Susie's Blog

What a long, strange trip it's been

2009-05-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have just finished my last college assignment ever. I have no more work to do and it is the strangest feeling ever. When I finished my last high school assignment I was ecstatic. Now... I feel sad and uncertain.

What am I supposed to do with myself?!?

Oh yeah... pack up my room and prepare for cape week and graduation.

I never thought I'd say it, but I want more work to do. I don't want this to end!

Final final... check!

2009-05-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

Wooohooo I am DONE with exams! I still have one more paper to write but that shouldn't take too long and then I am officially finished with Stonehill work (which still does not seem real and has not hit me yet). I had my French final last Saturday and my Cultural Geography final this afternoon and my Mediated Communications paper is due tomorrow. Technically I also have a Juvenile Delinquency one-page response due Thursday but that shouldn't take too long to do, but after that I am completely done! Didn't the semester just start?

The past few weeks have been a lot of fun. Since we're all seniors our motivation level to do work has been, shall I say, slightly lower than past years, so we've spent a lot of time just hanging out and preparing for Cape Week! In case you aren't familiar with that Stonehill tradition, Cape Week is the week between finals and graduation. All the seniors rent houses down on Cape Cod and spend our last full week together. My friends and I are renting a house in Hyannisport and I cannot wait! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we'll have a sunny and warm Cape Week, although with this crowd it could monsoon the whole time and we'd still have fun.

The week is capped off with a formal on Thursday night then it's back up to Easton on Friday for graduation weekend. My parents and aunt and uncle are flying in (from Minnesota and Virginia) so it should be a great weekend with my family here. I can't believe it's less than 2 weeks away now... I feel like the year just started. I had to say good bye to one of my suitemates today and I surprised even myself by crying! These next two weeks and graduation weekend especially are going to be a sobfest, I can already tell.

I'll leave you with one really cool picture I took last weekend from the window of my friend's room of everyone outside on Saturday night in the senior courts... this is a great reminder for me and my friends of the fabulous 4 years we've all had here:

That time my mom almost burned our house down on Easter...

2009-04-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

No really... almost happened.

But before that, allow me to tell you all about my Easter break. It was GREAT! I got to see my littles, make kielbasa with my dad and bought a dress for senior formal. Now I present the necessary documentation of said activities:

Making homemade polish kielbasa in my kitchen... with the Lipinski family meat grinder

The first year that I was allowed (or brave enough) to stuff the kielbasa myself...

Sweet little Sophia who got so big!

Don't you miss being 5 and a half years old?

The two littlest littles by the Easter Bunny!

Flying into Boston for the last time...

Good ol' Beantown...

So every year on Easter Sunday my mom hides eggs for me to find (yes, I'm 22 and no, I don't care) but since we were running late for our Easter dinner at a friend's house, I didn't have time to search for them before we left. So we spend a nice 5 hours at our friends', then return home and the first words out of my mouth are "What smells like burnt sugar?" So we all kind of walk around the house sniffing and I hear my dad go "WHOA!!"

Apparently my mother the Easter Bunny hid one of my eggs on top of a LAMP and forgot about it, so it was literally smoking by the time we got home. The plastic egg had melted onto the antique lamp and the candy inside was ruined. After the initial freak out, we all found it pretty funny.

The first week back was great, it was good to see all my friends again. Spring Weekend was last weekend which was also a blast and then last night was the BEST! One of my friends got tickets to the Twins/Red Sox game so he and I went into Boston first and had dinner in the North End and then met our other two friends at the game. The best part is Mandi and I were gonna get ourselves tickets to that series for our birthdays but they were too expensive so we got to go after all!

Even though the Twins lost it was still a lot of fun to go to Fenway again!

Well now it's only one more class and then the weekend... my last weekend before finals as a senior.

How has it come to this? :(

Last Time Home...

2009-04-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Throughout my four years at Stonehill I have spent many, many hours traveling to and from Logan Airport. Flying to and from school has become part of my collegiate routine, and tomorrow morning I'll be making my last flight home from Boston... ever. Since I'm driving my car home after graduation in May, tomorrow's 10:45 am departure will mark the end of my mile-high commute to and from school.

Since Northwest Airlines has a hub in my home city of Minneapolis I have been lucky to have mostly direct flights home over the years. But I've had plenty of stories along the way... like when I flew home at the end of freshman year on United Airlines with a connection in Chicago. I arrived at Logan in the pouring rain to find out my flight to Chicago was delayed and would I like to get on the stand-by list for an earlier one? After consulting with Papa Lipinski I decided to do so, but sat at my gate crying as I was worried I'd miss my flight out of Chicago and be stuck alone in Illinois for the night (mind you I had also taken 2 finals that day, packed up my room and bid my friends good-bye for a whole 3 months so I was a little emotional).

Thankfully I made it to Chicago (though if I hadn't gotten on the earlier flight I would have actually missed my connection) and sprinted through O'Hare towards what I thought was my gate. When I arrived panting at my gate I checked the board behind the check-in desk and saw that it indeed listed my flight to Minneapolis. Whilst on the phone with my dad, I noted how many Asian people were on the flight but didn't think anything of it until I was walking down the gateway to the plane and I hear a frantic "Miss Lipinski! Miss Lipinski! You're on the wrong flight!"

Ummm what?

I hung up the phone and turned around to see a flight attendant chasing me down the walkway who promptly informed me that I was on the wrong flight. When I told her what flight I was on she said the gate had moved, to which I replied "But the sign above the desk says this is the right gate"

"Oh yeah that's wrong," she replied. (Gee, thanks lady).

"So where's this plane going?" I asked. The response?

"China."

UMMM WHAT I ALMOST BOARDED A FLIGHT TO CHINA?!?!!? I quickly found the correct gate and made it home to MN only a couple hours delayed... and then my luggage wasn't there. Apparently it never made it out of Chicago (but at least it didn't go to China) yet it got sent to my house the next day.

I've had many more almost mishaps, like sophomore year when the car driving me to the airport called to say it was running an hour late cause it was stuck in traffic and they'd reimburse me if I missed my flight... (again, gee, thanks) or when I was going home for Thanksgiving this year and walked out to my car at 4:45 am to find it completely frosted over and I had to scrape the ice off of it, which meant I missed the bus I was aiming for and got to the airport much later than intended. Knock on wood though, I have never in my life missed a flight and I've been flying since I was 3 months old.

Because of the recent Northwest & Delta Airlines merger, I'll be flying out of Terminal A tomorrow instead of my trusty Terminal E, which actually bums me out a little (yes, I'm a loser like that). I've gotten to know Terminal E very well over the years and the Starbucks located in it has made for very pleasant early mornings. Though I know there's one in Terminal A too as that's where we fly out of for spring break.

I love to fly, if you can't tell. I'm able to get so much work done on flights or just chill and watch a movie on my laptop if I want. Also it typically leads me to places I really want to go; in this case, home to relax for a few days :)

I wish you all a very happy Easter, and remember, next time you fly... make sure you're at the right gate or else you may end up in Asia ; )

Less Than 50 Days Now...

2009-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm graduating in some 40-odd days... it does not seem real.

Sorry it took me all week to get the pictures up from 50 Days. It was a total blast getting all dressed up and The Top of the Hub was awesome. The view was so cool! Here are some pictures:

Mandi and I all snazzy ; )

50 Days meant even the boys had to dress up!

So Mandi, Caite, Kate and I were all set to take a lovely picture of the girls... and then Chris and Paul realized it and saw a prime opportunity to have some fun!

Mandi, Janelle, Caite and I : )

So when JD and I took this photo we had no idea that the red arrow was there and now find it hilarious of how perfect this photo was placed....

JILLYYYYYYYYY!!!

Chris and I at the top of the hub!

Beautiful Boston!

This weekend should be fun. There's a men's rugby game tonight and then afterwards we're celebrating Dave's 22nd birthday. How can next weekend be Easter break already?!

WHERE IS THE TIME GOING???

50 Days?!?

2009-03-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

I can't believe it's already been almost two weeks since we got back from Mexico. Thankfully, the New England weather is starting to cooperate and I'm not freezing cold like I was right when we got back. The first weekend back at school was great-- I got to see all the friends who didn't come with us over break and we got to celebrate St. Patty's Day! Also, Justin came to Stonehill this weekend so it was great to see him. Justin came on spring break with us but doesn't go to Stonehill and it was definitely weird not seeing him every day like we had over break!

Tomorrow night is 50 Days and I can't believe it's already here. If you don't know, the senior class has 3 big events in the spring: 100 Days, 50 Days and 25 Days til Graduation. Mandi and I missed 100 Days because we went to the John Legend concert that night (oh my God it was AMAZING) so we're really looking forward to 50 Days which is at the Top of the Hub in Boston. It's always fun to get dressed up :)

Just a quick post this week, but be on the lookout for pictures from 50 Days next week!

Epic Spring Break Win.

2009-03-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

I do not even know where to begin! Last week's spring break in Cozumel was without a doubt one of the best weeks of my life. I mean come on, 7 college seniors, 1 all-inclusive resort and 7 days of sunshine and laying on the beach? WIN!

Our trip started off with all of us meeting at Chris' grandparent's house in Revere on Saturday for a huge home-cooked Italian dinner. We all left our cars there for the week then headed to his actual house for the night as we had to leave for the airport around 2 am. We decided it was just easier to stay awake, rather than get a few hours of sleep and be all groggy at the airport. So, that's what we did! We got to Logan Airport shortly after 2 for our 5:40 am departure to Atlanta (I, per usual, only slept about 15 minutes on that flight, I can rarely sleep on planes) and had a 3 hour layover there in which we all took turns watching our stuff so we could nap. From Atlanta we were headed to Cozumel! Seeing the gorgeous aqua colored water as we flew over the mainland to our little island was breathtaking and we all started to get SO EXCITED! After landing we grabbed a cab and were headed to our resort. After checking into our rooms, we promptly changed into bathing suits and headed down the beach to the swing bar (this bar on the beach had actual swings at it, and yes, I have pictures!) to celebrate my roommate Mandi's 22nd birthday!

Missing this walk sooooo much right now...

A special drink for the birthday girl!!

All 7 of us on the first day there! Chris, Andy, Jenny, Mandi, Jill, me and Justin

After a few frozen drinks, we headed back for the evening to nap and all ended up falling asleep early as the previous sleepless night finally caught up with us. We intended to celebrate Mandi's birthday the next day buuuuut.... she woke up the next morning with strep throat of all things!

So unfortunately Mand was out of commission for the next couple of days but was able to see a doctor and get some antibiotics. Luckily, she felt pretty good on Wednesday and was able to join us on what was probably the funniest/best adventure of my life. We wanted to go to the other side of the island to surf/boogie board and the good waves weren't on the side that our resort was on. So we rented two Jeeps through our resort, but they were stick-shifts. Only Mandi and Chris knew how to drive a stick, so it ended up being Mandi, Jill, Jenny and I in one car and Chris, Justin and Andy in the other... Chris and Justin had been to our resort before and claimed they knew where they were going and knew how to get to the beach... Yeah... they definitely didn't! We drove around for so long (with Mandi trying to control the ridiculously crappy stick shift) because, in typical boy fashion, they wouldn't ask for directions. Finally they did and we got where we needed to go (since Justin speaks fluent Spanish he finally asked some people and after a few wrong directions we eventually got where we needed to be).

