Preparing for Break and Ugly Sweaters

Well, as I sit at home looking back how crazy of a week I just went through, I cannot believe I made it to Sunday. I'd like to share some pictures from the Upper Sophomore RA Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. We came together and celebrated Christmas at my Hall Director's apartment and we played the Bad Santa game. If you don't know what it is, that's okay! I didn't know either. How it basically works is that everyone brings a gift and gets a number. The first person picks a gift, then the second person picks a gift , but if the second person doesn't like their gift, they can steal from the first person and so on. It gets pretty feisty fast, especially if there is a good gift! As you can see in my pictures, we are pretty decked out in our Christmas gear. Gotta love the ugly sweaters!! 

From left to right starting at the bottom row: Meaghan, Marleah, Muna, Sacha, Jeanette, Adam, Matt, Mary, April, Colin and Dean

Making funny faces! 

We also watched the movie Elf and sat around until about 11pm just talking and having a good time with each other! We only see each other once a week at staff meetings! It's great to catch up on each other's lives.

This past week I also had 3 exams on the same day; It felt like finals on crack. Thursday night I had about 3.5 hours of sleep before getting up to take the tests starting at 8am. Whoever said the life of a college student is glorious, was so wrong. Throughout my four years I've heard stories about how easy senior year is. Whoever said that was also seriously wrong, because this has been the most difficult year by far. I see it as just another way to take senior year by the horns and go out with a bang! Well now, it's about 11:03pm and I'm sitting on my couch enjoying some hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie. I plan on catching up on the many sleep hours I've been lacking lately, so goodnight everyone and have a great and safe holiday!

p.s. if you'd like to look at more holiday ugly sweaters, this site hits the spot!

The Best Ugly Sweaters

Sing We Now of Christmas

As Christmas time is quickly approaching, I wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday season! This is the last week of classes before we get to go home for Christmas break for 2 weeks. Even though this can be such an exciting time, it can also be the worst. I have 3 tests on Friday, and that is going to be so difficult trying to dedicate all of my time to studying for them! For reasons such as this, I recommend college students to have the best time management skills they can possibly have! In a way it's like I'm taking finals, and really it's just my first exams in the classes.
But also this week I get to look forward to my Ugly Sweater Christmas Party at my HD's apartment on Tuesday and I'm going all out! I will eventually be posting pictures as soon as I can! Above is a picture of my fellow Ambassador seniors and I at our last annual Christgiving dinner. We always get together to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas during the first few weeks of Winter Term and our best Christmas clothes to top it all off.
Yesterday, December 10th, was also our annual Christmas On Campus. The campus invites all of the children from different organizations in Erie (such as the YMCA) to come and celebrate the holiday season with the students. Students can volunteer to be buddies with the children and help them go around and make arts and crafts that different campus clubs provide for them. I sat at the Psychology Club table and helped the children make mice out of construction paper and candy canes. After the children are all done with activities, they're invited into the Great Room where The Night Before Christmas is read and Santa hands out gifts. It's so nice being able to give back to the Erie community since a lot of children don't really get much of a Christmas. One thing that is really great about Mercyhurst is that we are always trying to give back to the community that supports us. I strongly encourage students to get involved on campus with events such as these that I've mentioned! 'Tis the season!

If you would like to become more familiar with Student Life at Mercyhurst, please visit the link below!

Mercyhurst College Student Life

College Students Need Money Too!!

As a college student we obviously don't make that much money, unless we are able to have an off campus job or work study. When I started my first year as an undergrad I thought that I was going to be able to have a work study job on campus, but then my parents told me that I was not eligible for it because they "made too much money." I was so upset and angry at financial aid saying that I couldn't have a job and make any money considering I was going to a $30,000 school. But I have found ways to help make my tough financial situation not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I want to share with all of you the many ways at Mercyhurst you can increase your bank accounts. But first, everyone should apply for the FAFSA to see if you qualify for any type of scholarship/grant/any type of money at all! If you don't qualify for work study then I would suggest doing the following:

- Apply to be an RA (you get free room/board!)
- Apply for jobs close to campus that will let you be flexible with your schedule.
- Get involved with clubs that will give you a scholarship (i.e. become a tour guide! Usually they pay you to do it).
- Get involved with your professors and see that there are any research assistant or teacher's assistant jobs. The school will pay you for that too!
- Become a tutor. At Mercyhurst there are tutoring jobs that pay you minimum wage for every hour that you tutor. It's really nice cash!

