Thanksgiving Break!

First off, an apology for not posting for a bit. I decided I would not blog when I was home for Thanksgiving so I could spend all my time with my friends and family :)

Break started for me at 2:50pm on Tuesday, which was really convenient since there is a 4:00pm Megabus from Burlington to Boston! The bus was a little more expensive than usual ($34 instead of ~$20) but it is still a good deal AND I got a whole seat to myself. That never happens!!! So I got to stretch out and enjoy the wifi and the knowledge I had five days off ahead of me. The bus made really good time, going from Burlington to South Station, Boston, in 3 hours and 45 minutes... somehow we managed to avoid all the rush hour traffic. It was so good to finally be home :)

Instead of going through a play by play, let's take a picture tour of what I was up to over break:

I got to spend lots of quality tie with my little sister!

I went back to my high school for "Spirit Day"- this is the class of 2013

Spent time with my friend KJ!

Hung out with my cat!

Ate some DELICIOUS!!! turkey that my aunt Carol made!

Played dress up at Macy's with my sister

Went into Boston with my friend Emily and got interviewed by Boston.com

The view on the ride back to school... isn't Vermont gorgeous?

Break was busy, but I got to spend it with the people that I love and I ate a lot of delicious homemade food! But I was glad to get back to campus on Sunday night. I really love the life that I have established here at St. Mike's.

Anyways, it's going to be a crazy busy few weeks- just 3 more weeks until break! Hope everyone has a great week!

My First St. Mike's Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone :) Hope you're having a wonderful week.

Last night was something I had been waiting for awhile... THANKSGIVING IN ALLIOT!!A lot of the upperclassmen had told me how awesome Thanksgiving is so I was really excited to get to experience it for myself. Of course it is no replacement for the Thanksgiving dinner I will eat with my family next week, it was wonderful to get to enjoy a nice meal with my St. Mike's family.

It was a beautiful day yesterday... a little chilly, but really sunny. This is what the sunset looked like... so pretty!

Beautiful sunset over by Pomerleau Alumni Center

 My friends and I all had a Founder's Society (this group includes tour guides, bloggers, alumni relations) Meeting so after that was over we all wanted to go to dinner together. I had been told that dinner would be packed since everyone goes to Thanksgiving dinner. We had to hunt around a bit for a table, but we found a nice one in the back and claimed it. The staff in the dining hall do a really nice job on making everything look nice. We even had tablecloths on the tables!

Tablecloths are so fancy!

After we put our stuff on the table to claim it, we went up and got our food. There was everything you could possibly want for Thanksgiving... turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, peas and boiling onions, corn, all sorts of bread and rolls.

My dinner :) Cranberry sauce, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and a roll!

They even had a vegan option. I'll be honest, I did not stop to see what it was because I was so excited about turkey, but the dining hall does a GREAT job of catering to special diets, even on special days. My friend Colleen is a vegetarian but she opted just to get mashed potatoes, peas, and onions (and dessert of course) and she said it was really good.

Even the vegetarian found stuff to eat!

 Dessert was a sight of itself. They had all the classics... apple crisp, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, and more. I went for a piece of cheesecake, which I then covered in caramel and chocolate. My friends got the pumpkin pie and said it was awesome.

Cheesecake!!!!

We spent over an hour in Alliot eating dinner and enjoying each other's company. Thanksgiving break starts on Tuesday and we will all be heading in our separate directions for a few days... but I am really thankful to have these people in my life and it was nice that we got our own Thanksgiving together.

I am so thankful for all the people at St. Mike's. The people here are so friendly. From the people I don't know who hold the door for me going into Alliot to Dave, the guy who swipes cards in Alliot, to my amazing professors... they're all such nice people.

But most of all, I am thankful for my close friends. In the not-quite-three months that I have been here, I have completely found my place in this community. I have the greatest friends here... I know they always have my back. Three months ago we were strangers, but it is amazing how close you can get to people so quickly. From getting each other's silly (and sometimes... cheesy) humor to having the same taste in movies/TV shows/books to doing little things just to brighten each other's days... these people are truly my friends and it's wonderful. I am so, so lucky to be able to be here and be surrounded by such warm and genuine people.

