Off to Austria!

So this was my last week at Stonehill for 2009. It was definitely an awesome semester! This week was finals week. My schedule was pretty weird. They started last Saturday, but my first exam was not until Wednesday. That was really nice though, because I had a lot of time to relax before I started studying. I think my finals went pretty well. I only had three. I had final papers for history and literature, but no exams. My German final was harder than I thought it would be, but I think I still did okay. I studied the most for my calculus exam, but I think it paid off, because the test didn't seem that bad. And my Public Speaking final was pretty easy, as well.

Now that the semester is over, I am off to Europe for Christmas with my family. We are spending 6 days in Austria and 3 in Italy. I am so excited! It will be great just to spend time with my family at all, but in Europe it will be even better. I don't get back until the 31st, so I won't be updating my blog at all until January. There will be plenty of stories and picture from Europe when I get back, though. Happy Holidays!

The Final Stretch

I can't believe the semester is finally coming to an end! I have been so busy lately. I have lots of big papers, tests, and projects due for most of my classes this week. I have been spending more time in library in the past couple weeks than I have all semester. I've been managing my time pretty well though, so I haven't too extremely stressed. But this weekend, I did get a little bit of a break from doing work when we had our first big snow fall!! This past Saturday night, it finally snowed. Everyone has been telling me that its coming, and it finally did. That was really exciting. Some of my friends and I went outside and had a big snowball fight. I got so wet, but it was so much fun! A lot of it stuck on the ground, so campus looks so pretty right now! It is starting to melt a little bit though, so i hope it snows again soon!!

I have such mixed feelings about the semester being over. I don't want to leave all my friends here, but at the same time, having finals done, and getting to go home and see my family and friends there will be really nice. I am actually going to Europe for the beginning of Christmas break with my family. I am really looking forward to that! It really is crazy how fast this first semester has gone, but it has been amazing!!

New York City and Thanksgiving Break

It has been so hectic these past couple weeks! The end of the semester is near, and everything is being crammed in before Christmas break. The weekend before Thanksgiving, I ended up going into New York again. But this time, it was for a Stonehill sponsored trip to New York City. A bus took us into the city for the day. I went with my friends Carolyn, Kelly, Justin, Morgan, and Joey. We had a really good time. I have only been into the city a couple of times, and Morgan had never been there at all, so we walked around and took in all the sights. My favorite part was Central Park. I love walking around in there. It was so pretty. There was an ice skating rink in there already, which looked like a lot of fun. For dinner, we ended up going to Jackal and Hyde's. It was a really interesting restaurant, to say the least. It was a big show, not just eating. The food wasn't really the best, but the entertainment was good, really creepy, but good. We had a really fun time!

Then for Thanksgiving break, I went to my roommate Cait's house in Connecticut. It was too far for me to fly home, so I was really appreciative that her family took me in for the holiday weekend. We had such a great time! I got to meet all of her friends, see her town, and spend time with her family. It was definitely weird not being home with my family during the holidays, but her family was extremely welcoming. We did dinner at one house and dessert at another, which was different that I'm used to, but I really liked it. We had a lot of food that way :). Though I think we may have ate more in leftovers and late night runs to Taco Bell during that break that we even did at actual Thanksgiving dinner. Overall, it was a very different Thanksgiving break that I am used to, but it was definitely one to remember!

Cait and I :)

Weekend in New York

This past weekend I traveled up to New York with my friend Carolyn. She lives in Ballston Spa near Saratoga. We had a really good, but quick trip back in her hometown. We left on the Stonehill shuttle on Friday at 130. That day was full of travel. We had to take the T to South Station and then catch a Greyhound. There was a lot of sitting around waiting for our bus to come, and a lot of traffic once we got on the bus, so we didn't end up getting to her house until around 10 that night. So that night we just took it easy, watched some TV with her sister Christine, and then went to rest up.

