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!