Hey all!

So I have an exciting week coming up! On Saturday, I will be performing in ASIA’s Cultural Show ExplorASIAn. It’s going to be so much fun, but before then, we have two more dress rehearsals. I’m literally praying that my partner, Tony, will not drop me-you’d think I’d trust one of my best friends to catch me-but I’m afraid of heights. But I’m sure it’ll be fine…I hope.

I’m not even worried about how much studying I have to do this week. We just got back from Easter Break-a perk of going to a Catholic institution-and I got a decent bit of work done over break. (But really, I just spent the whole day in Dinand yesterday, haha)

What I am worried about is that study period begins in exactly four weeks! It sounds like a long time, but I know it’ll fly by fast and before I know it, I’ll be studying for my final exams and then it’ll be summer! But I’m thinking way into the future right now. I should be thinking about the present, which reminds me… I have to head to class now…

Hey all,

It’s finally Friday!!! This past week has been one of the most stressful weeks I’ve had in a while. It started off with me recovering from a cold (last Friday I was so sick, I couldn’t get up from my bed), and it just went down from there. However, I have great friends who show up at my door after class to give me my graded problem set, and to let me know if I needed them, they would be there for me. After these last two years, the friends that I made here have definitely become part of my family.

My week was crammed with a lot of stuff. I had a problem set due Monday, a project for my architectural studio due on Tuesday, an exam on Wednesday, a paper due Thursday, and another exam, which I took this morning. Oh and I did all these things with a sore throat and an ear infection. What are the odds, right?! My left ear is still ringing, and is basically not working right now…

But hey! I made through this week! I’m alive. Everything is good. Especially because after class on Wednesday, it’s Easter Break! I haven’t been home in a while, so it’ll be nice to just relax…(for a bit because I still have work to do over break, sadly).

I also have great news to share! I’ve been selected to be a Resident Counselor for Odyssey. Odyssey is a program open to all first-year ALANA and international students. As an Odyssey “grad”, it’ll definitely be interesting for me to be on the other side of the program, helping run it. I can’t wait until summer!

Anyways, that’s all for now…

Hey y’all!

This past week, I traveled down to Mobile, Alabama for a Spring Break Immersion Trip with a group of nine other incredible people, and it was an amazing experience! We connected with the l’Arch community. Their Statement of Identity and Mission:

“We are people, with and without developmental disabilities, sharing life in communities belonging to an International Federation. Mutual relationships and trust in God are at the heart of our journey together. We celebrate the unique value of every person and recognize our need of one another.”

In the morning, we would help out with what needed to be done, such as painting kitchen cabinets, yard work, and cleaning until lunch. After lunch, we would have a break to do whatever we wanted to do as a group until dinner. Almost every night we were there, we ate dinner with the l’Arch community in our respective houses (there were four houses and there were ten of us on the trip). After dinner and evening activities, we would go back to where we were staying, and reflected about our day. I loved reflection time, because it was interesting to hear what others had to say about the day, and it was really fun hearing about each other’s day because we were split into groups for a majority of the day. Also, there was another school that was also doing the same Spring Break Immersion Trip as us, and it was interesting to connect with them to say the least.

I had a really fun time connecting with the other Holy Cross students who went on the trip, and I’m glad we’re all really close friends now. I can say this on behalf of the others that we had a lot of fun bonding and immersing ourselves into the l’Arch community.

And of course, we went to the beach. It was warm! Unlike here…but it’s still winter here, so no surprise there…

It was really sad to leave our new friends from the l’Arch community in Mobile.

However, we have many great memories that will forever be with us.

Hey all!

I’ve been so busy the last few days, I haven’t been able to say what’s been on my mind, but it’s okay, because I’m about to tell you, hehe.

So last week was the Lunar New Year, soooo Happy New Year to those who also celebrated it! My new year was pretty fun, because I went to event held by the Chinese Department. There was good food (Hogan food is the best kind of food), and entertainment from the Chinese classes. At the end, we got to pop all the balloons and the sound of every pop made it seem like they were firecrackers going off.

So even though I did not get to celebrate it with my family on the day of, I got to celebrate it with the next best thing, my friends.

This week I have a lot of work due (like always), but the thing that’s getting me through this week is the fact that I will be on a plane to Alabama on Saturday for a Spring Break Immersion trip! The one thing that I am most looking forward to is the weather, hands down.

But I’m a Mass girl, so you know, the cold never bothered me anyways.

Anyways, I should probably get back to studying…

Hello all!

It is Super Bowl Sunday and I will be rooting for the New England Patriots. GO PATS!

It has been about two weeks since classes began again, but personally, I feel as if I never left for winter break.

A few nights ago, Sister to Sister* had a book discussion of Count on Me: Tales of Sisterhoods and Fierce Friendships. I thought it was a great discussion about friendship, and I learned that we all shared a lot of similar experiences growing up. It’s definately nice to have people in your lives who have similar stories to you when you’re away at college.