On Saturday, we picked up her friend Margaret and went into Saratoga. Our plan was to get some lunch and then walk around the city, shopping and taking in the sights. Unfortunately, it ended up raining all day. But, we still were able to make it a good time. We had lunch, shopped some antique stores, and then we took Carolyn to get her nose pierced. She has been wanting to do it, and this ended up being the perfect opportunity. It looked really painful, but I think she would say the pain was worth it, because it looks so cute on her. After that, we went to Target and got some stuff we needed for school. Then we visited the garden store where her dad works, Hewitt's, and got some Christmas decorations for our dorm room doors. After all our errands were done, we went home, had dinner with Carolyn's family and then headed over to her old high school. Carolyn did theatre when she went there, and this past weekend they were putting on their fall production, so we went to support her friends that are still in high school doing the show. The play was so much fun. I got to meet a lot more of her friends from high school which was really cool. And play was really good too!

Overall, we had a really good weekend. Our traveling back to Stonehill on Sunday was pretty long, but it was worth it. It was really cool to see her hometown and what her life was like before Stonehill. Her family was so nice and welcoming. I can't wait for the day when I get to bring Carolyn home with me and she can see where I'm from. This coming week is pretty busy for me. Professors are squeezing in a lot of tests and papers before Thanksgiving break, so I can't wait until this week is over and we can be on break. I am going home with one of my roommates, Caitlin, for Thanksgiving break. She lives in Connecticut, so I am really excited to visit her house and meet all of her friends and family. It should be a really good week!

Family Weekend

This past weekend was Family Weekend at Stonehill. I was expecting to have a pretty boring weekend because my parents couldn't make the trip out from California, but I actually ended up having a really good time. Saturday was the last home football game for the Skyhawks. It was a really exciting game. The Skyhawks scored 14 points in the first minute! They ended up winning the game, so it was a really good way for them to end the season. After the game, my friend Kelly's family, the Middletons, adopted me for the night. It was so great hanging out with them. The Middletons reminded me a lot of my own parents, so even though my parents were back home, it still felt like I was with family.

We went out to dinner at Ken's Steakhouse. It was delicious. Even though the dining hall at Stonehill has really good food, it is still really nice to eat out sometimes. After dinner we drove to the Natick Mall to do some shopping. I had never been there before, so I was just expecting a regular mall. But that mall was the biggest, nicest mall I have ever been too. We only spent a couple of hours there, but we could probably spend the whole day there. Kelly and I definitely want to go back when we have more time, and, of course, more money to spend. To end our wonderful day, we went to Cold Stone and got some ice cream. I haven't been there in months, so it tasted really good.

Family weekend ended up being a major success. I had so much fun spending time with the Middletons. That was definitely one of my favorite weekends of the year. Kelly and I are already planning for me to fly out and visit them in the summer. Though that is really far away, I am already excited! I am also really excited for this coming weekend. I am going with my friend Carolyn back to her hometown in New York. I know we are going to have a great weekend, so I can't wait!

Freak Week!

This past week at Stonehill was "Freak Week" in honor of Halloween. There are different events going on around on campus each night to get the students in the Halloween mood. On Wednesday night, the Movie/Comedy Committee showed the movie, The Orphan, in The Hill. My friends and I went to watch. It was a really creepy movie, more weird and twisted than scary. We had a good time. Then on Thursday, there was "The Haunted Sem," which is like a haunted house in the Holy Cross Center. I didn't get a chance to go, but I heard good things about it. I will definitely check it out next year. I couldn't go because my friends and I took the shuttle to the mall, because of course, 2 days before Halloween, some of my friends still didn't have costumes. After we got back, we all got decked out in purple and headed to Midnight Madness in the gym. Midnight Madness is like a rally for the basketball teams because that night is when they can officially start practicing. It was so much fun! When we got there, there was free popcorn and Monster energy drinks. Once we got into the gym, all the craziness started. There were free-throw competitions, sumo-wrestling matches, dunk contests, dance performances, and lots of free stuff being thrown at you. It was a really fun night.

