So I just have to say this was a fun week!!! It was only a four day week so that was definitely a plus for me- no school this past Friday!!! :) Monday, I had my classes and did nothing as usual. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday was normalish. On Wednesday night, I stayed up until past midnight to help my friend Jimmie celebrate his 21st birthday on Thursday! His sister came over and celebrated in the traditional way that is the 21st birthday. I did not partake since I had an early day on Thursday. Thursday was fine. But Thursday night was AWESOME!!! 

I got to go to Cirque du Soleil with my friends Kristy and Maria! It was freaking AMAZING!!! It was the show Saltimbanco and was full of single performers and cast performances and flying high stunts and awesome showmanship and just extraordinary make-believe skills! We had so much and it was just across the river at the Bank of Kentucky Center on Northern Kentucky University's (NKU) campus so that was just a stroke of good luck to have it so close! It's never been this close that I know of in the last few years! The bad part of it all was we weren't allowed to take pictures because "if your camera goes flashy then our performers go crashy" (that's what the woman in the beginning told us- she was one of the performers so when she said it, it was funny as heck- the intro, not the part about crashing). My favorite part was when Eddy (that's what the program named him as) went up and down this imaginary hallway and opened all these doors and one was a closet full of toys. Such as a yo-yo that he played with, a bat, and then a ball that became an interactive part with the audience (one guy did well, a woman managed to "throw" the ball short and then too far, and then a man who threw the ball at Eddy but when Eddy tried to hit it with the bat, the ball flew into his mouth and then he ended up swallowing it. He tried using the bathroom to get it out but the toilet was already clogged so when he tried to flush it, the bathroom filled up with water and he became submerged in the water. He called someone on his "cell phone" and they let him out and flooded out and knockd down some other performers. I will remind you, though, that none of this was real and all of this was done with just Eddy on the stage. No props. Just him, his body movements, and his sound effects. It was freaking HILARIOUS!!!). I ended up buying the DVD of the show for my parents since it was their anniversary, but it's also so I can see it again and enjoy the fun I had all over again. 

Some of the other acts were two women doing high flying acrobatic work, a juggler that used like 12 balls, two muscle men (hot!), four high flying bungee cord performers (they were AMAZING!), a woman with these two balls flying around on these string things (I don't know what it was so I can't explain it), and some awesome singing (it was all in French so I have no idea what they were trying to sing but I got shivers anyway so it must've been awesome whatever they were singing). And of course, everytime they just "said" something, it was just jibber jabber in some made up language and I didn't understand a word of it but it was funny as heck! :) 

We had an amazing time and 2 and half hours was too short! I want to go again as soon as I can because Cirque du Soleil is just an amazing demonstration of creativity, ingenuity, athleticism, and pure genius! Wow... just... wow...! 

Friday I had off so I did some service hours as Mercer Elementary School on the East Side and got about 6 hours worth in. Then I had to go "rescue" my brother. His car broke down on the side of East 275 so I had to pick him up and follow the tow truck to the car repair shop. Then Saturday I got to go to the home football game. We lost to Anderson University but I got to hang out during the game with my parents so I had a ton of fun doing that. Then my mom and I did some errands and now here we are! :) Tomorrow I'll go back to school and it's all down hill from here. We're in the home stretch, half way done with the semester and just half of it to go! Only 8 more weeks! Amazing how fast school has flown by...! I'm ready for a real long break but I'm not ready to get to the end just yet... It'll be too much fun just getting there!!! :)

 

Hey all, once again!

School this year has been really hectic, and I’m still adjusting to having more credit hours than I ever have before. Really though, I’m so happy with school this semester! This has been the most fun I’ve had yet in college!

Last week, I told you all a little bit about what it was like to be a general student at the Mount. I thought this week, I’d tell you a subject that I’m really an expert at: Being an art student at the Mount. :D

My major is Graphic Design and I’m really starting to get into it my sophomore year. Art courses here frequently have a lot of homework. I spend at least 5-6 hours a week out of class working on my projects. When you’re an art student, most of the classes for your major will be what we call ‘studio classes’. They’re much longer than your regular 50 minute classes. My studio classes are all at least 2 hours long and frequently they come with lots of outside work. But still, these classes are my favorites! It’s true I have homework, but I get to put on my headphones while I work on it! You can’t do that with Writing homework!

