Having a Radio Show!

Hello, everyone! Happy Wednesday.

I just want to apologize for not posting in awhile... it's been a crazy week! I've had lots of papers and projects to work on. This semester is definitely keeping me busy! But I just wanted to write a quick blog post about something cool that I have been doing: I have a radio show!

A few weeks ago, WWPV, the radio station on campus, sent out an email with an application to be a DJ. I was interested; it sounded fun to have my own show! So I filled it out with info about me and what kind of music I would play. It was accepted! My show is called Humble Winds with Emily in the Monday 12pm-2pm time slot!

So far, I've played two shows and it's been an awesome experience. It's so cool to have your friends on and off campus tuning in to listen to your show! During my first show, I put out the request line phone number, and got a call from an alum. He was a DJ for WWPV in the 1980s and was on campus visiting. He requested a Beatles song that he used to play on his show all the time. He was really friendly and told me I was doing a great job even though I was super nervous. This is just another example of how the SMC community, including alumni, are so incredibly friendly!

My first show!

Here's a panorama of the station set up (sorry it's so dark!- enlarge for a better view)

If you want to tune into my show, I would be delighted! If you're on campus, you can turn your TV to Channel 4, or your radio to 88.7. If you're off campus, we stream online! Just go to here and you can set it up. Curious about what type of music I play? You can check out the playlist here.

If you have any questions, about WWPV or about SMC in general, feel free to contact me, or ask anonymously on my formspring!

Hope everyone has a great rest of their week!

G.R.E.A.T. Housing Options for Sophomore Year

Hi everyone! Happy weekend. St. Mike's gave us a long weekend, so I am writing this post from my grandmother's house in Vermont! Hurray for home cooked food and quality time with my grandmother :)

I said earlier this week that I would talk about the pros and cons to all my options for where to live next year. I want to remain in G.R.E.A.T. Housing and I want to live in a single again, which means my options are a little more limited than most. So here goes nothing:

Alumni Hall 

picture of Alumni Hall from smcvt.edu

Pros

• Alumni is located on the quad so it's a quick walk to everything on Main Campus (Alliot, academic buildings, library)
• Alumni will be connected to the new student center, so I can take advantage of everything that has to offer
• Alumni is set up very similar to how my current hall is, so it's familiar
• All of the fourth floor will be G.R.E.A.T. Housing
• The basement has a nice lounge with pool tables/couches and would be a great place to hang out

Cons

• Alumni doesn't have many singles so it could be hard to get one
• If I'm located that close to the new student center (I wouldn't even have to go outside!) I might be really tempted to go spend money at the new restaurants they're putting in there (an Einstein Bros. Bagels and a grille!)
• Fourth floor. Enough said. 

Hamel Hall

photo of Hamel Hall from smcvt.edu

 Pros

• All of Hamel Hall will be G.R.E.A.T. Housing
• There are lots of singles on North Campus so I have a good chance of getting one
• The rooms are bigger than the ones on the Quad and the ceilings are really high
• Access to the balcony- would be so nice when the weather is warm!
• There's housing for about 50 people, so it would be a great little community
• There's a kitchen on the first floor that any one can use

Cons

• It's on North Campus (about a 5 minute shuttle ride from Main Campus)
• Hanging out with my friends will take more coordination than just walking down two flights of stairs and seeing if they're home

The Suites (Cashman, Pontigny, Canterbury)

photo of Pontigny and Canterbury from smcvt.edu

Pros

• The suites are really new and nice... they were completed in 2004
• The suites are in a convenient location, close to Alliot and only a short walk to everything else
• I would get a single room, but at the same time be sharing a common room with seven other girls. The first floor also has a large common room!
• Each floor has a kitchen to use
• Three suites are set aside for G.R.E.A.T. Housing (24 beds), two for groups of 8 and one to "single in" (sign up for by myself)

Cons

• Because I don't have 7 friends to go in with, I would have to "single in" and would have no clue who I am signing up to live with
• In front of a busy road, it might be loud

So... those are my options! The new residence hall might also be an option, but we haven't heard much about that so I haven't included it in my list. I am going to treat it like it's not an option but if there happens to be a spot when I go to sign up for a room, I will definitely take it! 

Right now, I am leaning towards living in Hamel Hall next year. It seems to have a lot of great features and I have heard nothing but great things about the community on North Campus. I know that wherever I end up, I will be happy and make it my own space. I will be sure to keep you updated on where I am living!

If you have any questions, about the housing process or about SMC in general, feel free to contact me, or ask anonymously on my formspring! Have a great long weekend!

On Not Getting the Job (and Why It’s Okay)

So, I mentioned in my last post that I was applying to become an RA. After the week and a half application process, full of lots of stress (my end) and lots of interviews (Student Life Office’s end), they emailed out their decisions this morning.

I did not get the job.

This is the first real rejection I have experienced in college. I had a minor rejection in the fall when I applied for the Writing Center and was not accepted. I was a bit disappointed about that, but this is truly a hard rejection to swallow. I wanted this job so badly. I wrote my first “real world” cover letter, went to a workshop Career Services held on aceing your job interviews, and gave the interviews my all. In the end, I knew my competition was great. There were 31 girls applying for 12-14 positions.

From here, there is still a (small) chance I may get hired, if someone changes their mind about the position or decides to go abroad at the last minute. I can also reapply next fall for any positions that are open in the spring.

