Family Weekend 2013!

Hello everyone! I hope your week is off to a lovely start!

Last weekend was family weekend here at St. Michael's and I was lucky enough to have my family come up!! They came up on Friday and hung out with me all weekend. I saw my family a few weeks ago for Easter, but it was really nice to have them on campus. They haven't been up here since October, and it was cool to show them around campus now that I really know it!

Friday night we pretty much just went to dinner and hung out because my family had been in the car all day. They were tired!

Hanging out with my mom in the hotel!

Saturday morning, it was an Accepted Student Day!! We had about 250 families on campus checking out the school. I also gave my very first tour! I became a tour guide in March and have been training by shadowing tours ever since. Shout out to Alex, Lauren, and Lauren Loy for letting me shadow your tours- you guys are awesome!!! On Saturday, I was able to show some families around campus and answer their questions. I was nervous but I hope they were able to see just how much SMC means to me!

Pre-tour nerves!

Alex snagged this picture of me giving my very first tour!

After the tour, my family joined me on campus and we went to Alliot for brunch. My mom and sister have eaten at school before, but it was everyone's first time for brunch and they were pretty pleased with it! It was Breakfast Pizza day, one of my personal brunch favorites :)

Family brunching in Alliot!

On Saturday afternoon, we took a drive down to the Waterbury/Stowe area and checked out the Ben and Jerry's factory. If you're looking for something to do in the area, I really recommend it! You get a great half-hour tour and history of Ben and Jerry's, and a great sample! After our tour, we took a walk up to the "Flavor Graveyard"- check out the view!

I suggest clicking on the picture to make it bigger!

That night, my sister got to sleep over in my room. We did not do too much, just ordered take out and I did her nails. It was great to have some quality sister time because it is still kind of weird that I don't see her every day!

Sunday morning, my family knew they were heading out early, so we went out to a nice brunch. We went to Athen's diner in Colchester and had one of the best breakfasts ever. Seriously! I had a cheeseburger omelette with a home made biscuit and had enough food to eat for lunch too. The diner is way up on a hill so you get an awesome view too.

That's my kind of hot chocolate!

Another beautiful view of Vermont.

Overall, it was a busy weekend, but we had a great time. Now, I'm buckling down for the last week of classes and finals! I will update again soon!

Hope you're having a great week, everyone.

Study Abroad Planning!

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

Since I've started looking at colleges, I've known I want to go abroad. St Mike's has a great study abroad program and it's something I definitely want to take advantage of while I'm here- about 30% of our students do! The price of your study abroad program is even covered by your normal semester tuition, so it won't cost any extra! Semesters abroad are typically taken during Junior year, though at St. Mike's. It's far off, but since I really want to make sure it happens, I decided to schedule a meeting with Peggy Imai, the coordinator of study abroad.

A few of my friends have scheduled meetings with Peggy recently and all had great experiences. So yesterday, I went on the Study Abroad website and set up an appointment with her. Luckily, she had an opening today! I was able to make a 2pm appointment, so after I ate lunch I headed over to her office in Klein.

Klein! This building houses Human Resources, Personal Counseling, and Study Abroad.

Peggy was super helpful! First she gave me an overview on study abroad itself. St. Mike's has programs everywhere- seriously, the only place there isn't a program is Antarctica! I was really impressed by all the different options.

We talked about what I was looking for in a program. I did a little research before I showed up today, and decided I was looking for a program in London where I could do an internship. This helped to narrow my options down some, and Peggy gave me information on three different programs that met my needs- BU, AIFS (American Institute for Foreign Study), and Arcada. She gave me some information about how to "shop" around for a program that really gets me all I want from my study abroad experience. She gave me some awesome program books that contain all the information I need to select a program!

AIFS has a great program right in the middle of London!

BU's Study Abroad program has some seriously interesting sounding classes!

After we talked about the programs themselves, Peggy gave me an overview on how the application process works. Since I want to be abroad in Fall 2014, I will start my application process next January. I have to do two applications- one to St. Mike's and one to the program itself. Then, she went over how the classes abroad will fit into the courses I need to graduate. I know that there will be a lot of information sessions for this next year, but I'm really glad that I was able to get a head start on everything. Peggy is a fantastic resource!

If you have any questions about study abroad or St. Mike's in general, please feel free to contact me!

Have a great rest of the week, everyone!

What I've Been Up To!

First of all,  I am so, so sorry about not posting here in awhile! I've been crazy busy. Spring semester is still in full swing. We only have a few weeks left, but things aren't winding down yet!! I wanted to tell you all about what I've been up to this week:

Tuesday- FREE CONE DAY!

Ben and Jerry's is pretty big in Vermont- their factory isn't too far from here and their Scoop Shop on Church Street is a pretty bustling place. Even more bustling when the ice cream is free!! On Tuesday, they were giving out free cones from 12-8pm and I had to go check out it. After our meeting, the HerCampus SMCVT team went down for some group bonding. Alex, Lauren Murphy, Laura, and I were in one car and made it down there first. When I saw that the line was almost a full block away from the store, I was imagining an hour wait... but nope! Ben and Jerry's have it down to a science and we were through the line in under fifteen minutes! It was a great afternoon pick-me-up.

The line at Free Cone Day

Laura, Alex, and Lauren!

Me and my free cone- Candy Bar Pie!

Wednesday- RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE!

I don't have that many pictures of this one because, let's face it, no one wants to see blood, but it's so worth mentioning. I had never donated blood before earlier this semester when I signed up to work at the snack table and ended up donating.  Since then, I found out I'm an O+ donor, one of the highest in demand. So this blood drive, in addition to working registration for an hour, I gave a double red blood cell donation. My friend Colleen volunteered with me and our friend Katie met us there to donate. The Blood Drive had a great turn out!

Colleen gives two thumbs up to the Red Cross!

Thursday- SLOANE!

There are two dining options at SMC- Alliot (Green Mountain Dining Room) and Knights at the Round Table, in Sloane on North Campus. They both take our swipes so they're included in the meal plan, but I had never gone to Sloane before! On Thursday night, Alex, Lauren Murphy, Laura, Colleen, and I made the trek up to North to enjoy some delicious food. You get to pick an appetizer, entree, and dessert and they even serve you at the table! It was a great way to go out to eat without having to spend any money. Here are a few pictures of what I had:

Fried ravioli as my appetizer

Chicken parm for my entree

Cappucino brownie for dessert!

Friday- DEAD MAN WALKING!

Every semester, the Theatre department at SMC puts on a main stage show. This semester, they put on Dead Man Walking. It was interesting to go and see the show because about a month ago, Sister Helen Prejean, whose life the play is based off, came to speak about her experiences. The cast and crew did a great job of bringing the show to life. I definitely got emotional towards the end! I really recommend checking it out if you're in the area, it's going on next weekend, April 18-20 at 7pm and it's free!

The set of Dead Man Walking

As you can see, I've been super busy! But I'm busy doing things I love and that what makes being busy fun. I promise to update again soon! Hope everyone has a great weekend.