We thought the waves were so pretty... til we tried to surf in them!

I love this picture-- this is Mandi driving us down the coast to where the boogie boarding was. I stuck my camera up in the air since our Jeep was one of those open air ones and caught this cool angle.

Please note Jenny about to fly through the air on the upper left and Justin panting for breath on the bottom right... we all got WORKED.

But it was hilarious, 4 girls in bathing suits in this bright red Jeep trying to work the stick, no clue what the speed limit was driving down the main road in Cozumel getting cat called from all the Mexican men. That's a memory I won't forget anytime soon! The waves were AWESOME on the other side and after attempting to surf in 6 ft waves and subsequently failing, we got our boogie boards and rode the waves til dusk. There was this one moment when we were all kind of finishing up boogie boarding and were standing alone on the gorgeous beach watching the waves crash in, the sky was turning colors in preparation for the sunset and it was just us and the water-- it was the coolest feeling for me, I can't really describe it but it was just one of those feeling like "I can't believe we're doing this! This is my life right now, and I love it" There I was in a foreign country with 6 of my favorite people and we had rented cars to go boogie boarding; it felt incredibly grown up for some reason. One of those "Remember when we...?" moments. We drove back to the resort just as the sun was going down and it was beautiful.

Other highlights of the week include karaoke night, Italian dinner night, playing in the inflatable water trampolines and slides in the ocean, swimming til dark, adventuring on the beach at night and just hanging out by the pool with some of my favorite people. And of course... my birthday!

Dressed up for karaoke!

J-Bean rocking out ; )

Then Jilly caught me up there!

I spent the day lounging at the pool and the swing bar then watched the last sunset of the week from a lounge chair on the beach (hello, perfection) and I daresay the sunset that day was the best one yet! Then we all got ready and went into downtown Cozumel for dinner at Carlos & Charlie's and drinks and dancing at Senor Frogs! The night was SO MUCH FUN and the waiters (and my friends, for that matter) made my birthday VERY memorable. Let's just say the wait staff at Senor Frogs knows how to treat a birthday girl ;)

Chris, Mandi, me and Justin at the swing bar for my birthday!

The most gorgeous sunset ever-- note the boat sailing past. Take me back!

A VERY excited birthday girl! That was the menu at Carlos & Charlie's, so cool

All of us with the famous "Yard" drinks at Senor Frogs

A bit scared as to what the waiters have in store for me! Luckily they were very nice : )

We were all so sad to fly home the next day but got back to Boston without a hitch. Both flights were a bit delayed and despite the massive overload of people trying to get through customs in Atlanta, everything went according to plan. Because our plane didn't land til after midnight, we didn't get back to Stonehill til about 2 am, which was the only downside.

Andy got a bit tired at the end of a looooong day!

All in all, it was an incredible vacation and one I'll always remember. Thanks to the best friends in the world for coming and making my birthday so special :) I love you all!

Let's go back?!

48 hours and counting...

2009-03-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

In less than 48 hours from now, you can picture me and 6 of my best friends lounging casually in flip flops and shorts, drinking margaritas on the Mexican beach! I know, I know, you hate me (unless you're going away for Spring Break too), but let me tell you I NEED this vacation. My two awful weeks are FINALLY over, all my midterms are taken, papers written and books read. My vacation is beginning quite nicely as I sit here in Mandi's kitchen watching her prepare us delicious enchiladas (to get in the Mexican state of mind) from scratch, I might add for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I'll drive up to Newton and spend the day with Jill while Mandi's at work and then all 7 of us will reconvene at Chris' house Saturday night since we need to leave for the airport around 2am on Sunday morning (um, ew... I don't think we're planning on going to bed).

I am SO excited for this. If you've been following my blog from the beginning, you know that we booked this vacation back in October. I can't believe it's finally here! Some of our friends are going to Punta Cana in the Domincan Republic and they left last night. Ironically, Mandi and I went to Punta Cana last year for spring break with our friend Erin. It was sooo beautiful there and we celebrated Mandi's 21st in beach style :) That was her birthday present from her family and I was more than happy to be invited along!

Since nothing has been going on in my life worthy of taking pictures (I don't think you'd care to see the 32 page study guide I had for my 7 chapter juvenile delinquency midterm) here are pics from last year's spring break in Punta!

The view of gorgeous Punta Cana from the airplane-- I WAS SO EXCITED!!

Mandi, Erin and me on our beach! The beach we went to had bean bag couches and chairs (you can see one in the background) and those were so clutch all week!

Our apartemente! The balcony with the towels drying on it was ours.

Hahaha one of my favorite pictures from the vacation-- we were very saddened to find out that life does not always in fact take Visa. The Octopus Bar in Punta Cana did not accept our Visa cards. We were less than pleased because that got in the way of pina colada time.

Another great memory-- the website of the apartment boasted "24 hour security and a gated community"... ummm yeah, this chain was the closest thing to a "gated community" we could find. As for 24 hour security, it was more like daytime Spanish-speaking man hanging out by said chain.

Fishie love <><

And then we had a photo shoot on the beach in dresses. Because we can. Erin Kazaz is too cute for words in this picture.

LOVE THIS PHOTO.

This is another all-time great Fishie photo :)

Erin and I at the Hard Rock Cafe celebrating Mandi's 21st!

I can only hope that this year's spring break will be as great as last year's... and I'm sure it will!

SERIOUSLY?!?

2009-02-27T12:54:00.000-08:00

Starting Monday morning this has been one of the worst weeks I've had in awhile. As if the 3 tests in 2 days, 1 oral French exam and 6 page paper on a 170 page book that I read in a night wasn't enough-- my disgusting cold has come back. NOT OK!!

This is so typical of midterms for me, yet ALL of my midterms are NEXT week! These 2 weeks are awful, jam-packed with work and no time to rest. The worst part of being sick this week was that while I needed sleep in order to function and get all my work done, I COULDN'T FALL ASLEEP because I was sick and stressed and every time I laid down in bed all I could think about was how much work I had to do. So Monday night I went to bed around midnight and didn't fall asleep til 3, even after taking nyquil. Tuesday night I went to bed around 11:30 and didn't fall asleep til 4, even with nyquil. You get the idea. While I had such good intentions to get like 8-9 hours of sleep a night, I ended up with around 4-5, which Susie's body does NOT handle well. Wednesday I finally was able to get 7 hours, and last night I got around 9. I seriously need to just lay around and sleep for like 5 days but that's not gonna happen as I have 2 midterms and 2 papers and 1 article due next week.

ANYWAY. Enough complaining... MEXICO is in 10 DAYS!!! Everyone I've been talking to lately has been warning me about the abducting situation going on there currently, but the coastal areas are still supposedly ok and most of the trouble is in northern Mexico (or so I've heard)... I'm not too worried since we don't plan on leaving the resort. I cannot WAIT for some sunshine and a beach... and of course Mandi's and my BIRTHDAYS!!!

So here's to a good weekend of sleep, rest and getting ahead on my work... for once ; )

Ice Skating!

2009-02-17T18:10:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've been so busy lately... if I'm not doing homework, I'm in class. If I'm not in class or doing homework, I'm sleeping. If I'm not doing any of those I'm finding the energy to do something productive. However, today was a break from all that as I went to class in the morning and then some of my friends and I went ICE SKATING!! It was so much fun- I haven't been ice skating since I was abroad. I went two times in France, once in Strasbourg and once in Paris in front of the Hôtel de Ville.

Jamie and I ice skating on the coldest day ever in November 07 in Strasbourg, France

Mandi and I in Paris skating in the kid's rink because the people in the real one were skating too fast for us :)

So yesterday we decided to go skating because hey, it's fun. And it was!! I had a blast skating around with everyone. I'm a decent skater, not good by any means but I didn't fall down and I can do little spins and stuff. Elise was a little unsteady and of course all the guys who went with us have all played hockey and had a blast weaving in and out of us and trying to make us fall... how nice, right?!

Elise and I today-- notice us clutching each other for dear life!

So Lusso is actually a really good skater and played hockey, yet he decided to imitate bad skaters and Elise got it on camera for all to see!

And then Lusso decided Elise should do a turn, which she didn't know how to do, so he grabbed her hand and tried to twirl her... and she fell :(

Uh oh, I can't feel my feet anymore...

2009-02-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

You know the saying, people will do anything for a free t-shirt? And you know how if you say something is for charity it totally makes whatever you just did ok? Well last Saturday both of those thought were swimming (literally) around in my head as about 20 of my friends and I did something ridiculously crazy-- we jumped in the 30 degree ocean on January 31st in a charity event called the Drowned Hogs.

This happens every year on Nantasket beach and some of my friends have been doing it ever since freshman year at Stonehill I was supposed to go last year but when my phone rang at 9:30 am on a Saturday with my friends on the other end calling me to pick me up, I decided I was far too sleepy to get excited about jumping in any frozen water. So I did what any normal person would do- I silenced my phone, rolled over and promptly fell back asleep. Evidently this was not what my friends had in mind and so this year, they started reminding me weeks in advance that I was not sleeping through it this year-- no no, I WAS GOING.

So I woke up at 9:30, texted a friend to ask what I thought was a perfectly legitimate question: "Are we REALLY doing this?" got my response: "Yes. We'll be there in 10 minutes to pick you up", flew out of bed and threw on the swimsuit I haven't looked at since August along with a t-shirt and sweats, put my contacts in and brushed my teeth. No longer had I done all that than my phone began to vibrate and it was JD saying that the car was outside. I grabbed socks, jammed my feet into my uggs and sprinted out the door. In my haste, I forgot some very crucial items, but we'll get to that later.

So now we're en route-- I text my mom to tell her what we're doing, knowing she'll call me in a panic as soon as she reads what I wrote. Sure enough, about 10 minutes later I get a call saying "I'm just calling so I can hear your voice in case it's the last time." I reassure her that they have done this every year, and all have survived. So we get there and as soon as we all see the ice and snow, the girls in the car fall silent as the guys start yelling about how AWESOME this is gonna be... uh, yeah, ok. So we get out of the car and are immediately thrown back by the blustering wind and I start to think that my actions last year were probably smarter and maybe I should have done the same thing.

Inside we go to the holding area and promptly stuff our face with the complimentary coffee, hot cocoa and muffins, donuts and bagels galore. We all register, receive our t-shirt and make a $10 donation to the food pantry that this was benefiting. Now, 20 college students can cause quite a ruckus. EVERYONE and their mother turned to look at us as we walked in and you could overhear people talking about "that group from Stonehill" for the rest of the morning.

I can't remember who, but one of the guys gave me great advice: start taking off my clothing in layers so I can get used to the cold at a slow pace. So I did. I took my sweat shirt off, which left me in a t-shirt and sweatpants + shoes. The shoes came off next, etc etc. Now about those crucial items I forgot in my quick departure that morning. The first thing was what everyone else was wrapping around themselves: A TOWEL. Duh, Susie, you're going to the BEACH don't you think a towel would be helpful?!? Thankfully a guardian angel named Jillian Houle had an extra and graciously offered it to me. The next thing I forgot? A hair tie. Now guys may not realize why this is so important, so allow me to explain. I have long hair that goes down to mid-back and after jumping into the ocean I really didn't want freezing cold hair touching my back and shoulders and making me any colder. My guardian angel delivered again with an extra hair tie, and I was almost good to go. I also forgot flip flops-- something that would have been so great to have when walking on the freezing cold cement path from the holding area, down to the beach and back again post-jump. I forgot one more item, but we'll save that for the end.

