Housing and The Masquerade Ball!

Hi everyone! Hope your week is off to a good start.

I just wanted to update you on my housing situation for next year...

I'M LIVING IN QUAD COMMONS!!!!!!!

My new home as seen from my current home!!!!!!

How exciting is that?! I bid for Housing last Thursday, with the other people that are in G.R.E.A.T. Housing. My lottery number was not that low (1224) so I was expecting to try for a single on North Campus, not have the pick of the lot!

A quick explanation on how housing works for GREAT (it's similar for Honors too). Everyone that was G.R.E.A.T. this year and wanted to remain in it for next year bid for their housing last Thursday. We all had to be in Alliot after dinner. People that wanted singles had to be there at 6:25, people that wanted doubles had to be there at 6:30, and the people that wanted to go into G.R.E.A.T. Housing for the first time were after that. Everyone lined up by their lottery number. I was super surprised to find that I was ninth in line. We lined up in first floor Alliot and waited for them to tell us we could go upstairs. When we went upstairs, we had to wait outside the Vermont Room (a conference room) where they had floor plans of all the buildings set up. A handful of people were let in at a time and allowed to choose where they wanted to live. There were singles set up for G.R.E.A.T. on North Campus, some in Cashman (one of the Suite buildings), and a few in Quad Commons. I was psyched and after hearing my options, decided I wanted to live in QC! They initialed my room and then I got to sign for it and hand in my housing contract.

I will be in a four person suite next year! It's four single rooms, two bathrooms, and a common room on the third floor. I will be the first person ever to live there! I'm SO excited! Two of my suite mates are girls on my floor and I think we will get along well. I will be connected to the New Student Center which means I don't have to go outside to get to a fitness center, two restaurants, and a ton of other awesome amenities. I'm SO excited!!!

~

The other thing I wanted to write about today is the Masquerade Ball that took place in Alliot last weekend! I don't usually go to dances but since all my friends were going and I wanted to dress up, I decided to go to this one.

Candid! Alex doing Lauren's hair

I went over to my friend Alex's apartment and she helped Lauren, Rynne, and me by curling our hair. She's so talented with a curling iron!!! I got ready at her apartment and then we went over to Founder's Hall to Lauren and Rynne's room to take pictures with a huge group of people. Here are some of the pics:

First year girls: Colleen, Katie, Erica, Kristin, Lauren, and me!

Group panorama (I recommend clicking to enlarge!)

Colleen didn't go to the dance but she came to take pictures!

We went to the dance and hung out there for a few hours. They did an awesome job of decorating Alliot to make it look pretty. They had lights wrapped around the columns and ribbons around the ceiling. They even had balloons on the dance floor for us to play with.

After a few hours of dancing, we decided to go back to Founders and order some food- we were hungry! Alex, Lauren, Lauren, Rynne, and I enjoyed some pizza and cheesy bread. It totally hit the spot!!

The most delicious pizza ever

It's a really busy week but I'm powering through for Easter break. Hope everyone else is having a great week!!

My First Vlog! (Spring Break, Alumni Appreciation Week, Housing)

Hi everyone! I decided to vlog for you this week. Hope you enjoy!

If you have any questions, please direct them to my VYou page!

Have a good week!

FAQ: What do you do on the weekend?

Hi everyone! Hope your weekend is off to a great start.

One question that seems to come up a lot in the Knight Chats (next one is  3/21- more info here) is "What do you do on the weekend?"  I think a lot of people are expecting parties, and like at every school, partying does happen. However, I am not a partier at all and I can still have an amazing weekend!

There is no typical weekend for a St. Mike's student. Some weekends we are locked away in the library working on projects or papers, some weekends we go on retreats, some weekends we have birthday parties for our friends, some weekends we have absolutely no preset plans and still manage to have a great time. Every weekend is different!

For instance, yesterday night I went contra dancing for the first time! A few weeks ago, we got an email for a contra dance with a live band on North Campus. If you don't know what contra dancing is, I suggest looking it up on youtube because it's really something that can't be explained with words. It's similar to square dancing but very different- and a LOT of fun! My friend Jake loves to dance so I made him come with me and we headed up to North Campus.

North Campus is about a five minute shuttle ride from Main Campus and the shuttle runs every half hour (around the 15 and 45 minute marks on North, around the top of the hour and the 30 minute mark on Main). We picked up the 8:30 shuttle from the Ryan bus stop and headed to the Elley-Long Music Center. I've never been in there before, but it's such a beautiful little music hall!

Since we arrived in the middle of a dance, we had to watch for a bit which was completely fine so we could get the hang of it. A caller goes through each dance before it begins, as there is a 64-beat dance that, while composed of the same steps, is different every time. Then, once that was over, we could just go ask anyone to dance! A lot of the people there last night were members of the community who were a lot more experienced in contra dance and they helped the newbies out a lot. Here are some pictures from the night:

Contra dancing!

Me, Jake, and some of his friends!

Here's a video- sorry it's short!

Over about three hours, we did probably ten contras, two square dances, and a waltz. It was a blast! The band was great and everyone I danced with was really nice. It was a great way to get out and have some fun on a Friday night. After it was over, Jake and I walked back to Main Campus (we missed the shuttle and did not want to wait) and saw that the grille was open. The grille goes from 11pm-1am on weekends and serves different food- hot dogs, hamburgers, BBQ chicken sandwiches, and last night, chicken patties!! It's all free and we can just wander over to get food if we're hungry and we were! I have no pictures of the chicken patties because we ate them too quickly, sorry!

After that, it was time to go home for the night, but it was an awesome night. I just wanted to give you a glimpse into what weekends are like at St. Mike's. Hope everyone has a great weekend!