Although I don’t like living through it, rejection is good. It is something that will leave me stronger. I will certainly experience rejection in the real world. It’s important to deal with it as well as you can. I am a firm believer in the philosophy “everything happens for a reason” and can’t wait to see what the reason for this is. Maybe I will meet amazing friends wherever I end up living next fall. Perhaps I will get a leadership position in one of my clubs that does not allow me to give as much of my time to being an RA as I should.

For now, I am left wondering where I will live next year. As I wish to remain in G.R.E.A.T. Housing, my options are Alumni Hall on the quad, Hamel Hall on North Campus, or to try and “single in” to one of the suites. Each option has its pros and cons, so look forward to a post on that soon!

Hope you’re having a good Wednesday, everyone.

Living in the Present

Hello everyone :)

Today was a pretty stressful day. I am in the middle of the process of applying to become a Resident Assistant (RA). There is a lot of competition, they said yesterday that there are two applicants to every position, and a lot of girls applying, which makes it even tougher for me. I can surely say now, that St. Mike's really wants the best possible RAs, as the process to getting to become an RA is pretty intense.

Last Friday, we had to submit a Resume, Cover Letter, and a six page application. On Monday, everyone that applied had to go to a kick off event. At the kick off, we heard from some Res. Life staff members, current RAs, ACAs (basically RAs for the apartments and townhouses) and RDs (Residence Directors). We did some team building activities and got a chance to ask questions. Now all that's left for me to do is go through two interviews- one with my RD and one with a panel of current RAs and RDs. I am really nervous about these interviews, but I'm also hoping that they will be a great chance to show the staff members just how much I want this.

This afternoon, I felt a lot of anxiety over the interviews and the process in general... and I realized how silly it truly was. At this point, there is nothing I can actively do, and worrying isn't getting me anywhere! I decided that to relieve some stress, I would attend the Mindfulness Meditation that happens every Tuesday in the Upper Room of the Chapel. I went to the Meditations a lot last semester, but didn't make it to the last few because I was pretty busy. I had yet to make it one this semester, and decided today was the day.

Image from here

Mindfulness Meditation is run by Linda, one of the staff members from Personal Counseling from 4:45-5:45. We do two sittings of meditation- one is guided (she talks us through it) and one is silent. We work on different techniques each week, like visualization or using a mantra. One thing that really stuck out to me was that Linda kept reminding us to "stay in the present". It was okay if our mind wandered, as long as we brought it back. It was okay to notice the sounds going on around us, like someone playing the piano downstairs, as long as we acknowledged that it was happening here and now.

It was a message I really took with me through the rest of the day. I left meditation with a clear head and felt like I was once again in control. I was originally planning to skip Improv tonight so I could get some sleep... but I decided at the last minute to go. After all, when else would I have the opportunity to have this very Improv group, playing these games? Improv is a weekly event, but it varies so much from week to week, as different people come, we play new games, and the dynamic changes. I decided that since all my work was done, I would go.

I ended up having a great time. Last semester, I observed a lot and was too shy to get up and participate in many games. However, tonight, I won my first game and was a huge participant. It felt great. I was really living in the present. It was great to be silly and laugh for an hour, and it was just what I needed at the end of this crazy day.

If you have any questions, whether it's about becoming an RA, Improv, or anything else SMC related, please contact me or use my Formspring!

Have a great week, everyone.

Dorm Life "Hacks"

 Happy Monday, everyone!

So in the past, I did a post on Alliot "hacks"... today I'm going to give you some tips for living in a dorm! Dorm life is totally different from living at home. You go from living with a handful of people to sharing four bathrooms with twenty eight! After the adjustment, it's really not so bad. The good thing about living in a building with roughly 200 other people? There's always someone around. But here are some tips I have picked up:

1. Wake up at 6:50 to shower. A lot of people, especially first years, have class that starts at 8:30. This means that they usually get up around 7 so they can shower, get ready, and grab breakfast in Alliot before class. This also means that around 7:05, everyone wants to shower. Everyone is really respectful and showers quickly, but you can avoid the rush by waking up just ten minutes earlier.

2. Don't slam your door. I have been guilty of this one a lot lately. It's super easy to just let the door shut on it's own (it's heavy enough to swing shut) but the loud noise that results will really irritate your neighbors. When you're studying, all it takes is one loud BANG to distract you. To fix this, either make sure you're really gentle with the door, or put a sock on the top of your door. It sounds weird, but it totally works.

3. If you get takeout, keep the bag. As soon as you're done eating, throw all the takeout trash in the bag, tie it up, and put it in the garbage room in your wing. If you throw it in your room trash, it's going to stink. Takeout smells really bad if you leave around. However, if you do happen to have a room that smells like pizza, spray some febreeze and open your window to air things out.

4. You're allowed to to take fruit out of Alliot. There are bins with red apples, green apples, citrus (usually oranges or tangerines), and bananas. They're nice to take back to your room and keep for a healthy snack. One of the Alliot workers said you can take five pieces a day- that's a lot of free fruit to take advantage of!

5. If one of your friends is too sick to get out of bed to get food from Alliot, have them call Health Services (their number is 802.654.2234) and they will give you meal passes. You can take the meal pass to the KnightStand (the cafe outside of the cafeteria) and they will give you a meal pack to bring to your sick friend!

Anyways, here are just a few tips to living the dorm life! Hope everyone has a great week!