Crossing another milestone

Last day of my first year of college has come so fast! Can we call this a milestone? Ever since I graduated from high school I feel like after every major event it could be considered another new chapter of my life, or some biography that someone will write about me someday.

The room is officially packed up. The storage people came Monday. Everything is out of the drawers and either in a bag of some sort or just scattered. It's a mess. Poor Rae finishes her finals at 11:30 at the latest today and I don't finish until after 5 today. That should give her a substantial amount of time to finish last details on the room and the rest can be spent reflecting I suppose. I have a lot of things to do as well. I have to study for my consumer behavior final and find a cd case to present my cd cover project for my desktop publishing class on top of having that professionally printed. I sent the file to alphagraphics online, I hope they stay on top of that. I also have to give a tour to a family on this yucky day. Is it wet outside. Perfect day to be giving a tour, running around town, and packing up the car.

In the midst of all of this craziness, I forget that this is good-bye. I am leaving almost immediately after my final today, there is no time to say bye to everyone. Yes, I am just leaving for the summer. The part that freaks me out is that there are graduating seniors who are acquaintances that I may never see again. There are also people I spend every single day with. College is the time where you're friends turn into family if they weren't already. We eat meals together, we sleep in the same building if not in the same room, we go shopping together, we take New England adventures together, we struggle, and grow together. I'm going to miss this life I live. Home and college are so far from one another, it really feels like I live in alternate universes when I leave one to go to another. When I go home, everything is almost painfully familiar and comfortable. I am really excited to go back, I do miss my friends at home. Life feels like it just picks up from where I left it when I come home from school. Life at home is so stagnant, things don't change ever. It's a big deal when they re-paint Wal-mart at home. Everyday is a new day here at school.  I am so fortunate to be able to have these experiences. I am blessed to have a mom that is able to send me to the school of my dreams. Yes, I complain about the ridiculousness I have to deal with here but I really do love it here. I am living the life that I thought I would sophomore year in ACT prep with Mr. Crawford when all I would do was research colleges. I found Johnson and Wales when I was in Denver and looked through the website every single day in that class.

Well this will be my last post on this blog for a while. I won't be in the mini-city for a few months. No worries, you'll see my new blog for the summer out soon.

Lots to do, gotta go. Stay dry out there, I sure won't be. I'm off to do a tour.

The Countdown

Our room is so sad looking, random boxes and luggage, bare walls, white shower curtain, no more bathroom shelf, you know what that means? 4 more days until we hit the road! I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it. Another thing it means is that I still have finals to prepare for and take in the few days that I have left here. Good news is that the more I pack, the more I realize that I won't be taking much home with me. I really just plan on taking clothes. There is no reason for me to take things home and just haul them back up in the fall. Rae got a head start today and put 2 very large suitcases in the car today. She has a lot of shoes. I couldn't think of one thing to put in the car today that I wouldn't be using in the next few days. I wish I could just layout 5 outfits and pack up the rest, I don't operate that way I guess.

The sickness is not getting better. Still no voice. I've tried everything but actually gargling salt water, I can't do it. I think I had a bad experience that last time I did it. I've tried eating cold things, warm things, cough drops, throat drops, hot tea, and gallons of water. Today I decided to move on over the natural and herbal remedies, I went to Whole Foods and bought some throat coat syrup and some natural lozenges. Throat coat tasted like honey and mint pleasantly, but the natural lozenge wasn't like a hard candy like a expected, it was more like a TUMS that tasted like cardboard, chalk, and a hint of sugar. I did learn that a common ingredient in these natural remedies is bark from elm and cherry trees?

Today we had our UIB E-Board "Retreat". It was such a good day. I am super excited about the group of people we have for E-Board next year. I think that we are all working towards a common goal and we all want to be in good communication with one another as well as the general board. That sounds like a recipe for success. It's also helpful that we all seem to strive for the same work ethic too. We are all team players and really excited for UIB next year. We have some fun programs planned for the fall. Of course we have our campus traditions like Freak Week, Winter Week, Snoball, Bingo, and New York City trip already in place. Rae is planning on taking a different approach with our mini concerts and how they are marketed. I will be working on recruitment efforts and member retention as well as working out a PR campaign for UIB next year. I plan on trying some fun new media strategies for utilizing Facebook and Twitter. Be prepared to see more videos with the Wildcat and possibly Francis at the Snack Shack.

I typed this last night but forgot to actually post it. Have a wonderful day, that's all for now.

Confessions of an Admissions Tour Guide

Yesterday I was sitting at Startbucks drinking my venti iced black tea, extra tea, sweetened and oatmeal cookie. I love reading days because I can swipe and use the meal plan all day at Starbucks, where as on regular school days I can only swipe until noon. That means I usually can't swipe at all because I would until 12:30. The occasional times that I could swipe during a work day are my favorite days ever.

