" 'Cause This is Thriller, Thriller Night..."

Halloween is Sunday! One of my favorite days of the year! The atmosphere just has an eerie feeling and that's what I love most about it! Does anyone love to watch the 13 Nights of Halloween on ABC Family? If you do, then we have this in common!

Since it is that spooky time of the year, I thought I'd share with you all a few ghost stories that have said to have happened here in the past. Including one of my own that I've had...

Well, it is said that Taylor Little Theatre is haunted (for reasons I don't really specifically know off of the top of my head). The library Great Room sits on top of that theatre and one Friday afternoon I was working on a project for a class that I could only work on in the library on their computers. When I walked in I knew that there were people in the Great Room and I was in 1 room over on the computers. I had my headphones on, but I could hear people and they sounded close. About 5 minutes later I was done and was getting ready to leave. Then I suddenly felt like someone ran right past to me and was really close to where I was sitting. Immediately it startled me and I looked around and no one was there. I got up to leave and no one was in the Great Room either. I didn't know what had just happened, but I got a bad feeling and ran out of there. This was my experience, but a lot of other people have experienced ghostly occurrences as well!

One ghost story that it is pretty popular is that of the young sister that had unfortunately taken her life in the 1940's. A young girl named Dorothy was going here when Mercyhurst was still an all girls college. She had met a young man named Tom and they soon fell in love and planned on getting married. But WW2 broke out and he was drafted over seas. She prayed and prayed that he would return home so they could make a life together, but one day she got a letter while still at school that he was tragically killed in battle. She decided she would never love again and gave her life to the lord and became a sister of Mercy. One day, a stranger approached her in soldier attire and she had realized that it was her long lost love and explained to her that the letter was a mistake and he was missing in action all that time he was gone. He begged her to give up her new life and fulfill her life with him. Shocked and confused, the young girl didn't know what to do and it is said that she couldn't handle anything anymore and went crazy. She placed her engagement on the finger of baby Jesus in the chapel and was locked away in O'Neil Tower for the sake of hurting others if she was left to roam the halls freely. Eventually, the other sisters discovered her one day and it is said that she had hung herself. Now sometimes people say that they see strange shadows at night in the windows of the tower in Old Main. And they think it is the ghost of Dorothy looking down on them.
Some years later after her death another young girl was going here and was hoping that her long time boyfriend was going to propose to her. So, it is said that she took the ring from the baby Jesus statue and got in the car and drove home to see her boyfriend. Along the way she got into a terrible car accident and was killed. People say that it is the ghost of Dorothy that caused the accident because she took her ring. The ring is buried somewhere on the school grounds, but no one knows where, so it could never be found.

One last story that I've always heard is that there was a horrific fire some time ago on the third floor of Egan and a lot of girls lost their belongings as well as their rooms for awhile. But one young girl was said to have been caught in the fire and was seriously burned. When she saw herself in the mirror she screamed in terror and went insane from her burns and broke the mirror. Now a lot of girls have said that their mirror just mysteriously would break on their own. Also, a specific room is haunted for sure. There is a video on youtube if you look up Mercyhurst ghosts. There's like a mist that forms on a girls webcam and you can clearly see it. She also said that her shoes were moved around a lot, things went missing and things ended up on the other side of the room when she knew that she didn't put them there. This is the most creepiest story I've heard and I avoid going on the third and fourth floors of Egan at all costs during night. The day time I sometimes have to because that's where Residence Life is located and my AD's office is up there.

So these are a few stories to get you in the mood for Halloween! And remember, when you come to Mercyhurst, ask your tour guide about some ghost stories and they will surely give you a treat!

Pumpkins that my sister and I carved while I was home! Mine is on the bottom.

Have a great Happy Halloween!