Colleen and Erica!

Katie, JLo, and Erica

I hope everyone's week is going well. I have a busy few days, but I am headed home next Tuesday and I can't wait.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!

Quidditch Cup!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

This afternoon at St. Mike's was a very cool event... the very first Quidditch Cup!

For those of you unfamiliar, Quidditch is a wizarding sport from the Harry Potter series. I'm a huge fan of the books, so I was really excited to see that they were bringing the sport to St. Mikes!

QUIDDITCH!!

We were really lucky, it was a gorgeous fall day, some people didn't even wear jackets. The days are starting to get chillier and a coat is becoming necessary at all times. It's even snowed a few times (nothing that's stuck though). But for this afternoon's Quidditch, we had warmth and clear blue skies.

Playing Quidditch

Colleen and JLo- we're a silly bunch :)

Erica, Colleen, and Me :)

 They had been advertising about the cup and tabling in Alliot for a week, so in the end lots of people were excited and formed teams with their friend. There were about ten teams and they had a tournament. Altogether, it lasted about two hours. It was super entertaining.

Erica being a boss referee!

Colleen, Erica, and Lexi, the refs!

My friends Colleen and Erica signed up to be referees. Neither of them had ever seen a Quidditch match in real life and they were a little nervous, but they did a GREAT job reffing!

Also, for the people who just wanted to watch, the RHA (Residence Hall Association, who ran the Quidditch Cup) provided Harry Potter themed treats. We had cookies and Butterbeer, a drink made from cream soda and butterscotch. It was my first time trying Butterbeer, and it was pretty good.

The winners! Sirius Blacks

Overall, it was a great afternoon and I hope it happens again in the spring. It was a great way to get away from homework and spend some time enjoying this weather before the snow starts really falling.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Class Registration Day, Semester 2

It's that time of year!!!!!!

All my fellow bloggers put memes in their posts so I will too!

Class registrations!! This is how registration works:

1) You meet with your adviser a few weeks before Registration. I recently changed my major (from Psychology to Media Studies, Journalism, Digital Arts) and when you change your major, you usually get a new adviser. Professor Hyde is my new adviser, so we set up an appointment to meet and discuss what would be the best classes for me to take second semester. It's really easy to set up appointments with your adviser sicne they all put sign up sheets outside their office doors.

2) You get an email and a letter in the school mail telling you which group you are registering with. Each class is split in two and given a day. I was given the second day of First Years, the last day to go. I was freaking out yesterday because I was looking at KnightVision (where we register for classes) and saw all the classes I wanted were full so I wondered if they would open up more seats and they did. They reserved some seats in the classes just for the last registration day so it really doesn't matter when you register.

3) Pick your classes. This can be the hardest part. Right now, I am just trying to fulfill my LSCs, mostly, and take a few classes in my MJD major, so I had a lot of options. As of right now, here is my dream schedule:

Mon/Wed
8-935 Intro to Philosophy (PH 103 F)

Tues/Thurs
945-1120 Aftermaths (EN 110 E)
1130-105 Acting Techniques (TH 207 A)
3-435 Digital Media: Art, Culture, Theory (MJD 110 A)

But we shall see what happens. This would be an ideal schedule because Philosophy, Aftermaths (an English class about the literary repurcussions of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Recession), and Acting Techniques all fulfill an LSC, I need Digital Media for my major, and I would get Fridays off (unnecessary but a nice bonus!). However, it's certainly necessary to have as many backup classes as you can pick because you never know what will happen.

4) Wake up early! Class registration opens at 7am, so your best shots for the classes you wants comes at 7:00:01. I set about 40 alarms and woke up at 6:15 so I could shower before registration, and now I'm writing this blog post while I wait.

5) Register! Select the courses you want, choose register, and wait until exactly 7 to submit. You'll be faced with a little spiny circle that says "LOADING" for awhile.... over two minutes for me (normal since everyone is trying to register at the same time which slows the program) and then it will let you know what you got into... for me: 

Why yes, that is in fact ALL of my top choices! I got four out of four! Wooo!

Happy Friday, everyone!!