"On an island in the sun.."

Being back in California after being gone for a couple weeks definitely feels weird. I felt like I was gone for so long. Part of me never wanted to leave! My connecting flight in Las Vegas got majorly delayed, and seeing as I am not old enough to participate in any Vegas fun, I really wanted to just hop on a plane back to the east coast and spend the rest of my summer there. But I am also glad to be home and take in all the California I can get until I am back at Stonehill until Christmas.

This past weekend was the US Open for surfing in Huntington Beach. I went with two of my friends, Marissa and Allison for a day. It was so much fun! Marissa has been gone vacationing in Brazil for the past month, so it was so great to be able to spend time with her again! The whole day was great! Huntington Beach is really not far at all from my house, but with all the craziness that is the US Open, it became quite an ordeal just to get there! Once we got within a couple miles, there were cars everywhere and it took us almost an hour to find parking! We took my Mini Cooper, so we were able to find a little spot I could fit into, but even in that small of a car, it still took a few times to get it all parallel parked in there!

After that, it was still a 20 minute walk to the pier where the concert actually was. By the time we got there, most of the surfing was done, but the main reason we wanted to go was because the band, Weezer, was having a free concert by the pier! There were SO many people there! It was a lot of pushing and getting extremely familiar with people you've never met, but it was all worth it. Hot Hot Heat opened for Weezer. They did a great job, but it was really Weezer that made it great. They were phenomenal, and definitely one of the best bands I have ever seen perform live. The concert lasted about 2 hours. We thought that was a pretty full set, especially for free! It was such a great day! It also took us about an hour just to get out of downtown Huntington because of all the cars. I drive a stick, so my left foot was getting sore from being stuck in first gear for so long, but I would do it again for another chance to see a show like that!

BACK EAST!

In the past couple of weeks I finally got a break from reality and had my vacation back east to visit Stonehill friends! It was nice even just thinking about not having to wake up for work at 5am for two weeks! But I could never have anticipated how much fun I would've had! It was such a great two weeks!

The first day, I flew into Boston. My friend Kelly and her mom came and picked me up at the airport. I was greeted with lovely signs Kelly had made for me. It was a such a great welcome and was awesome to finally be reunited! And, of course, the first thing we did after being reunited: THE MALL! Kel and I are both big fans of the Natick Mall in Massachusetts, so we hit that on the way home from the airport. Surprisingly, I showed restraint and didn't waste any money on that trip. But, that was kind of my only option seeing as I spent a good amount of my summer earnings on airfare. From there, the trip only got more fun! I arrived at Kel's house in Wilbraham with a huge sign welcoming this "California Gurl" to the east coast! It was so nice knowing how much Kelly did in preparation for my arrival.

The rest of my time in Massachusetts only got better! I had my first bite ever of Friendly's. We don't have that restaurant out west, so I had never had the pleasure of eating there before. Kelly's Grammy and Grampy even got me a Friendly's shirt, and Kel made me a ridiculous hat to wear for my first Friendly's experience. After that, we went straight to to this really cool quarry. I didn't even know what a quarry was, but it sounded like fun, so I was pumped! Kel's friends Lindsay, Sean, and Sam all came with us. It was great! It was at a state forest with huge cliffs, and a rope swing where you could jump into the water. It was so much fun! It ended up raining that day, so it made it pretty dangerous to climb anywhere too high and risk slipping, so we stayed with the much smaller jumps, but it was still great! I had a slight near death experience my first time on the rope swing, but I successfully did it on my second attempt! The best thing about that day though was trying to get out of the state park. We had driven down this pretty small dirt road to get to where we parked. I am still convinced it was a road, but some argued that cars were really not supposed to drive there. Well, I guess we learned our lesson because the trail was locked with a rope gate when we tried to exit. We thought we were going to end up having to call for help, but Lindsay saved the day and figured out that we could all lift the rope over the car as Kel drove through. It was an extremely tight squeeze, but we made it! Some other Massachusetts highlights were seeing Inception at the drive-in, playing golf with Kel's dad, picking blueberries, and bonding with Kelly's cat Tutu!

