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!

I know that people have been talking about stress and relaxation and exams but I had something fun to talk about for that.  

But first, I wanna tell you that I don’t stress out easily. I usually just wait until the weekend to do homework or projects and just do it all in two days. That’s how I do things and I seem to do well with it. All my homework is done from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening and then it’s done for the week. 

And as for a stress reliever, I usually just hang out with my friends, watching TV, playing games, or just surfing the internet. But I thought I should share this picture with you. I took it today at about 11 AM. Not to mention, the temperature this morning was not even 50 some odd degrees. So… needless to say… it was quite interesting to see:

 

 

I can only assume that Damon, in the pool (there was no water), and Steven were just having too much fun hanging out in the Quad. (Notice how freaking green the grass is! Wow… I love spring!!!) I thought it was just really cool that they found a way to relax and just hang out. So a shout out to them! But what were you guys really doing? (If either of you read this, leave a comment at the bottom if you want) J    

So some people have some really interesting ways of relaxing and getting ready for summer. Only three days of school left and four days of exams. I have three days of school, only two exams, and one project left so I am sooo excited to finish and have an awesome time during the summer!    

So keep up with your studies, relax, take a deep breath, and have fun!!! J

P.S. Alpha Phi Omega ended up raising $515 for MS :) Congrats guys!!!

Today, the Mount’s very own Greek house (strictly academic and no actual house that would consist of a stereotypical Greek house), Alpha Phi Omega, decided to raise money for awareness of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and their goal was $250. And if they reached that goal, then 5 teachers would dress up in odd- and I mean odd- “costumes.”

The participants would be: Dr. Jim Bodle would be a “gangster,” Dr. Buffy Barkley would be a “natural wonder,” Dr. Meg Riestenburg would be a “recycling bin,” Dr. Elizabeth Murray would be a “skeleton,” and Dr. Jozef Zalot would be a “Bengal’s fan.”      The goal was to raise the money outside of the Fifth Third Dining Hall- they just asked for your loose change and any extra donations you could make. And then the teachers also walked around with tin containers collecting money as they walked along. As of today at noon, when the teachers got dressed, the money raised was just about $487.00, according to Scott Day (who I heard announce this amount at this time). I’m not sure if that’s counting anything else they collected today or not.      

And the teachers did just what they said they would do. Jim was a “gangster”- including his Freud tattoo on his arm and Mickey Mouse clock around his neck,  Buffy was a butterfly- a natural wonder in this world (I thought like the Great Pyramids or something but apparently not haha- shout out Buffy!), Dr. Murray was a skeleton in her black skeleton t-shirt and socks, Dr. Zalot- a Patriots fan (he had that t-shirt on underneath his Bengal’s jersey)- wore a Shayne Graham #17 jersey, and Dr. Riestenburg was a green Rumpke recycling bin- flowers and all. I’ve included pictures below, courtesy of Alex Griffith’s camera. J     

I’ve included the website to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society if you’d like to learn more about MS (http://www.nationalmssociety.org/index.aspx). It was very entertaining to see the teachers dress up. What was funnier was there was a tour of high school students that walked right through the “parade” of teachers and I made sure they would see what they were getting into and the fun we have the Mount. It was a very funny sight to see at lunch time. I thought I’d share the fun with y’all. Enjoy! J

 

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/

It’s Friday!!! It’s the weekend! Woot!!! I didn’t do much this week. I went to the talk by Jonathan Mooney on Monday night and that was… interesting to say the least… It was my friend Sam’s birthday on Thursday so that was fun. I’ve put a picture on the bottom of what our friends did to her room! So hilarious! We’re going to lunch today for her birthday so that’ll be fun too!   

As for this weekend, I don’t have much planned that’s fun anyway… LOL    

I’m scheduled to take the Praxis I test tomorrow. It’s the first test of three that helps you get your license for being a teacher. The Praxis I has three sections: Math, Reading, and Writing (which also includes an essay part) and the passing scores are about 174 I believe. I have to take it at the Psychology department on the University of Cincinnati’s campus (I think it’s next to the Teacher’s College). But I don’t know where this is so I’ll have to find it at 7:30 AM tomorrow morning. My test starts at 8 AM and ends about 12:30 PM so this’ll be like taking the SAT or ACT again… Haha!   