So. It's getting closer and closer to jump time. We are quite the crowd. LP has angel wings on, Kate has a gold bike helmet on (from when the guys dressed up as legends of the hidden temple contestants for halloween), some of us are in swimsuits, all of us have leis on and Dave, Matt and Justin are wearing legit 3-piece suits. I turn to Val and give her a nervous look, to which she responds "How bad can it be if they do it every year?" Point taken. Soon, we hear a yell and everyone starts to bolt for the door... it's time.

Stepping outside barefoot onto a frozen cold cement path covered in snow, ice and salt is not something I'd call fun. But there we went, along the path, clutching our towels around us and feeling the chilly January wind literally make it to our bones. Because there were so many people jumping and the path was only so wide, we couldn't really move very fast. There was only one point when I seriously considered going back and if all my friends hadn't been around me, I probably would have. It was right before my feet went numb and the cold underneath them was seriously more than I could take. But I rallied, and my feet quickly went numb, relieving me of the sharp pains going through my legs. Our one friend Laura decided she wasn't well enough to jump (she was battling a cold) so she volunteered to take pictures and hold all of our towels, the saint that she is.

Down to the beach we went, Val and I hand in hand, dodging little children and weaving in and out of people. We could see some of our friends already coming out, dripping wet, some laughing hysterically and some looking more in pain than anything I'd ever seen. GREAT. Soon we hit the sand and we started full out sprinting. There were actually waves and when the water hit us (mind you, the water is 10 degrees warmer than the air at this point) it actually felt... good? Seriously. I saw Val full out dive in ahead of me and I thought "Shoot, it's my turn".

So I did it. I don't think it was very graceful or coordinated, but somehow my whole body got into the water and I was submerged. Not realizing that it actually felt kind of warm, I got out quickly and had one thought in mind: FIND MY TOWEL. (Well I had a second thought too: don't lose your bathing suit, as it is NOT the sturdiest thing in the world... but did I think of that that morning? NO.)

So I find Laura, and my towel, she takes a hideous picture of me wrapping myself up and I make the painful trek back inside. All I was thinking was "I hope one of my little toesies doesn't fall off" because they were so frozen I couldn't feel them. Anyway, we all get inside and take an after-photo and start laughing hysterically about what we just did. I mean seriously, who jumps in the ocean in January? But it was a blast, especially once I felt the tingle in my toes again.

Here comes forgotten item #4-- clothes to change into afterwards. I go into the bathroom with the girls and realize... ummm, what am I supposed to put on once I take my bathing suit off? Granted I have the clothes I can in, but you get the idea. Oops. All in all, not my finest memory moment. Anyway we dry off as best we can and head back out in the main area when the boys inform us we're all heading back to their house for brunch.

OH MY GOD- YUM. This sounds like the best idea in the world right now and I couldn't imagine how anyone would want to be doing anything else. So back to Canton St. we go, armed with bacon, eggs, toast, pancake mix and coffee. We warm up by the fire and everyone pitches in to make ourselves a feast.

It was seriously the best day ever. We ate, watched a movie, napped and just hung out. It was a lot like how Cape Week will be and I said that to JD at one point and he got this huge smile on his face. The day was awesome and it was totally something I never imagined doing. People have since asked me: would I do it again?

You bet.

A good example of the wind I was referring to-- yes that is hair covering my entire face.

STUDS.

Justin's response to this picture? "Sus, we hadn't even jumped in yet! How can you be cold?" I said I wasn't cold, I was SCARED.

And everyone, please laugh at Johannes' face in the background.

This man's wife told LP and I to go stand with him for photos. Did we know him? No. Did it matter? No.

Drowned Hogs 2009 - Stonehill Style!

Yes, someone jumped in the ocean looking like THAT!

Those were all the people we had to weave through just to get down to the beach!

Hey, they survived! YAY!

Absolutely my favorite picture of the day. WHO'S COLD NOW JUSTIN?!?

The after picture!!

A very chilly Jilly :)

LP, Laura & Jill... ohhh what a day!!!

Things I Love About College

2009-01-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

As you all know, I went to Frostburg last December to see my friend Charles graduate, and it got me thinking of all the things I'm going to miss once I graduate. Plus hearing Charles whine about all the things he misses doesn't hurt ;)

So-- what am I going to miss? Sit back, grab a snack and get comfortable, because there's a lot of things that I like here : ) And may I say these are not in any particular order... actually, that's a lie, they'll be in the order of when I think of them...

I love...

~ Watching episodes of Friends with my roommate while we eat, lay in bed, do homework, pretend to do homework, get ready for the day or evening or any other possible scenario you could possibly think of
~ Having my suitemates pound on my wall when they need to ask me something
~ When Mandi and I sing at the top of our lungs while showering to songs my suitemates have requested
~ Falling alseep to John Legend on the iHome
~ Meeting everyone at the microwaves for lunch/dinner dates since we live in the heights and ALL of our friends live in the courts ; )
~ Exchanging "life plans for the day" with Mandi
~ RAWR-ing ; )
~ Fat kid Friday night meals in the Hill
~ Justifying eating said fat kid Friday night meals in the Hill
~ Sunday brunch... enough said
~ Listening to Mandi tell a 30-word story in 400 cause she always thinks of additional stories to add in, or feels the need to explain everything leading up to the actual incident
~ Having a doubly large shoe, clothes, purse, and accessory collection
~ No Friday classes : )
~ Fishie movie time
~ Scaring the crap out of Mandi after we watch a scary movie and creepily quoting movie lines in a whispered tone throughout the night
~ Fishie pillow talk every night
~ Planning spring break and cape week and giggling with excitement throughout the process
~ Convincing Mandi she should clean the room because she likes to clean and is so good at it and why would I want to take that away from her?
~ Not really being on my own and being able to call my parents in tears when I freak out about future life plans : )
~ Living with my friends 24/7... it's the best!

And there you have it. I love college, I love Stonehill and I'm going to miss this SO MUCH. Here are some awesome group shots of some of my favorite people in the world :)

This was Spring Weekend last year-- all the girls at our little barbeque. The guys decided they want to grill, and we were obviously ALL for it!

So Mandi's birthday is March 8... we celebrated her birthday over spring break in the Dominican but she didn't get to have a Stonehill birthday because she got injured playing rugby and was on crutches. So later in April, we threw her a belated 21st birthday party one night :) This was taken right after she walked in the door and everyone yelled surprise!

Photos like this are what I'm going to miss... I have no clue what weekend this was, but it captures everything I love: my friends!

Senior Convocation, taken this fall, all of us sporting our lovely senior Stonehill pins ; )

Oh the craziness that is my suite... I think this was Lindsay's birthday this fall? All I know was we were all out there at midnight eating cake out of the big white box loving life :)

All Snazzy : )

2009-01-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

So our black & white semi-formal was last Saturday night and I must say, my friends and I cleaned up pretty nice. It was so much fun dressing up and everyone looked great! It was a funny moment when I went downstairs to visit some of the guys when I was still in the process of getting ready; I went downstairs to microwave some food and had my dress on and my hair done but I was still in my slippers. The guys were like "Whoa, you're ready fast!" and then looked down at my feet and were like "Oh... not quite ready, I see" It was too funny because my dress was black & white and my slippers are purple with polka dots on them... not exactly the look I was going for!

But anyway, here are some pictures of me and my beautiful friends all snazzy ; )

Jenny and I : ) I LOVE her dress, when I went out to see her in Michigan this summer, we bought it together : )

LOVED Johnny's tie... and that is MY hat he's rocking!

All the girls before we went downstairs to join everyone else - Laura, me, Mandi, Jenny & Jill!

I told the boys to please smile nicely-- Andy listened and THAT is what I got from Johnny...

Justin and I were all set for a nice picture... and then Dave comes along... nice try buddy!

I loved seeing all the guys dress up-- guys in ties is something I definitely like to look at! We had a great time dancing at the mixer for our last semi-formal all together. This weekend should also fun- one of our friend's birthdays is coming up and she's having a pirate-themed party tonight. Definitely will have to throw something together for that... I'm thinking an eye patch and red high heels will be involved!

This weekend will be the first weekend in which I have a lot of work to do. In less than two weeks I have a project for Mediated Comm, I'm giving a French presentation on Monday and a Cultural Geography map/concept test on Tuesday... boooo I like spending Saturdays and Sundays laying around watching movies and napping : ) But I am still a student for the next 4 months so I suppose doing some work is indeed necessary.

Well I will wrap this up as I have to get some clothes out of the washer and into the dryer and Jill and I have to go out and perfect our pirate outfits for tonight! Have a great weekend everybody!

The beginning of the end...

2009-01-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

It's finally here, much to my dismay: my last semester of college :( I remember as a freshman thinking how far away "Spring of 2009" sounded and yet here it is. As excited as I am for this semester and all that it'll entail, I'm already thinking about the end. In one of my blogs in September I talked about how I was already sad that my Stonehill time was dwindling, well now that feeling has doubled since the year is now half over. Last semester was without a doubt my best semester yet; I have so many memories that I know I'll never forget and I can only hope that this semester will be even better!

I'm already liking my classes for this semester: I'm taking French Lit II, Reporting and News Writing, Intro to Cultural Geography, Mediated Communication and Juvenile Delinquency... yes, that's right- not a single psychology class! I have really enjoyed my psych major, but for my last semester I kind of wanted a break. I wanted to try some new classes so I decided to take all electives (well, minus French- that goes towards my French major!) and I'm enjoying them all so far. The only one I haven't been to yet is Juvenile Delinquency but I have my first one in about 2 hours.

I hope all of you are happy to be back at Stonehill whether you're a freshman with your first semester of college behind you or a fellow senior starting to get nervous about graduating. I am so lucky to have had such a great college experience so far and I know this semester won't disappoint.

As for now, I have about 2 hours before class and no homework to do, so I'm going to go enjoy one of my favorite Christmas presents-- the Mamma Mia DVD!

Have a great semester everyone!

Surviving Frostburg...

2009-01-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned how I went to Maryland to see Charles' graduation. It was so much fun seeing him graduate and getting to know his friends, and spending some time with his family. My trip began very, very early on Thursday morning as I flew down to BWI then we drove out to Frostburg that night. It was a little over 2 hours to get from his house to Frostburg but a fun ride nonetheless.

Once at school we had a couple days to relax and a couple nights to go out before graduation on Saturday. The ceremony was very nice and I was impressed that Charles didn't sleep through it ; ) The only hitch however was when the lady announcing the names of the graduates said "Christopher James Knorr" instead of "Charles James Knorr"... she obviously mis-read the name on the sheet and while his mother was near tears, his friends and I thought it was pretty comical and we continued to call him Chris for the rest of the weekend. We celebrated afterwards with his family and friends at brunch and then had one more night out in Frostburg that night.