The week went by so fast. I was so shocked when Halloween weekend was already there! Friday night, my girl friends and I stayed in and did trial runs with our costumes. We were Greek goddesses so we had to make togas. We figured we should try them

out before Saturday night, just in case it didn't work out. It turns out that was a very good idea. Apparently none of us have any toga making skills whatsoever. We worked on them for a couple hours and then just decided to give up and hope all worked out on Saturday. After that, we met up with some of our friends and went to The Hill, played pool and fooseball, and then headed back to Villa and watched a movie. It was a pretty low-key night. We had to rest up for Saturday! Saturday ended up being a great Halloween. All my girl friends and I got ready together in O'Hara. We recruited our friend Justin's girlfriend, Stephanie, who was visiting, to come help us with togas. She helped a lot, and our costumes ended up looking really good. We had some extra fabric, so Stephanie ended up dressing up with us too! After we got all ready, we took a bunch of pictures, headed over to Villa to get the guys, and then headed to the dance. Stonehill put on a dance in the Sports Complex. That was really fun! It was really cool that the college had the dance so we would have somewhere to go. All of my friends had a really good time there. Overall, Halloween was a success!

This weekend is Parents Weekend. My parents can't make the flight out to come, so I will be having a pretty low-key weekend. Most of my friends' parents are coming out for all the activities Stonehill has planned for them, so they should all have really good weekends. I will probably just be catching up on homework, sleep, and definitely laundry this weekend. But, it will actually be nice to have a weekend just to chill. And then in two weekends, I am going home with my friend Carolyn, which I am so excited for, so I have that to look forward to!

Fall Continues..

These past few weeks have been so busy! I've had mid-terms, speeches, papers, and family visits filling up all of my time. So far fall has been pretty stressful, but also extremely fun. It is crazy to think that we have been here long enough at this point to already be taking midterms. My mid-terms stressed me out with all the studying I had to do for them, but none of them ended up being that bad. I think I did pretty well, so hopefully my grades reflect that. But in the midst of all the tests and studying, I had some exciting visits. For Columbus Day weekend, my dad came to visit. We had such a good time. He came up on Friday and we went out to dinner and got all caught up. Then on Saturday, we went to the Stonehill football game. We only caught the first half, but the Skyhawks were looking pretty good. In the afternoon we did a lot of errands. I needed stuff for the winter, since I have never experienced a New England winter before. We got a Northface jacket, boots, gloves, jeans, and lots of scarves. I'm definitely going to be well bundled up when it starts getting cold. After buying all the stuff I needed, my dad and I drove into Boston for dinner. We walked around the city for awhile, just taking in the sights before we settled down for a nice dinner in the North End. It's always so much fun walking around Boston. I haven't spent a whole lot of time there, but every time I'm there, I love it more and more. On Sunday, we got to go to the Red Sox game against the Angels. Even though the Angels are from right near my hometown, I whipped out my Red Sox gear and supported my new home. Though the outcome was disappointing, it was still a really fun game.

The week after that, I had a few more big tests and papers. But, I am actually really glad that it was all crammed into those couple of weeks, because it left this past week pretty open. That was great because my sister came to visit this week. Notre Dame had the week off of school, so she came here instead of flying home. It was such a great visit. I always have so much fun with my sister. We spent her
first night walking around campus, showing her where I spend my time and introducing her to all of my friends. Tuesday we had a flag football gam
e. She came and acted like a proud mom, taking pictures of everything. Then on Wednesday night, we went out to eat at Bertucci's with some of my friends. It was a really great visit. It went by really quickly, but it was still so good to see her. She left Thursday morning so she would be back to get ready for the big Notre Dame vs Boston College football game (Notre Dame won, go Irish!).


So overall, it has been pretty busy here at The Hill. Time is going by so quickly. Part of me feels like I just got here. But at the same time, I am so comfortable here already that another part of me feels like I have been here forever. This coming weekend is Halloween. My friends and I are dressing up as Grecian goddesses. It should be a really fun weekend!!

Flag football

Me and Justin at football :)

Beginning of Fall :)

These past couple weekends have been pretty fun. Last weekend, there was a carnival on campus. It was supposed to be a few weeks ago as part of Welcome Week, but because of rain, it was postponed. I had a good time there. There was free fried dough, which was delicious, and a few fun rides. My friends and I went on one ride three times. The first couple times were fun; however, the third was maybe not the best idea, especially after the fried dough. But overall, it was a fun night. Then, the next night there was a dance in the Commons. It was the Graffiti dance, which meant that there were black lights and everyone wore white t-shirts and wrote on each other in highlighter. A bunch of my friends and I all went together. We had a pretty good time.