Other than that… I’m going to McNick’s musical on Saturday night at 7:30 PM (it’s also showing on Friday at 7:30 PM and Sunday at 2 PM) of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” It looks really good and I have a lot of friends participating so I’m excited about it!!!   

As for things at the Mount, I haven’t been doing much here… Getting my schedule really straightened out at this point for the fall semester. I’m still debating on whether or not if I want to apply to be a PL- a Peer Leader. It’s a position, basically being a TA (Teacher’s Assistant), in an IDS class for freshman so you can be a link between the teacher and the students so as to make it easier for the incoming freshmen. I don’t know yet…   

This is sad but I’m sitting in my sociology class writing this because I’m so bored in class… Haha! Oh well! I hope you have a good weekend and I’m still counting down the days- 10 class days left and 1 day of exams!!! So exciting!!!

Get Acquainted Day. I have no clue what this is but I was asked to help with it. According to the Mount’s website, it is described as: “During one of the Mount's Get Acquainted Days (GAD) students get to explore the academic programs, learn about financial aid opportunities, and catch a glimpse of college life. Representatives from all academic majors and supports are also on hand to answer your questions. For more information about GAD, call 1-800-654-9314, ext. 4531 from outside the Cincinnati area, or 513-244-4531 within Cincinnati.”    

In light of this, I was asked to be on the Student Panel section of the day. I remember this section of this type of event because it was, I think, my freshman orientation in which they had this kind of thing. So I had a small idea what it was going to be. I’d experienced the prospective student side but I had not been on the side of the panel and I don’t think I was ready for it…   I walk into the room, sit down, and look up. Holy *explicative*. Yeah. That’s what I said- in my head at least. I hadn’t actually connected the fact that I was talking to a group of prospective students and the fact that I had to speak publicly. I don’t like public speaking- AT ALL! I was nervous. So I sat there staring at about 30 people- students and parents- waiting for them to ask questions. I was the only freshman on the panel and I thought they would ask me a lot of questions but not really.   

Some of the questions were: what is one of the best kept secrets at the Mount? I said that the teachers were actually extremely personable and really were willing to get to know you and remember who you are. But I walked out to my car, I realized something else you don’t find out until like the weekend school starts: parking. The parking sticker at school is free- or at least it’s already in your tuition fees so you don’t pay anything extra. And also, freshmen are allowed to have cars. I know UC charges at least $250 a parking sticker PER quarter totaling at least $750 a year to park on their campus- and that’s still a 15 minute walk to the buildings. But I also know UD doesn’t allow freshmen to have cars their first years unless they’re commuters so it really is an advantage for Mount students to have free parking and have cars their first year.   

Another question was what clubs we participate in and what we did our first semester to join in at the school. I said that since my first semester was only four months ago (*insert laughter*) that I hadn’t done much but I did hang out in the lobbies and the dorms and that really helps you make friends. I also did theater so I really was involved in the musical for about 6-8 weeks and that was involvement to the extreme.    

One of the other things I didn’t get to mention for that question, also, was blogging- at least for me. I mean, it’s not a club or anything, but it’s something I’m involved in (obviously if you’re reading this) and it was a great opportunity to mention to those prospective students and their parents about some insight they could gain from reading our blogs. The blogs are actually a great way to learn about the Mount through the eyes of a student from week to week. If I had known about the blogs earlier before I came here I could have been more prepared for college life and the ways of the Mount (I was just watching Star Wars IV so I’m a bit like Obi One Kinobi: “the ways of the force” except its “the Mount” not “the force”… Ya… another tangent sorry).   

But it was an interesting hour of my life but if you have more questions about anything here at the Mount, don’t hesitate to leave a comment on mine or anyone’s blogs and we’ll be more than happy to answer your questions. But I had fun and now it’s time to think about the week ahead… still have a lot of homework to do… Thank God for the weekends… J

So… the musical “Oklahoma” is over and now it’s time to move on with a regular life… YEAH RIGHT! LOL… Now that I’m done with my extracurricular activity for the year, I just now realized how much I have left to do. I calculated that I have 15 days left of school- just about three weeks. And I miraculously only have one day of exams- granted that’s two exams and one project to do in one day.   