Then came Sunday. Charles and his roommate Chip had to move out of their apartment since they both graduated. Packing up an apartment of boys' stuff takes a long time. Cleaning said apartment takes even longer. I helped as best I could and apparently impressed everyone when I voluntarily did the dishes. As the boys loved to inform me all weekend, I am not very domesticated. We eventually got them all packed up and headed back to Charles' house where I spent the next 2 days. We both just hung around and relaxed, which was perfect. I was really glad I went to see him and I definitely had a great time.

Here are some pictures from my weekend of living with boys... I will never take my girls for granted again ; )

Our nice picture :) I can usually get one or two out of him...

The graduate!

Now you have to start working and pay bills and rent... mwah hah hah...

Frostburg!

Don't hate me!

2009-01-02T14:55:00.001-08:00

I promise I haven't forgotten about all of you. Here's how my December went:

Week 1: Jill's birthday week... when I wasn't scrambling to get the end-of-semester work done, I was celebrating Jilly's birthday with all of my friends :)

Week 2: Last two days of classes and recovering from Jilly's birthday, then reading day and I had a final that first day.

Week 2.5-3.5: FINALS = No time to breathe, let alone blog.

Week 3.5-4: Maryland for Charles' graduation, which was AWESOME! No sleep though, so no coherent blogging ability.

... then Christmas & New Years and a lot of sleeping since I obviously did not do much of that in December. So I apologize for my last of posting, I will try and make up for it now!

I have a lot to post about (namely all those things that happened in December), but before I tackle THAT overwhelming task, I'm going to borrow some questions from another blog I follow. December updates will have to come later.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Drove myself halfway across the country in my very own car when I drove out to school in August... granted my mom was with me, but I'd never done that much driving myself before. I also earned my first paycheck from corporate America at my internship...

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Did I even make a resolution last year? Definitely didn't this year...

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I actually don't think so. All of my babies were turning 2 or 3 this year (and by my babies, I mean my littles or my cousins)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
The only time I went out of the country in 2008 was over spring break when Mandi, Erin and I went to Punta Cana (in the Dominican Republic) for 5 days. This year I'm going to Mexico for spring break and maybe back to Europe over Easter break and definitely back to Europe this summer!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A visa to live and work in France come fall.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 14th. That was my 21st birthday and one of the best days of my life. I had (almost) everyone who I loved in the same room with me and I don't think it could have been any better (actually false, if Mandi hadn't dislocated her knee that night and come out with us, THEN it would have been perfect). But given the circumstances it was fantastic. Another great night was our first night back at Stonehill with some of my favorite people in the world :)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Probably making straight As in the spring semester... that had never happened before (and hasn't since, haha)

9. What was your biggest failure?
I have no idea. I don't want to think I failed at something!

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Cascino 210 is constantly suffering from SOMETHING.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My new car :)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
M y roommate Mandi puts up with me every day, through the best and the worst and somehow still loves me :)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The Twins' performance in their one-game playoff with Chicago that meant they didn't go to the postseason. Yes, seriously, that's my answer.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Haha um... groceries ; )

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Going back to Stonehill for the start of senior year. I missed my friends SO much and had only seen 2 of them over the summer.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Swing, by Savage. Mandi and I LOVE that song and all of our friends are so sick of it because we play it constantly.

17. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Gone on vacation!

18. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Not stressed about stupid things.

19. How did you spend Christmas?
On the couch looped up on painkillers with infected kidneys... seriously.

20. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Continued the love affair that began in 2007 with the city of Paris.

21. What was your favorite TV program?
Was and always will be- Friends.

22. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I don't think I actually hate anyone... that's a little mean ; )

23. What was the best book you read?
Probably one of the light-hearted beach books I read in Arizona or Punta Cana.

24. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Colbie Caillat!!

25. What did you want and get?
A gorgeous purse for my 21st :) And my new car!

26. What did you want and not get?
A weekend in NYC with my 3 best friends from high school. Trying to find 1 weekend that works with 4 girls' schedules was not possible for us :(

27. What was your favorite film of this year?
Oh my god, I love movies WAY too much to pick only 1.

28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was the best birthday of my life. I turned 21 and spent it with my parents, Mandi, Charles and Jill. It was (almost!) perfect :)

29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
I'm sure you all can guess this one-- spending time in Paris.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Jeans tucked into Uggs

31. What kept you sane?
My friends :)

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Anytime John Legend sings, I melt a little bit.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
Does Tina Fey's hilarious impressions of Sarah Palin count?

34. Who did you miss?
My friends who I don't see every day.

35. Who was the best new person you met?
So many of my best friends now are people I met in January of 2008... how strange to think that I didn't even know them at this time last year!

36. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Savor the moments you're in... it will all end too quickly.

Il y a une année aujourd'hui j'ai laissé mon coeur à Paris...

2008-12-09T14:31:00.001-08:00

*One year ago today I left my heart in Paris*

A more fitting blog title does not exist. One year ago today, I was flying home over the Atlantic leaving some of the best people in my life, the best city in the world and my most enjoyable 3.5 months of my life. And I definitely left my heart in Paris.

One year ago I was so sad that I didn't know what to do exactly. As my plane pulled away from Charles de Gaulle Aéroport I couldn't do anything else except sit there and cry. Depressing, I know, but it's true. My semester abroad was so incredible in every way possible, except for being away from any Stonehill friends not in Paris. I know I've written other posts about going abroad, but this topic has a different feel. I knew that from then on out my life was going to be different. I wasn't going to wake up to fresh croissants and baguettes every morning, I wasn't going to cross the street and have the ability to take the metro to anywhere in the city, let alone out to Versailles or Disneyland Paris for day trips, I wasn't going to be understood when I went out in public and spoke French (believe me... I tried once I got home and got some WEIRD looks), and worst of all, some of the most important people in my life weren't going to be with me every day.

It was really hard coming home. I remember the first day back I just sat on my couch and watched TV all day long for lack of nothing else to do. I didn't have a car at that point and my parents were both at work all day, none of my friends were home yet and I had no work since my semester was over. I just sat, blankly staring at the TV for something like 6 hours straight and hated life. I hated that I couldn't walk to a patisserie or hop on the metro and go hang out at a museum or the Eiffel Tower for a few hours. It took me a long time to get back to normal.

Charles and I were talking today about how we felt so much more like ourselves over there. I just adore the lifestyle and culture of the French. Life there was the best and I miss it every single day. Mostly I just miss speaking French whenever I felt like it and having people understand me :)

Tonight my suitemates and I exchanged our secret santa presents. My secret santa Melanie made me a collage of pictures from my Euro-adventures :) They are framed and now hanging on my wall all lovely :) As much as I love them, they made me miss France, but in a good way. I keep trying to spin my sadness post-France into a good thing and feel lucky that I had such an incredible semester. You know the quote "How lucky I am to know someone who was so hard to say goodbye to"? Well that's how I feel about my time abroad; thankful and glad.

Below is a photographic expression of the things I miss from France... these are all everyday things, not traveling or special once-in-a-while luxuries...

Wednesday Night Family Dinner! Every Wednesday a bunch of us would come to the Cité where most of us lived and cook dinner together, usually some form of pasta sautéed with veggies since that was about all we could make, though one time we did make burgers :) Always accompanied by red wine and baguettes, of course!

Trying to fit into really small elevators :)

Being ridiculously excited to watch Grey's Anatomy on iTunes every Friday afternoon on a laptop, even if the episode did skip every 10 seconds or so...

Spending way too much time here, in my favorite room in the Musée d'Orsay

Lunching daily with Rosaleen in the Jardins de Luxembourg :)

Having picnics at Versailles :)

Watching the French go on strike and protest one thing after another... yes that is a man standing on top of a bus shelter with flares going off in the background...

Eating crepes at any hour of the day... or night :)

Joyeux Anniversaire :)

2008-12-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day :)

Today Miss Jill Rachel Federschneider and one of my very best friends FINALLY turns 21!!! We have been waiting... and waiting... and WAITING... for this day for SO LONG. She's obviously that last one of us to turn 21, as we're all seniors and now our circle is complete. We have a whole week-long celebration planned for Jilly with different events each night and I am SO psyched about it. Poor Jill has been left out of far too much this semester... she couldn't come into Boston with us to celebrate anyone else's birthdays, nor could she hang out with us at Owen's or Buddy's whenever we go. But now, that all will change! Birthdays are always so much fun, no matter how old you're turning and I like to make a huge deal out of them.

Jill and I have been friends since freshman year, when we had religion and philosophy together. The next year, and every subsequent year since, we've had French together. We were always good friends... then we went to Paris and it all went UPHILL from there :) While I was studying in Paris, she was interning there and we became even closer. I realized what an incredible person she is and how much fun we have together and I knew she would be in my life forever. Even now as we plan to move to Paris together next fall, I can't imagine not having her in life. It's true when they say you'll meet friends in college who will be your friends forever and Jill is definitely one of those people for me. Je t'aime chérie et je te souhaite le plus joyeux anniversaire du monde!

Last night we took her out for some birthday celebrations, as we started off with a little celebratory champagne in the courts and then headed to Owen's at midnight. All of our friends came and it was a total blast :) Exactly what your 21st should be-- friends and fun :) Just wait Jill... we've got a whole week of this!

So in honor of Miss Fed reaching her milestone of a birthday here are some favorite pictures from years past and present:

Our favorite picture from our semester abroad :) This pretty much demonstrates our love for each other :)

This was taken at about 6 am after our most favorite night out in Paris...

Our first photo together in France! This was taken I think the day after Jill got to Paris, and you can see Notre Dame and the Seine in the background.

This was taken on MY 21st back in March-- like I said, Mandi had flown Charles up for my birthday and she and Jill went to pick him up at the airport to surprise me!

This is of Jill, me and Ayatt, one of her best friends from home :)

Spring Weekend 2008 :)

This was our "Oh my God I can't believe we're seniors" picture, let's smile and not worry about it...

Haha, this was this October in our shirts that Mr. Charles Knorr so lovingly made for us... long story, just go with it!

I love you so much Jill and I hope your birthday is everything you wanted it to be! Can't wait to celebrate future birthdays with you... et bien sûr, pour notre vie ensemble à Paris!