I have never had a test in any of my art classes. Your artwork is your test. In place of tests, we have critiques. Critiques are where the entire class gathers around the work, and the students will describe their work and their process. Then the teacher will talk about the work, what parts the professor thinks worked and what parts the professor thinks aren’t as effective. Your grade on a particular project is usually based on the artwork itself and your presentation of you artwork in the critique.

(If you sound really good, sometimes it can save your grade!)

One of the downsides of art is that it does come with long supply lists. Especially the traditional media classes, you often have to buy your own charcoal, pencils, paper, drawing boards, and whatever you might need to work in and out of class. The good side of this is you get to keep all your own stuff. (I kept drawing over the summer. I still had plenty of charcoal and pencils left!)

Also, sometimes art classes (like my glassblowing and Art History class… any Art History class will be the same, I’m sure.) come with a lot of reading. I have a few hours of reading for my Art History course and my Glass Blowing course each week. Art isn’t freeform here at the Mount, it’s very structured, and you learn a ton of stuff! Like any other major, it takes organization and some self-discipline to make sure you get everything you need to do done.

Well, I’m going to have to leave you folks now. I got Graphic Design homework and I’ve left all my Glass Blowing reading until the last minute! I hope you all have a great week, and I’ll write again soon!

I've found out that I have one of the weirdest personalities that I've ever encountered. Let me explain. 

I love being busy. I do. That's why I was so bored this summer. I had a summer baby-sitting job for which I had to literally sit in the living room of this family's house for about four hours a day because the two girls I was "baby-sitting" were 14 and 11. They really didn't needed to be "sat" but they needed someone to drive them to activities, piano lessons, volunteer work, to their schools' summer programs, etc. The parents worked in combination 4 of 5 days a week and needed me to cover those days that they couldn't drive their daughters around. So that's what I did. But most days we didn't do diddily sqwat. I got very bored, very fast. I've completed 2 and 1/2 full cross-stitch projects in the last two summers. That's how bored I was.  

Anyway, I like to be busy. But then I discover that I get agitated while being busy. Or maybe it's when I get too busy. Take this past Thursday. I was supposed to have class 10-11:15 AM, then I was supposed to have one meeting at 11:30 and then another at 12 PM that was off-campus so we (a group of us were going) had to leave at 11:40 to get there but we had to be back in time for class at 12:45 PM. Then I was to have class until 3:30 and then I had another meeting at 5 PM. Well, as it turned out, the two meetings at 11:30 and 12 were cancelled. I was actually kinda excited that I got to have a full day but at the same time, I was agitated that I had to do all this running around lacking the time to breathe. So in the end, I guess it worked out okay. 

But then on the days I'm bored, like Friday, I get just as agitated. On Friday, I woke up at 9 AM to conduct an interview at 10 AM and I was supposed to have class 11-11:50 AM but the teacher was sick so class got cancelled and my next class wasn't until 2 PM. So I had nothing to do between the hours of 10:30 AM-12:30 PM. I ended up getting some laundry done and read some of a new book I got ("Public Secrets") but that was it. After my afternoon class I did more homework while I watched part of "The Patriot" (LOVE! that movie!) and then I went home for the weekend. I got home, caught up on my shows on DVR ("House," "Project Runway," but I couldn't find "Eureka"), and then went out to dinner with my parents at Main Street Cafe in Newtown (I/My parents [I guess I don't technically 'live' there anymore since I dorm] live on the East Side of Cincinnati). 

You have a lot of down time while you're living on campus. I never realized that. When I commuted, it was all about when to schedule my driving times around the rush hour Downtown and when to leave and when to come, etc. But here in the dorms, it's more like, what do you want to do when you don't have anything to do? There's only so much homework to do and only so many TV shows and movies you can watch. I also try to stay ahead in making CAB flyers and working on my article(s) for Dateline but again, there's only so much to do. I'm sure I'll come up with something... 