The work I have to do? Too much… Um… I have an education lesson/project due next Friday; an education paper due on Monday; a 4-page history paper due next Friday; a math project due on my exam day that I have yet to update (it’s a continuous project over the course of the semester that needs to be turned in on the last day to be returned so we can use it for future teaching); a math lesson to teach not on Monday but the next Monday… and… um… something else that I’m sure I’m forgetting and will regret here as soon as I remember it… J  

 What else is new you ask? Well, I just finished registering for classes next semester so that’s exciting- actually the whole process was a bit stressful. I had the registration time of 6:30 AM but the system is about 8 minutes slow so I didn’t get on until about 6:38 AM (I love how precise I am in this haha).    I was able to register for four classes fairly quickly: EDU 172 Contemporary Perspectives with Drew Shannon (I have a class with him semester and I absolutely love his class! So I recommend taking one of his classes), EDU 205 Educational Assessment with Dr. Rick Sparks (teaching you how to make tests for your students- also ironically the HARDEST class you will ever take at the Mount for education because Dr. Sparks is a really hard teacher… oh joy right? No, he’s my advisor so I really like him), SED 305 American Sign Language with somebody? (there’s no teacher assigned yet but I am SOOOOO excited about that class! I love sign language and all I know so far is the alphabet), and PHI 200 Perspectives on Human Nature with Dr. Sontag (again I have no idea what this class is about).    

The class I had trouble with was SED 215 Human Exceptionalities with Dr. Santoro (don’t know who that is sorry and nor do I know what the class is other than I need 30 observation hours for it) but it’s all good now and then today I registered for PSY 310 Cognition and Memory with Dr. Jim Bodle (I had his psych class last semester and he’s an awesome teacher also so I would highly recommend taking a class with him too).   

So that’s that… I’m listening to “Free Bird” by Lynard Skynard right now… My thoughts are all over the place but now you know what it’s like to be inside my head sometimes… LOL J   I already told you “Oklahoma” is over but I put a picture of the cast and crew at the bottom so you can see who was all involved… O and my friend Alex is happy that she can talk to me again (*Alex* (8:35:21 PM): and u should write about how i get to see u again...lol) That’s the IM she sent me about the show and how much free time I now have in my life… Oh and a shout out to Maria- my future roommate next year… She’s gonna read this so “Hi!” to her as well…   

Um what else… O! I’m thinking of applying for a position on the Dateline staff for next year. Dateline is the school’s monthly newspaper run by Buffy Barkley and a team of students. It sounds interesting and I’ve never done journalism but sounds fun enough. J 

  I think that’s all that’s new right now… O wait! Get Acquainted Day is on Saturday, April 12^th, from some time to some time… No, it’s from 9:30 AM to about 3 PM or so… I’m participating on the Student Panel so I have no idea what I’ll be doing but it’s something about future students asking me what life at the Mount is like so that’ll be fun I hope… J   

Now I’m done… I think… so have a good day and a good weekend! See you on the other side! Shout out to the birthday boy too (Joe)!

Spring break’s coming to an end…    As I sit here watching the NCAA Tournament on CBS, I watch as Kansas beats UNLV in the second round (75-56) going to the Sweet Sixteen! It’s amazing how I was thinking back in January, “Oh my gosh! It’s 2008!” Now it’s March! OMG! LOL    This year is FLYING by… Wow! But as our year moves on, and as we go class to class, we have to stop and smell the roses. “Water from the moon.” Nothing’s impossible. We can do what we want, when we want, how we want- if we stop and think and relax. We hit this second semester full force and went all out. But we needed a break. Thank God for spring break! I was so ready last week for this break. Unfortunately, my break didn’t go as planned. I wanted to sleep in, not do anything, avoid homework for as long as possible, and just relax. Now, I didn’t do much of that but I still got a reprieve from classes for a while- that was so nice! I did something every day, but what I did, required me to get up at 8 or 9 AM every day this week- that’s as early as I get up for classes normally.    But it was fun! Friday last week, I was hanging out with Tom and Sam baking and having fun (our puppy chow!). And Saturday I hung out with Tom, Sam, Jimmie, and others and had sooo much fun with that! (Those were two highlights of my spring break.) And Sunday, I didn’t do much! Yay! Monday I worked 10 AM-2 PM but then hung out with my friends Kristy and Vi afterwards- that was a blast! Tuesday, I worked 10 AM- 5 PM (I need the money for school stuff so I was trying to work as much as I could this week.)  