In other news, the BSU Fashion show is this Friday, and yours truly will be modeling. If you knew me in high school, you would be shocked. There is no other way to describe it. College has definately helped build my confidence. I thought I was confident in high school, but now I’m going to networking events, not feeling intimidated, and whenever I’m waiting in line to get coffee, I pick up a conversation with whoever is behind me or in front of me. So, I’m super excited to walk down that runway!

Anyways, that’s all for now.

Ciao!

Hello all!

I hope all of you are well! Today is the first day of classes for spring semester, and I can’t wait to go to class, but I thought I would drop a line and write a post before I head out. My break was great, I visited some friends and family, slept, watched Netflix, and slept some more. 😉 But to be honest, it was basically hibernation for me at one point. It was also a great time to pick up my hobbies again-you know how much I love knitting. <3 It’s so calming, and it definitely helps me de-stress when my schedule is filled up with studying and volunteering.

Over break, I also watched my baby cousin while her parents were at work. I love her, she is so adorable, and everyone loves her. She is also the best model for my knitting projects, as you can see:

I can’t wait to get back into the swing of things with a busy schedule (that sounds crazy, right?) but I actually like having a lot of things to do-it keeps me busy. 🙂 Anyways, I should get ready for class. I’ve never had a class after 3 PM before, so this should be interesting.

And so it is the end of semester…bring on the exams before final exams, the papers galore…I can take it….at least that’s the goal, haha.

I’ve seen so many memes about finals week and I’m just here thinking, “So. True.” The amount of truth filled in those memes pretty much sums up how I feel, and I felt ambitious enough to create my own “keep calm and carry on” versions…

I read somewhere last night about how literally 99% of the stress is in 1% of the semester. I wouldn’t say that is necessarily true, but it feels that way now, as I look at my desk and there’s a stack of books from Dinand for my review paper, another pile on my fridge consisting of all my math stuff, ready to be looked over for finals, and everything else. (And there’s a lot of everything else…)

But finals week is suppose to be a challenge. Somehow it’s going to help us in the future, when we have careers…at least that’s what I have been told…

Anyways, my tips would be to:

1) Study, study, study

And then….

2) (And if you’re like me) Keep Calm and Drink Coffee (for those late nights of studying).

http://memecrunch.com/meme/XE1J/coffee-minion/image.png

3) Study in a group where you won’t get distracted and start singing songs with made up lyrics that show how much stress you are really under.

http://global3.memecdn.com/i-dont-always-sing_o_1042007.jpg

4) Take an hour or so a day to relax (Me and some of my friends [guys and girls] plan on knitting as out breaks) Because this is essential to keeping your sanity intact throughout finals week.

http://firsttoknow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Celebrity-knitting-ryan-gosling-meme-558X279.jpg

5) Write down what needs to get done.

http://m.memegen.com/d819rp.jpg

Happy End of Semester, and the next time you’ll hear from me again is going to be next semester!

Hey guys,

Just wanted to check in before I head to bed. Sorry it’s been a while, but it tends to get really busy towards the end of a semester. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like a reoccurring pattern. I think it’s probably partly because of enrollment. During enrollment period, you meet with your adviser and plan out your courses you want to take next semester, and on enrollment day, everyone tries to get into the classes they want. The classes you take the following semester literally depends on luck, internet connection (with or without an ethernet cord), where you are on campus or off campus, you get the point, because when it hits exactly 7 in the morning, everyone in your class presses the “enroll” button. It’s either a hit or miss after you press that button. But luckily, it was a hit for me 😉 4/4 classes, without an ethernet cord, I might add….but some were not as lucky as me though. However, it is possible to get permission codes to get into the class you want to take by asking the professor who teaches the class or the chair of that department. There’s also open enrollment, when people switch out of classes and switch into other classes, opening up the class they switched out of.

Other than enrollment, nothing exciting has happened in the past few weeks. Just a lot of work as usual. But I have found that Cool Beans (our coffee place on campus) is rather quiet in the morning, so I love doing work there when I don’t have a morning class.

Anyways, that’s all for now.

Hey all,

So, last week was fall break and it was pretty relaxing, I did a lot of netflixing and I got a lot of sleep, not going to lie. Classes are going well, and I can’t believe we’re already thinking about enrollment for next semester!

Anyways from the title of this post, you could tell what I wanted to blog about today.

This week, I thought about the time when I was applying to colleges, because it was during this time when I began filling out my college applications. And then I began thinking about those rejections, and acceptance letters. Rejection is always, always, always going to be part of life. I learned that lesson when I did not get into my top choice. But if I did not get rejected, I would have not chose to come here. I love being here, even when there are downs that are so low, I just want to give up. But I don’t give up, because there are always going to be obstacles in life. Sounds cliché, right? But it’s true, you shouldn’t let the outcome (which is out of your control) to get to you. When you think you’re going to be accepted into a program, but you end up shattered by the fact that you didn’t get in, or when you get blindsided by news that you’re girl or boyfriend wants to break-up, those things should not stop you from living your life and trying again. Rejection should make you want to work even harder next time.

Anyways, that’s my advice for the week. I hope it lifted some spirits, because personally, when I’m feeling down, I need to hear that everything will be okay. 🙂