From Massachusetts, Kel and I headed to Connecticut with our friend Morgan to go to our friend Justin's house in Branford. That was quite the journey! Kel doesn't enjoy driving highways, so I took the wheel, and along with that, I took the abuse of her GPS screaming at me every 5 minutes when we all we really did was take one highway for 2 hours. But, we eventually made it. Immediately upon arriving in Branford, Kelly and I decided we were moving there. The town was so cute! It was so much different from home, but I loved it! That first night we just hung out at Justin's and met some of his friends. But the main event was the next day when we went camping at the beach! It was my first camping experience, so I was really excited! However, one thing I was not excited about was the bugs! In Southern California, we don't have the dreaded humidity of the east coast, so the mosquitos don't really make an appearance. At the drive-in back in Mass, I literally got attacked by mosquitos on my feet, so much so that my friends began referring to me as "the leper" because my skin looked so disgusting. Unfortunately, the bugs were also a prescence at the campsite, but I came prepared with every anti-itch cream known to man, so I survived. I also got a little too familiar with a jelly fish, and a major sunburn, but all of my painful skin ailments were completely worth it! Camping was so much fun! It was so great to all be back together! We had a blast making hot dogs and s'mores over Justin's beautiful fire and hanging by the ocean all day. We were even able to fit a pitstop at the mall into the trip, so I would say we were pretty professional campers by the end. The rest of our time in Connecticut was filled with more lazy beach days, lots of Hannah Montana, and way too much food! It was an amazing week!

From there, I took a train and made my way to visit my roommate Tara!! We have been waiting to be reunited for WAY too long, so it was extremely exciting that the day had finally arrived! Our first stop: Dunkin! The lack of Dunkins in California is frankly, just sad. And seeing as Dunkin was such a huge part of Tara and I's lives freshman year, with our weekly "Dunkin Dates" turning into daily meetings by the end of second semester, it was only fitting that would be our first outing together. My medium iced coffee with milk and caramel swirl tasted just as good as I remember :). And then, after I got settled at her house, we made our way to my third mall of the trip. I didn't show as much restraint at this mall, but we convinced ourselves that everything purchased was an "emergency" and we felt pretty okay with it. Our most exciting purchase was Build-a-Bears we both made for our room! We were the only people in there over the age of 5, but we still loved it. We are planning on looking extremely cool and bringing our bears to the book store at school when we get back and getting our bears some infant skyhawk apparel! We are pretty excited, so if you see us in there, don't judge! Another great thing I got to experience my first day in Pennsylvania was the amazingness that is Wawa. I have been hearing all about these "convenience stores on steroids" from Tara all year, so it was great to actually go to one! I completely fell in love when I saw all the different kinds of coffee and the touch screens where you could order food. Keep me well caffeinated and give me a nice touch screen to play with, and I am a happy camper! We made at least 4 more stops to Wawa during the rest of my time there.

The next day, we went to a little shopping area called Peddler's Village. That was very cute! We walked around, did some window shopping, and ate some good fudge! Then, that night, Tara had a staff dinner for all the lifeguards who work at her pool. It was at this really nice hibachi restaurant where they cook up the food right in front of you! I haven't been to one of those places since like junior high, so it was really fun! The food was great too! It was really nice meeting all of the people Tara spends her summers with. They were all so nice and welcoming!

Another fun thing on the trip was when we went to the Delaware River with her family! Some of Tara's aunts and uncles met up with us, along with her parents, and we went tubing down the river. That was so much fun! We went on a 3 hour course that takes you down the river. Most of the time it was very relaxing, which was much needed. There were the occasional rapids that made it exciting, but it was really great to just have a nice lazy day on the river to relax. I loved meeting Tara's family too! I had met a couple of her aunts at Stonehill before, but it was really nice to spend time with them. I have always loved meeting friend's families because it shows so much about them. And though our day was pretty relaxing, we were still pretty tired out from spending the day in the sun, so we came home and took naps. I took so many naps when I was at school, but I haven't really been taking them since I've been home. I forgot how great naps were. We were supposed to sleep for about an hour. I ended up sleeping for 2 and a half. It was wonderful. Then, that night, after we were well rested, we went to her friend's house and I met a few more of her friends. They were all great, but we didn't stay long because we had a big day in the city ahead of us the next day!