Gobble Gobble :)

2008-12-02T12:24:00.001-08:00

Well this blog is a bit delayed since Thanksgiving was last week but that doesn't mean I've already forgotten about it. I had a great time at home and I hope all of you did too. It was not the smoothest airline adventure I've ever had, as my flight out of Boston departed at a lovely 8 am last Wednesday morning, so I was up at 4:30 in order to get my stuff together and get up to Logan Airport... I ordered myself a nice venti-sized Starbucks and plopped myself down at my gate with plenty of time to spare. I intended to do work on the plane ride... but then I fell asleep... then I woke up and decided I didn't feel like doing work; instead I'd rather watch a movie on my computer... so that's what I did! Once I got to MN all was well-- I visited with some of my neighbors, some friends from high school and lounged a lot at home (isn't that what you're supposed to do over breaks?) and I didn't do an ounce of homework (oops)... Thanksgiving Day itself was pretty quiet, as my family is very small (just me and my parents) and my extended family is spread out all over the country. But here are two pictures from Turkey Day, one of our table and one of my yummy plate of goodness (with my VERY OWN STUFFING!):

Mmm that meal was so good! While I prefer our Christmas meal, Thanksgiving is always good too... I'm a big fan of the cresent rolls myself :)

Spending some time at home was so nice since I hadn't been home all semester. Like I said on Wednesday my parents picked me up from the airport and then we went and visited with some of my neighbors, met the new neighbors who moved into their house across the street from us in September and just sort of hung out. We opened a nice bottle of Bordeaux and caught up which was very relaxing and fun. Thursday was obviously Thanksgiving, which was spent watching football and me frantically texting Paul every half an hour to make sure he was still alive since the Lions just couldn't pull off anything close to a victory in their Thanksgiving Day game ; ) Luckily he didn't take their loss too hard though he has sworn that he will not watch any more Lions games this season... we'll see ; )

Friday was the best day of the year--- BLACK FRIDAY! My mom and I hit the mall around 6:30 am (which is pretty late for us, but I just couldn't get out of bed at 5:30... ew) and we got all of our Christmas shopping done. Plus I got some new clothes to wear in the mean time. Then on Saturday I got to see my littles!! I had missed the kids so much since I hadn't seen them since summer and to go from seeing them every day to now was hard. Miss Sophia (the youngest one, she's 2) was beyond excited when I walked into her house which was so great, as I wasn't sure how she'd take it. I figured she'd take a while to warm up since she hadn't seen me in 3 months, but no, she came running over with her arms wide open ready for a hug :) Aren't little kids the best?

Friday night was spent going out for drinks with some friends from high school and a yummy steak dinner at home with my parents. Then Sunday morning we went out for brunch and I did some last minute packing as my flight was supposed to leave at 5 that evening. Well as I'm sure many (if not all) of you are aware of the lovely New England weather we were blessed with on Sunday... rain, hail, sleet, the works. Due to Mother Nature's cruel sense of humor, my flight was delayed a good 3 hours and I didn't end up getting back on campus til around 1 am... granted Mandi and I then stayed up til 2 catching up with each other, which made getting up for our 9:30s on Monday morning oh-so-fun... MN got its own taste of Mother Nature when I woke up Sunday morning to this:

Yes that is my back porch all covered in disgusting SNOW... I want summer back! But all in all break was great and it'll be nice to be home again in about 3 weeks.

Something else very exciting is occurring today... but that deserves its own special post :)

Hello Winter...

2008-11-22T12:38:00.000-08:00

Let me start this week's post by saying: BRRRRR!!! Hopefully all of you have been surviving the nice little cold front that came in this week. What happened to our prolonged Indian Summer? I want it back! I am such a warm weather girl-- which I'm sure sounds surprising, as the girl from Minnesota chose to go to college in Massachusetts... but honestly, I love warm weather. I think about spring break probably every day! I even had to bust out my mittens this week to walk across our blustery quad in order to get to my class in Merkert. Stay warm everyone :)

So since Thanksgiving is coming up this week, my incredible chef of a roommate and I got to thinking. Since our guy friends have their marvelous off-campus house, we decided we should do a big family dinner and cook for them this Sunday. Now mind you, I am NOT a cook. I can make toast, chocolate milk, scrambled eggs and MAYBE an omelette (depending on the day). I have no desire to learn how to cook nor does anyone have the desire to spend time trying to teach me. However Mandi is a phenomenal cook and loves to cook for people. As I write this in her kitchen since we went home for the day, my tummy is full from the giant-sized delicious banana-blueberry pancake she made me for breakfast, the chocolate chip cookies I had for dessert and our ricotta-stuffed shells are baking in the oven. How nice that she takes care of me like that, right?

But anyway, she wanted to cook for the boys and I decided to get on board by offering to open the wine and maybe make place cards. So tomorrow night we (well, it's really SHE but she likes to include me in things) will be taking over the house and making yummy yummy fall dinner for the boys. Hopefully it turns out all right and everyone has a good time. We're also having a Thanksgiving dinner there on Monday night (they're roasting a HUGE turkey) so this week will be full of good food.

I am so excited to go home for Thanksgiving. I haven't been home since summer, so I'm looking forward to relaxing in my big comfy pillow-top covered bed, seeing my DOGGIE and some of my home friends, as well as my parents and my LITTLES!!! I'm flying home really early on Wednesday morning and going straight to my littles' house to play with them all day. This past week has been really light with work and while I'll have some over break, it shouldn't be too bad and I have two 3-hour plane rides to get work done! I love getting work done on plane rides, I am so efficient (unlike my normal snail-pace of actually doing homework)...

A large anomaly occurred this week in my household. This may come as a surprise to some (or all) of you, but I actually do not like the stuffing my mom makes at Thanksgiving. I know, I know, terrible. But I just don't like it. I try some every year, hoping my taste buds have changed but alas they never have. I always badger her to pick a new recipe but since she and my dad enjoy it so much, she has always refused. Until now! She called me this week and said that if I find a recipe, she'll make me my own batch of stuffing!!! YAY!!! I of course went to my chef of a roomie and am now equipped with a delicious stuffing recipe to bring home to Minna. Our Thanksgivings (and holidays in general) are pretty low key since it's just me and my parents. Turkey day usually involves watching the parade and eating coffee cake and then watching football all day... and eating, of course! My dad grew up in Detroit so we always cheer for the Lions in their game, and since they've actually yet to WIN a game this year it should be nice watching them play against a powerhouse of a team. My friend Paul is a diehard Lions fan and has had a very depressing fall with a lack of a victory in his life. Sorry bud... try not to take out their inevitable loss on the turkey or anything ;)

I hope you all have a great vacation and aren't swamped with too much work. Enjoy sleeping in your own beds for a few days, eating good home food (which for me includes my favorite cherry-chicken pasta salad from our grocery store) and most importantly... relaxing : )

That's what holidays are for!

I thought midterms were over?

2008-11-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

Wow... this week was ridiculous. I had a 15 page paper due last Saturday, spent all of Sunday making notecards for my Brain and Behavior exam, had a Crim paper due Tuesday, had a Brain and Behavior exam on Wednesday along with a French paper due Wednesday and a Modern France class discussion on Thursday... let's just say I am very much looking forward to a weekend!This weekend should be fun. Mr. Stonehill is tomorrow night! I'm friends with almost all of the hosts so from the bits and pieces I've been able to weasel out of them, it sounds like an amazing show! Hopefully all of you are planning to go. The shows of the past have been hilarious and I know this year will deliver as well. Good luck to all of the contestants!

This week was also a big week for tour guiding... since Tuesday was Veteran's Day and most Massachusetts high schools got the day off, we had a TON of high schools here for tours that day. I was assigned Registration, the Info Session and a tour on Tuesday morning and it was CRAZY. We already had about 70 families signed up and I heard we had close to 50 walk-ins... which would make sense considering how big my tour was! The tours are starting to wind down for the semester but I know they'll pick up again in the spring.

I found myself missing my abroad life more than usual this week. I think it's because I know that one year ago, I started to realize my time in France was winding down and I began to cherish everything a bit more that I had grown accustomed to. This weekend, for instance, was my last weekend outside of France for the semester. 3 of my friends and I spent the weekend in Venice, Italy and had an absolute blast eating everything in sight, getting lost in the canals and trying not to freeze! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our Venice trip:

Frieda, Jen & I on the vaporetto headed onto the island of Venice!

A sight rarely seen- Charles SMILING for one of my photos!

Jen literally being attacked by dirty pigeons in San Marco's Square... while she and Frieda chose to have this torture thrust upon themselves, Charles and I wisely chose to abstain from such an activity.

In one of the pretty pretty canals searching for lunch... I was determined to find tortellini for my first Italian meal...

Unfortunately for us, we ran into a few dead-ends on our trek... Venice is SO CONFUSING!

This photo is funny for a few reasons. Backstory: I bought a map in every city I went to-- Copenhagen, Prague, London, Barcelona, everywhere, and I always used them. So of course we bought a Venice map and this was literally the only time we brought it out because the streets in Venice are so small and plentiful that not all of them are even on the map! Jen managed to capture the one moment of map-usage on this trip, so here is Charles and I scouring the map so we can get out of the passageways and find food!

Success! Here are the girls with their delicious pastas!

Haha, definitely one of my favorite photos from the trip! We finished our food sooo quickly...

The girls over looking the Grand Canal, the main and biggest canal in Venice

How Venice does taxis :)

Frieda and I in San Marco's Square at night, freezinggggg cold!

Yet again, freezing cold on the vaporetto home, brrrrrr

Eating real Italian canollis! I can't even count how many times we shoved food into our faces that weekend...

Last photo in Venice, looking over the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

As you can see, I loved my Italian extravaganza and I wish I could go back to any of it, just for a day :(

Unfortunately that part of my life is over and it's time to stop being sad and focus on what's right now. Like waking my roomie up from her nap so we can shower and get ready for another fun Friday night at Stonehill!

Halloween Really Needs to Happen More Than Once a Year...

2008-11-07T10:21:00.000-08:00

Last week at this time I was napping in preparation for an AWESOME Halloween... and it definitely came through! Hopefully all of you enjoyed your Halloween as much as I enjoyed mine! It started off Thursday with Midnight Madness. RUCKUS performed for the first time and from the applause we got from all of you, it sounded like you enjoyed it! I had a great time performing at my last Midnight Madness (sob) and RUCKUS will be performing again at the winter dance show, so be sure to come! Here are some photos of the squad at MM:

Kim and I before Midnight Madness with our awesome makeup :)

The whole squad ready to go on!

Nicole and I making loooveeelyyyy faces before we performed!

After Midnight Madness came one of my favorite days of the year-- HALLOWEEN!! Like I said last week, my roommate Mandi and I were runway models. Luckily, Halloween was a full-weekend celebration so here are some pictures from Friday's celebration-- before the Mixer!

MY SUITEMATES!!! Love these girls :)

Please note Mrs. Sarah Palin second from the left ; )

Cascino & Kingston girls - aka runway models (being fierce) bonding with Tinkerbell and Peter Pan

Jill, me and some of the guys! LOVED the Legends of the Hidden Temple costumes, guys :)

Friday was a lot of fun. I love mixers and dancing all night! Saturday was a ton of fun too. Mandi and I went to Clinique and got our make-up done... runway style ; )

Runway roomies!

Haha, sorry McGann had to put this one up... this is me and my lovely feminine friend MEGAN McGann ; )

EL TIGRE!!!
My favorite pirate and puppy dog :)

So you can see that Halloween was a blast :) Everyone went all out with their costumes and did a great job! Another exciting thing happened yesterday... we finally booked our flights for Spring Break! We booked our resort about a month ago but we finally all got together to figure out flights and now come March we're headed to... drum roll please...

COZUMEL!!!

Ahhhh I am SO excited that I will be on a sunny, sandy Mexican beach in 4 months :) What's best about spring break is that Mandi's birthday is the day we fly down and my birthday is our last day there, so we will be having so much fun celebrating birthdays in Mexico!

As for this weekend, Mandi and I have a huge paper that got pushed back and is now due Saturday night at midnight so unfortunately I know how my Saturday will be spent... tonight we're going into Boston to celebrate Coral's 22nd birthday which will be so fun! We're taking her to get her makeup done and then 6 of us are going to eat in the north end in Boston tonight.

Busy life... lots of work... fantastic weekends with people I love... sounds like Stonehill to me :)

I need to lay down...