So if you find yourself needing some extra money, I suggest these possibilities to you! You don't have to go 4 years with just lint in your pockets!!

Go to the link below to learn more about Mercyhurst Financial Aid and costs for attending the college!

Mercyhurst College Financial Aid 

Lessons Learned from Final Exams

Well it's getting down to the end of my last fall term as a laker. Today I had my Social Ethics final and I think it went pretty well. I have a final tomorrow in Antecedents of Aggression, and Wednesday is my History of Psychology final exam. After Wednesday's final I will be going home for 10 days :) Usually a semester school only has about a 3 or 4 day break for Thanksgiving. But at Mercyhurst we're on the trimester schedule and we get a lot more time off. I love the schedule that Mercyhurst is on, but sometimes it can be a little frustrating compiling a lot of information into 10 week terms.

Since I am applying to graduate school, that adds a lot more work to my already busy schedule. During the past week I have been hiding myself away in the psychology lab for 12-13 hours a day and believe me, it was not such a great idea. Saturday I took the Psychology GRE Subject Test and I only had about 5 hours prior to waking up and going to take the test. Immediately after I was done I went straight back up the psych lab and stayed there until about 10pm. Just from neglecting myself and consuming all my time with my studies I got myself very sick. I woke up Sunday with what it felt to be strep throat, but that ended up going away and turned into body aches, headache, and a fever. I could hardly get out of bed this morning and I knew exactly that this was all my fault.

When your studying for finals and doing everything else in your life except worrying about you, it catches up with you and can turn into a disastrous plan that you thought was going to work. So now here I am in bed trying to explain how you should avoid using your time the way I have. This has definitely been one of the biggest lessons I have learned and sadly I had to learn it the hard way.

Here are some great ways to reduce stress in college. After reading this over, I definitely believe I will be considering to put more time in for myself so I never have to get sick during finals again.

Reduce College Stress

What Do You Want To Do Before You Die? Words From the Wise - The Buried Life Guys

The Buried Life boys

Well hello everyone! Today I want to talk about bucket lists. Everyone should make one, because someone once told me that by making one you can actually organize your thoughts and write down exactly what you want to do with your life. These words came from one of the Buried Life guys, Jonnie Penn. All of the Buried Life guys came to Mercyhurst tonight to talk about their show and give us inspirational words on how to live our lives to the fullest everyday! 

I wish that I could express how much I LOVED it! They actually inspired me to start my own bucket list, and I was able to actually cross another thing off tonight. That thing was to meet the guys from The Buried Life. I got a picture with them and touched Ben while taking the picture (not to sound all creepy or anything), and it was great! Three of them, Jonnie, Duncan, and Ben signed my bucket list, but I ran out of time before I could have Dave sign it as well.

Here is a picture that we got with the boys! Ben put is arm around me:) 

I just want everyone to know that you CAN make a difference in your life, and sometimes all you need is a little inspiration. These guys inspired me to walk up to the microphone tonight and tell them exactly one thing I want to do before I die. What I told them was that I wanted to start up Bikram yoga. I do yoga in my spare time, but I've always wanted to go to an intense yoga session and I feel like that would fulfill that goal! If you really want to know exactly how genuine these guys are, one of my really good friend's has been suffering from an anxiety disorder since high school. She has a hard time being in really crowded places, but she overcame her fears tonight and went to the event and even went up to the microphone to tell the guy's one of her things off her bucket list. Her thing is to ride a bull, and Dave actually told her to come talk to him after the event because he could help make it happen for her. He actually gave her his email to talk to him about it and she's emailing him right now as we speak. Mercyhurst is starting to get really good at bringing in well known people now. This is definitely one of the best reasons for being a Mercyhurst College Laker! 

Here is the link for Mtv's site for The Buried Life, and the Facebook page for them as well! There are a lot of Mercyhurst students who have been posting to them throughout the last few days! MSG (Mercyhurst Student Government) were the one's taking the pictures and we were not aloud to do the group photo ourselves because of time. 

The Buried Life's Facebook page

Mtv's page for The Buried Life

College Life - Through the Eyes of an RA

Being an RA is not a bad thing at all like some people may perceive them to be. It is actually a very enjoyable and fun experience! So let me tell you all about what has been going on lately through the eyes of an actual RA. 