Tara's aunt took us into Philadelphia! I have only been once on a trip with my 8th grade class, so it was so nice of her aunt to drive us around and give me the full tour of the city! We went to the famous steps at the museum where Rocky ran. We, of course, were too lazy to actually run up them, but we pretended to for a picture just to say we've done it. Her aunt also took us through downtown and then the whole section where the universities are. I really liked seeing it, but I have never been a big city person, so I don't know how those kids live and go to school there all year! That day, I also had my first Philly Cheese Steak, and got to see all the historic places like Independence and the Liberty Bell. After our day in the city, we came home and decided to give cooking a try! Well, our very simple version of cooking. We made puppy chow, which is Crispix covered in melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. If you have never had it, you are really missing out! It was delicious! We ate puppy chow, watched the Disney classic My Date with the President's Daughter, and spent the night on the internet ordering stuff for our dorm room next year! We are way too excited to decorate!

My last day, I finally met Tara's best friend Nicole when we went out for bagels and ice cream. It was very nutritious meal! That day, I also got in my last Pennsylvania necessity and had some water ice, which was delicious! It was such a great visit! We probably had the most fun at night just talking and laughing on her bed, watching stupid YouTube videos and ordering our Fruit of the Month Club for the school year. It was a very good preview of what is to come when we will be sharing a room in just a few short weeks! And I literally cannot wait! We are going to have so much fun!

Family Fun :)

This past weekend was my cousin Rachel's bridal shower. She is the first of my cousins to get married on my dad side, so it was pretty exciting. The shower was at my aunt's house and most of my girl cousins and aunts all came, along with some of Rachel's friends. It was really great seeing everyone because I haven't seen much of my extended family all summer. My grandma was there as well, who I hadn't seen in awhile, so it was just really great catching up with everyone and celebrating Rachel's marriage.

Then, on Monday, I went to Balboa Island in Newport Beach to go see my cousin's sail for their yacht club. It was extremely windy that day, so there was a lot of capsizing. Everyone survived though, and all of my cousins sailed really well. After the sailing, we all went down to my cousins' house that they are renting on the island for the summer to have pizza and hang out. I always loves spending time with my cousins, especially since I missed seeing them a lot during the year at school.

This coming week I am finally flying to Massachusetts to visits friends from Stonehill. I have been looking forward to this for so long and I couldn't be more excited! I am going there, Connecticut and even Pennsylvania too!! I can't wait!

Oh, what a knight!

Wow! Last night was amazing! One of my dad's best friends, Brian, got inducted into a group called "The Knights of St. Gregory." People who are inducted into this group are honored for their service and their dedication to the Catholic community. It was a really big deal for Brian, so he threw a pretty extravagant party at his house in celebration. My sister Christine and I went to the party with my dad because my mom was out of town. We were so lucky to get to go. It was absolutely amazing! The party was at Brian's house in Beverly Hills. I have been there before, and it is a very impressive house, but what we saw when we arrived was more than impressive. Brian had themed the whole party around the knights. Servers were dressed as knights, flags waved from the house, and there were trumpet players to announce dinner. The whole dinner was set up beautifully! There were suits of armor at the end of the table, and the decor on the table was all gold. There were royal flags waving everywhere, and a live band played behind us while we ate our 6 course meal. It was amazing! The people there were really great too. A lot of priests from Brian's childhood came out to support him.

Probably the funniest part of the party was the end. My sister and I wanted to take pictures with the suits of armor. When we walked over there, everyone thought it was so cute that we were so excited by the decor, and we kind of became like entertainment for the party. We were having a blast. Then we were talking about how great all the decorations were, and the party planner heard us and immediately told us we could take it all home. We took home roses that were brought in from Ecuador. They were absolutely beautiful. We also really wanted the flags. They were on these really long posts, so my sister and I were barely able to balance as we walked down the street to our car with huge vases of roses and 10 foot flag poles. They just barely fit in the car, but it was definitely worth it! That was definitely a (k)night to remember!

The Getty!

The last couple weeks, I have still been working a lot. It pretty much takes over my life, so its a good thing I like it! Though, it doesn't make for anything too exciting or blog worthy. However, this week, I did get a chance to go to my favorite museum in Los Angeles, The Getty Center. I went with my friend Caitlyn. I haven't seen her at all yet this summer, so it was a really great thing to do together! The Getty is beautiful museum. It has lots of great artwork. They have a few Monet paintings there which are definitely my favorite to look at. But, the best part about the Getty, I think, is the outdoors. Outside, the Getty has beautiful gardens and spectacular views of Los Angeles. It is up in the hills, so the views are breathtaking. The building itself is also very interesting looking. The Getty is definitely my favorite place to go in LA. I hadn't been in so long, I almost forgot how much I loved it. It was so great to get back there!

