Oh, Hello Monday...

Well, it's Monday and once again, the weekend, which was awesome, is over. My boyfriend, Andrew, made the 7 hour drive from his school in NY and stayed until yesterday morning. I realized that all the friends I have now were made at the end of the year, long after his last visit here in the spring semester. Basically I was introducing him to people the whole time. Like I tweeted as he left yesterday, long distance is worth it for these weekends, but it's no fun when they end.

Now I'm back to the usual class, eat, hw, class, eat, hw schedule I'm on. It's even worse on Mondays because they're the off days from XC so I feel like I should get even more done to make the rest of the week a little easier.

My schedule for today:

(Future times predicted, but likely to be accurate...especially Ben & Jerry's)

8:15 - Prob/Stats

9:30 - Breakfast

10:00 - Power nap

10:30 - Work on my lesson plan (SIDE NOTE: it's a little difficult to come up with a math lesson plan when it has to be based on a historical fiction novel. Good darn thing I'm creative. I'm pretty happy with what I've come up with - rate/speed/distance based on the train route the characters took when they were sent out of their country to be integrated into a unit on proportions. Solid. At least I hope my professor thinks so...)

1:00 - Abstract Algebra

2:15 - Grab a sandwich from Alliot

2:30 - Procrastination in the form of a blog post

3:00 - Prob/Stats hw & Abstract hw with Coligny in the Math Corner

6:00 - Alliot for dinner

6:45 - Cumbies run for Ben & Jerry's and/or Chill Zone

7:00 - Prob/Stats, Abstract, Lesson Plan

10:30 - Early bed time for placement in the morning

Yikes. Quite a day. I better get going. 3:00 is sneaking up on me and I better keep to the schedule! Perhaps I'll write a more productive/not as whiny blog post later in the week.

Back in Action

The first week of school has come and gone. It actually kind of flew by. It was nice for the weekend to come so fast. I wasn't around last weekend and it was really nice to be able to hang out with everyone I missed over the summer.

XC girls - Andrea, me, Erin, Kate

Erika, Maria, and I

This semester I'm completely working on my major, which makes all of my classes super enjoyable. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have two math classes. I head to Prob/Stats bright and early at 8:15. I'm not completely in love with the class since I'm not really a fan of stats, but as it's a requirement for the major and the professor seems to be pretty good I'm not really complaining. At 1 i have Abstract Algebra. This class is interesting for me because I am one of four students in the class. It's an upper level math class only taken by majors, so, as most people find the idea of being a math major to be the absolute grossest, not many people sign up. It makes the class really relaxed. I really enjoy the itty bitty class size.

Tuesday and Thursday I have the Secondary Ed Block. I have one class a day from 12-2:15. They are separate from each other, though the professors work together to mesh the two. We only have one syllabus, for example. Starting in a week or two we'll be getting placements in local high schools where we'll be observing, helping, and teaching from 8-11 Tuesday and Thursday mornings until just before Thanksgiving. These classes seem like they'd be super long, but they go by quickly.

All in all, I'm pretty much in love with my schedule. While I do like LSRs and think it's good to have the Liberal Arts education it's nice to be focused on the two things I'm really interested in. Plus, I'm done by 2:30 every day, which leaves plenty of time for a nap before XC practice at 4:15. YES.

Speaking of XC, I'm bouncing back from my ridiculously long illness fairly quickly. We did a tempo run Friday than nearly killed me, but if that won't get me back into shape I don't know what will. I love being with the girls and getting to know all of the first years. With a team of 24 we've been having a good time.

SMC XC girls on a hike during pre-season (I'm MIA)

Another reason I'm enjoying XC season so much right now is that I've talked with my coach, Molly, about focusing on skiing. This means that she's really flexible with my schedule and I'm able to be more ski-specific. On Wednesday when we do strength I do my own strength afterward. On Saturday I went home with Juli, who's also on the ski team, and we did a long double pole rollerski with my dad. Sunday I was able to substitute a hike with Juli and my crazy athletic parents for the long run the rest of the girls were doing. It's so nice to know that I'm getting a head start on skiing compared to last year when I did almost nothing. I'm crossing my fingers for some better results. There's really nowhere to go but up at this point.

Juli and I on our cold, rainy hike

Juli and my dad heading back down

Ahh, Spring...

Can I just go ahead and throw it out there that I absolutely love this place? Alright, yeah, I totally do. Especially now that the ridiculous amount of work that sucked up my life last week is done. I've actually had time to enjoy myself and soak up all that is spring at SMC. This week has flown right by just because I've had so much going on and have been having so much fun the whole time!

What does such a wonderful springy week consist of? Well, I'm oh so glad you asked!

Monday: It was nice out, but I guess Monday was my not so fun day. I had a huge paper due Tuesday morning. I took a fabulous nap though!

Tuesday: This was a happy day. I gave my very first official tour! YAY YAY YAY! So exciting. And I rocked it out, if I do say so myself. I also went for a great run with some of the XC girls. There's a great path down across the road from North Campus that is beautiful running - just for future reference if you're into that kind of thing. THEN GLEE WAS ON, which is enough to make any average day a great day. ("You want to come out so we can talk? Or sing about it?" I love Glee.)

Wednesday: The weather was absolutely glorious! There were so many people out on the grass on the quad and in front of the library! So fun to see everyone out of the dorms and enjoying the sun! (It doesn't look like a lot of people were out from the pictures. There were quite a few. You can definitely tell it was a beautiful day though!)

A view of the library

St. Ed's and McCarthy

In the afternoon I went for a run with mi padre, which is always great, even when he's dragging me along. Just saying though, no 50-something should be pulling along a 19 year-old girl. My dad is insane.

This was also the P-Day shirt decorating fiesta. We tie-dyed last week and they were finally

ready to be painted! I'm so proud of how mine came out!

More to come on P-Day...details of one of the greatest Saturdays at SMC will be posted soon, but I'll give a short explanation to give you an idea:

The condensed P-Day explanation: the school sponsors a day before finals including inflatables, tug-o-war, more food that you could possibly eat, bands, a comedian, midnight breakfast, sunshine (hopefully!), and overall happiness. I will most definitely be posting about what a

wonderful time I'm sure to have, so I'll give more details then.

Thursday: (Today) More P-Day shirt decorating and then an epic trip my two friends would prefer I don't tell people about. (But they don't read my blog so they'll never know...) While they would like to pretend we went to Alliot tonight for a light salad or something healthy and respectable like that we actually went to the University Mall (one of two malls in Burlington) for Taco Bell and Ben & Jerry's. So delicious I could explode. Mmmmm!

I love always having something to do, especially in beautiful weather! In the spring there really are countless things going on. AND this week promises to only be getting better! Tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner with my family as my brother just got in from Sweden (he goes to a ski academy and they do this thing where they don't go to school for extended periods of time...he's livin' the life) and then Saturday is P-Day! Ah, spring, I love you.