Carpe Diem,
Marleah :)

Update at the Hurst

So I haven't written in awhile and I think that it's vital I need to talk about what's going on here at the Hurst lately!
Yesterday was our first Open House of the year and it was a great turn out. My job was to take our prospective students into the Baldwin Hall Residence Hall, which is all girls by the way, and show them around. This is an all girls dorm and I lived there when I was a freshman two years ago. To me, it has a great homey feeling and I met a lot of my friends there. It's an older dorm so it's not nearly as close to how great Warde Hall is, our newest dormitory to college, but it gave me a great experience when I was living on the third floor. I had so many interesting families and it's great getting to know the people that could be on campus with me next year.
It was also another home football game yesterday as well! It was an unforgettable game as we won against No. 3 California U with a score of 31-21!
You can read all about on our sports website! http://hurstathletics.com/index.aspx?tab=football&path=football
As the weeks come closer and closer to finals, my schedule is not getting any easier. This week I'm studying for my third Abnormal Psychology exam on Wednesday, a paper in my Personality class due tomorrow, and tons and tons of meetings. Sometimes it's difficult to even sit down and watch an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, my favorite reality show.
Today is the South Lewis All Area Program as well! This is when all the RA's in my area come together and form a program for all of our residents. This term it is a Half Time Fallfest Party. We're having donuts and apple cidar and carmel apples. We're also collecting canned goods for Hunger and Homeless Week. So, you can always expect a good time from your RA's because we're here to make our residents' happy!
If my schedule permits, I will be writing again this week.
Carpe Diem everyone!
Marleah

Fall Break Is So Close I Can Taste It

Hi everyone!
Midterms are officially done! Well, for me at least and I'm very happy about it. So, it's about that time in the term that registration for the next term starts. I picked out all my classes today and have decided on 3. Here at Mercyhurst we're on a trimester system and because of that we don't have to take a huge amount of classes like you might have to at a school that is on semesters. I think it's a great quality of the college because for me I don't have to be overloaded with homework so much at a time and it balances everything else out that I have going on at school. So for winter term I've decided on:
Behavior Modification
Research Methods 1 (which is a required course for anyone in the psychology major)
British Classics (a distribution core class)

I'm looking forward to starting behavior modification because I love behavior! My least favorite would probably have to be research because I've been dreading this year to come for awhile and conducting my own research is going to be very difficult. Tomorrow starts our Fall Break! I won't be going home until Thursday morning because Wednesday is my usual duty night and I have to stay for that. But I'm very excited that I get to go home. The thing I'm most looking forward to is seeing my puppy, Shiloh. She really isn't a puppy anymore, but she likes to think so. Every time I come home she's the one who is most excited and follows me around for the remainder of the time that I'm home. I know she misses me and I miss her too! We have off until Sunday and I plan on carving a pumpkin with my boyfriend and going to my local apple farm to get apple cidar and doughnuts. And of course spending time with my family.

Have a great week!
Carpe Diem, Marleah

Long Distance Makes the Heart Grow Stronger

My boyfriend and I have been together since the beginning of my college career. I have plenty of experience with long distance relationships, and believe me they are not easy. 
I met my boyfriend, Evan, while I was working as a Sales Associate at an American Greetings store. His best friend was my co-worker's boyfriend and he came with him in the store one day during the summer of 2008. I had just graduated and was getting ready to leave to come to Erie! Evan was just 16 and starting his junior year of high school. Even though we knew it was not going to be easy, we started dating...and the rest is history! NOT!
I wish that I could end the story like this, but everything can't be THAT simple. 
If you are someone that is coming to school in a relationship there has to be a lot commitment, trust and patience, because if not it is going to fail. Evan and I went strong for about a year and a half before things started to get really hard on us. We separated for about 2 1/2 months before one day we got back together and we knew that if we were really worth it then we would do whatever it took to stay together. I know that this might sound corny, but you really do learn from your mistakes and realize that certain people in your life are worth taking the plunge for no matter what the situation. We've been together for a little over 2 years and still going strong. 

This is a picture of Evan and I on my birthday at the restaurant he works at. He bought me the huge chocolate cake! :D

Evan drives to Erie every Sunday to spend time together and I know it's hard on him, especially when I don't have a car to get to him. But I'm grateful everyday for having him there when I need the support and doing what he does for me every week. So my advice to anyone that will be soon in a long distance relationship is to make sure that there is communication, care, support, trust and commitment. There is hope for the future, so don't think that it will automatically fail. There are ways to pull through and I'm a firm believer in that. 

Carpe Diem everyone!
Have a great weekend:)

Exciting Psychology Concentration!