Wednesday, I didn’t work at all but I shadowed my mom in her SCC (Social Communications Classroom) for my EDU 190 class. This class requires at least 3 hours of observations hours to make sure we know that really want to be teachers. Then I went out with my friends Kristy and Kathleen and Kristy and got tattoos! That was fun! Thursday, I shadowed in a friend of mine’s classroom- Tina Bailey. She’s an LD teacher. That was interesting. Then I went out with my friend Alex to Florence, KY, where we ate lunch at O’Charley’s and went shopping at Florence Mall (it’s only 20 minutes from the Mount so that’s a great place to hang out if you need a break from school). And Friday I worked 10 AM- 3PM but just relaxed the rest of the night!

 Now as I sit here on Saturday- I did absolutely NOTHING today- I’m relaxing by watching the NCAA Tournament (Pitt’s losing to Michigan 6-9 at the moment) and “The Sound of Music” on TV- thankful for a little time off from classes. 

Spring break doesn’t need to be an extravagant trip to Florida or a trip to Myrtle Beach, just a time to relax and take a break from school (although those are two good places to do that relaxation).    Rest and relaxation- just the ticket to survive the last 6 weeks of school. So… Happy Easter and I hope you had a good spring break of your own!

 

So I completely started off my spring break the right way! I hung out with friends, made delicious food, and had a riot of a time!  

I hung out at Tom’s house with him and our friend Sam. Then our other friend Jimmie and his two friends from Pittsburgh, Mike and Tate, joined us. We ate puppy chow, peanut butter cookies- homemade, and made apple and pumpkin pies (those we’ll eat later). We did all the cooking on Friday and the dinner that Tom has planned is on Saturday night. 

Sam spent the night on Friday night at my house and we went got home from Tom’s house at 1 AM and went to bed at 3 AM. We spent that time talking- I love girls’ time.    We woke up, I think, about 1:30 PM and have spent all day just hanging out. I haven’t had this much fun on a weekend in the longest time! I love it and I miss it! 

Tonight, Sam is going to the dinner with Tom and friends. And I’m hanging out with two of my high school best friends- Kathleen and Kristy. This first weekend of spring break is turning out to be one of the best spring breaks I’ve had in a long time! I miss my friends so much and being so busy with school work I hardly have time to do really what I want to do. And now, this week, I have the time to really have fun and relax. 

So now with this extra time, I plan on having a ton of fun and hanging with my friends and working to fill my time!    So, have fun and enjoy your time off! 

Sometimes I am so happy that Cincinnati’s weather is so unpredictable because when it is bad enough I get a break!!!  I am so happy that it snowed because I got to leave school early to go out of town with my family! We are all packing all of ourselves and our luggage into a rental van and going down to Nashville, Tennessee. I am so excited because I always have a good time when I go down there because there is so much to do! I am also excited because I get to help out with the school musical! It may not be what I wanted originally but I still get to help out. I am going to be doing make-up for some of the cast. I am just really that I can be apart of something to do with the musical because I was so upset when I found I couldn’t be in the musical because of work. So this week was a really good one not just because of me getting out of class early but because I get a chance to be with my family! And I think I really need this time with them so we can get even closer as a family.           I love this quote because I aometimes feel this way about my family but later realize I wouldn’t want my family any other way because they love me for me and I love them for them! “If you ever start feeling like you have the goofiest, craziest, most dysfunctional family in the world, all you have to do is go to a state fair. Because five minutes at the fair, you'll be going, 'you know, we're alright. We are dang near royalty.'” Jeff Foxworthy