I am an RA (resident assistant) in the sophomore area on campus! RA's are in charge of putting on programs, which are events that help bring the resident community together and of course have lots of fun doing it. Tonight my staff and I got together for our all area program and invited our entire resident community to join us and do something really great for the elderly residents of Erie! We took regular flower plants and painted, colored, and even bedazzled a few of them. As a result, we have created close to 30 vibrant flower pots and are going to fill them with different flower seeds and give them out to the elderly in a nursing home of Erie. 

Here is the Upper Sophomore Staff with our Assistant Director, Michael, and Hall Director, Dean. Dean was trying to be funny as you can tell :) 

Here is the finishing product of all the pots the residents and RA's created tonight! We hope to make the elderly at St. Mary's feel like they are thought of and cared about! 

RA's are not there to make residents' lives miserable and catching them when they are doing things they shouldn't be doing. RA's are leaders of the college who are willing to help other students in times of crisis, in times of need (such as maintenance issues and roommate conflicts), and most of all to bring fun and happiness to the residence hall! It's very tough at times to be in the position of an RA, and sometimes it can be unfair when you are on duty on days, such as Halloween. That means you can't go out and dress up with your friends and have a fun time. You are going to be in your apartment doing rounds around the area when the Assistant Director tells you and to be on call when there are incidents going on. I must say those are the only downfalls of the job, but it is your job and you get VERY good perks for doing it. 

RA's in the freshman area get a free meal plan and free room as well. RA's in the upperclassmen area only get free room, but that's okay because we get an actual kitchen! RA's in the freshmen area do not. So it balances itself out. RA's in all area's also get a stipend of $250 to spend on campus (i.e. food, coffee, etc.). And most of all, the best perk I think we get is the lasting relationships you make with your staff. You become so close and they basically become your second family. I've been lucky enough to have had 2 great staffs both my years as an RA and I love knowing that when I go to staff meetings I'm going to have a fun time being there. 

So my advice to you, if you want to live up the college experience become an RA! It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but I promise that it will be an experience you will never regret.

If you'd like to learn more about Residence Life and their role on campus, here is the link!

http://www.mercyhurst.edu/student-life/residence-life/ 

Planning Post-Mercyhurst

So, as I have said in my previous blogs I am applying to graduate school. My strongest desire is to attend a Clinical Psychology program, especially either The University of Notre Dame or Case Western Reserve University! These are just 2 of the 14 schools I am applying to (10 Ph.D. and 4 M.A. in Counseling). After completing my Ph.D. I plan on staying involved with research and teaching as a professor of psychology at a university. When I came to Mercyhurst, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the world. But after progressing in my psychology degree, I've realized I want to stay in the world of academia. After all, that is all I really know anyway (18 years of school)!

Clinical Psychology is one of the most competitive programs in the world, and I'm doing everything I can to make myself stand out. This Thursday I will be taking the GRE (Graduate Record Examination) for the second time. It's basically like the SAT/ACT, but much harder. Here is a picture of the book that I've been using to study. 

There are 3 main sections on the exam: Quantitative, Verbal, and Analytical Writing. The quantitative is all about math, the verbal is all about vocabulary, sentence completion, and analyzing an article. The analytical writing is all about supporting or arguing against a statement and explaining the position of an argument. 

It's been extremely difficult to balance studying for this test, homework, all my other exams, meetings, and my classes. You definitely have to be a well organized and timely person in order to do it all! 

The Opportunities Are Endless!

Hi Everyone! I want to share with you my absolute lovely/awesome day! 

First, I'd like to mention that I proposed one of the senior class gifts today to Dr. Gamble (president of the college), Dr. Tobin (vice president of student life), Dr. Livingston (vice president for advancement) and some of the alumni staff. I cannot reveal what we proposed, but it went very well and I'm very excited to be able to reveal it to you later in the year. Meghan K., and our friend Alexa also helped propose with me one of the gifts and I definitely think they agree we were absolutely great! I strongly encourage everyone to get involved with the senior class gift wherever you decide to attend college. First, it is an absolute honor to be apart of and school faculty and administrators know you are the best of the best. Second, you have left a legacy of your own and you have always something to come back to when you visit!