Yesterday was the first day I had to give a tour at work all week. I had a nice break. At first I was really not looking forward to my tour but I decided to put on a happy face and give them the best tour possible. It turned out the prospective students on tour today were interested in my 2 favorite majors here, Sports/Entertainment/Event Management (SEE) and Creative Advertising. Luckily for them, I am the most knowledgeable on those two majors. One of the fathers on tour was a wanderer, you know the type, the one that reads all of the posters on the wall while I'm talking. He did ask some pretty good questions. The SEE major on tour was very interested and already pretty knowledgeable about the school, but her parents looked unamused. The only thing her dad talked about with the shot glass necklace he saw in one of the tour rooms. Once we got up to Xavier Academic Hall, I let the SEE girl and her family go across the street to Financial Services and took the ad major up to the Ad Lab. Luckily on the way up I saw Prof. Chilabato (my favorite professor) and asked him to talk to the family for a bit about the ad program. I feel like he really enjoyed it. Any time he gets a chance to brag about his ad team, he's happy. I feel like the father was sold on the school, the girl is still hesitant about living in the city. Understandable. Coming from a small town, I can definitely see where someone would be hesitant. Sometimes being a tour guide feels like being a sales person for the school. There are certain days where I really want to sell the school and I really want students to want to come here even though I don't get paid by commission. I think there are days I like to pretend that I do work off commission. That must mean I really do love this university. It's awful that our worst selling point is our student body. Interaction with the student body is the worst thing for admissions. That's why we schedule tours at the time that we do. Students are in class or its a Friday and students are still passed out from the Thursday night before. We're working on getting rid of the dead weight around here. No attendance policy next year. I'd like to see the students here fail because they won't ever go to class. We have also raised our admission requirements from a 2.75 gpa to 3.0 gpa. Such a good school, I don't know how we got the reputation that we have in industry with the majority of the students that we have here.

Today I am unable to do my tour. My sickness has progressed and transformed from day to day this week. Early this week I had body aches, chills, and hot flashes. Now it has progressed to me losing my voice, coughing, and runny nose. Hopefully this means I am almost over the cold, this must be the end of the cycle correct?

Now I must study for my final exams. That's it for now. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Facebook Detox

Today definitely feels like a Monday. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, chilled, and achy. I went and visited the school nurse and she gave me some ibuprofen and a hand full of cough drops. What I would give to be back in bed. I managed to get nothing accomplished sitting in this cubicle except catch up on Hulu and CWTV.com. I am over a month behind on my CW shows. I have decided to be cut off from Facebook until the end of the school year. It was too much of a distraction. Sadly enough, I have been much more productive without it so far. It's great that I am able to still post my blog up on Facebook without actually being able to navigate through it. So for those of you who stumble across this on my Facebook page, I am not cheating. What is our obsession with Facebook anyways. Its like a compulsive disorder. There is no need for me to be spending the amount of time that I do creeping on everyone's photos and statuses. 

After I get out of work in about 30 minutes, I have to walk down the street and print my desktop publishing project. I've never had a poster professionally printed before.Too bad I am starving, I would love to be able to get a nap in before class today. Then I have to make my presentation for my consumer behavior class. I am so excited for this project to be finished. Its the one big assignment that we had and it had been daunting over my head all trimester. I love Monday evenings because I don't have anywhere I need to be. Hopefully I can get some laundry done and clean the room a bit. 

3 more days of class!! I can't believe it. But that is all for now. There's a good chance that I will be updating this more than usual since I can't waste my time on Facebook anymore. I hope this brings some joy to your day.

Weekend in Review.

Hello all. I have been getting a lot of positive feedback on the blog lately. It seems to be a big hit among the mom crowd, not what I intended, but not complaining. Who knew posting my blog on Facebook wouldn't be targeting readers my age.

This weekend was intended to be a productive weekend consisting of homework, laundry, and cleaning the room. After many hours of staring at the word document and reading several articles and blogs about Hipsters, I finally finished my subculture project for my consumer behavior class about an hour ago. Didn't really get around to doing anything else yet. Since the laundry machines got fixed and I suddenly had to pay for my laundry again, I seem to lack motivation to actually do the laundry. As I look around my dorm room, I keep wondering how all of this clutter is going to be organized and put into storage boxes by the 17th. I am also wondering what I am going to do about the things I want to put in storage but I also need during the 2 days that I will still be living in this room. I plan on only taking clothes with me when I go home for the summer.

