Posted on

Here We Go!

Sorry, my sister and I bought Mario Kart for Wii and I think I’ve picked up Mario’s “here weeee gooooo!”

Anyway, I am officially in the second semester of my senior year. And you know what? I am very surprisingly quite calm about the entire situation. I think what helped a lot was my participation in the Spiritual Exercises, which is a five day silent retreat offered by the Chaplains’ Office on campus. Yes, I said it.

I, Colleen Curran, the local chatterbox, went on a silent five day retreat.

At first, I thought that the silence would be tough, especially since I went with some of my best friends. But I actually just got into a rhythm of spending more time focusing on internal conversation with God and myself than external with my friends. Over the course of the five days, I learned to let go of my anxieties about this semester, next year, and my overall plan. As one of the spiritual directors, Fr. John Savard, said, “God has such a brilliant plan for you that even you can’t mess it up.” I like that optimism! It was an absolutely incredible experience – I realized that my graduate school applications are already in, my thesis is progressing, and I have a general sense of direction. And I realized that I can’t freak out about any of that stuff, especially since I have one last semester to savor. So, everyone, you should do the Spiritual Exercises. Or at least try to be silent for just a day. It’s amazing what a difference the silence makes.

Then we returned to Holy Cross…which was covered in snow.

And then Holy Cross reminded us that we’re seniors and we’re graduating soon. We had Senior Convocation, which was a night of great food, showcases of senior musical talent, and far too many trips down memory lane (laughter was the soundtrack of the night).

And before you know it, classes started. Here’s what I’m taking this semester:
1) Contemporary Literary Theory
2) Chaucer & Dante (Prof. Ireland wants to put a sign that reads, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” above our seminar room’s doors)
3) Chant as Popular Music
4) My thesis
5) and I’m auditing T.S. Eliot.

Exciting semester, right? Okay, if you’re a sciency person, then no.

Then, today, as if to really hammer it in to the entire senior class that we are graduating in May, the Registrar told us how to apply for graduation. Graduation. In May. Aaaaaaaaaah!

So, my goal for this last semester is to truly enjoy everything that Holy Cross has to offer – my friends, classes, and opportunities. I can’t believe that this is the beginning of the end, but it has been a fantastic first week back already.
Posted on

One last time

As I was packing tonight (no, I don’t do last minute packing…okay, so I live by it), I realized that this is the last time that I’ll be home until Graduation in May. Now, I’m not a homebody (see me running off to England and threatening to stay there indefinitely last year), but it’s kind of weird when I think about it that way. The next time that I’m home, I will have a diploma from Holy Cross, my thesis will be finished, I’ll hopefully know where I’m going for graduate school, and there won’t be any of this snow on the ground.

So here I am packing up (yes, it’s nearly midnight…have to get back in the groove for the semester sometime, right?) to go back to Holy Cross for the last semester. Weird, right? It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was a freshman and had no idea what to pack for my first Worcester winter. So, here’s to one last semester on the Hill. Now that I’m done waxing nostalgic, I have a suitcase to pack and an application to finish!

Posted on

This Crazy Break

I must admit that this Christmas break is not turning out to be the relaxing break that I had in mind. As you know from my last post, I found out that my beloved pastor, Msgr. Reynolds, passed away on the first day of my break. That was pretty shocking.

We then left for Houston, where we celebrated Christmas with my mom’s family.

Getting a ticket to this Christmas dinner table is extremely coveted. My mom’s side is French, and the food literally does not stop coming until you go to the airport for your return flight home. That’s when you realize how much weight you’ve gained in the past two days and now you need an extra seat.

That proceeded as normal, except with one twist. My aunt Sue is a huge benefactor of the Houston Zoo, and she was able to arrange a special behind-the-scenes tour for us. We were able to feed giraffes and pet elephants. It was so cool. They’re magnificent creatures to see so close.

I realize that this photo isn’t of a giraffe, but I had to post it. See, this is my wonderful sister, Caitie, who recently graduated from Colgate. Anyway, in this photo, she looks like the crazy one and I love the look of “Are you sure we’re related?” that I’m giving her. Usually, it’s the reverse.

This is me feeding Diva, who is…well, a diva.

Then we came back to Atlanta, and I started to feel quite sick. I was doing a pretty good job of taking care of myself, but then New Year’s Day, I was completely gone. My parents and I started to attribute it to the fast pace of this past semester, but something was wrong. Really wrong. Then, on Monday, I woke up with blood coming out of my ear. After a rush to the doctor’s, it turns out that I contracted strep throat…in my sinuses. I’m not sure how that’s even possible, but I’m living proof that it can happen. Apparently, my body was trying to force it out…through my ear, which resulted in a ruptured ear drum, which resulted in the blood. So. Merry Christmas!

All in all, I’m glad that this happened when I was at home and not when I was about to get on a plane to go back to Holy Cross. I’m also really glad that this happened this year instead of last year (I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done if this happened when I was in England). But the most depressing thing about this sickness is that it’s affected my equilibrium, which means…no dancing for a bit. 🙁 Oh well. Happy Christmas Break!