2008-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

Things that have happened to me this week:

1. My intramural beach volleyball team, the Cascino Catz, captured the title of Intramural Champions by winning our tournament in freezing fashion! My suitemates and I are now the proud owners of intramural champions t-shirts, which anyone will tell you is basically the coolest prize ever.

2. I went to the Coldplay concert on Wednesday night at the Garden in Boston and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Without of a doubt one of the top 2 concerts I have ever been to.

3. We had our first step performance at Midnight Madness last night-- way to go RUCKUUUUUUUUSSSSS!!

4. I have slept through 2 out of my 3 Brain & Behavior classes this week (Professor McCoy, if you're reading this, I apologize... please take up your anger with my faulty alarm clock)

5. The roomie and I put the final touches on our Halloween costumes-- we're being runway models :)

6. I took my last midterm of the semester

7. I realized I have a 15 page and a 10 page paper due next week

8. I realized a year ago today I was in Paris with two of my closest high school friends who were visiting me. And then I cried a little.

9. I realize that a year ago this upcoming weekend I was in London & Oxford with my Stonehill roomie... and then I cried some more.

10. I came to realize how truly vital naps are in my life...

... and on that note, I am off to take a nap to prep for the Halloween mixer tonight! I hope you all have a great time at the mixer in your costumes! Sorry there are no pictures in this post. I am so tired right now-- but if you want pictures from Midnight Madness and you're a student, there are a bunch on Facebook... I promise I'll put up pics from the concert, Midnight Madness and Halloween next week.

Thanks For Coming Out!

2008-10-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I am so sad right now.

One week ago today I was hanging out with so many of my favorite people, including Charles! Sorry it took me so long to post this week. I've been working on my Psychology Capstone presentation that's due tomorrow during my free moments this week. Basically, it's the equivalent of my thesis for my psychology major, and it includes an 75 minute presentation and a 15 page paper about a topic within psychology of my choosing. As you may have guessed, I chose child development so I could talk about my littles! More specifically, I decided to research whether having older siblings impacts the younger children's speed at which they reach certain learning milestones, and then based it on the family of 5 that I nanny for. Definitely a project right up my alley!

The project's been a good distraction this week, since last weekend was SO FUN! All us Stonehill girls had a great time with Charles. It was so fun showing him our school and having him meet our friends. My friend Laura turned 21 on Friday so we all went out to dinner and then out to celebrate and it was great having Charles here for that because he got to meet all my friends at once! So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!

Naturally we took lots of photos since it was a double-ly special weekend!

Doesn't he look SO happy to see all of us?!

This is a good one of Charles, Mandi and I as we headed to dinner for Laura's 21st!

The Birthday Girl Laura and Jill :) They make such cute roomies :)

Haha, this was me imitating the non-smile face Charles (and most other guys) typically make in photos

Charles with Flicker, Janelle, JD and Mandi... now he looks happy to be at Stonehill!!

This weekend will be fun and hopefully relaxing. While I've been working on my capstone, Mandi's been studying nonstop for her 5 exams this week.... ewwwww!! She finally has her last one (bio-- eekkk!) tomorrow morning so once that and my presentation are out of the way I forsee looooonnnngggg naps for us tomorrow afternoon...

GO BLUE!

2008-10-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a lovely Columbus Day Weekend! Welcome back to school... and welcome to MIDTERMS. Ugh. I know I complained about them in my last post, but they hit me in full force post-break. I came back from a FANTASTIC weekend in Michigan (more about that in a minute) to a Brain & Behavior exam yesterday and a Modern France midterm today. I have literally spent more hours in the library this week than I have in my room, not including sleeping... ewwww. But the tests are both done now and I can relax a little bit. I need this relaxation since I also finally got the disgusting cold that everyone seems to be having on campus. Coughing, runny nose, sore throat, the works. Sooooo much fun, loved studying through that. My roomie and I are lysol-ing our room every chance we get since she's sick too, so at least we can complain to each other.

SO... my weekend! It was so so so good to see Jessie for more than a day this time and I loved spending the weekend with her. Her roommates are hilarious and we had such a good time, even though Michigan lost the football game in the last few seconds... don't wanna talk about... but here are some pictures!

Jessie and I going out for the night :)

Michigan Stadium... no wonder they call it The Big House!

GO BLUE!

I liked this kid's shirt

Wishing I could do this every Saturday...

Sad Michigan lost, but still had a great time in the 80 degree weather!

The mass exodus of people leaving the game... I think we could fit like 500 Stonehill populations in there....

Night #2 :)

We definitely had a great weekend, even though we both had a lot of homework and studying to do. For our next reunion, we're thinking Paris June, 2009... see ya there Jess!

As for THIS weekend... I AM SO EXCITED-- my friend Charles is coming to visit! He and I studied abroad together last fall in Paris and all of us Stonehill girls pretty much adopted him as a pseudo-Stonehiller. I haven't seen him since March so I am sooooooo excited that he's coming for the weekend! His plane takes off in a couple of hours, so my friends and I are gonna hit the Senior/Faculty Cocktail for a bit, and then Jill and I are headed to Logan Airport to pick him up! Eeekkk!!!

If you see me around campus this weekend, note the smile on my face. Us Stonehill girls are very excited to see our long-lost Charles!

Whirlwind

2008-10-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

That's what I feel like lately. Midterms are here in full force and I feel like whenever I think I can just lay down for an hour, I realize I have some sort of reading, studying or paper-ing to do. This time of year is always so stressful, no matter what classes I'm taking. This week alone, I had 4 papers due and a large class discussion to prepare for, and next week even though it's a 3-day week I have 2 midterm exams, and even more papers and exams due the week after... I thought midterms were supposed to be just ONE week of work!

Although my weeks have been crazy, my weekends have been lots of fun. Here are the pictures I promised from Paul's birthday party:

It's sort of hard to make out, but this was our party trolley that we took into Boston!

Very excited roomies!!

Me and some of my girls on the party trolley: Coral, myself, Jenny, Caitlin & Kate... and yes we all realize we're wearing black and no it was not planned...

Me and the birthday boy!

As you can see, it was a lot of fun. There were probably over 20 of us who went and it was such a blast. We told him we have to celebrate his birthday more than just once a year! My friends and I are also starting to plan our senior spring break trip so cross your fingers that we can pull everything together soon and book a week of sunshine! I won't reveal more until it's all booked but I can't stop thinking about how good sandy beaches and warm sunshine will feel come March! Especially because my birthday is over Spring Break :)

This past weekend was also fun because my friend Jen from Paris came to visit! Obviously, she doesn't live in Paris but that's where we met! She's the one I saw in Arizona when I visited my cousin. Jen goes to UMass and is interning about an hour away from Stonehill on Fridays this year, so she came here after work and spent the night with us here at the Hill! It was so great to see her and hopefully we'll have more twin time soon :)

Jen and I reunited in Massachusetts this time!

As for this weekend, I'm sure many of you are headed home to enjoy our long weekend. I'm actually not going home but I am sooooooo psyched for this weekend because I am going to Ann Arbor, Michigan to visit one of my best friends who goes to the University of Michigan! Jessie and I went to grade school together when I lived in Maryland and we've stayed close ever since. We try to see each other once a year, but before this summer we hadn't seen each other since our senior years of high school! I went to Michigan with my family this summer to visit my grandparents and since Jess was spending the summer on campus, I got to see her and we got to planning... so this Friday night I'm flying to Ann Arbor to spend a fun weekend with her at the U! On Saturday we're going to the Michigan football game, which is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. My dad is originally from Michigan so I've grown up a Wolverines fan since I could talk-- in fact, I knew the words to "Hail to the Victors" (their fight song) before I knew the words to most Disney songs... so this Saturday afternoon you can picture me in my maize and blue cheering for Michigan to beat Toledo!

I hope you all aren't too stressed out right now, but if you are try to remember to make some time for yourself! Go to the gym and run off your stress, or take a 30 min tv break or something, but don't let it consume you too much! Enjoy your Columbus Day break! This may be the first trip home for some of you freshmen, so congratulations-- you've made it this far! It only gets better from here :)

And see, I didn't mention baseball ONCE in this post... until now... GO RED SOX!

Why I hate baseball!

2008-10-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

UGGGHHHH... because sometimes ridiculous concepts that have nothing to do with the game of baseball can interfere with a crucial game and have a big effect on the outcome. Last night was a one-game playoff for the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox, winner takes all. All being the AL Central Division Championship and a trip to the postseason. Because the two teams finished with identical records at the end of the regular season, a one-game playoff is Major League Baseball's way of being fair and letting them go head to head to determine the winner.

WELL. They were not 100% fair, because the way they determined which ballpark the game would be played in was due to a COIN TOSS, which Minnesota lost. So the game was in Chicago, fine. Well, fine for normal teams. These two rivals have had a ridiculous season when they played each other. If the games were in Minnesota, Minnesota won almost every single one. If they were in Chicago, Chicago won almost every single one. I've never seen such close statistics like that before. Obviously, you'd rather play in your own park with your own fans, but I've honestly never seen it affect a team's record so much. You can guess that I was less than thrilled when the White Sox won the coin toss, thus bringing the game to US Cellular Field in Chicago.

I was even MORE upset with the outcome of the game. The White Sox won 1-0... ONE STUPID RUN cost the Twins a playoff spot. (Well technically that one run didn't, they could have won one more game this season and then a playoff wouldn't have been necessary, but you know what I mean). It was a scoreless game into the 6th I believe, when Jim Thome of the White Sox hammered a home run into center field. A couple of innings prior to that, the Twins had a great chance to score but our runner got thrown out at home plate.

I won't give you all the gory details, but needless to say I am very disappointed. It's hard seeing your team go out like that, you invest so much emotion and heart into the season and to have it end in such a way, in your arch rival's ballpark and having that rival go to the playoffs instead of you sucks.

The part that really gets me is how different the game would have been if it had been played in Minnesota. With our stadium, our fans, and our home record (and Chicago's less than awesome record in our park) it would absolutely have been a different game. But I guess that's baseball. I just don't think a COIN TOSS is a good way to decide who gets home field, it should be based on a team statistic, like most runs scored all season vs most runs allowed or something...

So now this means my focus turns to cheering the Red Sox on during their postseason games, and cheering for Tampa Bay to beat up on Chicago and knock them out in the first round (which I think they'll do). It's just disappointing because the Twins and the White Sox were so evenly matched and we deserved to be there just as much.

I'll post more this week about last weekend and my upcoming life adventures but for now I'm still too wrapped up in baseball-depression mode. The only highlight of last night was that Minnesota's catcher Joe Mauer (and my favorite player) won the AL Batting Title, which means he finished the season with the highest batting average in the American League. Essentially this means he was the best hitter in the American League this season. Way to go Joe! That's a HUGE accomplishment for a catcher, considering how beat up they get playing defense in that position. I was a catcher my whole life, and trust me, it's tough! Having runners slam into you left and right, blocking balls in the dirt, hurling your body across the plate to prevent runners from scoring... definitely takes a toll on you, and I couldn't imagine doing it for almost all 162 games of the regular season like Mauer does.

Ok, I'm done. I promise. If you don't like baseball, don't give up on my blog yet! It's October now so baseball's almost over!