Hello everyone again!
I'm very excited for today because I'm sitting in the union waiting for my meeting to start about a new concentration in the Psychology department! It's called Applied Behavior Analysis and if you graduate with this concentration you will be able to take the board certification to be a Assistant Behavior Analyst. This is something that I'd like to be involved with. I love working with behavior and I may sound a little dorky saying that, but it makes me feel good that I've found a calling in my life!
Anyway, after the meeting I will update this blog about what this concentration is more about because I don't know a lot considering the faculty have kept it quiet up until now.
Today I took a statistics for psychology quiz, which is the first class of the series I'm taking for research methods. It was pretty difficult, but I'm hoping for the best! The next two terms I will be learning and conducting my own research project, which will be great for me because it's a wonderful thing to put on a resume. I'm looking to work with personality traits and incorporating behavior into it. I'm not sure what I want to do, but I'm looking into it.
It's been very dreary here in Erie the past week and a half. Which would explain why we all call it Dreary Erie! Rain rain, please go away! It's starting to bring down my mood from lack of sunshine. So, if you're looking into Mercyhurst for a potential college then be prepared for the weather because when it rains, it really rains and when it snows, it really really snows!
That's all I have for today! Time to get back to my homework! I have a huge Biopsychology midterm tomorrow.
Carpe Diem!
Marleah
__________________________________________________________________________________
Update!
So after a lot of thinking and planning I've decided that I'm going to stay in the direction that I've been going at these past two years and not pursue the ABA concentration. It's A LOT of hard work! This concentration involves an Intense Practicum, which means that you must complete 500 hours of practicum outside of the school. I do not have a car here (bummer :/) and without one I wouldn't be able to get those hours completed. So, it is still an amazing opportunity for Mercyhurst to have! I would definitely recommend it to anyone that wants a career with behavior.
P.S. My midterm went great! My grade will be revealed tomorrow afternoon:) The sun has actually shown itself today and that puts me in an AWESOME mood! Tomorrow is Friday! So everyone have a great weekend.

The Crazy Life of Being an RA

Being an RA takes a lot of responsibility and work, but there are also great benefits to the job as well!

My freshman year I applied for the job and was given an alternate position, so it wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I knew that if I tried harder I would eventually get where I needed to be. So my sophomore year there were openings for a few positions due to some students going to study abroad. Because there were so many limited positions, I didn't get it that time either. So, I did what I knew I had to do and went to talk with someone in the Residence Life Department and got a few pointers on what they are looking for with potential RA's. When March of my sophomore year rolled around they were looking for RA's again and I took the opportunity by the horns and worked really hard. I was accepted and it was one of the happiest days of my life!

So this year I am living on upper Lewis Ave. in the upperclassmen area (which in Mercyhurst terms is known as South Lewis).  My building partner, Hannah, put together programs for our residents to make them feel more at home and have a little fun now and then! Last Wednesday, Hannah and I had our second program which we called "Are You On the Trail to Success?" and we gave a lot of options such as honey comb cereal, reeses pieces, m&m's, nuts, raisins and pretzels. We also made a goal chart where our residents posted their #1 goal for the year and played board games.

This is Hannah and myself at our first program! Decorating our own cupcakes:)

I think this is one of the most beneficial jobs you can have on campus because you learn from so many things that you come across when you're on duty and from you're residents. My schedule is always busy no matter what every week and being an RA adds to that craziness. In a general week, this is what my schedule would be. Tuesday's are our staff meetings (this is where we get together as a staff with our AD and talk about things that we might need to bring to her attention, programs, things happening within the week, and building community with each other), Wednesday's are my night that I'm on duty and depending on the weekend I may have weekend duty as well.
If I had to give one thing that is the hardest part about being an RA I would say the weekend duties. We're required to stay up until at least 3:00am and sometimes it's really hard to stay awake that long.

If anyone is interested in becoming an RA, my advice would be to go for it! What do you have to lose? Show the Assistant Directors what you can bring to the table and how much of a great personality you have! You have to want it! You shouldn't just apply because you get free room and board. Yeah, it's a perk, but you're part of the college's staff and you have to be a role model to the students and your residents. On a good note, you always have a lot of fun and meet tons and tons of amazing people!
So everyone have a great weekend!
Carpe Diem,
Marleah