And this weekend shouldn't be anything extravagant either. I'll prolly watch TV or go shopping with my mom on Saturday and Sunday I know our family will sit down and scream at the TV as the Bengals play the Cowboys (and prolly lose in the process but we'll still keep our hopes up). :) 

Next week should be fun though! That's what I'm really looking forward to! We'll be heading into our 7th week of school (I can't believe how fast school is moving along this year!) so we have our mid-semester break on Friday so no school! But on Thursday night, my friend Kristy and my roommate/friend Maria and I will going to the Cirque du Soleil show at the Bank of Kentucky Center at Northern Kentucky University! It's so exciting! I read their book my Senior year of high school in my cermaics class (it was supposed to inspire more creativity in our work but I don't think it worked) and ever since then, I've just really been interested in thier performances and the work and elegance and fun that goes into each show. The show this time is Saltimbanco, meaning "to jump on a bench" in Italian, and it delves into the world that is the urban. It explores the city and the streets and the hustle and bustle of city life, according to their website (http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/default.htm#). It looks absolutely AMAZING and I cannot wait to go!!! :D 

I'm sure I'll have another blog up soon, and it will be full of the details and fun of the Cirque du Soleil show and I can't wait to share it with everyone!!! So until next time, did you ever figure out if a tree would hear you if you fell in a forest? ;) lol

 

 

I guess I can’t really characterize this week to be any busier than the rest, but it sure seemed that way.  As I am approaching graduation, there are several things that need to be done.  The first of which, is getting my portfolio together.  This is a huge undertaking, which I have been dreading for 3 years.  One thing I would recommend coming into college is having a filing system in place.  Also always back up your work onto a CD, jump drive or external hard drive.  Some people like me learn these lessons the hard way.   So this week and weekend was spent getting my top 3-4 projects together, updating my resume and putting together options for my portfolio layout.  We also started writing our THESIS PROPOSALS this week!!!!  I am so nervous but excited at the same time about Thesis.  Last week our group project for the IDEC Competition was due, I am glad that is over with.  Hopefully ours will be picked to be sent into the competition!!!  I think our presentation turned out to be the best in the class, so I am optimistic!  Well I hear my Photoshop work calling me, talk to you soon!  

Wow, summer really flew by!  My summer was filled with work, work, a family vacation to Hilton Head and a trip to Chicago for Neo Con.  Now that I have been thrown back into reality I really wish it was still summer.  School started last week, I used to love the first day of school in high school because you never really did anything the first week.  And there lies the difference between high school and college.  My first interior design class I went to the professor started out by saying “well here is your first project, it is due in 2 weeks.”  Nothing like easing you into the routine of things!  This will be my hardest year because of my thesis project.  Although we haven’t officially started our projects yet, I began to research this past summer.  This semester I have a pretty full load of classes.  First semester I am taking Geology, World Art, Pre-Thesis Studio, Capstone, Professional Practice, Glassblowing and I am also co-oping at PS Group.  Well with all these class comes work, which I must get back too.    

Anatole France, a French novelist, once wrote: “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” I’m starting to realize how right he was.

It’s really that way about school this year. I do want the school year to end. I need a break! Finals and everything really wears you down by the time you get out. But, at the same time…I’ll miss so much about this place. After being so busy for so long, when I go home and have nothing but my summer job to do.

I’ll miss how much art I make during the school year, that’s for sure. I do assure you, I’ll be doing plenty of my own art over the summer! But I’m never as productive on my own as I am in a group setting. Thankfully I’ve found that my roommate, Jimmy, doesn’t live too far away from me! So I think we’ll probably be hanging out a bunch over the summer. Maybe I’ll get him to work on some art with me over the summer. Maybe we’ll both keep each other working!

I’m sitting in the art gallery now, working my last Saturday this year. And it’s a beautifully sunny day outside. I can see the quad from here, and everything’s in bloom. It all looks so beautiful! I wish I had time to walk about campus a few more times and take another look at all my favorite spots.  Living on campus is sort of like having a really big, really nice front yard. I’m going to miss the convenience of having room to throw a baseball right outside my door. I’m definitely going to miss being able to see the river from my window!

Also, the end of any school year always comes with goodbyes. Maria, my RA who has been so wonderful to us this entire year, is graduating. I don’t know how we’ll get by on the 6th floor without her. I know she’ll do wonderfully I whatever career she finds herself in. Good luck, Maria!

Also, our good friend Sarah is moving on to Bowling Green. She’s been with us all year, and I was so disappointed to hear that she was leaving. I know that she’ll do well though. Good luck, Sarah, we’ll miss you!

And all of our seniors that I’ve gotten to meet and work with this entire year, including a few of our bloggers! Good luck to EZ, Jodi, and Kristen. I know you guys will do well in whatever careers you find along your path in life. Good luck to each one of you. We’ll miss you here at the Mount.

