Things That Make Me Love St. Mike's

I was going through all of the old pictures I have on my phone and stumbled upon a few that really bring to mind the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words." In this case these pictures show exactly why I love St. Mike's without really having to say all too much. It's the random stuff that makes the school unique and why I wouldn't want to go anywhere else.

So here we go...I love St. Mike's because...

...this beach has been outside of Ryan hall for weeks...

...because Alliot has comment cards...and sometimes they're like this...

"To our *something something* staff,
I seest that thou art absent of oatmeal.
Get the hence if thou so pleaseth!!
Sir Groonfulfürd"

...because they actually sell these in our bookstore...

The sweatshirt not the dog...sadly.

...because this:

"Burger Sauce"

equals this:

Mayo + Mustard + Ketchup = Burger Sauce

...because we have snow sculpture contests and someone built a Pikachu...

... and because I love nerdy math jokes.

I don't know factorial...get it?

I just love this place.

Townhouse Living

Being a senior is a scary thing, but it's definitely a perk to be living in a townhouse. I absolutely love living in the 300's. I have so many friends close-by and some of my best friends live with me.

The living room

My townhouse has a living room and a kitchen downstairs and four single bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. The biggest change between the townhouses and the suites are the kitchens. We have a full refrigerator and oven as well as all kind of appliances we brought from home.

Our teeny tiny kitchen

It's very different having to make every meal. It's actually not as bad as I expected. After years of dining halls it's weird not to have something prepared whenever I get hungry, but it's nice to make what I want when I want it. We also have 40 meals a semester at Alliot, though I'm proud to say that I haven't used any of them yet! I actually haven't been into Alliot itself in weeks, which is so weird.

As usual, it's been a busy week, but after killing a Spanish exam this morning I'm SO ready for the weekend!

So Much To Do At SMC

So far this school year has been incredibly busy. Classes, meetings, and practices fill up the schedule. Not to mention the attempts at socializing with people when everyone's schedule is just as crazy as mine. Not everyone participates in the same activities, but there's always something to do.

There are countless clubs and groups on campus, but I'll give you a general idea of just a few of the options...

Campus Ministry
Being a Catholic college there is a definite presence of campus ministry on campus. While this is not at all forced on any person (even as a Catholic school, only 61% of the student body identifies themselves as Catholic) it's a definite option for any person looking to make it a part of the SMC experience. There are actually a couple of ways to get involved as far as Campus Ministry is concerned.

VITA
@VITASMC is the student campus ministry group on campus. There are all kinds of options for getting involved such as serving in mass, being a choir member, LINK, and retreats. One of my roommates was involved last year and often came home with cookies, brownies, and, once, balloon animals. A couple of our bloggers, @DerekSMC being one of them, is a member.

MOVE
@MOVE_SMC is the volunteer organization on campus. It has its roots in Campus Ministry, but caters to all SMC students, Catholic or not. There are a number of student-run programs to get involved in such as Correctional Volleyball, After School Games, Senior Citizens, and A Cause for Paws. You can choose to only do something once or find a more long-term option like a mentoring program. Check out the MOVE site to see all of the programs offered. One of my old roommates and fellow bloggers, @carlymillen, just wrote a post about MOVE. Check it out HERE!

Campus Ministry/MOVE now has a blog, which can give an even better idea of the options and events. Definitely check it out for more info!

Founders Society
@SMCFounders is the student ambassador program. We have ties to both perspective students and SMC alumni. There's a monthly meeting and a number of ways to get involved including being a tour guide, blogger, doing Phone-a-Thons, and job fairs. I'm clearly a huge advocate for Founders as it's a way to express to others my love of SMC!

Wilderness Program
The Wilderness Program is huge at SMC. It offers activities like hiking, kayaking, climbing, and snowshoeing. All of the activities are student-lead, which means that if you end up loving the Wilderness Program all you have to do is attend training and you can lead adventures up Mount Mansfield or rafting! I have a lot of friends who are Wilderness Leaders including @bethsmc.

Ski/Snowboard Pass
In addition to all of this awesome outdoors-y stuff, the program offers incredible deals on seasons passes for the local mountains. The most insane of these deals is the $30 pass to Smuggler's Notch. I grew up skiing at Smuggs and couldn't imagine going anywhere else. It's a great mountain at an unbelievable price.


These programs are only four of the extracurricular opportunities offered at the lovely Saint Michael's College. The full list can be viewed HERE and contains everything from the Knitting Club to Rugby.

Back in Business

So I'm not sure what things I've been doing that have prevented me from writing a post for this amount of time. Life was crazy busy between the end of work at The Tyler Place and the last few days. I had two days between the time I finished work and the time I moved into my house on campus to start Orientation.

Reinhart and I on a windy cruise on Lake Champlain.

Orientation was completely awesome. The O-Leaders were on campus for three days before anyone else was here. We had days full of training and nights full of fun activities. Then came the First Years. The first morning was spent moving them in. For five and a half hours. I don't think I've ever been more tired. Did you know that almost every single FY lives on the fourth floor of some building or another? If that's not the case then somehow I was attracted only to the cars with tons of stuff heading to that floor.

This has to be my favorite picture of Group 31
during the scavenger hunt.

After the initial move-in we were with our groups for the rest of the weekend. My partner, Reinhart, and I had Group 31 and they were fantastic. We had the dance, scavenger hunt, hypnotist, fun for all, and not so fun things like the library orientation. It was exhausting, but I'm so glad that I was able to be an O-Leader during my time at SMC. We had a great group of people to spend a week with and it was so sad to see it come to an end after Connections on Sunday morning.

Since then I've been trying to get into the swing of things with classes. It took a bit of re-arranging, but I ended up with a great schedule. I'm taking Spanish, Astronomy, a math class, and, most excitingly, a graduate course in education called Emerging Technology.

It's been hard to get used to managing time and doing work, but I'm getting there. So far so good, anyway. Things are starting to get rolling for ski practices (so early!) so it'll get a bit busier, but it'll be nicer than having to go out and run by myself all the time. Hill workout today. Yuck.

I'll probably be writing a post about life in the 300's townhouses for next week so check back in! Ahhh I can't believe I'm a SENIOR!! So sad.

O-Leaders 2011 and Grace Kelly
Heroes of the Knight