March 28, 2012

Housing


GOOD MORNING!


These past two weeks have been a bit stressful for students because it's housing lottery time. Every spring students are sent a lottery number, which they use to try to get the housing they want. Saint Mike's has great housing: Alumni in the Quad, Founder's on Main Campus, Suites and Townhouses for upperclassmen, and more housing and apartments on North Campus.


For next semester, my friend Cait and I decided to room together on North Campus. Although I loved living in the Quad this year (everyone you know lives near by & you're close to everything) we wanted to live on North to experience different housing.


This is where we'll be living!



We will be living in Linnehan, a two-floor building (guys on the first floor, girls on the second) that will be completely honors housing next year. So many of our friends will be living with us there, and two of my best friends, Merrill and Emma, will be living right next to us. Linnehan also has a kitchen that's open to the whole house. A bunch of us have already discussed having Sunday breakfasts together. We're going to be like one big family next year! (Also, for anyone worried about living on North because of its separation from Main Campus - there are constant shuttles that make several stops on North and Main; the whole ride to/from campus is only about 5 minutes).




 On the topic of housing, some of you prospective students may know that we don't give room tours here at SMC - since our students live on campus all four years, our rooms are like our homes here. We don't want to disrupt students who  may be studying or sleeping in their rooms (which has happened!) by touring their dorms and rooms all day.


SO instead, our ingenious Tour Guide Coordinators created a video about all of Saint Mike's housing. Lots of students helped out, and it gives you a great view of all the different housing available for your four years here at SMC. Check it out the 'SMC Kribs' Playlist here - FYI this video is also shown after your campus tour!


As always Formspring me with any questions - I love to help!

March 26, 2012

Tuition Runs Out Day


Happy Monday!


So most of you prospective students probably don't know that every year Saint Michael's College celebrates "Tuition Runs Out Day". I'd never heard of this before starting school here, but it is basically a day to thank our incredibly generous alumni.


Technically, our tuition only covers about 80% of our time here at SMC - every year there is a day on which tuition "runs out" and the rest of the school year is funded entirely by friends, family, and alumni. This year, that day fell on Friday, March 23. It's pretty incredible when you realize just how much our alumni donate to make our time here at Saint Mike's as amazing as it is.


In order to celebrate "Tuition Runs Out Day," and to properly thank our alumni, there was a video contest, hosted by the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, and judged by members of the Alumni Board of Directors...



Challenge:
Film the most creative 2-minute video you can for our 20,000 alumni that highlights what matters to you as a student at St. Michael’s College.



My  friend (and future roomie!) Cait and I decided to make a wonderful video, and we won third place! Check it out below!




We had SO MUCH FUN making the video! It was great to be silly with all of our friends, and of course we were happy to thank our alumni! I had no idea that our alumni were so generous, and I really am grateful for all that they do.


And of course...check out the WINNING VIDEO! It was adorable and so so so accurate.





I have kind of a crazy week ahead of me, but I'll be sure to blog some more - I just have so many things to share lately! Formspring me with any question!

March 22, 2012

SPRING BREAK


Ah spring break...it was just one short week ago, and yet it already feels like a distant memory. Kind of.


For spring break last week (before going home) I visited my brother in New York. He goes to NYU, so he was right in the heart of New York City in East Greenwich Village in Manhattan.

We had SO MUCH FUN being in NYC together. While we don't hang out all the time at home, we do go on adventures together every so often. It's been a little strange not seeing him while we're both at college, so it was great that Nick & I got to spend a couple days roaming the city.


SO Saturday morning I flew to New York from the Burlington Airport. Since I had a 6 AM flight I had to wake up at 4 AM...terrible but totally worth it. Also, I flew Jet Blue, which so cheap! I definitely recommend checking out Jet Blue's prices if you ever need to fly in/out of Burlington.

After getting picked up at JFK Airport by my brother, we went back to his totally gorgeous dorm where I met his friends & suite mates. NYU has some pretty amazing dormitories!



This is just outside my brother's dorm building. It's
the facade of an old church.



This is Nick's dorm! He's on the very top, on the 26th floor.



This is the amazing view from Nick's window.


That afternoon, Nick and I went (with all of his friends) to the American Museum of Natural History (for free!). It was amazing and HUGE and so much fun!



I found out that I'd weigh over 3,000 pounds on the sun.



...and only 0.037 pounds on a Red Giant Star.



One of the coolest things at the museum...not sure why there was a giant quid
attacking a whale, but it looked awesome.



And of course, we were all very excited to see the dinosaurs.


On Sunday we mostly just hung out and walked around New York. Nick also showed me some of his classrooms and different academic buildings. We also had some delicious things to eat - we got amazing burritos, went to a BBQ place that served awesome, giant portions, and had wonderful pastries from various coffee shops and bakeries. We also had ice cream at a store called '16 Handles' - it's a soft-serve place where you serve yourself all the ice cream & topping you want, then pay by weight. It was sooo good!


There's so much more to share about my trip to New York & the rest of my vacation at home! I'll blog again this weekend about spring break, 'Tuition Runs Out Day', and next year's housing.. Can't wait to share more with you all! Formspring me with any questions!

March 20, 2012

Spring is in the Air


Good Morning!

The Monday after spring break, and it certainly feels like spring! It's going to be 70-80 degrees all week it's absolutely gorgeous here!




SO the week before spring break was a bit of a roller coaster for me. I wasn't doing too well in Accounting, and ultimately came to the decision (with help from my professor, advisor, friends, & mom) that I need to withdraw from the class. It was a pretty difficult decision to make, but after thinking about it & researching the repurcussins of withdrawing, I found that if I withdraw, my grade won't count & will not affect my GPA. Instead, a withdrawal will show up on my transcript, which is not a bad thing if you only have one or two early in your college career. Now, I'm pretty happy that I withdrew from Accounting so that I can focus more on excelling in my other classes.


Also, before spring break I found out that I'M A TOUR GUIDE! It may be obvious since I'm a student blogger, but I LOVE talking to prospective students. Since I was in that same place a year ago, I understand how difficult it can be to choose a college. At the same time, I am in love with Saint Mike's & I want to share that love! I couldn't be happier that I was chosen to represent SMC!


In the tour guide realm, I hosted a prospective student (for the day) on Monday. She came to class with me, then we had lunch with a few of my friends. I really enjoyed meeting her & her mom - it was so much fun to show them around campus, and definitely made me even more excited about being a tour guide! The best part? I'm pretty sure they had as much fun as I did (well, at least I hope they did!).



There's more to come later this week - all about my spring break, recent activities being planned to thank our wonderful & generous alumni, & of course my life her at Saint Mike's. Enjoy the beautiful weather! Formspring me with any questions!