This past Friday night, there was a movie showing in Commons. They showed The Hangover. There has been a few movie showings in the Commons before, but this is the first one I have been to. It is pretty nice that Stonehill offers stuff like that. It seems

like there is always some fun activity that some club or committee is putting on, which is really nice. We always have something to do. Saturday, my friends and I all took the Stonehill shuttle to the mall. That was really fun. I love being on campus, but it is always nice to have the option to go off campus for a little bit. I went off campus again on Sunday morning to walk in the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk in Boston. Stonehill provided buses for us to go. A lot of students went. We had to wake up pretty early which is always hard, but it was definitely worth it. Then later on Sunday, my friends and I walked across the street and had dinner at 99. Saturday was my friend Carolyn's birthday, but she went to Connecticut with our other friend Jamie for a concert that night, so we all celebrated on Sunday. It was a really easy walk, and it is always nice to eat out. We came home and had cake that we had made earlier in the day. That was extremely tasty!

This coming weekend is a three-day weekend because of Columbus Day. A lot of Stonehill students are going home for the weekend. Since I live so far away, I was not planning on going home, but now my Dad is coming to visit. I am really excited to see him! We don't have huge plans for the weekend, but just spending time together will be fun.

Family Fun :)

My weekend with my family in Notre Dame was amazing! Though I did miss life back at the Hill, I was so happy to spend time with my family. On Friday night, my friend Kelly and her mom dropped me off at the airport. I flew into Chicago to meet my parents. I got in 4 hours before them, so I took a shuttle to our hotel and checked in. I have never traveled totally alone, so I was a little nervous that something would go wrong, but the trip there went smoothly. Saturday morning, my parents and I made the two hour drive up to Notre Dame to meet my siblings and get ready for the game. Because none of us live at home anymore, it is pretty rare when my whole family is together. But every time we do get to be together, it seems like we were never apart. I love my family so much! We are all really close and always have such a good time together. Hanging out with my family is just like being with my best friends.

The football game was a lot of fun. Because my sister goes to Notre Dame and my brother goes to Michigan State, I usually have to switch off what team I root for. This year was my year to root for Notre Dame since it was their home game. But, I was sitting next to my brother, and the State band was right in front of us, so I did some cheering for the Spartans as well. I probably looked really confused with my Notre Dame t-shirt and ND face tattoo while singing along to the Spartan fight song, but all that matters is that we were having fun. My sister Christine is a student athletic manager at Notre Dame, so she got to be on the field for the game. It was a bummer that we couldn't spend time together at the game, but it was really cool to see her down on the field looking all official. Notre Dame ended the game with an interception and beat the Spartans 33 to 30.

After the game, we went to mass at one of the dorms on campus that has its own chapel. We sang some of the same songs that the choir at our masses sing, so I got a little reminder of Stonehill while I was away. After that, we went out to dinner to celebrate my sisters' September birthdays. We opened gifts and had some tasty celebratory milkshakes. Once we got back to campus, I met up with my friend Joe. He's a freshman at Notre Dame. We've known each other since kindergarten, so it was really great to see him. He was the first of my friends that I have been able to visit at college. It was really cool to get a glimpse at what his new life is like. We just wandered around campus talking. It is always so great to catch up with old friends.

Overall, my weekend away was so much fun. It was also sad though, because it was so short. Getting to spend such a little amount of time with my family makes me miss them even more. But, my friends at Stonehill make it so much easier to be away from

home. I know that the rest of this semester with my friends will be really great, and Christmas break with my family will be here before we know it!