For the next few weeks, I will be continue to be working a lot, but I do have something really great to look forward to! I just booked tickets to go back and visit some friends on the east coast at the end of July! I cannot wait for the trip! It will be really nice just to have a break from work, but of course, it will be most exciting to see my friends! I will be back east for 2 weeks! I am going to Connecticut and Massachusetts to see some people. And then, I am also going to Pennsylvania to stay with my future roommate, Tara. I am so excited for the trip! We are all counting down the days!

Summertime!

Summer back in California has been crazy busy! I am working A LOT! My family owns a golf course, and I have been working there since I was 13. For the last few summers, I have been on the maintenance crew. I mow the fairways every day. My work day starts at 5:30 in the morning and finishes at 3 in the afternoon. It is extremely exhausting working those hours 5 days a week, but I really like it too! I have known all the people at the course for so long, it is kind of like my second home. But that rigorous work schedule doesn't leave much time for other fun. A lot of days, all I want to do is come home and sleep. But, I have still been able to enjoy myself some too! It has been really nice getting back to seeing all of my old friends again! Reuniting and catching up is so much fun! It is great to hear how well everyone has been doing.

This past week was my 19th birthday. I had to work, so I didn't do anything big. I went to the beach for a little bit after work, and then went out to dinner with my family. Then we came home, opened gifts, and ate my favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and watched the Lakers win. It was very simple, but I liked it! I also got a couple packages from friends from back at school, so that was really exciting! I never get anything in the mail, so it was pretty exciting!

Back to California

Freshman year is finally coming to an end. The past couple weeks have been full of studying, packing, and taking finals. It is crazy to think that almost a whole year has passed since I first arrived on campus back in August. My finals went pretty well for me. I had a pretty big paper for my Mediated Communications class that took a lot of time, but once it was finished, I was pretty happy with it. Other than that, I had finals in German, Philosophy, Religion, and Psychology. German was definitely the hardest, but I still think I did okay (at least, I hope I did!). Studying obviously takes up A LOT of time. My friend Tara and I pretty much lived in the atrium in the science center the last couple weeks. We love studying in there because we can talk to each other, unlike the library, and the Dunkin Donuts is right there. Caffeine is a must for finals week! But, if finals aren't stressful enough, we also had to pack up our entire lives and ship them back home! Packing was definitely an experience. I had to pack up some clothes and stuff early and send it home in a package back to California so that I wouldn't have as much to take with me on the plane. However, I am not the best at parting with my things. I wanted to keep everything with me. But, my roommate Lauren helped me out a lot, convincing me I didn't need to keep every single cardigan I own with me for the last week of school. Because we did it together, packing actually ended up being fun and somewhat of a stress reliever from finals.

My flight back home is tomorrow. I seriously cannot believe this day is here. Going home is very bittersweet. I, of course, want to see all my friends and family back at home. And I've got to admit, I am happy to be escaping this humidity. However, I am going to miss Stonehill so much. Freshman year here was definitely the best year of my life! My friends here are not just friends, they are my family. Living 3000 miles away from them for the next 4 months is going to be really hard. But, I have my great memories that I can look back on all summer. Freshman year will definitely be one to remember, but I also cannot wait to start off Sophomore year and make many, new and wonderful memories!

My Brother visits Stonehill :)

This past week was really great, but also really stressful! Tuesday night we picked our housing for next year, and Thursday we had to register for our classes for next year. Its so weird thinking this year is already almost over and we're preparing for our sophomore year. Picking housing was pretty stressful, but I was really happy with the result. My roommate for next year is my friend Tara. We knew we wanted to live in Pilgrim Heights, which is suite style living for sophomores. We wanted to get a suite where some of our friends could get in too, and it all worked out! We got a room in Sheehan. And 4 of our friends also got into our suite, so we were pretty excited. After housing picks were all done, the 6 of us went over to Sheehan to check out our future home. There were some girls in there who currently live there, and they were really nice and let us look around. Everything looks pretty great. We love the location and the suite is very spacious and should be an awesome place to live next year! Once the stress of picking housing was over, there was a viewing of Avatar on the quad. That was a really nice way to end the night. We had no classes on Wednesday for Academic Development Day, so we were able to stay up late without having to worry about waking up for classes in the morning.