But of course, with every ending there comes a beginning. We’ll have a brand new class of Freshman coming in this fall. And hopefully a few people reading this now will be joining us! I’m looking forward to starting our new clubs and organizations and performing in new plays and musicals along with newcomers from the incoming class. I know next year will be even better than this one.

And with that, I’ll leave you folks! Over this summer there’s a lot of work and preparation to be done…I’m already looking forward to next year!

I hope you all had a wonderful school year, and I hope you all have an even better summer. And I hope to see you all next year, right here at the College of Mount St. Joseph!

You know when your mind is racing even when you’re going to bed.  That’s been me for the past two weeks.  As exams are approaching next week for most of MSJ’s students, the interior design students have some of their exams this week.  In our interior design classes, for our final projects we always have projects instead of tests.  To many that would sound very easy, but in reality I think it may be harder.  In interior design you are always modifying and finding better ways to space plan.  So you are always down to the wire because of constant modifications that you make.  The newest project that I am undertaking at the moment is my lamp.  For environmental technologies we have to build our own lamp.  On to less stressful news, the Department of Art and Design had their annual thesis opening this past Friday.  This is when students present their final projects to the public.  This is a big deal for all seniors because they get to show off all of their hard work and what they have learned over the past four years.  There are two thesis openings that are a week to two weeks apart from each other.  The first thesis opening has graphic design work mixed in with fine arts and art education.  And the second thesis has interior design work mixed in with fine arts and art education work.  Speaking of all the hard work these girls do I need to get back to my work.    

Cincinnati! I love this city. Granted I’ve lived here the past 19 years of my life… which is my… entire… life. Hahaha! LOL And sometimes I still don’t know what to do in this city.     

But one place I went this weekend was Newport on the Levee. Um ya… that’s Kentucky but still- you cross the Big Mac Bridge and you’re in Cincinnati.    

I was down there to go the Newport Aquarium on a field trip with my mom’s class and I got to walk around the levee and then part way across the Purple People Bridge. It’s this awesome PURPLE bridge that is strictly a pedestrian bridge that connects Cincinnati and Newport. It’s an awesome bridge if you think about it. You get to cross over the Ohio River from one state to another, one city to another. It’s a really cool concept.     

But I had so much fun at the Aquarium and I’ve put some choice pictures up below. It was fun seeing the fish and the sharks and the divers hanging out with those sharks. There were also the jelly fish and the penguins and the alligators… LOL J     But it was an awesome little trip and a break away from reality when I only went fifteen minutes from my house and actually it’s only fifteen minutes from the Mount. It was a great little outing in which I got to a break fun my busy and hectic life and just hang out a bit. Newport also has a movie theater and shops and restaurants and fun things to do. It’s a great place to hang out and get away… I recommend hanging at the Newport whenever you get a chance- too much fun. J

 

Hey everybody! And Hello again from the Mount! I can’t stay to talk too long today, I’m working tonight at the thesis opening for the Interior Design majors. As an artist, it’s really wonderful to see what the older students are capable of doing, and it’s awesome to see the stuff they’ve put together!

It really is moving almost to see the displays. What these senior students are showing is the culmination of four years worth of hard work, and it’s a condensed project showing all the skills they’ve learned. And after this, they’ll be leaving us, out to either continue their education elsewhere or to move on to work in the real world. I wish them all the best of luck!

It’s coming to the end of the year! Just one more school week left, a few exams, and we’re outta here! Thankfully, as an art major, I have a lot of final projects, and a big portfolio review in design, but not too many exams. At least, not too many this semester. : D

At this time of the year, when I’m watching all the senior students working on their final work here at the Mount, I start looking forward to working on my own capstone.

The capstone program is something unique to the Mount. It’s a culmination of everything you’ve done here at the Mount. It’s not really supposed to focus on the core curriculum, but also not entirely on your major. It’s a complete representation of yourself as a person, and what you’ve learned here at the Mount.

The exact definition of what are capstone is can be found here. http://inside.msj.edu/departments/acad_affairs/ccep/capstone/

A capstone project is really versatile, it can be almost anything that a student thinks of, as long as the student can demonstrate how it integrates disciplines, and shows the learning outcomes of the college.