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

I had such a good time this past week at Stonehill. It was a very fun, but very wet week. It rained a lot, which was very weird for me. I knew that coming from a very different climate meant I was going to have to get used to the bitter winter months, but I didn't know it would already be cold. Its September! But, the rain actually didn't end up being that bad. There is a lack of pictures for this post because of it (I didn't want to ruin my new camera in the rain!), but it actually made some stuff more fun. Friday night was our first home football game. It wasn't raining when we got there, but once the game got going, it proceeded to pour down on us. My friends and I were all completely drenched, but we stuck it out for the whole game and had a great time cheering, singing, and dancing in the rain. And I even won a $20 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods at the game.

Then on Saturday night, we had Casino Night in the Commons. That was so much fun! My friend James and I ended up at a table playing Craps. We didn't know how to play, so we didn't think that we would stay that long. But, we caught on quickly, and ended up staying there for the rest of the night. That table was great because there were two dealers working it. They were a hilarious combo. They were joking around, giving everyone a hard time, and overall making it a really fun experience. And that weekend ended up being a really lucky weekend for me, because I won a DVD at Casino Night!


Classes have still been going pretty good. I've started to have quizzes and papers due, but so far still nothing unmanageable. I find myself overstudying a lot, always prepared for the possibility of a pop quiz. So far, none have actually happened, but I will be ready when they do.

I am really excited for this coming weekend, because I get to see my family! I have two older sisters, one a sophomore at Notre Dame, and one who graduated from Notre Dame in 2008. And I have a brother in his senior year at Michigan State. So, this weekend we are all meeting at Notre Dame in Indiana for the Notre Dame vs. Michigan State football game. My parents are flying out from California, so the whole family will be together. I am really excited to spend some time with my family. It should be a really great weekend :)

Carolyn and I in our rain boots :)

219 Love <3

This past week has been so much fun! Having a three-day weekend was amazing. The Reel Big Fish concert on Friday was really great. I didn't know the band before, but two of my friends, Jamie and Carolyn, really like them. So I just followed their lead, sang along, danced, and had an overall incredible time. Then on Saturday, we had the Hillapalooza barbecue and a viewing of The Proposal on the quad. That was really fun, and there was free popcorn involved, so obviously we were there!

On Sunday, I went to the student mass at 7pm in The Chapel of Mary. I was really excited to go to mass here. I really enjoyed it. Everyone there was participating and singing, which always makes it more enjoyable for me. And I also got a chance to sign up for some things in Campus Ministry while I was there, so I can't wait for that stuff to start. After mass I hung out with some friends at The Hill. We got ice cream and played fooseball and pool. After The Hill, we went back to Jamie and
Kelly's room in O'Hara. We hung out, ate a lot of junk food, and played Bananagram. Playing Bananagram was probably the most hilarious part of the night. The teams were Kelly and I, Nick and Abby, and James and Alicia. Alicia and James were the only team really playing seriously, but Kelly and I are still convinced that we won! (even though "tawi" is not technically a word)

Overall, I am even happier than I ever thought I would be at this point, only having been here two weeks. Of course I hoped to make good friends and I knew I would have a good time, but there is still always a small doubt that things may not work out. But I was extremely lucky to find the friends that I have. Jamie and Kelly's room in O'Hara is always the center of everything. They are so great, always letting everyone hang out in there. I live in Corr, but they always let me come over and hang out (even sleep!). My dorm room is 219 in Corr, while theirs is 219 in O'Hara, so I have become the honorary O'Hara 219 member. We have a 219 love!

Jamie, Me, and Kelly

First Week

I can’t believe I have already been at Stonehill for a week. It’s been a crazy week adjusting to everything. I feel a lot more comfortable here today than I did the first day, but I know that I have a lot of stuff left to figure out. Move-in was a very interesting experience. It’s so weird seeing pretty much everything you own sprawled out on the floor. It was really hard to know where to start with the unpacking because I felt like I had so much stuff. But, once it was all unpacked, it was a lot less intimidating. Thankfully, everything fit nicely in my room. It was a lot bigger than I expected. My dorm even has its own bathroom. We are the only room in our residence hall that has its own, so my roommates and I were really excited.

We also started classes this week. It took a little adjusting, but overall I really enjoy all of my classes. I don’t have too much homework yet, though I know that will change soon. Its so nice having so much time in between classes. I am so used to high school just walking from class to class. I love being able to relax between.