Netflix sent me The Blind Side this week in the mail. One of those movies that I had planned on watching in theaters the entire time it was showing in theaters but never made it. Such a wonderful movie. It made me remember the things that I sacrificed to go to this school. I may not understand football completely, but I really do miss it. It made me miss the south. Rae talks about missing the south all the time, but I try not to dwell and appreciate my life up here, and I really do. It still kinda upsets me that I won't have the classic college experience most everyone else gets. I won't be a part of a sorority that isn't repulsive. I won't go to football games that are televised. I won't be an alumni of a school that anyone is familiar with. I won't be attending alumni weekend events after I graduate from here. But then I remember how when someone asks "What's new?" I can tell them so many things that are new. When I ask people at home "What's new?" their lives really haven't changed tremendously since high school. I'm always so busy and exposed to so many awesome opportunities up here that I would never get if I were to stay close to home. I wouldn't be in classes towards my major if I decided to go to a traditional university. I have learned so much this year and I am so thankful for the opportunity to get out of the middle of nowhere and experience a new life. After watching The Blind Side, the roommate and I decided that it would be a Sandra Bullock weekend. Friday night we watched The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and now we are watching Two Weeks Notice. Sandra is my favorite actress.

While I was sitting in my cubicle Friday afternoon, instead of actually doing something productive and finishing my homework, I decided to type out a to-do list while I watched Arrested development. I had Word up on the office computer and Arrested Development on my laptop screen. Multi-tasking. After the CAT Appreciation Activities, I decided to knock out a few things on my list and went to David's Bridal to pick up my bridesmaid dress for Misty's wedding. Of course I procrastinated and the only places they have the dress I need is Frisco, TX. Then I thought it would be a good time to take Babs (my car) into Toyota to get a check up and get it road trip ready. The bumpy Rhode Island streets had me convinced that Babs was in rough shape. After the check up, the only thing wrong was the air filter. Everything else was in tip top shape. They did a complementary wash and vacuum and she looks great!

Yesterday, instead of doing my homework I went to Target to check a few more things off my to-do list. I managed to run out of all of my everyday toiletries like contact solution, toothpaste, face wash, and lotion a less than two weeks before the trimester ended. It dawned on me that going to Target was such a treat back home. I wandered around for nearly 2 hours. The Target brand of everything looks so much cooler than the name brand I am always staring at the two and comparing to see if there is an actual difference in the product. I'm pretty sure I stood in the razor isle for a good 15 minutes just staring and debating on buying the razor refills or buying disposable razors. The refills are so expensive, but I feel so waste-full throwing away the entire razor. And of course I had to buy some new sandals and some new clothes. After Target I went to Trader Joe's to stock up on my Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, hummus, sorbet, and juice. Of course the bottom of my grocery bag broke and the bottle of juice exploded right as I was getting on the bus back to campus. Once I finally got back to my room, it was time to get dressed and head out to dinner to celebrate Mattie's birthday. We ate at Paragon and had a lot of fun.

That's all for now. I hope you had as nice of a weekend as I did. May this bring some joy to your day.

Hello Weekend.

Drinking holidays are stupid. Last night after returning from the bowling alley with UIB, we heard the sound of a block party going on outside behind the res hall. At the time, it was only 10PM, the music was loud but still somewhat early. When the party continued past midnight, that's when it got to be inconsiderate. That was a nice gesture Side Bar for throwing a party directly behind a college dorm. I bet you were selling drinks like crazy. I wonder if you considered the fact that not everyone in the college dorm was down at your party. Maybe there are some students who care about their early class in the morning and wanted to go to bed before the wee hours of the morning. The best part was when the party outside finally stopped, some drunk person thought it would be funny to pull the fire alarm not once but twice. The 5,6, and 7th floor had to evacuate the building at 3:30am. Everyone who was asleep was obviously not happy. What was even better was that when we got outside, there were people out there that haven't even gone to bed yet. While they were taking attendance, there were drunks that came crawling into Gaebe plastered and not thinking anything of people half asleep standing outside. I am sick of the immaturity and disrespect. My mom pays $30,000 a year in tuition for me to go to school with a bunch of kindergarteners.
I cannot believe how quickly the weeks are going by. It's much more noticeable when the class week is only 4 days. This weekend is going to be pretty tame compared to others. Tomorrow I have work, then a tour guide appreciation party. Saturday is the last Open House for the school year! And Sunday will be spent working on my Hipster subculture project due Monday.
That's it for now, hope this brought some joy to your day.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Another drinking holiday, you know what that means. I will not be doing anything any different than any other day. Week 9 is almost done. Today has been a splendid day so far. There weren't any tours scheduled this morning. The office had a Cinco de Mayo party. I got to take a nap before my 1:40 class. My professor didn't show up for class. My 3:50 class is postponed to 5. UIB end of the year party after class. No complaints. I am currently sitting out on the lawn on Gaebe Commons "second largest green space in downtown Providence" (tour guide humor) with intentions of doing research for my subculture project in my Consumer Behavior class. Of course I'm going to continue to put this off until this weekend. It seemed like the perfect time to blog.

I have been really loving sushi lately.The gay friend  and I went on a "date" to Sushi Express on Sunday. Sushi Express is this hole in the wall sushi place just a few doors down from Shark the "ritzy" sushi place. Sushi Express if actually way better and half the price, they also have bubble tea. A good indication that it is a good sushi place is that you see herds of asian people in and out of there.

I wish I had more exciting news to blog about. That's it for now. I hope this brought some joy to your day.