As they say, there's only ONE postseason, there's only ONE October... and to that I say GO RED SOX!

Why I love baseball!

2008-09-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Because of finishes like the Twins had last night! If you're a baseball fan you may already know this, but MY Minnesota Twins pulled off an INCREDIBLE sweep of the Chicago White Sox this week, winning 9-3, 3-2, and 7-6 last night in extra innings!!! For you non-baseball people-- THIS. IS. HUGE. The Twins are now 1/2 a game ahead in the AL Central of the White Sox with one series remaining for each team. If the Twins win all three of their games and Chicago loses at least 1, the Twins are in. If we win all of them and so does Chicago, there will be some one-game playoff situations that will take place. But instead of getting into all that, let's reflect on the AWESOMENESS of last night's game!

The Twins were down 6-1 in the 4th inning, and because we are so scrappy, we chipped away at that lead, getting a run here and 2 runs there. Our defense was stellar, and our bullpen (relief pitchers) really came through for us. That bring me to the bottom of the 8th, the Twins down 6-4. Well we managed to tie the game 6-6 in the 8th and hold on til the bottom of the 10th when we got a bloop single into short left field to WIN THE GAME!! They played so hard this week and really showed everyone that they deserve a spot in the postseason. So now we play a 3 game series at home vs. Kansas City and Chicago goes home to play a 3 game series against Cleveland, which means I am a HUGE Cleveland fan this weekend!!

My suitemates and roommate were so tolerant of me last night, so thanks girls!! The season premiere of Grey's Anatomy was on so we all watched that in the suite while I had my laptop out there so I could watch the Twins game on mlb.com. I paid $4.95 to watch the game-- there was no way I was going to miss that OR Grey's!

So all in all, a GREAT Thursday night! The season premiere of Grey's was awesome and the Twins game was even better!!!

So keep your fingers crossed this weekend for the Twins to win and the White Sox to LOSE LOSE LOSE!!! Hopefully come October, I'll still have a team to cheer for in the postseason!

And, as a side note, I'm sure only about 5% of you ACTUALLY care about anything I just wrote about, so thanks for putting up with me. I promise baseball will be over soon... but then I'll just get heated about football instead ; )

Ahoy me mateys & LET'S GO TWINS!

2008-09-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Interesting blog title, yes? Well this afternoon my room was delighted to learn that you can set your Facebook language to be "Pirate" themed... it's probably the funniest thing ever. Instead of "log out" it'll say "abandon ship" and instead of having friends or writing on someone's wall, you have "mateys" and you "scrawl" on a wall... HILARIOUS. Definitely check it out when you have time. If you're anything like me or my roommate, you'll use it as a phenomenal procrastination tool. Thanks to my friend Charles for that incredible discovery :)

So what else is going on in my life? Well turns out that September is the month of BIRTHDAYS! You all know my friend Janelle turned 21 a few weeks ago. Then the week after my friend Andy turned 22 so we threw him a Fiesta-themed party, then this week two other of my friends have birthdays, so there is a lot of celebrating going on here! This Friday we're all going into Boston in a party bus for Paul's 21st, so that should be SO much fun! I heard it's supposed to rain on Friday, so keep your fingers crossed for clear skies and no rain of any kind.

This is also a huge week in Major League Baseball. All you Red Sox fans should be happy that the team clinched last night-- that means they're guaranteed a spot in the playoffs for all you non-baseball obsessed people. My Minnesota Twins are still in it; they're playing a HUGE series against the Chicago White Sox this week that will more or less determine who wins the AL Central and heads to the playoffs. Put as simply as possible, Minnesota needs to win all their games against Chicago and hope that Chicago continues to get beat during the last series of the regular season, taking place this weekend. Definitely feasible, but not an easy feat for my Twins. But MN started off on the right foot last night, beating the ChiSox 9-3-- YAY TWINS! I think my friends will be happy once the season is over because it's slightly possible that I dislike any other topic of conversation other than the Twins' chances of making it into the postseason. My roommate is probably ready to smack the next person who says the terms "magic number" or "one and a half games back" or "sweep"... she's also probably extremely sick of my detailed explanations of EVERY possible scenario that could manifest itself in the next week. But what can I say-- I've played softball since I was 4 and grew up in a baseball family! I love it :)

To help demonstrate my love for any kind of baseball (except that of the White Sox or the Yankees-- don't get me started on my extreme dislike for either of THOSE teams) here are some pictures of my favorite sport ever:

This is a picture of me and one of my best friends from high school Kathryn, back in the summer of 2005- fresh high school graduates with our box seats at the Red Sox v. Twins game in Minnesota! We were right behind home plate thanks to her dad getting sweet tickets from his work.

Me and my freshman year roomie Alisha on our FREE TOUR OF FENWAY PARK-- yes that's right! That was us on the Green Monster!

My family! My dad, my mom, me and my grandpa at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan in the summer of 2006. Obviously since my dad grew up in Detroit we have a small family rivalry in the AL Central Division... you can also see that my mom and I are on the correct side of that rivalry!

Sophomore year at Fenway with Janelle!

What does this photo have to do with baseball you ask? Well this picture proves that I was awake at 5:27 am Paris time last year, watching the Red Sox win the World Series live on my computer! I was so sad that there was no one to celebrate with, and since it was almost 5:30 am, I couldn't exactly yell and scream with excitement since I was in a dorm full of sleeping students. But I was awake and I watched it. HERE'S PROOF!

My family and I this summer at US Cellular Field (home of the cursed White Sox) in Chicago for the Sox/Twins game! My dad got sweet seats through work, so we were like 5 rows behind home plate! And yes, I braved the south side of Chicago and PROUDLY wore my Twins gear!

A good display of the family rivalry: when the Twins played the Tigers at the Metrodome this past summer and my dad and I went, cheering for opposing sides. This is my "I don't care that you're from Detroit Dad, you like the wrong team!" face! And as I recall, the Twins won (of course)!

Though she won't ditch her beloved Red Sox, I have definitely convinced my born-and-raised Massachusetts roomie of the awesomeness of the Minnesota Twins! Every time she comes to Minna during baseball season, we HAVE to go to a Twins game!

So there you have a brief tour of my love for America's favorite pastime. All in all, I've been to stadiums all across the country: Camden Yards in Baltimore, Shea Stadium in NYC, Fenway (of course!), US Cellular & Wrigley in Chicago, Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Comerica AND Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Dodger Stadium in LA, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, the Ballpark in Arlington in Texas, the Mariners' stadium in Seattle, and I know I'm forgetting some! I've been to various spring training games too, which are always fun. When I was little I told my parents they were never allowed to move to a city that didn't have professional baseball-- good thing they moved me from Tulsa to Washington DC when I was 5 years old or who knows what would have happened to me! I just spent a good 5 minutes trying to come up with an appropriate analogy of what my life would be like without baseball and unfortunately I haven't come up with one that expresses the importance of it in my life!

Let's just leave it at this: The Twins rule, the White Sox and Yankees drool.

So mature, I know. But who ever said sports fans were mature?!

Here comes the stress :(

2008-09-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

It happens every semester and I'm still not ready for it. There you are, breezing along with moderate amounts of reading, maybe a quiz here and there and an easy 2-3 paper or two. You're thinking "how come I always get so stressed during the school year? This is easy!" and then BAM. You remember why: TESTS. Doesn't it seem like all professors assign the first big assignment at the same time? I have my first Brain & Behavior exam on Monday and ohhhh myyyy goshhh I am nervous. My class is made up of half psych majors and half science majors (who seem to understand everything my professor says, while us psych kids stare blankly at him with glossy eyes when he says stuff like "oligodendocytes" without missing a beat) and I am not looking forward to the amount of time I will be spending in the library this week and weekend studying. The first test of a semester is always a bummer because it's then that I usually realize, yep, I'm in school-mode now.

But anyway, on to happier things. Janelle's birthday weekend was PHENOMENAL! It was so much fun getting dressed up and the limo was awesome. The only bummer was that it was raining fairly hard on Friday night so we didn't get to take a picture of all of us outside the limo because we were all making a mad dash to get inside so we didn't ruin our hair (yes, we're girls and we worry about things like that, sorry guys you just don't understand!). But here are some pictures of us beforehand:

Getting 11 girls to smile for a picture at the same time is really, really difficult ; ) But I love this photo!

Here's a nice one of all of us before we left campus : )

Janelle (the birthday girl), myself and Megan in the limo!

My friends are so pretty : ) Here's Maeve, Kim and Mandi in Boston!

Roomie love!

Me with the Birthday Girl!

This week I also booked a couple of trips- one home for Christmas and another to go to my friend Charles' graduation in December. Once finals are over I'll be going down to Maryland for 5 days for his college graduation and then I'll head home to Minna for almost 3 weeks for Christmas vacation. It's so weird to think about that now, since it's AFTER winter finals but I wanted to book it now while airfare is still somewhat cheaper. I hate all the extra costs involved with flying now. You used to be able to check 2 bags free of cost, and now you have to pay just to check one. There's also crazy fuel surcharges and other additional stuff that we have to pay for, so I'm just happy it's my final year of flying from home to school or else my family would be paying A LOT more for four years! But anyway, I'm very glad I'll get to see Charles graduate and it'll be a nice segway into my winter break.

But as for now, I can't even think about winter break because that means too many tests, papers and SNOW! I want summer back!

Happy Birthday to you :)

2008-09-11T17:58:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about college is celebrating birthdays with all of your friends. This week, one of my friends Janelle finally hit the big 2-1 milestone so we were all very excited! To celebrate, we decided to go to the local pub, Owen O'Leary's. Turns out a lot of our friends had the same idea, because so many people showed up to wish Janelle a happy birthday! Owen's is great because they have $1 pizzas and $1 chicken wings-- perfect for a college budget! We had a great night with our now "grown up" Janelle, but the best part of her birthday celebration is coming up tomorrow-- for her birthday present, her parents are renting us a limo for the night to take us girls into Boston for a girls night out! We're all getting dressed up and so it should be a really fun night.

That's a huge perk of Stonehill-- its proximity to Boston. I've loved going into Beantown throughout my 3 years here, and I haven't been in yet this year. I've gone in for games, concerts, shopping, etc! In fact, come October I'm going in with some friends for a Coldplay concert, which should be awesome. Some of my favorite spots are Faneuil Hall, Fire and Ice, Mike's Pastry (if you've never been here, oh my gosh it's incredible, GO! It's in the North End on Hanover St.) Newbury Street (especially So Good Jewelry-- super cheap and super cute jewelry) and of course, FENWAY! Sophomore year I won 2 tickets to a Red Sox game by entering a contest in the caf, so Janelle and I headed into Boston for a night at the ballpark (thanks Stonehill!) I spent my birthday weekend in Boston last March and it's just fun to go in for the day and explore the city. The food in the North End is fantastic, and the T is so easy to use to get around that it's almost impossible not to go in! The Stonehill shuttle brings you right to the Quincy Adams T stop, and by getting on there, you're already on the red line headed straight into the city! Let's just say if the girl from Minnesota (land of no public transportation, even in the city really) can figure out the T, you can too.

Here's some pictures from previous Boston visits!

This is a picture of me and one of my freshman year roomies, Sharon playing around in the Frog Pong in the Boston Common... very first trip into Boston as a freshman, back in 2005!

