in the canals of Venice, visit a high school friend in Copenhagen, spend a whirlwind weekend attempting to speak Czech in Prague, spend a Sunday at one of the 7 wonders of the world (Mont St. Michel) in Bretagne, walk the beaches of Normandy or simply go for a walk around Paris, gleefully absorbing everything in sight. I had no idea that my French was going to improve so much, or that I was going to miss taking the metro every day. I had no idea what lay ahead, I only knew I was ready for it.

I realize that studying abroad is not for everyone, but for me it was something I planned on doing while in high school. I wouldn't look at colleges if they didn't have a study abroad program in Paris, and I knew I wanted to go the fall semester of my junior year. Luckily, my ridiculously intelligent roomie also got accepted to Oxford University for the fall term (yes, she went to the best university in the world and spent more time in the libraries than most accountants do in the offices during tax season while I spent a carefree semester flitting around Europe-- and yes I can already hear her groans as she reads this- Mandi, when you read this remember how much you love me!) and so our living situation wasn't messed up at all. I always tell my tours that studying abroad was the best time of my life and that's because it's the truth. Going to live in Europe for a few months with housing, food and cell phone bills covered? Um, YES PLEASE.

Now here I am, one year later, minorly depressed as I think about what I was doing one year ago. I'm going to put some of my favorite pictures from my Euro-adventure, mostly to ease my pain but maybe you'll enjoy them too!

This is a picture of my good friend Annie and I in Copenhagen, Denmark. Annie and I went to high school together and since we were both in Europe for the fall, we obviously had to see each other! In this picture, we'd just finished a snack of delicious Danish pastries and were headed back out into the monsoon...

My family! This is me and my parents along the river Seine in Paris when they came to see me!

Though I'd love to take credit for this picture, my friend Jamie actually took it, but it's one of my favorites. This right here is my favorite spot in the whole world! If you don't know, every night on the hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for about 10 minutes, and Jamie captured it beautifully!

Another favorite spot in Paris- the Luxembourg gardens, where I had lunch a lot during the semester. I love this picture because it looks like a postcard!

One of my favorite group shots: Charles, Ellen, Jen, Jamie, me and Allie in the city of St. Malo in Bretagne, France.

Without a doubt this photo represents one of the best weekends of my life. Ellen, Jamie and I went to Prague for a CRAZY weekend of almost missing flights, attempting to speak/understand Czech (which sounds RIDICULOUS) and countless other adventures! This photo was taken near the Prague Castle and you can see some of the gorgeous city in the background.

Since my roomie was studying in Oxford, I got to fly to London first and stay there with her before going to Oxford. Here I am in front of Parliament and Big Ben!

Having tea in Oxford, England with my Stonehill roomie Mandi (on the left) and her Oxford roomie Erin

On a spur of the moment decision, Beth and I jetsetted to Barcelona for a warm November weekend of sunshine, beaches and sangria :)

November = cold

November near a large body of water = colder

November in Venice which is built on a large body of water = FREEZING!

Our weekend in Venice was lots of fun (especially each meal!) but it was sooooo cold. I went with my friend Jen (who I just saw in AZ), her friend Frieda and my good friend Charles. This was my last trip out of France before coming home.

Some of you may have heard of the nation-wide transportation strikes that went on in France last fall. Well, here's a picture of one of the riots near my school. Our API directors instructed us to run away if we ever saw a riot or protest... well, I took pictures instead. And yes, that is a person standing on the roof of a bus shelter.

Our very last trip before coming home! Jamie and I took the TGV (a high-speed train) out to Strasbourg, France for the day. Strasbourg borders Germany and they have a world-famous Christmas market there every year from 11/24-12/24 so Jamie and I went for the first day. It was SO COLD that we nicknamed it our trip to the North Pole, but it was a fantastic day of doing everything Christmas-y: drinking hot cocoa, ice skating, eating gingerbread (seriously!), eating chocolate-covered EVERYTHING (like the apples in this photo!) and of course, buying Christmas presents!!

As you can see, my semester abroad was a whirlwind of excitement and adventures. I miss it every day and wish I could go back. If you're thinking about studying abroad, I can't even begin to tell you how much it will do for you. It changes you in ways I can't describe but I can promise you this: You will have the time of your life.

I sure did.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Jetsetting!

Hey everybody :)

Hope you're all enjoying our last few days of summer. If you're a Stonehill student that probably means saying goodbye to friends, beginning to think about packing (because really, no one does that til the last minute anyway!) and starting to get giddy about returning to campus! If you're a returning student, you know EXACTLY how awesome the first few weeks back at school are: seeing your friends (maybe for the first time all summer, if you live across the country like me!), not really having major work in any of your classes yet, and of course, getting reaccquainted with the yummy caf food!

If you're a first-year student, I AM SO JEALOUS OF YOU! You have 4 fabulous years of Stonehill ahead of you, while my Stonehill experience is already 3/4 complete. Not gonna lie, you've all heard the saying "College is the best 4 years of your life" and while you may think that's dumb and clichéd (I may or may not have rolled my eyes excessively at anyone who said that to me during my senior year of high school), it is SO true that college is a unique and unforgettable experience, especially at Stonehill. Like I said above, any returning student (especially us seniors- god, am I really a senior??) will tell you the first weeks back at Stonehill are THE BEST! Welcome Back Weekend is definitely a student favorite, profs know you've just had 3 months of questionable brain activity so they go a little easy on you and best of all, you get to live with all your friends again! Since I spent last fall abroad, I wasn't able to come to campus at all during the fall and I am SO looking forward to this year's move-in weekend and beyond. Bottom line is Stonehill rocks and I can't wait to go back. Just ask my parents-- I think they've heard me complain about missing Stonehill every day since May 7th, when I unhappily left campus for the summer. It's also possible I am still complaining about missing my Parisien life, and when coupled with my prolonged Stonehill separation, I may or may not be easy to live with...

