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.    

Sometimes, all it feels like I’m doing in college is reading. (and I’m an art major!)

 As a college student, its important to stay caught up in your readings for class.  I’m taking a U.S. History course this semester, and for every class, a reading assignment is required.  Though not mandatory, but it truly helps one understand the material to successfully pass all quizzes, essays and tests.  

In the beginning of the semester, I was doing so well, keeping up with each assignment and reading the chapter the day before class, that way I would know the discussion for the day.  However, as the semester got busier, and my thesis deadline was quickly approaching, I began to skip some of those readings to work on thesis, and my quiz grades were affected. 

It stinks because I try so hard to stay caught up and ahead of the game in my studies and sometimes you have to let some things slide, so other things can get done.  Does this mean you give up on your course work?  Absolutely not!  What I’m saying is, do the work that is first priority and give it your all, then work on the rest.  In my case, that would be thesis.  In the beginning of the semester, I put more time into my U.S. History course work then my Senior Thesis.  Yet, when I did begin working like crazy on thesis, I wasn’t able to dedicate the time that I originally spent studying and reading for History.  Therefore, trying to be a perfectionist in all my course work was only making me a stressed-out mess.  So, instead I focused on getting the things done which were first priority, and then work on everything else.  Sometimes I didn’t get the grade that I knew I could’ve gotten, but as long as I tried my hardest and gave it my all, then I was content.(Though that was not easy to accept at first.) 

Therefore, my goal as a college student is to balance out my study and course work time, trying not to let one class dominate my schedule.

Hey guys.

So, as predicted, this past week was insane. Many late nights and a lot of typing.  But most of the hard parts are behind me.  I have a few things for next week, but they aren’t anything to worry too much about.

One thing that has been on my mind that I thought I’d share with you is issue of summer classes.  Summer classes are a great way to earn college credit in a low pressure setting.  Just taking one or two classes can really help you catch up, lighten your schedule during the regular school year, or, as in my case, get the extra classes you need for a minor. 

When I first came to the Mount, I came in as a psychology major.  I changed to a history education major after my first semester.  I didn’t change because I didn’t like the program, I actually love psychology.  But I learned I couldn’t get an education license in psychology, it’s not an option.  So I found out I could teach Psych with a Social Studies license, so I made the choice to take the History route, which isn’t bad because I like history a lot too. 

But, completing all those psychology classes left me pretty close to earning a minor in psychology, and I didn’t even know it! My old advisor, Dr. Bodle, told me about it last semester.  So now, I’m thinking about taking the remainder of the classes I need for the minor program during the next summer or two.

The problem is (and I think it is a problem for a lot of people) that a lot of the summer classes are during the day, times that I will need for my summer job.  So I’m going to have to balance out my options and make a decision in the next week or so. 

>Eric M.

Three more weeks left in the year! But as classes start to wrap up and the freedom offered with summer break is in sight, the papers, projects, and final tests are piling up.  Some people think that the last week, exam week, is the hardest and most stressful part of the semester. But I believe the few weeks leading up to exams are the toughest.  Every professor wants to get that last big paper or test in before the final exams.  I’ve had about 3 papers and two tests just in the past week!  And to make things worse, my AYA 365 class ends two weeks early.

The AYA course is the Distant Learning course I am taking that I told you guys about earlier in the semester.   There are a lot of independent projects involved that have had some technical problems that have just recently been fixed that I’ll need to catch up on and an observation portfolio that I have been working on for a few weeks.  The portfolio consists of a 15 hour observation practicum at Oak Hills High School, a summary of the lesson plans I observed, and a review of experiences I had observed.  I also have a final paper to write up.  All this is due this upcoming Thursday! So I’m going to be pretty busy this next week, finishing up the work for that AYA course, while taking care of all the other papers and tests I have for the rest of my classes. 

So all the plans I have for the summer, no matter how close it seems, need to just wait a few more weeks because I still have a lot of work to get done! I just have to muster up enough motivation to make sure I stay organized and on top of all the assignments.  It’s hard to stay focused after such a long year!

I’ll let ya know how it’s all going next week!

>Eric M.

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)!

I so can’t believe that it is already Mid-Semester break. I am excited but on the other hand I am not too happy with all the papers and midterms that I have this week or next week.

            It just seems like this school is flying by way too fast. Spring break is in like 3 weeks or so and then after that we are almost in April and that is close to May when it is almost summertime!! But from now and until then I have so much stuff to get accomplished like hopefully pass my Praxis so I can be admitted into the Education department this semester. On top of that, all the homework that I have from all my classes that needs to be finished. But for right now, I am taking one day at a time. I am trying not to rush it. I have been told by many people who are out of college, that college is the best 4 years of your life and when you are in reality you will really want those back.

                                    So everyone live everyday to the fullest!!

Check out my next blog that is coming soon!!

Sing everyone! It’s a snow day! “Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!” Monday was an okay day but then there was the winter storm advisory that went into effect last night and all of a sudden! There was snow! And phones going off everywhere this morning at 7 AM! No school! :D See, the Mount has this awesome program called the Emergency Notification System. It allows you to register phone numbers with it, either land lines or cell phones, and if there’s an emergency notification that needs announcing, the system sends you either a text or a voice message telling you what’s going on.  

This is only the second time the system has been used, that I can remember, this year telling us about something. The first time, was last semester when there was something wrong with one of the boilers in the school and a result, it knocked out the power in the whole school. At first the Mount was closed only until 10 AM but then when they couldn’t fix the power by that time, school was called off!  And then today, the same thing happened. First a text saying school was closed until 10 AM, but at 7:03 AM (according to the text on my cell phone) school was closed for the rest of the day and classes would resume tomorrow! It’s pretty cool when you don’t have to get up and check the TV for a listing saying that school is closed- actually there will be a closing on the TV stations for those that haven’t registered their phones yet and of course on the radio when they list closings also.

But this is just a great way to sleep, let your phone stay on, and receive a text or a voice message saying the Mount is closed. Then you just go back to sleep- that is EXACTLY what I did this morning! It was great… :) So now there’s beautiful snow on the ground, slush on the roads, and I am snuggled in my room- or at least I will be here soon- under my covers and watching a movie… Probably 10 Things I Hate About You in tribute of Heath Ledger of maybe Across the Universe with those 16 amazing Beatles songs… I haven’t decided yet… :)  But whatever I choose to do on my wonderful day off, it’ll be great because the snow is falling and I am enjoying every minute of it! :)