Then, on Thursday, freshmen had their turn to register for classes. I had spent a lot of my day Wednesday figuring out what classes I was going to be taking for the next three years, so I was really worried I wasn't going to get the classes I wanted and screw up my 4 year plan. But, it all ended up working out and I got all of my classes. That was a major relief!

After my stresses of the week were over, I was so excited for the weekend and for my brother Michael to visit. He's graduating from Michigan State this year, so this was his last chance to visit for a weekend before he goes off to work in New York in a couple weeks. He has never been to Stonehill, so him visiting was really exciting. He got here on Friday night. We spent the night introducing him to all of my friends and walking around showing him the campus.

Then on Saturday, we went into Boston with some of my friends. My brother wanted to see the Boston College campus, so we drove in there and walked around campus. There was a spring football game going on when we got there, so we watched some of that and then just looked around. When we got to the city, we wandered around the Boston Commons and the Public Garden. Then we met up with more of my friends for the Red Sox game. It was pretty cold, but the game was still really fun.

I was really glad my brother came to visit and got to see what my life is like here. He really loved it and hopefully will get the chance to come back. Finals are coming up in only two weeks, so its going to be continuing to get really busy from now on!!

Spring Week!

This past week was Spring Week at Stonehill. Spring is a week full of activities around campus, with a concert and a mixer being the main events on the weekends. We have been looking forward to this week for a very long time, so I couldn't believe when it finally arrived. The first big thing of the week was a comedy show in the gymnasium on Tuesday night. Loni Love came. She's been on VH1 and Chelsea Lately on E!, so it was pretty exciting. Personally, I have seen her on Chelsea Lately so I was really happy when I found out she was our Spring Week comedian. I was definitely not disappointed. I think that was the hardest I have laughed in a really long time. She has a really great show prepared. She also put in effort to involve all of the students in her show which was really cool. A few students got a chance to go up on stage with her. She gave them a pretty hard time, but it was all in good fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. She even stayed for awhile after and took pictures with students, so that was really great.

The highlight of the week was definitely the weekend. On Friday, there was a concert in the Sports Complex. The band State Radio came to play. We also had the DJ, Girl Talk. I'd never heard of State Radio before, but I had a few friends that really liked them and they ended up doing a great job and put on a really good show. I was personally really excited for Girl Talk. A couple of my friends from home are huge fans and I've always liked his stuff. His performance was crazy. A lot of students had previously won the chance to go on stage with him, so that was obviously really exciting for him. Everyone watching was dancing and having a good time. It was really great! Then on Saturday during the day there was a carnival. That was really fun. There were a lot of really fun things to do. Some of my friends and I got Henna tattoos. My friends Morgan and Justin did this boxing thing that was there. That was pretty hilarious watching them try and beat each other up (of course, all in good fun, no one gets hurt!). Then at night, there was a mixer in the Sports Complex. That was really fun! We haven't had a dance in there since the first weekend of the semester, so it was really great to have another.
Spring Week was really great, but I am also extremely excited for this weekend to come because my brother Michael is visiting! He's never been to Stonehill, so I can't wait for him to come and to show him around.

Spring in Easton :)

Winter is finally over, and spring has definitely arrive at Stonehill! Of course, there is still the occasional rainy day, but it is definitely a lot warmer here on campus. Campus is covered in tulips and looks beautiful with the sun shining every day. The past couple weeks have been really fun! Last week was my friend Kelly's birthday! Her actual birthday was during the week when we were all pretty busy with work, so we waited until the weekend to celebrate. On Thursday, we went to a Stonehill lacrosse game. Lacrosse isn't really big on the west coast so I've never been to a game before. It was really fun, though, and the Skyhawks won!



Then on Friday, a bunch of our friends all went out to dinner at Bertucci's for Kel's birthday. Bertucci's is a great place to go because it is walking distance from campus and they take our HillCard, so we don't have to pay with cash. Kelly's best friend from home, Lindsay, came for the weekend to celebrate. She's really great, and Kelly definitely loves having her around, so it was really good of her to visit. She goes to BU, so it isn't too hard for her to get here. The next day, a few of us decided to go into Boston for the day. Lindsay came with us too, and then went back to school from there, so that really worked out. It is pretty easy to get into the city. We just take the Stonehill shuttle to the Quincy Adams T station
and ride the T into the city. We spent the day walking down Newbury Street and Quincy Market. It was a really fun day! The weather was really nice, so I loved just walking around outside. We went into a lot of fun random stores and just had a really great time.

Spring Break!