The second part of my day involved the Dean's List Reception! For me, it has always been a goal to get in the dean's list and I finally completed my goal. There was amazing food, amazing people, and amazing pieces of artwork that we got to look at by a featured artist. Here is a picture of the Potato Bar we got to experience! We got to pick our own ingredients (shredded cheese, chives, sour cream) to mix in with mashed potatoes. I've never experienced such amazing mashed potatoes! 

Anyway, that's all for now! Carpe Diem :) 

Senior Year=No Fun

If any of you are interested in pursing a masters, or doctorate degree after you get out of your undergraduate years, then this might be the blog for you! Being a psychology major doesn't open many doors for me with just a bachelor's degree and I've made the decision to apply to Clinical Psychology Ph.D programs. And honestly I'm scared to death of the outcome.

I have always thought of senior year as the BEST year of my undergraduate years, but it's turning into quite the opposite! Never ending stress and anxiety, never ending homework, and never ending graduate school things to do. To be honest, it's probably one of the hardest years of my life. Even if you are not planning on a graduate degree in psychology, but something else, believe me it is still going to get you.

In other news, I am apart of the senior class gift committee, and next Tuesday I will be biting my nails as I prepare to give a proposal to the president of the college Dr. Gamble, and Vice President for Advancement, Dr. Livingston. I am not alone though! Fellow blogger Meghan, and friend Alexa will be biting their nails along with me! I cannot reveal what we will be proposing, but I will say that it will open up many student traditions that are to come at the 'Hurst!

I apologize for the neglect of my blog! But when your busy, busy, busy ALL the time it gets hard to balance everything!! Be involved, but not TOO involved! Take that as a lesson for today :)

Here We Go!!

Hello everyone!! I've finally been given the approval to start blogging for all of you again, and I must say it's been entirely too long. So let's make this year a great one!

I am still in disbelief that this is my SENIOR YEAR!! If you think that high school has gone by fast, then wait until you get to college and it's like BAM in your face faster. So, since not much has happened just yet at the 'Hurst I'll give you the lowdown on how my summer went.

In early June I started my internship with the Veteran Affairs Medical Center at a Behavioral Health Clinic in my hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio. Everyday I went to work to shadow my supervisor, Karen Woodard, from 8am-4:30pm. I have learned so much in just a small period of time from Karen and the rest of the Behavioral Health staff. It definitely reassured me that I want to go on in my education and that I am in this world to help the Veteran community.


The highlight of my summer was going to see Katy Perry in Cleveland!! I can't even begin to tell you how AMAZING it was to see her!

Here is what I call "the excited faces" picture of me and my sister. Also this is the best picture I could get of Katy because she was literally 100 feet away from us while she sang Thinking of You!

I also got to see a lot of my family this summer that came up from South Florida. Unfortunately my grandma passed away at the end of July so that was really hard for all of us to get through. And now that I don't have any more grandparents it's hard to not have anyone there to talk to you when you want some words of wisdom. But then again everyone dies eventually and I know they had their time.

I'm very happy to be back at school and kick off the year right since this is my last and final year at Mercyhurst. Once some events start happening I will keep everyone up to date!! 

It's the End of the Year! It's Crunch Time!

Hello everyone! I hope that you are getting better weather wherever you are, because Erie just doesn't seem to want to warm up. We've had a few nice days with the sun out, but it looks like it's going to start raining again :/ Mercyhurst sure has seen it's share of celebrities through past Springfest's, but we really were blown away last week when we all found out that Frankie Muniz was going to be playing for us! He was so nice enough to take a picture with me and my two friends Meghan (which also has a blog as you probably know) and Faith. It was so nice to be able to have a nice conversation with someone that I've always seen on TV and is really famous! I literally jumped for joy and I have no shame in saying that :) I will go ahead and post the many other photos that I have from Springfest just so you guys can see how much fun it is! 

My friend Faith and I did the obstacle race! 

                                                     Climbing the rope was the hardest                
                                                             part!! We fell a few times!


                                                                                

 


There is officially 1 more day left of classes and on Monday I will be taking 2 finals and I'm finished with my junior year! I cannot stress enough about how nervous I am about next year. Senior year cannot be here yet, I only just started college! You always hear how much people say that college goes by so so fast, but you never really believe them because it's 4 years. They really are not lying when they tell you this, because it feels like yesterday I was a freshman and was just finishing up my 1st year. Now I'm finishing my 3rd and I know that next year is going to go by just as fast as this one. So my advice to you is to live up every single moment that you have while in school. Because the years are going to pass you right by, and you'll never get that time back.