This weekend is a three-day weekend, so I am really excited. There is a lot of fun stuff planned on campus as part of welcome week, including a Reel Big Fish concert tonight and a barbecue tomorrow. We also had activities fair today. I signed up for some really good stuff. I can’t wait until everything really gets started! Pictures coming soon!

Here Comes Goodbye.....

This last week before leaving for school was filled with more goodbyes than I can count. It was filled with laughs, hugs, tears, and many, many parties. Many of my friends took all of us leaving for school as an opportunity to throw a bash. My best friend Jenn had a big pool party for a bunch of our friends. It was really fun. We played stupid pool games all day, and then relaxed in the Jacuzzi in the evening. One of my other close friends, Anna, threw a dinner party at her Dad’s restaurant. That involved really good Asian food (and Doritos), dancing, and a hilarious slide show of our past four years together.

Another one of my good friends, Amy, had her own dinner party. We all dressed up and ate in her nicely decorated backyard. We drank “mocktails” and ate some delicious food. Later, we played charades and reminisced on the good times. I also had a bunch of friends over for one of our traditional “Dane Cook Viewing Parties.” A lot of my friends, along with myself, have an extremely unhealthy obsession with Dane Cook. We like to get together and watch our favorite skits from his “Vicious Circle” DVD. It was really fun to get everyone together to watch one last time before we all go off to school, but also somewhat sad knowing that we won’t be able to do that for a long time. Everything is really bittersweet now that I’m leaving. I already miss my home, friends, and family, but I am also so excited to get to my new home, new friends, and new Stonehill family.

Drinking our mocktails

Putting My Life Into Cardboard Boxes

Today I finally started packing up my room in preparation for Stonehill. I told myself (and my mom) that I was going to do it sometime last week, but I kept procrastinating. I feel like I waited because packing up my stuff made leaving home very real. Of course I am extremely excited for school, but as my days in California grow fewer, I keep thinking about how much I am leaving behind. It is going to be extremely hard, but my experience at Stonehill will be worth it!

Figuring out what to pack was an interesting process. I am not going to be home at all first semester, so I have to pack pretty much everything I need. I don’t want to get to school and wish I‘d brought something that I didn’t. So, I went through my entire room and threw anything and everything that I thought might have some use at school into cardboard boxes. I realized that I will have loads of stuff that I really don’t need, but better safe than sorry! I brought pretty much every movie I own. You never know what kind of movie you’re going to be in the mood for watching, so of course I had to bring all of them varying from all five of my Harry Potter DVDs to my collection of Julia Roberts’ classics (My Best Friend’s Wedding, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Ocean’s Eleven, and Pretty Woman). I am bringing most of my clothes in a suitcase with me when I fly out, but I ended up packing some clothes that take up a lot of room in a suitcase, like sweatshirts and t-shirts. I also packed some stuff from my costume box for Halloween and other occasions that may come up where I will need to be in costume. I am fully equipped with feather boa and sombrero if something comes up!

Going through my room also meant finding some things I haven’t seen in ages and didn’t even know still existed. I came across some old letters my parents sent me while I was at summer camp, my veil from my first Holy Communion, and my diary from 3rd grade. Its extremely interesting seeing what I actually felt important enough to write in a diary as an eight year old. But finding that diary made me think that I should probably start keeping a journal at Stonehill. I know I am not going to want to forget any moments!

Corr 219 :)

After much waiting and anticipation, we finally got our residence information. I got in Corr Hall, which was my first choice dorm, so I am extremely excited! I am in a triple, so I have two roommates. I never really thought I would’ve wanted a triple, but now that I got assigned it, I am actually pretty happy about it. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know both my roommates in the last week. One of my roommates is Caitlin. She is from Connecticut, so hopefully she will be able to help me out when the winter months come along. We bonded instantly over our love of Harry Potter, The Office, and Dane Cook. My other roommate, Lauren, is from Florida. I was happy to have someone else from far away. We will be able to commiserate when we get homesick, or just extremely cold. I am really excited to get to school and get to know my roommates a lot better. But from what I can tell, we are all going to get along great!!