Our favorite picture from freshman year! This was in Faneuil Hall, when we went in for Danielle's birthday. That's Megan, Alisha, Danielle, Sharon, Janelle and I.

Sophomore year: Alisha and I helping the duckies walk in the Common :)

Janelle and I with our free tickets to Fenway as sophomores!

Faneuil Hall at Christmastime!

This was over my birthday weekend last March-- my friend Charles is a big fan of Samuel Adams (for obvious reasons) so he wanted his picture taken by him!

So as you can see, Boston is a great city with lots to do. Can't wait to go in tomorrow night with my favorite girls to celebrate a fantastic birthday :) Happy Birthday Janelle! Love you!

Gonna get right back to where I started from...

2008-09-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Mostly, I've been thinking about how this is my final year at Stonehill. Yeah, yeah, I know SO DEPRESSING- why am I thinking about this? But it's inevitable really, as I just can't wrap my head around that idea. Next year at this time, who knows where I'll be? Hopefully it'll be Paris (avec Jill!) but that's not for sure yet, and I am the kind of person who likes set future plans. I've been trying to just live in the moment and soak up every ounce that senior year has been offering me, and so far I've been doing a good job. But then my stupid wandering mind gets in the way, and I think about how in about 8 and a half months, my perfectly organized life will be over.

I mean, think about it. We've been going to school since we were 5 (maybe even earlier if you count preschool) and that's all we know. Unless some of you have crazy adventures about a gap year before college, we've all been basically doing the same thing for the past 17 years- getting an education. By now we know the ropes on studying, time management and organization. As seniors, we've spent more time within the walls of MacPhaidin than we care to admit, made it through each subsequent year by passing our finals and we know the caf's menu far too well. But come May 17th, our lives become an open book. No more required school.

So now what?

Most of my friends will be going to med school (smarty pants), law school (more smarty pants), grad school or getting jobs and we'll be spread out all around the world. No more rolling out of bed at noon for Sunday brunch in our pj's, no more Thursday night Grey's extravaganzas, no more giving tours in the rain and snow and worst of all, no more togetherness. I realize this is the kind of post you'd expect in April, not September, but I'm already sad about leaving. As my roommate would say, I need to "PULL IT TOGETHER SUSAN" and stop whining about leaving because it's not happening til May. So I will :)

Here are some pictures from senior year with some of my favorite people in the world!

First night back at school with some of my favorites! This is Maeve, me, Janelle and Caitlin very happy to see each other, especially since Maeve and Janelle were studying in Florence last spring so we hadn't seen each other since January!

I pretty much love these girls more than life: Me, my roommate Mandi, Caitlin and Jenny :)

Here's Caitlin, Jill (who I'm moving to Paris with, hopefully!) and myself all happy to be together again (and see Caite, you finally made it into the blog!)

Good group shot (though this isn't even everyone!) of me, Janelle, Mandi, Maeve, Ellen, Kim and Sara. Been friends with some of these girls since freshman year and I can't believe how long ago that seems now!

This is what 4 years at Stonehill will get you-- great friends and great memories. Can't wait to make more this year! (And I'll try to keep the whiney posts to a minimum!)

PS- My friend Charles has informed me he would like a blog shout-out as well, and today's the perfect day for one: HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY YOU OLD MAN!

One Year Ago...

2008-08-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

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.

Jetsetting!

2008-08-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

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!

Growing up too quickly...

2008-08-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

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!

Summer 2006: John Martin (10), Annika (8) & Stephen (5)

Summer 2006, 3 weeks after Sophia was born: My first photo with all five kids: Stephen, Sophia, John Martin, Annika & Timmy

Thanksgiving 2006, first time seeing them since summer

Summer 2007, 11 months old: Sophia and I sharing some giggles :)

Summer 2007: My little warrior, Timmy :)

August 6th, 2007: Sophia's First Birthday!

Summer 2007, the girls: Me, Annika & Sophia

This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us. It was a few days before I left to study abroad last fall.

Summer 2008: The little kid pushing the big kid!

Annika's 10th Birthday, July 2008

Perfect fit :) -23 months old-

Love the look on her face!

August 6th, 2008: Sophia's 2nd Birthday!

Look at the big 2 year old with all her presents!

So excited that she gets to open all of them!

Singin’ Sweet Home Alabama All Summer Long…

2008-07-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

Ah, summer. Popsicles, going swimming, staying up late and sleeping til noon, eating outside, vacations and no homework!

Well, at least until you have to get a summer job. This is something I’m sure almost all of us can relate to. There you were, enjoying three glorious months of carefree activities like the ones listed above and BAM! Suddenly, mom and dad aren’t paying for things anymore and you need to come up with some form of monetary compensation. Then the real challenge arises: how can you find a job and still enjoy your now limited summer vacations before you’re stuck working… (Dare I say it?)… All… Year…Long…?

Luckily for me, I devised a solution that has served me well over my past 3 summers: I’m a nanny.

For me, nannying is the perfect summer job. I (literally) get to play all day long, I have a flexible schedule, I have countless “soft” benefits like free lunches and snacks, the ability to drive the kids around on someone else’s gas money, and a comfy attire of t-shirts, shorts and flip flops, and best of all I always love going to work!

Here is a picture of me “hard at work”:

Up until June, I didn’t even have to drive to work! I just walked across the street and into my neighbor’s house- pretty nice commute, if you ask me! But when the ever-growing family of 7 finally outgrew their 3-bedroom house, it was time for them to move. Now my 5-minute commute gives me enough time to wake up before chasing after the 5 kids all day! Between the 13-year-old, 10-year-old, 7.5-year-old, 5-year-old and 2-year-old, I’m kept plenty busy but I wouldn’t trade a thing. I’ve bonded with each of these kids in various ways and have come to love them dearly. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of coming to work and having the toddler sprinting towards you for a hug, grinning from ear to ear shouting “HI TOOZIE!” (Toddler talk for: “Hi Susie!”)

Now don’t start hating me too much. This summer I decided I also needed some “real world” experience, and I was able to get an intensive one-month internship at Kroll Ontrack, Inc. This internship allows me to nanny part-time yet I can still devote 20-30 hours a week to Kroll Ontrack. Here at my “real” job, I serve as an administrative assistant to the Head of Strategic Development, so I do things like file and track expense reports, make copies, and I’m going to be doing some language translation work for the President! I was a bit apprehensive at first because I wasn’t sure if I could handle being in a cubicle all day, but I’m actually really enjoying it! (I also really like the new work wardrobe I got to buy!) Here are two pictures of my office at Kroll:

I was so surprised to walk in to my first day of work and see that I already had a name plate on my cubicle! Working in an office is definitely a new experience for me, but it’s one that I’m glad to have. It’s helping me see how a global business runs and my cubicle is steps away from the offices of the company President, the COO, the CFO, and (my boss) the Head of Strategic Development. So you can imagine I’m learning a lot simply by being in such close proximity to these successful people!

Not only will this experience help boost my resume, it’s even better that this opportunity arose before graduation. After Stonehill is over, I’m hoping to move back to Paris (where I studied abroad in the fall of 2007) and work in an office there, so this experience will hopefully help prepare me for the corporate world. I’m still not quite sure how my psychology major will fit in, but my French major will definitely pay off!

The rest of my summer will be a balancing act: nanny some days, intern the others. But it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to. I enjoy the contrast of working alongside educated adults some days and spending others reminding the 2-year-old to say “please” and “thank you”.

And hey, before you know it, August 24^th will be here and I’ll be moving back to Stonehill, ready to start another academic year. As excited as I am to move back to school, I can say that my summer situation does have one perk over Stonehill: no homework!

Minnesota... that's next to California, right?

2008-07-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, I admit it. I do. No, really... I do. I'll even say it, right here, right now, for all of you to read.

Deep breath...

Hi, I'm Susie... and I'm from Minnesota.

Ok, I said it. Now I can only imagine you're doing 1 of 3 things right now:

Rolling your eyes (Because really, who actually lives in Minnesota? I mean, besides those 5 million registered citizens...)
Feeling sorry for me (Well, don't. My great state is home to over 10,000 lakes, the recording artist Prince (who lives in my town- actually I can see his recording studio from my bedroom), the 2008 Home Run Derby Champion Justin Morneau, the Mighty Ducks trilogy (which was filmed at my high school) and of course, the great sport of hockey!)
Getting out a map to find out exactly where Minnesota is (Is it in the US or Canada? Who knows?)

During my 3 years at Stonehill, I have gotten all of these responses once someone learns what state I'm from. Back in the fall of 2005, I was just an innocent Stonehill freshman who wasn't quite sure how to deal with questions such as "Minnesota... that's next to California, right?" or "Wow, Minnesota... can you see the Pacific Ocean from your house?" Even now, as my final year at Stonehill approaches, I still have to remind my friends that my 3-hour flight to school is a lot quicker than their 8-hour drive and reassure them that no, they didn't wake me up by calling at 10 pm, it's actually only 9 pm by me.

There are a handful of us "Minnesotans" at Stonehill and I'm sure we each do our own defending of the North Star state. I would now like to set the record straight on a place that only ONE of my Stonehill friends has come out to see (Shout out to my fantastic roommate Mandi Bates, who has voluntarily come to visit me in "Minna" numerous times!)

So without further ado, I present to you, the Stonehill community:

True Life: I'm from Minnesota

Myth: Minnesota is located "out west"

Truth: Minnesota is considered the "midwest", as we're situated between the Dakotas and Wisconsin. Here's a map of the midwest to help you out:

Myth: Our seasons consist of spring (when the snow melts), summer (when the average high might reach 50°), fall (when we start preparing for the imminent snow) and winter (when it snows every minute of every day of every week... until spring)

Truth: We do have 4 seasons, but they don't all revolve around snow. In fact, while it does snow frequently, our main concern is usually the freezing temperatures and wind chills, which hit a record low in 1982 when the wind chill registered at -71° (that's right, 71° below zero). But the springs, summers and falls are pleasant, which help strike the re-location thoughts we all get around late January...

vs.

Myth: Minnesota sports teams have never had any good athletes.

Truth: Boston sports fans may thank us for providing you with the following: David Ortiz, Randy Moss, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Wally Szczerbiak, JD Drew, Laurence Maroney and Doug Mientkiewicz.

Myth: Everyone lives on a farm or in an igloo.

Truth: Of the 5 million Minnesota residents, over half live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, a.k.a. suburbia. In fact, here is a picture of my house:

Myth: Fargo is in Minnesota and EVERYONE has the accent.

Truth: Fargo is in North Dakota, and while some MN natives may stretch out their “o’s” to an ungodly length, most of us speak quite normally.

But best of all:

Wisconsin has cheese. Iowa has corn. South Dakota has Mt. Rushmore. North Dakota has… well, not much. But Minnesota has something greater than them all... The Mall of America:

(Yes, you’re seeing correctly. We have an indoor amusement park in our mall!)

Hopefully this post has cleared up some misconceptions, taught you something new and (hopefully) made you giggle a bit. I’ve lived in 3 different states and have enjoyed my time in all of them, but there is something special about Minnesota. And maybe this post will change the requisite “Whoa, you’re from Minnesota?” comments I’m sure to get during my senior year to “Whoa, you’re from Minnesota!!!”