So for all of you that are getting ready to start college next Fall, be ready and live it up!!! I hope to be able to blog about all my experiences to those of you that read these next year. I am sure there will be plenty of things to blog about! Enjoy the summer and be safe!

1 Month Left!!

Happy Easter!! I hope everyone has nice plans with their families today! I am visiting with my family and heading off to work for 8 hours. This post is going to be all about how to keep a job when your still in school. I've been going home to work since I was a freshman and it really is a great way to make money when you're home. College students never really get to make a lot of money during college years because of the inability to have a car and without a car comes with the inability to find a job. And there really aren't many jobs around Mercyhurst unless you'd like to work at Arby's, CVS, or the Cornerstone (if you're old enough!). Work study is also a great opportunity to make money as well if you are given the opportunity to have one!
So, if you have a steady part-time/full-time job right now and you will be getting ready to head off to school soon in the Fall, don't quit your job! The best decision is to talk with your boss about staying on as a seasonal employee. I think that we always get at least some good time off when we're home for breaks and it is a great opportunity to get some fast cash to buy your books, groceries for your dorm, or just to save up!  I've never had a lot to do when I go home for breaks, so its a good way of filling in some downtime.

By the way, here is a picture of myself at the Western Pennsylvania Undergraduate Psychology Conference presenting my research! It was a very exciting day and I was thrilled to finally finish everything I've been working on since the beginning of the year. This year it was held at Westminster College and they did a fantastic job at hosting the events. This is a BIG DEAL for Junior Psychology majors, it is best to start preparing the start of Fall Term for this day!

It's FRIDAY!

Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is having a FABULOUS Friday! I sure am because I got to go home and spend some time with my family. It was really much needed:)
This week's topic is all about internships. Since I am hard at work trying to find myself one, I thought that there has to be future students out there wanting to know all about how you can gain experience while in college as well. Depending on the major that your in, there are a number of options that students can get their hands on, literally. I also know that certain majors, such as Intelligence Studies, can do more than one internship as well. But since I'm so familiar with Psychology I'm going to share my information with you about it. So, I'm required as a student to complete a 200 hour internship in the Summer between my Junior and Senior year. So, I'm getting pretty anxious as of right now trying to find one, luckily I think that I finally have. You are not required to go to a certain place to complete the hours, you have the many options of finding one that fits you best and in the area of study that you want to get experience in. I have been working very hard to find my way into the Veteran Affairs Medical Center, which is right down the street from MC! Unfortunately, no one has been willing to take me on as an intern, but I did get a call from the VA Outpatient Clinic in Ashtabula, OH, which is exactly where I'm from! I am very happy that someone has found an interest in me and this is why I am home this weekend so I can meet with the Psychiatric Nurse who I've been in touch with. I'm really hoping for the best. If anyone has any questions about finding internships or being placed please leave me a question and I'll answer them!

This past weekend was Major Day and there were tons and tons of students and their families that attended. I was fortunate enough to be able to speak to the perspective Psychology students about what our program is all about! There's one thing with only speaking with faculty, but it's another when you get to speak to students who are actually doing everything that the professors are telling that you get to do. I think that it feels great getting to be able to tell my story and how I ended up at Mercyhurst. I hope that I'll be able to get to know a lot of the students that I got to meet that day in the future. It was great getting to talk to all of you!

Research! Research! Research!...Andddd the Frozen Four!

What a breeze my Spring Term is turning out to be so far, excluding my research! It's SUCH a great feeling to know that all my blood, sweat, and tears are paying off. I've worked so hard these last 2 terms with learning all about statistics and all about what my research will entail. But now....da da da duh!!!...it has finally begun and I can now collect my data! My research is all about how college students use and feel about the counseling center on campus, and I can't give any more information other than that because of confidentiality issues.
But when you're a freshman and you decide to take Intro to Psychology during your spring term, you will be asked to participate in research run by psychology majors. This is where we get all of our participants and is vital that we get as many as we can. You do not have to be a freshman to take Intro to Psychology, you can take it any year that you would like while you're here at Mercyhurst, but it's a very popular freshman class to take.
Myself and the other psychology majors only have a few weeks to collect our data, because at the end or very beginning of April we have to start analyzing our data and prepare ourselves for presenting at the Western Pennsylvania Undergraduate Psychology Conference. This year it is April 16th and we are all presenting at Westminster College. This is like our final exam, except we do not get graded while we are presenting. But I must say we all are very tired and stressed and worn out from all the things that research has put us through thus far. And we all, especially me, cannot wait until it is all over with.