For spring break, Stonehill had a little over a week off. That was great because that meant I got to go home to California! Though it is always a little sad to leave the Hill, coming home is always great. Being so far away from home makes me really miss my family, so I loved getting to go home to see them. First semester I didn't go home at all, so it was nice to be able to go back home so soon. I had a really great break. I spent most of my time with my family. All of siblings in college had the same spring breaks, so we were all home at the same time. That was really lucky! It seems as we all get older, the time we have all together as a family gets rarer, so I really value when we are all home at the same time.

Besides spending time with my family, I went to visit my best friend Jenn at her college. She goes to University of California at Santa Barbara. Her school is right on the beach, so that was really nice. Her classes were still in session, so she was obviously a little busy, but I still really loved visiting her there. I spent 3 days there. We pretty much just spent the whole time chatting and catching up and hanging out on the beach. There are also some really good shopping outlets right by her school, so we definitely took advantage of those and got a lot of shopping done. It was a really great trip!

Before I knew it though, spring break was over and I'm back at the Hill. This week should be fun! It is my friend Kelly's birthday this week, so the festivities for that should be really fun! I cannot believe its almost April! Spring semester is flying by!!

End of Winter :)

One big thing I had to get used to when moving to Massachusetts was obviously the weather. It has definitely been a big change, but it hasn't been as bad as I expected. I don't love all the rain, though. Everyone warned me about the snow, but no one told me about all of this rain. It seems to rain all the time. Walking to class takes a lot of motivation when the weather is like that, but I just put on my rain boots and North Face and make the walk to Duffy. I have definitely gotten used to it as the year has gone by. We have had a couple more snow storms this semester too. I actually really enjoy those. Our last big storm was really fun. The first night it started to snow, I went out with a couple of friends and played around in it. We had a snow ball fight, made snow angels, and failed miserably at making a snowman. Earlier in the semester I made one, but the snow was pretty hard. This time it was soft and powdery so we thought it would go better, but it was somewhat of a fail. It was still really fun trying though! It was a really fun night. Then a couple nights later, we took advantage of the snow sticking to the ground and went sledding down Donahue hill. That was extremely fun. I haven't gone sledding since I was really little, so I really enjoyed that. Though I wiped out a few times and had a few bruises the next day, it was definitely worth it!

Now that spring is coming, it will be about time to start putting away the North Face jackets and whipping out shorts and flip flops. I am definitely excited about that. We have had a few random really nice days, and the mood is always really great around campus on those days. Everyone sits out on the grass to do homework and plays football or frisbee on the quad. I have some busy weeks ahead with all my classes. This semester is going by so fast!

Second Semester Courses

A really good thing about coming back for a new semester is getting all new classes. So far, I really like my classes this semester. I am taking philosophy and religion as my core classes this semester. I like my philosophy class a lot. I have never taken a course in philosophy before, so it is really interesting. And my professor has some pretty funny ways of explaining things, which makes the class go by pretty fast. I also have my first class in the new science building this semester. I am still an undecided major, so I am taking general psychology course this semester just to test out some different stuff. So far, it is pretty interesting. Also, after being in Austria, I have found my second semester of German even more interesting. Actually hearing people speak the language has given me more motivation to learn it. I am pretty sure that I want to continue taking German past the regular two-semester requirement. It would be awesome to study abroad in Germany or Austria and be able to become fluent. Another course I am taking this semester is Mediated Communications. It is only once a week for 2 and a half hours. It is pretty long to sit through, but I really like the professor, so that makes the time go by quicker.

I am really excited for this weekend. Both of my roommates are going out of town, so one of my good friends, Kelly, is going to spend the weekend in my dorm with me. We did that a couple times last semester too, and it is always so much fun! We are also going to take the shuttle to the movies and see Dear John. Hopefully it’s a good movie and a great weekend!!

Back at the Hill

The first couple of weeks back at school have been great! It was so awesome getting to see all of my friends and get back into the swing of things. Being back in my dorm is great. I actually missed my bed here. And even though it was nice being back in the warm weather in California, I realized I actually missed the snow. New England of course welcomed me back with some snow in the first couple days back, and I actually really liked. I’m sure if it keeps coming down I won’t be saying the same thing, but right now I am enjoying. Some of my friends and I took advantage of the first snowfall back and made a snowman. By the time we made it, the snow had become pretty icy, so it’s not the best snowman ever, but it was really fun making it. Stonehill also welcomed us back with the Whiteout Ball last weekend. It was a semi-formal dance in the Sports Complex. Everyone got all dressed up and danced the night away. I had a really good time.