Since I know now where I will be living, my mom took me shopping yesterday for dorm stuff. We went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. It’s really convenient because I can look around a store here in California and pick out all I need, and then when I get to Stonehill, I can go pick it all up at a store there. It makes it a lot easier so that we don’t have to mail everything. I was really excited to go shopping because I got to use one of the wedding registry scanner guns to order my stuff. I have always thought those looked like so much fun! It was, however, somewhat of a disappointment. The gun’s battery kept dying so we kept having to start over, but I didn’t let that ruin the fun of picking out all new stuff. Even getting something as boring as a trash bin was exciting, because I knew when I used that trash bin it was going to be in my new home at Stonehill. I got most of my stuff from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but I didn’t really find any bedding I liked, so we went to Target for that. I found a really cute blanket and lots of cute pillows that we will mail to school. I can’t wait to use it all. And it was nice to get to bring some stuff home from the shopping trip.

Move-in day is getting closer and closer. I can’t believe its only 3 weeks until I leave! It’s pretty scary, but at the same time really exciting. I am trying to squeeze in everything I can with my hometown friends before I leave. I have lots of “end-of-summer” parties coming up, and multiple trips to the beach and Disneyland in the works. These last weeks of summer are going to be really fun, but what I’m really looking forward to is moving into Stonehill!!!

Harry Potter Mania!

To say that my friends and I were excited about the premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince would definitely be an understatement. We have been waiting for this movie for two years ever since Order of the Pheonix came out. And, yes, we are those hardcore people that dress up and wait in line for hours. But for us, waiting in line isn’t just to get the seat we want in the theatre. We made the movie premiere an event. We brewed our own butterbeer (which is actually just crème soda and butterscotch), and made our own licorice wands and chocolate frogs. We prepared a game of “Harry Potter charades” and brought art supplies to make our own styrofoam snitches and Gryffindor headbands. The 9 hours we spent waiting in line for the midnight showing went by in no time.

But, our costume was the main event. Each of my friends was a different character from the movie. We all dressed as Hogwarts students (I was Ron!) who would take the train to school, because in addition to our characters, together we were the Hogwarts Express. That’s right, we made our very own Hogwarts Express. I realize that this may seem pathetic to some, seeing as I am 18 and still dressing up to see a movie, but I don’t have to act like an adult just yet. I haven’t even officially entered my freshman year of college yet! Our costume was so intense that we even made some fans! We had at least 20 different people come up to us and ask if they could take pictures with us. We pretty much became celebrities at our own premiere. Little girls came up to me in the bathroom and asked if I was part of the train and would proceed to get extremely excited when I said yes. It was so much fun to act like a little kid again for the night. And, of course, the movie was amazing! There will definitely be some hilarious pictures from that night that I take with me to Stonehill in less than 5 weeks!!

Ron, Ramilda, Pansy, and Luna :) :)


We met Dumbledore, Moody, and Hagrid!!



All aboard the Hogwarts Express!

First Week

I can’t believe I have already been at Stonehill for a week. It’s been a crazy week adjusting to everything. I feel a lot more comfortable here today than I did the first day, but I know that I have a lot of stuff left to figure out. Move-in was a very interesting experience. It’s so weird seeing pretty much everything you own sprawled out on the floor. It was really hard to know where to start with the unpacking because I felt like I had so much stuff. But, once it was all unpacked, it was a lot less intimidating. Thankfully, everything fit nicely in my room. It was a lot bigger than I expected. My dorm even has its own bathroom. We are the only room in our residence hall that has its own, so my roommates and I were really excited.

We also started classes this week. It took a little adjusting, but overall I really enjoy all of my classes. I don’t have too much homework yet, though I know that will change soon. Its so nice having so much time in between classes. I am so used to high school just walking from class to class. I love being able to relax between.

This weekend is a three-day weekend, so I am really excited. There is a lot of fun stuff planned on campus as part of welcome week, including a Reel Big Fish concert tonight and a barbecue tomorrow. We also had activities fair today. I signed up for some really good stuff. I can’t wait until everything really gets started! Pictures coming soon!