Brand new this year was the first phase of the recycling program here at the Mount. For the first time this year, the College has recycling receptacles in the Seton Center, and they’ve given a recycling bin to each of the rooms for the residents to use for recycling. This entire program was suggested in a presentation that one of the graduating seniors presented last spring. He laid out a several year plan for making the College a recycling campus. And so far, I think it’s worked well.

Well, most of us art majors won’t be creating recycling programs for the Mount. The art majors create a culmination of their art skills. But you’d be surprised if you come down to see what these art students have done, you’d be amazed at what the students come up with. I’m really looking forward to seeing the interior design majors’ work up tonight for the first time!

P.S. Folks! Just thought I’d add in a little extra! Here are some pictures I took at the Thesis opening on Friday night! The place was paaaaaaacked! We really filled it up with people. I was so glad to see so many people in our art gallery!
 

Ok… so I took my Praxis I test this weekend at the University of Cincinnati! But it was a freaking fiasco! LOL Let me explain…    

First, on Friday night, my mom calls me up at about 5:30 or 6 PM asking me to come join her and my dad for dinner. So we go up to Salem Gardens for dinner (corner of Beacon and Salem in Mt. Washington/Anderson area of the East Side of Cincinnati)- great food there. And then my mom suggested we go over to UC to check out where I’d be taking my Praxis test in the morning so I knew where I was going at 7:30 AM the next day. Well, we get there. We check out Dyer Hall and the Teacher’s College buildings- that’s where my mom took her Praxis test (granted, it was like 2 years ago)- but we couldn’t find the testing center for the test. So we went to the Edwards Building- where the Testing Services’ offices are. But they were closed and that was to be expected at 8 PM at night. So we went to the university’s campus security/police station. And they spent about half an hour with us trying to find this place- nice people. But they couldn’t find it either. So I said, well, the ets.org website says the Testing Services are in the University Pavilion building- but of course that was locked too- but I said I would try checking that out in the morning (risky considering I had to be there at 7:30 AM and I wouldn’t get there until about 7:15 which would give me 15 minutes to find this place).     

Anyway, come Saturday morning, I head up to UC, get there, park (stupid meters still run on Saturdays so I parked at Hughes High School for free- across the street), and go to University Pavilion. I try the first door, well that’s the third floor! Go figure! So I go down the steps on the outside- the steps inside where closed off- so weird. I get down there, and that’s the second floor but it’s all ground level. So strange… So I see more steps inside going down and get down there, go to the end of the office, and there! There’s the Testing Services! At least I thought it was. The lady there asks me, “Are you here for the GRE?” And my heart drops. I told her no that I was there for the Praxis. And she’s like oh that’s here too! And I was so relieved! I had found the right place! Ahhh! So excited was I! (Now I sound like Yoda)    

Anywho… I started the test before 8 AM and was out of there by 11 AM. I took the computerized test so I got my reading scores and math scores right away- 181 and 183 respectively which are both passing for the Mount’s standards! (174 for each) I find out my writing scores in about 2-3 weeks- so just right before I get out of school I should know how I did! But what an ordeal! Geez… J    

The other interesting tid bit of news was the Cincinnati Flower Show is going on down at Coney Island! It started on Saturday, April 19^th, and goes through Sunday, April 27^th. It looks quite interesting actually. I’ve been watching them set up for about 2 weeks now- that’s how long it takes to set up for a week long event apparently. But the weird thing was I saw a camper all set up down there and looks like there was a family settling in for the week or something- just to see flowers! It was interesting to say the least… But I included the website for the show if you wanna check it out and head over there. It’s about 25 minutes away from the Mount. Basically, if you wanna go, you take Delhi down to River Road and head East on River Road. Follow that onto the Sixth Street Viaduct, follow the signs for 50 East. Cross through Ft. Washington Way. Follow the signs for 471 South/Kentucky/Newport. Get onto 471 South. Follow the signs for 275 North/East and once you merge onto 275, you cross over the Ohio River, take the first exit on your right- Kellogg Avenue- and Coney Island is on your right. It doesn’t take long and it looks like quite a show! I may just have to go with my mom- she has a green thumb, I have a pale one. J    

That’s all the news I have so far on my life at the Mount but I’ll let you know what else is around the corner. “Until then, keep your eggs- sunny side up!” (Princess Diaries II: The Royal Engagement) 

http://www.cincyflowershow.com/