Also, last weekend, my friend Joey and I went into Boston for the day for the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science. We have been planning on going to that since the beginning of the year, so we were really excited. We took the shuttle and then the T into Boston. Neither of us have had much experience on the T, so we were a little worried, but we made it there safely. The exhibit was amazing! There were props and costumes from all of the Harry Potter movies there. It was so cool. One of our favorite things was they actually had a place in there where you could play quidditch (not on brooms, of course, but it was still fun), and you could also sit in Hagrid’s chair. It was such a fun day!

Break in California :)

Being home in California has been great. It has been over 4 months now that I have been gone, so being home was awesome. The weather was obviously a nice change. I can’t even remember the last time I wore shorts and flip flops outside. But the best part about being home was seeing all of my friends. Right when I got home from Europe, my best friend Jenn had a dinner party at her house for a bunch of our girlfriends. That was so much fun. It has been so long since I have seen all of them, so it was great to catch up. Unfortunately, Jenn’s school is on a different schedule than us, so she already had to head back to school on the January 3^rd. So, because I only got to see her at home for a couple of days, when the next weekend rolled around, I drove up to her school and spent the weekend there. That was probably the highlight of my time at home. She goes to UC Santa Barbara which is only a couple of hours away from home, right on the beach. It is gorgeous there. And even better, one of my other best friends, Juliana, is her roommate. So I got to spend the whole weekend with both of them. It was really great meeting their friends, going to Jenn’s sorority, and just actually getting to see what their lives are like. They both seem really happy, so that made me really happy.

The rest of my break at home I spent hanging out with my other friends that were home. My brother and sister had to head back to school a week earlier than me, so the house was pretty quiet my last week home. But, now it is time to head back to Stonehill. I am so excited! I cannot wait to see everyone and get to my classes. It is going to be a great semester!

Europe Trip!

Wow! I can’t believe I am already back home from Europe. It was so amazing!! It was definitely the best vacation I have ever been on. The last day of school, my Dad flew into Boston to pick me up. I was so glad he came here, because doing my first international flight by myself would’ve been a little scary. The flights were long, but not really as bad as I thought they would be. But, once we got there, I was definitely glad to be on the ground. My sister Kelly and my mom flew from California, and my brother Michael and sister Christine flew from Chicago because they were at school too. We all met in Austria, and our trip began!

We spent the first six days of our trip in Salzburg, Austria. That was definitely my favorite place. Our hotel was right by the center of town that had a big Advent Mart for the holidays. That was a really cool place to walk around at night. Our time in Austria was very laid back, since we had so much time there. My sister Christine and I found it hard to adjust to the time zone, so we took what became known as our “post-lunch laps” every day. We got into a really nice routine there that made it feel a lot like home. Every day we would find somewhere new to walk around, and just take in the sights, then we would go to the grocery store or the Advent mart for meals, and then come back to our hotel and just spend time together. One of my favorite memories there was walking to Auniff, a small town nearby where my dad lived in college. We got to walk through parts of Austria that were in “The Sound of Music.” That was really cool. Another great memory of Austria was Christmas. We got a little tree from the Advent mart and brought it up to our hotel room. We obviously didn’t have lights or ornaments, so we improvised with ornaments made of wrapping paper. It was so much fun making the ornaments and listening to Christmas music. Even though it was a very different Christmas, it is definitely one of my favorite ones.

We then spent most of the rest of our trip in Rome. Rome was very different from what I expected. I was only picturing all the historic stuff I’ve seen in pictures or on TV. I wasn’t expected to also be such a big modern city as well. There were so many people on the streets all the time. It was crazy. I still really liked it though. One of my

favorite places was the Vatican. It was so awesome going to mass in St. Peter’s and seeing the Pope speak. I think that is something every Catholic should get to experience someday.

Overall, the trip was incredible! But, the best part about it was just getting to spend time with my family. Now that all my siblings and I are older, it is very rare when we are all together. It was really nice to be away with them, with no other distractions like work and other friends. It was just family time, and I loved it.

That will definitely be a trip that I remember for the rest of my life. And now it’s almost time to head back to the Hill. I do have a couple weeks here in California, and I plan to make the most of them, because I won't be back until March!