By the way the FROZEN FOUR is this weekend and Erie, PA is hosting this years events!! This is a very big weekend for Erie AND Mercyhurst because this is the first time ever that we are hosting this huge event. Even though Mercyhurst unfortunately did not make it into the finals, a lot of supporters from the community are going to be there and make this great weekend a success! The Ambassador Club fortunately gets to be apart of this fabulous weekend and we will be welcoming guests to the Tullio Arena, where everything is held, and making sure that all of our guests are presented with the best of the best that Mercyhurst can offer!
I plan on taking pictures of all the events, so stay tuned for more next week!

Kicking Off Spring Term the Right Way

Hello Everyone! Happy Spring Term! This year keeps moving by at a quicker pace. As I'm sitting in the bookstore organizing and working out what homework is due within the next week, I wanted to give everyone an update.
Spring Term is a very very busy term and not just for me, but the whole campus. This is a great time as well to start touring colleges if you're a Junior in high school! So make you're appointment with us today and you'll get an awesome tour of our amazing campus! And also (well, hopefully) you won't have to put up with the snow on your tour as well.
It was just announced that the band that will be visiting us for our Spring Fest is Plain White Tee's! The contract is still being worked out, but we are more than likely going to get to rock out to their songs all night! I'm more than ready for warm weather, because I think a lot of us are tired of being thrown around with all the snow, rain and even the extreme winds that have graced our presence today. I've managed to stay on my feet, but it hasn't been easy considering the winds were up to 26 mph.
I'm loving my schedule this term as well! I do not have to get up early for any classes this time and it is so awesome to be able to know that you can sleep in. I have a class from 2-3:20pm MWF, a night class from 6-8pm just M&W. T&TH I have a class from 12:10-2:05 and a no credit class from 8:15-9:15pm every other Wednesday. This class (called, Current Issues) is just for informational and discussion purposes about the field of Psychology and the great part is that you get an awesome recommendation letter out of it from Professor Hoff, the Chair of the Psychology program. Even though there is no credits, it's definitely worth taking.
My research is starting next week and I'm so excited to start collecting data. I'm pretty nervous about the conference though that is coming up just next month, so I'm working hard to make it a great project!
I will definitely keep everyone up to date about all the things that are going to be happening here within the next few weeks. What is everyone giving up for Lent? I have not decided yet, but I'm thinking I might give up chocolate (or sweets in general) because I'm going on a healthy kick this term and going to the gym 3 times a week.

I'm Reaching My Boiling Point

Hello Everyone!
It's been a very tough last couple weeks at the Hurst. My grandma unfortunately passed away last Saturday and I was home all of this past week with my family at the family time and the funeral. It's never fun to have to go home for something like that, but it was of course great to see my family. I'm very used to attending funerals and such, because that is what my dad does for a living; he is a funeral director. So growing up all around death I'm very used to, but when it's a family member it's so much different and of course you feel differently about things. For everyone that has ever wondered how you can manage to miss a week of class when a family death occurs and you're still at school, I can explain. It is not as bad as some may think it is, but it also depends on your professors. I actually have some really great professors that understood my situation completely. I was able to make up the test that I missed on Monday and hand in a paper late. The make up work is never the good part, because I'm flailing around like a chicken with my head cut off all around campus now. But it is also the last week of classes and I have to start getting ready for finals and write my huge literature review paper (which is 20 pages long). I'm very ready to just go home and not do anything, except work and make some hard earned money which I'm really needing right about now. So there is only 1 quiz, a literature review paper, and 3 finals that is stopping me from starting my spring break right now.
So this will probably be my last post until Spring term finally is upon us here at the Hurst. So I hope everyone is excited for it to start as well, there are many many amazing things that are going to be happening here and I will share every single little detail.
CARPE DIEM!

Snow Day!...Well, not quite.