So how have I been dealing with all this? Well back in May I knew I'd need one last summertime hurrah before making my first cross-country drive to school. This is the first year that I'm driving out to school (normally I fly) but since I just got a new car I decided that I would be too sad leaving it behind... now that the 24-hour drive is days away, I seem to be liking THAT idea less and less... expect some hate blogs later this week regarding my extreme dislike for America's large size and low speed limits...

But I digress. My original point was that I needed one last incredibly fun, worry-free weekend before becoming studious for my final year, and for me, that meant booking a flight to Phoenix, AZ to visit my cousin for some quality pool time and family bonding! So that's what I did. I spent Wednesday-Sunday of this past week in Scottsdale with my cousin Sara. We had a really rough itinerary of laying by the pool, swimming in the pool, reading by the pool and going out at night. (Let's just say that as I sit at my desk on Monday morning typing up this blog, my indoor internship is seeming less and less appealing...)

Another great part of my trip was that not only did I get to see my favorite cousin for the first time in a year and a half, I got to visit with another good friend of mine with whom I studied abroad with last fall! It just so happened that my friend Jen is interning in Tucson for the summer, and she graciously offered to drive up to Scottsdale to see me! We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with my cousin, her cousin and her friend and then went over to Sprinkles Cupcakes... If any of you are familiar with Sprinkles (which I'm pretty sure is located in Beverly Hills) you know the amazingness that I experienced: rich, creamy frosting on top of a moist cupcake with decadent flavors... ok may need to go back to AZ for seconds. What you may not know is that the wonderful people at Sprinkles recently added another option to their sugary menu: FROSTING SHOTS.

Yes, you read right.

Shots of frosting! Not only is this phenomenon as mouth-watering as it sounds, it's only 75 cents! For less than a dollar you can have a shot of ANY of their delectable flavors, ranging from chocolate and vanilla to pumpkin (my choice) and chai tea (Jen's choice). So needless to say, our visit to Sprinkles was a success!

The rest of the weekend revolved around the pool and pool activities and Sara and her friends showed me a fantastic time in Scottsdale. One bar we went to was called The Sandbar and not only did it have sand sprinkled all across the floor, they had chandeliers made out of Corona bottles! Very cool in my book. I'll put up some pictures soon, as I'm at work right now and my camera's at home but I wanted to give you all an update!

Well my boss just came by and gave me some Monday morning assignments to work on, so I'll wrap this up for now. I truly hope you all have enjoyed your summers and are looking forward to moving in this weekend. For all you returning students, remember to be nice to the freshmen and try not to be too jealous of their situation! And for you first years, you're about to embark on one of the most incredible experiences of your life and I have one thing to say to you: START GETTING EXCITED! And next week, if you happen to see a blonde-haired girl sprinting around the quad with a ridiculous looking grin on her face, don't judge. I love Stonehill and Stonehill loves me. And it'll love you too!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Growing up too quickly...

Doesn’t it seem like our parents constantly disparage us for growing up and getting older? They claim it was just yesterday that we learned to say our first words, while we view milestones such as getting our driver’s licenses as lifetimes ago. However now, I empathize with parents everywhere who want their babies to stay babies because Wednesday was a very special day. Wednesday was the 2nd birthday of one of the little girls I nanny for. Miss Sophia Elizabeth was born two years and two days ago, and as far as I’m concerned she might as well be filling out her college applications already, because there’s NO way she can already be two!

I swear it was yesterday when I was waiting for that call that the last of my “littles” had made her debut. As I read the 5th cleverly-rhymed poetic birth announcement that I had received from her family for each of her older siblings, thousands of images swam through my head of what the next few summers would be like. I pictured rocking her to sleep, her learning to crawl, taking her first steps, and speaking her first words. And looking back 2 years later, I have fantastic memories of all of the above. Even with being away at school for nearly 9 months out of the year, I was able to witness her first steps, hear the babblings of her first words and spend plenty of hours coaxing her down for a nap.

I’ve heard parents say that even though they love the baby stage, they love whatever age their child is at because as the child ages, they’re constantly able to do new activities together. This has definitely been the case this summer because Sophia is now becoming old enough where all the kids can do the same activity together. For example, now we can all go swimming (and by swimming I mean desperately try to contain Sophia in my arms or a float while reminding her that she doesn’t know how to swim on her own yet), play dress up (which usually involves her dressing me up), color, build Lego towers, go to the park or for bike rides. Though the differences between this summer and last summer’s activities are huge, it still does not feel like only 2 years and 3 days ago, she wasn’t even born yet.

Ok, I know what you’re all probably thinking: “Wow this girl weird, why does she care so much about someone else’s kids?” Well, because they’re a big part of my life. Anyone who knows me well can tell you that my neighbors and my family are extremely close, and I’ve watched all their kids grow up. It feels like a big extended family on my street, and as an only child, those kids are like my brothers and sisters. Not to mention I’ve been the one family’s nanny for over 3 years, so yeah, those kids are pretty darn important to me. I totally understand that if you’re not close with any young children that’s hard to comprehend, but if you’ve done any serious babysitting you know what I’m talking about.

So in honor of my littlest little’s 2nd “bert-day” (as she calls it), here are some of my favorite pictures of the kids from years past and present. This’ll give you a little taste of what my summer life is like. Enjoy!