Orientation

I don’t even know where to start with orientation. When I think about it, so many different words come to mind: amazing, exhausting, exciting, awkward, terrifying, surprising, incredible, and many more. I couldn’t think of a better way to start off my Stonehill experience. It was extremely fun, but also extremely informative. My small group was amazing. I had two wonderful leaders to my group of dreamboats, Jenna and Ashley. They made us feel really comfortable with each other, so we all got to know one another fairly quickly, both through normal conversation and various games involving hula-hoops and soccer balls.

The initial awkwardness faded away instantly. Throughout the two days we were informed on our “Community Standards,” residence life, and other information we will need to know when we start school in the fall. We also went to an information session on Campus Ministry, which was awesome because that is what I am really interested in being involved in at school. I signed up for pretty much everything there, including the choir. They told me it was not a big deal that my voice is not, well, not the best. My friends from home will definitely be shocked (and terrified) that I am joining a choir, but that just shows how Stonehill gets you to take that step out of your comfort zone. The day was also filled with various games where you got to meet people from other groups like “The Wind Blows,” “Zip, Zap, Boing,” and “Giants, Trolls, and Wizards.” But it was definitely that night where you got to meet the most people. “Playfair” was the big secret of orientation. I don’t want to give anything away to future students, but lets just say its something to look forward to. We were all terrified, but it ended up being my favorite part of orientation. You got to meet pretty much everyone in very interesting ways.

Then the night closed with a dance, which was amazing! We all danced the night away to music that varied from Lady Gaga to Billy Joel. Watching the peer mentors breakout in random choreographed dance was probably the best part. That was the perfect way to end an already amazing day. The next day we had more time to bond with our group, and chat with other kids we had met the night before. We got all signed up for classes, learned how to make the most of our college experience, and began to feel more like real college freshman. Summer orientation has made me so excited for fall orientation where I will be reunited with my fellow dreamboats, where I am sure there will be more renditions of our favorite songs (“heeeeey baby, I wanna knowwww, if you’d be my girl”) and many more laughs. After orientation, I am absolutely positive that I made the right choice coming to Stonehill and I can’t wait for the next four years!!


Group 3!


Orientation roomies!

From Fever Pitch to Fanatic

I always knew that moving from California to Massachusetts was going to be a big change. I would have to purchase my first Northface. I would have to turn in my flip flops and tank tops for winter boots and thermals. And of course, I knew moving so close to Boston meant I would have to know a little bit about the Red Sox. But I had seen Fever Pitch, so I thought I was set. However, it wasn't until visiting last summer that I realized watching Drew Barrymore run across Fenway Park to kiss Jimmy Fallon over and over again was not going to be enough. I didn’t even have to get past security check at Logan Airport to realize that. Almost every passenger on that plane had a Red Sox cap on. Each store we passed on the way to baggage claim was filled with Red Sox memorabilia. Our drive from Logan to Stonehill was filled with billboards and homemade signs expressing love for the Sox. Even the CVS pharmacy down the street from Stonehill had entire magazines solely dedicated to their coveted baseball team. I had entered Red Sox Nation, and if I was planning on moving here, I was going to have to jump on the bandwagon.

Ever since that trip, I have been immersing myself into all things Red Sox. I started Tivoing random Red Sox specials on ESPN. I went to a Red Sox game at Angel Stadium. I, of course, downloaded “Sweet Caroline” on iTunes and got a couple of my own Red Sox caps. I did some research and found out that the “Curse of the Bambino” ended in 2004 and that Johnny Damon got traded to the Yankees and apparently doesn’t look anything like Jesus anymore. Though I know that learning the words to a Neil Diamond classic and wearing a Red Sox tee to the gym won’t automatically turn me into a devoted Sox fan, I know it will eventually become second nature. When I board that plane home at the end of freshman year, I will be joining the other passengers with my Sox hat on and naturally scowl at any Yankee fan who dares to wear a New York hat on our flight. And I know I will look back on my year thinking that the good times never seemed so good.