Today my only class of the day was canceled, which wasn't even due to the weather that seems to be creeping up on Erie, PA again, my professor was ill.  What's new? We'll be seeing snow until the beginning of April. I was very happy about having class canceled, because it's giving me a chance to finally catch up on things I've had no time for lately. And I also missed out on a quiz that I was studying really hard for last night. Now I have an extra day or so to nail it. So even though I'd LOVE to hang around in my apartment and sleep all day, like so many are probably doing right now, I'm catching up on getting in touch with internship facilities and putting my research proposal together. Oh the joys of being a college student!

I've recently picked up spinning, I'd love to go today, but I'm not quite sure I'll be able to make it with my busy schedule. Studies come before the gym for me. If you've never spinned before, it is an AWESOME way to get rid of stress, not to mention the sweat pouring out of you. I highly recommend it. If you decide to come to the hurst, we have a great gym and awesome classes that are free, yes i said it, FREE to students. All you have to do is show your one card and bring an extra pair of shoes you do not wear outdoors. It'll definitely be a change when I no longer get free gym membership after graduation. That's one perk I'll definitely miss.

Is anyone into Pretty Little Liars? That is my all time favorite TV show, it is a must see! My roommates and I have a little party every Monday night and we get together to watch it. It's getting very mysterious again, I suggest it to everyone! Even my boyfriend who is not into shows like this watches it, so don't doubt me when I say it's really really good!

Update!

It's been awhile since I've written, and I apologize. I have gone through 2 weeks of craziness and finally I can relax. This is what I like to call my hell week, that happens at least once a term. This time it continually went right into another week. But now that this week is over I can blog about all the crazy things in my life!
Midterms are finished (in my words, I'm saying thank the lord!) and I'm overjoyed. I only had two this term, but they were so in depth and took up a lot of time. My research methods midterm took me 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete and the class was only 2 hours long, which means yes, I was the last one to finish. I haven't gotten the verdict back on it yet so hopefully it works out the best. The second was my english class and the verdict on this was.....an A! Yay! I wasn't feeling so hot about this one either and by the time I finished the 2 page essay I forgot what I was writing about.

I was greeted with a long weekend after my last midterm and got to go home to visit my family, but it wasn't a very welcoming visit because my grandma was very ill. She was discharged from the hospital on Monday, the day I went back to school, but wasn't doing much better. We're hoping for the best! My sister's birthday was Sunday, so I was at least happy I could be with her on her special day.

Research is slowly, but surely getting a little more complicated and a little bit more specific. I am in the middle of writing my methods proposal. This describes exactly how I'm going to administer my research study and it's very hard to be very specific. I'm really looking forward to finishing!

Spring term's schedule is going to be the following: Psychological Assessment held MWF 2-3:20pm, Research Methods II held TTH 12:10-2:05pm and Asian Cultures which will be a night class from 6:10-8:05pm.

This weekend is our very first wine tasting! And even though I won't be attending because I'm not 21, I think it's great to be bringing to campus! Chef Dominica is also going to be speaking in Taylor Little Theatre and afterwards there is a pizza contest held by students in Egan! It should be a great and very fun weekend!

Starting Off Fresh

Happy 2011! Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and New Years. I know that I did. Over my break I worked for most of it to make up the debt on all the Christmas gifts I bought my family. I am a waitress at my local Denny's, and even though I was not very happy about working Christmas Eve and Christmas, I came out with $165 in tips just those 2 days! It's definitely nice to make some extra cash. I always have one favorite Christmas gift each year. Last year it was a trip to New York City to see the musical The Phantom of the Opera (my favorite musical). This year it was a very unexpected gift from my wonderful boyfriend, which was a ring and the most amazing gift I've ever received from someone. I don't get to see him that much, especially during the winter season and it definitely means a lot to me.

For New Years Eve I spent my time with Evan's family. He unfortunately had to work, but managed to get home at 11:45pm! It was a lot of fun, especially playing Mario Kart, Just Dance and Mario Bros. with Evan's sister Emily, and his two little cousins.

This was taken right before we rang in 2011!

So now that break is over I'm back into school mode and working on getting my research all in line. Yesterday we all presented our topics and everyone definitely has some great ideas! I'm looking forward to getting past the difficult parts and getting to actually research my hypothesis. My professor had told me that I had struck her as very professional and I had sounded very much like a graduate student! This really meant a lot to me especially since I'm planning on attending grad school after graduation next year.    

Tomorrow is Psych Day and the entire Psychology Club/Psi Chi has put together activities for elementary kids to have some fun with! If you live where snow has graced your presence, stay warm! I'm definitely trying!